Israel aims to cripple Hamas, warn other foes
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 03, 2009 00:00
JERUSALEM - As speculation mounts that Israel is readying to step up its attack on Gaza with a land invasion, some say Israel seeks to deal a blow to Hamas and send a warning to its foes that its army has learned serious lessons from the Lebanon war.
Israel has thousands of troops massed for a ground offensive on Gaza that would aim to deal a hammer blow to Hamas and re-establish Israel's military credentials with its other foes, experts said. After Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon, widely condemned as a fiasco, this campaign has been scrupulously prepared and few experts believe Hamas can halt the waiting army.
The number of troops and tanks along the 60-kilometer (37 mile) border is a military secret but Israeli leaders say the force is ready and local media say the assault is imminent.
’Iron fist’ treatment
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called it "iron fist" treatment. Some analysts said Israel expects dozens of its soldiers to be killed in any ground offensive, but the government insists it wants to stop the rockets.
"Hamas must understand that if it launches rockets in the future it will have to pay a prohibitive price," said Shabtai Shavit, a former head of the Mossad foreign intelligence service and now an advisor to the Israeli National Security Council. "Israel does not intend to reconquer the Gaza Strip," Shavit said. Any ground campaign "would mean going in and inflicting additional damage and cost to Hamas."
Asked whether this means killing more Hamas leaders or just destroying infrastructure, he said: "Everything." He predicted a war could last weeks with the land invasion quickly followed by a phased withdrawal if a "political deal" with Hamas can be concluded.
Uzi Dayan, a former deputy chief of Israel's general staff and national security advisor to prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, said the army must control areas of Gaza from which rockets are being launched and "put more pressure on the Hamas leadership and Hamas activists."
He said the Israeli army would need to take control of key areas in Gaza, right up to the Egyptian border where a system of tunnels are used to smuggle weapons and other supplies into the territory.
Dayan said that detaining Hamas leaders and activists will encourage ceasefire negotiations. "You need some cards, it is not enough to just say 'please stop the bombing'."
Experts also said Israel wants to send a message to Iran, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and other enemies that after the disastrous 2006 war in Lebanon, the Middle East's most powerful army is to be feared again.
The main lesson, according to Shavit, Dayan and several Israeli officers, is that an invading force cannot rely on the air force alone to beat an enemy. Israeli commanders were strongly criticized for waiting too long to send in ground troops in 2006.
Image problem
"The Israeli army needs to address the problem created to its deterrence in 2006," Efraim Inbar, director of Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies said. "The army has to change its image among its enemies that it is afraid to use ground forces."
Israel will also be under pressure to make the campaign as short as possible, the experts said. Olmert said this week that Israel was "not interested in conducting a long war."
"Israel is much stronger than Hamas. We can continue the operation longer than Hamas can, but on the other hand we do not have all the time in the world," said Dayan, the former national security advisor.
He said international pressure will increase for a ceasefire and that domestic pressure will grow while hundreds of thousands of Israelis are in the line of fire of Hamas rockets.
The number of troops and tanks along the 60-kilometer (37 mile) border is a military secret but Israeli leaders say the force is ready and local media say the assault is imminent.
’Iron fist’ treatment
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called it "iron fist" treatment. Some analysts said Israel expects dozens of its soldiers to be killed in any ground offensive, but the government insists it wants to stop the rockets.
"Hamas must understand that if it launches rockets in the future it will have to pay a prohibitive price," said Shabtai Shavit, a former head of the Mossad foreign intelligence service and now an advisor to the Israeli National Security Council. "Israel does not intend to reconquer the Gaza Strip," Shavit said. Any ground campaign "would mean going in and inflicting additional damage and cost to Hamas."
Asked whether this means killing more Hamas leaders or just destroying infrastructure, he said: "Everything." He predicted a war could last weeks with the land invasion quickly followed by a phased withdrawal if a "political deal" with Hamas can be concluded.
Uzi Dayan, a former deputy chief of Israel's general staff and national security advisor to prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, said the army must control areas of Gaza from which rockets are being launched and "put more pressure on the Hamas leadership and Hamas activists."
He said the Israeli army would need to take control of key areas in Gaza, right up to the Egyptian border where a system of tunnels are used to smuggle weapons and other supplies into the territory.
Dayan said that detaining Hamas leaders and activists will encourage ceasefire negotiations. "You need some cards, it is not enough to just say 'please stop the bombing'."
Experts also said Israel wants to send a message to Iran, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and other enemies that after the disastrous 2006 war in Lebanon, the Middle East's most powerful army is to be feared again.
The main lesson, according to Shavit, Dayan and several Israeli officers, is that an invading force cannot rely on the air force alone to beat an enemy. Israeli commanders were strongly criticized for waiting too long to send in ground troops in 2006.
Image problem
"The Israeli army needs to address the problem created to its deterrence in 2006," Efraim Inbar, director of Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies said. "The army has to change its image among its enemies that it is afraid to use ground forces."
Israel will also be under pressure to make the campaign as short as possible, the experts said. Olmert said this week that Israel was "not interested in conducting a long war."
"Israel is much stronger than Hamas. We can continue the operation longer than Hamas can, but on the other hand we do not have all the time in the world," said Dayan, the former national security advisor.
He said international pressure will increase for a ceasefire and that domestic pressure will grow while hundreds of thousands of Israelis are in the line of fire of Hamas rockets.