This will be a week long rememberedit has seen the end of Abu Sabidah and will soon see the end of the Pali rebellion.
Posted on 06/22/2002 12:55:22 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
By Danielle Haas
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel threatened on Saturday to launch a "crushing offensive" and impose an indefinite reoccupation of Palestinian areas unless suicide bombing and shooting attacks against Israelis stopped.
"We have to take much more massive action than we have until now. If this means entering the territories and staying there for a long time then we will have to consider it," Amos Yaron, director general of the Defense Ministry, told Israel Radio, describing the potential action as a "crushing offensive."
A five-week reoccupation of Palestinian towns, cities and camps across the West Bank in April and early May led to the arrest of hundreds of Palestinians who Israel says are part of a "terrorist infrastructure."
The offensive included besieging Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in his Ramallah compound and destroyed portions of the civilian infrastructure such as water works, communications and electrical grids in Palestinian cities and towns throughout the West Bank.
But after Israeli troops withdrew to the fringes of West Bank cities, Palestinian bombing and shooting attacks resumed after a lull.
Two suicide bombers killed 26 Israelis in Jerusalem this week, and a Palestinian assault on a Jewish settlement killed five more people. The attacks persuaded President Bush to put off a speech outlining his road map for peace.
Bush also hesitated because of a rising debate within his administration over what Palestinians should be required to do to win the statehood they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army tightened its grip on West Bank cities on Saturday after the latest bloodletting prompted the government to decide on Tuesday that it would recapture and hold land supposed to be ruled by the Palestinian Authority as long as attacks continued.
European Union leaders gathered in Spain on Saturday back an early international peace conference on the Middle East which should set a "well-defined timescale" for a political solution, according to a draft statement obtained by Reuters.
The statement, due to be approved by the 15 leaders on Saturday after a two-day summit in Seville, also condemns Palestinian suicide attacks while urging Israel to halt its military operations in the occupied territories.
Well, I sure hope so. 'cause it's about time.
They should make it a LONG, crushing offensive.
Then the palis could calculate how many dead Israelis it would take, for the remaining palis to all be back in Jordan, Egypt, etc. Put it that way, since they claim muslims invented math.
This will be a week long rememberedit has seen the end of Abu Sabidah and will soon see the end of the Pali rebellion.
Fire at will...Commander!
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