Israel losing patience with increased Hizbullah, Palestinian attacks
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Friday, March 2, 2001
JERUSALEM — Israel's military is warning that its patience is
wearing thin in the face of Hizbullah attacks along the northern border and
Palestinian violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli military sources said commanders are preparing for a massive
response to continued Hizbullah and Palestinian attacks. They said plans
have been drafted and in some cases approved for major retaliatory strikes.
The latest warning of such retaliation came from Israeli Chief of Staff
Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz. The general said attacks on Israel have increased
significantly over the last month.
On late Wednesday, police were summoned to defuse a bomb in downtown Tel
Aviv that was to have been detonated by a cellular phone. The bomb,
contained in a briefcase, was detonated by police sappers and damaged a
restaurant.
Hours later, Palestinian snipers shot at Israeli motorists near a
northern Jerusalem bridge in the fourth such attack since the mini-war began
in late September. At least one motorist was wounded.
In the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, Israeli commandos failed in
an assassination attempt of a member of Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, Palestinian sources said.
Israeli officials and military commanders said the consensus in both the
government and in defense circles is that Israel cannot tolerate many more
Palestinian attacks. They envisioned a massive Israeli offensive within
months if not weeks.
"I believe that we will not be able to contain ourselves without limits
and the continuation of attack on our land will force us to respond," Mofaz
said in an address to American Jewish leaders on Wednesday. "I have to point
out again and say that we didn't respond after the last terror activity
because we didn't want to escalate the situation in the northern part of
Israel."
Mofaz said Arafat is behind the increase in Palestinian attacks. He said
Arafat tells his security chiefs to stop terrorism while ordering other
aides to launch attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The general said Arafat's forces are stockpiling anti-aircraft,
anti-tank missiles, mortars and other weapons. He said many these weapons
are smuggled from Egypt.
"The implication is that the Authority is being converted into a
terrorist entity," Mofaz said. "I believe the leaders of the PA are speaking
with two languages. One is giving orders to the officers and policemen to
stop the violence and to try to implement some level of anti-terror
activity. But the second voice and the second language they are telling to
the Fatah movement and to the Hamas and the [Islamic] Jihad to continue the
terrorist attacks."
Several Israeli left-wing politicians criticized Mofaz, saying this was
not the first time he publicly discussed issues that were outside his scope
of responsibility. The critics included Labor Party leader Shimon Peres,
slated to become foreign minister in the government of Prime Minister-elect
Ariel Sharon.
In Ramallah, Fatah chief Marwan Barghouti told the London-based A-Sharq
Al Awsat that he would refuse to obey any order from Arafat to stop the
mini-war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But Barghouti said he could not
imagine Arafat issuing such an command.
In his address, Mofaz also called on the United States to maintain
sanctions on Iran. The general suggested that the Iranian threat to Israel
remained greater than that posed by Iraq.
Friday, March 2, 2001
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