Gaza Operation Is A Political, Not A Military Operation

Israel's Security Cabinet met and put together what seemed to be a concrete and well thought out plan about what to do about Gaza:

The Security Cabinet met this morning (Wednesday), 5 Mach 2008, to discuss policy for action against the firing of projectiles at communities in Israel, including the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, and against the strengthening of terrorist forces in the Gaza Strip. The following decision was adopted:

A. The State of Israel will act continuously and systematically in order to achieve the following main goals:

* To bring about the cessation of rocket fire and other terrorist actions from Gaza;

* To reduce the strengthening of Hamas, including in coordination with and by Egypt;

* To advance the negotiations process with the Palestinian Authority while maintaining freedom of action in the struggle against terrorism;

* To strike at the Hamas regime in Gaza;

* To avoid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the extent that the matter depends on Israel;

* To expedite action on the home front, as is being carried out by the Government and as was presented at the 24 February 2008 Cabinet meeting;

* To maintain the legitimacy of, and freedom of action in, continuing to strike at Hamas; to this end, diplomatic and information efforts vis-à-vis the international community will continue.

B. The action policy for achieving the aforementioned goals may include the following actions (inter alia):

* Action against launch areas and striking at projectile weapons' support network of activists and knowledge, and production and storage facilities, and against other military and infrastructure targets.

* Action against Hamas institutions in the Gaza Strip. The targets will be approved by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Very impressive.
Yet, the same day:

The aides said Abbas has proposed a package in which Hamas halts its relentless rocket barrages on southern Israel if Israel ends its attacks on Palestinian militants and Egypt reopens its border with Gaza.

Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev declined to discuss the parameters of any possible deal but suggested Israel could be open to a cease-fire. "If they were not shooting at our civilian population, we would not have to respond," he said.

That sure didn't take long. Dr. Aaron Lerner notes:

In the short time since the Security Cabinet met and decided that its goals include both "cessation of rocket fire" and "reduce the strengthening of Hamas" = stop the smuggling etc. PM Olmert and the rest of his team have come out saying that Israel would accept a hudna. That's a ceasefire with the continued strengthening of Hamas. [emphasis added]

Apparently, Israelis are aware of Olmert's vacillating, half-hearted strategy for dealing with Gaza:

73 percent of Israelis are "dissatisfied" with the government's conduct in trying to stop the Kassam fire, a Channel 10 survey showed Wednesday. 44% of those surveyed said they supported a wide scale operation in Gaza, 20% favored pinpoint operations against terror cells and 21% said they would back negotiations with Hamas.

Unfortunately, the operation in Gaza is a political operation--not a military operation--geared more towards holding off growing criticism than effectively dealing with a dangerous problem.

Equally unfortunately, the casualties in this operation are only military.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad

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