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February 22, 2002/Adar 10, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 23
New Israeli strategy for terror
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New Israel's Security Cabinet has ordered new measures to deal with the rising tide of Palestinian violence.
The move Feb. 20 came amid a week of some of the worst violence since the intifada began in September 2000.
That day, Israel launched a series of air, sea and ground attacks on Palestinian security positions across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The attacks - which killed at least 14 Palestinians, 12 of them security officers - came in reprisal for the killing of six Israeli soldiers at a Ramallah-area roadblock the night of Feb. 14.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin, said the series of strikes Feb. 20 in the West Bank and Gaza "might be a small example of the kind of operations that would come to end the terror."
After nearly 17 months of Palestinian violence, Israelis are debating what to do next.
Faced with several choices that seem equally unsatisfactory, some Israelis are beginning to support a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza.
"There is no military solution to the conflict," was the refrain heard in newspaper columns and from political figures following a week filled with rocket attacks and terrorist killings.
Israeli intelligence officials said that despite stepped-up military and diplomatic pressure on the Palestinians, PA President Yasser Arafat was heartened by the calls for withdrawal and other signs of weakening Israeli morale, and had intensified the intifada to widen the cracks in Israeli resolve.
During the past few days, there were numerous Palestinian attacks including an ambush and two attempted attacks on Feb. 19; on Feb. 18, an ambush in Gaza that killed three Israelis and a Palestinian who killed himself and a policeman. Feb. 16 saw a suicide bomber kill two teenagers and wound 27, and Feb. 14 three Israeli soldiers were killed.
The latest group to add its voice to the unilateral withdrawal call is the Council for Peace and Security, a forum of reserve Israeli army generals and former senior security officials.
Following four months of intensive internal discussions, the council plans to mount a public campaign for a unilateral withdrawal from all of Gaza and most of the West Bank, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Feb. 18.
About 300 people belonging to the 1,000-member forum took part in the discussions.
According to the paper, various arguments against separation were considered.
These included concerns that a unilateral withdrawal would remove the Palestinian incentive to negotiate with Israel or would be seen as a "retreat" similar to Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.
As debate continued, about 80 percent of the council members voiced support for a unilateral withdrawal.
The council also called for the immediate creation of a Palestinian state, assuming it would force the Palestinian Authority to change its behavior.
The council's president, reserve Maj. Gen. Danny Rothschild, told Ha'aretz that a unilateral withdrawal makes sense from a strategic perspective.
"Especially because we are not politicians but people looking at the situation from the security perspective of how to use force, it is clear that the same two jeeps and a tank, which today accompany a settler who refuses to travel on a bypass road, would do much more good if deployed along the seam line," he said.
Details of the plan appear in a pamphlet entitled "Say Shalom to the Palestinians." The title plays on the multiple meanings of the Hebrew word "shalom" - hello, goodbye and peace.
The plan's points include:
- The dismantling of 40-50 West Bank settlements, in which about 15 percent of the settler population live;
- A full withdrawal from Gaza, except for a narrow zone along the international border with Egypt;
- Israel would remain - at least for now - in the Jordan Valley and the Etzion settlement bloc, as well as in Hebron and nearby Kiryat Arba, all in the West Bank.
The plan does not address Jerusalem, except for noting that the withdrawal of troops from other locations would allow for greater mobilization around the city.
Opponents of the plan included reserve Maj. Gen. Shlomo Gazit, a member of the council's board.
During the discussions, Gazit supported boundary readjustments, but maintained that as many issues as possible should be determined in negotiations with the Palestinians, the paper said.
Gazit's view is shared by other organizations, which have called for separation but are concerned it will undermine the diplomatic effort.
One lobby is the "peace coalition," which includes Peace Now and members of the Meretz Party.
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