Word: gaza
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From an escalating cycle of terror and retaliation, one would hope, should come desperation for peace. But with graveyards from Gaza to Ramallah lined with accords, plans, treaties and thousands of innocent civilians, history suggests that enough is never enough for hell-bent factions in the Holy Land. Every effort crumbles either because of bad intentions or because the best intentions, championed by moderates in both camps, are hostage to those who prefer homicide over the death of their radical dreams...
...clutch of Israeli Air Force pilots raised eyebrows when they signed a letter this fall refusing to participate in attacks on Palestinian militants hiding in populated areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Such "targeted eliminations," they argued, are "illegal and immoral" because they often cause civilian casualties. Israeli officials countered that pilots take pains to avoid injuring civilians, and the air force discharged the 27 dissenters, some of whom are decorated officers. Now the pilots are demanding they be reinstated. If the air force doesn't comply, they say, they will take their case to the Supreme Court...
...army that likes to think of itself as Iraq's liberators turns out to be seeking coaching from Israel. The New York Times reported last weekend that U.S. officers had gone to Israel to study its experiences of urban warfare and counterinsurgency in the West Bank and Gaza before invading Iraq. The British Guardian quotes unnamed U.S. officials confirming that Israeli officers are helping to train U.S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg for counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, and also claims that Israeli officers have been in Iraq discreetly serving as consultants to U.S. operations there. The New Yorker quotes unnamed...
...pursuit of martyrdom), although in Iraq some of these may be foreign jihadis. U.S. commanders don't have a clear picture of who is behind the insurgency. That fact alone is another potential reason for seeking Israeli help: Israel's massive intelligence-gathering operation in the West Bank and Gaza has allowed it to penetrate militant groups to the point of being able to target operational commanders for assassination by missile, even if the "collateral damage" in civilians is often substantial. If it is to destroy the Iraqi insurgency, the U.S. will have much to learn from the Israelis...
...adoption by the U.S. of tactics familiar from the West Bank and Gaza is hardly surprising given the escalation of the insurgency. The logic of force protection and maintaining the deterrent credibility of the 130,000-strong U.S. force in Iraq required an aggressive response. The Israelis have certainly shown that sustained military pressure can, at least on a temporary basis, put Palestinian militants on the defensive and significantly reduce the rate of attacks from a given area for a fixed period. But Israel's tactics are those that fit with a strategy of long-term occupation, in which...