Israeli War Plan Revealed - Israeli Officials Deny Plan Exists

Geschrieben von Mr. Burns am 13. Juli 2001 21:21:05:

JERUSALEM - (CBS) Israeli generals are planning for a
possible massive invasion of Palestinian territories if the current
Mideast cease-fire fails, says a published report denied by
Israeli officials.

The report, published by the Jane's Information Group in
London, says the goal of the action would be to destroy
Palestinian armed forces and the Palestinian Authority, forcing
Chairman Yasser Arafat back into exile, as he was for 12 years
after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

The plan calls for air strikes by F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers,
a heavy artillery bombardment, and then an attack by a
combined force of 30,000 men, including paratroopers, tank
brigades and infantry, reports CBS News Correspondent David
Hawkins.

Israel's Arab neighbors, Syria, Jordan and Egypt are expected to
stay out of the fight " but the report considers the possibility
that Iraq might try to intervene with troops, who would be
destroyed by the Israeli airforce. It also states that Egypt could
invade the Sinai peninsula, forcing Israel to call up its reserves.

The report indicates that Israel expects up to 300 of its troops
to die in such an attack, with Palestinian deaths in the
thousands.

The report says the Israeli invasion plan would be launched
after another suicide bomb attack which causes a large number
of deaths, like the one at a Tel Aviv disco last month.

"That there is an Israeli contingency plan to re-occupy the
Palestinian areas comes as no surprise at all," said Francis Tusa,
a defense analyst. "That it is being pushed up the list and that
it's a leading option " this is coming as a bit more of a surprise
and a worrying one."

The Jane's report indicates that the plan was presented to the
Israeli cabinet on July 9. It reflects a possible change in thinking
in the current government; earlier governments rejected a
military solution to the Middle East dispute.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dismissed the rumors of
war Thursday, saying he has no plans to escalate the conflict.

"There is no imminent danger of war I also don't see either a
deterioration or escalation but I definitely see a situation in
which terrorism continues," Sharon told reporters on his plane
en route to his first official visit to Italy.

"People in the military get paid to make plans all the time,"
cautioned Hirsch Goodman, an Israeli military analyst. "There
are plans and there are plans."

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said no such plan was ever
submitted or discussed. "I'm so happy to see that such an
important journal has such a fertile imagination. It simply didn't
happen," he told Israeli army radio.

Four Jewish settlers, including a baby, were wounded in
shootings Thursday, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert
Berger.

In response, Israeli tanks shelled Palestinian targets in Nablus,
killing a Palestinian policeman. More than 10 tank shells
exploded within seconds of each other, sending white smoke
into the air over Nablus.

An Israeli military official said soldiers took over a hill
overlooking Nablus. The incursion is one of only a few such
incidents " which anger Palestinians " since Israel and the
Palestinians adopted a U.S.-brokered truce on June 13.

Also das mit dem Plan habe ich auch gestern in den Nachrichten gehört,
und zwar von einem österreichischen Israel-Korrespondenten. Aber so wie
er das sagte war es eigentlich kein Gerücht sondern eher ein Faktum.


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