by Gideon Allon
"The current reality, in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad decide when to provoke another round of violence, is unacceptable," says Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee head Avi Dichter
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Avi Dichter
Photo: Oren Ben Hakoon
The cycle of
escalating violence across the Israel-Gaza border will not be resolved
until Israel completely destroys Hamas' and Islamic Jihad's terrorist
infrastructure in the coastal enclave, Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee Chairman MK Avi Dichter (Likud) told Israel Hayom over the
weekend.
Dichter, a former director of the Shin Bet
security agency, said an undertaking of this nature "is not something
that can be done in a week or two. It's more likely to take a year or
two, maybe more, but it's clear that the current reality, in which
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are the ones to decide when to provoke another
round of violence is unacceptable."
Dichter, who headed the Shin Bet during
2002's Operation Defensive Shield – the large-scale military campaign
conducted during the Second Intifada to eradicate terrorist
infrastructure in the West Bank – noted that "if there are 40,000
terrorists in Gaza, we'll have to arrest 10,000 or 20,000 and the rest
will flee."
"There's no other option, really," he
continued. "We did this during [Operation] Defensive Shield and it
doesn't look like there's any other choice now. We have to eradicate
their terrorist infrastructure. This can be done diplomatically, if
Egypt decides to take the lead, but I think the chances of that are
slim. It will only work if Egypt, which has tremendous leverage over
Hamas, is on board."
Asked when he believes a Defensive
Shield-like campaign would be launched in Gaza, Dichter said,
"That's entirely up to the political echelon. A strategic military
move of this kind follows different rules than a tactical operation. It
requires meticulous planning and a clear decision of when to pursue
it and to what extent."
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/11/25/%e2%80%8egaza-problem-wont-go-away-until-we-destroy-hamas-terror-%e2%80%8enetwork-%e2%80%8e/
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