SEVEN M’s ON THE SECURITY FENCE!
Massive Mobile Monday Morning Muslim Mob Mayhem!
February 25, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert landed Sunday night in Tokyo, he was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying: “The possibility that a Palestinian mob will storm the border of the Gaza Strip with Israel like it did in Rafah is of low probability, but Israel is prepared to deal with any situation that arises as Palestinians prepare to form a ‘human chain’ along the border with Israel on Monday morning.”
The two articles which follow, one from the Jerusalem Post and the other from DEBKAfile, give an assessment of the Hamas plan to storm the security fence barrier border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday, February 25. The civilian mass will be used by Hamas for the assault.
Begin Jerusalem Post Article
Massive forces sent to prevent Gazans from storming border
Rebecca Anna Stoil, THE JERUSALEM POST
February 24, 2008
In preparation for a large-scaled Palestinian protest march planned for Gaza on Monday, security forces mobilized along the security fence Sunday night in an effort to head off a replay of last month’s Rafah border-storming at the Erez or Kissufim crossings.
An artillery battery was moved to the Gaza border for the first time in months, and rules of engagement were reviewed as troops prepared for the demonstration Hamas is calling a “human chain.”
A joint statement issued by the Foreign and Defense ministries blamed Hamas for fanning the flames and endangering Gazan civilians.
“Hamas, not for the first time, is orchestrating a premeditated effort to put civilians on the front line. Israel does not get involved in demonstrations that occur within the Gaza Strip, but Israel will defend itself and prevent incursions into its sovereign territory. Israel is working to prevent an escalation, but has made it absolutely clear that if there is an escalation, the responsibility will be entirely on Hamas’s shoulders,” the statement read.
The IDF was unwilling to confirm or deny a Channel 2 news report saying soldiers would be instructed to fire at protesters’ legs should they approach the security fence, in order to prevent a recurrence of what happened at the Gaza-Sinai border on January 23.
Hamas announced Sunday that it would mobilize the mass demonstration along the Salah-a-Din Route from Rafah on Gaza’s Egyptian border to Beit Hanun in the north, to protest the continued embargo placed on the Strip.
The protest is geared to attract more international attention than previous protests against the sanctions, due to its size and the photographic value of a chain stretching more than 60 kilometers along the entire length of the Gaza Strip.
But security forces are concerned that the protesters – or organizers – will not be satisfied with the symbolic imagery and might try to make good on threats issued by a Hamas leader last month that the Erez crossing would become the next Rafah.
In a worst-case scenario, Hamas activists could motivate the crowds to storm the Gaza security fence, particularly at “weak spots” where Israeli communities or army bases abut the strip. Areas such as the Erez crossing, Kissufim, Nahal Oz and Netiv Ha’asara are considered to be particularly at risk.
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi held a situation assessment with officers on Sunday night, including representatives of the Home Front Command, to finalize preparations for Monday’s IDF response.
Israel Police chief Insp.-Gen. David Cohen also held a late-night assessment, in which police decided to raise the national alert level. Some 6,500 police officers, one senior officer said, would be deployed to the Southern District on Monday morning to maintain order.
While some Hamas officials have denied organizing an attempt to breach the border, others have hinted that such a human surge – involving women and children – might in fact occur.
The next time Gazan residents protest the ongoing siege, they will do so on the border with Israel, and not on the border with Egypt,” Israel Radio quoted one senior Hamas official as saying on Sunday.
Over the weekend, the IDF was already rushing large forces to the Gaza border in anticipation of civilian unrest after gasoline supplies in the territory ran out on Saturday for all but emergency service vehicles.
Immigration Absorption Minister Ya’acov Edri (Kadima) said Sunday that the government was ready for any scenario resulting from Palestinians trying to breach the border crossings.
Also Sunday, an all-day IDF operation in the southern Gaza Strip, near the defunct Dahiniye airstrip, bore fruit in the afternoon, when Givati infantry, Armored Corps units and combat engineers uncovered five tunnels used to smuggle arms from Sinai into Gaza. In the course of the operation, 50 Palestinians were detained for questioning on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist organization.
Six Kassams were fired Sunday at the Negev.
Begin DEBKAfile Article
Palestinians plan mass rush on Gazan-Israeli border Monday
February 24, 2008, 6:46 PM (GMT+02:00)
Beefed-up Israeli military and security forces prepared to repulse thousands of Palestinians planning to crash the full length of the Gazan-Israeli border and its crossings at 10:00 a.m. IT Monday, Feb. 25.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report Hamas is engineering a “popular” protest to be much more violent than the Jan.
23 Palestinian surge into Egypt through the border wall smashed by its bulldozers.
Behind the human shield of women, children and elderly leading the assault on Monday, Hamas, Jihad Islami and Fatah are expected to shoot, send in suicide bombers and unleash a Qassam barrage. If Israeli forces are goaded into opening fire, civilian casualties may be heavy enough to draw international condemnation.
If they hold back, the Palestinian terrorists will capture the border fence and knock it over.
By preventing a full-scale military operation against the Palestinian missile and terror campaign from Gaza and imposing a siege instead, prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak have left the initiative with Hamas which exploits it to the hilt.
DEBKAfile reports “human chain which will “demonstrate” along the border from the Rafah terminal in the south to Erez in the north is organized by the Committee for Breaking the Israeli Siege headed by Hamas, although the terrorist group’s spokesmen claimed it is a “spontaneous” protest against the Israeli blockade.
Israel’s military and security chiefs are conferring urgently Sunday night with chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi.
The Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem told reporters that non-lethal measures for dispersing crowds are ready to ward off the massive assault on the border fence in an effort to avoid civilian casualties.
After weeks, Egypt finally cracked down on the Palestinian invasion of Sinai when its foreign minister threatened to “break the arms and legs” of infiltrators. Even then, they were defied by the Palestinian invaders.
It looks now as though the long-delayed big confrontation between the IDF and Hamas will not take place inside the Gaza Strip but on Israeli soil.
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