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Last update - 02:16 01/05/2008 We are also to blame By Israel Harel Tags: IDF, Beit Hanun Many Israelis were genuinely saddened by the death of a mother and her children in Beit Hanun. The prime minister, who expressed regret at their deaths, did a fine job of conveying the public's feelings. However, most Israelis believe that even if it was an Israeli shell that caused the deaths, and not ammunition in their homes that exploded, we are not to blame for this tragedy. Nor for previous tragedies in which children were killed. If from the place where the children were killed they were not firing rockets or light arms at Sderot or at farmers working in the fields - there would be no need for the responses that from time to time result in casualties, also among children, because of the density in which Gaza's residents live. There are Jews who suffer from perennial feelings of guilt, who will always pin the responsibility for such tragedies on their own people. For the extremists - because of the original sin of establishment of the State of Israel. For the "moderates" - because of the Six-Day War and its consequences. But this self-flagellation does not clear them of responsibility, which is greater even than that of Israelis who do not share their views. Every expression of solidarity with them bolsters the Palestinians' morale and increases their hope that those who identify with them will succeed in weakening further the Jews' will to fight for their state's existence. The Palestinians have plenty of proof that the subversive actions by those in solidarity with them are successful. Among other things, there is the considerable decline in the desire to enlist in the army among society's elites, emigration from Israel, the frenzy to acquire foreign passports, the weakness that took hold of many residents of the North during the Second Lebanon War, the battlefield fiascoes, and the Israelis' fear of launching a comprehensive offensive in Gaza. Advertisement Even those not infected with the "mea culpa" disease are not exempt from responsibility. We have dilly-dallied for years in the battle aimed at putting an end to terror in Gaza. If it were not for our dilly-dallying, there would be no need for shelling from tanks or bombing from the air - actions that sometimes cause results that tug at your heart. In Judea and Samaria, where we got up the guts, such measures are not necessary. Six years ago, Israel broke its restraint in the face of the murder of its citizens - more than 100 people were murdered in terrorist attacks in a single month, March 2002. We vowed to wage war on the bastions of terror in Judea and Samaria, and we broke their back. Since then, the IDF has been able to limit sharply the number of suicide terrorists and the attempts to bomb population centers in central Israel, nearly without resorting to tanks and planes. That is also why there have been no tragic occurrences in Judea and Samaria of the sort that occurred in Beit Hanun this week. That, therefore, is the recipe. In order to follow it, we do not need a cease-fire in Gaza, but rather an offensive operation along the lines of Operation Defensive Shield. As you may recall, we embarked on Defensive Shield despite warnings of heavy casualties from politicians, military commentators, and even high-ranking officers on active duty. A handful of those same individuals of little understanding and faith remain to this day in important positions in politics, the media and the army. Continued dawdling and foot-dragging may well lead to insecurity and even demoralization in the military. There are signs that the political echelon is about to accept the truce being offered by an exhausted Hamas. The message to the combat troops will be: What the decision makers are demanding of them, they are not demanding of themselves. How, for instance, will the soldiers who battled Hamas in recent months, wore it down and caused it to propose a cease-fire out of distress, feel about a situation in which their superiors, who urge them to strive to engage (and even oust the dawdlers), behave in the opposite manner - by disengaging from the enemy, permitting it to regroup, equip, train and with renewed strength continue fighting them and wearing down the Western Negev? Does the value of striving to engage the enemy, rather than running from it, not apply to the decision makers as well? Terror wears us down, disrupts our lives, deepens our internal rifts, and continues to lower - as in the Beit Hanun tragedy - Israel's shining image in the world. Hence it is a strategic danger. For this reason the end goal of the battle against that terror must not be a cease-fire. Only total victory - Hamas' request for a cease-fire proves we are not far off - can remove the strategic danger it poses. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hamas on the Holocaust Al-Aqsa TV claims Jews concocted the Holocaust. Grasping genocide How a non-Jew in Israel came to understand the Holocaust.   1.   Olmert , Livni and Barak - Ready to Make Another Terrible Mistake 06:11  |  Tod Zuckerman 01/05/08   2.   nearly without resorting to tanks and planes 08:07  |  rm 01/05/08   3.   harel is right a ceasefire is a defeat 11:17  |  harzion 01/05/08   4.   we need soldiers who encourage the tired leaders 11:19  |  harzion 01/05/08   5.   gen gabriel ashkenazy do not listen to uri saguy 11:23  |  harzion 01/05/08   6.   assaf simhoni in 1956 pushed the armoured forces 11:25  |  harzion 01/05/08   7.   where did the commanders in the 2006 war 11:32  |  harzion 01/05/08   8.   the example of the officer who refused to fight 11:41  |  harzion 01/05/08   9.   Only fools believe in a total victory aka "Endsieg" 11:48  |  Kris Lazar 01/05/08   10.   Not the myth of total victory again. 11:56  |  Michael 01/05/08   11.   Israelis do not feel the guilt of murder 11:58  |  El-Birawi 01/05/08   12.   we have massive numbers of special forces 12:03  |  harzion 01/05/08   13.   kris lazar 12:14  |  yair 01/05/08   14.   This is an offensive article 12:16  |  Nick Ferriman 01/05/08   15.   the new idf narrative 12:26  |  yair 01/05/08   16.   Harzion, some required reading for you 12:31  |  Ben Alofs 01/05/08   17.   uk michael total victory has been achieved in the west bank 12:34  |  yaheskel 01/05/08   18.   el birawi why no criticism of the usa for killing 11 somali 12:38  |  zimri 01/05/08   19.   el birawi "what does it take for israel to feel secure" 12:40  |  avigdor 01/05/08   20.   el birawi "mental specialists" 12:41  |  yirmi 01/05/08   21.   nick ferriman any sympathy for the tens of thousands 12:46  |  avi 01/05/08   22.   ISrael`s shiny image in the world 12:48  |  Zack 01/05/08   23.   nick ferriman compare the casualties in gaza with just one 12:49  |  avi 01/05/08   24.   I`m afraid it would take a "genocide" to wipe out Hamas..... 12:51  |  Swiss (Dino) 01/05/08   25.   nick ferriman you travel thousands of miles to kill 12:52  |  avi 01/05/08   26.   nick ferriman "gas chambers" 12:54  |  avi 01/05/08   27.   Jewish guilt, & everybody guilt ? 12:56  |  Altalena 01/05/08   28.   Harel, the epitome of agressive Zionist ideology 12:59  |  Ben Alofs 01/05/08   29.   ben alofs on israeli security 13:02  |  harzion 01/05/08   30.   ben alofs ask yourself this question 13:04  |  harzion 01/05/08   31.   Yes, reading such a text it seems to me getting rid of Israel 13:05  |  Andreas 01/05/08   32.   "why do we allow jews to be hurt and humiliated" 13:07  |  Andreas 01/05/08   33.   Harel, the epitome of agressive Zionist ideology 2 13:07  |  Ben Alofs 01/05/08   34.   ben alofs mi5 and mi6 are now totally involved in fighting islam 13:11  |  harzion 01/05/08   35.   basel andreas is rather facile 13:19  |  chaim 01/05/08   36.   andreas and do the citizens of sderot have no rights 13:22  |  itzhak 01/05/08   37.   Total Victory 13:23  |  Leser 01/05/08   38.   ben alofs and required reading 13:32  |  harzion 01/05/08   39.   Harel`s article is Class A Filth 13:32  |  Palestinian in UK 01/05/08   40.   OF COURSE, WE`RE TO BLAME!... 13:42  |  Akiva P 01/05/08   41.   Leaving Gaza was not a sign of good will, you just gave back 13:55  |  Andreas 01/05/08   42.   Yaheskel 17 Locking Pals in a prison is not total victory. 14:03  |  Michael 01/05/08   43.   Print this once and then spare us your hasbara crap for a while 14:03  |  Chanalau, Tova 01/05/08   44.   harzion is right 14:23  |  Dror 01/05/08   45.   Bestseller in Tel Aviv 14:32  |  Knott Bushman 01/05/08   46.   Israel is now too cautious 14:36  |  Dror 01/05/08   47.   For Yaheskel and his dream of total victory # 17 14:41  |  Clickfool 01/05/08   48.   And they know it 14:47  |  Dror 01/05/08   49.   No remoarse 14:55  |  Dror 01/05/08   50.   Harel is wrong-We must go after our Israeli War Criminals 15:00  |  Yossi Cronenberg 01/05/08   51.   #14 nick the fairyman and hiroshima and dresden 15:21  |  v hardman 01/05/08   52.   Ben Alofs re harzion is zimri/avigdor/yirmi/itzhak/chaim 15:22  |  John Syracuse 01/05/08   53.   Ben Alofs #28, #33 15:23  |  Question Mark 01/05/08   54.   Kill More Women and Children 15:25  |  MIKE 01/05/08   55.   #47 boris the clucking fool and ww1 ideas 15:25  |  v hardman 01/05/08   56.   uk michael 15:31  |  yaheskel 01/05/08   57.   chanalau tova we are not perfect 15:36  |  itzhik 01/05/08   58.   clickfool we fight but the british gave up to iran 15:43  |  yaheskel 01/05/08   59.   Clickfool 15:44  |  Noam 01/05/08   60.   For god`s sake the Palestinians are in a prison 15:45  |  Marilyn 01/05/08   61.   drors posts are well worth reading 15:49  |  giora 01/05/08   62.   # 11 El Birawi....what it takes to end the conflict 15:52  |  Lynn 01/05/08   63.   Chanalau, Crap Specialist 15:55  |  Gideon 01/05/08   64.   Andreas 15:55  |  Ram 01/05/08   65.   Yaheskel 56 a war of decades is dangerous for Israel 16:02  |  Michael 01/05/08   66.   #60 Marilyn - They were put there by their own leaders and remain 16:03  |  Zev 01/05/08   67.   Jews are apparently better than Germans 16:06  |  Tosefta 01/05/08   68.   pal in uk is losing it 16:06  |  goldersgreenstein 01/05/08   69.   marilyn and "gas chambers" 16:08  |  harzion 01/05/08   70.   The genocide option / II 16:09  |  Bob 01/05/08   71.