Winds of Change.NET: Why Is Israel in Gaza?

May 21, 2004

Why Is Israel in Gaza?

by Joe Katzman at May 21, 2004 4:44 AM

A couple very quick items, then I'm out the door. For many people, the big question about Rafah is "why?" Why are the Israelis so determined to press this attack, despite casualties?

The short answer is, weapon smuggling and arms manufacturing. Here's the official explanation from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The drawings and cross-sections are especially illuminating. I had no idea that the smuggling (and even having one's house demolished) was so lucrative, and the excerpted "Islam Online" interview with a smuggler was interesting. Thanks to reader Shirley-Anne for that tip.

Meanwhile, Dave at Israellycool fisks some of the distortions and outright lies that many media outlets are promoting uncritically, and adds a few thoughts of his own. Suffice to say that he's unimpressed with the performance of the media. As he should be.

UPDATE: Politburo Diktat has a very good area map, and more links.

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"Why Is Israel in Gaza?"

Tracked: May 21, 2004 4:46 PM

Why Rafah? from The Politburo Diktat

Excerpt: Why have Zionist criminal occupiers gone into Rafah? Da, of course, to commit genocide. Buy beyond that. Any other reasons? Once again Minitruth has chosen not to answer that question. Simple examination of map will do so. Look at detailed map of Rafa...

Tracked: May 23, 2004 4:07 PM

Reads that make you go "hmm" from Being American in T.O.

Excerpt: May 23 - When you live in Ontario, aka the Center of the Universe, news from Canada tend to end at the borders of the GTA (although some information about the national government does trickle down from Ottawa, we hear...

Tracked: May 24, 2004 3:12 AM

Why is Israel destroying homes in Rafah? from CenterFeud

Excerpt: Winds of Change has an excellent roundup, with pointers to several sources, including a detailed explanation of the operation from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diagrams showing how the tunnels are dug under homes and how weapons are infiltr...

Tracked: May 28, 2004 6:55 AM

Mideast Roadmap Roundup: 2004-05-28 from Israpundit

Excerpt: Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Israel and its neighbours, courtesy of Inkgrrl. TOP TOPIC * Referenced here earlier in the week, the Israeli Operation Rai...

Tracked: December 16, 2005 3:18 PM

Palestinians attempt to kidnap American reporter from Kesher Talk

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Comments

#1 from ExpatEgghead at 10:13 am on May 21, 2004

Tactics not strategy. By all means confound the enemy but first decide who it is.
While Israel is in Gaza it must do what needs to be done. What I, and the majority of Israelis want is not to be there at all. Partner or no partner, the price is not worth paying.

#2 from Matt at 1:17 am on May 24, 2004

What I wonder is this: why does the Israeli army seem to think it's ok to fire "warning shots" using missiles and tank rounds?

#3 from JB at 6:46 pm on May 28, 2004

Gosh, Matt - maybe they should wait for them to get close enough to this combat zone to be within, say, rock(or grenade)-throwing distance first?

Nice range on those tank rounds and missiles - sorta outdoes what's possible with most rifles or rocks(grenades), and other stuff like that.