“There is a lot to do against mortar shelling, but our hands are tied,” Southern Division IDF officers revealed to reporters Friday.

“Our frustration doesn’t even begin to describe our feeling. Terrorists have learned the pattern of (our) maneuvers and this only encourages them to continue shooting,” officers said on the Ynet web site operated by the Hebrew daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot. “This cannot go on for a long time,” they added.

Arabs continued their non-stop barrage on Jewish communities in northern and southern Gaza Saturday night, heavily damaging a building that houses a ritual baths (mikveh). No one was injured, though this is the second time in one week that a Jewish place of worship was targeted. On Tuesday, December 21, a Kassam rocket hit a synagogue as morning prayers were being held . Miraculously, no injuries other than trauma to two people were recorded. The 20 worshipers reported that they had reached the verse, “Who among the gods is like You, O G-d; who is like You, majestic in sanctity” when the shell exploded.

A resident of another Gush Katif community was hospitalized Friday after being struck in the head by shrapnel from a mortar shell blast. His condition is stable.

“We have enough forces and are not lacking plans that can decidedly disrupt the gangs that launch mortar shells, but we have not received a ‘green light.’ The problem is that terrorists see that we move in for several hours, and they understand the maneuvers are not serious,” a high ranking officer disclosed.

Jewish communities in southern Gaza include 18 in the Gush Katif area, adjacent to the city of Khan Yunis, and three in the north, between Gaza to the south and Ashkelon and Sderot to the north and west. Army forces are stationed in both areas, but IDF spokesmen have said that their main objective is to patrol the main roads, preventing terrorists from planting roadside bombs and bypass various walls and fences through the use of tunnels.

Damage from mortar shelling has been relatively light because terrorists are unable to direct mortar fire on a specific target. However, there have been dozens of “near-misses” that have exploded next to classrooms, nurseries, hothouses, synagogues and homes. Two people have been killed in the past four months and dozens have suffered injuries.

More than 5,000 shells have exploded on the Jewish towns in the past four years, and many residents took matters in their own hands, Friday, briefly blocking the main road Arabs use between Gaza and Khan Yunis. “If the Army withdraws from their positions, our people will take them over” and will begin defending themselves, said Yakki (Yaakov) Yazriel, financial manager of the agricultural community Netzer Hazani in Gush Katif.

“We are in a real bind,” another senior IDF officer told Ynet. On the one hand, we are limited in taking action, and on the other hand we cannot remain passive [in the face of extensive rocket and mortar-shell attacks.”

The government has openly stated that the upcoming PA elections on January 9 are a major factor in its political decision not to begin a large-scale campaign to end the rocket fire on Israelis living on both sides of the 1967 Green Line. PM Sharon has committed to refraining for carrying out major counter-terror offensives prior to the PA elections except to target “ticking bombs.”

The government also considers it a fact that it will dismantle the Jewish communities of Gaza and the northern Shomron by summer and transfer the land to Arabs. This, despite the fact that the Knesset has not voted on the plan except for approving its first reading that allows a committee to issue a report on it. The program cannot pass without the Knesset’s approval in its second and third readings as well as agreeing to supply the massive funding necessary to carry it out.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 26th, 2004 and is filed under hotnews.