Israel attacks Gaza to escape internal differences

Israel's accusations and air strikes against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip are mainly meant to export its internal crisis and to hamper Palestine's efforts to seek statehood at the United Nations next month, political analysts in Gaza said. The attacks came after triple attacks that killed eight Israelis in the Red Sea resort of Eilat in southern Israel Thursday. The Israeli air strikes have left six Palestinians dead so far, including a child and a number of militants who were accused by Israel of staging the Eilat attacks. Observers in Gaza said Thursday Israel wanted to show that, despite these attacks, it is still able to deter anyone who dares to threaten its security. They also stressed it has been Israel's habit to attack Gaza to escape government collapse because of internal differences. Mukhaimar Abu Sa'da, a professor of political science in Gaza's al-Azhar University, said Thursday that everyone knows Gaza is the field of experiments after any attacks against Israel since it is the weakest entity among all others in the region. Abu Sa'da said the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)'s plan to get UN support for state recognition is one of the reasons why Israel is trying to escalate the security situation against Gaza. "Israel has previously attempted to create pretexts to launch an attack on Gaza for the purpose of putting off the PNA's efforts for statehood, but it has failed. Yet today's attacks against Eilat were a precious opportunity for the Jewish state to implement its plans," he said.