Israel Considers Making a Fortress of Jerusalem
Plan to use fences, roadblocks and foot patrols would ostensibly deter suicide bombers. Critics say it would add to problems.

Rightist ex-generals propose massive invasion of territories

The Minister of Justice and the very dangerous lunatic subversives

Dov Tamari (former Brigadier-General, presently social science researcher):
"The old wars, to which the world was used in the 19th and earlier 20th century, were wars pitting an army against an army. The two sides were both a state with an army; in some wars the two armies were of very unequal size and strength, but still the basic assumptions under which they operated were the same. The other kind of war, war between a state and a non-state entity was marginalized and not properly analysed. It did not fit the idealized criteria of Clausewitz. And even though nowadays the majority of wars worldwide are of this second kind, the standard concepts of war are still of the older type, you look for a state with an army and if you don't find it you lump anything else under the simple-minded label of 'terrorism'. (...) In 1982, I was told to study the refugee camps in Lebanon, which the IDF just occupied, and devise ways of "dismantling the terrorist infrastructure". I found that the "terrorist infrastructure" was very elusive, sometimes it was in the schools, sometimes in charitable associations and religious institutions. It was, in fact, composed of people. To 'dismantle' it you have to start killing people en masse, and if you don't want to do that you should just give up the idea."
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Selling the 'Samson option'

This line of argument, used by Mubarak on innumerable occasions with Israeli and Egyptian interlocutors, says the current violence will spill over and ignite the streets of Amman, Cairo, and Riyadh, leading to a massive conflict with apocalyptic consequences for the region and the world.

By mouthing this argument, Mubarak is propagating what diplomatic officials in Israel refer to as Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's "Samson option." The Samson option, named after the Biblical figure who brought the walls tumbling down, is the Palestinian nuclear option, without the bomb.
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Letter From Israel
A Firebrand for Peace Speaks Her Mind
Complaining to Naomi

The smile of policeman Agadi

Easier to kill, harder to judge
The state does not see the intifada as a popular uprising, but an armed confrontation. An exploration of the complex legal implications.