TEL AVIV — Israel's military has completed the formation of an
expanded force to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank and
evict their 10,000 Jewish residents.
Military sources said the latest withdrawal plan considers all
scenarios, including the prospect that Israeli resistors would shoot at
soldiers. The sources said that in such a case soldiers would be ordered to
respond with live fire.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved a revised military plan
to accelerate the eviction of Jews from the Gaza Strip. Officials said the
plan presented by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz envisions an intensive
effort that would expel the lion's share of Jewish residents and their
supporters and seal the 21 communities for eventual destruction within as
little as a week. The operation would contain six rings of troops.
The original military plan called for a four-stage operation that would
last up to four weeks and employ 45,000 soldiers and police. In the first
stage, the military was to have evacuated four Israeli communities in the
northern West Bank.
Officials said the military and police have expanded their joint force
to 50,000 in an effort to complete the Gaza operation within days. They said
the joint force began two weeks of training on Monday in preparation for the
withdrawal, slated for Aug. 17.
The training in the southern military base of Tseelim would include
5,000 troops and police officers. Officials said these troops have been
assigned to physically remove the Israeli residents of the Gaza Strip and
northern West Bank from their homes.
In a later stage, another 7,000 troops and police would to join the
exercise. Officials said the exercise would be followed by the withdrawal
operation.
Under the latest plan, the military would first evacuate the communities
in the northern Gaza Strip, expected to meet little to no resistance. The
sources said the plan envisions the eviction of most residents and arrest of
resistors in the first week. The second week would be reserved for mop-up
operations.
On Monday, the head of the Israel Army's Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Dan
Harel, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that unless
the current level of Palestinian attacks against Israel subsides the
military would capture Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the Gaza
Strip. Harel said that under this scenario, the military would suspend the
withdrawal operation and employ air and ground forces to suppress
Palestinian mortar, missile and rocket fire.
Harel said that in the first stage army troops would be ordered to
invade Palestinian areas. Should the army incursion fail to stop Palestinian
attacks, the air force would be deployed.
The air force and navy have been assigned a role in the withdrawal and
eviction effort, the sources said. The navy would provide transport and
support for ground troops as well as protect them from Palestinian attacks
from the sea.
The air force would maintain both a ground and air component during the
withdrawal operation. The air component, including helicopters and unmanned
aerial vehicles, would monitor Palestinian areas and foil or respond to
mortar and rocket attacks.
At the same time, hundreds of air force personnel — composed of
commissioned and non-commissioned officers as well as support staff — would
join police in the eviction effort. Cadets in pilot and officers courses
would be assigned the task of sealing Israeli communities.
Military sources said the air force would also be responsible to monitor
Israel's northern border with Lebanon. They said they expect the
Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah to launch attacks during the
withdrawal from Gaza.
Over the last few weeks, the military has conducted an exercise to
ensure the rapid transport of troops from the Gaza Strip to the northern
border. The sources said the exercise was deemed largely successful.
"We hope that the harm to ongoing operations of the [air] force would be
as little as possible," Brig. Gen. Ilan Biton, chief of the Air Defense
Command, said. "But it is clear that the disengagement mission will harm our
routine exercise schedule."
