Saleh Al-Naami monitors Israeli preparations for a strike against Hamas Try as you might, by landline or mobile, you can't reach Amer Al-Jarah these days, or any of his senior aides. The general commander of the executive force for the Ismail Haniyeh government -- dissolved by the Palestinian president -- is now directing operations on the ground from secret shelters in anticipation of a military strike from Israel targeting Hamas militias. Hamas political leaders are also taking security precautions following indications that an Israeli operation in Gaza is imminent. On the evening of 26 August, Israeli television's Channel 10 revealed that the Israeli army Southern Command had completed intensive training exercises for a huge military campaign. According to Alon Ben David, the station's military commentator, the army's recent incursions into Gaza were preliminary exercises for a major offensive to be undertaken by occupation forces in coordination with Washington and Ramallah. Ben Kasbit, senior commentator for Maarev, has confirmed that Fatah officials in Ramallah have asked Washington to persuade the Olmert government to press ahead with such an offensive. He added that when he was in the Palestinian president's Ramallah compound to interview Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah leaders there told him -- much to his surprise -- that they wanted Israel to crush Hamas in Gaza. Evidently Israel is acting on this hope. On 28 August, Israeli radio announced that the Palestinian president's office had notified Olmert that Abu Mazen understands why Israel might stage a military operation in Gaza given continued Qassam missile fire. Also on 28 August, and following the latest meeting between Abu Mazen and Olmert, Israeli army radio revealed that PA security chiefs had presented the Israeli army command with a lengthy list of actions undertaken against Hamas operatives in the West Bank, in addition to closing down 103 organisations and charitable associations with links to Hamas. According to Ronny Daniel, Israeli TV 2 military commentator, the purpose of Israel's military operations in Gaza and of the security clampdown by the PA and the Israeli army against Hamas activists is to so debilitate Hamas it will be unable to hamper the success of the international "meeting" in Washington this autumn. Salah Al-Bardawil, Hamas speaker in the Palestinian parliament, believes there is a direct correlation between the sudden return of Mohamed Al-Dahlan, former secretary of the Palestinian National Security Council, to Ramallah, and Israeli plans for a military operation against Hamas in Gaza. "We have reliable information that Dahlan wants to supervise, from Ramallah, assassination missions against Hamas leaders and activists in its military wing both during and after the planned Israeli military operation," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. Israel, of course, has its own agenda. Israeli Interior Minister Avi Dichter told Israeli army radio on 24 August that, "Israel is committed to taking action against Hamas in Gaza, not for the sake of Abu Mazen but because Hamas's success at establishing an extremist Islamist entity on our southwestern border poses a strategic threat of the first order." According to Haaretz military commentator Amir Oren, there are many tactical aims that Israel hopes to achieve through a military operation, but the most salient strategic objective is to ensure that Hamas rule in Gaza is not stabilised in any way. Military action against Hamas has become a matter of increasing urgency for the Israeli security establishment now that Hamas has consolidated its hold on Gaza. The Sunday edition of Maarev cites senior Israeli security sources as saying that they fear Hamas rule in Gaza will last longer than initially expected. They also believe that if free elections were to be held in the West Bank, Hamas candidates would probably beat Fatah's there as well. This alarming prognosis explains why members of the Olmert government have seized upon recent resistance operations (in which Hamas was not involved) to press for a debilitating blow against Hamas and why a 26 August cabinet session became a set piece in which doves joined the hawks in sounding a battle cry. As unanimous as opinion is in Israeli political and security circles over the need for a military operation, there are differences over the form, duration and geographical scope of such an operation. Head of the Israeli army Southern Command Yoav Galant is an ardent advocate of the reoccupation of Gaza in its entirety, including the strip that borders Egypt, and several members of the Olmert government support him, including Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman. In fact, the Southern Command has already undertaken training exercises with such a mission in mind. Chief-of-Staff Gaby Ashkenazy has cautioned against this idea, urging instead targeted incursions that will permit direct engagement with Hamas militias. Former chief-of-staff and current Minister of Transport Shaul Mofaz appears to be thinking along similar lines. He has urged "targeted" assassinations from the air against Hamas leaders and activists, as well as against other resistance movements involved in the missile attacks against Jewish settlements. There is a segment of opinion in Israel that believes any Israeli attempt to eliminate or debilitate Hamas will be futile. This is the opinion of former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy who, in an interview on Israeli radio, said "we're talking about a movement with very deep roots in Palestinian society. We've tried the most brutal military methods in the past only to produce results opposite to what we intended." The only way to deal with Hamas, he continued, was to try to talk with it and to accept its existence in Gaza as a reality that will probably last for quite some time. Some in Israel disagree with the official take on other scores. The columnists Avi Sikharov and Amos Harel have scoffed at the fear Hamas will try and ruin this autumn's international conference. The organisation, they argue, need to do nothing since the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian people already share its point of view. In an article that appeared in Haaretz on 28 August they cited a recent opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Information Centre, directed by former PA minister Ghassan Al-Khatib, in which 70 per cent of the respondents insisted that any agreement must provide for the return of Palestinian refugees to the homes from which they were expelled in 1948. In addition, 93.5 per cent of those polled held that there should be no flexibility whatsoever over the status of Jerusalem and sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque. Interestingly, the majority of those polled in Gaza said they felt safer since the Hamas takeover.
