LONDON/TEL AVIV, 13 July — Israeli generals have updated plans for an all-out assault to smash the Palestinian Authority, force out leader Yasser Arafat and kill or detain his army, according to a report published yesterday in London.
Foreign Report, published by the influential Jane’s information group, says it has seen what it claims to be an executive summary of a proposal presented to the Israeli government on Sunday.
The assault would be launched at the government’s discretion after the next big suicide bomb attack in Israel that causes widespread deaths and injuries, citing the bloodshed as justification.
In another development, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on the international community to turn up the pressure on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as Sharon arrived in Italy yesterday for a 24-hour visit. His earlier visits to Germany and France failed to win him support for his hard-line policies. Sharon said that Israel “would increase its efforts to respond” to Palestinian attacks, without specifying what kind of action he was planning to take.
He called for “greater international pressure so that Arafat takes real action against terrorism,” as Israeli Army briefly seized a Palestinian-ruled area near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The army occupied three homes in the nearby village of Kufur Qallil and razed uninhabited houses, erecting a checkpoint, Palestinian witnesses said. Israeli tank shells hit two buildings in Nablus belonging to Palestinian intelligence and the national security force killing two Palestinian policemen.
The shelling, however, forged unity among the Palestinians. Internecine fighting between Palestinian groups which continued throughout the night left two dead and 10 wounded. Arafat ordered the arrest of Ahmad Tabouq who had sparked the fight.
According to the Jane’s information group report, the generals envisage a military operation of up to one month. Estimated Israeli casualties would be measured in the hundreds. Palestinian losses would be in their thousands.
By the end of the operation, the generals believe Arafat would either have left or been forced to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip. His closest allies would be either dead or also out of the area. The Palestinian armed forces, estimated at some 40,000, would be disarmed, and either dead or held in detention camps.
The blueprint, with the title “The destruction of the Palestinian Authority and disarmament of all armed forces,” was presented by Israeli chief of staff Brig. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, Foreign Report said.
A suicide bomb attack would provide the necessary motive for Israeli troops as well as enabling Israeli ambassadors and other officials to tell concerned countries that military action was a justified response.
The journal’s sources said the Israeli army’s current high command, perhaps reflecting the views of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, wants the military to be given a more assertive role. The planned operation would certainly do that.
It would begin with heavy air raids by F-16 and F-15 warplanes against all the main Palestinian Authority installations in Gaza and Ramallah. It might be preceded by a heavy artillery barrage to soften up targets.
Israel would then deploy around 30,000 paratroopers, infantry and armored brigades, the equivalent of an army.
The Palestinians may not put up much resistance, the proposals say, but if they do, around 300 Israeli soldiers might be killed. As for international reaction, that would be too little, too late. The generals say some kind of peace force would probably be sent to protect the Palestinians, but by the time it got there it would be faced with a “fait accompli.”
Moreover, Israel’s neighbors would be unlikely to retaliate with any great effect, the planners believe. Quoting forecasts by the military intelligence service, the generals doubt Egypt, Jordan or Syria would want to go to war on behalf of the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, for the first time in the Palestinian uprising, the army placed tanks and armored personnel carriers around the enclave of the city where settlers live. The PA accused Israel yesterday of a “dangerous escalation” after a Palestinian was killed in Israeli bombardment .
In Cairo, Arab League chief Amr Mussa yesterday called for a halt to Israeli “insults” after Sharon said Israel’s annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights should be “irreversible.” In the West Bank town of Ramallah, a special envoy of British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks with Arafat yesterday.
