January 21, 2005
IDF SPOKESPERSON COMMUNIQUE

[IMRA: "We won't retreat" - except from the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria]

Chief of Staff's remarks in a memorial service in memory of the victims of
the Beit Lid terror attack

"Today we are witnessing the beginning of positive developments in the
Palestinian camp, an expression of their understanding that terror does not
pay."

Ten years ago, on Sunday morning, January 22, 1995, twenty one soldiers and
one civilian were murdered in a double terror attack in the Bit-Lid
junction.

Our enemies attempted to attack what they perceived to be our "soft spot".
They chose to detonate the explosive devices in the heart of a bus station
where family members accompany their loved ones, soldiers, who following a
weekend vacation with their families, return to military service.
This vital link, between the soldier and his family, between the army and
Israeli society, seemed to the terrorists as a point of weakness. What they
did not know is that what they see as our point of weakness is one of our
most powerful sources of strength.

The strong involvement of families in their children's military service,
carries with it mixed emotions of worry, pride and gratitude, is a spring
from which the soldier derives strength that he will need throughout his
service.

This connection between the people of Israel and their army is a fundamental
aspect for the security of Israel, an aspect which cannot be emphasized
enough.

In the past decade, since the Terror attack in Beit Lid, we have experienced
dozens of terror attacks in which hundreds of civilians and soldiers have
been murdered. The terror attack in Beit Lid was one of the first terror
attacks that uncovered the monstrous face of terror.

Our enemies know that they cannot defeat Israel by confronting the IDF
directly, and therefore increasingly direct their attacks at the heart of
Israel.

There is little that separates the dispatcher of a suicide bomber who
carries out a suicide bombing at the Beit Lid bus station, or at the Park
Hotel where tens of families celebrate Passover, or against innocent
restaurant diners, or random people taking the bus, and those Palestinians
who fire mortar shells at Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip, or between
those Palestinians who launch Qassam rockets at Sderot.

Behind all these attacks lies the same systematic policy of violence and
terror that is aimed at the heart of the Israeli population, elderly and
young, infant and woman. They are all ideal targets for terror, terror whose
sole aim is do deal a fatal blow to the survival of Israeli society.

However, our enemies will not defeat us. Even in the face of this brutal and
bitter fighting we are determined to win. The ability of Israeli society to
withstand and survive is drawn from the simple fact that even after 57 years
of the existence of the State of Israel, we still fight for our basic right
to "be a free nation in our land!"

Today we are witnessing the beginning of positive developments in the
Palestinian camp, an expression of their understanding that terror does not
pay.

This is an achievement originating from the withstanding ability and the
determination of the citizens of Israel and the soldiers and commanders of
the IDF and Israeli security forces. This determination is well expressed in
the poem of Natan Alterman

"a Company song":
"We won't retreat,
And there is no other way
No nation will give up
Its origins and herritage "

Twenty two of our sons and daughters were murdered in the Beit Lid double
terror attack. Even though this attack did not take place on a battlefield,
there were nevertheless countless acts of friendship, bravery, sacrifice and
brotherhood that set an example to us all.