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Ill winds blowing from the South By Yoel Marcus Tags: Gaza Now that they?re finished making snide remarks and putting each other down over the failure of the Second Lebanon War, Ehud and Ehud have joined forces on the Gaza front. It was here that Yasser Arafat delivered his ?blood and fire? speech the moment he set foot in the country after the Oslo Accords in May 1994. It was here that the chairman launched his incitement campaign and gave the green light for terrorist attacks and intifadas. It was here that he uttered his favorite curse against Israel, telling us to go drink the sea of Gaza. Israel did not drink the sea of Gaza, but inch by inch, it is sinking in the quagmire of Gaza, three years after dismantling the settlements and handing Gaza over to the Palestinians. Ariel Sharon?s mistake was in withdrawing unilaterally, and doing so without an agreement with either the Palestinian Authority or the international community. We didn?t even make the disengagement conditional on halting the rocket fire on Sderot. Our mistake from the outset was in treating the Qassams as harmless contraptions. We pooh-poohed them. We said they were inaccurate, they didn?t always explode, they were cobbled together in primitive workshops, they were kites made out of metal. But over time, these little devices have grown big and deadly. Advertisement Hamas is getting stronger and chalking up strategic successes, says ex-Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy: In 2006, it won a landslide victory in the democratic elections imposed by the enlightened Americans. In 2007, it kicked Fatah and its legendary leader, Mohammed Dahlan, out of Gaza in a brutal military putsch that included pushing senior Fatah officials out of office building windows from the 15th floor. In this way, Hamas has morphed from a small fundamentalist religious organization into the sole ruler of Gaza and its million and a half inhabitants, and a serious obstacle to peace. In 2008, Hamas surprised us again, neutralizing our sanctions on Gaza with a plan it dreamed up and laid the groundwork for long ago: Barriers and walls were thrown down, and hundreds of thousands of caged Palestinians ran off to shop in Rafah, not to mention those who went in and out for hostile purposes. What looked like lunacy to many Israelis was a carefully planned strategic maneuver. It opened another front on the Israeli-Egyptian border − our soft underbelly. In the wake of this major breach, many sovereign Israeli territories have been declared off-limits to Israeli citizens, and the country is being forced to fence itself in and build another wall along the southern border. Under circumstances like these, our efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority are pointless. Some say it would be wrong to break off contact. On the contrary, they say. Now is the time to continue the talks and reach an accord with Abbas that can be displayed on the shelf. Their hope is that Hamas supporters will see it, be bit by the bug, and switch sides. Happy is the believer. It is not inconceivable that Israel will agree to a long-term hudna. But what Hamas envisions, at most, is muqawma; resistance; alongside the cease-fire. Yes, we?re in a hudna, supposedly, but jihad goes on. So a situation will be created where they strike from time to time, and Israel will be forced to swallow it without response. Now, with all of Sinai open to them, Hamas is stocking up on even longer-range arms. At the same time, efforts are being made to create a semblance of calm, like Hezbollah did before the war, so that Israel will say what they said about Hezbollah: ?Let their rockets rust.? And then, when the time is ripe, it will target Israel?s soft underbelly in the South. The attack in Dimona is a taste of what lies in store if the option of suicide bombings in Israeli cities is revived. On the one hand, we cannot allow ourselves to be in a position where Israel is on the receiving end and just sits still. After a cabinet meeting this week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel intends to stop the Qassam fire. But if he was alluding to a large-scale ground offensive and tough measures, let?s not forget that an operation of that magnitude could end up like our endeavor to crush Hezbollah, with the home front dealt a painful blow by missiles we never knew they had. On the other hand, before we get into major campaigns, the government needs to take action on the diplomatic front and push for the deployment of a multinational force in Gaza. Everything possible must be done to avoid a ?major operation? of the type we know how to get into, but not always how to get out of. This country has no strength for any more commissions of inquiry Bookmark to del.icio.us   Will power Shas Minister Yitzhak Cohen says only a complete Gaza power cut will bring results. The cost of security U.S. estimate: Preparing Palestinian security forces for statehood will cost $7 billion.   1.   You cannot make an egg out of an omlet 03:50  |  Michael N 08/02/08   2.   Marcus - Personifies Israeli Weakness and Lack of Determination 06:45  |  Tod Zuckerman 08/02/08   3.   ill winds blowing from the south 10:07  |  scallywag 08/02/08   4.   ill winds blowing from the south - 2. try 11:26  |  scallywag 08/02/08   5.   michael n 11:37  |  saul a. readner 08/02/08   6.   ill wind from my ass 13:04  |  blake 08/02/08   7.   #5 Saul Readner 16:27  |  Michael N 08/02/08   8.   again to michael n 12:28  |  saul a. readner 09/02/08

Today Online Syria upgrades missiles thanks to Iranian support Responses: 407 2 brothers, 8 and 19, seriously hurt in Sderot Qassam strike Responses: 421 Palestinian PM: Peace deal with Israel 'unlikely' this year Responses: 155 Editorial: Open the Rafah crossing Responses: 168 B. Weinthal: Germany is the logical place to start embargo of Iran Responses: 121 Hamas confiscates humanitarian aid trucks sent to Gaza Responses: 115 More Headlines 01:42 IAF kills Hamas man; 2 hurt in attack on Sderot 03:01 IDF: Hezbollah deploys rockets, missiles in south Lebanon 20:37 Hamas: W. Bank residents could breach border fence, enter Israel 20:32 U.K.: Gaza electricity cut risks harming humanitarian situation 22:49 Shas Min.: Only complete power cut in Gaza will bring results 22:02 Vilnius Catholics derogatorily portray Jews in holiday parade 21:04 PA negotiator: Peace deal possible in 2008 if sides honor commitments 20:53 Tennis: Israel takes 2-1 lead in Davis Cup match against Sweden 20:28 Israel complains to UN Security Council over rocket barrage 20:23 PA census: Nearly 4 million Palestinians live in W. Bank, Gaza, E. J'lem 01:48 Turkish lawmakers lift ban on Islamic head scarves at universities 02:12 Study: Soviet immigrants outperform Israeli high-schoolers Previous Editions Select Day 08 feb 07 feb 06 feb 05 feb 04 feb 03 feb 01 feb 31 jan 30 jan 29 jan 28 jan 27 jan

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