Mideast crisis--Blog from Jerusalem
Meanwhile, both the Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza and the Palestinians suffering there are complaining. In an article in a local paper, Israeli soldiers said that despite all their work in reducing terror attacks on Israel, "we don't get any credit. Only the soldiers fighting Hezbollah do."
The Palestinians say that their situation is only getting worse and the international community is not paying much attention. After Israel bombed the Gaza power station, electricity is on for an average of only six to eight hours a day per house and water is running for two to three hours. "There is no fuel, little electricity, no energy at all. Things don't work and we have shortages," Abu Ziyad al-Ghol, a 61-year-old farmer and retired accountant from Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip told U.S. News. "I have 33 grandchildren and they are suffering very badly psychologically. They have lost their childhood."
July 27
JERUSALEM--Nine on Wednesday, two on Monday, five on Saturday, two last Thursday, and two last Wednesday. These are the numbers of Israeli soldiers killed in battle since Israel began its ground invasion.
One of the most highly trained and best-equipped armies in the world is sustaining what, for this small country, amounts to high casualties from a group of guerrilla fighters who number only a few thousand. And the Israeli Army has just begun its advance into southern Lebanon.
It should come as no surprise. Israeli recruits serve only three years in the Army. The young infantry officers who were killed serve four or five. They are trained and equipped, yes, but they have no experience conducting guerrilla warfare in the Lebanese terrain, fields, caves, and pastures. They have no experience fighting a groupthat has had six long years to quietly and intensively ready itself for this battle.
But Israel knew all along that Hezbollah was training. It has been warning for over a year that Hezbollah was planning to capture Israeli soldiers along the border. Some Israelis are starting to ask, why didn't Israeli forces prepare? The reason, I think, is arrogance. After winning so many wars against the Arabs as well as being an occupying power over the Palestinians, Israelis didn't believe that Arabs could actually surprise them.
But they have. "We have hit their military capabilities very hard," said a senior Israeli military official in a briefing this week. "They now have fewer rockets, launchers, and fighters. But they still continue."
Sitting at the head of a table wearing his military uniform, he hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I admire them," he said. "Their approach is totally combat-oriented."
On Thursday, a day after nine Israeli soldiers were killed, the security cabinet held an emergency meeting to discuss whether it would expand the ground invasion or just rely on aerial, naval, and artillery strikes on Hezbollah. It decided against bringing in more ground forces.
Israeli infantry soldiers are just not prepared for the fight. And neither are Israeli mothers. And right now, Israel needs all the internal support it can get as it sends its sons to war.
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