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War on Terror

Back in Gaza

IDF forces take up position in recently abandoned settlements


By Stan Goodenough
July 06, 2006

Less than a year after abandoning Gaza ?forever?, Israel is back in the Strip ? part of the ancient Promised Land in the inheritance of Judah.

In response to the kidnapping of one of its soldiers and incessant rocket fire towards its cities, IDF forces rolled across Gaza?s northern ?border? late Wednesday night and took up positions in the ruins of a number of settlements from which the Israeli government uprooted its people last August.

According to reports, Israel intends to establish a just-over one kilometer wide security strip inside the Palestinian Authority-controlled territory in order to push Kassam rocket teams back out of reach of Ashkelon.

Two Kassam rockets fell on that Israeli city earlier Thursday, marking the first time the missiles were able to fly that far.

Israeli Air Force planes, IDF tanks and armored vehicles took part in the push into Gaza. At least seven Palestinian Arabs have been killed in the IDF action so far. Six of them were terrorists and one a civilian.

As it traditionally does in such anti-terrorism operations, and unlike any other army in the world, Israel?s military is attempting to pinpoint its strikes in order to keep collateral damage to a minimum.

It is IDF policy to protect civilian life as far as possible, even when terrorist groups purposefully launch attacks from inside population centers in order to hide behind their own people.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz Thursday expressed his regret at having to send troops back into the Gaza Strip, but called it a necessary and unavoidable step.

He said Israel would leave as soon as abducted Corporal Gilad Shalit was released and the Kassam rocket firing came to an end.

But the Palestinian terror groups vowed to continue their aggression and drive Israel out of Gaza a second time.

PA "prime minister" and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh cried out for international intervention, saying Israel plans to "reoccupy" Gaza.

It is a widely held Arab view that Israel?s 2005 ?disengagement? from Gaza was directly attributable to the terrorism: We ?Palestinians? drove Israel out.

Israel does not have a good record of maintaining deterrence through ?security zones.? Just as Hamas claims credit for driving the IDF out of Gaza, so too does the Hizb?allah for driving Israel out of southern Lebanon.

According to conservative Israelis, the burgeoning instability of, and intensified terrorism from, Gaza, prove the absolute failure of the Gaza withdrawal.

Despite this, the Olmert government is giving no indication that it is ready to even consider reassessing its plan to similarly abandon Samaria and Judea.

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