Massive military buildup in Gaza threatens fragile truce

GERARD GROUP INTERNATIONAL INC

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The huge military buildup that has been taking place in Gaza since the Israeli withdrawal a year ago is breaking all records in every regard. In a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee, Israel’s General Security Services Director Yuval Diskin Security provided an assessment of the arms smuggling that suggests that another war on Israel’s southern border is a near-term possibility. Diskin reported that "the terror groups in Gaza have learned the lessons of Lebanon and are arming themselves massively with rockets and missiles, and are beginning to organize themselves as an army."

MK Natan Sharansky commented, "Ten years I have been hearing security reports. I have never heard such an unequivocal and frightening report that calls for immediate action. Every kind of weapon, except for tanks and airplanes, are getting into the Gaza Strip through the Philadelphi Route [the border between Gaza and Egpyt], including terrorist experts who have been trained in Iran. Hamas is establishing a terrorist army in Gaza. Now it is no longer possible to say they didn't warn us."

The inventory of weapons is staggering. It includes approximately 15,000 guns, 4 million bullets, 2,300 pistols, 38 rockets, dozens of anti-tank missiles, 15 tons of TNT, 400 RPGs, and 10-15 Katyushas. All this, in an area of a mere 360 square kilometers. These armaments have had been smuggled Gaza into from Egypt through tunnels, by sea (when not intercepted by a vigilant Israeli Navy) and in vehicles, poorly screened by Egyptian border guards whose devotion to their task of keeping weapons out of Gaza is seriously suspect.

The implications of this buildup are far-reaching. Gaza is within Katyusha range of Tel Aviv, Ben-Gurion Airport, and Israel's capital, Jerusalem. An attack from Gaza against southern Israel will once again embroil the country in a conflict that will extend far beyond the region. The combination of attacks against Israel from the south (Gaza) so soon after the recent war in the north (Lebanon), and the possibility of further attacks against the center of the country from the West Bank, are designed to weaken the country to such an extent that Iran can see an opportunity to move easily in as Ahmadinijad promised - to destroy Israel.

Such a plot threatens the future of the entire world. That Israel, the most productive country in the entire region with an economy that rivals many of the greatest nations in the world, should be facing such a cataclysm – even in rhetoric – and that the rest of the world does not rise up in outrage, should give us pause.

We are seeing today in Gaza what we saw in southern Lebanon over the last six years, the military build-up of Iranian backed weapons that led to the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. There is no excuse for not addressing this massive buildup as quickly as possible. To do otherwise, is to ignore the lessons of history so recent that the scorch marks are still visible. This is the time for people of courage to step up to the plate and wage total war against those who would destroy our civilization.

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