Gaza Hamas Terrorists Try To Break Israeli Siege
At least tens of thousands of people, some reports said as many as 350,000, from Gaza crossed into Egypt today after Hamas terrorists blew holes in and later toppled the Rafah border wall. It was an attempt to break the Israeli siege that had been designed to stop the firing of rockets into Israel.
The London Times reported that 17 explosions that brought down the wall followed months of undermining it by Hamas operatives using oxy-acetylene torches to weaken it.
The breach of the wall is dramatic for several reasons. One, the speckled Egyptian regime of President Hosni Mubarak is making no effort to stop the influx, despite having agreed with Israel earlier that the Rafah crossing would be closed. Second, while initial reports said the Gazans had gone on a buying spree and many were carting fuel, food and other goods back across the border into Gaza, it is virtually certain that some will try to stay in Egypt, and others will use the opportunity to smuggle more weapons into Gaza. Third, if the border opening works, the attacks on Israel cities near its border with Gaza will only increase.
As usual, there is every sign the United Nations will be counterproductive in dealing with these developments. A draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council, submitted by the Security Council chair, Libya, a barbaric Arab state, does not even mention the rocket attacks against Israeli citizens.
Hamas is going to have to be controlled, perhaps destroyed, if there is going to be peace on the Gaza-Israel border. And Egypt will have to be warned, perhaps restrained, from taking any actions which tend to support Hamas. Already, there are reports that Mubarak intends to keep the border between Gaza and Egypt open. Although some Israelis have suggested this would allow Israel to completely lock its border with Gaza and hand responsibility for supplying it entirely to the Egyptians, there is little or no evidence this would stop the Hamas attacks.
The weak Israeli regime of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has failed for months to take steps that would spare its citizens the rocket attacks. It is only in the last week that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the Gaza border crossings from Israel closed to the shipment of goods, and even since then Israel has indicated it would let some goods through on a highly restricted basis.
The fact is, only unrelenting pressure by the Israelis stands a chance to get the rocket fire stopped. The number and sophistication of the rockets, and their range, has been increasing. Just last week, an Iranian-made rocket was fired into the Israeli city of Ashkelon from Gaza. Hamas, it has become apparent, is in a de facto alliance with the Iranian regime of murderous Islamic fanatics, just as Hezbollah is, across Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
Now that Hamas has succeeded in opening the Rafah crossing, the pressure on Israel to at last take decisive action will only increase. The Israelis must move now to prevent Gaza from becoming the main front of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with all that would imply for the disruption of Israeli life near Gaza.
Already, once again, such weak-kneed and hypocritical "human rights" organizations as Amnesty International have been calling for Israel to desist in its pressure and reopen the Gaza crossings, without, at the same time, insisting that the rocket firings cease.
Just imagine what would happen in this country were the instability in the Mexican border cities, the rebellion of the drug cartels, to increase and spill over into the U.S, affecting San Diego, El Paso and Laredo. If Amnesty International or any other "human rights" organization sought to dissuade the U.S. government from ordering the strongest military action, they would be repulsed as a subversive organization, which in many respects they are.
In the widening Gaza conflict, Israel must now take whatever action is needed to dominate the situation. If Olmert won't take that action, there must be a new Israeli prime minister who will.
I think it may be that Gaza will temporarily have to be reoccupied. If Egypt won't reclose its Gaza border, the Israeli Army is going to have to reclose it for them. If Hamas tries to fight these steps and retain its Gaza power, it ought to be removed from Gaza.
It has also become obvious that President Bush's attempt to push now for an Israeli-Arab settlement in other parts of the Palestinian territories is not timely.
The situation in the Holy Land is what it is in the rest of the Middle East. There is no alternative to war against the terrorists, no alternative to their complete destruction where ever these vipers raise their ugly heads.
--
Writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, Dean Starkman joins in the calls for new Tribune owner Sam Zell to reverse the stand he took backing David Hiller's firing of James O'Shea as editor of the Times. He reviews Zell's past business record and points out that policies he followed for a decentralization of his real estate investment company did not work out well in the past.
Within a few days, the L.A. Times is supposed to endorse candidates for both party presidential nominations in the Feb. 5 California primary. It is important for the Times' reputation in liberal Los Angeles that Zell insure that Hiller will not be the one making the choices. After all, Hiller's record is that of a right wing reactionary. A crony of Ken Starr and Donald Rumsfeld, he once went so far as to advocate setting up concentration camps for Haitian and Cuban refugees.
The destructive Mr. Hiller must be reined in before he kills off people or good ideas again.
The London Times reported that 17 explosions that brought down the wall followed months of undermining it by Hamas operatives using oxy-acetylene torches to weaken it.
The breach of the wall is dramatic for several reasons. One, the speckled Egyptian regime of President Hosni Mubarak is making no effort to stop the influx, despite having agreed with Israel earlier that the Rafah crossing would be closed. Second, while initial reports said the Gazans had gone on a buying spree and many were carting fuel, food and other goods back across the border into Gaza, it is virtually certain that some will try to stay in Egypt, and others will use the opportunity to smuggle more weapons into Gaza. Third, if the border opening works, the attacks on Israel cities near its border with Gaza will only increase.
As usual, there is every sign the United Nations will be counterproductive in dealing with these developments. A draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council, submitted by the Security Council chair, Libya, a barbaric Arab state, does not even mention the rocket attacks against Israeli citizens.
Hamas is going to have to be controlled, perhaps destroyed, if there is going to be peace on the Gaza-Israel border. And Egypt will have to be warned, perhaps restrained, from taking any actions which tend to support Hamas. Already, there are reports that Mubarak intends to keep the border between Gaza and Egypt open. Although some Israelis have suggested this would allow Israel to completely lock its border with Gaza and hand responsibility for supplying it entirely to the Egyptians, there is little or no evidence this would stop the Hamas attacks.
The weak Israeli regime of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has failed for months to take steps that would spare its citizens the rocket attacks. It is only in the last week that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the Gaza border crossings from Israel closed to the shipment of goods, and even since then Israel has indicated it would let some goods through on a highly restricted basis.
The fact is, only unrelenting pressure by the Israelis stands a chance to get the rocket fire stopped. The number and sophistication of the rockets, and their range, has been increasing. Just last week, an Iranian-made rocket was fired into the Israeli city of Ashkelon from Gaza. Hamas, it has become apparent, is in a de facto alliance with the Iranian regime of murderous Islamic fanatics, just as Hezbollah is, across Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
Now that Hamas has succeeded in opening the Rafah crossing, the pressure on Israel to at last take decisive action will only increase. The Israelis must move now to prevent Gaza from becoming the main front of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with all that would imply for the disruption of Israeli life near Gaza.
Already, once again, such weak-kneed and hypocritical "human rights" organizations as Amnesty International have been calling for Israel to desist in its pressure and reopen the Gaza crossings, without, at the same time, insisting that the rocket firings cease.
Just imagine what would happen in this country were the instability in the Mexican border cities, the rebellion of the drug cartels, to increase and spill over into the U.S, affecting San Diego, El Paso and Laredo. If Amnesty International or any other "human rights" organization sought to dissuade the U.S. government from ordering the strongest military action, they would be repulsed as a subversive organization, which in many respects they are.
In the widening Gaza conflict, Israel must now take whatever action is needed to dominate the situation. If Olmert won't take that action, there must be a new Israeli prime minister who will.
I think it may be that Gaza will temporarily have to be reoccupied. If Egypt won't reclose its Gaza border, the Israeli Army is going to have to reclose it for them. If Hamas tries to fight these steps and retain its Gaza power, it ought to be removed from Gaza.
It has also become obvious that President Bush's attempt to push now for an Israeli-Arab settlement in other parts of the Palestinian territories is not timely.
The situation in the Holy Land is what it is in the rest of the Middle East. There is no alternative to war against the terrorists, no alternative to their complete destruction where ever these vipers raise their ugly heads.
--
Writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, Dean Starkman joins in the calls for new Tribune owner Sam Zell to reverse the stand he took backing David Hiller's firing of James O'Shea as editor of the Times. He reviews Zell's past business record and points out that policies he followed for a decentralization of his real estate investment company did not work out well in the past.
Within a few days, the L.A. Times is supposed to endorse candidates for both party presidential nominations in the Feb. 5 California primary. It is important for the Times' reputation in liberal Los Angeles that Zell insure that Hiller will not be the one making the choices. After all, Hiller's record is that of a right wing reactionary. A crony of Ken Starr and Donald Rumsfeld, he once went so far as to advocate setting up concentration camps for Haitian and Cuban refugees.
The destructive Mr. Hiller must be reined in before he kills off people or good ideas again.
Labels: Hamas
posted by Ken Reich at 6:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home