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Photo: AP
Are IDF tanks on their way to Palestinian towns? (archive photo)
Photo: AP

Report: Massive anti-terror raid planned

Quoting Israeli security sources, Sunday Times reports three armored divisions as well as several battalions of paratroops, infantry to enter Palestinian towns after elections 'until last of terrorists are dead or under arrest'

The IDF, the Ministry of Defense and senior figures in Kadima are considering plans for a massive military operation in the West Bank after Tuesday’s elections, the London-based Sunday Times magazine reported.

 

Uzi Mahnaimi, the magazine's correspondent in Israel, described an Israeli plan to take over major Palestinian-controlled towns in a bid to break the increasingly powerful grip of terror groups there, focusing on Hamas strongholds.

 

According to Mahnaimi, Major-General (res.) Amos Gilad, one of the Defense Ministry’s most senior officials, talked about the possibility of an operation aimed at penetrating the terrorists’ strongholds in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip following the appointment of a Palestinian government led by Hamas.

 

Mahnaimi, who claimed to rely on Israeli defense officials, described the details of the planned operation, which is believed to call for at least three armored divisions as well as several battalions of paratroops and infantry. It would be intended primarily to destroy nests of terror from Hamas and other groups in West Bank towns such as Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron, he reported.

 

“The military aim will be to seize the main Palestinian towns in the West Bank and continue the operation until the last of the terrorists are dead or under arrest,” an Israeli security source told the Sunday Times reporter.

 

Mahnaimi added that operation planners envisage the army eventually withdrawing to Israel’s final borders as part of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's "convergence" plan, having neutralized much of the potential threat to Israel's security.

 

It is possible of course that the publication's timing, two days before the Israeli public casts its votes, also has to do with politics and with an another attempt by Kadima to appeal to right-wing voters, after it already wooed the Left with withdrawal promises.

 

Moussa's conditions

 

Defense establishment officials have been estimating for a long time now that an additional round of violence is expected in the region in the near future. The assessment gained further backing following Hamas' victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, and in light of what appears as additional unilateral moves on the part of Israel opposite the Hamas authority.

 

The Arab world is also preparing for the day after, and is concerned over an accelerated attempt by Israel to isolate the Palestinian Authority in the international arena. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has already announced that he would not allow such a situation and expressed his fear that any prospect for negotiations between the parties after Olmert's apparent victory will be lost.

 

Moussa also said that the Arabs would oppose unilateral moves on the part of Israel, which would harm the Palestinian interest and change facts on the ground. He added, however, that if Israel withdraws from territories while leaving fundamental issues such as Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees up for future talks, "we will not oppose a peace initiative."

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.26.06, 09:15
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