The sources cited the Hamas destruction of the Sinai-Gaza border in late
January as a strategic move by the Palestinian regime to exert regional
influence. They said Hamas sent hundreds of operatives to Sinai to
facilitate weapons smuggling, organize insurgency cells and plan attacks on
Israel as well as Israeli tourists in the Egyptian peninsula.
Israel has also determined that Egypt was increasingly ignoring the 1979
peace treaty. The sources said Egypt deployed 750 troops in the eastern
Sinai without consulting Israel. They said at least 1,500 Egyptian soldiers
were now stationed along the 14-kilometer Gaza-Sinai border.
The sources said Egypt has also requested the deployment of utility
helicopters and ground radars along the Sinai-Gaza border. Israel has
enabled some of the Egyptian platforms to reach eastern Sinai.
"The next year will be filled with many security challenges, and the
Israel Defense Forces will have to be prepared to face them," Chief of Staff
Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told senior officers on Monday. "The IDF is prepared
and ready to extend its activity as needed according to the decisions made."
The United States has pressured Israel to enable an Egyptian military
buildup in the eastern Sinai, the sources said. They said Bush
administration has also urged Israel to allow the Palestinian Authority to
assume responsibility for the Israel-Gaza border.
The sources said some members of the General Staff have concluded that
the military must capture large parts of the Gaza Strip and destroy the
Hamas regime. The generals were said to have warned that unless the regime
was destroyed, Hamas could succeed in efforts to spark a regional war.
"At the end of the day, the continuing fire will obligate us [to
conduct] a wide-scale operation in the Gaza Strip," Israel Air Force
commander Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedy said. "Terrorists on the [border] fence
and ongoing rocket fire is intolerable. We find this unacceptable."
"We need to topple the Hamas regime," Tsachi Hanegbi, chairman of the
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said. "We need to liquidate
its leaders without any artificial differentiation between those who wear
explosive vests and those who wear diplomatic vests."
