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Israel-Hamas Conflict: Differences Over Calls to Demilitarize Gaza

(TIME) Ilene Prusher - "Since the previous Gaza conflicts, there has been a clear escalation in the type of weaponry Hamas and other organizations in the Gaza Strip have deployed, largely in terms of the range they're able to reach with the rockets," says Dore Gold, one of Netanyahu's foreign policy advisors and the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. "If Israel were to just reach a standstill agreement for a cease-fire, based on what transpired before, in a very short amount of time there would be yet another qualitative improvement, and that would amount to improvements that pose an unacceptable threat to Israel." As far as Netanyahu is concerned, what comes after a cease-fire is critical, Gold says. "In the last few years, international organizations and governments have pressured Israel to allow Gaza to import larger quantities of cement, so that houses can be built, new schools can be established, hospitals can be constructed. It turns out that this was used for attacks against Israeli targets," Gold says. "Therefore, the demilitarization agreement is needed to address this problem to ensure that Hamas doesn't use this concrete to make tunnels." In the 1970s, the South Koreans discovered that the North Koreans had built a series of infiltration tunnels under the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries, with plans to use them for attacks. "These tunnels are not of that width or size, but the principle exists that with tunnels you could have 1,000 or 2,000 terrorists behind Israeli lines." Moreover, Gold says, the 1993 Oslo Accords envisioned a demilitarized Palestinian state with light arms for police and security forces. "Twenty years ago, no one ever imagined rockets that could hit Tel Aviv would be embedded in a self-governed Palestinian entity."
2014-07-30 00:00:00
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