By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Jan 19, 2005
After suffering moderate wounds in Saturday’s Kassam rocket attack, Tamir Abukasis, 10, of Sderot asked the question on the minds of all his neighbors:When is Prime Minister Ariel Sharon going to finally defend his town against incessant “Palestinian” aggression?
Tamir’s 17-year-old sister, Ella, was critically wounded in that attack. She was pronounced brain dead Tuesday.
Sharon was scheduled to convene his security cabinet Wednesday to consider options given to him a day earlier by the IDF for curbing ongoing rocket and mortar attacks on Jewish civilians both in and around the Gaza Strip.
Top defense officials insisted a massive military incursion into PA-controlled areas of Gaza was the only viable solution. Sharon, however, deferred any substantial use of force in order to give PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas yet more time to prove himself.
But rather than order a crackdown, Abbas Tuesday negotiated a deal with some Gaza-based terrorists to stop targeting Israelis living inside the Jewish state’s pre-1967 borders. Jews living and working in Gaza would remain fair game.
Hamas, the terror group responsible for most rocket and mortar attacks, rejected the deal.
Concerns remain high that following Israel’s exit from Gaza under Sharon’s “disengagement” plan, the IDF’s ability to prevent artillery attacks will further deteriorate.
When, Sharon, when?
Speaking to Israel’s Channel Two News from his Beersheva hospital bed Tuesday, Tamir Abukasis expressed frustration that the Sharon government has, after four years of unabated attacks on his town, failed crush the threat facing Sderot’s residents.
Even more “annoying,” Tamir said, was the fact Sharon is now planning to “reward” the terrorists by surrendering the Gaza Strip.
Israelis gathered at Jerusalem’s Western Wall Wednesday to pray for a miraculous recovery for Tamir’s clinically dead sister, Ella.
Ella sustained injuries to her brain stem as she attempted to shield her brother during Saturday’s “Palestinian” rocket attack on Sderot.
The emotional and psychological trauma Tamir has suffered in addition to his physical injuries is shared by the entire population of the small western Negev town.
Many parents have reported extreme anxiety among children of all ages as a result of the attacks.
Put up, or step down
On Monday, Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal declared a local day of mourning for the victims of the rocket attacks. It was the first time an Israeli municipality had ever done so.
Moyal says more than 600 Kassams and other rockets have slammed into his town since the start of the Arab-initiated Oslo War in September 2000.
United Press International quoted Moyal as accusing the Sharon government of “playing games” by repeatedly sending troops into Gaza for limited raids following rocket attacks, but withdrawing before the job is done.
“We know Gaza. We've been there as soldiers. The problem can be resolved providing we are considerate of no one, wage a real war and not act like an accordion,” the Likud mayor said. “Go in once and clean it up!”
“A government that cannot defend its citizens cannot stay in power,” he insisted.
Uncomfortable options
Sharon met with local IDF commanders in Gaza Tuesday and demanded they provide him with possible solutions for curbing rocket attacks on Sderot.
One officer reminded the prime minister that “Palestinian” mortar attacks on Jewish communities in the Strip were equally unacceptable.
The options presented to Sharon were to continue with localized pinpoint operations, launch a large-scale incursion into PA-controlled areas of northern Gaza, or to completely conquer all areas from which artillery attacks are launched.
Ha’aretz quoted officers present at the meeting as saying they got the impression Sharon prefers pinpoint action as long as there are no more Israeli casualties in order to give PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas more time to prove himself and avoid international pressure.
But IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that an incursion on the scale of 2002’s Operation Defensive Shield was the only sure way to eliminate the threat of Kassams and mortars.
Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz concurred with the assessment.
Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz later told Channel Two News that Israel would launch such a raid soon if Abbas failed to act.
Striking a deal with the devil
But rather than fulfill his Road Map obligation to disarm and dismantle the terrorists responsible for artillery attacks against Israel’s Jews, Abbas traveled to Gaza Tuesday to strike a deal with them.
According to Channel Two correspondent Ehud Ya’ari, Abbas succeeded in convincing members of his own Fatah organization to temporarily halt their attacks on Negev towns adjacent to the Gaza. Jews living in the Strip would remain fair game, however.
Abbas expressed confidence Wednesday that he would persuade Hamas and Islamic Jihad to accept similar terms.
To help ensure no more rocket attacks are launched on Sderot as Abbas works to extract further concessions from Israel, the PA said it would deploy a special force along the Gaza-Negev border.
Senior PA security official Bashir Nafe said the Abbas regime also planned to eventually collect all illegal weapons currently in the hands of recognized terror groups.
That is a commitment Abbas himself has refused to make publicly. During his election campaign, the PA leader stated emphatically that he would under no circumstances use force to disarm the terrorists.
Hamas has repeatedly stated it will not willingly lay down its arms until the Jewish state is annihilated.
Disengagement’s pitfalls
Many Israelis remain concerned that if Israel quits Gaza as Sharon intends the rocket attacks will increase, while international pressure will render the IDF even more powerless to effectively respond than it is today.
Colonel Uzi Buchbinder, head of the Home Front Command's civil defense department, told his Knesset overseers last week that if Sharon’s plan is implemented, 46 Negev and coastal towns would be under direct threat of “Palestinian” artillery attacks.
Earlier in the month, General Security Services chief Avi Dichter warned that without an Israeli presence Gaza would resemble southern Lebanon, which has become a virtual terrorist state under Hizballah control following Israel’s May 2000 withdrawal.
While Israel regularly launches pinpoint retaliation, it is unable due to diplomatic considerations to eliminate the threat of Hizballah attacks on the Galilee region.