As Israel zeros in on Gaza, Netanyahu targets Sharon

The Israeli buildup for a possible military operation in Gaza dominates again the front pages of Israel’s newspapers. Maariv says the Israeli Army has Hamas leaders in its sights and that many reservists have been called up. The paper quotes Israeli military sources as saying there will be no immunity for “terrorists” hiding in Gaza.
Yediot Ahronot leads with American pressure to “restrain” the Israeli Army and cautions that Egypt is also warning Israel not to go into Gaza.
Maariv quotes Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as saying Israel has no intention of capturing the entire Gaza Strip, but will rather “focus on hitting terrorist concentrations.”
Yediot Ahronot says the Israeli Army believes the fighting will be hard, and it quotes Palestinians as saying they have been preparing for the invasion for days and have laid huge mines.

Yoav Limor, in an analysis in Maariv headlined “In Gaza, the price will be heavier,” suggests that the operation in Gaza will be brief and very intense, aimed at the military infrastructure of Hamas but also at other terror organizations.
“Unlike in the West Bank, stiff resistance can be expected,” Limor says, “and because of this, plus the total lack of the element of surprise and the nature of the terrain ­ crowded refugee camps ­ many more casualties can be expected than in stage one of ‘Operation Rampart.’”
Maariv’s defense analyst quotes a senior Israeli officer as saying that “the Palestinians have prepared for the Israeli invasion by mining and booby-trapping everything, to such an extent that they are scared of blowing themselves up.”

Limor warns that the army will not only have to operate in greater force and much more rapidly than in stage one of Operation Rampart but it will also have to adopt “a completely different attitude to the media to avoid the kind of damage done to Israel’s image in Jenin. The army spokesman has already begun nagging the operational command to allow the media into the combat zone, to see who does the damage and who uses civilians as human shields. In brief, who the bad guys are in this story.
“Another mistake in the West Bank operation the (Israeli Army) should avoid in Gaza is arresting top Palestinian Authority (PA) Preventive Security figures, although they have been active in terrorist operations. This would only damage the sole institution capable of fighting terror effectively and destroy its motivation to do so. Anyone who sees in the moderate and reasonable (PA Gaza Strip security chief) Mohammed Dahlan a potential future partner in negotiations must take into account that the destruction of the headquarters of his West Bank counterpart, Jibril Rajjoub, may have been justified, but it was not very smart.”

Alex Fishman, Limor’s counterpart in Yediot Ahronot, notes that Dahlan and General Nasser Youssef, the commander of the Palestinian “Gaza Division,” are both slated for key roles in the reorganization of the PA security force under the tutelage of CIA Director George Tenet. And, Fishman asks: “Is Israel about to deal these people a fatal blow, even as it expects them to willingly cooperate in the upcoming reorganization?”
He says that Dahlan’s organization is a “real factor in blocking terror in large parts of Gaza, and yet its men are the ones who will be harmed in an Israeli attack.”
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came back from America with “agreement that Arafat’s role should be something like that of the late Queen Mother in England,” Fishman concludes, and he wonders, “would a large-scale attack on Gaza now strengthen these tendencies, or unravel the package and return Arafat to center stage?”

Reporting on Maariv’s latest public opinion survey, political analyst Chemi Shalev says  that “Sharon’s standing is getting stronger and stronger, overshadowing all his rivals as the one and only realistic candidate for prime minister. For the first time, he is even opening a wide gap among right-wing voters over his Likud rival Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The paradox, writes Shalev, is that “Sharon’s popularity is in inverse proportion to his achievements, which are totally nonexistent. He has not kept his promise to bring security and has not even begun to make peace. And the economy has gone from bad to worse.”
The poll shows that 68 percent of Israelis are generally satisfied with the prime minister’s performance, up 3 percent since the last poll two weeks ago.

Asked who they prefer to lead the Likud Party, 44 percent of right-wing voters chose Sharon and 35 percent Netanyahu, compared to a virtual tie in the last poll.
As to where they see themselves on the political spectrum, 48 percent said on the right, 24 percent on the center and 19 percent on
the left. Nevertheless, when asked if they would support Israel’s participation in an international conference based on the Saudi proposal for full withdrawal from all the territories in exchange for a comprehensive peace with all
the Arab states, 57 percent answered in the affirmative, with 39 percent opposed.
Maariv political reporter Emanuel Rosen looks ahead to Sunday’s crucial showdown between Sharon and Netanyahu over a Likud central committee vote against Palestinian statehood, despite Sharon’s expressed support for a Palestinian state.

“A guest landed in Israel on Thursday afternoon. His name is Benjamin Netanyahu. On Sunday, on the podium at the Likud central committee meeting in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu will be able to take a giant stride forward on the way to taking over the Likud and ousting Sharon. By the same token, he could also hold back and show everyone, including Sharon, that restraint is power.”
Either way, Rosen writes, “the man who dictates the pace of the game and the result will be the former prime minister and not the sitting one.
“As of Thursday night, Netanyahu was determined to go ahead. Those who spoke to him say he fully intends to press his demand for a vote on the negation of a Palestinian state, win a sweeping victory and embarrass Sharon. Netanyahu’s front man is Tzachi Hanegbi, the central committee chairman. Hanegbi, a minister in Sharon’s government but a soldier in Netanyahu’s army, says that in any event he will put the issue to the vote. If things were not cut and dried, Hanegbi wouldn’t be saying that; not unless he had been in touch with Netanyahu over the past few days, and got his backing.”

But, Rosen remarks, although Netanyahu is projecting firmness, even his people admit things could change. “Many in the Likud believe Netanyahu mounted his challenge to Sharon too early, and that he erred in launching his bid while Sharon is waging a war and gaining popularity. Now, with the pundits already crowning Netanyahu, there’s reason for concern. Especially on the part of the old- new king.”
In the Maariv Sabbath supplement, political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi describes the confrontation with Netanyahu as “Sharon’s real war.”
“Sharon will speak about the achievements of ‘Operation Rampart’ and boast how he managed to remove Arafat from the political scene. He will probably try to postpone the vote. But there are those who say it will be all over the moment Netanyahu steps up onto the podium.”

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