Weekly Commentary: Addressing the Gaza challenge now
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 24 March 2011

It is a basically flat strip of land between 5 and 12 kilometers wide and 45
kilometers long.

Israeli forces are deployed to the north, west and east of the strip while
Egypt sits on its 13 kilometer wide southeastern border.

Israel has complete control over the strip’s airspace.

Simply put: elite forces can reach literally any place in this 365 square
kilometer (142 square mile) in a matter of minutes.

A few years ago when we retreated from the Gaza Strip Israel’s leadership
adopted the bizarre stand that the terrorists in Gaza could do pretty much
anything they want to in order to prepare to attack the Jewish State – as
long as they didn’t shoot. Yet.

It was “silence for silence”.

Followed by a “tit for tat” approach according to which Israeli intelligence
dutifully updated a constantly growing target bank from which commanders
could pick from for Israel’s “tat” for the Gazan’s “tit”.

And when the situation was no longer politically tolerable the IDF was sent
in.

There we were with the massive military resources of the State of Israel
facing an enemy in a basically flat strip of land between 5 and 12
kilometers wide and 45 kilometers long.

But the orders were not to take over the Strip. The orders were not to
topple the Hamas regime by detaining or dispatching to Paradise the Hamas
leadership in this basically flat strip of land between 5 and 12 kilometers
wide and 45 kilometers long.

Thanks to this policy, we now find ourselves facing an enemy in Gaza
bolstered by Iranian training and equipped with rockets that now threaten
Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport and pretty much everything in the most heavily
populated area of Israel.

That would be bad enough without the developments in Egypt that leave us
clueless as to how Egypt will interact with the Gaza Strip in the future on
security related matters.

What is the answer to this challenge?

Is it spending many billions of dollars on bomb shelters and anti-missile
systems?

An anti-missile system that might be budgeted to bring down “X” rockets when
there is nothing stopping the Gazans from deploying so many rockets that
10X, 50X or even 100X rockets actually strike their targets.

Again.

Today the massive military resources of the State of Israel face an enemy in
a basically flat strip of land between 5 and 12 kilometers wide and 45
kilometers long.

And today Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons that it can threaten to punish
the Jewish State with.

So is this really the time to hunker down and give the Gazans even more time
to train their troops, build their bunkers and enhance their ability to
shower Israel with rockets?

Or is this, instead, the time to take our destiny in our hands and decimate
an enemy before the possibility of a nuclear retaliation enters the
equation? And do it quickly enough that the world can’t stop us?

Exit strategy?

Back to the Philadelphi Corridor with a workable width instead of 100
meters.

Gaza Strip one big prison?

It is better for Israeli officials to break their heads coming up with ways
to streamline the movement of people and goods via Israel than to risk
finding ourselves in conflict with Egypt should a new regime opt to “support
the struggle” by abusing the border it now shares with Gaza.

Restoring the Philadelphi Corridor is the best way to avoid this conflict.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il