A few weeks ago Moshe Arens observed:
But once the Israel Defense Forces and the security services began to seriously tackle Palestinian terror, following the massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya in the spring of 2002, it quickly became clear that terror could be defeated by force.
Ari Shavit Nadav Shragai (thanks for the correction Mr Cosmic X) makes a similar observation:
The left has to be reminded of the year 1994 – a black hole in their memories: Israel left Gaza. That event took place 11 years before the disengagement. The left contends that mortars and Qassams were fired even before the disengagement, but they do not mention that the firing started only after 1994 – first at Gush Katif, and then at Sderot and after the disengagement, at Ashkelon.They fire at us from Gaza because we are not there. No one fires at Kfar Sava, which is 700 meters from Qalqilyah, or at the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, which is 500 meters from Bethlehem, because the IDF comes and goes whenever it wants, and thus has corrected the mistake of withdrawing from there during the Oslo Accord years.
Shavit’s observation is in the service of a larger point though:
The right must take care not to fall automatically into the trap of patriotism and must not “stand at attention” if the Israel Defense Forces enters the Strip. The right must make it clear that a short-term stay in Gaza would add insult to injury, and that another hasty withdrawal not only would not help us to regain our deterrent power but would smash it. The situation in the south is complicated, but there is no point in making it more complicated for a mere short-term gain that would precede another painful fall. It is necessary to rebuild permanent Israeli security control in Gaza both in the field and via intelligence, and also to consider once again setting up settlements in the northern Gaza Strip along our southern border. It is from the ruins of these settlements that the Grads and the Qassams are being fired in the direction of Ashkelon.
Defending Israel from Hamas in Gaza will entail a costly operation (or war). Half measures won’t do. The problem is that short term political considerations can’t come into play as Caroline Glick observed (h/t Seraphic Secret):
Tuesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet ahead of Wednesday’s security cabinet meeting to determine their preferred course of action in Gaza. As media reports and statements by the three’s surrogates over the past several days make clear, Israel’s political leaders oppose launching a military campaign aimed at defeating Hamas’s Iranian directed, financed, trained and armed army and dislodging Hamas’s jihadist regime from power.Indeed, as their actions and statements over the past several months make clear, what Israel’s political leaders really aspire to is a cease-fire agreement with Iran’s Palestinian proxy regime. Under the proposed cease-fire, Hamas will suspend or scale back its illegal missile war against Israeli civilians in the South. In return, Israel will effectively accept Hamas rule of Gaza. Israel will allow Hamas to continue to build up its military forces in Gaza and have open access to the Sinai.
If Hamas is afraid why not make those fears come true?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
