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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (185654)	3/27/2004 7:34:51 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578498

Z, thanks........you learn something new every day. ted

To: SilentZ who wrote (185654)	3/28/2004 7:28:32 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578498

The Shape of Violence to Come? We May Be More Vulnerable Now, But Killing Yassin Was Necessary By Yossi Klein Halevi Sunday, March 28, 2004; Page B01 JERUSALEM According to polls taken after the assassination last Monday of Hamas terrorist leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a majority of Israelis agree that the attack has made us more vulnerable to terrorism. Yet that same majority -- which, presumably, will pay the price in the form of revenge attacks by Hamas -- believes that the assassination was not only justified, but inevitable. That's because most Israelis, including me, understand that the Yassin killing was no mere act of vengeance or the frustrated tantrum of a government unable to stop terrorism after more than three years of war. Instead, the assassination was a carefully conceived gamble, prompted by immediate security needs and long-term psychological calculations. Though the world didn't seem to notice, Hamas crossed a red line on March 14, when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the port of Ashdod, a city south of Tel Aviv. What stunned Israelis about that attack wasn't the casualty rate: Ten dead and dozens wounded is now considered a middle-level atrocity, no longer warranting banner headlines. Instead, the shock this time was that the bombers had penetrated a strategic site and blown themselves up near storage tanks containing toxic chemicals. Only their ineptitude prevented a mega-attack that could have claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. The next day, the government announced it was renewing its policy of targeted assassinations against all of Hamas's leaders, including those in the supposedly "political" wing -- in practice the commanders of the terrorist wing. The policy is meant to force Hamas into a defensive mode, so that rather than planning attacks it is protecting its operation. True, in the coming weeks, the opposite may well occur, as Hamas and its Fatah allies rage against Israeli society. The gamble, though, is that an ongoing Israeli assault on Hamas in Gaza will gradually reduce its operational capacity -- which has, in fact, happened in the West Bank. In the past two years, the almost daily suicide bombings and attempted bombings emanating from the West Bank have dropped to barely one deadly attack a month -- the Israeli equivalent of good news. Israelis understand that the war on terror isn't a "cycle of violence" but an existential struggle that defines our ability to survive in the Middle East. As anxious as I am about the new wave of terrorism likely to be released by the Yassin killing, I'd be more afraid of living in an Israel that wouldn't attack those who try to destroy us. Beyond military considerations, there's a crucial psychological justification for targeting Hamas leaders. That is especially urgent as Israel prepares to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza. While a majority of the public supports Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's intention to leave within 18 months, many worry that the move will only further encourage terrorists. "Uprooting Settlements Is a Victory for Terrorism," warn right-wing banners at traffic intersections around the country. Even Israelis like myself who support a unilaterial departure -- as the only realistic alternative to our inability to occupy the Palestinians or to make peace with them -- nevertheless worry about a repeat of the disastrous consequences of our pullout from Lebanon four years ago, under pressure from the Lebanese fundamentalist Hezbollah. As a result of Israel's seemingly panicked retreat, Palestinian leaders concluded that the "Hezbollah option" could work for them as well. For if Hezbollah could demoralize the Israeli public by inflicting two dozen casualties a year on the Israeli army, then surely a terrorist war aimed at Israel's heartland would force the public to surrender the territories, without any reciprocal Palestinian concessions. washingtonpost.com