They had their chance. Now take back Gaza!

The Palestinians had their chance for autonomy and independence, and they blew it. Israelis should not have to continue paying dearly in blood just to give them another shot.
Israel continues to pay the price of its 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, as Palestinian rocket attacks intensify against southern Israeli towns and cities. In response, the Olmert government undertook a small incursion into the Strip, which failed to halt the barrages and only strengthened Hamas politically. 
As I argue in the column below, it is not too late to the correct the error of withdrawal and to finally put an end to the terrorist threat. It is time for Israel to retake Gaza, topple Hamas and assert complete control over the area. And while we're at it, let's rebuild the destroyed Jewish communities of Gush Katif.
  

They had their chance. Now take back Gaza

By Michael Freund

There is a certain country which has been the target of fierce terrorist attacks in recent years, leaving untold thousands of citizens living along its southern border exposed to ongoing violence and cruelty.

After enduring ceaseless bombings, killings and abductions, the country's leadership decided to take bold action, crossing the frontier over the weekend and eliminating the terrorist group's top echelons, including its second-in-command.

In case you haven't been following the news, the country in question is Colombia, which sent troops on a cross-border raid into neighboring Ecuador, where they tracked down and killed some of the leading thugs of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) terror organization.

The audacity of the move led Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who backs the FARC brutes, to invoke the Jewish state in his denunciation of Bogota.

"The Colombian government has turned into the Israel of South America," Chavez said during his weekly Sunday talk show on Venezuelan television. "Colombia is a terrorist state that is subject to the great terrorist, the government of the United States and their apparatus," he added.

Now with all due respect to Mr. Chavez (and quite frankly, not all that much is due him), he could not be more wrong in his comparison.

For while Colombia's weekend counter-terror operation was indeed effective, Israel's was anything but.

Unlike Colombia's raid, Israel's foray into Gaza left it in a worse position than before.

A quick recap: last week, after months of dilly-dallying, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert finally mustered the courage to send tanks and troops to pursue Palestinian terrorists who have been firing rockets indiscriminately at the Negev.

"Israel is at the height of this battle and we will pursue it until the danger threatening residents in the south is over," Olmert vowed shortly after the operation began.

But then, sure enough, just five days after it had begun, Israel turned tail and pulled out.

Not surprisingly, a few short hours later, the Palestinians were gleefully firing rockets at Ashkelon, striking a seven-story apartment building and a playground on Monday.

Naturally, Hamas celebrated Israel's retreat with a large rally in the streets of Gaza, declaring "victory" in what they wryly termed "The Five Day War."

SO NOW let's consider what exactly Mr. Olmert accomplished with his little operation.

From a military point of view, the maneuver did not halt the Palestinian rocket attacks or even deliver a punishing blow against those behind them. Politically, Hamas emerged stronger than before, with Gaza's Palestinian population rallying to its defense. And diplomatically, Israel botched efforts to make its case to the international community that it was fully justified in resorting to force to stop the violence being directed against it.

In other words, Olmert blew it once again, failing miserably to provide Israel and its citizens with the safety and security they so rightly deserve.

Worse yet, he reinforced the dangerous impression among our adversaries that Israel does not have the will, or the wherewithal, necessary to wage a protracted war for its survival.

The fundamental problem, of course, is that the government is effectively playing games with the lives of Israel and its citizens. Instead of undertaking a large-scale ground invasion in Gaza to clear out the terrorists and their infrastructure, Olmert seems to favor small, "ping-pong" style strikes, even though these have proven entirely ineffective.

But merely tapping the ball ad nauseam over the net is not going to solve things. The only way to break out of this deadly mess is for Israel to hit the equivalent of an overhead smash in tennis. We need to strike a decisive and winning blow against the terrorists, and not merely volley back and forth with them at their leisure.

Let's be honest: after years of retreat, it is time to try something else. For far too long, Israel has been seeking to run away from the Gaza problem, and that has gotten us nowhere. We must stop fleeing and finally face this threat head-on.

Israel tried turning the territory over to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and he ended up scampering off to Ramallah to save his life when Hamas took over.

The government then sought to give the Islamists a chance, and that too has resulted in disaster. Those who preached concessions and disengagement have been proven painfully wrong, time and time again, but it is the people of Israel who have been made to pay the price for their folly.

We need not accept the present situation, nor should we. It is not too late to correct the error of withdrawal, and to finally declare an end to the delusions of reaching a false peace with those who seek our demise.

Simply put, Israel should reassert complete control over Gaza, topple the Hamas-led regime, arrest and try its leadership, and finally declare that this land is rightfully ours and we shall never again abandon it.

We should then move quickly to rebuild the rubble of Gush Katif and its once-thriving Jewish communities. This would send a clear message to our foes that they will never succeed in uprooting the Jewish presence from this region. And it is the least Israel can do for the thousands of Jews who were expelled from their homes for nothing in the 2005 pullout from Gaza.

The Palestinians had their chance for autonomy and independence, and they blew it. Israelis should not have to continue paying dearly in blood just to give them another shot.

Like it or not, it is time to take Gaza back. Only this time, we must never give it up again. Let the Left mock the idea of returning to Gaza as much as they please. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.

Frankly, I'd rather be Right and alive, than Left and on the run.

--- from the March 5 Jerusalem Post

Playing Ping-Pong with Israeli Lives

Instead of undertaking a large-scale ground invasion to clear out the terrorists and their infrastructure, Olmert prefers small, "ping-pong" style back-and-forth strikes, which have proven entirely ineffective
Well, it didn't really last long at all.

Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza last night after a brief incursion aimed at stopping the mounting Palestinian rocket assaults on Israeli cities in the south.

Not surprisingly, a few short hours later, a Palestinian rocket struck a 7-story apartment building in Ashkelon, while another slammed into a playground.

This is tangible proof that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's limited military operation in Gaza failed to achieve its objectives. Instead of undertaking a large-scale ground invasion to clear out the terrorists and their infrastructure, Olmert prefers small, "ping-pong" style back-and-forth strikes, which have proven entirely ineffective, as this morning's attack on Ashkelon demonstrates.

The problem, of course, is that the government is effectively playing ping-pong with the lives of Israel and its citizens. By not uprooting the terrorist infrastructure once and for all, our leaders are essentially allowing this madness to continue, with tens of thousands of Israelis spending their day racing back and forth to bomb shelters.

This is no way to run a country.

Shut Down Orient House!!

It is time for Israel to stop looking the other way whenever the Palestinians assail everything we hold dear
For some time, the Palestinians have been waging a systematic and methodical campaign targeting some of Israel's most-cherished symbols, from the unity of Jerusalem to the resting places of some of its Biblical forebears.

This has included the desecration of Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus), and the reopening of the Orient House in Jerusalem, which is aimed at undermining Israel's sovereignty.
 
As I argue in the column below, if it is a war of symbols that the Palestinians want, then Israel should respond in kind, and send our foes a loud and clear message.

Shut Down Orient House

By Michael Freund

Another day, another affront. For all the talk of peace and reconciliation, the Palestinians seem to be keeping themselves quite busy these days by finding ways to undercut, undermine, and even insult Israel and its sovereignty.

Last week, Israel Radio reported that Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority has chosen to defy the law, which bars it from operating in Jerusalem, by reopening the Orient House.

The century-old structure, which a decade ago came to embody our neighbors' attempts to gain a political foothold in Israel's capital, was closed down by the police in 2001 after it had become a hotbed of illicit Palestinian activity.

But now the Orient House is apparently playing host once again to official Palestinian functions, such as diplomatic meetings. As its Web site states, "the Orient House aspires to develop Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of the emerging Palestinian state."

This is nothing less than a clear Palestinian slap in the face to the Israeli government, which only recently reaffirmed the ban on PA activity in Jerusalem, something to which the Palestinians themselves had agreed in the Oslo Accords.

More importantly, though, it is a slap in the face to the people of Israel, the overwhelming majority of whom cherish Jerusalem and are against re-dividing the Holy City.

And that is precisely why the Palestinians are doing it. They understand the power that symbols have to influence, shape and yes, even to alter reality.

Indeed, for years our foes have been methodically focusing on Israel's icons, doing their utmost to tear them down - both literally and figuratively - as a means of advancing their agenda.

TAKE, FOR example, Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus), the resting place of the Biblical figure revered in Jewish tradition as "Yosef HaTzaddik," or "Joseph the righteous."

It was nearly eight and a half years ago that a Palestinian mob seized control over the tomb, ransacking the Jewish holy site and setting it ablaze. Despite repeated promises to restore it over the years, the Palestinians wantonly desecrated it at will, dumping garbage on its grounds and periodically setting it on fire.

Last month, dozens of Knesset members from a broad range of parties wrote a joint letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert demanding that Joseph's Tomb be repaired. "The tombstone is completely shattered, and the holy site is desecrated in an appalling manner, the likes of which we have not seen in Israel or anywhere else in the world," they wrote.

The premier duly conveyed the request to the Palestinians, and their response was not long in coming: they reportedly vandalized the tomb and set fire to it again.

This kind of outrage can not be allowed to pass quietly. It would be a grave error for Israel to ignore the Palestinians' wanton attempts to assault the national symbols and collective heritage of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

And yet that is what our leaders seem only too happy to do. Time after time, they choose to ignore the Palestinian onslaught, which of course only invites still further abuse. Thus, the government has largely stood by and watched as the Palestinian-controlled Muslim Wakf digs up the Temple Mount in broad daylight and destroys priceless Jewish religious and archaeological relics.

There are other examples as well. Two months ago, Palestinians desecrated the tombs of the Biblical Joshua, his father Nun, and Caleb ben Yefuneh, all of which are located in the Samarian village of Kifel Haress, near Ariel.

The gravesites, which Jewish pilgrims have visited for centuries, were reportedly smeared with animal and human feces and covered with garbage. The vandals also painted Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic slogans on the holy sites.

Yet this disgraceful act was also allowed to pass unanswered.

It is time for Israel to stop looking the other way whenever the Palestinians assail everything we hold dear. If it is a war of symbols they want, then Israel should not hesitate to respond. A good place to start would be to tear down the Orient House in Jerusalem, raze the site, and close it once and for all.

Similarly, the Muslim Wakf must be held accountable for the damage that it causes to the Temple Mount, site of the ancient Jewish temple. If the Wakf is unwilling to cooperate, their authority can and should be taken away.

We simply can not afford to allow the Palestinians to continue to spit in our faces, and then call it rain.

Our foes understand well the importance of symbols. They realize that despite their name, symbols are not merely symbolic, but have substantive value too.

The question is, when will we?

--- from the February 20 Jerusalem Post