Thursday, June 11, 2009

Territorial responsibility

There is a complex situation in both the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, and in Lebanon. The election results from Lebanon, announced yesterday, show that the pro-Western coalition lead by Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated former PM Rafik Hariri, won a majority of 68 seats. The most important point is that Hizbollah and its allies were defeated with only 57 seats, thus are not able to take over the Government.
However, there is concern in Israel that the statement made by Sheikh Nasrullah, leader of Hizbollah, after the election, that Hizbollah still constitutes the "resistance" in Lebanon and is necessary for Lebanese defence against Israel, could presage a face-saving attack by Hizbollah on Israel. The Israeli Government issued a stern warning against such an action by Hizbollah and warned the new Government that it would be held responsible, as any Government is, for any attack emanating from its territory against Israel.
Meanwhile, yesterday there was a large-scale attack attempted against Israel at the Karni crossing in Gaza. A group of ten terrorists, some on explosive-laden horses, attacked the area with the intention of inflicting casualties and of kidnapping IDF soldiers. This group calling itself the "Soldiers Loyal to Allah" were detected and destroyed, with at least 4 gunmen and several of the horses being killed. This group is an off-shoot of al Qaeda, and supposedly initiated this attack without permission from Hamas and in defiance of an informal ceasefire that Hamas has imposed on the border area. However, experts in the area insisted that no such attack could be launched without Hamas' fore-knowledge. In response, Israel closed the crossings (stopping shipping of oil and food) and warned Hamas that it will be held responsible, as the controlling power in Gaza, for any attack mounted on Israel by any group from Gaza.
These situations in both the north and south of Israel emphasize the responsibility that any Government has for control of its territory and for any attack that is launched from its territory. Israel makes clear that it cannot have a "ceasefire" with either Gaza or Lebanon and then accept a situation where the local authority claims no responsibility for an attack launched by other groups against it.

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