Justify your policy (Ha'aretz editorial)

[Violet_Crumble]

Four Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants were shot dead Wednesday in Bethlehem by an antiterrorist Border Police unit. The four had been involved in major attacks against Israelis in previous years and were identified as being behind the dispatching of two suicide bombers and four car bombs. There are contradictory versions of the extent of their involvement in recent violence - whether they continued to initiate and manage attacks as commanders of the local Islamic Jihad underground, or if they heeded the Palestinian Authority's call to a cease-fire.

Controversy also surrounds the circumstances of their killing. Israel claims that the four, who were armed, were killed in a gun battle after they refused to surrender. The Palestinians maintain that the antiterrorist squad was on a shoot-to-kill mission and was not trying to make an arrest. After the incident, rocket attacks against communities bordering the Gaza Strip resumed.

The incident raises questions that require answers. According to the declared Israeli policy, fugitives suspected of being responsible for past attacks are not targeted if they have retired from their militant activities. The Shin Bet security service, the Israel Defense Forces and the police already have their hands full trying to foil attacks in the making, and no resources exist for constantly chasing down those who have already laid down their arms. The defense establishment said yesterday that even though the focus is on the Gaza Strip, a war is also taking place in the area under the Central Command's responsibility - thousands of soldiers operating day and night to make arrests that result in intelligence and prevent attacks. And the incident in which the four were killed was one such operation, the officials say.

<snip>

Israel's citizens are entitled to know what their government's policy is. Does it favor a cease-fire with Hamas? If so, is it possible to distinguish between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank? Is one demand that Hamas restrain Islamic Jihad and other groups? Is the intention to return to the situation of 2005, in preparation for the Gaza evacuation, when the main fighting was between Israel and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, while the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Strip was significantly curtailed? Are negotiations between Hamas and Israel underway with Egyptian mediation, and who will be the arbitrator over who may be responsible for violating a deal?

The prime minister and defense minister are being opaque and patronizing in their refusal to explain their policy. A government is there to serve its citizens and must delineate and justify its policy.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964348.html

[subsuelo]

1. Israeli leadership does not want peace

What they want is a continuation of violence in order to avoid any peace deal in which Palestinians have indisputed territory. As it is now, Israel can continue the land-grabs. And land-grabbing is and has always been the number one goal.

Every generation of Israeli leaders have made one goal crystal clear: To steal it all from the native Palestinians.

[azurnoir]

2. What amazed me

after all of the touting Israel as the only "free democratic society" in the ME is that the government apparently can not differentiate between diplomatic policy and military strategy there for both are secret.