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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: paul_philp who wrote (75983)	2/20/2003 12:53:53 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Lest I slack off in my self-appointed task of keeping the thread up-to-date on the Israeli/Pal conflict, I would like to point out that the conflict hasn't stopped just because media attention has been diverted elsewhere. On the contrary, the low-grade war between the IDF and Hamas is heating up, now that the Palestinians no longer have their media shelter. The Israelis, who are tired of Hamas shelling Sderot (inside the Green Line, btw), are raiding Hamas bases more and more frequently. The Israelis are also trying to stave off the coordinated Hizbullah-Hamas attack they expect to occur when the Iraq war begins. Here is the latest analysis from Ze'ev Schiff of Ha'aretz: Analysis / Where do we go from here? By Ze'ev Schiff Over the past 24 hours, the Israel Defense Forces has broadened its operations against Hamas with a series of operations, both in Nablus and in the Gaza Strip, that will take some time. And the army's operations against Hamas are likely to expand even further, even encompassing the seizure of commanding terrain, because of the firing of Qassam rockets on Sderot. Though two separate operations, one in Nablus and one in Gaza, were conducted by two different regional commands, what they have in common is that both constitute offensives aimed at Hamas. The IDF still views Nablus as the terrorist capital of the territories and the casbah as a key center controlled by Hamas. Armed Hamas operatives roam the casbah without fear. In other parts of the West Bank, Hamas has absorbed heavy blows and the links among the organization's cells have weakened; Hamas commanders in Gaza are now trying to develop new links with the various West Bank cells. This time, therefore, the IDF decided to focus on the Nablus casbah. From an operational standpoint, this is a complex operation, because it must be carried out by infantrymen with rifles, without the aid of armored forces. There is danger from snipers, and attacks can be launched easily from the tall buildings that dominate the narrow alleyways. Moving from house to house without breaking cover is also extremely difficult. On the first day of the operation, soldiers killed two Palestinians who tried to throw Molotov cocktails at them, and also seized an explosives workshop. They stayed in the casbah overnight. The casbah operation will apparently last for some time, as no deadline for its end has yet been set. The Gaza operation was originally aimed solely at the workshops used to prepare Qassam rockets and mortar shells. There is a school in the area where the troops are operating that is believed to be affiliated with Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The operation continued for some time, and as it went on, more and more armed men, apparently Hamas members, gathered in the area. Ten of them were killed, some by helicopter fire and some by gunfire from Givati Brigade soldiers. This operation is also considered one of a series that will certainly continue in the coming days. For now, the IDF has no intention of occupying territory in Gaza and remaining there indefinitely, as it has in the West Bank. What could still change this decision is the repeated shelling of Sderot, a city of 25,000 people located inside the Green Line. To date, the city has been hit by 21 Qassam rockets in 10 separate incidents; Hamas has also fired mortar shells at Sderot. The last rocket launch (before yesterday's) was three weeks ago, and this respite has been attributed to the pressure exerted on Hamas by the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service. The mortar shelling, however, continued during this period. Last night, the IDF General Staff met to decide where the operation should go from here. The current feeling is that the attacks on Sderot cannot be allowed to pass in silence, regardless of whether the city is hit with Qassam rockets or mortar shells. In order to put an end to these attacks, the army will have no choice but to seize the commanding terrain in northern Gaza that is within Qassam and mortar range of Sderot. Such an operation would be particularly hard on Beit Hanun. The cells that launch the Qassam rockets generally come from Gaza City to Beit Hanun, and in order to make life difficult for these cells, the IDF recently destroyed a number of bridges in northern Gaza. haaretz.com