vaunted security forces have taken something of a beating in the past couple of years, prompting the world to wonder just who is running the show there. There was a time when Israel appeared not only invincible but, in the eyes of much of the world, beyond reproach. That time is no longer. The raid on a West Bank refugee camp Monday morning, while many Palestinians were on the street preparing for the final meal before dawn on the first day of Ramadan, was poorly thought-out, and the consequences were glaring. Two men, both reportedly bystanders having nothing to do with what the Israeli military termed “routine arrests”, were shot by Israelis reacting to stone-throwing that erupted during the 3 A.M. raid. Exactly what reaction the Israelis were expecting is not known, but anyone with a grain of sense could have predicted that such a raid on the first day of Ramadan was certain to provoke a violent reaction. In a recent interview, an unnamed Israeli military commander said that the area where the raid took place, known as Area A, is secured by the Palestinian Authority during the day, but the Israeli military has the right to enter at night, which it does approximately six times nightly. “For intelligence dominance and freedom of action, this is the minimum number of entries we have to make per night,” he said. So, the right of the Israelis to enter has nothing to do with the security of the area's inhabitants but entirely to do with the perceived security of Israel, an issue clearly on view during the raid. In fact, asked about casualties, the military commented only on injuries sustained by five of its soldiers and claimed to have no knowledge of the Palestinian casualties. In the wake of the deaths during the Israeli raid on the Turkish-originated aid flotilla and the reckless invasion of Gaza prior to that, the current raid takes on an elevated importance. The Israelis are showing themselves increasingly heedless to human life in the territories. The world is watching, however. __
