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Debka's thoughts on Gaza operations...
Excerpted from Debka. Link will die soon, and you'll have to scroll down to find it...Despite reports of peace talks between the warring sides, the Hamas has made plain its determination to pry loose Arafatâs hold on the Gaza Strip. This extremist Islamic terror group is now bent on gaining full control over the Strip and make it the second â or even first â Islamic terror base in the Middle East, after Hizballah-dominated south Lebanon. They're pretty well on their way to accomplishing this. Bumping off the head of the riot cops was a pretty arrogant demonstration of it... On April 1, Israeli forces drove into the Jenin refugee camp to break up the Hamas-Jihad-Hizballahâs West Bank bastion before it extended its hold on the territory. Its war stockpile was considerable - as revealed this week by candid Palestinian spokesmen: 15,000 explosive devices. Mondayâs IDF Khan Younis operation was the first in a series aimed at the same goal of diminishing the Hamas domain, this time in the Gaza Strip. It's my opinion that cleaning out Gaza is something they've got to do as a matter of self-preservation. But... DEBKAfileâs military experts explain there is no way to hit Hamas and Jihad Islami strongholds in the Gaza Strip without collateral harm to civilians. Quite simply, those groups locate their command posts, operations bases, armories and explosives dumps in residential districts and public institutions, like schools and hospitals, which provide a supportive environment and act as a vital element of their operational logistical system. That accounts for the uncomfortable upsurege in civilian casualties lately. They're human shields... Israeli military planners think very hard before attacking such Islamic strongholds in the Gaza Strip â and only then when seriously provoked by non-stop rocket, mortar, bomb, firing and grenade attacks on Israel targets in the Strip and across the border into southern Israel. That's because they're civilized people, and civilized people don't like to see women and kiddies dismembered, so they try to avoid it where possible... In addition to the risk of civilian casualties, a strategic dilemma raised its head this week: Any assault on Hamas strongholds weakens this violent group; it also plays into the hands of Yasser Arafat and his men, at a time when they are deep in the planning of the a/m upsurge of terror. The question is: Why should Israel help Arafat subdue his enemies in the Gaza Strip? This probably falls into the "one problem at a time" category. At the present moment, Hamas is the more dangerous threat â the PA gang has been beaten up and Yasser's been shown to be ineffective, which is the most dangerous thing you can be when you're a dictator. Sheikh Yassin and his boyz are on the upsurge precisely because the PA â mostly politicals, rather than religious fanatics â has been seriously weakened. Fatah is either going to die a natural death or it's going to end up transmuting into something else â that often happens when the Father of His Country dictator dies, to be replaced by men with a bit less in the area of ideology. We're waiting for it to happen in Cuba, for instance. The religious bully boys are still in the full bloom of their ideological youth. Except for Yassin himself, there aren't many very old leaders among them, so unless they're cut off at the knees now, they're going to be around for a long time, until the current crop are old Hamas leaders. My advice, not that Israel's asked for it, would be to ignore any benefit that may accrue to Yasser, and concentrate on the threat from Sheikh Yassin, who represents the real threat. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-10-11 |
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