TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to present President
George Bush with a military proposal that calls for the Israeli invasion of
the Gaza Strip.
Over the last few weeks, the military and Defense Ministry have
presented Olmert with several plans to invade the Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported. They include
the creation of a 50-square kilometer zone that would keep Palestinian
gunners out of the range of strategic facilities south of Ashkelon.
"The most burning and critical problem is 'Hamastan' in the Gaza Strip,"
Amos Gilad, the director of the Defense Ministry's political-military
division, said.
Gilad was referring to the Israeli assessment that Hamas has established
in the Gaza Strip what officials term an Islamic terrorist regime similar to
that of Afghanistan in the 1990s. Officials said such a Palestinian entity
would endanger the interests of the United States as well as such regional
allies as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
So far, however, Olmert, supported by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan
Halutz, has opposed any ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Officials said
Olmert and Halutz have warned that international support for Israel would
plummet and that the United States would demonstrate greater empathy for a
Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority.
Officials said the military's General Staff has been drafting Israeli
contingencies to Palestinian missile fire from the Gaza Strip for discussion
in the United States over the next two weeks. They said the proposals would
be presented during the visit by Olmert to Washington in late May, where he
was scheduled to meet Bush and senior administration officials.
Officials said Olmert has been pressed by the military to refrain from
detailed discussion of his plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the West
Bank. They said the military argued that focusing on additional withdrawal,
particularly for the near term, would signal to the United States that the
Gaza Strip constitutes an irritant rather than a threat to Israel. Olmert
was scheduled to arrive in the United States on May 21 and meet Bush on May
23.
"The military and Defense Ministry have urged Olmert to make this [Gaza
invasion] the most important topic of his meetings with Bush, just below
that of Iran," an official said.
Senior commanders have warned that Israel could not wait while the
Palestinians expand their missile capabilities and directly threaten
Ashkelon. Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant, chief of the military's Southern Command,
said the military and Israel were paying an "unbelievable" price for the
daily missile strikes on southern Israel.
Galant said he has obtained the approval of the General Staff as well as
outgoing Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz for a major attack on the Gaza Strip.
On May 7, Mofaz was replaced by Amir Peretz as defense minister. Peretz has
not openly discussed Israeli options to Palestinian missile fire, but urged
the renewal of diplomatic talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"A number of alternatives are being discussed, including the
reoccupation of Gaza to halt the launching of missiles," Gallant said.
In a radio interview, Galant said Southern Command has trained forces
for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. He said the continued Palestinian
use of Kassam-class and Katyusha rockets and missiles could spark a
widescale military operation.
"We are talking about a more severe military action," Gallant said. "The
price that we are paying because of the escalating Palestinian attacks is
unbelievable."
Officials said the Palestinians have continually improved their missile
capability. They said Islamic Jihad and Hamas have obtained expertise in the
production of the BM-21 Grad rocket, with a range of 20 kilometers. So far,
Jihad has fired at least two Grad rockets into Israel.
The military, officials said, has warned Olmert that Palestinian missile
strikes have harmed Israel's deterrence and would encourage Hizbullah to
escalate tensions along the Lebanese border. At the same time, they said,
Palestinian insurgency groups have sought to duplicate missile production
and deployment in the West Bank.
At a May 9 conference on power projection, former Israel Air Force
commander and Defense Ministry director-general, David Ivry, warned that
Israel's deterrence was built on national will rather than the size of its
military. He said Middle East adversaries remain impressed by the Israeli
rescue of hostages in Uganda in 1976 and the airlift of Ethiopian Jews from
Sudan in the early 1980s.
"Deterrence is the image of capability combined with the image of the
readiness to use this capability," Ivry said. "And this is much more
important than the number of platforms."
