GEN Israel to continue to fight

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Another Sharon-Arafat Duel Begins 29 March: Last night’s Israeli helicopter strikes against Yasser Arafat’s elite presidential guard “Force 17” sites in Ramallah and Gaza were the opening salvo of a drawn-out confrontation that will be as much a battle of wits as of military might. The targets – Force 17 commands, arsenals, bases and training facilities in Ramallah, Gaza, Khan Yunis and Dir el Barach, threw a very personal gauntlet at Arafat’s feet. Sharon has learned in past confrontations with the Palestinian leader that he is a cunning, resourceful and vicious adversary. Beating him will not be easy or quick. Israelis have therefore been forewarned to expect their counter-offensive to be drawn out with ups and downs, a war of attrition whose various stages will be interspersed with continuing violence and more terrorism of the type that crested in this week’s outrages – the murder of a 10-month old Israeli baby by a sniper in Hebron, two bomb attacks in Jerusalem that left 36 injured, two explosive charges in Netanya and Petach Tikva that were safely dismantled and, finally, a Palestinian bomber who joined a group of schoolchildren near Kalkilya and blew himself up, killing two teenagers and wounding four. After this week, talk of returning to peace talks with Arafat sounds absurd on either side. Indeed both are well primed for battle. The Palestinians burn with hate and a thirst for revenge - Islamic militants vowed to keep up and intensify their campaign of terror Thursday morning - while Israelis, frustrated with long government inaction against systematic Palestinian violence, want nothing more than a commitment from Sharon not to desist from his current joust with Arafat before the final victory. The defense cabinet Wednesday night gave him blanket authorization to go forward with an operation that won preveious approval from president Bush, when Sharon laid it before him in the White House earlier this month – with the proviso that changes must be coordinated with Washington. In addition to suicide and other bombings inside Israel, the Palestinians are expected to send killer squads into Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and also across the Green Line. Israeli raider units, whether dropped by helicopter or landed on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast from fast Israeli navy vessels, will storm Palestinian “A Areas” on the West Bank and Gaza Strip for strikes against military and strategic targets, such as bases, arsenals, command posts, electricity generators and broadcasting stations. Special army and security units will take out senior terror chiefs, resuming the assassination campaign launched and discontinued under the Barak administration. Tank units will knock over Palestinian positions controlling main highways to clear the way for the large-scale forces to enter “A Areas” of strategic importance to Israel. Arafat has not yet tried to land in Gaza from Amman where the Arab League summit conference ended yesterday. DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources report his disappointment in its meager yield for the Palestinian cause – a monthly grant of $15 million instead of the $40 million demanded. This is offset by his high expectations following his fruitful and epic interview with the Syrian president Bashar Assad. Already, his aides report him deep in preparations for a visit to Damascus, where he hopes to cement a merger between the Palestinian and the Syrian “struggles”. An element of that merger could well be the opening of a second anti-Israel front from Lebanon by the militant Shiite Hizballah which is, in any case, dedicated to war against Israel, and by Lebanon-based Palestinian militias, whom Arafat has sent messengers to recruit. Israeli security chiefs are tensely curious to see how Israel’s 1.2 million Arabs interpret Israel’s switch to the offensive for the first time since Ariel Sharon took office, when they mark their annual Land Day over next weekend. That will be an important straw in the wind. Last October, Israeli Arabs took the country by storm with violent outbreaks of solidarity with the Palestinian intifada. Thirteen rioters were shot dead and Israeli Arabs vented their anger by denying Ehud Barak their vote in the February prime minister’s election. The ill feeling remains. Heads of the Israel Arab Monitoring Committee have promised to keep the rallies, strikes and other events peaceful. They almost certainly represent the community’s silent majority. However, numerous groups of hotheads in the Triangle, Galilee and the Negev, could inflame the masses and trigger wholesale disorder. Their locations are awash with thousands of assault rifles, grenades, explosives and even machine guns and rockets, with enough trained men to use them. The police have been asked, and consented to stay out of Israeli Arab localities, but they have also been instructed not to permit a repeat of the blockade of main highways which last October tied up the country’s traffic from the north to the center and south.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

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