Israel's defense minister warned on Monday that he will send large forces into Palestinian neighborhoods if Israeli troops and settlers come under fire during the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer.
The military faces twin threats during the pullout -- from extremist settlers and Palestinian militants. Settlers want to stop the evacuation of all 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank, while militants want to show that they are driving the Israelis out by force.
Also Monday, Israeli officials said they might leave houses in Gaza settlements intact, reversing an earlier tendency to tear them down to spare the settlers the vision of Palestinians taking them over.
PHOTO: EPA
Palestinian attacks during the Gaza withdrawal "would require us to go into Palestinian Authority territory with very, very large forces to those places which overlook the areas to be evacuated," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said.
As part of the truce declared earlier this month by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Israel has stopped its frequent raids into Palestinian areas of Gaza.
Originally described as "unilateral disengagement," the Gaza pullout is shaping up now as a joint effort involving Israel, the Palestinians and Egypt.
The death of Yasser Arafat on Nov. 11 brought about the change. Israel, with US backing, boycotted Arafat, charging that he was involved in Palestinian violence.
However, his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, spoke out against Palestinian attacks and cajoled militant groups into an informal ceasefire, leading to a Feb. 8 summit in Egypt where Israel and the Palestinians declared an end to four years of bloodshed. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon offered to coordinate the pullout with Palestinian forces to keep Gaza from falling into the hands of militants like Hamas.
Also, Egypt said it would post 750 soldiers on the Gaza-Egypt border if Israel withdraws from the border road. Israel is still considering what to do, after hundreds of raids there to search for tunnels the Palestinians use to smuggle arms and other contraband into Gaza from Egypt.
In deciding on the Gaza withdrawal last year, the Israeli Cabinet initially said it would destroy the buildings in the settlements.
However, national security adviser Giora Eiland said that would increase the cost of the withdrawal by about US$18.4 million.
"We advise against destroying the homes," Eiland told Israel Radio.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Hebron, about 1,000 students, some wearing masks and carrying toy rifles, rallied in support of Islamic Jihad and a Friday suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis, endangering the truce.
Some participants chanted, "Our beloved Jihad blew up Tel Aviv" and "No peace with Israelis." Effigies of Sharon and US President George W. Bush lay on the ground, as if dead, surrounded by fake blood.
A car bomb discovered by Israeli troops in the West Bank on Monday contained half a ton of explosives, the military said yesterday, making it the largest bomb used by Palestinian militants in more than four years of violence.
Troops discovered the vehicle parked at a junction near the town of Jenin and safely detonated it in a controlled explosion.
Regional commander Colonel Oren Avman said the bomb contained some 500kg of explosives.
"Even an armored vehicle or bus could not withstand such a huge bomb," he told Israeli Army Radio.
The wing commander of an F-16I fighter-bomber group said on Monday that the Israeli air force is training its crews for long-range bombing missions.
"Israel and the air force have understood for a fairly long time now that the threats that surround us are constantly growing and that's why steps have been taken to extend our range of action," the officer, identified only as Wing Commander D., told Israel's privately run second television channel.
"That is to say that we are training for medium and long-range missions," he said.
The television highlighted that the commander was referring to possible future missions against suspected nuclear facilities in Iran by showing footage of the new atomic power station that Iran is completing with Russian assistance.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS