Eye for an Eye
Response by Israel measured, for now
Irena Shaulov embraces the flag-wrapped body of her son David, who was among the Israeli victims of a suicide bomber outside a fast-food restaurant in Tel Aviv on Monday. David Shaulov also leaves a wife, who is nine months pregnant.
Hamas responsible for attack, cabinet says
April 19, 2006
Josef Federman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Columbus Dispatch
JERUSALEM — Israel’s leaders yesterday held the Hamasled Palestinian government responsible for the deadliest suicide bombing in 20 months, but decided against a military operation in an attempt to avoid escalating violence.
Officials said the measured response will help preserve a strong international front against Hamas and that Israel will take all steps it deems necessary, including assassinations, to prevent attacks.
The Islamic Jihad militant group carried out Monday’s blast outside a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 10 people including the bomber and wounding dozens. Although Hamas was not directly involved, its leaders defended the attack as a justified response to Israeli strikes against Palestinian militants.
Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with top officials and security chiefs for two hours yesterday to weigh a response. The group decided to hold Hamas accountable because it did not denounce the bombing.
"Israel sees the Palestinian Authority as responsible for what happened yesterday," said Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official.
But Olmert decided against launching a large-scale military operation and blocked a proposal to declare the Palestinian Authority an "enemy entity," participants said.
One senior Israeli official said it is unrealistic to expect Israel to carry out immediate largescale airstrikes in response to Palestinian violence.
"This doesn’t mean you won’t see more targeted killings and other operational things," he said. "It has to be done in an effective way that the whole international community will understand."
The official asked that his name be withheld because he was not authorized to discuss government policy.
Officials said responses likely would include assassinations of bombing masterminds, arrests of Islamic Jihad members in the northern West Bank, where Monday’s bomber lived, and tighter travel restrictions.
Such actions would be in line with the recent policies of Ariel Sharon, the prime minister who was incapacitated by a stroke in January. Officials said they think the policies, combined with Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, have been effective in preventing attacks.
In Washington, President Bush was asked whether he had encouraged Israel to show restraint. "I have consistently reminded all parties that they must be mindful of whatever actions they take and mindful of the consequences," Bush said.
Monday’s bombing was the first inside Israel since Hamas’ government was sworn into office late last month.
Atef Adwan, a Hamas cabinet minister, dismissed Israel’s assertion that the Palestinian Authority ultimately is responsible for the attack. "Israel is trying to find a pretext to act against the Palestinian institutions and act against the Palestinian people," he said.
Also yesterday, the Russian daily Izvesty said Russia will send an additional $10 million to the Palestinian Authority, which is in financial trouble and has experienced cuts in ad from Western donors.
Blair urges Hamas to denounce 'wicked' Tel Aviv bombing
April 19,2006
AFP
Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves his residence at No.10 Downing street in London for the weekly Prime Minister's question time in the House of Commons. Blair has urged the Hamas-led Palestinian government to denounce the "wicked and irresponsible" suicide bombing that killed nine people in Tel Aviv.(AFP/Odd Andersen)
Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged the Hamas-led Palestinian government to denounce the "wicked and irresponsible" suicide bombing that killed nine people in Tel Aviv.
"I hope very much that Hamas realises that those who kill innocent people in this way... are wicked and irresponsible but more than that, they do nothing to further the process of peace in the Middle East," he said Wednesday.
In his weekly question and answer sessions with members of parliament, Blair reiterated his backing for a "two-state solution" in the Middle East and stressed that the world was ready to help push forward a settlement.
"When you have people killed, innocent people, wholly innocent people killed in terrorist attacks, for example in Tel Aviv a couple of days ago, that sets back the whole chance of a proper negotiated solution," he added.
"What I would say to the Hamas leadership very, very clearly is that I believe that the whole of the international community stands ready and willing to take forward a negotiated solution on the basis of a fair deal that allows for an independent and viable Palestinian state, providing that Hamas recognise the state of Israel and give up violence.
"That (violence) does nothing to make this process work and does everything to harm it."
Israel placed full blame on Hamas Tuesday for the attack at a crowded food stand in Israel's largest Mediterranean city, the first suicide bombing inside the country since the hardline Islamists shot to power in January.
The attack, claimed by Islamic Jihad, elicited international condemnation and prompted further questions about foreign aid for the Palestinian Authority.
But Hamas leaders instead pointed the finger at Israel, claiming its continuing "occupation and aggressions" in the occupied territories were to blame for the cycle of violence.
U.S. Backs Israel's Defense, Urges Caution
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
Apr 19,2006
Israel has a right to defend itself but should consider the effect on peace prospects as it weighs a response to a deadly suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, the State Department said Tuesday.
The mixed message, which is virtually identical to past statements by the Bush administration after terror attacks on Israel, was expressed by department spokesman Sean McCormack.
It reflects a long-standing position by President Bush that the Israeli government is entitled to use retaliatory force in defense of the Israeli people.
Past administrations have put an emphasis on appealing for restraint on all sides.
The bombing Monday in a restaurant killed nine people and the bomber. It was the deadliest attack on Israel in 20 months. Islamic Jihad, classified by the department as a terror organization, claimed responsibility.
The attack was called legitimate by the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which the United States, the European Union and Canada are boycotting.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned condolences to Foriegn Minister Tzipi Livni and her wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, McCormack said.
Asked whether the administration had urged Israel to be restrained in any retaliatory strike, the spokesman replied: "Our position is that the Israeli government has the right to defend the Israeli people."
McCormack added: "We, as always, ask them to consider the effect of their actions upon the future prospects for peace. That position is long-standing and unchanged."
Security and Defense: Is our policy exploding in our faces?
April 20,2006
By YAAKOV KATZ
The Jerusalem Post
The aftermath of the Tel Aviv terror attack
Photo: AP
Monday's suicide bombing - in which nine people were killed and dozens of others wounded - has military officials questioning both the effectiveness of specific IDF operations in the West Bank and the army's overall strategy in general.
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz - whose stated goal has not been to eradicate terror, but to reduce it to a tolerable minimum - has so far decided to keep ground forces out of the Gaza Strip and to continue using long-distance precision strikes, such as artillery cannons and IAF fighter jets. This in part is due to the fact that not a single Israeli has been killed by a Kassam since disengagement some nine months ago.
The arrest raids in the West Bank, too, have been carried out according to the "long-arm" tactic: staying out of the cities unless there is precise intelligence about a terror cell in the works or a bomber beginning his death march toward Israel.
This tactic, combined with a cost-benefit analysis of damage and casualties, has so far been the driving force behind the IDF's current military campaigns, both in Gaza against Kassam rockets and in the West Bank against Islamic Jihad suicide bombers.
Four years ago, following the Pessah suicide bombing in Netanya's Park Hotel, Operation Defensive Shield was launched. It created an almost permanent militarily presence in the West Bank and brought about a drastic decrease in the number of suicide bombings. In contrast, the current campaigns in the Islamic Jihad's backyard in Nablus and Jenin (home of Monday's bomber) - "New Spring" in Nablus and "Tiger's Den" in northern Samaria - have officers claiming that the terror groups are not being penetrated as much as the army would have liked.
NEVERTHELESS, AND despite some calls from within the IDF General Staff for a Defensive Shield-like operation in Samaria that would place tanks in downtown Nablus, Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz have decided that Israel's response to Monday's attack would be in keeping with the current "precision-strike" approach.
Troops, Olmert determined, will continue acting on specific intelligence regarding West Bank terror infrastructure; Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi was ordered to write a paper about the weak points of Israel-West Bank crossings; and the Defense Ministry was ordered to speed up construction of the Jerusalem Envelope fence, assessed to have been used by this week's suicide bomber to infiltrate into Israel.
In response, some in the defense establishment said that no additional papers or tough talk were going to stop the flow of terror and its spillover into Israeli cities. These officials believe that a thorough "mowing" is what is needed to stop the terror lawn from continuing to grow.
WHILE OLMERT and defense chiefs scratched their heads to come up with the right response to Monday's attack and measures to prevent the next one, settlers in the West Bank and evacuees from Gaza were attributing the upsurge in terror to the government's policies of disengagement and "convergence."
This week marked not only Pessah festivities but also demonstrations of power by settlers throughout the West Bank in the run-up to what they promise will be a long and difficult fight against further withdrawals.
On Sunday, more than 1,000 activists broke through a ring of policemen and soldiers to march on the road from Beit El to Talmon, in defiance of the IDF declaring the area a closed military zone. Clashes broke out during the march, which was organized by "Youth for the Land of Israel," a group which erected several illegal outposts in the West Bank last year. Aside from the rocks and paint-filled light bulbs thrown at security forces, as a result of which some 10 arrests were made, the march carried a much stronger underlying message: Olmert's plan to withdraw from the West Bank will not succeed.
"This was a gratifying day," Kedumim Regional Council head Daniella Weiss said following the march. "We showed them we can march where we want and that Olmert will not succeed in evacuating us."
The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is currently formulating a plan to fight Olmert's declared intention to withdraw from a majority of the West Bank. Settler leaders are still licking their wounds from their failure to stop Ariel Sharon's disengagement from Gaza and are reevaluating the type of campaign they launched at the time.
One of the questions the Council is asking, Council spokeswoman Emily Amrusi said, is whether they should change their attitude toward refusing IDF orders - accepted only by fringe elements during the Gaza withdrawal and blasted by the more formal and official settler movements.
The army is well aware of the mood within the national religious camp. In an effort to bridge the gap and maintain an open dialogue, Halutz - following disengagement - appointed Brig.-Gen. Tal Russo, former head of IDF forces in the Jordan Valley, to deal with IDF-national religious relations.
In a report he recently submitted to the General Staff, Russo painted a daunting picture of a growing rift between the army and the religious camp. Russo, who held talks with rabbis, settler leaders, parents and teenagers, came to the conclusion that the national religious camp is in the midst of a crisis: searching for a new identity in a post-disengagement reality, and gearing up for the next battle.
Comments:
Israel is a land based on 'Faith"-from beginning to end
marilyn
04/23/2006 09:06
The settlers have gone out to these settlements on the basis of 'faith' The whole nation of Israel exists on the basis of 'faith' If you start destroying peoples 'faith' in their God and not supporting them then your whole right as a nation is called into question. And the Arabs have a point when they say why don't you find a European country for your land.
The Will of the Majority
Roy - USA
04/22/2006 19:49
Whether the settlers like it or not, the majority of Israelis want to pull away from Palestinians and wall away the bombers and gunmen. There is no way that the will of the majority will be thwarted by a minority of extreme right-wing zealots. If this means that those who are in the minority try to defend their beliefs with guns and consequently perish in the attempt, that is unfortunate, but inevitable. When the wall is completed, that may not end the "stupid bombs" and the rocketeers' attempts to kill Israelis. It will end, in the eyes of the world, any justification for extremism by Palestinians, and then any attacks in retaliation by the IDF will have the approval of all but the Islamic extremists.
targeted assasinations
erik - usa
04/22/2006 16:18
The only altermative to targeted assasinations is nontargeted assainations like the Palestiniians,the Chechens,and the Iraqu insurgents.
its prudent
david the king - usa
04/21/2006 23:27
it would be prudent to stop targeted assasinations. they only lead to more violence, which in turn leads to more assinations, which leads to more bombings...... which makes it a loose loose situation. i can recall a tv personality saying "stop the insanity!" that fits well in this context. if we stop targeted killing we are on our way to peace, or "shalom"!
Israel Preparing to Retake Gaza Strip
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
April 21,2006
Masked militants run to attend a joint press conference by five different armed factions, linked to Hamas and Fatah, in Gaza City Wednesday, April 19, 2006. The factions affirmed their support to the Palestinian government as Israel's leaders on Tuesday, although decided against launching a large-scale military operation, blamed the Hamas-led Palestinian government for the worst suicide bombing in 20 months. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
In a growing barrage of Israeli pressure against Hamas, a senior military commander said Israel is actively preparing to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and a powerful lawmaker said the entire Palestinian Cabinet could be targeted for assassination after the appointment of a wanted militant to head a new security force.
Officials said there were no immediate plans to strike at the Hamas-led government. But the comments reflected rising Israeli impatience with the Islamic militant group, which has refused to renounce violence, defended a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv this week and failed to halt militant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
"If the price we have to pay becomes unreasonable as a result of increased attacks, then we shall have to take all steps, including occupying the Gaza Strip," Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, head of Israel's southern command, told the Maariv daily.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Turkey's state-run news agency Friday that reoccupation of the Gaza Strip would be a "deadly mistake."
Israel withdrew from Gaza last summer, ending 38 years of military occupation. Since the pullout, militants have fired rockets into southern Israel on a nearly daily basis.
Tensions were further heightened on Thursday when Hamas said it was forming a new security force commanded by Jamal Abu Samhadana, who heads a group responsible for many of the rocket attacks and is a suspect in a deadly attack on an American convoy.
Israeli lawmaker Danny Yatom, a retired head of the Mossad spy agency, said that not only Samhadana but the entire Hamas Cabinet is now a legitimate target for assassination.
"I understand that our sights are also trained on Hamas ministers, not only on the police chief," Yatom told Israel Radio. "Nobody who deals with terror can have immunity by any means, even if he holds a ministerial portfolio in the Hamas government."
Yatom, a member of the center-left Labor Party, did not name any particular minister as a potential target.
During five years of fighting, Israel has killed dozens of militants in "targeted killings." Samhadana is high on Israel's wanted list and has been the target of at least one attempted Israeli assassination.
"We have old scores to settle with this murderer," Israeli Cabinet minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio. "He has no immunity and we will have to settle this score sooner or later."
Samhadana's group, the Popular Resistance Committees, has launched dozens of homemade rockets at Israel in recent weeks. It also is suspected of involvement in the October 2003 bombing in Gaza of a U.S. Embassy convoy, which killed three American security guards.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the formation of the new Palestinian police force showed "the true nature and the true tactics of this particular Hamas-led government." The United States will still hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for stopping terror attacks, he said.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, has largely observed a cease-fire with Israel since February 2005. But since taking office last month, the Hamas leadership has said attacks carried out by other groups, including Monday's suicide bombing that killed nine, are justified.
Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for all the violence, though defense officials are still weighing whether to begin attacking Hamas targets directly.
Galant, the Israeli commander, said patience is wearing thin with Hamas. He said the army is preparing for a range of responses to the rocket fire.
"It could be anything from a partial occupation of the Gaza Strip to a full occupation," he told Maariv, adding that the plans have been approved by senior officials, including Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
Israel has responded to the rocket attacks with airstrikes and artillery fire on suspected launch sites. Israeli security officials concede it is very difficult to halt the primitive weapons, which are airborne for just 15 to 20 seconds and are hard to detect.
Israel already has made two brief incursions into Gaza in recent days to search for explosives. But defense officials said the odds of a large-scale operation or full occupation are slim because of financial and political constraints.
"I wouldn't want to reach that situation, but if it's forced upon us we have a plan to occupy the strip," Galant said. "We are in advanced stages of preparing forces for readiness. There is a practical plan and there are forces which are designated for specific operations and are training for them."
Israel is reluctant to go back into Gaza after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to withdraw and overcoming staunch internal political opposition. In addition, Israel is pleased with the international pressure on Hamas and fears military action could jeopardize that.
Galant's threat of a reoccupation could in part be aimed at an Israeli public outraged over the rocket fire. It could also be meant to put pressure on Hamas to halt the attacks.
Hamas defeated the long-dominant Fatah Party in January legislative elections, and its new Cabinet was sworn into office late last month.
The appointment of Samhadana was the latest step in a growing power struggle between Hamas and Abbas, a moderate who leads the Fatah party.
Soon after the new Cabinet was sworn in last month, Abbas appointed a longtime ally to head three security services that were supposed to fall under Hamas command. Abbas controls several other security services directly.
The U.S. Media
and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
ArabFilm.com
Editorial:
By Housewife4Palestine
This makes for tiresome reading when any attack on Israel hit’s the United States newspapers, but fails to show the months of bombardment done to the Palestinians that led up to this bombing in a Tel Aviv restaurant. There weren’t any pictures of a Palestinian woman and her children killed by an Israeli Missile that hit her home. Or the countless others that are shot daily in their neighborhoods, villages or cities. Why not show the starving Palestinians, thanks to all the Pro-Israel governments and the prison like conditions the Palestinians are going through right now?
I guess, what I am most wondering what happened to “Freedom of the Press?” Is everything now censorship or just yellow Journalism. Or maybe again I am wrong; the Propaganda machine is working so hard over time it is about the blow a cog?
And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
-- Exodus 21: 23-25 (KJV)
Irena Shaulov embraces the flag-wrapped body of her son David, who was among the Israeli victims of a suicide bomber outside a fast-food restaurant in Tel Aviv on Monday. David Shaulov also leaves a wife, who is nine months pregnant.
Hamas responsible for attack, cabinet says
April 19, 2006
Josef Federman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Columbus Dispatch
JERUSALEM — Israel’s leaders yesterday held the Hamasled Palestinian government responsible for the deadliest suicide bombing in 20 months, but decided against a military operation in an attempt to avoid escalating violence.
Officials said the measured response will help preserve a strong international front against Hamas and that Israel will take all steps it deems necessary, including assassinations, to prevent attacks.
The Islamic Jihad militant group carried out Monday’s blast outside a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 10 people including the bomber and wounding dozens. Although Hamas was not directly involved, its leaders defended the attack as a justified response to Israeli strikes against Palestinian militants.
Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with top officials and security chiefs for two hours yesterday to weigh a response. The group decided to hold Hamas accountable because it did not denounce the bombing.
"Israel sees the Palestinian Authority as responsible for what happened yesterday," said Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official.
But Olmert decided against launching a large-scale military operation and blocked a proposal to declare the Palestinian Authority an "enemy entity," participants said.
One senior Israeli official said it is unrealistic to expect Israel to carry out immediate largescale airstrikes in response to Palestinian violence.
"This doesn’t mean you won’t see more targeted killings and other operational things," he said. "It has to be done in an effective way that the whole international community will understand."
The official asked that his name be withheld because he was not authorized to discuss government policy.
Officials said responses likely would include assassinations of bombing masterminds, arrests of Islamic Jihad members in the northern West Bank, where Monday’s bomber lived, and tighter travel restrictions.
Such actions would be in line with the recent policies of Ariel Sharon, the prime minister who was incapacitated by a stroke in January. Officials said they think the policies, combined with Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, have been effective in preventing attacks.
In Washington, President Bush was asked whether he had encouraged Israel to show restraint. "I have consistently reminded all parties that they must be mindful of whatever actions they take and mindful of the consequences," Bush said.
Monday’s bombing was the first inside Israel since Hamas’ government was sworn into office late last month.
Atef Adwan, a Hamas cabinet minister, dismissed Israel’s assertion that the Palestinian Authority ultimately is responsible for the attack. "Israel is trying to find a pretext to act against the Palestinian institutions and act against the Palestinian people," he said.
Also yesterday, the Russian daily Izvesty said Russia will send an additional $10 million to the Palestinian Authority, which is in financial trouble and has experienced cuts in ad from Western donors.
Blair urges Hamas to denounce 'wicked' Tel Aviv bombing
April 19,2006
AFP
Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves his residence at No.10 Downing street in London for the weekly Prime Minister's question time in the House of Commons. Blair has urged the Hamas-led Palestinian government to denounce the "wicked and irresponsible" suicide bombing that killed nine people in Tel Aviv.(AFP/Odd Andersen)
Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged the Hamas-led Palestinian government to denounce the "wicked and irresponsible" suicide bombing that killed nine people in Tel Aviv.
"I hope very much that Hamas realises that those who kill innocent people in this way... are wicked and irresponsible but more than that, they do nothing to further the process of peace in the Middle East," he said Wednesday.
In his weekly question and answer sessions with members of parliament, Blair reiterated his backing for a "two-state solution" in the Middle East and stressed that the world was ready to help push forward a settlement.
"When you have people killed, innocent people, wholly innocent people killed in terrorist attacks, for example in Tel Aviv a couple of days ago, that sets back the whole chance of a proper negotiated solution," he added.
"What I would say to the Hamas leadership very, very clearly is that I believe that the whole of the international community stands ready and willing to take forward a negotiated solution on the basis of a fair deal that allows for an independent and viable Palestinian state, providing that Hamas recognise the state of Israel and give up violence.
"That (violence) does nothing to make this process work and does everything to harm it."
Israel placed full blame on Hamas Tuesday for the attack at a crowded food stand in Israel's largest Mediterranean city, the first suicide bombing inside the country since the hardline Islamists shot to power in January.
The attack, claimed by Islamic Jihad, elicited international condemnation and prompted further questions about foreign aid for the Palestinian Authority.
But Hamas leaders instead pointed the finger at Israel, claiming its continuing "occupation and aggressions" in the occupied territories were to blame for the cycle of violence.
U.S. Backs Israel's Defense, Urges Caution
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
Apr 19,2006
Israel has a right to defend itself but should consider the effect on peace prospects as it weighs a response to a deadly suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, the State Department said Tuesday.
The mixed message, which is virtually identical to past statements by the Bush administration after terror attacks on Israel, was expressed by department spokesman Sean McCormack.
It reflects a long-standing position by President Bush that the Israeli government is entitled to use retaliatory force in defense of the Israeli people.
Past administrations have put an emphasis on appealing for restraint on all sides.
The bombing Monday in a restaurant killed nine people and the bomber. It was the deadliest attack on Israel in 20 months. Islamic Jihad, classified by the department as a terror organization, claimed responsibility.
The attack was called legitimate by the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which the United States, the European Union and Canada are boycotting.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned condolences to Foriegn Minister Tzipi Livni and her wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, McCormack said.
Asked whether the administration had urged Israel to be restrained in any retaliatory strike, the spokesman replied: "Our position is that the Israeli government has the right to defend the Israeli people."
McCormack added: "We, as always, ask them to consider the effect of their actions upon the future prospects for peace. That position is long-standing and unchanged."
Security and Defense: Is our policy exploding in our faces?
April 20,2006
By YAAKOV KATZ
The Jerusalem Post
The aftermath of the Tel Aviv terror attack
Photo: AP
Monday's suicide bombing - in which nine people were killed and dozens of others wounded - has military officials questioning both the effectiveness of specific IDF operations in the West Bank and the army's overall strategy in general.
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz - whose stated goal has not been to eradicate terror, but to reduce it to a tolerable minimum - has so far decided to keep ground forces out of the Gaza Strip and to continue using long-distance precision strikes, such as artillery cannons and IAF fighter jets. This in part is due to the fact that not a single Israeli has been killed by a Kassam since disengagement some nine months ago.
The arrest raids in the West Bank, too, have been carried out according to the "long-arm" tactic: staying out of the cities unless there is precise intelligence about a terror cell in the works or a bomber beginning his death march toward Israel.
This tactic, combined with a cost-benefit analysis of damage and casualties, has so far been the driving force behind the IDF's current military campaigns, both in Gaza against Kassam rockets and in the West Bank against Islamic Jihad suicide bombers.
Four years ago, following the Pessah suicide bombing in Netanya's Park Hotel, Operation Defensive Shield was launched. It created an almost permanent militarily presence in the West Bank and brought about a drastic decrease in the number of suicide bombings. In contrast, the current campaigns in the Islamic Jihad's backyard in Nablus and Jenin (home of Monday's bomber) - "New Spring" in Nablus and "Tiger's Den" in northern Samaria - have officers claiming that the terror groups are not being penetrated as much as the army would have liked.
NEVERTHELESS, AND despite some calls from within the IDF General Staff for a Defensive Shield-like operation in Samaria that would place tanks in downtown Nablus, Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz have decided that Israel's response to Monday's attack would be in keeping with the current "precision-strike" approach.
Troops, Olmert determined, will continue acting on specific intelligence regarding West Bank terror infrastructure; Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi was ordered to write a paper about the weak points of Israel-West Bank crossings; and the Defense Ministry was ordered to speed up construction of the Jerusalem Envelope fence, assessed to have been used by this week's suicide bomber to infiltrate into Israel.
In response, some in the defense establishment said that no additional papers or tough talk were going to stop the flow of terror and its spillover into Israeli cities. These officials believe that a thorough "mowing" is what is needed to stop the terror lawn from continuing to grow.
WHILE OLMERT and defense chiefs scratched their heads to come up with the right response to Monday's attack and measures to prevent the next one, settlers in the West Bank and evacuees from Gaza were attributing the upsurge in terror to the government's policies of disengagement and "convergence."
This week marked not only Pessah festivities but also demonstrations of power by settlers throughout the West Bank in the run-up to what they promise will be a long and difficult fight against further withdrawals.
On Sunday, more than 1,000 activists broke through a ring of policemen and soldiers to march on the road from Beit El to Talmon, in defiance of the IDF declaring the area a closed military zone. Clashes broke out during the march, which was organized by "Youth for the Land of Israel," a group which erected several illegal outposts in the West Bank last year. Aside from the rocks and paint-filled light bulbs thrown at security forces, as a result of which some 10 arrests were made, the march carried a much stronger underlying message: Olmert's plan to withdraw from the West Bank will not succeed.
"This was a gratifying day," Kedumim Regional Council head Daniella Weiss said following the march. "We showed them we can march where we want and that Olmert will not succeed in evacuating us."
The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is currently formulating a plan to fight Olmert's declared intention to withdraw from a majority of the West Bank. Settler leaders are still licking their wounds from their failure to stop Ariel Sharon's disengagement from Gaza and are reevaluating the type of campaign they launched at the time.
One of the questions the Council is asking, Council spokeswoman Emily Amrusi said, is whether they should change their attitude toward refusing IDF orders - accepted only by fringe elements during the Gaza withdrawal and blasted by the more formal and official settler movements.
The army is well aware of the mood within the national religious camp. In an effort to bridge the gap and maintain an open dialogue, Halutz - following disengagement - appointed Brig.-Gen. Tal Russo, former head of IDF forces in the Jordan Valley, to deal with IDF-national religious relations.
In a report he recently submitted to the General Staff, Russo painted a daunting picture of a growing rift between the army and the religious camp. Russo, who held talks with rabbis, settler leaders, parents and teenagers, came to the conclusion that the national religious camp is in the midst of a crisis: searching for a new identity in a post-disengagement reality, and gearing up for the next battle.
Comments:
Israel is a land based on 'Faith"-from beginning to end
marilyn
04/23/2006 09:06
The settlers have gone out to these settlements on the basis of 'faith' The whole nation of Israel exists on the basis of 'faith' If you start destroying peoples 'faith' in their God and not supporting them then your whole right as a nation is called into question. And the Arabs have a point when they say why don't you find a European country for your land.
The Will of the Majority
Roy - USA
04/22/2006 19:49
Whether the settlers like it or not, the majority of Israelis want to pull away from Palestinians and wall away the bombers and gunmen. There is no way that the will of the majority will be thwarted by a minority of extreme right-wing zealots. If this means that those who are in the minority try to defend their beliefs with guns and consequently perish in the attempt, that is unfortunate, but inevitable. When the wall is completed, that may not end the "stupid bombs" and the rocketeers' attempts to kill Israelis. It will end, in the eyes of the world, any justification for extremism by Palestinians, and then any attacks in retaliation by the IDF will have the approval of all but the Islamic extremists.
targeted assasinations
erik - usa
04/22/2006 16:18
The only altermative to targeted assasinations is nontargeted assainations like the Palestiniians,the Chechens,and the Iraqu insurgents.
its prudent
david the king - usa
04/21/2006 23:27
it would be prudent to stop targeted assasinations. they only lead to more violence, which in turn leads to more assinations, which leads to more bombings...... which makes it a loose loose situation. i can recall a tv personality saying "stop the insanity!" that fits well in this context. if we stop targeted killing we are on our way to peace, or "shalom"!
Israel Preparing to Retake Gaza Strip
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
April 21,2006
Masked militants run to attend a joint press conference by five different armed factions, linked to Hamas and Fatah, in Gaza City Wednesday, April 19, 2006. The factions affirmed their support to the Palestinian government as Israel's leaders on Tuesday, although decided against launching a large-scale military operation, blamed the Hamas-led Palestinian government for the worst suicide bombing in 20 months. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
In a growing barrage of Israeli pressure against Hamas, a senior military commander said Israel is actively preparing to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and a powerful lawmaker said the entire Palestinian Cabinet could be targeted for assassination after the appointment of a wanted militant to head a new security force.
Officials said there were no immediate plans to strike at the Hamas-led government. But the comments reflected rising Israeli impatience with the Islamic militant group, which has refused to renounce violence, defended a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv this week and failed to halt militant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
"If the price we have to pay becomes unreasonable as a result of increased attacks, then we shall have to take all steps, including occupying the Gaza Strip," Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, head of Israel's southern command, told the Maariv daily.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Turkey's state-run news agency Friday that reoccupation of the Gaza Strip would be a "deadly mistake."
Israel withdrew from Gaza last summer, ending 38 years of military occupation. Since the pullout, militants have fired rockets into southern Israel on a nearly daily basis.
Tensions were further heightened on Thursday when Hamas said it was forming a new security force commanded by Jamal Abu Samhadana, who heads a group responsible for many of the rocket attacks and is a suspect in a deadly attack on an American convoy.
Israeli lawmaker Danny Yatom, a retired head of the Mossad spy agency, said that not only Samhadana but the entire Hamas Cabinet is now a legitimate target for assassination.
"I understand that our sights are also trained on Hamas ministers, not only on the police chief," Yatom told Israel Radio. "Nobody who deals with terror can have immunity by any means, even if he holds a ministerial portfolio in the Hamas government."
Yatom, a member of the center-left Labor Party, did not name any particular minister as a potential target.
During five years of fighting, Israel has killed dozens of militants in "targeted killings." Samhadana is high on Israel's wanted list and has been the target of at least one attempted Israeli assassination.
"We have old scores to settle with this murderer," Israeli Cabinet minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio. "He has no immunity and we will have to settle this score sooner or later."
Samhadana's group, the Popular Resistance Committees, has launched dozens of homemade rockets at Israel in recent weeks. It also is suspected of involvement in the October 2003 bombing in Gaza of a U.S. Embassy convoy, which killed three American security guards.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the formation of the new Palestinian police force showed "the true nature and the true tactics of this particular Hamas-led government." The United States will still hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for stopping terror attacks, he said.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, has largely observed a cease-fire with Israel since February 2005. But since taking office last month, the Hamas leadership has said attacks carried out by other groups, including Monday's suicide bombing that killed nine, are justified.
Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for all the violence, though defense officials are still weighing whether to begin attacking Hamas targets directly.
Galant, the Israeli commander, said patience is wearing thin with Hamas. He said the army is preparing for a range of responses to the rocket fire.
"It could be anything from a partial occupation of the Gaza Strip to a full occupation," he told Maariv, adding that the plans have been approved by senior officials, including Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
Israel has responded to the rocket attacks with airstrikes and artillery fire on suspected launch sites. Israeli security officials concede it is very difficult to halt the primitive weapons, which are airborne for just 15 to 20 seconds and are hard to detect.
Israel already has made two brief incursions into Gaza in recent days to search for explosives. But defense officials said the odds of a large-scale operation or full occupation are slim because of financial and political constraints.
"I wouldn't want to reach that situation, but if it's forced upon us we have a plan to occupy the strip," Galant said. "We are in advanced stages of preparing forces for readiness. There is a practical plan and there are forces which are designated for specific operations and are training for them."
Israel is reluctant to go back into Gaza after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to withdraw and overcoming staunch internal political opposition. In addition, Israel is pleased with the international pressure on Hamas and fears military action could jeopardize that.
Galant's threat of a reoccupation could in part be aimed at an Israeli public outraged over the rocket fire. It could also be meant to put pressure on Hamas to halt the attacks.
Hamas defeated the long-dominant Fatah Party in January legislative elections, and its new Cabinet was sworn into office late last month.
The appointment of Samhadana was the latest step in a growing power struggle between Hamas and Abbas, a moderate who leads the Fatah party.
Soon after the new Cabinet was sworn in last month, Abbas appointed a longtime ally to head three security services that were supposed to fall under Hamas command. Abbas controls several other security services directly.
The U.S. Media
and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
ArabFilm.com
Editorial:
By Housewife4Palestine
This makes for tiresome reading when any attack on Israel hit’s the United States newspapers, but fails to show the months of bombardment done to the Palestinians that led up to this bombing in a Tel Aviv restaurant. There weren’t any pictures of a Palestinian woman and her children killed by an Israeli Missile that hit her home. Or the countless others that are shot daily in their neighborhoods, villages or cities. Why not show the starving Palestinians, thanks to all the Pro-Israel governments and the prison like conditions the Palestinians are going through right now?
I guess, what I am most wondering what happened to “Freedom of the Press?” Is everything now censorship or just yellow Journalism. Or maybe again I am wrong; the Propaganda machine is working so hard over time it is about the blow a cog?
And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
-- Exodus 21: 23-25 (KJV)
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 10:43 PM
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