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Up A Notch
Seeking to restore deterrence, Israel accepts risk of escalation.
DAVID LANDAU
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
r
Roed-Larsen, reiterated that Hezbollah's claim flies
in the face of earlier U.N. decisions.
Jerusalem
or those worried about the credibility of
Israeli deterrence, the Israel Defense Force
this week delivered two unmistakable
messages — to Syria and the Palestinians
— that it is willing to fight.
For those worried that military strength alone
may not hold the answer to Israel's problems, how-
ever, the week of escalation did nothing to allay
their fears.
Many people belong to both
groups — because on the tactical
level, at least, there is no contra-
diction between them.
Escalation involves height-
ened risks, and the great major-
ity of Israelis and Israel's sup-
porters abroad were united this
week in support of the govern-
ment's deliberate decision to
take these risks.
The second group, however,
questions whether there is an
overall strategy behind the tactics
that can restore the hope of
reaching a negotiated peace.
Israel's aerial attack on .a Syrian
radar installation deep inside
Lebanon on Monday, in response
to the killing of an Israeli soldier
over the weekend, was a careful
and deliberate upping of the ante — a new "price
list" for Arab attacks on Israel, in the words of
Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin.
"There are new rules now," Defense Minister
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer agreed, indicating that Israel
would hold Syria directly responsible for Hezbollah
attacks.
The action came after Hezbollah fired anti-tank
missiles across Lebanon's border with Israel on
Saturday, killing a soldier. The incident took place at
Har Dov, a rugged section of the Israel-Lebanon
border near Shabaa Farms, an area that Hezbollah
claims is Lebanese land still occupied by Israel.
Israel — backed by the United Nations — says
the area is part of the Golan Heights that Israel con-
quered in 1967 from Syria, and whose fate should
be determined in Syrian-Israeli negotiations.
Indeed, after Israeli forces withdrew from southern
Lebanon last May, the United Nations confirmed
that Israel no longer had troops on Lebanese soil,
forcing Israel to make even small redeployments of
several feet in some places to conform rigorously to
the international border.
This week, the U.N.'s Middle East envoy, Terje
Two Fronts
The United States adopted a similar stance Monday,
calling Hezbollah's cross-border attack "clear provo-
cation designed to escalate an already-tense situa-
tion." Just the same, Israel's decision to punish Syria
for the incident represents a shift.
Then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned after last
May's withdrawal that Israel would hold the Syrian and
Palestinians fired mortars on the Israeli town of Sderot.
The Palestinians in recent weeks have begun using
mortars against Israeli residential communities, and
the Sderot attack marked their deepest penetration
into Israel since violence erupted last September.
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, return-
ing from a trip to Egypt on Tuesday, accused Israel of
seeking to reoccupy Palestinian-held territory. The Israeli
government stated firmly that this was not its intention,
and troops began withdrawing Tuesday night.
But Wednesday evening, Israeli tanks made a new
incursion, moving several hundred yards into Gaza
in the south near the Egyptain-Gaza border and the
Palestinian airport.
Silence In Peace Camp
In politics, as in the military sphere, the week's
events demonstrated a clear distinction between the
tactical and the strategic.
Tactically, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continues
to enjoy very broad public support. Apart
f rom the Israeli Arab Knesset members — one
of whom called the Israeli government "terror-
, :2
• ist and sent a letter of condolence to Assad
the decision to attack Syria enjoyed near-uni-
• versal acclamation.
Even dove's dove Yossi Beilin called the
attack the logical and correct extension of last
year's decision to withdraw from Lebanon,
which was supposed to remove any perceived
legitimacy for Hezbollah attacks.
The peace camp, though uncomfortable, did
not seem seriously disturbed by the escalation
against the Palestinians either.
Israelis were shocked by the mortar shells
that fell on the sleepy little town of Sderot,
located three miles from the northern tip of
the Gaza Strip — and close to Sharon's Negev
farm. The attack appeared to be a-provocation
of ominous significance that could not go
unpunished.
Regarding longer-term strategic thinking,
An Israeli tank moves into
however, the divisions are as deep as ever.
position on the outskirts of
A reminder came last weekend in an inter-
Beit Hanoun in the
view the prime minister gave to the Israeli daily
Lebanese governments respon-
sible for any further Hezbollah
attacks. In practice, however, a
series of Hezbollah kidnap-
Ha'aretz.
Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
pings, shootings and bomb-
Sharon offered the Palestinians — after a
ings, of Israeli soldiers went
total cease-fire — a state on 42 percent of the
unanswered until this week.
territory, in return for an open-ended nonbelligeren-
Israel's Security Cabinet decided, by a vote of 1 1 2,
cy accord. A full peace treaty, Sharon said, did not
to hit Syrian military targets rather than Hezbollah,
seem a practical objective in the foreseeable future.
which locates its bases inside civilian areas in southern
This was a far cry indeed from the vision of full
Lebanon.
peace, in return for an almost total Israeli withdraw-
Following the Israeli attack, Syria vowed revenge
al from the West Bank and Gaza, that sustained the
at the appropriate time," and put its 35,000 troops
former Barak government and that still represents
in Lebanon on high alert. Israel, in turn, made it
the eventual goal of Israel's "peace camp."
clear that it did not seek further escalation but is
Sharon's words drew a welter of criticism, led by
prepared to face a challenge from Syria if its still-
Ha'aretz. The critics' case is largely hypothetical,
green president, Bashar Assad, so decides.
however, given the unpalatable fact that Arafat
Less than 24 hours later, Israeli tanks and armored
rejected the peace package proposed by Barak and
personnel carriers were moving into the Gaza Strip,
President Clinton at Camp David last July and
cutting it into three separate sections and seizing a
thereafter — and instead launched the violence that
tactically important area of just under one square
this week took a dangerous turn for the worse. ❑
mile in the strip's northeast corner.
The land, sea and air operation early Tuesday came
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in retaliation for a Monday attack in which
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4/20
2001
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