As Israel's right-wing leaders prepare for a new military offensive on Hamas, Israeli security sources worry about a new Intifada in the West Bank, writes Saleh Al-Naami Secretary of the Hamas parliamentary bloc Mushir Al-Masri continues to deliver the Friday sermon every week to hundreds of worshippers who gather before the ruins of a mosque destroyed during the recent war on the Gaza Strip. These ruins lay crumbled in the town of Beit Lahiya, in the Strip's southern reaches and where Al-Masri's house was also destroyed during the war by tank shells. Neither he nor his family was home at the time. Al-Masri told Al-Ahram Weekly that since the war ended, he's been participating in public and political activities whenever time and circumstances permit, and that all the other Hamas leaders have been doing the same. Last week, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh made his first public appearance since the end of the war when he participated in celebrations held on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners' Day. Through this public appearance with other Hamas leaders, Haniyeh sent a message to the Palestinian people conveying that they are not afraid of the rising Israeli threats to wage a new war on Gaza and to assassinate them. Israel's new ministers and the heads of the security agencies in Tel Aviv have recently made threats that clearly indicate they are targeting the leaders of Hamas. "Serious actions must be taken against the leaders of Hamas, and they must be personally affected so that they put an end to the smuggling of arms through the border and so that the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is released," said Israeli Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz, who is a member of the Israeli Ministerial Council for Security Affairs and is close to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Katz called for a combination of military operations and economic pressure, and made reference to the need to tighten the siege on the Gaza Strip by halting the transport of foodstuffs and raw materials until Shalit is released. Last Sunday, Netanyahu met with the heads of his security agencies to discuss ways of dealing with the Gaza Strip and Israel's options for dealing with Hamas. The meeting included Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, head of domestic security (Shin Bet), Yuval Deskin, head of Mossad Meir Dagan, head of military intelligence, Amos Yedlin, and Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai. Informed Israeli sources say that during the meeting Netanyahu was intent on learning Hamas's status among the Palestinian public. He also wanted to clarify Hamas's military capacity since intelligence reports have indicated that it has continued to smuggle in large quantities of arms, ammunition, and missiles ever since the recent war ended. These Israeli sources say that Netanyahu is focussed on implementing a new policy with regards to Hamas, and that evidence is found in his decision at the end of the meeting to dismiss the official responsible for the Shalit file, General Ofer Dekal. (Last Monday's edition of Haaretz newspaper reported a high-ranking official in Netanyahu's office as saying that the new government was relying on a new strategy to secure Shalit's return to his family). According to the Israeli sources above, what most irritated Netanyahu during that meeting was information transmitted by a military intelligence official about Hamas having turned to smuggling arms by sea following the success of the Egyptian security agencies in reducing the amount of arms smuggled across the land border. Most importantly, talk of waging a major military operation in the Gaza Strip is no longer limited to consultations between politicians and military leaders, for the Israeli army has begun large-scale training in the Negev desert in preparation for orders to attack Gaza anew. Israeli television Channel 10 has reported that the Israeli army has built a model city resembling Gaza within the largest Negev military base, and that Israeli officers and soldiers are training there in preparation to invade the city. The TV channel reported that thousands of soldiers from various branches of the army are currently training to forcefully enter Gaza. And the Hebrew language website of Maariv newspaper has also reported that the Israeli army is holding intensive training for soldiers on how to deal with capture attempts made by members of the Palestinian resistance. The Israeli army admits that some soldiers were killed in attempts by Hamas fighters to capture them. Maariv reported that the training is being given to infantrymen, and that all soldiers are being given cards that remind them of the field approaches they have been trained on for dealing with capture attempts. The paper also reported that Israeli army leaders are fearful of the resistance successfully capturing soldiers, since the Palestinian factions have announced their determination to do so in order to exchange them for as many Palestinian prisoners as possible. According to the paper, these leaders consider such captures a strategic threat to the state of Israel, and this is why they have undertaken specific training to prevent them. For its part, Hamas has made no attempts to hide its readiness to fight with Israel, and in fact has challenged it. Prominent Hamas figure Mahmoud Al-Zahar announced that capturing more soldiers is the only way to liberate all Palestinian prisoners, and has stressed that the captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit won't be the last move made by Hamas to secure the release of the prisoners. Al-Zahar said that the prisoner exchange agreement with Israel faltered due to Israel's refusal to free Palestinian prisoners with Israeli citizenship. In his second public appearance in the Gaza Strip since the war's end, Al-Zahar also said that the occupation government had at first suggested freeing prisoners from Gaza in return for Shalit. It had refused, however, to free Palestinian Israelis and prisoners from Jerusalem on the basis of them being Israeli citizens and because Israel considered their release a red line not to be crossed. Palestinian political observer Ahmed Fayad holds that Netanyahu's aggressive attitude towards Hamas is not only the result of the Shalit case or the smuggling of arms; it is due to the new Israeli government's intention to topple Hamas. Fayad says that Netanyahu and Yisrael Beiteinu Party leader Avigdor Lieberman have agreed that the new government must bring down Hamas and that this aim must be included in Israel's strategic goals during Netanyahu's term. "It's true that even ministers in the previous government called for the toppling of Hamas, and that Olmert's government waged a fierce war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to reach this goal, and yet the strength of the Netanyahu-Lieberman agreement is that it will become part of the new government's programme regardless of developments in the Palestinian arena," Fayad told the Weekly. Putting the toppling of Hamas as a declared government goal allows the new government to begin preparing wide scale military operations, Fayad suggests. What is inciting fear in Israel, however, is the possible start of a third Palestinian Intifada in the West Bank where the Salam Fayyad government is cooperating with Israel in the running of affairs. Israeli security sources have expressed their fear that the growing number of independent resistance operations conducted by Palestinians in the West Bank may form the beginning of a third Intifada. Israeli radio has reported these sources as saying that Israeli army leaders are extremely nervous about the frequency of these operations even though they are being conducted on an individual basis with no Palestinian organisations standing behind them. Sources deem it likely that currently limited resistance operations will increase and target the Israeli army and settlers. These same security sources warn that members of the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank have "begun to raise their heads" and that it will be extremely difficult for the Israeli army to prevent their operations that include the use of knives, Molotov cocktails, and stone-throwing. Israeli military circles consider the recent resistance operations more threatening because they are executed by individuals, not organisations. Gathering intelligence on individuals linked to organisations is relatively easy. The same cannot be said of individuals with no such affiliations.
