Israeli Chief of Staff Criticizes Sharon Policy

Top Israeli Officer Says Tactics Are Backfiring
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By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, October 31, 2003; Page A01
washingtonpost.com

JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 — Israel’s senior military
commander told columnists for three leading newspapers
this week that Israel’s military tactics against the
Palestinian population were too repressive and were
fomenting explosive levels of "hatred and terrorism"
that might become impossible to control.

In remarks that suggest a dramatic split with the
approach of the current government, Lt. Gen. Moshe
Yaalon, chief of staff of the Israeli armed forces,
said that crackdowns, curfews and roadblocks in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip were crippling the lives of
innocent Palestinians and that the military’s tactics
were now threatening Israel’s own interests.

The military chief directed most of his complaints at
restrictions imposed on the West Bank four weeks ago,
after a suicide bomber from the West Bank city of Jenin
killed 21 people in a restaurant in the Israeli port of
Haifa. Yaalon said the current curfews and travel
restrictions, some of the tightest since the outbreak
of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000, were
preventing Palestinians from carrying out critical
olive and other agricultural harvests, hampering
thousands of children from attending school, increasing
hatred for Israel and strengthening terrorist
organizations.

"In our tactical decisions, we are operating contrary
to our strategic interests," Nahum Barnea, columnist
for the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper, quoted Yaalon as
telling him.

Yaalon also said he believed the Israeli government
contributed to the failure of Mahmoud Abbas as
Palestinian prime minister because it was too "stingy"
and was unwilling to make concessions to bolster his
authority.

Yaalon took his complaints public after several weeks
of security staff meetings in which he advocated easing
the military restrictions on Palestinians. But in each
session he was overruled by Defense Minister Shaul
Mofaz and the intelligence chief, Avi Dichter, who
argued that loosening controls on travel in the
territories could allow Palestinian militants to slip
into Israel, according to two military officers
familiar with the internal disagreements. Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, the final arbiter in the
meetings, sided with Mofaz and Dichter, the officers
said.

"He felt it was his public duty to say that if we don’t
do something about this, then it will explode in our
face," said one senior military official. "The war
against terror is taking place on the backs of
civilians."

Sharon and Mofaz, who both advocate stringent and wide-
ranging responses to Palestinian suicide bombings and
other attacks, reportedly were infuriated that the
chief of staff aired his complaints publicly.

An official of Sharon’s government, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said that what Yaalon said "is
legitimate," but that by making his case to the news
media, "I don’t think he said the right thing to the
right people." He added that Sharon and Mofaz were "not
happy" and that "it would not happen again."

But Yaalon’s remarks, echoed by equally vociferous
criticism from other military officers interviewed
Thursday, revealed a schism between military and
political leaders over the government’s handling of a
conflict that many officers and soldiers say they
believe is not winnable through military force, incites
more terrorism than it prevents and mistreats innocent
Palestinians. Almost 900 Israeli citizens or foreign
residents of Israel have been killed in attacks by
Palestinians, and Israeli military forces have killed
about 2,500 Palestinians.

"We’re in a more serious situation that the U.S. was in
Vietnam," said reserve Brig. Gen. Yiftah Spector, one
of the most decorated fighter pilots in Israeli
military history. Spector was grounded as a flight
instructor last month after signing a letter, along
with 26 other reserve pilots, calling the military’s
targeted killings of militants in crowded civilian
neighborhoods "illegal and immoral."

Israel’s military policies in the Palestinian
territories, Spector said, are "opposing everything I
was raised on" during his career in the air force.

While Yaalon’s staff attempted to make a distinction
between his concerns and those of the pilots, military
officials and analysts said frustration and
disillusionment within the military — not only over
tactics that punish innocent civilians but also with
the stalled peace process — had spurred large numbers
of troops, from infantrymen in the field to reserve
officers to the chief of staff, to speak more openly
against the policies of Sharon’s government.

"We feel there’s a real problem here," said one
military officer, who agreed with the chief of staff’s
assessment. "The public should be made aware how we
feel. There should be a public debate in Israel on
where we’re going and how far we can push the
Palestinian public."

Yaalon also criticized the government’s decision to
expand the barrier being built between the West Bank
and Israel deep into Palestinian territory to encompass
more Jewish settlements and cut off tens of thousands
of Palestinians from their agricultural lands and
families. The Finance Ministry estimated this week that
the barrier would cost about $2.3 billion, more than
three times the original estimate.

A civilian government official accused Yaalon of
hypocrisy, alleging that the military commander carried
out many of the orders that hampered Abbas without
raising objections.

Some military analysts and officials also note that
Yaalon has supported some of the armed forces’ most
controversial tactics in the Palestinian territories,
including targeted killings. Human rights groups have
criticized such killings because they impose a death
sentence on a suspect without due process. In addition,
bystanders are frequently killed in such operations.

Mofaz summoned Yaalon to his office for a reprimand on
Wednesday, the day the Israeli newspapers printed their
first accounts of his remarks, according to government
officials familiar with the meeting. Although Yaalon
was not identified by name in the news columns, which
referred to him as a senior official, the army’s chief
spokeswoman, Brig. Gen. Ruth Yaron, monitored the
meeting with the journalists, and defense officials did
not try to hide the source of the story when Israeli
radio and television identified the source as the chief
of staff.

Two military officials said Mofaz ordered Yaalon to
release a statement that said: "No uniformed officer
has expressed criticism of the government. The articles
reflect the fundamental deliberations and the
discussions that take place in light of a complex
situation. The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is
subordinate to the political echelon and carries out
its orders precisely."

On Thursday, a military officer familiar with the
dispute said that Yaalon "stands behind everything he
said."

Mofaz’s office did not respond to a request for
comment.

Sharon’s office made no official response to the
controversy. The prime minister spent almost seven
hours under interrogation Thursday by police
investigators probing allegations of bribery and
illegal campaign donations involving him and his two
sons in his 1999 election campaign.

One military official said Yaalon expressed
reservations about the government’s treatment of Abbas,
who was Palestinian prime minister from April 30 until
Sept. 6, because his nominated successor, Ahmed Qureia,
must decide next week whether he would accept the
position. Yaalon and other military officials fear that
if a second Palestinian government fails, the
Palestinian Authority could disintegrate, creating
chaos in the territories, the official said.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

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