Maof

Jerusalem Post, March 17, 2004

It didn't take long after Sunday's suicide bombing in Ashdod for the Israeli media to begin looking for someone to blame. Even as the wounded were still being evacuated to local hospitals, the police and the port's administrators were busy giving interviews, ducking responsibility and pointing fingers at each other for the lapse in security that had enabled terrorists to hit the site.

Unnamed police sources said they had warned the port's management that security was lax, while port officials asserted they had done everything the police had asked.

It was, quite frankly, a sorry sight to behold, so much energy and effort being devoted to covering, rather than saving, people's behinds.

The Hebrew papers, of course, had a field day, devoting page after page to the question of who fouled up, and why. Did the police really take the threat of a "strategic attack" seriously? And why was the port protected by a simple metal fence rather than an electronic one?

But for all the attention Israel's media devoted to the matter, they failed to identify the gravest blunder of all ­ that of the government itself, which has not only allowed the terrorists to operate with impunity, but now dangles before them the prize of a withdrawal from Gaza.

In recent weeks nearly the entire military and security establishment has made it clear that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's talk of a unilateral retreat will embolden the terror organizations and invite further attacks.

As OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze'evi (Farkash), head of military intelligence, recently said, groups such as Hamas and Fatah will do their utmost to ensure that an Israeli withdrawal is perceived as a retreat under fire and hence will try to intensify their attacks as a result of Sharon's plan.

And so we have a situation where the experts were all but unanimous, with everyone from the IDF chief of staff to the head of the Shin Bet saying that a unilateral pullback would buoy the terrorists and increase their motivation to kill Jews.

And that is precisely what occurred. Ten innocent Israelis lost their lives in Sunday's attack, the first victims of the prime minister's dubious plan. Their deaths were effectively foretold in advance, but Sharon refused to listen.

The warnings and admonitions, the advice and the counsel, all of it was brushed aside and ignored by an arrogant and tired premier, one unwilling even to listen to his own generals.

Even in the aftermath of the attack Sharon has not learned his lesson. Less than 24 hours later he stood before the podium in the Knesset, insisting that Israel had no choice but to move forward by moving backward and fleeing Gaza for good. But running away from a problem is no way to solve it. If anything, Sunday's attack should serve as a compelling reminder of precisely what Israel is up against.

Just meters away from where the terrorists detonated themselves in Ashdod's port were storage tanks containing dangerous chemicals such as bromide, ammonia and fuel. Had one of the containers caught fire and exploded, it might very well have caused hundreds, possibly even thousands, of casualties in the nearby area.

This was, quite simply, a Palestinian attempt at mass murder on a scale equivalent to America's September 11 and Spain's March 11, the only difference being that Fatah and Hamas aren't as "proficient" as their al-Qaida colleagues. This is not the first time the Palestinians have attempted to carry out such a mega-attack.

In April 2002, Israel thwarted a planned assault by Palestinian terrorists against the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv, which they had hoped to bring down along the lines of the World Trade Center. One month later terrorists set off an explosive device hidden under a truck at the Pi Glilot fuel depot outside Tel Aviv. Miraculously, the complex did not go up in flames, which could have endangered untold thousands of people.

Such attacks have nothing to do with a Jewish presence in Gaza, but everything to do with a Jewish presence in the Middle East. By attempting to carry out a mass attack that could have murdered thousands of Jews, the Palestinians have made clear that they are willing to resort to genocidal tactics to achieve their goals.

Sadly, if it is a battle for survival the Palestinians are after, Israel has no choice but to fight it. But in order to prevail the government must first recognize that no amount of wishful thinking, or shortsighted withdrawals, will appease a foe bent on our destruction.

Building fences and uprooting Jews from their homes is hardly the way to fight such terror. Only by reasserting complete and permanent military control over the territories and by dismantling the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist infrastructure can Israel hope to achieve a modicum of security for its citizens. There is simply no alternative to the IDF being there physically, militarily, and running the show.

The only way to eliminate terrorism is to eliminate the terrorists, and not to run away when the going gets tough.

Israel did not start this war; nor did we ask for it. But we sure know how to end it. After the Ashdod attack, that is what Ariel Sharon must finally do.

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The writer served as deputy director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's Office under former premier Binyamin Netanyahu.

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