Gaza no-go zone

From DEBKAfile, December 25, 2005, 1:49 PM (GMT+02:00) ...

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that carving out a buffer zone in N. Gaza will be a tall order at this late date in view of the Palestinian round-the-clock mortar-RPG firewall.

Mofaz reported to Israeli cabinet Sunday, Dec. 25, on orders given to Israel’s armed forces to intensify aerial and artillery operations for this no-go zone and to step up targeted assassinations. Palestinian areas will stay under closure until end of Hanukah, Jan. 3, he said, in view of terrorist threats to strike inside Israel – especially from the Jihad Islami

DEBKAfile's military sources note that the Palestinian terrorists are rapidly turning the area on the Israeli side of the Gaza border into a no-go zone. The defense minister Shaul Mofaz demanded Sunday, Dec. 25, that the government urgently release INS125m ($50m) to fortify the dozens of small villages and kibbutzim within range of Palestinian missiles and mortar fire. Civilian traffic on the roads in the region has become extremely hazardous. Protective walls are going up in the military base at Zikkim where five Israeli servicemen suffered minor injuries last week from a Qassam hit.

This situation developed following Israel’s pullback from the Gaza Strip since when Palestinian terrorist groups are pressing their advantage. While most Qassam missile barrages are reported, scant information reaches the public on hits in more remote places like Kissufim and Kerem Shalom, or the round-the-clock shelling by 60mm mortars and RPGs that keep IDF patrols and roads outside the border under constant fire. There has also been an increase in bomb traps planted and explosive devices hurled along these patrol routes. One military expert told DEBKA there is no way Israel can forge a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the northern Gaza Strip border without first eradicating the line of Palestinian fire – otherwise the Palestinians will be left with the war initiative and nothing will be accomplished.

According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, the Palestinian Authority has deployed 200 general security troops at the favorite Palestinian launch-sites in the ruins of Dugit, Nisanit and Eilei Sinai. But they have not been ordered to drive the missile crews away or interfere with their activities. Whenever a Qassam is fired, the entire troop runs for cover before Israeli artillery goes into action.

Even the British government has given up on Abu Mazen’s Palestinian Authority asserting any kind of control in the Gaza Strip. British citizens were warned for the first time ever last week to refrain from entering the Gaza Strip for any purpose whatever because of the threat of abductions and other acts of terror.