Some senior army figures are pessimistic about the Israeli gestures, specifically the withdrawal from Hevron, and predict that \"new and improved\" Palestinian terrorist attacks will resume within a few days.
On the other hand, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Sha’ul Mofaz apologized for his unprecedented statement of opposition yesterday to the withdrawal from Hevron. He said that the statement was \"not worded correctly.\" Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer had threatened to fire him for his public objections to government policy, saying that Mofaz was implying that the government was not acting with the citizens\' best security interests at heart, but in the end sufficed with a sharp rebuke. Mofaz completed his three-year term as Chief of Staff a few months ago, but was asked by Sharon and Ben-Eliezer to remain in his post for an extra year.
Referring to Mofaz\'s statement of yesterday, politicians from both left and right said that such outspoken opposition by the military to government policies was most inappropriate in a democracy. However, Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA noted that Prime Minister Sharon and Ministers Peres and Ben-Eliezer acted undemocratically themselves when they lied to the Cabinet yesterday about Mofaz\'s opinion. During the Cabinet meeting, Minister Sharansky asked why he had to agree to the IDF withdrawal from Hevron when \"even the Chief of Staff opposes it.\" Peres, Ben-Eliezer, and even Sharon all responded, according to a report in Ha\'aretz today, that they knew nothing about Mofaz\'s opposition. The three ministers, however, actually heard from Mofaz on Friday that he objected to their planned gestures. \"If the three members of the security mini-cabinet, who have been making the critical decisions of the past few months, lie to their fellow ministers about the army\'s position,\" said Lerner, \"this could have serious consequences on the Cabinet\'s ability to make informed decisions.\"