It is a War Israel is Fighting
To hear the pundits, you might think the objective in war is to understand your enemy’s frustration – to know why he feels the need to blow up women and children. You might think the objective is then to remove the source of your enemy’s frustration – even if, as in the case of the war Israel is fighting, the source is your very existence.
The pundits are wrong. The objective is to eliminate the enemy’s ability to damage/kill your country/your people by eliminating his arsenal and/or him.
To hear the pundits, you might think the objective in war is to understand your enemy’s frustration – to know why he feels the need to blow up women and children. You might think the objective is then to remove the source of your enemy’s frustration – even if, as in the case of the war Israel is fighting, the source is your very existence.
The pundits are wrong. The objective is to eliminate the enemy’s ability to damage/kill your country/your people by eliminating his arsenal and/or him.
Yasser Arafat signed the Interim Accords with Israel (28 Sept 95) limiting the size of the PA police force and the weapons they would have. Anti-tank, anti-aircraft, mortars and ammunition for them were prohibited. Arafat also pledged in that accord and subsequent ones to root out the “terrorist infrastructure” under his control. But the Palestinians have been smuggling and producing those items from the beginning, putting thousands of men under arms illegally, and supporting and running the terrorist infrastructure.
Israel is doing what Arafat refused to do.
In May 2001, Israel seized the Santorini, a weapons ship sent by the PFLP-GC (HQ, Damascus) sailing from Lebanon to Gaza. It contained, among other items, RPG-7 anti-tank grenades and SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles. The Karine-A, seized by Israel in January 2002 sailing from Iran to Gaza, contained 50 tons of weapons destined for the PA.
In its current sweep, Israel has found more than 50 RPG-7s, 60 lbs. of high explosives, dozens of weapons and explosives factories, suicide bomb belts, 5 car bombs preparing to be sent into Israel, and more rifles, heavy machine guns and bombs than can be counted. Israel has arrested more than 360 wanted men, including the mastermind of the Sbarro bombing and the disco bombing. The IDF killed the mastermind of the Passover Seder bombing. They have taken computers and paper files, including a memo detailing a PA weapons “wish-list” and information about the PA’s interest in chemical and biological weapons (although no such weapons). And that’s only the beginning.
The fact that so many Palestinians have been killed in the sweep is telling:
1) The Palestinians continue their cowardly habit of hiding “fighters” among their own civilian population; violating internationally recognized religious sanctuary by using churches and mosques to hide armed combatants; and violating the Red Cross/Red Crescent’s humanitarian status by hiding ammunition and “fighters” in ambulances.
2) The Israeli military chose house-to-house combat, the most deadly sort for the entering forces (witness Jenin), in order to try to distinguish civilians from “fighters” at close range, instead of dropping bombs on whole neighborhoods (a la Grozny or Hama or large parts of Afghanistan).
Palestinian factions including the PA itself have declared war on Israel. It is Israel’s right and duty to its people to eliminate the enemy and its capabilities. The United States government would do no less for us.