Israel Once Again Put on the Defensive

An IDF helicopter fired this afternoon at a group of Palestinian terrorists who attempted to blend in amongst a group of Arab civilians in Tel Sultan. The terrorists were armed with anti-tank rockets, of the type that have been used with effectiveness against Israeli forces. The alert Israeli response resulted, according to Arab sources, in 15 people being killed.

Predictably, the reasons for Israel's counter-terrorism offensive in Rafiach - last week's 13 dead soldiers, the ongoing weapons smuggling from Egypt, and the terrorist infrastructures in the residential areas - have been forgotten, and calls for Israel to stop the operation have resumed. MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) responded,

"Those who are aiding the propaganda of the terror organizations are taking part in a blood libel against the IDF, just as they did during the battle in Jenin [two years ago, when Israel was groundlessly accused of carrying out a massacre]."

The strike was made in the framework of Israel's anti-terrorist Operation Rainbow. The offensive continues, very slowly but surely, along Israel's border with Egypt in southern Gaza. Though Israel is making efforts to juggle humanitarian treatment of its enemy with the ferreting out of terrorist elements, Arab elements have placed great emphasis on yesterday's deaths of an Arab brother and sister - which actually resulted from a bomb placed by Palestinian terrorists.

"Our investigation so far indicates that there is no proof that IDF fire hit [the brother and sister], but rather that the explosives placed by armed Palestinian terrorists near a mosque and school indicate that the two were hit by an explosive of that nature."

Israel has destroyed only four buildings since it sent massive forces into Rafiach on Monday morning. Last night, IDF forces in the Tel Sultan neighborhood tore down the home of the terrorist who shot and killed Tali Hatuel, her unborn son and her four daughters from point-blank range 17 days ago.

Gush Katif residents recalled today that some 20 years ago, the Jews of the area strongly protested the plan to allow Arabs to populate the hill that is now Tel Sultan. The Israelis put up a protest tent on the then-empty hill against the idea of allowing non-local Arab "settlers" to live in such close proximity to the Jewish neighborhoods. One of the houses whose construction the government allowed 20 years ago was that of the Hatuel family murderer - and was turned into rubble by the IDF last night.

As of this morning, some 20 Arabs - almost all of them wanted terrorists - had been killed in the operation; the IDF forces are avoiding alleyways and house-to-house fighting, and have suffered no casualties.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon explained the objectives of the operation yesterday:

"We are forced to carry out this operation in Rafiach [the city divided in two by the Israeli-Egyptian border - ed. note] because Rafiach has turned into a gateway for terrorism. RPG missiles have been brought [into Gaza] via Rafiach, and there have been attempts in the past days to bring in other weapons via the tunnels under the border, that which is known as the Philadelphi Route... The Palestinians apparently prefer their arms-smuggling over the lives of the people who reside along the border, and we are therefore forced to take these actions... We plan to arrest and reach all those who are involved in smuggling... We are advancing cautiously and in an organized manner, and we will continue the mission until it is completed."

Channel Two television correspondent Roni Daniel, accompanying the Israeli forces, reports that the very heavy forces proceeded yesterday at a rate of a kilometer in six hours. "There is barely a soul on the street," he said. "The city of 20,000 people looks like a ghost town. Most of the residents are holed up inside their homes." Rafiach and environs have been the site of some of the heaviest fighting throughout the 3.5-year-old Oslo War.

The IDF reports that its delegates are in constant contact with PA officials and international aid groups to coordinate passage of ambulances, medical equipment and other necessary supplies. In addition, the Israeli army has opened special routes for ambulances and humanitarian aid. Trucks loaded with dozens of tons of humanitarian aid equipment were allowed into the Rafiach refugee camp. A special humanitarian center is active around the clock handling PA, Israeli and international humanitarian requests.

A senior officer was quoted on Ynet as saying, "At the end of last week, some 50-60 buildings were destroyed, while since then we have taken down only some of the 17 buildings that the Supreme Court allowed us to raze. We are very careful only to take down structures used by the terrorists. We are emphasizing the humanitarian aspects, not only to rebuff international pressure, but out of a sincere desire not to harm the residents or their property."

MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, stated that Egypt is responsible for the current state of affairs in Rafiach. He said that the fact that Egypt does not prevent the smuggling of weapons and ammunition into Rafiach, and permits Hamas to turn northeastern Sinai into a logistical terror base, has resulted in the need for the IDF anti-terror offensive.

Read this before you hear about those Arab students being killed by the IDF probably playing worldwide on TV stations now. Even the White House has released a statement saying this is "worrying" etc. etc. But if civilians are killed one must remember things like this happen. Remember the wedding bombed in Afghanistan by the US.

I am also reading that the PA organized this "rally" of students and terrorists holding weapons and other RPG's to march towards the areas the IDF was operating. The terrorists are responsible for the deaths of the civilians and the PA terror regime which sacrafices its children.

The IDF is still investigating, but the media is already doing the damage around the world and will probably never report this stuff.

This is excellent coverage, far better than the drivel that the press runs about Iraq. it is actually possible to understand what the operation is about and how it is proceeding. In their endless search for sob stories the US press can never seem to figure out how to do this. Hence US presstitute coverage of military ops presents disjointed narrative punctuated by dubious anecdotes and tacky philosophizing disguised as news analysis.

That said the IDF is being far to polite with the paliwog bums. The only thing they should be coordinating going to the palis is a stream of bombs, shells, and missiles. Burning down a large part (preferable all) of Rafah would be the best way to make terror tunnels less functional. Let Arafatty deal with the wave of internal refugees this would spawn. Until the lives of the average paliwog is made unendurable hell they will continue to be nothing but terrorist enablers.

"We plan to arrest and reach all those who are involved in smuggling... We are advancing cautiously and in an organized manner, and we will continue the mission until it is completed."

sounds good to me, I like Bushs weak condemnation yesterday too. something like "troubling, but Irsael has a right to defend itself"..

heheh

read it and weep parasitians~Youve brought this on yourselves.

IDF Releases a First Official Statement
18:00 May 19, '04 / 28 Iyar 5764

(IsraelNN.com) The following statement referring to the counter-terrorism incident in Rafiah this afternoon was released a short time ago by the IDF Spokesperson’s Office.

“Today's incident in Rafiah is a very grave incident and the IDF expresses deep sorrow over the loss of civilian lives.

“At no point in this incident was intentional fire opened in the direction of civilians.

“A large procession of several hundreds demonstrators, among them gunmen, organized by the Palestinian Authority, left central Rafiah along the main road towards IDF forces in Tel-Sultan.

“As the crowd, with the gunmen among them, drew near IDF forces, a warning fire of a single missile was fired from a helicopter into an open area, not towards the demonstrators.

“In addition, flares were fired in the air to deter the crowd and to prevent endangering the demonstrators. As this did not deter the crowd and they continued to converge on the troops, machine gun fire was opened towards a wall of an abandoned structure along the side of the road and then four tank shells were fired at this abandoned structure.

“It is possible that the causalities were a result of the tank fire on the abandoned structure. The details of the incident continue to be investigated.

“It should be mentioned that the scene of the incident is an area of combat and an area of frequent exchanges of fire. The road has been rigged with explosive charges planted by the Palestinians. The IDF has not yet cleared the road of these explosives.

“At this stage it is difficult to determine the cause of the civilian casualties. The incident is being investigated thoroughly at this time.

“The IDF has approached the Palestinians and offered medical assistance, including the evacuation of the casualties to Israeli hospitals.

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