Twenty-two Israelis were killed during a Passover seder in a Netanya hotel
last Wednesday. Another suicide bombing at a restaurant in Haifa on Sunday
killed at least 13 people. Thirty-two people were wounded in a Tel Aviv
restaurant Saturday night and two more people killed at a
supermarket in Jerusalem Friday. This spree of bombings, targeting
civilians as they celebrate or eat or shop, has interrupted any efforts to
call for a cease-fire and to work on negotiating plans for peace in
Israel. At the same time, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has
refused to speak peace, to demand a cease-fire, or to stop inciting violence in
his native Arabic even when peace proposals were on the table.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blames Arafat for the continuing
violence and has besieged Arafat at his Ramallah headquarters. Sharon has said
that he is willing to let Yasser Arafat leave the country, providing he
does not return - effectively sending Arafat into exile. One possible
location suggested for Arafat has been Morocco, which has agreed to harbor him.
Arafat has said he will not accept exile from Palestine under any circumstances,
preferring to die rather than leave. In response, Ariel Sharon wants
Arafat completely cut off from the rest of the world and to effect this has
ordered IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz to tighten the siege
around Arafat and prevent any civilians or others from reaching him. Sharon was
previously embarrassed when several foreign peace activists were able to walk
past the military and go into Arafat's compound. The army has been instructed to
thwart all attempts, even by international media, to contact the Palestinian
leader.
It is believed that a number of suspected militants and terrorists accompany
Arafat in his compound, among them some of Arafat's political and security
lieutenants. Arafat's inner circle is no longer untouchable and while some are
hiding out with Arafat, others are held up in the Palestinian Preventive
Security Service outside Ramallah. Early Tuesday morning, Israeli troops
launched an attack on the headquarters with heavy machine guns and helicopters.
Israel has sworn to hunt down those responsible for terrorism and one senior
Israeli security source has stated that, "Most of the important activists of
Ramallah are now in these compounds. They are not going to get away. We are
going to arrest all of them."
Sharon has defined the current operation's goal to "wipe out terrorist
infrastructures from their foundations." Israeli forces have already entered
four of the eight largest Palestinian population centers in the West Bank and
more are expected as 20,000 reservists are being mobilized for Operation
Defensive Shield. What could complicate the current operation is the
recent activity by Hezbollah along the Lebanese border. Hezbollah has often
hinted that it might engage the Israelis along the border, thus opening another
front in Jerusalem's ongoing battle with the Palestinians. Israel has warned
Syria and Lebanon that there could be "very serious consequences" if Hezbollah
forces do not quickly withdraw their buildup of troops along Israel's northern
border.
President George Bush has stated that Arafat should not be treated like a
terrorist, but has not made efforts to stop Sharon in Israel's most recent
effort to root out the terrorists that are murdering innocent Israelis. However,
Nohum Barnea, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth
Aharonoth, noted that Sharon was short on time in the international eye.
"Every additional day of occupation [of Palestinian territory], every additional
day of pictures of tanks opposite women and children increases the international
pressure on the government."
However, Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres explained that Israeli
forces were not planning on remaining long in Palestinian territory, but
were attacking with purpose. "We will be staying weeks at the most, not
months," he said. "We are not fighting a war of prestige here, we are fighting a
war of existence. Our first concern is not our image but our
lives."
