16 - 22 May 2002
Issue No.586
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 16 - 22 May 2002 Issue No.586 |
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Carnage on hold
Israel decided to "suspend" what last week appeared to be an imminent large-scale incursion into the Gaza Strip
Israel cited "unfavourable circumstances" and "operational complications" as the reasons for postponing its incursion into the Gaza Strip, writes Khaled Amayreh.
Israeli leaders explained the decision as resulting from "harmful leaks" to the media by high-ranking army officers and on a lack of "consensus" about the operation among the top brass of the Israeli army.
Israeli Defence Minister Benyamin Ben- Eliezer said the operation had to be reconsidered because it had lost the "element of surprise" and because the "targeted" Palestinian resistance activists had gone underground. Moreover, it was still uncertain whether the bomber who carried out the Tel Aviv bombing last week came from Gaza, as initial reports had suggested.
Indeed, the identity of the bomber has yet to be revealed by either Israel or any Palestinian resistance groups, a puzzling matter given the fact that in the past the identities of the bombers were revealed only a few hours after the attacks.
Also, there has not been any confirmation from Hamas that its military wing, the Ezzeddin Al-Qassem Brigades, carried out the bombing, as earlier reports had alleged.
However, other reasons may well be more salient in explaining Israel's decision to scrap the Gaza operation.
First, it is believed that the United States exerted strong behind-the-scenes pressure on the Israeli government to reconsider the operation. While condemning the latest suicide attack in strong terms, several American officials said they hoped Israel would be more attentive to the matter of peace while exercising its right to retaliate to the bombing.
According to Israeli press sources, the US warned the Israeli government that a large operation in the densely populated Gaza Strip would "complicate things for Washington" and deal a serious blow to evolving international efforts to restore a semblance of calm and convene an international peace conference this summer.
Second, Israeli army commanders may have been concerned about facing resistance from Gaza fighters who had ample warning of the planned incursion to prepare for confrontations with the army.
Resistance sources in Gaza spoke of a detailed and comprehensive plan "in every town, neighbourhood and refugee camp" to "teach the Zionist enemy an unforgettable lesson" in the event of an invasion.
Preparations reportedly included planting landmines along the routes that Israeli tanks were expected to take, posting snipers, preparing tens of thousands of firebombs, Molotov cocktails and grenades as well as placing traps and obstructions in the narrow streets and alleyways of Gaza's refugee camps.
Thus, the Gazans' determination to resist any Israeli invasion seemed to have convinced the Israeli army and government that any "successful" operation in Gaza would only succeed if the Israelis unleashed violence on a scale far beyond that witnessed in Jenin.
And Israel, at this point, doesn't seem eager to give the international community additional reasons for calling its government and army to account.
The Israeli decision to suspend the operation in Gaza does not mean that Israel will not carry out assassinations and acts of destruction in Gaza. In fact, there are definite signs that Israel may soon carry out a number of assassinations in Gaza targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders.
What is certain, though, is that such acts of murder would only succeed in unleashing a new wave of suicide bomb attacks inside Israel which would then trigger further Israeli "retaliations," thus renewing the vicious cycle of bloodshed.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army continued to carry out daily raids and incursions into Palestinian towns in the West Bank despite Israeli media claims that Israeli forces had left Palestinian population centres.
On 14 May, Israeli tanks and over a thousand soldiers stormed the small town of Halhul, just north of Hebron, killing at least two people employed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) security services.
The incursion was only the latest in what has become a daily pattern of Israeli military operations against Palestinian population centres.
Only the day before, the Israeli army raided several Palestinian villages in the vicinity of Hebron and Bethlehem, arresting "suspects" and harassing civilians.
In the process, an Israeli soldier killed a Palestinian man outside Bethlehem whom they claim was "a terrorist" -- a label the Israeli government and media apply to virtually all Palestinians killed by the Israeli army.
Earlier, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian "infiltrator" north of Jericho. The Israeli army said the man might have crossed the border from Jordan.
Early this week, the Israeli army carried out a large operation in the northern West Bank during which it briefly reoccupied the city of Tulkarm and many surrounding villages.
The invading troops imposed curfew on more than 200,000 Palestinians and opened fire on homes and fired rounds of ammunition into the air, with the effect of terrorising civilians in the area.
The army arrested a number of "wanted Palestinians", a term reserved for Palestinian political as well as resistance activists.
Among the people arrested was the wife of Abbas Al-Sayed, an Islamist activist whom Israeli troops arrested two months ago on suspicion of resisting the occupation.
On the same day, Israeli tanks also re- entered Nablus, allegedly to arrest "suspects."
On 10 May, the Israeli army murdered another Palestinian boy and wounded two of his friends who were walking within sight of a Jewish settlement even though they were hundreds of metres away from the compound.
Medical sources at the Shafa Hospital in Gaza testified that Israeli troops left 14-year- old Ezzeddin Al-Helw to bleed to death.
"He died six hours after he was shot," said Dr Mou'awia Hassanein, the chief administrator at the hospital, who went on to say that Al-Helw's wounds would probably not have been life-threatening had he been treated earlier. A Palestinian police source gave a similar account.
"We repeatedly urged the Israeli occupation army to allow an ambulance to reach the boy but to no avail. They [the Israeli soldiers] threatened to open fire on any vehicle headed towards the boy."
The apparently unprovoked killing of Al- Helw comes less than a week after Israeli soldiers killed a 30-year-old Palestinian mother and her two children, aged four and six years, near the northern West Bank town of Jenin.
In all of these "incidents," the Israeli army never apologised for the children's deaths, insisting that the soldiers "acted in accordance with standing orders appropriate to the circumstances."
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