Palestinian provocation
What do the Palestinians hope to gain by deliberately provoking another battle in their ongoing war against Israel and the Jews? From their perspective this is a good time for the continuation of hostilities. Hamas followers believe that it is their God-given task, that Allah is on their side and so they cannot fail. Also, even the Fatah, which is Muslim but also more nationalist, have become infused by the Palestinian culture of death, where to be a martyr for the cause is the highest ideal. So they are serving God's will by striking a blow at the IDF, even though outgunned.
This belief makes them fanatical and ruthless fighters, as are the suicide bombers around the world and the insurgents in Iraq. They are prepared to die for their cause. Their leaders also recognize that they are a fractious people, separated into a dozen different armed groups and persuasions, some more Islamist (Hamas), some more nationalist (Fatah), and some more socialist (the PFLP). How to stop them fighting each other - nothing is better than a common enemy, any tin-pot dictator knows this. If you think that the Palestinians are "democratic" just because they had an election, think again. Hamas is about as democratic as the Nazis were when they seized power by using the ballot box in Germany in 1933. Yasir Arafat knew that to meld them into a unified people he needed to continue the war against Israel, that out of suffering comes unity, and Hamas are merely continuing his legacy in order to consolidate their control.
They also believe that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last year was a sign of the weakness of the "Zionist entity," why otherwise would it withdraw its forces? Just as the IDF was driven from southern Lebanon by Hizbollah, by a combination of militia attacks and rockets shot into northern Israel, so under Hizbollah tutelage, they are using this strategy to attack us now. They are inspired by the dedication of the Muslim fighters of Afghanistan who threw out the Soviets, by the example of the suicide bombers of "9/11" and "7/7" and by those who threw the hated IDF out of Lebanon and Gaza.
That is why they have been training their militias as an army against the IDF, that is why they supported the digging of tunnels under Israeli outposts and the attack on Kerem Shalom and the killing and capturing of soldier-hostages in Israel, and that is why they support the strategy of shooting rockets into Israeli cities. All this is a prelude to the battle that they know is inevitable if they inflict enough damage and casualties on Israel. And they are prepared to take casualties in the battle that they have precipitated.
Now you might ask, why doesn't the Israeli Government, knowing that this is the deliberate strategy of the Hamas Government of the PA, avoid getting sucked into the cauldron of battle in Gaza. The answer is simple, they cannot avoid it! The people of Israel will not accept to have their soldiers killed and taken captive and their cities bombarded every day by rockets, no country would accept this, no self-respecting Government could accept this. Why have people been carrying out a protest and hunger strike in Sderot for weeks, why have democratic committees of the Knesset been meeting in emergency session to decide how to respond to these provocations?
Israel, unlike the Palestinians, must respond carefully and in a measured and calibrated way. First send the troops to the border of Gaza and threaten to invade. Then as the Palestinians escalate the crisis, by making demands, by sending more suicide bombers (there has been a significant increase in attempts and warnings in the past month) and by extending the range of their Kassams so as to hit Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people, to send the armoured columns slowly into Gaza. The triple task of the IDF is to release Cpl. Shalit, to stop the rocket firings and to defeat the Palestinian militia army.
So as the PA militias surge out of Beit Hanun in the north where the largest battles are now occuring, and Rafah in the south, to do battle with the IDF, make no mistake of their intent, the battle cry on their lips is as always, "kill the Jews!"
This belief makes them fanatical and ruthless fighters, as are the suicide bombers around the world and the insurgents in Iraq. They are prepared to die for their cause. Their leaders also recognize that they are a fractious people, separated into a dozen different armed groups and persuasions, some more Islamist (Hamas), some more nationalist (Fatah), and some more socialist (the PFLP). How to stop them fighting each other - nothing is better than a common enemy, any tin-pot dictator knows this. If you think that the Palestinians are "democratic" just because they had an election, think again. Hamas is about as democratic as the Nazis were when they seized power by using the ballot box in Germany in 1933. Yasir Arafat knew that to meld them into a unified people he needed to continue the war against Israel, that out of suffering comes unity, and Hamas are merely continuing his legacy in order to consolidate their control.
They also believe that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last year was a sign of the weakness of the "Zionist entity," why otherwise would it withdraw its forces? Just as the IDF was driven from southern Lebanon by Hizbollah, by a combination of militia attacks and rockets shot into northern Israel, so under Hizbollah tutelage, they are using this strategy to attack us now. They are inspired by the dedication of the Muslim fighters of Afghanistan who threw out the Soviets, by the example of the suicide bombers of "9/11" and "7/7" and by those who threw the hated IDF out of Lebanon and Gaza.
That is why they have been training their militias as an army against the IDF, that is why they supported the digging of tunnels under Israeli outposts and the attack on Kerem Shalom and the killing and capturing of soldier-hostages in Israel, and that is why they support the strategy of shooting rockets into Israeli cities. All this is a prelude to the battle that they know is inevitable if they inflict enough damage and casualties on Israel. And they are prepared to take casualties in the battle that they have precipitated.
Now you might ask, why doesn't the Israeli Government, knowing that this is the deliberate strategy of the Hamas Government of the PA, avoid getting sucked into the cauldron of battle in Gaza. The answer is simple, they cannot avoid it! The people of Israel will not accept to have their soldiers killed and taken captive and their cities bombarded every day by rockets, no country would accept this, no self-respecting Government could accept this. Why have people been carrying out a protest and hunger strike in Sderot for weeks, why have democratic committees of the Knesset been meeting in emergency session to decide how to respond to these provocations?
Israel, unlike the Palestinians, must respond carefully and in a measured and calibrated way. First send the troops to the border of Gaza and threaten to invade. Then as the Palestinians escalate the crisis, by making demands, by sending more suicide bombers (there has been a significant increase in attempts and warnings in the past month) and by extending the range of their Kassams so as to hit Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people, to send the armoured columns slowly into Gaza. The triple task of the IDF is to release Cpl. Shalit, to stop the rocket firings and to defeat the Palestinian militia army.
So as the PA militias surge out of Beit Hanun in the north where the largest battles are now occuring, and Rafah in the south, to do battle with the IDF, make no mistake of their intent, the battle cry on their lips is as always, "kill the Jews!"
posted by Jack Cohen at 10:10 AM
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