Israel Update for April 2005

When cabinet ministers accepted PM Sharon's proposal to start evacuating Gaza settlements on July 25th, they were warned by several prominent religious leaders that the date was extremely inappropriate. The day before is the annual Fast of Tamuz, when observant Jews begin their annual three week mourning period to commemorate various disasters and divine judgments that have befallen the Jewish people over many centuries. The fast climaxes each year on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av-the traditional date when both the first and second temples were destroyed by Israel's ancient enemies. During this three week mourning period, religious Jews do not hold or attend weddings, receive haircuts, or move into new homes.

Even though the house-moving prohibition is due to the fact that acquiring a new residence is normally a joyous occasion, rabbinical authorities warned that forcibly moving some 3,500 Jewish adults and an estimated 5,500 children out of their Gaza and northern Samaria homes during the three week period was strictly forbidden under Jewish law. On top of that, the main component of many of the commemorated disasters that have befallen Jews over the years has precisely been forcible removable from their homes, often followed by death. That the Likud Premier and his cabinet decided to deploy Israeli soldiers and police officers to uproot thousands of Jews from 25 communities during the annual mourning period only added to the deep disgust many felt over the government's pullout plan.

Just days after he was met with angry chants of "traitor, traitor!" while visiting the Gaza Strip Jewish community of Neveh Dekalim, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz recommended that the evacuations be postponed until August 15th, the day after the Tisha b'Av fast. The proposal was sharply criticized by deputy premier Shimon Peres and other Labour politicians, who noted that Sharon's cabinet ministers had understood that the emotive withdrawal would coincide with the annual mourning period when they initially approved the plan.

Mofaz made clear that even if the evacuation is delayed by three weeks, it would remain illegal for Jews slated to be uprooted to remain in their homes after July 20th-an obvious attempt to persuade the residents to leave on their own volition. However as of April 25th, only 108 out of the 1,700 plus families scheduled to be transported from the Gaza Strip-most of them secular Jews-had publicly agreed to move to other locations. Most of the rest vow to cling to their homes until the bitter end, especially since the government is currently only offering them temporary caravan accommodations, along with what most consider to be paltry financial compensation.

POWER PLAYS

With many analysts expecting the collapse of the Likud-Labour government soon after the scheduled withdrawal takes place (given basic Labour opposition to most of Sharon's policies apart from the unilateral pullback plan), Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sounded increasingly like he is anxious to replace Sharon as party leader. Opinion polls showed that he has a good chance of doing so whenever mandated party primaries are held. However the aging Sharon, now 77, announced in April that he intends to stand as party leader again even if the elections are not brought forward from their current November 2006 date.

Netanyahu angered Sharon for the umpteenth time when he delivered his strongest warnings yet during April over the pending Gaza/northern Samaria pullback. He decried the fact the Likud PM had not taken the divisive issue to the electorate in a national referendum, as many Likud legislators demanded, and said it was a waste of a bargaining chip to unilaterally withdraw from disputed territory while receiving nothing from the Palestinians in return. He also warned that trusting the Egyptian army to patrol Gaza's southern border after the IDF evacuates the sensitive area would produce a flood of weapons smuggling into the teeming, fenced-off Gaza Strip.

Sharon shot back with harsh words at his Finance Minister during a subsequent cabinet meeting, prompting some analysts to speculate that Netanyahu might be dismissed from the government. However the PM apparently realized that such a move would produce an even uglier revolt inside his fractured party, if not its complete dissolution, and a reconciliation meeting was instead quickly arranged between the two veteran politicians. Although tensions cooled after that, Netanyahu later told reporters that "to describe our relationship as harmonious and rosy would do it injustice."

BULLETS AND BOMBS

Literal bullets were flying in the Gaza Strip once again during April, along with resumed rocket attacks on Jewish communities in and around the coastal zone. Israeli officials reported a 300% jump in violent Palestinian security violations from the number occurring in March. Several IDF soldiers were wounded by Arab sniper fire during the month as February's tenuous Palestinian "timeout" ceasefire continued to crumble. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for planting a roadside bomb that seriously wounded an Israeli-Arab tracker near a security fence. A few days earlier, an IDF officer and a civilian Israeli contractor were injured by rifle fire while carrying out construction work near the southern border fence with Egypt.

In the most severe violation yet of the two month old ceasefire, Palestinian groups launched over 80 rockets at Israeli civilian communities and army outposts after three unarmed Arab teenage boys were shot dead near the southern border fence. Although Palestinian Authority officials initially claimed that the young victims were merely playing football in the restricted border zone, they later revealed that two other teenagers spotted with them admitted that the youths were attempting to pick up smuggled weapons along the border fence. However, an internal IDF investigation of the incident blasted soldiers at the scene for apparently "shooting to kill" above the legs of the victims, instead of following standing orders not to kill unarmed suspects.

While violence escalated during the month, reports mounted that elected PA leader Mahmoud Abbas was nearing the end of his short but troubled rule. With Israeli leaders pointing to multiplying evidence that he was doing precious little to reign in terrorist groups, and many Palestinians terming him an Israeli stooge, or blasting him for failing to halt growing lawlessness in most Arab towns and villages, the beleaguered PA leader's days in power seemed increasingly numbered. This may help explain why his armed PA security services mostly sat on the sidelines while dozens of Palestinian gunmen rampaged through Ramallah, Jenin and other locations on several occasions during April, shooting up public buildings and taking over various roads.

NORTHERN DARKNESS

Israeli government and military leaders warned during April that the Lebanese Hizbullah militia was planning major action in the coming weeks along Israel's northern border. This came as Syrian forces completed their UN-mandated pullout from the religiously-divided country, leaving Hizbullah to fend for itself without its longtime Syrian protectors. Meanwhile Russia announced that it was proceeding with the sale of lethal anti-aircraft missiles to Syria despite protests from Washington and Jerusalem.

Defense officials told the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee in April that Hizbullah was planning to launch cross-border attacks upon Israel before the Lebanese national elections, currently scheduled for late May. Defense Minster Shaul Mofaz told lawmakers that he ordered IDF forces on full alert for such violence, while adding that Israel was "in control" of the situation.The comments came just one day after an unarmed Hizbullah drone surveillance aircraft flew over several Israeli border communities for half an hour-including the towns of Nahariya and Acre-before returning safely to Lebanon. The security breech was an embarrassment for the IDF, causing some analysts to question the claim that military leaders had a firm handle on the situation.

There is One who is definitely in absolute control of all things-Israel's Eternal Father! May all who love Zion continue to give Him no rest, "until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning." (Isaiah 62: 1).