Tensions rising on Gaza border
The IDF is bracing itself for a mass march by Palestinians towards the Gaza–Israel border on Friday. Hamas is believed to have spent millions of dollars organising the "Great Return March".
THE IDF is bracing itself for a mass march by Palestinians towards the Gaza–Israel border on Friday.
Hamas is believed to have spent millions of dollars organising the “Great Return March”, which will involve thousands of Gaza Palestinians heading towards the border. Many are expected to try to breach the fence, as Syrian protesters did in 2011.
Gaza militants have been turning up the temperature ahead of the march. Last Saturday, four Palestinians went from Gaza to Israel, and tried to vandalise IDF equipment.
They ran towards the border fence, cut a hole in it, crossed to Israel and then set Israeli equipment alight. They fled back to Gaza, and shortly afterwards, Israel attacked a Hamas facility.
Israel responded by pummelling a militant training camp in Gaza. “The Israeli Air Force targeted a terror objective in a military compound in Rafah, southern Gaza, belonging to Hamas,” the Israeli military announced, promising that it will “continue to thwart all attempts to harm the State of Israel and will respond severely against those who wish to harm Israeli civilians”.
Since the weekend, Gaza militants have continued to flex their muscles. On Sunday, Hamas men conducted a drill across the Strip, which involved the firing of artillery.
It was the most elaborate drill they have conducted during their 10 years in control of Gaza, and while they presented it as a defensive drill, it is being widely interpreted as a show of strength.
The Hamas fire caused the Iron Dome missile defence system to fire interceptors – though this seems to have been a mistake as there were no rockets for them to intercept.
Friday’s march is widely seen as the start of a season of activities by hard-line Palestinians.
IDF intelligence chief Herzl Halevi, warned on Sunday of a possible “explosion” of Palestinian violence ahead of Israel’s 70th anniversary.
Analysts have made similar suggestions. Jonathan Halevi, senior researcher at the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, suggested that Friday’s March of Return “is planned as just the first stage in a series of ‘return’ protest activities that will take place over the next few months”.
Jonathan Halevi predicts that demonstrations and attempts to break the naval embargo on the Gaza Strip will follow.
“These activities will reach their peak in the middle of May,” he wrote in a preview of upcoming events, referring to the date of Israel’s 70th anniversary in the Gregorian calendar.
Palestinians are expected to pitch tents by the border during Friday’s march, and Jonathan Halevi predicts that organisers’ insistence that the march will be peaceful are meaningless.
He called the expression “peaceful” a “euphemism for violent disturbances of public order, including attempts to kill Israelis”.
He noted that the leaders of the march “are authorised to decide for the mob to break through the border fence between Gaza and Israel, and they have hinted at their intention to issue such an order”.
NATHAN JEFFAY
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