Posted on 04/09/2002 1:56:05 PM PDT by RCW2001
| Bush pullout demands make him target of Israeli ire | |
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By Matt Spetalnick
ELON MOREH, West Bank, April 9 (Reuters) - Members of an
Israeli tank brigade waging an offensive in the West Bank found
a unique way to show how they felt about the U.S. president --
they adopted a stray dog and named it "George W. Bush".
"He's a cowboy," one soldier said as the brown pit-bull
terrier prowled an Israeli hilltop encampment overlooking the
city of Nablus.
"He barks a lot," said a second.
"But he's useless," another chimed in.
Bush's ever more strident demands for an end to Israel's
12-day-old military campaign in Palestinian areas has struck a
sour note among army commanders and their troops -- a reflection
of growing resentment among the Israeli public as a whole.
"If the U.S. had this problem of terrorism, they wouldn't
ask for permission. They would finish the job like they did in
Afghanistan," said Commander Oran Ben Goya, head of Israeli
forces in the eastern part of Nablus, the scene of some of the
heaviest fighting of the past few days.
Opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Israelis
support the operation, which the army has depicted as an effort
to crush a "terror infrastructure" behind a recent spate of
suicide attacks in a Palestinian uprising against occupation.
Many Israelis believe Bush has turned against the Israeli
campaign because he wants to mollify Arab states to shore up his
global anti-terror alliance ahead of possible military action
against Iraq.
Since the Jewish state can ill afford to alienate its chief
ally and provider of $3 billion in annual aid, most commentators
believe a pull-out will be well under way by the time U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives at the end of the week.
RUNNING OUT OF TIME
Israeli commanders expressed deep frustration that they were
running out of time to complete their mission.
"I don't think we will be able to do all we wanted to do,"
Ben Goya said. "That means we may have to come back again."
Israeli forces have fought fierce battles, house by house
and alley by alley, in Nablus's ancient casbah market area and
in a refugee camp in the nearby city of Jenin. Both have been
subjected to heavy bombardment by tanks and helicopter gunships.
Army officers say soldiers stationed at Elon Moreh, a Jewish
settlement overlooking Nablus, peer down with high-powered
telescopes on neighbouring refugee camps and see Palestinian
gunmen roaming freely.
But officers say they have yet to strike key militant
strongholds in the camps and are increasingly doubtful they will
be allowed to undertake such operations before they are ordered
to end their offensive.
The army's mood was further darkened on Tuesday by the
killing of 13 Israeli soldiers in an ambush in a refugee camp in
Jenin, the worst single blow to the Middle East's best-equiped
armed forces in 18 months of conflict.
Ben Goya said that while the Israelis hold the advantage of
advanced weaponry, Palestinian fighters are more familiar with
the terrain and have employed an array of deadly booby-traps and
trip wires that have forced soldiers to tread carefully.
CAUGHT OFF GUARD
The Israeli offensive was launched after 27 people were
killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber who blew himself up in an
Israeli seaside hotel during a Passover holiday celebration.
International protests against the military operations that
ensued have shocked Israelis, who see the campaign as a
legitimate drive to root out terror.
The army says it has killed at least 200 Palestinians, many
of them wanted militants, though Palestinian officials say
civilians have borne the brunt of the onslaught.
Israelis, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, seem to
have been caught off guard by the Texas-raised president's
uncompromising demands for a withdrawal from all
Palestinian-ruled cities and towns.
"The Texans, as any American knows, are a breed of their
own," political commentator Hemi Shalev wrote in the Israeli
daily Maariv. "Sharon apparently did not take into account
President George Bush's short Texan fuse when he decided to
ignore him for many days."
((Jerusalem newsroom, +972 2 537 0502,
jerusalem.newsroom@reuters.com))
09 APR 2002 20:20:07 Bush pullout demands make him target of Israeli ire
What is going on?????????
Great Post
I was going to post something similar, but you said it better than I could have.
Sharon will pull out of the Arab-controlled areas when his mission is completed. If you listened closely, Bush and Powell have both agreed with this fact. Powell will attempt to broker a cease-fire, and, in accordance with Israel's arrests of over 1200 terrorist suspects, limited peace may be possible, but I don't have any illusions about that area. The Arabs and the Europeans seem to want Israel gone.
Once upon a time, wars were fought to win. Victory was the goal, defeat the enemy and dictate the terms.
Israel Shahak was a holocaust survivor and a wonderful man. His death was a great loss.
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