ISRAELI SECURITY CHIEF AGAIN WARNS OF WITHDRAWALJERUSALEM [MENL] -- Israel's security chief has warned against a military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip border with Egypt.
In perhaps the most stark warning yet, Israel Security Agency director Avi Dichter said a withdrawal from the eight-kilometer Egypt-Gaza border would increase the flow of heavy weapons to the Palestinian Authority and insurgency groups. Dichter said these weapons would include anti-aircraft missiles, Katyusha rockets and other equipment long sought by the Palestinians.
In a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, Dichter said the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza border would turn the entire area into southern Lebanon. Dichter pointed to the entry of thousands of missiles and rockets by Iran and Syria to Hizbullah positions along the Lebanese border with Israel over the last four years.
Dichter's warning was said to have marked the harshest assessment by an Israeli military or security chief regarding the ramifications of the government's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank. Dichter, who is resigning his post, did not specifically oppose the plan, but portrayed a stark scenario in which Palestinian forces would pose a threat to Israel similar to that of Hizbullah.