TEL AVIV — Israel has been examining a plan to convert West Bank
civilian communities slated for evacuation into temporary military bases.
Officials said the Defense Ministry has been mulling a proposal by the
military to maintain a presence in the northern West Bank in wake of the
planned eviction of about 1,000 residents from four communities in September
2005. They said the military would deploy troops in these communities until
the Palestinian Authority improved security in the area.
"We have to distinguish between the evacuation of the civilian
communities and the military presence in these areas," Deputy Defense
Minister Zeev Boim said.
Boim said the northern West Bank would be treated differently from the
Gaza Strip, deemed the first area to be evacuated. He said the Gaza Strip
has been surrounded by a fence that could restrict the movement of
insurgents. In contrast, Israel has not constructed a barrier around the
northern West Bank.
The deputy minister said he supported the military's recommendation of a
four-month delay in the Israeli handover of the four West Bank communities
to the PA. He said this would give the PA time to operate against insurgents
in the area.
"I certainly think that this [delay] has to take place, particularly for
this amount of time, to see whether the PA could cope with terror when the
civilian communities are evacuated," Boim said.
Officials said that despite Israeli appeals, PA police have failed to
impose control over either the West Bank or Gaza Strip. They said
Palestinian insurgents operate freely in both areas and that military
officers have also been pressing for a delay in any handover of the northern
Gaza Strip to the PA. The Palestinian-origin Kassam-class short-range
missile could strike the Israeli port of Ashkelon from the northern Gaza
Strip.
The recommendation for a military takeover of the evacuated West Bank
communities was relayed by Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh. Naveh
said the military expects Palestinian insurgency groups to launch missile
and mortar attacks from the northern West Bank in the wake of an Israeli
withdrawal.
"After we leave the area, terror will increase and there will be Kassam
missiles and other terrorist attacks," Naveh said.
Naveh reported a sharp increase in weapons smuggling into the West Bank.
He said this has included the introduction of Kassam missiles, mortars and
anti-tank rockets. Earlier this year, insurgents were said to have tested a
Kassam missile in the northern West Bank.
[On early Monday, an Israel Air Force combat unmanned aerial vehicle
fired toward a Hamas missile squad in the Jabalya refugee camp north of Gaza
City. One of the targets was said to have been a senior Hamas operative, who
escaped without injury.]
On Sunday, Naveh briefed members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee during their tour of the northern West Bank. During the
tour, a committee member, the Labor Party's Avraham Shochat, said the
government of Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon planned to dismantle the community of Mevo Dotan — not one of
the four settlements slated for evacuation in 2005. Sharon has vowed not to
dismantle additional communities after the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
and northern West Bank.
