© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
WEDNESDAY
JUNE 6
2001

Israel's military brass believes that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has lost his nerve. Sharon had pledged over and over that he would order an attack that would destroy the Palestinian Authority and exile Chairman Yasser Arafat from the region. That opportunity came over the weekend when a Palestinian suicide bomber sent by the Islamic Hamas group blew himself up and killed another 20 Israelis.

The following day, June 2, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz presented to Sharon a plan for a massive bombing sweep that would destroy the PA infrastructure and lead to the exile of Arafat. But Sharon, under massive pressure from the United States and the European Union, said no. Arafat had pledged a cease-fire, and Sharon did not want to be seen as the one who ruined the opportunity to end the 8-month-old war against the Palestinians.

The result has been some deep soul-searching within the military. The assessment is that Sharon has followed the path of the man he replaced, Ehud Barak. Barak was held back from ending the war against the Palestinians by the refusal of then-President Bill Clinton to support a drive to exile Arafat. Barak felt that without U.S. support, Israel would be alone against the world.

What now? The military brass has drafted the following scenario: Arafat will steadily escalate the violence but keep it below Sharon's level of tolerance. Meanwhile, Arafat's Arab allies will rearm for a regional war against Israel.

As the military brass sees it, Iran, Iraq, the Palestinians and Hezbollah want a regional war. Syria and Egypt are preparing for such a development. The brass is divided over whether Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will join such a coalition when the time comes. In every meeting with U.S. officials, Mubarak has pledged he will stop such a war. But in public, the Egyptian president has been talking very tough.

The time frame for such a war is between October and the end of this year.