TEL AVIV — Israel's military has warned against government
restraint in face of Palestinian missile strikes.
Military sources said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon has relayed
an assessment that continued military restraint would lead to an escalation
in Palestinian missile and mortar strikes against Israeli targets in both
the Gaza Strip as well as in the Jewish state. The sources said the
Palestinian Authority has failed to stop Hamas strikes over the last four
days despite numerous appeals.
On Sunday, Hamas gunners continued Kassam-class short-range missile and
mortar strikes against Israeli civilian and military targets in the Gaza
Strip. Military sources said Israeli combat troops were ordered not to
retaliate.
"The Palestinians are continually raising the stakes and soon we will be
dealing with casualties and strikes against Israeli towns," a senior
military source said. "Something has to be done immediately."
The sources said the military would probably remain under restraint
until Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon completes his meeting with U.S.
President George Bush. The meeting was scheduled for Monday at Bush's ranch
in Crawford, Texas.
"Since last night, Palestinians launched 70 apparent mortar shells at
Israeli communities and IDF outposts in the southern Gaza Strip," a military
statement said on Sunday. "No injuries were reported but there were several
instances of damage reported."
On overnight Monday, Hamas gunners fired six Kassam missiles from the
northern Gaza Strip. Military sources said the missiles did not strike any
Israeli communities.
The military's Southern Command envisions a Palestinian escalation over
the next few months, with an outbreak of a major military campaign by
October 2005. The sources said Palestinian insurgency groups have been
ordered to seek opportunities to renew missile and mortar fire against
Israel as it plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.
"When the fire resumes, if it resumes, the flames will be much higher,"
Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee, said. "Because the ceasefire has been exploited for procurement
and training to such a point where all the intelligence organizations report
that the capabilities of the terrorist organizations are greater, both in
the Gaza Strip and West Bank, from three or four months ago when they were
struck by the Israel Defense Forces."
Steinitz, whose committee receives classified briefings from the
military and intelligence services, said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has
refused to stop insurgency groups. He said PA forces have enabled Hamas to
conduct daily firings of new models of Kassam missiles from the Gaza Strip
to the Mediterranean Sea.
Steinitz called on Israel to end the ceasefire. He said the current
stalemate between Israel and the PA reminded him of the years before the
1973 war, when Egypt brought anti-aircraft missiles to the Suez Canal in
violation of its ceasefire agreement.
"Abu Mazen is worse than [the late PA Chairman Yasser] Arafat,"
Steinitz said. "He is spitting in our faces. There is no dismantling of the
[terrorist] infrastructure. There is no collection of weapons."
