Posted on 04/02/2002 4:03:08 PM PST by veronica
What is Israel trying to accomplish in its latest incursion into the West Bank and Gaza?
At first sight, it seems merely a resumption of the bailing operation that was interrupted in deference to the third "peace process" mission of retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni. The Israeli ship is filling with water, in the form of constant suicide bombings destroying public morale, the sense of security, and even the national economy. The scheme is to eliminate terrorists faster than they can come at you -- to bail the water faster than it is entering the ship. It is one way to remain afloat, and not to be despised when there is no alternative.
A closer look reveals larger, but still limited, ambitions. "Operation Root Treatment," the last round of incursions, aimed at clearing terrorist operations, including bomb and rocket factories, out of sanctuaries in the Palestinian refugee camps. It is succeeded by an operation that has gone straight to Ramallah, and whose purpose is almost certainly to wreck the whole infrastructure of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. That the whole of the PA is now a terrorist front, no less than, say, Hezbollah, almost goes without saying. (It runs schools and hospitals, but then, so does Hezbollah.)
Consider, for instance, the list of weapons the IDF were able to confiscate from Mr. Arafat's "civil government" compound when they took most of it over. These included not only dozens of Kalashnikov rifles and "micros" and other assault rifles, but Berettas and Norwegian sniper weapons.
There were extensive stores of bombs, mortars and their launchers, fragmentation and smoke grenades, crates of machine-gun and pistol magazines, commando knives, telescopic sights, night-vision devices, bulletproof and combat vests.
About 500 Palestinian men were arrested in and around Mr. Arafat's compound, dozens of whom were on Israel's lists of wanted terrorists.
European "peace activists" were used as a front by the Palestinians in a clever operation to smuggle several of the most-wanted terrorists who had retreated to Mr. Arafat's office. They surprised the Israelis on their way in, but on their way out IDF soldiers surrounded them and detached and grabbed their suspects. These may have included the murderers of the Israeli tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi.
Under the Madrid/Oslo "peace process," Mr. Arafat agreed, in return for being allowed to return to the West Bank and Gaza, to limit armaments in Palestinian-administered territories to sidearms and standard equipment required by police. He undertook not only to prevent violent attacks on Israel and Israelis, but to adopt a pacific tone, and of course disavow terrorism.
The pretense that he has done anything other than fuel and incite violence, since the moment he arrived, is no longer sustainable. Explosives of the very kind used by Palestinian suicide bombers have been found in Palestinian Administration police caches all over the territories. And Mr. Arafat's constant rhetorical celebration of the cult of "martyrdom" and other forms of homicide is now a matter of public record. His game is up.
Most significant is the intelligence haul from Mr. Arafat's compound. The IDF soldiers have been at pains to secure and remove files, documents, and communications records; the mission to Ramallah was in some sense planned like the commando raid on the Karine A in the Red Sea in January. There is presently a large traffic of intelligence "content" between the Israeli government and the CIA, Pentagon, U.S. State Department and White House in Washington. Connections between the Palestinian Authority and international Islamist terror organizations, including al-Qaeda, are being established, chapter and verse.
It is this intelligence haul that will keep the operation going. It is, in effect, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's repayment to President George W. Bush for understanding as Israel proceeds with -- judging from the reported call-up of some 31,000 reserves -- its largest single military operation since the invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
On this scale, it must be assumed that the IDF will go through the entire West Bank and Gaza, rounding up suspects, weapons and documents in the most thorough clean-out of terrorist nests yet attempted.
The Israeli air force has not been used this time in the Palestinian territories, but there have been more than a dozen bombing and strafing runs against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response to an increase in mortar attacks across Israel's northern frontier (timed to coincide with the escalation of suicide bombings). These still amount to warning shots, but if trouble persists in Israel's north, I would expect the airstrikes on Lebanese positions, and potentially even on Syrian ones, to expand dramatically.
The flipside of Mr. Sharon's understanding with Mr. Bush is a time constraint.
The Israelis must work quickly and try to conclude their operation in May -- for the U.S. should be in a position to strike against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq by early June, and won't need the complication.
I believe the U.S. and Israel are presently negotiating with Morocco for a place to send Yasser Arafat (other than to hell). The Bush administration has -- after Vice-President Dick Cheney was effectively spat in the face by Mr. Arafat upon offering to meet him in Cairo -- finally written Mr. Arafat off. The problem now is what to do with him that will cause the least excitement in the Arab world, and what kind of self-administration can be established by the Palestinians once he is gone.
Will the Israeli operation succeed?
The short answer is no. The new mission title, "Operation Defensive Wall," is a misnomer. There is no indication the Sharon government is yet seriously considering the kind of Berlin Wall that would have to be erected between Israelis and Palestinians to put a permanent stop to suicide bombers. The reality is the two societies, though separated neighbourhood from neighbourhood, co-exist and mix in everyday life on either side of the Green Line (Israel's borders before the Six Day War in 1967). Some 1.2 million Arab Muslims live on the Israeli side of this line, and 400,000 Israeli Jews on the other.
And the bombing in Haifa on Sunday helped display the scale of the problem. Haifa, the seat of Israeli pacifism, was the one city where Jews and Arabs had, until recently, co-existed in peace. This ended months ago with a bus bombing. Sunday's bomber was an Arab Israeli citizen; the restaurant, named Matza, was likewise owned by an Israeli Arab; the clientele were mostly Jewish. It was part of a campaign within the campaign of suicide bombings: the Palestinian militias doing everything in their power to recruit Israeli Arabs, and to strike in ways that will polarize the two communities. The intention is to force Israel to turn against its native Arab population, in the hope of further radicalizing that community and, ultimately, creating a fresh refugee crisis.
The hard truth is that a real "defensive wall" would not begin to work before a Balkan-style exchange of populations. Any Jewish settlements outside the "defensive wall" would have to be withdrawn, and Israel would have to begin evicting the "fifth column" that has been forming within. The economic ramifications are equally huge to both sides. For the Palestinians, it would mean almost total unemployment and the loss of most of the existing food supply. For the Israelis it would mean a major retrenchment and economic transformation.
Before anything on that scale is contemplated, the Israelis will wait and see what comes of the U.S. mission to Iraq. Like the Gulf War of 1991, this will change the situation on the ground throughout the region. Meanwhile, they continue bailing, but with a bigger bucket.
This is indeed the problem. Please look closely. The native Arab population are the TRUE Palestinians. It is estimated that around 6% of "Palestinians" actually have parents that lived in Israel at one time. The 94% of the rest are from Syria, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Sudan. They are the forces of the Islamic Jihad.
People often ask why Israel does not just fight back. You must understand the difference between us and our battle with Afghanistan. We do not know anybody in Afghanistan, it is easy to just blow them away, they are guilty as a nation. But Israel knows intimately the 6% of the "Palestinians" that actually came from Palestine the place instead of the Palestine Liberation Organization that created the straw man Mr "Palestinian". Those 6% of local Arabs have worked alongside Israeli's for hundreds of years, they are the waiter, the baker, your neighbor and your friend. Tell me, if one out of a hundred people in a village are your friends, can you just shell the village into the ground when someone from that village does a suicide bomb attack on your local school? Israel is up to its neck in terrorists, hundreds of thousands of them! How do you sort the 6% out that are your friends? Those Arabs are the skirts that the Islamic's hide behind.
When America rescued Arafat from the sure defeat of Lebanon and made Israel allow him to move into the West Bank, America CREATED this problem! Before our policy of “peacemaking” it was a whole lot more peaceful around here and the death tolls show it. Rescuing Arafat and arming Iraq are the two stupidest things America has ever done. That and allowing income tax. (Without the endless feed trough, the beast does not grow bigger than the barn) but that is a different thread.
The 6% of Arabs that actually have family roots inside Israel, belong there, the 94% must be thrown out of the country if there is ever to be a true peace, but at this point only God can sort them. He is going to.
The Israeli Jews are now no better than the Nazis that bombarded the ghettos of Poland in WWII. Even going so far as to scrawl numbers on their 'Pali' (a favorite FR term) prisoners.
History repeats itself as WWIII approaches.
I am looking around, fred... looking for the victim numbers... there must be some mistake!!! SURELY someone has omitted some ZERO's from the numbers???
The Palestinian press is crying about 15 dead from those mass murdering Jews!!! That must be 150,000!!! 15,000? 1,500???
What is it you say??? Those armed to the teeth with American weapons Jews, the best they can do in 7 DAYS of non-stop terror and murder is only 15 Pali's??? And of those "poor" 15, 14 were in uniform??? What gives? Where are the murdered civilians??? Surely, the Israeli's would at least butcher a few Pali's to prepare their pastry fillings, no???
Ok... I feel better now. Come to think of it, the presstitutes are sickeningly silent about the incredibly low number of casualties from the IDF!!! Those boys know their business, and unless some western derelict "shield" pussy pukes start trying to intercept bullets, almost no civilians are getting hurt!!!
Way to go, IDF!!! Don't let the leftist bastards from CNN hang you!
Brave, and clever, too.
What formidable enemies!
Can't you understand the brilliance evidenced in sitting back, making professional moves towards negotiations (ie, Cheney's offer to meet Arafat, which Arafat most unwisely snubbed, or Zinny's attempts), allowing Arafat to expose his under-belly to the world so as to allow all of us to really view what this madman is about (see the pic of the palestinian man hanging, about to be eviscerated by palestinians because he was suspected of being sympathetic to Jewish people) and permitting Israel go for it, to crush the structure of a man so vile, so heinous, so evil that he would send children out strapped with bombs on their backs to kill other civilians.
Arafat is plain lucky his territory does not border the USA.
There have been rallies in California protesting Israeli and US support of them. We MUST try to educate as many people as possible to the REALITIES of what is happening over there. Also on that thread.. are letters from others who back what this doctor is saying.
Maybe people could even send a link to that thread.
Thanks for reading it..and for those who haven't yet, here is the link again.
The state department may be full of "the finest foreign policy minds available", but unfortunately the state department is not on our side. The state department was historically full of communists and after 8 years of Clinton it is certainly full of socialists. Bush needs to clean house in the state department including Colin Powell.
Imagine 30 years from now, the US government trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and Osama bin Laden.
As is Sharon. Neither deserve American tax dollars.
Actually, the AK is battle-proven and quite capable. The M16 carried by our troops is prone to breakdown when exposed to dirt in the very least degree. In Afghanistan for instance, they're requiring three or four cleanings daily.
I suggest that you do some research on his tenure as the Butcher of Lebanon. He's a thug, no better than Arafat.
The Journal of Marxist-Humanism
The Twin Cities Anti-War Committee
Al-Ahram Weekly
www.larouchepub.com
And here's a lovely sample of those with your mindset...
Victory to the Palestinian people!
Once again the Palestinian people have risen against the Zionist occupation of their homeland. The Zionists have responded brutally, using tanks and helicopter gunships against civilians in a vain attempt to re-impose their authority. Nearly 120 Palestinian people have been murdered, including 35 children. The shock waves of the new intifada have reverberated around the world. Stock markets have jittered for fear of a new rise in oil prices. A challenge from an undefeated people threatens global economic chaos.
Ariel Sharon, the butcher of Lebanon in 1982, knew the consequence of his provocative visit to the Al-Haram Al Sharief in Jerusalem on 29 September. No doubt prime minister Barak did as well: he ensured there were 1,000 armed police to surround the Haram, who opened fire on protesting worshippers. At least 7 Palestinians were killed and over 250 injured. Next day, world TV broadcast the horrific final moments in the life of 12-year-old Mohamed El Durra as he attempted to hide with his father behind a concrete block. After 30 minutes' terror, he was deliberately shot dead by Zionist troops; more than 30 children have been murdered since. Zionist settlers have kidnapped and tortured Palestinian farmers and raided Palestinian villages under the protection of the Israeli army.
Such fascist terror has become the norm. Despite the opposition of the mass of the Palestinian people, Arafat has continued to negotiate with the Zionist enemy, going to Sharm El Sheikh to make even more concessions. Meanwhile General Sharon is insisting that Barak admits him to the Israeli government, giving him the defence portfolio. Our own Labour government has voted in the UN against a resolution condemning the excessive violence of the Israeli state. Labour has always been a loyal friend of the Zionists. But the Palestinian people fight on, and their struggle rightly demands the support of all socialists and democrats. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! has always campaigned in defence of the Palestinian people, and will continue to do so until their just goals have been achieved.
Isolate the racist Zionist state!
Self-determination for the Palestinian people!
I remain unconvinced.
Continue your studies.
Unless you can uncover a reputable source, the casual observer must conclude that label is anti-Israeli PROPAGANDA.
Do your own research.
Sharon was responsible for the massacres in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in southern Lebanon in 1982. They were carried out by Lebanese Christian militiamen, under the command of Israeli troops, commanded by Sharon, hence the title "Butcher of Lebanon."
He was subsequently fired by his own government for his actions and only emerged from the political wilderness, when the Israelis dumped Barak for a "tough guy."
Shouting propaganda won't change the facts.
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