Israel: The Gloves Are Off

One benefit of the withdraw from Palestinian territories, it always seemed to me, is that Israel could start treating Palestine as what it is -- a hostile neighboring state making war on it, rather than an occupied territory requiring less warlike policing.

Israel just killed four Hamas leaders, and they're not done yet:

Meeting Saturday night, the cabinet ratified Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's proposal that the IDF be instructed to create buffer zones within the Gaza Strip in areas near the border, in order to move the rocket launchers away from Israeli communities.

Military sources told Haaretz Saturday night that the zones will include neighborhoods as well as open areas. "If necessary, we will create ghost neighborhoods, we will use artillery to prevent the rocket launchers from entering even at the price of removing civilians from their homes," the source said.

The IDF believes stiff measures could induce the Palestinian civilian population to pressure Hamas into showing restraint. The operation, which has been named "First Rain," is expected to continue for a few days.

There are certain obligations of a state, and keeping its citizens from making transborder attacks on a neighbor is one of them. And if a state can't or won't, it is effectively in a state of war, no matter what bullshit its cuckolded leader might say.

And if you're at war, the rules are different.

I actually don't want a lot of Palestinians to die, but if they continue supporting those who make war on Israel, they have no one to blame but themselves.

To some extent the Palestinian people have been infantilized, their collective decisions never really resulting in their inevitable consequences -- namely, the full fury of war being visited back upon them. Hopefully they will grow up in a hurry and avoid further deaths.

posted by Ace at 01:12 PM

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