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Israel weighs occupying cities while expelling Israeli residents

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

TEL AVIV – Israel's military has been examining the prospect of occupying Palestinian cities in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to facilitate the expulsion of 10,000 Israeli residents in these areas.

Israeli officials said the Defense Ministry and the General Staff have been reviewing scenarios and threat assessments during the military operation to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank and forcibly evacuate their 10,000 Israeli residents. They said the scenarios envision major Palestinian attacks on both Israeli soldiers and civilians during the evacuation.

"The real difficulty might take place when the Israeli armed forces and police come to remove the Israelis in a process that could take days or weeks," National Security Council chairman Giora Eiland told LIC-2005 on Monday. "What happens if the Palestinians fire at the Israelis? This is the real challenge."

Eiland said such a scenario would require the military to undertake a major operation in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He said the mission would be to eliminate the Palestinian missile and mortar threat and ensure stability that would enable the expulsion of the Israeli residents in about 25 communities.

"We might have to reoccupy Palestinian cities and neighborhoods to create stability to remove the Israelis," Eiland said.

Later, officials said the prospect of Israeli capture of Palestinian cities in the Gaza Strip has been discussed in both the General Staff and in the government. They said such a scenario was part of a warning by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of a "very harsh response" to Palestinian shelling during the withdrawal and evacuation mission.

Officials said the government was examining the ,capture of cities in the Gaza Strip before the start of the Israeli withdrawal. They cited the close proximity of Khan Yunis to the Israeli Gush Katif bloc of settlements in the central Gaza Strip.

"We don't have to occupy the whole city to be effective," an official said. "We could just capture a neighborhood where mortars have been fired at Israelis."

In his address, Eiland said he did not envision significant Israeli civilian resistance to the withdrawal, planned to begin around July 2005. He did not say whether the military and police would use non-lethal weapons against civilian resistors.

"It's not going to be simple," he said. "It will be very complicated."


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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