Military sources said the Planning Directorate has drafted options for
the rapid removal of Palestinians from villages and refugee camps during any
future war. They said the plans would seek to eliminate efforts by
Palestinian fighters to use civilians as shields.
"We were severely criticized by the international community for firing
into civilian communities," a military source said. "One solution has been
to remove civilians from areas controlled by terrorists before battle."
Also In This Edition
In the 2009 war against Hamas, the Israeli military dropped millions of
leaflets over Gaza communities that warned of an invasion, Middle East Newsline reported. The flyers,
accompanied by more than 250,000 phone calls, urged Palestinians to leave
their homes to avoid injury.
"It did not succeed too well, mostly because people didn't know where to
run," the source said. "We will address this in future planning."
Under a newly-drafted doctrine, the Israel Army would force Palestinians
out of their homes before any full-scale battle. The sources said the
military believes that most civilians would cooperate if offered options for
food and shelter in another location.
The military has come under heavy international pressure to revise its
urban warfare tactics after a United Nations report accused Israel
of crimes in the Gaza Strip during the Hamas war. On July 6, the military
reported the indictment of eight soldiers on charges connected to the war
against Hamas.
Comments
Strike hard and fast. Try to minimize civilian casualties. Deal with critics later.
Bradley White
1:01 p.m. / Thursday, August 12, 2010
Israel had best focus on how it can best defeat its enemies, rather than on how it can best entice its enemies to like it. Efforts by Israel to appease the anti-Israel UN and member countries is a waste of time, because only the destruction of Israel will satisfy them. None of the countries that have won wars during the last 100 years have worried over civilian casualties, the U.S., the least.