Goal of Israel's military action is questioned

Is it to free captive soldier, teach Hamas a lesson or topple Hamas government?
San Francisco Chronicle
Jul. 01, 2006

Israeli leaders found themselves under fire from all sides Thursday as the crisis over kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit dragged into another day without any sign of a breakthrough.

"The purpose of our intended actions is not to punish the civilian Palestinian population, but to achieve the central aim right now -- to return our boy Gilad home," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Shimon Peres, the normally dovish deputy prime minister, said Israel was justified in sending troops to Gaza and staging mass arrests of Hamas politicians in the West Bank. The military operation had broader goals than just the return of the kidnapped soldier, he said.

The Palestinians "have to decide if they are a government or if they belong to a terroristic organization," said Peres. "There was a hidden hope that Hamas, once they built a government, they will change, they will improve their behavior, they will become responsible. To our great disappointment, they became part of their terroristic arm."

But across the Israeli political spectrum, critics wondered whether the military operation could succeed, or whether Olmert and his new, largely untested Kadima-led government would be unable to deliver his chief promise to voters -- a withdrawal from remote parts of the West Bank.

"I think we need to differentiate between Israel's full, unfettered right to take violent action in Gaza in order to stop the barrage of Qassam rocket attacks (into southern Israel) and to force the release of Gilad Shalit, and the actual action that is being taken. It is not clear what the goal is at all," said Yossi Beilin, head of the left-wing Meretz Party.

"It doesn't appear to be a 'surgical strike' in order to release the kidnapped soldier which, by the way, none of us would have any complaints about," said Beilin. "I do have one prayer -- that whoever started this action knows how to end it. He must have an exit plan to get out of Gaza. He must have the understanding to say, at a certain point, 'This is what was accomplished, and this is what was not accomplished, but enough, and we can't stay there,' " he added.

On the right, Effi Eitam of the National Religious Party-National Union, said he supported the military action -- but only if it brought down the elected Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority.

"If it is just a show of strength on our part, then nothing will have been accomplished," said Eitam. "If it is a change of direction of this government, and the political and diplomatic goals are achieved, then we in the opposition praise this. We will support it. The main goal must be to topple the Hamas government."

Yuval Steinitz of the right-wing Likud Party, a former chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said he backed the current operation and had supported the "disengagement" -- last year's pullout of settlers and Israeli soldiers from Gaza, but expressed concern for developments in the strip since then.

"There is a strategic problem developing in Gaza since the disengagement," said Steinitz. "The terror groups have set up training camps and established a popular Palestinian army along the lines of the Hezbollah in Lebanon. The attack on the tank and the outpost is a symptom of these developments."

Steinitz said the problem would have to be confronted, and he urged action sooner rather than later. "Israel will launch a ground operation against the Qassam and terror infrastructure, either before there is a disaster and a Qassam rocket scored a direct hit on a classroom full of children or a bus, or after. It will happen. It has to happen," he said.

Uzi Dayan, a former deputy chief of staff and head of the tiny, centrist Tafnit Party, took a broader view, suggesting that Olmert's success in settling the current crisis would have long-term implications for the central policy of his government -- the "convergence" plan to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank.

Dayan said military tactics had to be combined with a clearer political strategy. "The need to rescue the soldier Gilad from the Gaza Strip is no more important than the need to give security to the children of Sderot," the Israeli town most threatened by the cross-border Palestinian rockets.

"There are two more military objectives -- to provide security to the residents of the Western Negev, a military solution to the issue of the Qassam rockets, and the second long-term aim is to resurrect Israel's deterrent capacity. If we don't do that, we will not achieve the diplomatic objective," he said. "Anyone who cannot provide a military solution to the Qassam rockets or resurrect deterrence cannot carry out the convergence plan in the West Bank, and that is the broader context in which these events must be considered."

Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, agreed that Olmert's political program was threatened as the crisis has grown.

"There's no question that the last couple of weeks, the Qassam missile attacks and kidnapping and killing makes a further disengagement in the West Bank far more complicated and less likely," Steinberg said.