Posted on 07/24/2002 6:31:10 AM PDT by robowombat
Amidst international criticism, Israel reviews decisions leading to Gaza strike By Ellis Shuman July 24, 2002
The Bush administration added its voice to a wave of scathing international criticism against Israel's air strike in Gaza yesterday, which killed Hamas militant leader Salah Shehada, and fourteen other Palestinians, including nine children. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who originally described the strike as a "great success," afterwards indicated that if he had known civilians had been present, he would not have approved the attack.
"This heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. Fleischer dismissed any parallels between the air strike in Gaza and the toll that U.S. bombings in Afghanistan had taken on civilians in the war against al-Qaida terrorists.
"Our policy is to avoid civilian casualties," he said. "And there are occasions where, as a result of an error or an errant bomb, civilian lives are lost, and we always regret that. That was not the case in this attack."
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana "strongly condemned" the deaths of innocent civilians in the attack while Mary Robinson, the UN's human rights chief denounced the "reckless killing of civilians" as a violation of international law.
Media analysts noted that the criticism directed at Israel resulted from the deaths of the Palestinian civilians, suggesting that Israel should have known that this would be the result of targeting a building in a Gaza residential area. Israel's targeting of Shehada was not mentioned. "The president is the first to defend Israel's right to defend itself," Fleischer said.
Use of one-ton bomb described as inappropriate Yesterday, Sharon told cabinet ministers that Israel "struck at the most senior member of Hamas's operational side, a man who... reorganized and rebuilt Hamas's forces in Samaria, in addition to his actions in Gaza. Naturally, Israel has no interest in harming civilians and it is always regrettable if civilians are hit," Sharon said.
Later Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer both indicated that if they had known that civilians would lose their lives, they would not have approved the attack. Ben-Eliezer said that the IDF had been targeting Shehada for some time, and had canceled previous attempts to strike at him.
Israel Radio quoted Sharon as telling aides in a closed meeting last night that "Israel did not know that there were civilians in Shehada's house. Had it known this, it would have found another way to hit him."
According to media reports, Israel's leaders appeared to be blaming the IDF for recommending the Gaza air strike and minimalizing its possible results. The army and the Shin Ben intelligence agency launched investigations into the intelligence gathering and decision making process that culminated in the loss of Palestinian civilian lives.
Military officials said that it was a mistake to drop a one-ton bomb from an Israeli warplane in a densely populated residential area, Ha'aretz reported. According to the paper, security officials assessed that the bomb would have a "minor effect" on nearby buildings. Most of the victims of the attack were in these nearby buildings.
One security official said the use of the bomb was like using a "20 kilogram hammer to knock a nail into the wall," Maariv reported. But IDF officers claimed in response, "If we had known that there were civilians there, there is no doubt that the operation would have been conducted differently, or not at all."
Gaza strike ends Palestinian cease-fire efforts According to media reports, the air strike came as the Palestinian Authority was in the midst of intensive talks with Hamas and Islamic Jihad on declaring a "cease-fire" in suicide bombing attacks against Israelis. Yediot Aharonot reported today that just an hour and a half before the Gaza attack, the Fatah's Tanzim organization had finalized the wording of a cease-fire declaration.
"We call on all the Palestinian political organizations and movements to put an immediate end to these attacks [against innocent men, women and children], and to do so without hesitation and with no preconditions," the declaration reportedly said, according to Tanzim activists who spoke to Yediot Aharonot.
Taisir Nasrallah, a senior Fatah official, was quoted in The Times as saying, "The militant factions were within a few days of releasing a statement calling for a partial ceasefire. This is unprecedented. Never before have all the factions and the militant wing agreed to sign a written statement."
One day before the attack, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told reporters that if Israeli forces withdrew from Palestinian-controlled territories, and stopped attacks against Palestinians, his organization would consider a halt to attacks against Israelis.
Israeli officials reportedly had information about the cease-fire efforts, but did not relate to them seriously, Yediot Aharonot reported. They said that Hamas would never have agreed to stop suicide bombing attacks, and added that Shehada had rejected previous calls to halt such attacks.
Security officials described Shehada as a "ticking bomb" who was in the midst of planning a wave of terrorist attacks in the coming days against soldiers and civilians that was unprecedented in size and scope.
"Israel's leaders appeared to be blaming the IDF for recommending the Gaza air strike and minimalizing its possible results. The army and the Shin Ben intelligence agency launched investigations into the intelligence gathering and decision making process that culminated in the loss of Palestinian civilian lives."
The propensity for weasely politicians to dodge responsibility appears to be a universal phenomenon. If there were minimal casualties and Shehada was offed a host of politicos would be mobilizing thier media contacts to get press and tv mention of how they had a decisive role in planning or approving the operation.
the IDF response ought be that noncombatant casualties are an inevitable part of war fighting and move on.
Two tons would have been better.
In Donald Rumsfeld's words (7/22, after the wedding incident), "It's an unfortunate fact of war that, inevitably, innocent civilians are killed. This has been true, true throughout the history of warfare, and it remains true even in this age of advanced technology and precision-guided munitions."
Salah Shehade deserved to die. Many lives were saved.
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