Posted on 08/03/2004 11:17:22 AM PDT by anotherview
Aug. 3, 2004 12:21 | Updated Aug. 3, 2004 18:44 MI: Palestinian terror barrel is bottomless By NINA GILBERT
Major-General Aharon Zeevi (Farkash), head of the IDF Intelligence branch Avi Dichter, Head of the GSS (Shin Bet)
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?ssbinary=true&cachecontrol=*%3A0%2C30%3A10+*%2F*%2F*&blobtable=JPImage&blobcol=urlimage&blobwhere=1088910686553&blobkey=id&blobheader=image/jpeg">
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski/Jerusalem Post
A week after Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter said that "the Palestinian terrorism barrel has a bottom - and we can get to it", OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen Aharon Ze'evi (Farkash) informed the Knesset Tuesday that Palestinian terror against Israel "has no end and Israel cannot fight terror only through military means."
Responding to a question by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee member MK Yossi Sarid, the military intelligence chief said, "even if the Palestinian terror barrel has a bottom, there will be other barrels."
Ze'evi's assessment highlights the differences of opinion regarding how to proceed against Palestinian terrorism. According to Army Radio, Dichter's comments regarding the finite nature of Palestinian terrorism came under sharp criticism from senior Central Command officers.
Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter used the term 'barrel with a bottom' recently when he said that, contrary to popular opinion and military convention, terrorism is not an endless pit, but that there is a limited supply of terrorists and murderers. Ze'evi, on the other hand, believes terrorism it is a spring that continuously wells up.
Yahad Mk Yossi Sarid said Ze'evi's assessment vindicates his own criticisms of the Shin Bet approach. "The military intelligence chief is correct, and the Shin Bet chief is wrong, as I told him [Dichter] in last week's meeting. What we have here is a very dangerous conception on the part of the head of the Shabak," Sarid said.
"I don't know of anybody else in the world who shares Dichter's world view on this issue – that there is a 'bottom of the barrel' to terror and that we will soon reach it and wipe it out. This is a very dangerous conception because it misleads decision-makers into acting the way gamblers do. A gambler believes that if he sticks to it long enough and invests just a little bit more every time, soon, very soon, he will win the entire pot," Sarid added.
Opposite Sarid, National Union NK Aryeh Eldad accused Ze'evi of pandering to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Whoever is a fighter, and believes that he can win, says 'I believe we can win' and there will be a bottom to this barrel. But whoever follows the whims of the prime minister says 'This situation is endless and there is no bottom of the barrel, and therefore there is no military solution. Then this same person says 'We have to disengage', and that is what the prime minister wants to hear," Eldad said.
Referring to Hizbullah, Ze'evi said that the Lebanese Shi'ite terror group is planning to carry out a "complicated, multi-stage attack" which may include sniper fire, kidnappings, and bombings.
Ze'evi added that the latest 'revolt' by former Palestinian Interior Minister Muhammad Dahlan and other Fatah figures against Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat will not be the last.
"Dahlan's move was premature and therefore it failed, our estimations are that additional moves challenging Arafat will follow," Farkash told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Army Radio reported.
The head of military intelligence also refuted latest reforms in the PA saying Arafat orchestrated "imaginary and bogus" reforms.
"At the moment Arafat survived the crisis and at the same time managed to cheat [Palestinian Prime Minister] Abu Ala' by forcing him to retract his resignation without much achievement," Farkash added.
Talkback (moderated):
Who do you agree with on this issue: MI or GSS? Please include your first and last names, your city and country.
Jonathan Silverman, Brooklyn, NY USA:
Farkash is right. The problem isn't the Palestinians per se but the Islamic faith as exemplified by al Qaeda, Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who base their entire existence on achieving the domination of the Islamic faith throughout the world. So, while military means may not be a solution, paradoxically there is no alternative. It's possible that Israel is not hitting the terrorists hard enough.
Beni Rawet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
I think the problem is the culture of the death (or martyrdom) that is been instilled into Palestinian society as a way of life.
This is not Israelis' problem and the only thing Israel can do is to fight the attackers until they change their point of view. To make them change their point of view, the only way is to convince the European leftist that terrorism is not a fair way to fight a ideology. And this, for me, is harder than to combat terrorism and even radical Islamism. The European leftist as a majority, support the way Palestinians and Arabs in general think. Sometimes they are explicit anti-Jewish, but sometimes they really think their ideology is correct. On the other side, the Arabs feel stronger with this support. All they do is justified. So, Israel must maintain its links with America, and sponsor movies and congresses with its point of view. At the same time, fight terrorism as much as it can.
Steven V. Gure, Coconut Creek, Fl. USA:
Terrorism can certainly be defeated if serious measures are adapted. They must be defeated if civilization as we know it is to survive. They is no other way.
Adina Kutnicki, Ridgewood, NJ:
I agree with the GSS viewpoint. However, only if the military solution is such that includes a decisive victory, and not one that is being fought as if it were a limited conflict, will Israel reach the "bottom of the barrel". After WW11 there were still plenty who held the beliefs of the Nazi murderers, but realized the futility and costs of pressing on. Therefore, without this decisive military victory, Israel will be prolonging this battle for decades to come.
Shalom,
Benjamin Rodriguez, Cleveland, Ohio:
I substantially agree with Mr. Silverman's comments. Both are wrong actually. Islamic terrorism is a bottomless pit, but there is also a military solution. I will leave you to conclude what that is...however,until we recognize the enemy for what it is we will never begin to win the war on Islamic terrorism. Islam is not a religion of peace and love. It is fueling the never-ending supply of terrorists, which must be vanquished before they destroy us.
Alex Koifman:
It is true you cannot eliminate terrorism completely. But there is a big difference between a terror attack happening every day V once every few months. What the military did they dramatically decreased the frequency of these attacks. And this is what counts. Thus Dichter is correct in practical terms. The defeatist opinion of MI is wrong and in MHO is unacceptable.
Josef Parnas, Copenhagen:
I do not think that the problem can be formulated in "either or" terms. You need strong military measures combined with political efforts and economical changes. It is also a question of definition: what does "no terror" mean? Total tranquility as in Scandinavia, occasional bombs, as in some European cities or a grenade on the street of Prague? What is the exact goal?
Yury Zilberman, New York:
I believe that Aharon Zeevi is correct, but that just proves that there is no solution at all. Because the barrel is bottomless a political solution will not suffice either. There will always be some Palestinian that is not happy with whatever deal that the likes of Yossi Sarid can come up with. And so no matter how accommodating Israel is, the Palestinian terror will never stop. Therefore the answer must be to contain the threat as much as possible, by military means. Surely such an approach is more reliable then accommodating the terrorists, conferring legitimacy on them, giving them tangible assets (like land and money), while at the same time weakening the Israeli position and then relying that perhaps finally the bad guys will have gotten all that they wanted and will not want to attack anymore. Yossi is correct that the "barrel is bottomless", does he realize that that means that even if emasculates Israel there will still be terror in that barrel?
They can all be killed. It's just a matter of getting out there and doing it.
We did it in Japan.
NOBODY "cures cancer" because it is a misnomer.
Only by killing cancer, every last cell, can a patient, so afflicted by malignancy, be cured.
On a broader scale, Islamic terrorism against the non-islamic world has no end. Fourteen nations now suffering what is happening in Israel, and it has nothing to do with Israel, but world conquest. The roaches are on the move again after all these centuries.
ping
And a ping for those on Alouette's list, she's away from her computor.
Of course the palesite terrorism is without a bottom. It comes from Hell!
There are always fanatics in any community and when the community, like the PA, gives them full rein and allows them to indoctrinate gullible school children the supply is never ending. The solution isn't to win over 100 percent of the palestinians but to come to some arrangement in which extremism can't vent its nastiness with public approval.
Frankly I don't care at this stage if these hotheads want to blow themselves up, as long as they don't do it at a supermarket or a pizza shop near me or any other innocent person.
If Abdul will pray, to a glowing crater.
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