Karni attack

Six Israelis were killed and 20 injured in a major Palestinian terrorist
attack on the Karni crossing into the Gaza strip. Three Palestinian
terrorists were also killed, two of them possibly suicide bombers.
Apparently the raid was quite well planned, first gunmen fired on the
crossing, pinning the IDF guards down and causing some casualties, then a
large truck bomb was detonated next to the wall separating the Palestinian
side from the Israeli side blowing a large hole in the wall, then
Palestinian bombers came thru the hole and detonated themselves inside. The
Fatah al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Hamas and Islamic Jihad all claimed part of
the operation.
This is a direct challenge to recently elected President Mahmoud Abbas of
the PA, as well as to the Israeli Government that is in the process of
planning the Gaza Disengagement. The terrorists gain by both thumbing their
noses at Abbas, showing that his persuasion so far has done nothing to stop
their attacks against Israel, and is also a blow to the IDF that has taken
so many casualties. The terrorists want to claim victory in forcing the IDF
to leave Gaza.
After the attack a helicopter fired two missiles into a Gaza refugee camp,
although this may not have been retaliation, but part of an on-going IAF
program using precision weapons to target known terrorists. Apparently
these aerial attacks have become more successful than the routine ground
attacks by the army, and may be the weapon used in the future if attacks
should continue after the IDF withdraws from Gaza. Yesterday an aerial
attack destroyed a car bomb that was being readied in southern Gaza, and two
Palestinian terrorists were also killed.
A few days ago a Jewish settler in Gaza was killed and two were injured in a
blast from a roadside bomb. The statement issued by Hamas after this
murder was directed specifically at Abbas and not even at Israel. In other
words, in the internal struggle in the PA, Israeli lives are used for
sending messages.
As many have warned, the mere election of Abbas, even with a large majority,
does not mean that peace will immediately break out. So far we have the
situation as before, the PA officially regrets terrorist incidents, but does
nothing to stop them. But, we may be prematurely judging Abbas, so far he
has not been officially inaugurated, and he is still reorganizing his
cabinet, and he has not announced the appointment of his new security chief.
This is expected to be Mohammed Dahlan, who was often at odds with Arafat
and was the rival of Musa Arafat, Yasser's cousin, who he appointed as head
of security in Gaza only a few months ago. Abbas has already announced that
the 12 or so security forces will be consolidated into three services, as
requested by the US for several years. It is hoped that this will get rid
of a lot of embezzlement and extra-judicial killings, and make the security
forces more professional. Until now they were paid not thru the PA but
directly from Arafat's "own pocket." Once these reforms are accomplished
maybe things will change, but it is clearly going to take some time. Don't
expect to see Abbas doing anything to confront Hamas or al Aksa, which
nominally reports to him, before then. However, there is also the distinct
possibility that such reforms will be mere window dressing, and Abbas may
never take real control of Gaza and break the power of the terrorist gangs.
While we wait to find out more Israeli lives are forfeit.