Forgot everything, learned nothing
The battle must be taken into enemy territory, with the army taking over a strip of five to eight kilometers in the northern Gaza Strip. It is the only way to protect the population of Sderot and the western Negev.
By Moshe ArensExperience is not everything despite the claims of some of the politicians currently aiming for the top job and advertising their qualifications. By now nobody in Israel has the experience in dealing with security crises that the Olmert-Peretz team has accumulated. They are the only ones to have run a war - the Second Lebanon War. Does that mean they are the best-qualified politicians to lead the nation at this critical time? Not only is their experience one of failure, but they have forgotten everything and learned nothing. In effect, they are starting from a clean slate, repeating their mistakes and learning at the expense of the people of Sderot. What is happening in Sderot these past few months is proof, if any was needed, of their incompetence.
The first mistake, still under Ariel Sharon's stewardship, was the uprooting of the three Israeli settlements, Nisanit, Elei Sinai, and Dugit, at the northern tip of the Gaza Strip back in August 2005, which quickly turned into launching sites for rockets against Israel. The military imperative was to immediately return the Israel Defense Forces to these evacuated areas. But those responsible for the disengagement were not about to admit their mistake. So to this day some of the rockets being launched against Israel are being launched from this area. But not only from this area. The vast majority of the Qassam rockets being launched against Israel, and those that have turned Sderot into an embattled border outpost and terrorized its population, have a range of five to eight kilometers and are being launched from points at that distance from their targets.
What has already not been tried? Massive shelling by IDF artillery into empty areas in the Gaza Strip with no apparent results. Surgical strikes by the IAF against organizers and crews carrying out the rocket attacks, but the rocketing goes on. The agreement to a cease-fire by the IDF some months ago has permitted Hamas to increase its arsenal with impunity and train its forces in the intervening period, while Islamic Jihad continued the attacks. Now Hamas has joined them. Attempts to strengthen and arm the Fatah forces in the vain hope that they would stop the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip have brought zero results.
So what is left? The tried and true two-part security doctrine enunciated by David Ben-Gurion. First, priority must be given to the protection of Israel's civilian population; that comes before anything else. That is the mission of the IDF. Second, the battle must be taken into enemy territory. In this case it means the army taking over a strip of 5 to 8 kilometers in the northern Gaza Strip. The specious argument being offered by those opposing such action, that we already have been in the Gaza Strip and there were rocket launchings then as well, deliberately ignores the fact that no rockets were launched from areas under the control of the IDF, and that in an area under IDF control the IDF should be able to prevent such launchings. Can such an operation be carried out without casualties? Not very likely, but it is the only way to protect the population of Sderot and the western Negev. It will be more difficult now than it would have been six months ago before the recent buildup of Hamas forces, and it will be still more difficult six months from now. Better now than later.
As for those who can't stop worrying about how we are going to exit the areas occupied by the IDF, I would suggest they adopt the age-old adage "first things first." First, let's provide protection for the inhabitants of Sderot; when and how to leave the area we occupy will depend on the behavior of the Palestinians.
The government's inaction is an exact repeat of the mistakes of the Second Lebanon War. Not understanding that the only way to suppress the launching of short-range rockets is for ground forces to reach the launching sites, the Galilee was exposed to Hezbollah rockets for over five weeks, and the war was lost. Now the same mistake is being repeated. Nothing has been learned. Then, because our ministers' minds were being obfuscated by the stupid slogan that "we shall not again get stuck in the Lebanese quagmire," and now the slogan is that "we we shall not return to Gaza." This is war, and you cannot fight a war based on dogmatic slogans.
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Second Lebanon war lesson was you cannot bring peace with cluster bombes or ground operation, this has been tried before with net zero result.
All I have to say is your memory is very short or just too naive to discuss this complex problem this people are facing. Not long ago Saudi made a proposal from all Arab nations to offer full and complete peace with Israel and what, is your Govt response ?not acceptable unless made changes?. If you were sincere, the response should have been "We accept and let?s accommodate few changes" would have been enough to put the ball in Arabs court, instead your Govt proved to rest of the world that you are foot dragging and you intention are not sincere for making peace.
For those who wish to go after PAL politicians why has no one suggested bombing the PAL legislature,killing all their hacks and forcing new elections.A second group of leaders(?) might negotiate with Israel or if there is no second group, Gaza would degenerate into chaos and most of the population would flee elsewhere.There is some indication that the last item is already happening.
A clever polititian must weigh the costs of his/her decisions. To "not free" two Israeli reserve soldiers from Hibulla, the government has started a war which has cost... lives. The same is with Gaza, it will cost Israel much more soldier victims etc in entering Gaza than Kasam damage. Of course, one may argue that in a long ran Kassams terrorise the country and give the Gazans wrong impression of weak Israel, and invite more violence. OK, then there are other clever methods to deal with hamas, and bomb their leaders here and there. Inyaki, from eternal capital of the basques.
Ah, what are you talking about? No partner for peace-there is no paertner for peace!; This is our biblical land - isn't it?; we are the sole owners- The Pals have never offered a compromise based on a 2 state solution, they even rejected the UN Partition Plan;, Death to Arabs- Watch Pal Sesame Street; only democracy in ME- name another one;, they want to push us into sea- see Hamas charter (available on internet) or Ahmanijads' rants.
The 2nd Lebanon War resulted in Israel supposedly learning that you can't stop missiles like Katyushas and Qassams by air power alone. Didn't Israel learn that a major ground operation must be a part of the solution? Wasn't that at least 1 lesson from Lebanon?
Dear Natalie, everyone knows that the issue is not about settlements. the issue is about ISRAEL existence, to which arabs ( sorry,palestinians) will never agree ( look at the last speech of HAMAS). the moment IDF left GAZA, rockets started to go into Israel. BRAVO Moshe Arens! I am praying for Omert and CO, leave the political arena ASAP!!!
I would not invade Gaza unless the pals are driven into Sinai. Better to bomb infrastructure, economic and military/leadership targets. Stop bombing empty buildings. Make the pals take the casualties, they will stop.
What are they waiting for. If their government won't protect them they should form their own militias and take matters into their own hands. I'm sure they could smuggle in missles as easily as Hamas does.
I really appreciate Prof. Arens articles. As usual, he is a voice of sanity and rationalism in political and military analysis. Thank you very much
Plan 1. Create a buffer zone permeated with land mines. It would risk less personel than a permanent re-occupation. Plan 2. Re-occupy and re-settle sites used by terrorists. Plan 3. Re-occupy checkpoints between cities. Cut off the Philadephia line with a canal (to prevent tunnels) These are the ideas of an amateur. Can't professionals come up with something better than allowing the residents of Sederot to live in fear and harms way
Screw em. It doesn't take a genius to understand that if the Israeli return the Quassams to the pals villages but triple the quantity they'll soon stop. Isreal is too friggin civilized. They need to fight fire with fire, furthermore they need their own "terrorists" to return the favor. Moshe is right. The current Isreali leadership is weak, dumb, and maybe even corrupt. It started with Shamir and the Gulf War when he gave into the senior Bush and didn't return Scuds to Irag. It continued with the arrogant and pompous Barak. Now they have a political hack and a neophyte defense minister. The country is in deep trouble unless there is a change in thinking or unless a miracle takes place.
You got a fallacious idea. How do you have peace with savages who are trying to destroy Israel with unrelenting rocket attacks and whose Charter calls for the destruction of Israel? There is a great difference between Egypt, Jordan and those fanatical thugs roaming the streets in lawless land. The leaders of Egypt and Jordan were interested in peace and traveled to Israel to make peace.
effective combatting of Qassams. Israeli top has been cowed by he State Department constant admonishing " Israel should think about the consequences of its actions.,ergo "Pal civilians and buildings are much more important than Israeli ones"
They want martyrdom. Give it to them!
Got Israel in to trouble in the first place. Examples: No partner for peace, This is our biblical land and we are the sole owners, Death to Arabs, only democracy in ME, they want to push us into sea. All of these slogans produced nothing but misery for both sides and Mr. Arens proposing nothing new and I belive he hasn?t learned anything either. Make peace just like what has been done with Egypt and Jordan. This test case is enough proof to say all you are propsing is wrong and only peace treat will solves the problem not the dogmatic slogans or IDF killing machine.
Arens is brilliant in seeing the big picture and how Israel can defeat the enemy that has been terrorizing Sderot and the surrounding towns. It is time the government follows the advice of a brilliant expert in defense. Should it be difficult for them to handle the challenges, they should resign or dissolve to pave the way for new election where the people can determine the best government who can protect and defend Israel from Islamist-Jihadist threats and unrelenting aggressions.
This is an absolute MUST READ for Olmert and Peretz!!!!!!
You cannot ignore a disease and stick your head in the ground and make believe everything is okay. The disease of arab terrorism will not go away. This is wishful thinking. This disease has to be fought with a strong dose of medicine. If this is not done things will be worse and the disease will be worse.
Your post is based on nothing but spurious, misleading information. Gaza has a border with Egypt, to which Gazans regularly travel. This border was evacuated by the Israelis following disengagement, and is now controlled by Egypt and the PA troops. It is a haven for weapons smuggling, naturally. As for Israel's border with Gaza, it is entitled to prevent Gazans from entering Israel, AFTER IT WITHDREW EVERY LAST ISRAELI FROM GAZA AND DISMANTLED ALL SETTLEMENTS. Israel even left extensive hothouses to the Palestinians, and they were looted and destroyed. And given the pathetic apologetics from people like you who will always find Israel as ultimately to blame, it is no wonder that the Palestinians have little motivation to better themselves.
It was, and I believe Sharon intended it to be, a classic example of trial and error. Sharon despised the idea of dismantling settlements and territorial withdrawal and a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan, but he had no long-term vision of how the situation should become. The Gaza disengagement was a trial run on a smallish scale to see what could be gained by evacuating settlements and withdrawing from territory. The outcome is clear. Gaza is mayhem. A proto-Palestinian state did not emerge. The southern borders of Israel are not quiet. Sharon's actions did turn out to be a formaldehyde for further withdrawals from West Bank, but because of the actions of the Palestinians themselves. Today, even the reckless Olmert dares not speak of withdrawing from settlements in the West Bank. Imagine Sharon, if he were around.
Succinct and right to the jugular. Our leaders are inept,incompetant fools. Unless they accept the burden of their responsibility for their failures and resign, we will continue to be victims of their incompetance. Thanks for telling it like it is!
Can one really withdraw from a land that G-d Himself has entrusted to us? Can we entrust, or rather the Israelis, entrust or "delegate" their safety to Fatah or others? The whole world suffers because those who are supposed to settle and defend are not allowed to do so. That being said, there are a whole lot of Arabs, Palestinians who were not incorporated into the Israeli social fabric, such as it is. So they are a people, but now there is also the matter if they can distinguish themselves from the whole Arab imperative... Are they really seperate or are they just playing into the hands of the goals of Islam in general, which is why Hamas does not want to come out and specificly recognize Israel? There is a whole lot at "play", if I may use this expression. It's not just the Palestinians and the refugees. See what is happening in Lebanon. The refugees are also being held hostage to Islam's stated goals.The United States sees Lebanon, decides to lift its veto on talks w/ Syria.
The withdrawal from Gaza did provide a window of opportunity and economic growth was for a brief time remarkable. But extensive border closures by the IDF destroyed the economic viability of most Gaza-based businesses resulting in economic devastation and unemployment figures as high as 60%. Continued pretense that a Palestinian people does not exist is willful ignorance of the sort that started this whole mess. In Herzl's day, this was recognised by men such as Judah Magnes and Max Nordau. The Palestinian protests of Jewish settlement that almost immediately after the Balfour declaration call this a lie. Only the willfully ignorant can deny the existence of the Palestinian people and their ignorance gains them very little.
Perhaps it's less expensive to move sedrot a little...
Israel will be good to continue it's natural growth of settlements as it sees fit. It is clear that a Terrorist State in The West Bank is not only a mortal danger to Israel, but is also a threat to Jordan, the entire region and by extension, the whole world. The Gaza withdrawal, although a horrific error, was an opportunity for the building of a new state, it never got off the ground because the people there are not a seperate people yearning to create a country for a unique people. The myth of "The Palestinian People" is in full view. "Palestine" had Jewish citizens, who are now Israelis, so Israel is part "Palestine" and no more Palestine does the world need; needs it like a hole in the head. Those of you who try to degrade Israel every day are providing a worthwhile education for those Israelis who have not met people like you, fortunately for them.
Arens makes some good points, but there should be no rush to invade Gaza. For the immediate, we should strike at Hamas leaders by air. This should include "political" leaders such as Haniyeh. An actual invasion of Gaza is necessary but it should have the goal of physically eliminating ALL armed groups, including Fatah. There is no rush - this is an operation that must be well planned. The main problem, however, is that we need a change of gov't to carry out any plan. Our current incompetent leadership cannot be trusted to carry out even the smallest operation.
Haaretz deserves credit for publishing Moshe Arens. It shows that Haaretz takes seriously the presentation of opposing viewpoints. Arens represents an articulate educated plurality of Israelis who justifiably feel that Oslo and what followed, specifically, Kadima, was a failure. It would certainly appear to have been a failure. Arens' points are all in place. I would go a step further and take Philadelpi Corridor.
Israel continues to expand settlements in the west bank and to make new settlements as well. This is the primary reason there has been no serious peace effort and that there will be no serious peace effort in the future. All the sound and fury in Gaza is meant to keep the west bank expansion out of the news.
Wow, Mr.Arens, not a single reflection on why Israel could be in the situation she is today, not a single thought about any kind of alterna- tive strategies, just keeping on with the same old madness. Mr.Arens, Israels political establishment (including those who voted them into office) and those Palestinians who still insist on violence as a form of resistence have one thing in common: They all would deserve an award: The " NEVER LEARNING FROM MISTAKES " award. What a hopeless case you are.