It’s unthinkable for Israel to supply electricity, fuel used by Qassam terrorists

By MK Effie Eitam

The Hamas regime in Gaza can boast of one significant achievement - it managed to unite leftists and rightists in Israel. Both myself and Kadima`s Haim Ramon understand that we need to act decisively and firmly in order to topple Hamas.

If the past we heard calls in the center of the political map urging talks with Hamas, its brutal attacks on Sderot residents led almost everyone to adopt the same view, and I also hope that it would lead to united deeds that have two aims: Military acts against Qassam launchers and their masters, and making it clear to the Gaza civilian population that electing a terror group to represent them is the main punishment they must bear.

The State of Israel left Gaza and provided its residents with a historic opportunity to elect their leadership - and they elected a radical, belligerent terror group that is Israel`s most bitter enemy. And now, as was the case with many peoples throughout history, they are paying the price of their decision. It is immoral and impossible to task us with bearing even some of the price for their mistake.

Never before in history have we seen an entity that enjoyed impunity in the face of self-defense actions of the side under attack. Hamas declared a war on its neighbor with no discrimination between military and civilian targets, and with no provocation on our part. Yet we do not punish Gaza`s residents; we merely realize our right for self-defense while facing a situation that is as clear, simple, and just as it gets.

The question of whether residents of Dresden had to bear the price for electing Hitler to lead them, or whether the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had to bear the results of the Japanese government`s policies in World War II is controversial to this day. Yet as opposed to other nations who simply turned whole cities and hundreds of thousands of civilians into direct victims - we have utilized the right for self-defense in a phased manner that does not result in direct casualties.

Therefore, Israel has the right to cut off the electricity that it supplies to Qassam workshops, the fuel it provides, which is used by launching vehicles, and the cement used to build tunnels and posts that will be used to fire at IDF soldiers one of these days. Israel`s right to cut off the supply of these goods cannot face any legal or moral controversy; it also cannot clash with common sense, which demands that we ensure that our enemies would not "enjoy" Israel`s economic and strategic power while attacking it.

Gaza an enemy state
The price paid by the Gaza population will benefit Israel. This is a legitimate and moral price, and claims regarding a humanitarian disaster are unfounded. We are no longer in Gaza, we made sure not to leave behind anything, and we withdrew to the last inch. Now Gaza is an enemy state. As such, we must address its indiscriminate hostility when it attacks civilians in contradiction of all international conventions and basic morals.

A situation whereby Israel, which is under attack, is asked to maintain the Hamas regime firing at our citizens is unthinkable. The demands for the prevention of a humanitarian disaster should be directed to international aid organizations. We most certainly need to also call on Egypt, Gaza`s good neighbor, to do something that is called for and natural for a neighbor that is not in war with Gaza like we are - allow humanitarian aid to go through.

Yet instead of this, we see growing international pressure on Israel to do something completely unreasonable and continue supporting its enemies.

Therefore, before we send our sons to fight in Gaza`s alleyways, reinforced with cement that we have transferred to Gaza through crossing points, and before we expose them to the fire of weapons smuggled into the Strip from Egypt - we must try to topple the Hamas regime, and certainly to weaken it through sanctions, while hermetically sealing off the border between the two warring parties.

The impossible situation whereby the Palestinians continue to fire Qassams, while receiving electricity for their Qassam workshops and fuel used by vehicles that fire Qassams, is deluxe terrorism that fits well with the dictum: "The master of the house has gone mad."

In this case, we are the master of the house, and the price we are paying is the security of Sderot and Gaza-region residents, and the stability of the entire State of Israel.

The preceding article appeared as an Op-Ed on the Ynetnews.com site on January 27, 2008.

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The establishment of an extremist Hamas State in Gaza, supported by Iran, is the most serious result of a chain of errors committed by Israeli governments and defence establishment over recent years. These errors are due to a basic misunderstanding of the aggressive, violent and inflexible nature of the Islamist movements and of their total disregard for world opinion or diplomacy. They do, however, make cynical and manipulative use of these platforms to achieve their goals through the exploitation of power. Once it matures, their approach, founded in diplomatic deception, is translated into action to gain real achievements on the ground clearly showing the failure of the Western World in general and of Israel in particular to find an effective response. This is true in regard to the Iranian issue, whether the response is through coordinated sanctions or whether through military means, and this is true regarding the Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Hamas in Gaza. The result, then, is that diplomacy and democratic action – that are supposed to serve as tools that rely on the willingness of those who support them to defend their principles even by power and military action – actually become totally useless. The habitual and obsessive repetition of the demand for “a return to the discussion table” will only make the situation worse. In light of all this, we need a broad reexamination of the concept of how to approach the problem.

In its latest format, the Hamas regime represents a powerful bomb located under the relatively stable foundations of the three partners that border the area of the Palestinian issue – Israel, Jordan and Egypt. This partnership is under both direct and indirect threat by the greatest supporter of the Hamas Palestinian entity – that is Iran. The partners share a stable contractual peace with a western orientation and as such without a doubt provide the most important target for attack by the Iranian-Palestinian apparatus. These peace settlements are the greatest achievement of western diplomacy in recent decades and both Hamas and Hizbullah are harnessed to the task of undermining and disrupting them. Hamastan in Gaza is a powerful tool for the undermining of this important axis.

The regional conference initiated by President Bush and, perhaps even more so, the summit meeting of the leaders of Israel, Egypt and Jordan, should not, therefore, deal with supporting and strengthening Abu Mazen. It should rather redefine the distribution of the tasks, responsibilities and burdens involved in dealing with the Palestinian-Iranian bomb that is now ticking under the stable foundations of all three countries.

Both Egypt and Jordan should realize that a continuation of the current situation – where Israel alone is considered responsible for solving the problem and in light of the failures faced by Israel in such attempts so far and the heavy price she has paid – may cause the radicalization of the situation with all the implications for the region. There is therefore a need to reduce the burden by dividing the Palestinian Authority and distributing the various sections among redefined areas of responsibility of a “Partnership of the Moderates”. This must be based on the principle that none of the partners take on a section that exceeds its power and that might cause its future collapse – as is happening to Israel or as happened to Jordan in the seventies and to Lebanon at this very time. A discussion on this should be based on the following proposals.

I suggest that Egypt takes responsibility for security and for humanitarian issues in Gaza, with international assistance. For this purpose, Egypt would have a presence on both sides of the Philadelphi Route and would prevent the smuggling of equipment and weapons into Gaza. Egypt would also serve as the channel through which humanitarian aide would be brought into Gaza. I believe that this is in Egypt’s interest, particularly in light of the fear that terrorism and extremist Islamic fundamentalism might filter into Egypt itself through cooperation with El Qaida cells in Sinai. Egypt is also the only Arab country that borders on the Gaza Strip and has ongoing security and intelligence presence there.

Egypt also has the greatest potential as regards large and empty territory in Sinai which might perhaps become part of a range of future solutions relating principally to the problem of overcrowding in the Gaza Strip.

Israel would continue to maintain full security control in the West Bank and will not permit the stationing there of any other armed entity other than the IDF – there is no doubt that arms and weapons given to Abu Mazen to increase his power will one day be turned against Israel and the Israelis. We learned this lesson long ago.

The total isolation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank would be clearly enforced in all respects excepting the solution of specific humanitarian problems. In the West Bank there will be as much freedom as possible for the individual and
in the management of the municipal apparatus depending on the improvement of the security situation. It should be noted, however, that no armed entity, other than the IDF, can be allowed within the area and along the borders. This “security containment” will not be limited in time and planning for it must be based on the assumption that this will be a long-term interim period.

My proposal is that Jordan would take measures to provide Jordanian citizenship and passports to Palestinians, through a carefully controlled process based on clear criteria including their commitment not to be involved in incitement or terrorism. Jordan and Israel will work together to ensure that this combination of Jordanian citizenship with Israeli residency is as smooth and problem-free as possible for the population that will be defined as part of the arrangement. Jordan and Israel will aspire to maximize the many advantages to the individuals who are part of this model while also seeking to achieve normalization of the model and to apply the experience that has been acquired elsewhere in the world in implementing similar models of permanent residency for citizens who carry the passport of another country. This model would have to have United States backing through the establishment of a commission comprised of representatives of the three countries who would be members of a regional alliance for the solution of the Palestinian problem. This body would receive official status from the UN as a body enjoying international aide and UN supervision of the practical results, particularly in the area of living standards, freedom of movement and human rights for the population groups defined as relevant to this arrangement.

Since this is only a position paper, no further detail is necessary at this time. However this “coalition of the moderates” needs to produce not only words but also genuine responsibility that becomes the clear interest of the whole partnership. If this shared responsibility is to take on real content and not abandon Israel to face the waves of Islamist terror alone, it may be possible to formulate an agreed mode of action. The emphasis should be on action also on the Lebanese front through including the Lebanese Government in the bloc that may in the future become the core of a coalition against Iran. The Gaza test is critical in regard to the question of whether the “coalition of the moderates” is mere empty words or an action force that will move forward together against the regional threats to us all.


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Sunday April 29, 2007 11 Iyar 5767

Last week I traveled with my family to the mountains of the Negev. We walked amidst the remarkable landscape of places such as the Ramon Crater. Our family takes these types of trips from time to time but on this trip, something happened which awakened some thoughts which I want to share with you.

During the trip, it became clear to us that we could not leave our car unguarded anywhere in the Negev. This applied to the orderly parking lots of the Nature Preservation Society and even to the visitor’s center at the Ramon Crater, not to mention just regular parking areas. If one leaves his car without paying “protection money” to Bedouins who come and openly ask for it, the tires of the car and all of its contents will be stolen. Aside from the monetary loss, this lawlessness in the south looms like a shadow over the freedom of movement and leisure experiences of the citizens of Israel. After all, the areas of the Negev were the last where we could feel free to roam in our country which is becoming more and more closed.

For a long time I have been calling out regarding this phenomenon of rejection of law and order which goes beyond a simple criminal phenomenon. Rather, there is a connection between this and Islamic propaganda amidst the Bedouins and their rejection of Israeli ownership and control over this region. We must view this situation as a national danger and we must act quickly to restore law and order to the Negev. If we don’t do so, we will witness the following chain reaction: Israelis will refrain from going to the Negev, investors will be afraid to invest, and the entire area will become transformed into an unsafe and uncivilized region. This chaos will seamlessly connect to the Sinai which has for some time become a base for international terror, drug smuggling, and prostitution. These already trickle into Israel via the Bedouins through the open border of “peace” between us and Egypt.

It is true that there are problems in dealing with infrastructure, education, and the daily lives of the Bedouin population. However, these problems do not justify the closing of our eyes for many years to the change in the style and perspective among the Bedouins in the south. The police, the justice system, and the government must take diligent action immediately to restore Israeli control and ownership over the Negev. This must be done quickly, before it is too late.


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I cannot exaggerate how privileged we feel to be here today being given the to share with you the Israeli views on the problems in the region of the middle east.

Before that I would like to remind you all that earlier on this week we commemorated holocaust memorial day. Every person in Israel was remembering the most horrible crime ever committed in the history of mankind ,a crime which caused the death of six million of our brothers and sisters by the Nazis on European soil. That is why we appreciate even more that this assembly commits itself to issues of human rights. We do share with you your belief that protecting human rights is the most effective tool to avoid such a crime ever being repeated.
I myself still carry bleeding wounds remembering my grandmother and grandfather being hung on the hooks of a butchers shop in a small town in Lithuania named luzin, their only crime was being Jewish.
There is one determined decision we all committed to, not to allow such a crime to happen again. The most practical conclusion coming out of this is that we must defend ourselves against every enemy who threatens the very existence of small state the only Jewish state on earth.
Ever since Israel independence, we have not experienced one day of peace.it started with the brutal combined attack by the Arab states on the newly born state of Israel.
Which was that time a shelter for hundreds of thousand of Jewish refugees from the war in Europe. The Jewish state of Israel was established according to the decision of the united nations in 1947/ with the Arabs rejecting not only an Arab state alongside it, but our state as well.
We were attacked again in 1967 when we had no occupied territories, no refugees ,no settlements, and then again in 1973, on our holiest day on yom kipur, a war we barely survived.
The last attack was last summer, when thousands of missiles were launched from Lebanon and Gaza towards our civilian population ,soldiers were kidnapped from Israeli territory, without any provocation.
I mention these very well known facts in order to emphasize the great threats and dangers Israel is continuously facing. Israel has been, and still is being threatened by the jihad ideology. Which gains the hearts and minds of many in the arab world. If the people who posses this extreme ideology will gain access to nuclear weapons, this will be the end of the world order as we know it. Unfortunately ,the majority of the Palestinian people, being manipulated by this propaganda ,elected the most extreme terror organization to their government. It is a tragedy for the Palestinian people as well as for the Israelis, but it can still be corrected , by standing up to the high moral ground of the European union, as it courageously demonstrated when declaring the hamas organization as a terrorist one. It is imperative that the Palestinians educate a new generation for peace and coexistence and put an end to incitement and hatred.
The international community and the quartet have justifiably imposed three conditions on the newly formed Palestinian government, for it do become a legitimate partner for negotiation. How can Israel be expected to talk to a terrorist led government that does nit recognize its existence and calks for its destruction, does not renounce terrorism and does not accept previous agreements signed with Israel?
Let me conclude by saying that Israel will cooperate with moderate Palestinian leaders. The hamas-fatah coalition cannot be considered as such . this is why the government of Israel decided not to engage in talks with the newly formed Palestinian government . I call the Palestinians to join the forces of democracy and peace before it is too late. I call the Europeans: exert your influence to encourage the moderates and not the extremists, join hands with Israel and the moderate countries in the Middle East. and bring back the spirit of those glorious days when Europeans used to be the spearhead of defending freedom and democracy.





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