The Arik Network: ANN
Briefing by
Maj. General Dan Harel. Posted 15/5/2001
Briefing my Maj. General Dan Harel (IDF) 3-4 days
ago.
The IDF report on the progress of the Palesinian Intifada:
"Today
two young Israeli boys were brutally killed by Palestinians. They
were stoned to be exact.
It's not very surprising because in the last 24 hours
we had another murder of a civilian in Samaria and two incidents
of mortar shooting on two Israeli villages.
As we see it, it combines very clearly the Palestinian
wish to escalate the whole situation.
We see it with the arms shipment we caught two days
ago.
Had the weapons been brought into the Gaza Strip,
it would escalate the situation very much because the shipment contained
Katyusha rockets, anti-aircraft missiles and so forth.
The range is about 8 kilometers and 24,000 feet. An
airliner that lands or takes off in Ben Gurion airport is an easy
target for whoever shoots the missile.
There is no match between the missile and the airplane:
the airplane will be shot down.
It seems that the whole situation with the Palestinians
is going towards escalation.
We know that the arms shipment was sent by Ahmed
Jibril, Palestinian terrorist organization leader, from Lebanon,
with Iranian inspiration, sent by order of the Palestinian Authority.
It's not the first time they have been smuggling.
According to our investigation of the smugglers on
the ship, we know it wasn't their first time. We have reason to
worry about [how many shipments made it through].
We know the Palestinian Authority is working very
hard to acquire weapons with longer range, with greater capacity
in order to escalate the situation.
They are not satisfied with car bombs, or firing
small weapons, or anti-tank missiles. That's not enough.
We can see it clearly by the list of weapons ordered
by the Palestinian Authority. We see they want to increase the range
so they can attack more civilians.
If they want to attack the Israeli army they don't
need mortars at that range. This indicates clearly that they want
to initiate another stage of escalation against the Israeli population
inside Israel.
It has nothing to do with Israel occupation; it has
nothing to do with their fighting against the army.
It's plain terrorism.
From the military point view, the conflict is called
an armed conflict short of war.
It is not a regular war because the IDF has enough
power to initiate a full war against the Palestinian Authority.
Still it is not a guerilla war because a guerilla war is against
soldiers.
Here we have the Palestinian Authority, with sovereignty,
where gunmen are coming out of the Palestinian territory to commit
guerilla war and terrorist acts against civilians.
What do you call mortar shooting against kibbutzim
and villages? Guerilla warfare? I don't see it that way. It's not
the international definition of the word guerilla."
IDF in pictures
Army Headquarters insigne
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