|
Resistance Leaders: Settlement Operations Response to “Defensive Shield”
 |
|
“Current operations inside Israeli settlements are a warning of worse to come.” |
Report
by Maha Abdel Hady, IOL Palestine correspondent
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, June 17 (IslamOnline) - Palestinian resistance leaders say
that resistance operations carried out against Israeli settlements in
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are a response to the massive
military offensive codenamed “Defensive Shield” that Israel
launched in late March 2002.
Speaking
to IslamOnline, the leaders said that the coming days will witness an
increase in the numbers of these operations. Abu Essam, a leader of
the Popular Resistance Brigades, affiliated to the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said that infiltrating the Israeli
settlements is a response to the “Defensive Shield” offensive.
He
stressed the success of Palestinian resistance in infiltrating the
settlement security systems, and said that the reason is because the
land is known to the residents of the neighboring villages, who are
familiar with its weak points.
The
fences around the settlements are easy to infiltrate because of the
experience of the resistance fighters, Abu Essam said.
He
pointed out that the secret archive for the military wings of
resistance groups includes landscape plans for the settlements in the
West Bank, adding that the turn will come for all settlements to be
attacked, and that there are plans ready to be implemented in the next
few days.
Abu
Thaer, another activist from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the
Balata refugee camp in Nablus, said that criticism of operations
carried out inside Israel have caused the brigades to think about
focusing their operations inside the settlements which no one –
including the Palestinian Authority, Arab or western countries - can
criticize.
He
added that striking the settlements is currently done in a limited
fashion despite the ability of the military wings to deal heavier
blows. The current strikes are only a warning to the settlers and
their government that colonialism will not be tolerated.
He
said that the measure of choosing the next target will be the
settlements that are away from media and security focus, and are
closer to Palestinian villages whose residents are being harassed by
the settlers.
Abu
Thaer said that the geographical nature of the West Bank settlements
and its distribution on a large scattered area (160 settlements in
the West Bank and 20 in the Gaza Strip) have motivated the fighters
because it gives them cover due to the spread of hills, mountains and
trees in the surrounding areas.
Dr.
Mohamad Gazal, a Hamas leader in Nablus, said that the attacks carried
out by the Ezz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas,
against the settlers in the West Bank are tactical methods of the
resistance movement in developing itself and its defense mechanisms
during the Al-Aqsa intifada.
He
said that the war against the settlements has always been a part of
Hamas activities, but that it has been further developed. It is not a
strategic change for Hamas due to international or PA pressure, he
said.
In
a recent report, Hamas said that the Al-Qassam Brigades feel that it
is right to carry out operations in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, as
well as inside Israel.
The
report also said that the Al-Qassam Brigades were pioneers in
settlement infiltration operations in Gaza, and most of the successful
infiltration operations were carried out by them.
Tayseer
Khaled, member of the executive committee of the Palestinian
Liberation Organization, said that the increasing number of resistance
operations inside the settlements and the 1948 areas is what pushed
the Israeli government to establish isolated zones in the West Bank.
Speaking
to IslamOnline, Khaled said that this is the first step in a larger
plan to establish isolated areas around colonial areas in the West
Bank. They are attempting to transfer the Palestinians to a number of
Bantustans surrounded by settlements to enforce a situation that would
hinder the Palestinians from their right to establish an independent
state on the lands that were occupied by Israel in 1967. This includes
Jerusalem, which Israel is trying to isolate from the rest of the West
Bank.
Due
to the increasing number of operations inside the settlements, the
Israeli ministry of defense is now studying the dismantling and
removal of tens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, said
a senior Israeli security official. He added that the reason is that
the government is unable to provide these settlements with adequate
security.
The
official said that there are nearly 60 illegally established
settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, adding that during the next few
weeks the army will begin to remove some of them and to remove all the
illegal buildings so that the army could protect the settlers.
|
