[Peace-discuss] Israeli propaganda, blitzkrieg, protest

[C. G. Estabrook]

    Last update - 02:10 28/12/2008 			
    Israel to mount emergency international PR effort in wake of Gaza campaign
    By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Saturday instructed the Foreign Ministry to take 
emergency measures to adapt Israel's international public relations to the 
ongoing escalation in the Gaza Strip.

Livni instructed senior ministry officials to open an aggressive and diplomatic 
international public relations campaign, in order to gain greater international 
support for Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched Saturday morning the start of a massive offensive against Qassam 
rocket and mortar fire on its southern communities, targeting dozens of 
buildings belonging to the ruling Hamas militant group.

Palestinian medical sources said that at least 230 people had been killed in the 
strikes, which began at around 11:30 A.M.

Livni instructed ministry officials currently on vacation in Israel to return 
immediately to their posts abroad, and to immediately mount public relations 
campaigns in their station countries, focusing on local media and public officials.

In addition, Israeli officials stationed abroad have been put on high alert.

Livni will hold a series of talks with foreign officials in the coming days, in 
which she will attempt to explain the rationale for the expanded IDF operations 
in the Gaza Strip.

The Foreign Ministry is also looking to recruit speakers of foreign languages, 
in particular Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and German, in order to expand Israel's 
public relations campaign with the representatives of foreign media outlets 
currently in Israel.

An international media broadcast outlet will be opened in Sderot on Sunday, and 
the Foreign Ministry will organize a series of tours of Sderot and the Gaza 
envelope communities for foreign media and diplomatic figures.

Speaking in English at a press conference Saturday, Livni said Israel "expects 
the support and understanding of the international community, as it confronts 
terror, and advances the interest of all those who wish the forces of peace and 
co existence to determine the agenda of this region."

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    Last update - 21:41 27/12/2008 			
    IAF strike on Gaza is Israel's version of 'shock and awe'
    By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The events along the southern front which commenced at 11:30 on Saturday morning 
are the closest thing there is to a war between Israel and Hamas. It is 
difficult to ascertain (geographically) where and for how long the violence will 
reach before international intervention forces a halt to the hostilities. 
However, Israel's opening salvo is not merely another "surgical" operation or 
pinpoint strike. This is the harshest IDF assault on Gaza since the territory 
was captured during the Six-Day War in 1967.

Palestinian sources in Gaza report that 40 targets were destroyed in a span of 
three to five minutes. This was a massive attack much along the lines of what 
the Americans termed "shock and awe" during their invasion of Iraq in March 
2003. Simultaneous, heavy bombardment of a number of targets on which Israel 
spent months gathering intelligence. The military "target bank" includes dozens 
of additional targets linked to Hamas, some of which will certainly come under 
attack in the coming days.

Like the U.S. assault on Iraq and the Israeli response to the abduction of IDF 
reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser at the outset of the Second Lebanon 
War (the "night of the Fajr missiles," a reference to the IAF destruction of 
Hezbollah's arsenal of medium-range Fajr missiles), little to no weight was 
apparently devoted to the question of harming innocent civilians. From Israel's 
standpoint, Hamas, which persistently fires rockets while using the civilian 
population as cover, had plenty of opportunities to save face and lower their 
demands. In stubbornly continuing to launch rockets during the course of recent 
weeks, it brought this assault on itself.

A final decision on the precise timing of the operation was made on Saturday 
morning during consultations between the prime minister, the defense minister, 
the IDF chief of staff, and army generals. The cabinet approved the assault in 
its last meeting on Wednesday. Since that day, the government has waited for the 
opportunity to strike. Apparently, an intelligence tip indicating that members 
of the Hamas military wing were convening for a meeting expedited the 
decision-making process on giving the go-ahead to act. According to initial 
reports from Gaza, a number of senior Hamas officials were hit, yet the scope of 
the harm done to the group's leadership has yet to be precisely determined. The 
Israeli objective is clear: deal as serious a blow as possible to the Hamas 
chain of command in order to throw its operating capabilities off kilter. 
Ostensibly, it will not prevent heavy rocket fire on the Negev towns, but it 
will likely make it more difficult for Hamas to carry out more damaging attacks 
against Israel.

Since Saturday afternoon, the IAF has maintained a significance presence in the 
skies over Gaza in hopes of intercepting rocket-launching cells belonging to 
Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But the rocket barrage which rained down on Netivot 
(where one Israeli was killed by a Grad rocket which directly struck a house), 
Ashkelon, and the communities abutting the Gaza Strip is only the appetizer. The 
defense establishment is girding for a daily round of rocket fire that is 
expected to exceed 100 projectiles, some of which are likely to reach the 
maximum range currently within Hamas' capability - 40 kilometers, a distance 
that extends to the outskirts of Be'er Sheva and Ashdod.

It would be reasonable to assume that Hamas is preparing to spring another 
operational surprise a la Hezbollah: from attempting to shoot down IAF aircraft 
to the targeting of key strategic sites, like the Ashdod port. The IDF Home 
Front Command has already launched a massive deployment of its forces who are 
tasked with instructing the residents of the Negev to remain in their homes (the 
urgency of the instruction is proportional to the residents' proximity to the 
Gaza Strip). In addition, a few hundred reservist soldiers have received call-up 
notices.

Israel's continued hesitation in taking action against Hamas is rooted in the 
trauma it suffered in the wake of the Second Lebanon War. The major x-factor, of 
course, is not related to the operational capabilities of the air force, but 
whether or not to launch a ground invasion. Will the government resolve to do so 
and is the IDF capable of successfully carrying out a mission which it failed to 
accomplish against Hezbollah? It is reasonable to assume that the picture will 
become more clearer within three to four days. Until then, the IAF is expected 
to continue its assault which will be complimented by limited activity from 
relatively small ground units.

As the situation appears now, Israel has assigned modest goals for itself: 
weakening Hamas rule in Gaza and restoring a prolonged lull along the border 
under terms that are more convenient for us following an internationally imposed 
compromise. Hamas, in its continued strikes on the Negev in recent weeks, erred 
in judging Israeli intentions and has been dragged into a war that it doubtful 
wanted. Now, Israel needs to be careful in not falling into a trap of its own.

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    Last update - 02:26 28/12/2008 			
    Hundreds of activists in Tel Aviv protest IAF strike in Gaza
    By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent

Hundreds of left-wing and human rights activists marched in the streets of Tel 
Aviv on Saturday night to protest the massive Israel Air Force offensive in Gaza 
that left at least 230 dead and hundreds more wounded.

The protesters marched from Tel Aviv's Cinematheque toward the Defense Ministry 
offices. Police, some mounted on horseback, surrounded the protesters, arresting 
five of them.

According to the protesters, Israel's military action in Gaza does not protect 
Israeli citizens or provide them security.

"No one can tell us that slaughtering the citizens of Gaza is meant to protect 
the citizens of Sderot and Ashkelon," said Matan Kaminer, a student who 
participated in the march.

Some protesters complained of extraneous force on the part of horse-mounted 
police, but overall the march remained non-violent.

Similar protests took place in Arab villages in the Galilee and in Bedouin 
villages in the Negev.

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