Mon, 28 Jan 2008

IDF is not ready fort he case that thousands of Palestinian women and children will try to repeat the Philadelphi [route] success.

Yediotth Ahronot. 26.1.2008 [Translated by Shraga Elam]

Concern: Palestinians will overrun Erez [checkpoint]

The historical process in Gaza might lead to a positive change but also to a regional catastrophe. There is a dramatic move that created a complete new reality, but like we did not understand the meaning of the first Qassam – we do not have an idea today.

Alex Fishman

With the success comes the appetite. Tomorrow morning Hamas might make thousands of Palestinians to march from Gaza strip to the fences at the Israeli border. Hamas does not need an outbreak of hundreds of thousands like at the Egyptian border. Several thousands will be enough with women carrying babies on their arms marching in the first rows.

What IDF will do? What kind of orders, if at all, does it have for such a situation? Did somebody think about it? It seems that this is not the case. The existing orders by the Southern Command deal with the dispersion of disturbances near the fence.

Some tens of demonstrators will reach a distance of 300 meter from the fence and will throw stones. The soldiers will shoot in the air and at the knees and if their life will be in danger that may shout to kill. Can somebody believe that IDF’s soldiers will shoot at women carrying babies or at small children moving towards the fence? – Never. Somebody should think now what should be done, how to prepare for this kind eventuality. Such a decision should not be left to the officers in the field.

Such a march might be seemed unrealistic – but nothing is today not realistic in Gaza strip. What happened in the last few days is a dramatic process that created a total new reality …