Army opens Gaza roads, cabinet OKs anti-mortar plan
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'Smart and quiet' actions inside Area A
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Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer yesterday ordered the army to lift blockades that had effectively cut Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip into three sections, disconnected from each other - after ordering Gaza's main roads cut on Monday in reprisal for mortar fire on Sderot.
Last night, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) roadblocks that had split Gaza into three parts were lifted at Netzarim and on the Gush Katif-Kisufim road. The cuts had barred travel from the north of Gaza into the center and southern portions of the strip.
Meanwhile, the security cabinet yesterday approved Ben-Eliezer's proposal - which he said was based on lessons learned from the controversial Beit Hanoun incursion earlier this week - to conduct "smart and quiet pinpoint" operations inside Palestinian controlled Area A territories. The security cabinet mas made halting Palestinian mortar attacks on Israeli civilian settlement, inside the Green Line and in the territories, a top priority.
Ben-Eliezer explained his proposal by saying that Israel has not given up its policy of no longer regarding the Area A delineations as a barrier to IDF actions against mortar attacks. But future IDF actions will carry a "small signature," and will not include large-scale troop movements, he said.
The idea is to avoid the kind of operations that get widespread television coverage and are interpreted as Israeli invasions of Palestinian Authority (PA) territory - as happened in the recent Beit Hanoun operation, which was harshly condemned by Washington.
Military sources said the IDF is "not going to put up with mortar attacks," whether inside or outside of the Green Line. In addition, they said, the IDF faces a serious problem with intensifying Palestinian attacks on IDF patrols along the Israeli-Egyptian border, opposite Rafiah.
The French News Agency, AFP, quoted senior PA officials last night as saying PA Chairman Yasser Arafat gave an order on Wednesday for a halt to all mortar attacks on Israeli settlements inside the territories and inside the Green Line.
But sources in the Prime Minister's Office said the order "was made to impress the Americans, so Arafat can get invited to Washington," and that no evidence of such a cease-fire has been seen on the ground. "The test will be on the ground, and not in the words," government sources said.
Two mortar rounds were fired yesterday at Kibbutz Nir Oz, inside the green Line. It appears both were fired from the area east of Khan Yunis. Another mortar round fell between Atzmona and Morag in Gush Katif. No casualties were reported in either incident.
During the security cabinet session, Ben-Eliezer predicted a new escalation in hostilities. IDF assessments also expect heightened violence. There is growing concern in the IDF that the Palestinians also have mortars in the West Bank, most likely 52-millimeter weapons, with ranges of 500-600 meters, as opposed to the 82-mm mortars with ranges of up to 1,500 meters that have been used by Gazan cells in recent weeks.
Arafat met last night in Ramallah with European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos to discuss the situation in the territories and EU efforts to quell the violence and renew the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Meanwhile, the IDF is claiming there has been a dramatic increase in the number of shooting incidents in the West Bank, mostly after nightfall, and aimed at army bases.
It appears the IDF pressure around West Bank towns has succeeded in preventing shootings on the roads at civilian traffic. The change in tactics, say the sources, is mostly evident around Ramallah, where there were dozens of drive-by shootings and gunshot-ambushes on the roads.
