145;Crush Intifada before pullout146;

Amid the chaos of a Gaza hospital ward overwhelmed with patients and bodies on Friday, Dr Jamar Saaqa could not help but notice the contradiction. 8216;8216;If Israel is leaving here, why are they killing all of us?8217;8217; Israeli PM Ariel Sharon does indeed want to uproot Jewish settlements and settlers from Gaza by this time next year and leave the strip to the 1.3 million Palestinians who live in its cramped camps and cities. Still, Sharon approved a new military incursion on Thursday.

On Saturday, the Israeli Army killed nine Hamas militants, raising the Palestinian death toll to 47. Why, many Palestinians and some Israelis argue, doesn8217;t Sharon just pull out of Gaza now and avoid another year of what seems to them to be pointless clashes and endless rounds of killing? The simple answer is that the army raid is to stop militant rocket fire at the Israeli town of Sederot, located just outside the Gaza fence. At the same time, Israel doesn8217;t want to leave Gaza with the withdrawal being viewed as a retreat under fire.

8216;8216;There will not be a disengagement under fire,8217;8217; said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon. 8216;8216;If there will be fire, it will be our fire on the terrorists. We will walk out, and they will be on the run8230;We have learned our lessons from Lebanon8217;8217;.

Israel ended its occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000 leaving behind the militant force Hezbollah that has become the de facto ruler of the area and continues to wage cross-border attacks. 8212; LAT-WP