Another nasty ambush
Friday, October 24, 2003
The loving dream, acrylics on paper, 70x50 by Silvia Rosenberg
Under cover of fog, an armed Palestinian infiltrated the army base inside Netzarim in Gaza, in the pre-dawn hours, killing two women soldiers and a male soldier, and seriously wounding a female soldier and wounding a male soldier, before the Palestinian was killed. Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility. Israel Radio made note of Arab media pride in the attack on the Shimshon Battalion.
Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, commander of the Southern Command told Israel Radio “this is an ongoing war, overnight we saw shooting, mortars, infiltrations, all proving this is real fight that is going on day in and day out and will continue.” The female soldiers posted in Gaza are mostly used to man electronic observation posts, and are “absolutely” necessary, said Harel. ‘They’re doing holy work.’
The sister of one of the dead women soldiers told Israel Radio that her sister was angry because she wanted to be a combat trooper, and that all they had her doing was ‘watching a TV monitor, and just last week, because of budget cuts, they even took away the girls’ weapons.’ Indeed, judging from the chatter on the morning talk shows this morning, the deaths of the two female soldiers was not going to increase pressure to stop drafting women, but rather to for allowing female soldiers to take part in real combat missions.
There are 60 families living in Netzarim, with about 300 people altogether. According to Shimon Peres, two battalions, meaning about 700 soldiers, are posted there to protect them.
The attack comes at the end of a week full of failures, real and virtual, for the army. There were the soldiers killed in an ambush in Ein Yabrud at the beginning of the week; the air raids in Gaza that accidentally killed some non-combatants and wounded many; and an emergency callup of reserve infantry battalions that was met with skepticism by the soldiers called up, who told the press they felt their were being exploited for political reasons.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s speech opening the winter session of the Knesset did little to improve the mood, since he didn’t have much to promise except more blood and tears and possibly a breakthrough in a few months. The conventional wisdom says Sharon’s speech was a reference to Yasser Arafat’s ailment, though nobody has yet come up with a definitive explanation for why the Palestinian Authority Chairman appears to have lost at least 10 kilos, appearing gaunt.
The working assumption now in the Israeli political-defense establishment now appears to be that Arafat is dying. But as Aluf Benn, the Haaretz diplomatic correspondent has said lately, that appears to be Israel’s entire policy – waiting for Arafat to die. What happens after his death is anybody’s guess, since Israel is doing nothing to make things easier for any Palestinian, let alone whoever follows Arafat.
In another development, MK Azmi Bishara met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara. He told Israel Radio that they discussed U.S. pressure on Damascus and the overall political situation. The High Court of Justice meanwhile rejected out of hand two petitions against the Geneva Understandings.
Ariga Recommends
 Death as a Way of Life David Grossman's collection of essays, starting in 1993, on the arc of the peace process from its optimistic begbeginnings the disaster known as the intifada. Highly recommended reading for anyone wanting to know what life is like in a land caught up in a spiraling madness in which people are taught terror and counter-terror, which have grown so interwoven that it has become impossible to tell where one begins and the other ends, is preferable to generosity of spirit, and compromise resulting from dialogue.
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in Frosties, the anthology of quotations
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