Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effie Eitam, who retired from the army about five months ago and has since given many speeches around the country, spoke with Arutz-7 today about the current warfare and what, in his opinion, should be done.
\"We must realize that it\'s not just a question of isolated shootings and the like, but a real war between us and a gang of terrorists that we ourselves armed. It is clear to me that every passing day in which we do not dismantle the PA, just makes it harder to do so in the future; this action is simply unavoidable as something that a state must do for its citizens… If Ariel Sharon thought that he required a few extra days or weeks so that the continued attacks against us would unite the nation and solidify world opinion on our side, he received his answer in the form of England\'s Prime Minister Tony Blair refusal to interrupt his weekend by meeting him at the airport [next week]…
\"[In any event,] this time period has passed, and it is now time to set out on what is, in the most elementary sense, a justified military mission of self-defense. Its first aspect is, first of all, to make sure that absolutely no private Arab transportation is allowed on the roads… In addition, the top brass of the military and diplomatic leadership of the PA must be made to disappear, either physically or functionally. All the weapons must be taken from within the Palestinian Authority, even at the cost of warfare against the pockets of resistance that will exist. The PA\'s territorial contiguity must then be broken up, and we will have to hold separate negotiations with each separate area as to how it will run its own municipal affairs. It must be clear that there will no longer be one foreign sovereign entity west of the Jordan… \"I retired from the army when my calling Arafat a liar and a murderer aroused such a ruckus [in the public and within the army] that I realized that I could no longer remain in such an army... There has been a deterioration of our military deterrent power, beginning with our retreat from Lebanon last year. It continued with allowing shooting on our capital, evacuating Joseph\'s Tomb, and a lack of ability to deal with the continued violence of the past few months… As long as the wreckage of Oslo continues to exist, we\'ll never be able to set forth on a new way, and this would be a tragedy for both sides.\"
\"We must realize that it\'s not just a question of isolated shootings and the like, but a real war between us and a gang of terrorists that we ourselves armed. It is clear to me that every passing day in which we do not dismantle the PA, just makes it harder to do so in the future; this action is simply unavoidable as something that a state must do for its citizens… If Ariel Sharon thought that he required a few extra days or weeks so that the continued attacks against us would unite the nation and solidify world opinion on our side, he received his answer in the form of England\'s Prime Minister Tony Blair refusal to interrupt his weekend by meeting him at the airport [next week]…
\"[In any event,] this time period has passed, and it is now time to set out on what is, in the most elementary sense, a justified military mission of self-defense. Its first aspect is, first of all, to make sure that absolutely no private Arab transportation is allowed on the roads… In addition, the top brass of the military and diplomatic leadership of the PA must be made to disappear, either physically or functionally. All the weapons must be taken from within the Palestinian Authority, even at the cost of warfare against the pockets of resistance that will exist. The PA\'s territorial contiguity must then be broken up, and we will have to hold separate negotiations with each separate area as to how it will run its own municipal affairs. It must be clear that there will no longer be one foreign sovereign entity west of the Jordan… \"I retired from the army when my calling Arafat a liar and a murderer aroused such a ruckus [in the public and within the army] that I realized that I could no longer remain in such an army... There has been a deterioration of our military deterrent power, beginning with our retreat from Lebanon last year. It continued with allowing shooting on our capital, evacuating Joseph\'s Tomb, and a lack of ability to deal with the continued violence of the past few months… As long as the wreckage of Oslo continues to exist, we\'ll never be able to set forth on a new way, and this would be a tragedy for both sides.\"