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It does not matter
who pulled the trigger and hit dozens of innocent Palestinian civilian
demonstrators. It does not matter what were the circumstances of the
mishap that led to the killing and wounding of so many. The blame will
fall on Israel, its government and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Ze'ev Schiff in
Israel's Ha'aretz
The longer the IDF
remain in this area, the greater the number of mistakes and mishaps will
be... The fighting will continue and intensify... until international
pressure forces the IDF to get out. The hourglass of legitimacy [for the
Rafah operation] is running out.
Alex Fishman in
Israel's Yediot Aharonot
Luckily we have
the Americans, who are doing all we are doing, only with much more
explosives [in Iraq]. The Americans, however, can afford this - we
cannot... The IDF must now act cautiously on all fronts.
Ben Kaspit in
Israel's Ma'ariv
Photos from the
battlefield are rarely beneficial to any army on the offensive... No
spokesman can compete with a picture of a child killed by fire from an
IDF tank. The PR game is over for Israel.
Arieh O'Sullivan
in
Jerusalem Post
When senior
officers declare seriously that the demolition of houses in Rafah is "in
the interest of local residents"... we must ask ourselves as Jews and
Zionists: Have we lost the basic ability to distinguish between good and
bad, between morality and cruelty, between truth and "truth"... Have we
been eyeless in Gaza? And what are we doing there anyway?
Israel's Yediot
Aharonot
The sights of
Rafah are too difficult to bear... Is there some "original sin" that
lies at the foundation of the Zionist enterprise? Those who initiated
the Rafah operation, and those who are executing it, should know that
their actions will inevitably lead to questions being raised about this
heresy.
Meron Benvenisti
in Israel's Ha'aretz
In Rafah,
Palestinians ventured to assume that the enemy has a minimum of moral
standards and respect for life to understand peaceful expression...
Every drop of our blood is a curse on the invaders of Palestine and on the US
administration that encouraged the killing and endorsed the fascist
generals.
Adli Sadiq in
Palestinian Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah
The massacre that
the Israeli government admitted it carried out against a peaceful march
of unarmed Palestinians clearly shows the extent of its bloodshed...
Thus, the Israeli government revealed its true face to the world. It no
longer cares about Arab and international reaction, especially when
there are some in the US who show understanding for its aggression.
Palestinian
Al-Quds
This is the scene
of Israeli terrorism in Rafah. This is the [Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel] Sharon that loves only blood, death and destruction... The source
of terrorism and killing is in Washington and the Bush administration
that supplies the cover, support and insurance for the Sharon government
to carry out massacres and demolitions.