Gaza Commander: 'Hair Stands on End' when I Recall Disengagement
Av 24, 5769, 14 August 09 11:01
by Gil Ronen 
Brig-Gen Eyal Eisenberg (Bamachaneh) (Israelnationalnews.com) Brig.-Gen. Eyal Eisenberg, Gaza Division Commander, participated in the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif in 2005 (the Disengagement), and though he does not feel guilt over what he did, he hinted in an interview for the IDF journal BaMachaneh that the IDF should not have been dragged into an operation over which there was no consensus.
Asked if the retreat had improved security, Eisenberg dodged the question: "On the personal level, this was not a simple experience. I speak about it and my hair stands on end. I will never forget the scene on the night before the evacuation of the Atzmona pre-military academy: soldiers and students singing and dancing into the night, until the moment of the eviction. That is something that cannot be forgotten. I am at peace with myself over what we did, in the sense of carrying out orders. We, an army, do not choose our orders. And yet, it is true that the army needs to remain at the center of [national] consensus."
Foreigners Don't Understand
Asked about the suitable price tag in a deal for freeing abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, Eisenberg said, "The decision about the price is not simple and it has many derivative strategic ramifications. The Americans, for instance, see [our anxiety over Shalit] as very strange. But as we said – this is one of the things a foreigner will never understand. It is something in the Jewish gene, the desire to redeem prisoners."
Asked about the suitable price tag in a deal for freeing abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, Eisenberg said, "The decision about the price is not simple and it has many derivative strategic ramifications. The Americans, for instance, see [our anxiety over Shalit] as very strange. But as we said – this is one of the things a foreigner will never understand. It is something in the Jewish gene, the desire to redeem prisoners."
Hamas in Gaza is trying to rebuild infrastructures – but this last mission is very difficult when there is no iron and concrete, Eisenberg said.
Asked whether a bag of concrete that enters Gaza will go towards rebuilding civilian infrastructures destroyed in Operation Cast Lead or to improving military infrastructures, the Gaza commander had no doubts: "It will go first towards rebuilding military infrastructures. Hamas has complete control over every bag that goes in and knows where it goes."
Asked whether a bag of concrete that enters Gaza will go towards rebuilding civilian infrastructures destroyed in Operation Cast Lead or to improving military infrastructures, the Gaza commander had no doubts: "It will go first towards rebuilding military infrastructures. Hamas has complete control over every bag that goes in and knows where it goes."
Hamas's effort, he explained, is three-pronged. The first is the "civilian effort" is to try and show that it is in control, and the second is in rebuilding the military infrastructure. The third effort by Hamas revolves around attempts to make it more difficult for Israel to attack again.
"Through international pressure on us," he said, "they attempt to neutralize any future operation by us, should we have to operate in the Strip again. We built legitimacy for our 'Cast Lead' operation via eight years of restraint and suffering. When we want to launch Cast Lead 2, it will be more difficult. Hamas is looking at the next day."
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