Vengeance or assault on terrorists - Rafah

[dArKeR]

Rafah's residents are inclined to take Israel's military at its word when it says the assault on the town and refugee camp is not over and the army is just "taking a deep breath".

But beyond that there is little agreement over Operation Rainbow, which has shuddered to a halt short of its original aims.

The death figures, who died and how, the extent of the destruction and whether a Palestinian with a gun is a terrorist or legally resisting occupation are all contested. But at the heart of the dispute is the real reason for Operation Rainbow.

Was it, as Israel says, an assault on the "terrorist infrastructure" that threatens ordinary Jews? Or, as many people in Rafah say, vengeance for the deaths of Israeli soldiers whose killings angered and embarrassed Ariel Sharon.

Operation Rainbow was undoubtedly prompted by the twin attacks, a fortnight ago, on Israeli armoured vehicles -- one in Rafah, the other in Gaza City -- that killed 11 soldiers. Two more died in the subsequent operation to recover the soldiers' body parts in Rafah.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66882