Who's in the driver's seat? (good Yoel Marcus article)

[Fight_n_back]

Who's in the driver's seat?

By Yoel Marcus



Yosef Lapid was the last person one would expect to cry over the "human tragedy created by our presence in Gaza" - yet the horrors in Rafah reminded him of his grandmother. If these sights left him so shocked, what I want to know is where was he, as one of Israel's top ministers, when the operation in Rafah was rubber stamped? Did he vote yea? Did he vote nay? Did he sound the warning that sending a division into Rafah was bound to end up in destruction and killing, bringing on a torrent of censure from the whole world?

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In the wake of the storm unleashed by Operation Rainbow, Israel has relearned the lessons of the Americans in Vietnam and the French in Indochina and Algeria - the impossibility of putting down a popular uprising and a nation's aspirations for independence by force. Israel, with its non-conventional strength, has learned the hard way that strong-arm tactics cannot wipe out terror - especially since the Palestinians have begun to use that unconventional weapon called the suicide bomber.

Even the latest model F-16 has proved to be no match for Ahmed the human bomb. And if the man who has fought in all Israel's wars says there is no solution apart from a political one, and cooks up a partner-less unilateral pullback, he obviously realizes that the military option has run its course.
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In talks with the director of the National Security Council, Giora Eiland, the heads of the defense establishment have voiced numerous misgivings about the plan. They say it's full of holes. Sharon has raked the military over the coals several times, insisting that it's not the army's job to say whether or not we should withdraw.

The fact that the prime minister is afraid that Ya'alon and Dichter's statements will tip the vote in the government, is worrying. Sharon must go ahead with this plan no matter what, even if it splits the government, reshuffles the coalition or ends in a call for elections.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/432497.html

[bemildred]

1. Interesting piece.

I will leave it at that.