Conundrum Of Power
How do you fight an enemy who is also your "partner?"
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
T
hese are good days for the followers of
Meir Kahane, the militantly anti-Arab
rabbi who was murdered 10 years ago in
New York by a Palestinian.
Although Kahane's Kach movement has been
outlawed in Israel for several years, Kach veterans,
reinforced by young followers, have recently staged
open demonstrations demanding a tough response
from the Israel Defense Force to the ongoing
Palestinian violence.
Walls throughout the country have been smeared
with the slogan, "Kahane Was Right," decorated
with the movement's emblem, a fist inside a yellow
Star of David.
Noam Federman, one of the movement's leaders,
has been visiting Jewish settlements in the West
Bank, encouraging settlers to go out and fight.
"You should know that if the IDF does not pro-
tect you, you must protect yourselves," he said at a
recent meeting with settlers in Belt El. "You must
go out and shoot," he said.
How Far To Go
Damning Restraint
Although Kach is still a marginal force, even
among Jewish settlers, the re-emergence of the
ultranationalists after many years of underground
activity reflects a frustration and confusion wide-
spread in Israeli society.
Many Israelis, particularly settlers living in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, feel that the country has
lost its sense of direction and that its leaders ignore
the recommendations of the military for operations
that would tilt the balance in Israel's favor.
Some of their frustration boiled over Monday
after a terror bombinc, of an Israeli school bus in
the Gaza Strip killed two Israelis and wounded
nine others, including five children.
Many Israelis were soon calling on Prime
Minister Ehud Barak to drop what he has been
calling his "policy of restraint" when dealing with
the ongoing Palestinian violence.
The mounting frustration was evident when set-
tlers who gathered to pray at the site of the attack
attached a sign to the bus' shattered windshield:
"Prime Minister, You Have Blood on Your
Hands."
The Palestinians are calling the violence the Al-
Aksa intifada, harking back to when Israeli opposi-
tion leader Ariel Sharon visited the Al-Aksa
Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount in late
September.
Israelis, by contrast, are now calling it a war of
attrition.
But is it really a war?
Israel's partner in peace.
This has led Israeli critics to charge that the
government has tied the army's hands.
Government officials respond that they have
adopted a policy of restraint because they believe
that a stronger response could lead to an escala-
tion that may prove uncontrollable.
Even if the IDF were given the go-ahead" for an
all-out war, it would be virtually impossible to
fight, given that it would not be facing an army,
but rather a combination of armed street gangs
and children throwing stones.
At least for now, the government has opted for a
mostly defensive policy.
The Palestinians have marked the settlements
and the army in the territories as their prime tar-
gets. The army's chief task has been to protect
itself and the settlements.
As a result, a thick veil of military defense blan-
kets the settlements, and movement between the
settlements is often done with military escorts.
The army has also gone on the offensive from
time to time, as it did with Monday's retaliatory
helicopter strikes in Gaza City.
While such actions may help the national
morale, they are not likely to tip the scale in
Israel's favor.
The husband of Miriam Amitai, 35, hugs his crying
father in front of his wife's body during a funeral in
the settlement of Ofra, north of the West Bank town of
Ramallah, on Nov. 20. Amitai, a mother of four, was
killed in a school bus bomb attack in the Gaza Strip.
Fears Of Escalation
U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross met
separately last week with Israeli and Palestinian
leaders. He reportedly made some progress in get-
ting the two sides to agree to talks aimed at not
only reducing the violence, but also leading back
to negotiations.
•
Even after Israeli helicopters retaliated Monday
for the bus attack by striking targets in Gaza City,
behind-the-scenes contacts reportedly took place
between Israeli and Palestinian officials about a
possible resumption of the peace process.
In light of such reports, Israel and the
Palestinians seem like a married couple that has
exchanged blows — and yet are still discussing
ways to fix the marriage.
This has had a direct military implication: For
all its might, the IDF has been unable to stage an
all-out war against people who could still be
Is there anything that could?
Military experts speak of massive bombings,
cutting off electricity and water to the Palestinians
and limiting the movement of Palestinians within
the self-rule areas: In other words, make the
Palestinian civilian population a target.
But this is exactly the sort of escalation that
Israel has been trying to avoid.
"We must exert pressure on the Palestinians
until they call for a cease-fire," said IDF Chief of
Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz. He did not, however,
spell out how this could be achieved.
In recent days, the government began to with-
hold millions of dollars in tax receipts from the
Palestinian Authority. Some officials feel that such
economic sanctions may ultimately help end the
violence.
Although most top IDF officials share Barak's
view that a military escalation would be counter-
productive, there have been differences regarding
just how far the army should go.
The IDF's deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen.
Moshe Ya'alon, is reportedly a driving force in the
army for more drastic and daring actions against
the Palestinians.
After Palestinian Authority President Yasser
Arafat ordered Palestinian gunmen last Friday to
stop firing at Israelis from Palestinian-ruled areas,
Ya'alon was among the first to warn that Arafat
had thereby given implicit approval for
Palestinians to shoot from areas under Israeli con-
trol.
Despite the differences within the top military
echelons regarding how to proceed, the army has
stuck to its mostly defensive posture.
As a result, the strongest army in the Middle
East now waits for politicians to save the day.
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