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Last update - 09:18 18/04/2008
All of Gaza can't be razed
By Haaretz Editorial
Tags: Israel

Hamas can be blamed for the latest conflagration in the Gaza Strip. First came the attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot; then came Wednesday's ambush, in which three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed; and then yesterday, an attempt to infiltrate Kibbutz Keren Shalom was foiled. Meanwhile, the Qassam and mortar attacks have resumed fully. Hamas clearly wants to drag Israel into an increasingly violent retaliation in Gaza, and Israel must not fall into this trap.

The IDF operation after Wednesday's fatal ambush left the impression that once again, Israel acts only out of revenge. One ground commander ordered the company that lost three soldiers to raze the entire area and kill as many terrorists as possible. Such an act is not becoming of a state and its professional army, in response to the acts of a terror group.

The inevitable outcome of such an ostentatious display of force was that more than 20 Palestinians were killed in one day, including a journalist and several minors. When Israel resorts to such indiscriminate shooting, it is playing by Hamas' rules - launching an attack that leads to a retaliation with numerous casualties, which leads to another attack, and so on and so forth, as if it were an endless gang war.
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"Israel must not act on a whim, from the gut, but rather with discretion," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday. This is an astute and timely remark, but it hardly describes how the IDF retaliated to the ambush. Revenge attacks, no matter how many people they kill, will not stop Hamas' ambushes. Quite the opposite. A state must respond differently, while recognizing the limits of the use of force, with the required measure of what is permissible and forbidden. Indiscriminate killing that targets civilians is not in line with the "discretion" that Barak mentioned.

The terrorists are acting from a densely populated, bustling region. The buffer zone separating Israel and the Gaza Strip cannot be completely cleared without harming the residents and disrupting their daily life. That would not only be immoral, it would also be pointless.

It's time to repeat that the only way to ensure the safety of the people living near the Gaza border is through a political effort to reach a cease-fire agreement. Only a complete cessation of hostilities on both sides of the border that imprisons Gaza will change the lives of residents - both ours and theirs. Such an agreement, which would end the siege on Gaza and enable its border with Egypt to be opened in a controlled manner, may create a different atmosphere in which Hamas, too, would have something to lose. Israel has not done everything it can to reach such an agreement.

The IDF must make every effort to thwart every attempt to harm the residents of the south - but only through targeted operations. At the same time, the statesmen must make every attempt to reach a political agreement - even if it is only temporary - to calm the area down. No military action - whether a revenge attack or the renewed occupation of the Gaza Strip - will lead to real calm.
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  1.   Israel shows what it is by its actions: a Terrorist State 10:08  |  Chanalau, Tova 18/04/08
  2.   Thank you Haaretz! 10:15  |  Dutch Dirk 18/04/08
  3.   We Can Win- And We Must 10:22  |  Yishai Kohen 18/04/08
  4.   Invasion 10:30  |  Mark of Lewiston 18/04/08
  5.   Biased coverage 10:36  |  Jackson Wallace 18/04/08
  6.   A modicum of wisdom wanted... 10:43  |  Esther 18/04/08
  7.   Empty article 11:10  |  Rolandus 18/04/08
  8.   TOTAL NONSENSE 11:21  |  rs 18/04/08
  9.   Gaza is not a country 11:35  |  Gregor 18/04/08
  10.   Bravo,defeatist Haaretz! 11:43  |  Hastaroth 18/04/08
  11.   2. Thank you Haaretz! 12:54  |  hanif manjoo 18/04/08
  12.   Gaza 13:25  |  j10 18/04/08
  13.   All of Gaza will be razed.... 13:35  |  Anton 18/04/08
  14.   Why not? 13:45  |  Mark Lincoln 18/04/08
  15.   Short memory 13:54  |  MR 18/04/08
  16.   Haaretz, second try - are you so busy preparing for Shabat? 13:56  |  MR 18/04/08
  17.   #7 Total nonsense 13:56  |  Hastaroth 18/04/08
  18.   Destroying Gaza is according the Torah 14:04  |  El-Birawi 18/04/08
  19.   Monotonous Misplaced Truisms 14:21  |  FOX 18/04/08
  20.   Did Chamberlain write for Haaretz too? 14:42  |  Nuchem 18/04/08
  21.   "judgement day." 14:56  |  elsie 18/04/08
  22.   Evolution of Gaza 14:58  |  False Tosefta 18/04/08
  23.   You can`t win 15:10  |  JJ burke 18/04/08
  24.   Yes, Israel can demolish all of Gaza 15:11  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/04/08
  25.   Yes, Israel can demolish all of Gaza 15:12  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/04/08
  26.   Yes, Israel can demolish all of Gaza, what is wrong with that? 15:14  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/04/08
  27.   Dear Yishai # 3 15:16  |  North American 18/04/08
  28.   A question 15:22  |  Yakov 18/04/08
  29.   A change of heart Haaretz? Not long ago you objected to 15:24  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/04/08
  30.   A change of heart Haaretz? Not long ago you objected to 15:25  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/04/08
  31.   A change of heart Haaretz? Not long ago you objected to 15:25  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/04/08
  32.   Chanalau another double talker 15:28  |  x-ray 18/04/08
  33.   To Dutch Dirk and others 15:34  |  Abdul Aziz Higazi 18/04/08
  34.   Try posting this , Haaretz 15:34  |  MR 18/04/08
  35.   Yishai #3 15:35  |  George Kaplan 18/04/08
  36.   What is worse, the IDF "overreaction" or the "inaction"..... 15:37  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/04/08
  37.   Sure It Can And Must 15:51  |  dave 18/04/08
  38.   Mark of Lewiston #4: do not twist the picture, Mark - 16:16  |  ivo 18/04/08
  39.   There`s No Proof 16:22  |  Jeff Northridge 18/04/08
  40.   razed 16:27  |  Shmuelshachor 18/04/08
  41.   Hamas doesn`t want peace, just hudnas and such 16:29  |  Joe Frazier 18/04/08
  42.   No Dino, the problem is muslim indifference 16:32  |  Joe Frazier 18/04/08
  43.   Ceasefire with islamist terrorists is a non-starter. 16:41  |  Fortuna Benmayor 18/04/08
  44.   SOLUTION: GAZA AS A NEW DUBAI; PARTS OF W/B FEDERATED WITH JORDAN 16:48  |  G. Marcus 18/04/08
  45.   "Breaking the Silence" 16:49  |  Eva 18/04/08
  46.   Razing Gaza 16:55  |  Jim Brooks 18/04/08
  47.   George Bush 16:58  |  Ron Ettinger 18/04/08
  48.   GAZA 17:01  |  John 18/04/08
  49.   Simply amazing 17:01  |  Gee 18/04/08
  50.   Why Israel refuses a cease fire 17:14  |  Tosefta 18/04/08
  51.   Swiss (Dino) stop your ranting 17:25  |  Gil 18/04/08
  52.   # 34 Joe Frazier 17:35  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/04/08
  53.   Yishai Kohen playing God...#3 17:38  |  Esther 18/04/08
  54.   Tahadiyeh Fever 17:42  |  Jeff Northridge 18/04/08
  55.   ask swiss dino why muslims are not allowed 17:50  |  harzion 18/04/08
  56.   `All of Gaza can`t be Raised`..... 17:51  |  charlie 18/04/08
  57.   Dino #28: that`s not exactly fair - 17:54  |  ivo 18/04/08
  58.   Yishai Kohen 18:04  |  Howard 18/04/08
  59.   Why Israel refuses a cease fire 18:19  |  Tosefta 18/04/08
  60.   Dino ivo in Prague has so much more compassion than you do 18:20  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 18/04/08
  61.   Jeff N. #40: a temporary ceasefire might do everybody a lot - 18:38  |  ivo 18/04/08
  62.   Israel needs a new tactic 18:41  |  Alan the real one 18/04/08
  63.   To G. Marcus # 36 - Solution a New Dubai... 18:41  |  Natasha 18/04/08
  64.   DINO, how blind u r 18:42  |  kivi 18/04/08
  65.   the sad fact is 18:43  |  TAZ 18/04/08
  66.   No need to - just crush northern 5%, which fires 99% of kassams 18:46  |  Dr. L. Brnd 18/04/08
  67.   # 43 ivo 18:46  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/04/08
  68.   WHY NOT, IF HAMMAS HAD THE POWER IT WOULD RAZE ISRAEL 18:59  |  Jorge 18/04/08
  69.   Dino #44: sorry, have to keep contradicting you - 19:00  |  ivo 18/04/08
  70.   #55 Margie, Re:suffering as being just and fair 19:01  |  Dutch 18/04/08
  71.   # 55 Margie, our dear ivo from Prague may be older, wiser..... 19:03  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/04/08
  72.   Gaza isn`t the problem it`s Hams that needs to be removed 19:13  |  r 18/04/08
  73.   # 46 Gil