Friday, July 07, 2006
They call it "Operation Summer Rains"
Gaza, bloody Gaza - No end in sight
Operation Summer Rains! Another utterly cynical title like Operation Iraqi Freedom. You wonder if there are PR firms that concoct the names or officials with grand visions,and without any concern for the human suffering,are responsible for giving military actions such flowery titles. "BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip, July 6 -- Israeli tanks pushed into populated areas here Thursday for the first time since reentering the Gaza Strip last week and met fierce resistance from Palestinians using rocket-propelled grenades, roadside mines and rifles to slow their advance.At least 21 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, many from the governing Hamas movement's armed wing, and an Israeli soldier died after being shot in the head by a sniper."
From a report in The Guardian filed by Chris McGreal in Jerusalem:
- The politicians and military agreed early on in the crisis that Cpl Shalit's capture offered the opportunity to curb the firing of Palestinian rockets. Military leaders urged Mr Peretz and Mr Olmert to authorise a large-scale ground invasion deep into the Gaza Strip. But the politicians were cautious, warning the army should be prepared for a long operation that must retain foreign governments' backing.
- Cpl Shalit's father, Noam, cautioned against using the capture of his son, in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militias nearly two weeks ago, as a justification for a wider military operation.
- "It seems unrealistic to me to say that Israel can restore its deterrent capability at the expense of Gilad," he said. "My son does not have such broad shoulders. If Israel had wanted to regain its deterrent capability, in my humble opinion it ought to have done so before the abduction."
- But there are indications of a wider agenda to bury the Hamas-led government. Israel has detained eight Hamas cabinet members and 20 of its MPs, and targeted government infrastructure, including missile attacks on the offices of the prime minister and interior ministry.
- "There's a school of thought in the Israeli security establishment that said since the Hamas victory this is going to end up in confrontation and the sooner we pre-empt that conflict the better; remove their leadership, destroy their infrastructure," said Mr Alpher. "That is certainly some of the hidden agenda of this operation but it's not a declared goal. But it could become a declared goal."
On this day a year ago London suffered attacks by Islamic terrorists. 52 people died.
