War and Peace
Israel finds itself in the invidious position of having war and peace at the same time. On the one hand, peace negotiations are underway with the Fatah leadership of the PA, while on the other hand, at the same time a mini-war in continuing with Hamas in Gaza.
Today a Palestinian sniper shot dead an Ecuadorian volunteer working in the fields of a kibbutz close to the Gaza border. In response to this and 28 rockets fired into Israel, the IDF went into action in southern Gaza. A large firefight developed and the IDF killed 17 Palestinians, many with rockets from helicopters, at least 10 of which were identified as terrorist gunmen, including a son of the Hamas FM Mahmud Zahar. This is his second son killed, and he is the only original founder of Hamas remaining alive. No Israeli soldiers were hurt in this action.
It has been reported that in the past two years ca. 2,000 Palestinian terrorists have been killed in Gaza. However, it is estimated that there remain about 18,000. So although their losses are considerable, they are not crippling. Nevertheless, they are no match for the Israeli forces.
Ironically, at the same time that Zahar was saying that the Israeli attack was planned by George Bush and his buddy Mahmud Abbas, Abbas himself was calling the result an Israeli "massacre." So much for our peace partners.
There is still talk in Israel of whether or not the IDF will be ordered to make a major incursion into Gaza to really take out the Hamas military capability. However, PM Olmert is on record as preferring not to do this. Conventional wisdom is that he is scared because of what happened when he decided to attack Lebanon in 2006. But, there the IDF used the air force and only made a ground invasion a few days before the end of the war, much too late according to most commentators. It seems he is now making the same mistake in Gaza
This is not the first time that "war" and "peace" (fighting and negotiations) have coexisted in Israeli history. But, where is Tolstoy just when we need him. He would find Israel today fertile ground for a comparable novel.
Today a Palestinian sniper shot dead an Ecuadorian volunteer working in the fields of a kibbutz close to the Gaza border. In response to this and 28 rockets fired into Israel, the IDF went into action in southern Gaza. A large firefight developed and the IDF killed 17 Palestinians, many with rockets from helicopters, at least 10 of which were identified as terrorist gunmen, including a son of the Hamas FM Mahmud Zahar. This is his second son killed, and he is the only original founder of Hamas remaining alive. No Israeli soldiers were hurt in this action.
It has been reported that in the past two years ca. 2,000 Palestinian terrorists have been killed in Gaza. However, it is estimated that there remain about 18,000. So although their losses are considerable, they are not crippling. Nevertheless, they are no match for the Israeli forces.
Ironically, at the same time that Zahar was saying that the Israeli attack was planned by George Bush and his buddy Mahmud Abbas, Abbas himself was calling the result an Israeli "massacre." So much for our peace partners.
There is still talk in Israel of whether or not the IDF will be ordered to make a major incursion into Gaza to really take out the Hamas military capability. However, PM Olmert is on record as preferring not to do this. Conventional wisdom is that he is scared because of what happened when he decided to attack Lebanon in 2006. But, there the IDF used the air force and only made a ground invasion a few days before the end of the war, much too late according to most commentators. It seems he is now making the same mistake in Gaza
This is not the first time that "war" and "peace" (fighting and negotiations) have coexisted in Israeli history. But, where is Tolstoy just when we need him. He would find Israel today fertile ground for a comparable novel.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home