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Gaza Blitz to Break Resistance Ahead of Pullout : Experts
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A Palestinian boy rides his bike in front of destruction in the battered Jabaliya refugee camp (AFP)
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By
Yasser El-Bana, IOL Correspondent
GAZA CITY, October 3 (IslamOnline.net) –
Israel
is spearheading a scorched earth policy in the Gaza Strip ahead of its
potential pullout to leave it completely devastated and emerge
victorious in the eyes of its people, Palestinian experts have said.
"The
Israeli army ran amok in the Gaza Strip to destroy its infrastructure
and trigger social and economic crises to drift the attention of the
Palestinians from the unabated resistance," Ashraf Al-Ajrami, a
political analyst, told IslamOnline.net.
He
said the Israelis want to spread chaos in the Strip before their
planned unilateral withdrawal to prove that the Palestinians cannot
establish their state all by themselves.
The
onslaught, on of the deadliest in four years’ time, targeted the
Strip’s largest refugee camp of Jabaliya, allegedly to put an end to
Qassam rocket attacks on nearby Sderot.
Israeli
troops have already taken control of a nine-kilometer area on the edge
of the refugee camp.
On
Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the expansion of
the incursion and reinforcements to about 2,000 troops backed by up to
200 tanks.
The
massive operation continued Sunday, October 3, claiming the lives of
at least three more Palestinians.
Some
57 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in the sweeping
Israeli offensive which was unleashed late Tuesday, September
28.
‘Lebanese
Complex’
Ajrami
said
Israel
is haunted by its "Lebanese complex", when Hizbullah
resistance fighters forced its army to hastily withdraw its troops
from a large territory in south
Lebanon
it had been occupying since 1978.
Israel
is till occupying a number of villages and adjacent land on the
eastern side of Alsheikh Mountain, known as the Shebaa Farms, which have been captured by
Israel
in 1967.
"Several
Israeli ministers and Likud leaders having been pressing Sharon
for a heavy-handed operation before the Gaza
pullout to emerge victorious and kill the Palestinians’ stamina to
pursue resistance," added the political activist.
"Israel
knows well that it would not be able to stop the locally-manufactured
Qassam rocket attacks unless it re-occupied every inch of the Gaza
Strip," Ajrami said.
Paradigm
for Resistance
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Up to 200 Israeli tanks rolled into Jabaliya camp (AFP)
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The
Palestinian expert said that
Israel
is targeting the Jabaliya refugee camp as it has set itself up as a
paradigm for resistance.
"Breaking
the staunch will of this camp will take its toll on the Palestinian
resistance."
He,
however, did not expect the Israeli occupation army would risk
storming the entire camp, given the dear price they would pay.
Emad
Al-Falouji, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (lower
house of parliament), said
Israel
, in targeting Jabaliya refugee camp, wants to avenge the resistance
attacks.
"They
want to kill as much as they can from the Palestinians in retaliation
for the panic caused by the resistance inside Israel
," he told IOL.
Senior
Hamas member Ismail Haniya said Saturday the resistance movement was
willing to stop rocket attacks should it stop its current invasion of Gaza
.
Hours
earlier, Masked Hamas fighters said in a TV statement that there would
be no let-up in the attacks.
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