The Israeli army moved tank and armored infantry units into "A Areas" under Palestinian jurisdiction of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. A senior Israeli military source informed DEBKAfile: "IDF forces are taking up tank positions in accordance with operational requirements. Senior military sources issued over Israeli broadcast media Monday night a series of suggestive statements, such as: "The Palestinians must understand that there is a territorial price for their confrontation' and: "In the Gaza Strip the Palestinians have stockpiled large quantities of smuggled explosives and ammunition. That disclosure indicated that the Israeli army had already blown up dumps in various parts of the Gaza Strip. Another statement from a "senior military source maintained euphemistically that the Israeli army was "broadening the peripheries of the Gaza Strip settlements to augment the settlers, security. Not a single centimeter of settlement land can be given up.

By last night, Israeli armored had advanced on Palestinian areas at the following points: In the West Bank - the Al Khader-Beit Sahur sector bordering on Bethlehem, the Bitunia sector bordering on Ramallah and the Tulcarm-Jenin sector in the north. In the Gaza Strip the Khan Yunis-Rafah sector opposite the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the south, the route linking Rafah to the Mediterranean coast to bisect the Gaza Strip; Gaza City's southern fringes opposite the Netzarim settlement. None of these actions met with resistance in their initial phase.

The army has also begun calling up a fresh wave of reserves.

Two DEBKAfile articles further down this page outline the IDF's latest tactics _____

Operational Plan for Immediate IDF Execution 3-4-1

As Mofaz has emphasized, the spiraling terrorist blight is scaled up obliges the IDF to operate on a broader, more comprehensive scale.

DEBKAfile's military sources outline a limited operational plan that is ready to go.

Special Forces units, General Command, Golani, Givati, Nahal, Duchifat and Shaldag will ordered to carry out short in-and-out forays into Palestinian Authority areas.

Specifically, units like will carry out operations possibly right after the Sharon government is sworn in on Wednesday if not before - to destroy Palestinian command quarters, bases, terrorist command hideouts and arms caches. Their objective will be to degrade or even extinguish Palestinian military capabilities and liquidate its command manpower. The Israeli units will exit A Areas immediately after accomplishing their missions.

To reach their targets, they will either advance by night or be dropped by helicopter or sea landing. If the first, the Israeli defense troika hopes to forestall US pressures against Israeli military action in Palestinian A Areas by moving them in and out fast. In fact, Washington's message to Jerusalem this week stressed that Israel's reoccupation of parts of the A Areas was nconceivable. However, no American official including Colin Powell has spoken out against limited military operations in the A Areas.

The Israel plan therefore calls for a tough response to escalating Palestinian terrorist activity but - at least until the Arab summit takes place in Amman on March 27, to try and refrain from stepping out of the existing boundaries between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The Debka Files
Courtesy Rense.com