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Terrorism

Gaza terror groups: After 'D-Day' we move to the 'West Bank'


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
August 09, 2005

Gaza-based ?dissident? terrorists plan to move to the so-called ?West Bank? immediately following the implementation of the Sharon government?s ?disengagement? plan.

US pressure on Israel to quickly create an independent land-corridor linking Gaza to Judea-Samaria after the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip will help them do just that.

In an announcement released Sunday, the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), described by The Jerusalem Post as an alliance of various armed militias, said it would move its operations to Judea and Samaria as soon as Israel has left the Gaza Strip.

PRC commander Jamal Abu Samhadaneh told The Post all the group?s ?fighting methods and capabilities? would be transferred to the ?West Bank? from where they would carry out the same ?fighting tactics? they had been using in Gaza.

The PRC was formed in 2000, inspired by Israel?s sudden pullout from southern Lebanon which, despite then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak?s insistence that it had been a unilateral Israeli initiative, was hailed throughout the Arab world as a major victory for Hizballah.

(That withdrawal has not led to peace in the north. Attacks on Israel, though reduced, continue. Meanwhile Hizballah has deployed around 20,000 missiles aimed at Israel. On Tuesday, Lebanon?s a?Nahar daily reported the organization was beefing up its forces along the border with Israel.)

?Disengagement? is viewed in the same light. And many Israeli leaders and analysts are convinced that its execution will strengthen the Arabs? belief in their ultimate victory over Israel. In pre-disengagement celebrations last weekend, former PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told roaring crowds Gaza was just the first step towards a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Samhadaneh, who believes terrorism is driving Israel out of Gaza, concurs. ?The withdrawal will not be complete without the West Bank and Jerusalem, which is even more precious to us than the West Bank," he said.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon?s divisive plan to forcefully render Gaza free of Jews is due to be carried out starting Monday.

According to reports in the New York Times earlier this week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is riding herd on Sharon to ensure the pullout goes ahead.

Her demands include that Israel establish a connecting corridor that will cut through the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip to Judea and Samaria, providing for the unimpeded flow of Arab traffic between the two entities and creating a de facto division between northern and southern Israel.

Rice expects Israel to grant independence to this corridor too so that the State-of-Palestine-in-the-making will be ?contiguous? and ?viable.?

Traditionally, American administrations have helped ?encourage? Israel to take such ?risks for peace? by stressing the United States? committed to ensuring Israel will exist in secure borders.

Implementation of US foreign policy in the Middle East since 1991, however, has weakened Israel from within and without.

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