Mid-Term Assessment of the Israeli-PLO War
By Joel Skousen
The PLO mortar attacks on Israeli settlements in and around the Gaza strip represent only a first stage in the Palestinian confrontation of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) with conventional military weapons. For the last several years, the PLO have been stockpiling mortars, land mines, rockets, and anti-tank weapons brought in by small boats along the Mediterranean coast and through suspected underground tunnels from the Egyptian controlled border on the south. According to Arutz-7 the mortars were American-made 60 millimeter rounds. Mortars are not an authorized weapon for security forces in the Palestinian autonomous areas under the Oslo accords. Critics of the Oslo accords have long suspected that Arafat would use the cover of semi-autonomy in the Gaza strip to secretly import and stockpile offensive military weapons. Even though the mortar attacks have been relatively ineffective, missing most of their targets, no government can stand by and allow this kind of mini-artillery barrage to continue. Unless the IDF reoccupies the Gaza strip and cleans out these and other weapon stockpiles, the violence will continue to escalate.
This is precisely what the IDF appeared to attempt this past week as IDF tanks, troops and helicopter gunships attacked buildings from which PLO forces were operating, cleared buffer zones, and separated Gaza into three areas. The latter measure was taken in order to inhibit troop and munitions movements from one area to another. However, within hours of the operation’s initial success, the US intervened and demanded an immediate pullout Media channels have been eager to suggest the idea that Bush gave Sharon the go ahead to use greater force against the PLO to show Arafat that "violence doesn’t pay." However, when IDF Col. Yair Nave, commander of Israeli forces in Gaza, made a public statement that Israel’s search and destroy missions in the Gaza strip could "run to days, weeks, or months," the US decided to renege. Several sources claimed that the sudden US intervention was done in an attempt to curry favor with the surrounding Arab countries with whom it is seeking support to reinforce the sanctions against Iraq. I’m not buying it. Iraqi sanctions are a red herring meant to inflame Arab sentiment, not to build Arab unity.
US Secretary of State Collin Powell made a pointed attempt to say, "there is no military solution" to the current conflict. That’s an incredibly stupid observation for a former military general. When someone is launching mortars at innocent civilians or your own troops there is ONLY one solution--and that is to go in and remove the mortars. Whatever you do afterward to deter further escalation can only be effective if preceded by this proper and vigorous military response. I suspect, however, that Sharon has no intention of really cleaning out the military threat in Gaza--at least not if he is taking orders from globalist insiders, as the evidence presented in previous briefs suggests.
One source even claimed that the US knew in advance that the Israeli incursion was to be partial and short-lived and timed its diplomatic response to make it appear as if the US had a major hand in restraining the IDF--again, to curry favor with the Arabs. This may well be true, but I don’t believe the Arabs are buying it. The Arabs know they have to play ball with the US while America is the top bully on the international scene--but, with the exception of Kuwait, they hate America just the same. This ploy may also have been used to make it appear (to the Israeli right) that Sharon really wants to prosecute the war properly, but that the meddling US won’t allow it. If so, the tactic backfired badly. The Israeli right reacted strongly and negatively to the appearances of US intervention in Israeli security affairs and both left and right chastised Sharon for succumbing to US pressure. Of course, US meddling should not surprise anyone who knows the history of US-Israeli military relations. Every time Israel begins an operation destined to effectively defeat Arab aggression the US intervenes and demands a cease-fire short of outright victory. How can you manipulate world affairs through the creation of conflict and war if you allow a decisive and final victory that ends all wars? The primary reason why globalist George Bush left Saddam Hussein in place after the Gulf War was to create a perpetual excuse for NWO intervention in Middle Eastern affairs.
Let’s step back a few paces and look at the larger picture. The predicted regional war between Israel and Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq has not occurred and probably will not during this round of conflict. Debka.com, the Israeli-based disinformation source predicted it; Barry Chamish, a reliable Israeli source, predicted it, and even I felt there was a very high probability of a mini-regional war, at least with Syria. What happened?
First, as I have previously stated, Arafat’s most recent Intifada was planned among his own cadres well in advance, but it was carried out in opposition to the wishes of the globalist manipulators--in fact it took Clinton and Albright by surprise. Clinton and his European co-conspirators had wanted to use the ongoing and one-sided "peace process" to weaken Israel militarily in preparation for a major Israeli-Arab war 3-4 years in the future. This larger planned war could not be accelerated in time because it is dependent upon the ongoing missile technology transfers from Russia and China to Iran, Syria, and Egypt--which are at least 2-3 years from being complete. This longer Middle East timetable is ominously close to the timetable Russia and China have for launching WWIII upon the rest of the world. They may be meant to coincide. So, while the other Arab countries did not wish to openly oppose Arafat’s latest Intifada, neither did they want to be dragged into it. Sadly, once begun, Arafat’s war has acquired a life of its own, now that all the most rabid Palestinian terrorists have been let out of prison. The international community first tried to bring Arafat under control by cutting off his supply of money. This brought the Palestinian Authority near to collapse. But the recent Arab summit authorized additional millions, giving Arafat a new lease on life--a potentially short one, to be sure--but it suggests he may still have some usefulness to the Powers That Be (PTB). Arafat still commands the attentions of the Israeli leadership. Despite promising not to engage in negotiations with Arafat until the Arab violence is stopped, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has secretly allowed his son to maintain a secret liaison with the PLO chief. That little piece of hypocrisy is now well known and is drawing a lot of criticism.
Second, the US has given numerous diplomatic and military signs to the Arabs that it is not going to permit a regional war. The US mobilized Patriot Missile batteries and other special units from Europe. Naval forces were reinforced in the area. The US might not be able to stop a full scale Middle East war, but it certainly has the power to intimidate one or two countries like Syria and Iraq into thinking twice. This was, in my opinion, the real reason for the recent US and British air strikes on Saddam’s command and control bunkers around Baghdad. It effectively denied him the ability to manage an Israeli invasion via Syria and Jordan. In like manner the recent Israeli air strikes against Syria’s prime radar and long-range observation site effectively set back any ability of Syria to launch a coordinated conventional attack against Israel. For the short term, Syria’s military is partially blinded and vulnerable to Israeli retaliation by air.
Therefore, it is my considered opinion that this current mini-war will continue to escalate only in a limited way. It will be confined to the participation of the major terrorist organizations already on the ground--in the Gaza Strip (Fatah and Hamas), in the other occupied territories (Tanzim and Islamic Jihad), and within Lebanon (Hezbollah). The purpose of the Israeli government in not vigorously prosecuting the war (despite appearances to the contrary) is to eventually wear down the Israeli people’s enthusiasm for a military solution so that Sharon and Arafat can reengage in negotiations and continue the sellout of Israeli security interests. In short, the globalists desperately want the phony "peace process" back on track, and they are trying to turn Arafat’s mini-war into a vehicle to accomplish that. Keep in mind, a sellout of Israel by the globalists does not mean that legitimate Arab interests will be the beneficiaries. The Arabs will continue to be used as pawns by the PTB in this horrible process. In the meantime, if Arafat doesn’t change his ways and come back into the globalist camp, he will be eliminated or replaced. He knows this. Already, he is being careful to stay mobile as much as possible to avoid being cornered. He scooted out of Gaza just before this latest IDF incursion and is being shuttled around to various friendly Arab states with a heavy body guard.
An even more ominous sign of future US intentions is the latest revelation that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has given preliminary notice to Israel that the Bush administration is planning on withdrawing the 1,900 American soldiers serving as peacekeepers in the Sinai desert between Israel and Egypt. Supposedly this is a part of the Bush administration’s professed drive to reduce foreign troop deployments.. However, I am suspicious that this Egyptian withdrawal is an indication of US foreknowledge about a coming war between Egypt and Israel. Unlike Bush’s reneged pledge to pull any troops out of the Balkans, I believe this withdrawal will go through. It is not imminent, however, so it is probably not related to the current conflict.
WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF (excerpt) April 20, 2001 Copyright Joel Skousen. Quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief. Website: http://www.joelskousen.com
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