Former Minister Benny Elon (National Union) said today that the current offensive is merely a ploy by Prime Minister Sharon to fool the public and to smoothen the way to the disengagement: "He is taking cynical advantage of the army to remain in Gaza for a number of weeks in order to reduce the attacks; he does not want to withdraw from Gaza under fire. But he knows that the minute the army leaves Gaza, Sderot will continue to be attacked and will become a ghost town."
MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said he will demand that the army carry out Operation Defensive Shield 2 - i.e., a repeat of the wide-ranging anti-terror offensive in Shechem of 2.5 years ago, but this time in Gaza. He has the support of Prime Minister Sharon, who demanded the same in last night's security meeting. The army officials, however, persuaded him that at present, the cost in soldiers' lives in the crowded and narrow streets of the Gaza towns is liable to be too great.
MK Effie Eitam (National Religious Party), a former Minister in the current government and a former combat Brigadier-General, blames the situation on Sharon and his disengagement plan: "The concept of the disengagement is blowing up in our faces. It is revealing itself as a military and national failure, no less grave than the Yom Kippur War fiasco [when Israel was caught unprepared by an Egyptian and Syrian military attack - ed.]."
Eitam added, "Despite the warnings of the IDF officers and security leaders, the Prime Minister is leading Israeli citizens and soldiers into a death trap that is exacting a high price in blood."
MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said he will demand that the army carry out Operation Defensive Shield 2 - i.e., a repeat of the wide-ranging anti-terror offensive in Shechem of 2.5 years ago, but this time in Gaza. He has the support of Prime Minister Sharon, who demanded the same in last night's security meeting. The army officials, however, persuaded him that at present, the cost in soldiers' lives in the crowded and narrow streets of the Gaza towns is liable to be too great.
MK Effie Eitam (National Religious Party), a former Minister in the current government and a former combat Brigadier-General, blames the situation on Sharon and his disengagement plan: "The concept of the disengagement is blowing up in our faces. It is revealing itself as a military and national failure, no less grave than the Yom Kippur War fiasco [when Israel was caught unprepared by an Egyptian and Syrian military attack - ed.]."
Eitam added, "Despite the warnings of the IDF officers and security leaders, the Prime Minister is leading Israeli citizens and soldiers into a death trap that is exacting a high price in blood."