Dr Amer: The countdown to a new Israeli war on Gaza started

[ 09/01/2012 - 12:44 PM ]



GAZA, (PIC)– Specialist in Israeli affairs and political analyst Dr. Adnan Abu Amer said the countdown to new military aggression against the Gaza Strip started, but when this war would happen is not yet decided by the Israeli occupation regime.

Dr. Amer made his remarks in a political symposium held on Sunday in Al-Omah university in Gaza.

“I think the occupation is busy now more than ever mulling over the timeline for a military campaign that seems to be closer,” the specialist in Israeli affairs stated.

He explained that the Israeli occupation, through its war threats, has sent several messages to the Arabs and the first of them is political.

“The regional changes, the occupation’s losing of more allies after the Arab spring and its military and security exposure have made it to live in a state of panic. The Israeli decision-maker wants to regain the balance he has lost and send a message that the war is not directed against Gaza and its resistance but against the political region around Gaza which changed greatly,” the specialist added.

The second message is related to the Israeli intelligence concern about the growing capabilities of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and its thirst to explore them, the specialist elaborated.

“The enemy will not stand up for the growing development of the resistance which has turned from guerrilla groups to a regular army, so it wants to test the weapons of the resistance and the level it has reached.”
For his part, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, who took part in the symposium, said his Movement is geared up to confront any new Israeli aggression against Gaza.

“We are prepared for the war and deal with the Israeli treats at the same time as a psychological warfare,” spokesman Barhoum stated.

The spokesman stressed that the competition between Israeli leaders are based on who can inflict the biggest losses among the Palestinians.

“An Israeli leader cannot run for elections before his track record is examined to see if he is a killer or a politician, and of course if he is a killer he will win the elections,” he added.

Source and more at the Palestinian Information Center

Israel threatens another Gaza invasion

 The Irish Times - Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Palestinian man speaks during the funeral of militant Abdallah Telbani in Gaza city yesterday. He was killed during Israeli attacks on Gaza. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

MARK WEISS in Jerusalem

ISRAELI OFFICIALS are stepping up their rhetoric, warning that another invasion of Gaza is just a matter of time.

Speaking as Israel launched two air strikes on militant targets in the strip, Israel’s top general, chief of staff Lieut Gen Benny Gantz, warned that cracks had emerged in Israel’s deterrence of militant groups and a second round of fighting was no longer a matter of choice for Israel.

“Such a round must be initiated by Israel and must be swift and painful. I do not advise Hamas to test our mettle.”

Militants launched at least four rockets at Israel yesterday after an Islamic Jihad gunman was killed and 10 other people injured in two Israeli air attacks on Tuesday night.

Gen Gantz made his comments on the third anniversary of the Gaza war which he described as “an excellent operation that achieved deterrence for Israel vis-a-vis Hamas”.

The three-week conflict, with the declared aim of stopping militant rocket fire targeting southern Israel, left 1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.

Rocket fire from Gaza has lessened since the Gaza war but the militant groups now possess longer-range projectiles that can hit huge areas of southern Israel, bringing more than a million Israelis into rocket range.
Col Tal Hermoni, commander of the army’s Gaza division’s south brigade, said the armed forces are ready for another war.

“The decision really is in the other side’s hands. If they don’t stop the rocket fire and prevent terror cells from leaving to Egypt in order to cross into Israel, we’ll launch a Gaza operation – and it will be a painful one.”

Shaul Mofaz, the chairman of the Knesset parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee, said that the army needed to act vigorously to destroy militant cells and deter future attacks.

“Israel needed to respond differently to the violence coming from the Strip – not to occupy Gaza but to act in a way that would cause terrorist organisations to think twice before firing long-range missiles.”

Mr Mofaz, who served as defence minister after heading the army, said Israel had no choice but to carry out a military operation in order to defend itself and stressed that there needs to be more comprehensive operations carried out against militant leaders.

In a separate development, the Jerusalem municipality has approved the construction of another 130 homes in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo, built over the Green Line, on land captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the Jerusalem municipality decision.

“The international Quartet must accept responsibility for the fast pace of construction in the settlements, given the fact that they are neither legal nor legitimate,” he said.

He added that peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel will not be renewed before the construction in the settlements is halted.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1229/1224309593143.html

Israel 'will launch significant Gaza offensive sooner or later'

Israel Defence Forces chief of staff speaks on third anniversary of start of a major three-week Gaza assault

• Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 December 2011 15.36 GMT

Benny Gantz said there would be 'no escape from conducting a significant operation'. Photograph: Ariel Hermoni/EPA

 A new Israeli military offensive against Gaza will be launched "sooner or later" and will be "swift and painful", Israel's most senior military officer has warned.

Benny Gantz, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, was speaking on the third anniversary of the start of a major three-week assault on Gaza during which around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

That offensive was "an excellent operation that achieved deterrence for Israel vis-a-vis Hamas", Gantz told Army Radio on Tuesday. He added there were signs that the deterrent effect was wearing thin.

"Sooner or later, there will be no escape from conducting a significant operation," he said. "The IDF knows how to operate in a determined, decisive and offensive manner against terrorists in the Gaza Strip."

Within hours of Gantz's comments, the Israeli military launched two airstrikes on targets in Gaza, killing one person and injuring around 10, according to local reports.

A spokesman for the IDF said direct hits on two "terrorist squads with global jihad associations" had been confirmed. According to security officials quoted by Israel Radio, one of the targets was a cell en route to Sinai with the intention of launching an attack on Israel from Egypt.

Since the end of the Gaza war in January 2009, Hamas has attempted to enforce a ceasefire among militant groups, although sporadic rocket fire has continued. Israel holds Hamas, as the de facto government, responsible for all rocket fire emanating from Gaza.

There have been suggestions in recent weeks that Hamas is ready to distance itself further from attacks on Israel as part of its reconciliation process with its rival faction Fatah.

"They have accepted popular [non-violent] resistance," senior Fatah official Mohammed Shtayyer said, adding that Hamas would stop "these fireworks" being launched.

However, Hamas officials have also said they reserve the right to self-defence and the prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, pledged to continue "resistance" at a public rally this month.

Gantz's comments were meant "to keep [Hamas] on their toes", according to the Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher, who said: "He's letting us know that another operation is possible and it would be successful."

Alpher identified two constraining factors – moves towards Fatah-Hamas reconciliation "which may change the political nature of the Gaza regime", and Egypt. "In the past, we could assume that if we launched an operation in Gaza, [former president Hosni] Mubarak would be largely sympathetic. That's not necessarily the case now," he said.

Hamas's message was not unequivocal or comprehensive, he said, adding: "The question is, are we witnessing an evolutionary process in which Hamas follows the lead of Islamists in Egypt and Tunisia away from violence and into politics? My sense is we are, but it's a slow process."

Shlomo Brom, of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, said a new offensive on Gaza could be pre-empted by political developments, including the opening of a covert dialogue between Israel and Hamas.
"The developments of Hamas's position taking into account the effects of the Arab spring could open different possibilities," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/28/israel-gaza-offensive-sooner-later

IDF confirms preparations for extensive future Gaza military action

• Published 01:23 29.12.11 Latest update 01:23 29.12.11

Border heats up as IDF prepares for possible incursion into Gaza Strip; three rockets fired Wednesday from Gaza into Israel.

By Yanir Yagna and Gili Cohen 

Three rockets were fired Wednesday from Gaza into Israel, with two landing in open areas in the Eshkol region and another landing in the Sha'ar Hanegev region without exploding. There were no reported injuries or damage. 

The strike followed a targeted killing in which two sorties by the Israel Air Force killed three terrorists and wounded another nine overnight Tuesday in communities surrounding the Gaza Strip. 

	An airstrike on Gaza.
	Photo by: AP

The rocket fire comes as the Israel Defense Forces' Gaza Division is preparing for a possible large-scale incursion into the Gaza Strip, now three years after Operation Cast Lead. "We are preparing and in fact are ready for another campaign, which will be varied and different, to renew our deterrence, if we are called on to restore full quiet to the communities [in the south]," said the head of the division's Southern Brigade, Brig. Gen. Tal Hermoni. 


"But I wouldn't eulogize Operation Cast Lead just yet," Hermoni added, in a briefing for military reporters. "On a daily basis, it's pretty quiet here. The mild response [to Tuesday's targeted killings] is evidence that they don't want to feel the IDF's fists." 


Under a plan overseen by Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the next Gaza operation would be shorter than the one launched in late 2008, but would employ far greater firepower. 



The IDF notes, however, that Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip, including Islamic Jihad, have more weapons now than they did in 2008. The Kornet anti-tank missiles have since become a threat to Israeli tanks, and this year rockets were fired for the first time at IDF troops. 


Since the terror attack on the road to Eilat in mid-August, there has been a rise in targeted killings in Gaza. Southern Command officers cite a policy of attacking terrorist cells planning to strike Israel, even at the risk of rockets being fired at southern communities in response. 


The officers also noted an increase in terror activity coming from Egypt, which they attribute to the weakening of government control in the Sinai Peninsula. 


"We know the Gaza Strip," said an officer who is active in the region. "But over the last year there have been changes in the Middle East that brought new challenges and new realities. The loss of control in Egypt has led to an increase in hostile activity and to a different deployment of our forces." 


The changes in deployment are evident in a tour of the 60-kilometer section of the Egyptian-Israeli border under the Gaza Division's authority. IDF armored personnel carriers are positioned in the area, and work on the new border fence is proceeding at a record pace. 


Rather than stationing a single company of combat soldiers in the region, Battalion 932 of the Nahal Brigade is now patrolling the area and providing security for the fence work. 


But it's not just terror keeping soldiers busy along what was once considered a godforsaken frontier. As work on the border fence has picked up steam, the number of infiltrations has risen sharply, with three times as many attempts recorded this year as the last. 


Large sections of the border are not yet fenced, some as long as 120 kilometers, and the army is on constant alert lest hostile elements make their way into Israel from Egypt. 


Meanwhile, the Gaza Division is also fighting smugglers. In recent months, it has even dug an anti-tank trench in an effort to block Israeli smugglers trying to make their way west to the Egyptian-Israeli border.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-confirms-preparations-for-extensive-future-gaza-military-action-1.404232