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10 Shevat 5762 - January 23, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
IDF Goes In and Out of Tulkarm; Israeli Strategy Suggested
by Yated Ne'eman Staff and M. Plaut

On Tuesday morning the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew from the border town of Tulkarm just over 24 hours after it entered. IDF forces redeployed outside the city limits and set up a blockade of the city.

A few days after a Palestinian suicide terrorist from Tulkarm opened fire at a bas mitzvah in Hadera, just a few minutes' drive from the Palestinian town of Tulkarm, killing six Israelis and wounding more than 30, the Israeli army seized control of Tulkarm to round up terrorists who operate from there.

The operation was the first time since the signing of the Oslo accords, even since the outbreak of the Palestinian violence in September 2000, that Israel took over an entire Palestinian city.

Around 3 a.m. on Monday, Israeli ground troops backed by helicopters seized positions in the city. The army imposed a curfew, began arresting militants and rounding up weapons.

Officers said there was only light opposition during the 30- hour incursion, mainly from small arms fire, and there were no IDF casualties. The IDF said that two armed Palestinians were killed and several wounded, one seriously.

Nachal Brigade commander Col. Yair Golan, who commanded the operation, said they were able to carry out quality arrests and show the PA that the IDF will act to foil terror wherever it does not.

Shortly before the incursion, Israel informed the Palestinian Authority of the operation, saying it was targeting the terrorist infrastructure in the city and not the Palestinian Authority.

The army spokesman said terrorists "including the gunman who carried out the Jan. 17 terror attack in Hadera" were being sent from Tulkarm to attack Israeli targets.

Israeli authorities did not say in advance how long they would stay in Tulkarm. As late as Monday night, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz would only say, "We do not intend to remain in Tulkarm forever."

The United States denounced the Hadera attack as "horrific" and "vicious."

In other reprisals for the Hadera attack, Israeli troops destroyed the Palestinian radio and television broadcasting headquarters in Ramallah. A day earlier, Israel rocketed Palestinian Authority offices in Tulkarm, killing one Palestinian policeman and injuring at least 20 people.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of planning to reassume control over the entire West Bank and called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council. Arafat said Monday the Israeli action "crossed all red lines," and warned that the Palestinians would not stand idly by.

Concern over these actions may have been a consideration in the pullback from Tulkarm.

Former President Clinton, in Israel for a conference at Tel Aviv University and to receive an honorary doctorate, urged Israelis not to lose hope for peace. In a speech Sunday in Tel Aviv, Clinton also said there would be no peace while terrorism prevails. He said Arafat missed a "golden opportunity" for peace at the July 2000 Camp David summit.

Israel will take action wherever necessary to render the terrorist infrastructure ineffective in all areas in which the Palestinian Authority fails to combat terror and arrest those responsible, senior government officials said on Monday.

"The government does not intend to expel [PA Chairman] Yasser Arafat or harm him, but he must be made to realize Israel will not tolerate a terrorist entity on its borders," one official said. "Tulkarm is located on the Green Line and is a terrorist hotbed. If you don't stop [the terrorists] before they leave their homes, the next stop is Netanya or Kfar Yona, a few minutes' drive away."

Officials shrugged off any response to Arafat's statements he would prefer to die as a martyr for the sake of a Palestinian state. "We are used to Arafat's statements. He makes declarations all the time, but so far they are meaningless," one said.

Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff criticized the government and suggested the move proves it lacks a strategic policy. She told Israel Radio it was taken to calm Israelis following the recent terrorist attacks.

A senior government official denied this, saying, "This government will not negotiate under fire and will insist that all obligations be fulfilled. One of the major mistakes made in the seven years since the Oslo Accords were signed was a failure to insist the PA fulfill its obligations. We gave them territory, and they failed to live up to their commitments. We are establishing the rules of the game not just for Arafat, but for any future leader."

Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Oren Shachor, a retired general who was once deeply involved in the army's activities in the territories, wrote that Israel definitely does have a strategic plan.

He noted that both sides apparently abandoned the strategy of negotiations they had been following since the signing of the Oslo accords. First, the Palestinians adopted a policy of terror aimed at winning a Palestinian state. Israel, in turn, eventually, made defeating terrorism its central goal.

Shachor called proposals to carry out a unilateral separation at this time, "a nice plan on paper, which is not practical on the ground." Such a separation is only workable if the PA cooperates.

Shachor says that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is apparently following a course designed to exhaust the PA and other terrorist elements.

"One step at a time, in a gradual process, he is moving to exhaust Arafat and the PA as far as their involvement in terrorism. This strategic path has the following components:

"A controlled incursion into the PA to clear out the terrorist infrastructure, because the PA isn't doing it. This is the framework in which we should view the operation in Tulkarm and previous operations, such as those in Jenin and Beit Jala.

"Attacks on the PA's symbols of government, such as its broadcasting authority, or the proximity of IDF tanks to PA government buildings. This is to demonstrate to the PA the fragility of its existence and the real danger of its collapse, if we so choose.

"Imposing closures on villages and towns, with as much consideration as possible for the civilian population.

"Targeted killings of terrorists with `blood on their hands' or those who are `ticking bombs.'

"Imposing a personal siege on Arafat, a sort of house arrest in Ramallah that prevents him from touring the world and having the international meetings he likes so well. This house arrest is not only aimed at damaging Arafat's international status, but also stresses to him and to the people around him the illogic of the intifadah and the loss of the many political assets they had.

"I assume there is some chance Arafat might resign, but there is no doubt that in the long run the PA will be exhausted, and more and more voices around Arafat in its leadership are asking what is the point and wondering whether terrorism is the correct strategy.

"As for us, if all the elements I listed are not a strategic plan, I don't know what a strategic plan is."

 

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