Earlier Saturday, Hamas interior minister confirmed that all Hamas infrastructure in the Strip was hit during the string of IAF strikes. The Palestinians further reported that one of the strikes was aimed at a Hamas cadet course readying for its graduation ceremony. According to the Palestinian police Tawfiq Jabar, commander of the Gaza Police.
Hmmm, so these Hamas cadets were killed before they graduated with a degree in killing civilian women, children and the elderly in their homes, schools, restaurants and bus stops. Does this mean they were still considered certified martyrs like Jabar, commander of the Gaza Police, and entitled to the same number of virgins on their express trip to heaven.
And David Horovitz, writing in the Jerusalem Post recognizes a whole new ballgame trying to avoid the errors the IDF and the Israeli government made in the war against Hezb'allah:
The goal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Saturday night, is to put an end to more than seven years of "insufferable" rocket attacks and "indiscriminate terror."
Olmert was presumably seeking to differentiate from the failures of the war against Hizbullah in south Lebanon, two and a half years ago, when he stressed that this operation had been thoroughly planned and prepared. But the memory of that misstewarded resort to force looms large over this conflict.
And the key questions today include those that, it turned out, had not been effectively addressed when the first air assault on Hizbullah was ordered in July 2006: Are the goals clear and realistic? Do they provide for a viable exit strategy? And has the political and military leadership truly prepared for the complications, surprises and failures that surely lie ahead. One key difference: Hamas is plainly far less well equipped than Hizbullah was.
In contrast to 2006, Israel's leaders are not talking about destroying the enemy as an aim of this confrontation. But the ostensible aims of the "Cast Lead" operation amount to requiring Hamas not to behave like Hamas - not to fire into Israel or target Israeli civilians or soldiers; not to prepare for such attacks; not to store or smuggle in the material for such attacks. And that is not going to be achieved quickly.
With Israeli tanks massing as if to invade, the government is apparently appraising the strikes for their effectiveness as well as considering the political implications of moving into Gaza on the ground with the resultant increase in civilian casualties only adding to Israel's diplomatic woes and the exit strategy of such of a move being unclear. Horovitz rightly points out that clear and achievable goals must be set and once met, the IDF will have to extricate themselves from the strip.
And to no one's surprise, PA president Abbas is seeking to make political hay out of this huge blow to Hamas' military capabilities:
Hamas could have prevented the "massacre" in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday in Cairo.
We spoke to them and told them 'Please, we ask you not to end the cease-fire. Let it continue,'" Abbas said during a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. "We want to protect the Gaza Strip. We don't want it to be destroyed."
Abbas called on Hamas to renew the cease-fire with Israel to avoid further bloodshed in Gaza.
Aboul Gheit also attacked Hamas, saying the group had prevented people wounded in the Israeli offensive from passing into Egypt to receive medical attention.
"We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to reach Egypt. They aren't being allowed to go through," he said.
Asked who was to blame for the dire situation in Gaza, the foreign minister replied: "Ask the party that controls Gaza."
The people in Gaza are already muttering about how Hamas has mismanaged the economy and that Israel's highly effective move of closing off entrances to Gaza (save for humanitarian supplies) is making life miserable for the Palestinian voter. Blame is starting to fall on Hamas for their constant provocations of Israel and the predictable pushback. Abbas is trying to tap into this disgruntlement - good politics but until he gets his own corrupt house in order, he will not be considered a viable alternative to Hamas.
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