[Ha'aretz] Amos Harel - Israel's concern about Hamas marching masses of civilians to the fence separating Gaza from Israel is based on intimate knowledge of the intentions of its leadership. Over the past few days, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and senior army officers have spent hours deliberating the possible scenarios. Additional troops have been deployed and the units on the ground have been given clear directives not to allow Palestinians to enter Israeli territory under any circumstances. There is an Achilles heel in Hamas' plans to bring down the Gaza wall as it breached the wall separating Gaza from Egypt last month: Hamas no longer has the element of surprise. Israel is already enforcing sterile buffer zones near the fence, especially in areas near Israeli settlements. Which is to say the IDF shoots anyone who attempts to approach the fence in those areas. This means Hamas will have a hard time assembling masses of people without being detected by the IDF when they are still kilometers from the fence. The army intends to prevent the marchers from advancing on the fence when they are still inside the Strip, using various means for crowd dispersal.
2008-02-25 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive