PECS and Trisher I hope you don't mind I am going to answer both your queries in this one post, it makes sense to do so.
I should also say I am sorry it has taken so long for me to answer, Friday is such a busy day for me.
PECS you ask: allygran do you think the IDF ever attack a 'soft target'?
First I am taking the liberty of changing the question, because in that form you are asking me personally to speculate on something that I cannot possibly know for sure. So the answer would be simple I don't know. But that might be a lost opportunity to do some research, which I have done.
I can have a stab at offering you some discussion based on the definition of terrorism I posted: Allygran1 Fri 03-Aug-18 01:35:07 to OldMeg. First we have to define what sort of organisation IDF is. Research say:
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; Hebrew: צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל Tsva ha-Hagana le-Yisra'el, lit. "The Army of Defense for Israel"; Arabic: جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي), commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal (צה״ל), are the military forces of the State of Israel.
Israel Defense Forces - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces
This means that they are a legitimate and legal army of a Nation responsible for the defence and security of it’s people. That established we now need to see who this legitimate army defend’s it’s people from. This is where it becomes very complex, since all the usual names of groups that are familiar to us, appear from my research to be entangled and almost impossible in reality to identify although they do have their own separate identity by name only. Some of those organisations are, using the definitions posted to OldMeg: Allygran1 Fri 03-Aug-18 01:35:07 are classified as Terrorist groups, others are classified as a Military wing of a Political organisation, others are legitimate and legal army’s of Nations responsible for the defence and security of it’s people, with a very important distinction from the normal army’s of other Nations in the West, many are Arab Muslim and come together, house and support the Arab Muslim terrorist groups, in the name of religious interfada and jihad.
Having established roughly who is who in the Lavant area of the Middle East and how they function I need you and Trisher to look at this:
Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat at the Oslo Accords signing ceremony on 13 September 1993
In mid-1993, Israeli and Palestinian representatives engaged in peace talks in Oslo, Norway. As a result, in September 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, known as the Declaration of Principles or Oslo I; in side letters, Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people while the PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist and renounced terrorism, violence and its desire for the destruction of Israel.
The Oslo II agreement was signed in 1995 and detailed the division of the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C. Area A was land under full Palestinian civilian control. In Area A, Palestinians were also responsible for internal security. The Oslo agreements remain important documents in Israeli-Palestinian relations.
2000–05
The Second Intifada forced Israel to rethink its relationship and policies towards the Palestinians. Following a series of suicide bombings and attacks, the Israeli army launched Operation Defensive Shield. ^It was the largest military operation conducted by Israel since the Six-Day War.^[69]
As violence between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants intensified, Israel expanded its security apparatus around the West Bank by re-taking many parts of land in Area A. Israel established a complicated system of roadblocks and checkpoints around major Palestinian areas to deter violence and protect Israeli settlements. However, since 2008, the IDF has slowly transferred authority to Palestinian security forces.[70][71][72]
Israel's then prime minister Ariel Sharon began a policy of disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2003. This policy was fully implemented in August 2005.[73] Sharon's announcement to disengage from Gaza came as a tremendous shock to his critics both on the left and on the right. A year previously, he had commented that the fate of the most far-flung settlements in Gaza, Netzararem and Kfar Darom, was regarded in the same light as that of Tel Aviv.[74] The formal announcements to evacuate seventeen Gaza settlements and another four in the West Bank in February 2004 represented the first reversal for the settler movement since 1968. It divided his party. It was strongly supported by Trade and Industry Minister Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, the Minister for Immigration and Absorption, but Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned it. It was also uncertain whether this was simply the beginning of further evacuation.[75]
2006–present
Further information: Iran-Israel proxy conflict
In June 2006, Hamas militants infiltrated an army post near the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip and abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Two IDF soldiers were killed in the attack, while Shalit was wounded after his tank was hit with an RPG. Three days later Israel launched Operation Summer Rains to secure the release of Shalit.[76] He was held hostage by Hamas, who barred the International Red Crossfrom seeing him, until 18 October 2011, when he was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.[77][78]
In July 2006, Hezbollah fighters crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel, attacked and killed eight Israeli soldiers, and abducted two others as hostages, setting off the 2006 Lebanon War which caused much destruction in Lebanon.[79] A UN-sponsored ceasefire went into effect on 14 August 2006, officially ending the conflict.[80] The conflict killed over a thousand Lebanese and over 150 Israelis,[81][82][83][84][85][86][87] severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebanese[88] and 300,000–500,000 Israelis, although most were able to return to their homes.[89][90][91] After the ceasefire, some parts of Southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to Israeli unexploded cluster bomblets.[92]
In the aftermath of the Battle of Gaza, where Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in a violent civil war with rival Fatah, Israel placed restrictions on its border with Gaza and ended economic cooperation with the Palestinian leadership based there. Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007. Israel maintains the blockade is necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza and to prevent Hamas from smuggling advanced rockets and weapons capable of hitting its cities.[93]
On 6 September 2007, in Operation Orchard, Israel bombed an eastern Syrian complex which was allegedly a nuclear reactor being built with assistance from North Korea.[94] Israel had also bombedSyria in 2003.
In April 2008, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a Qatari newspaper that Syria and Israel had been discussing a peace treaty for a year, with Turkey as a go-between. This was confirmed in May 2008 by a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert^^As well as a peace treaty, the future of the Golan Heights is being discussed. ^President Assad said "there would be no direct negotiations with Israel until a new US president takes office.^"[95]
Speaking in Jerusalem on 26 August 2008, then United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized Israel's increased settlement construction in the West Bank as detrimental to the peace process. Rice's comments came amid reports that Israeli construction in the disputed territory had increased by a factor of 1.8 over 2007 levels.[96]
A fragile six-month truce between Hamas and Israel expired on 19 December 2008;[97] attempts at extending the truce failed amid accusations of breaches from both sides.[98][99][100][101] Following the expiration, Israel launched a raid on a tunnel suspected of being used to kidnap Israeli soldiers, which killed several Hamas fighters.[102] Following this, Hamas resumed rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli cities, most notably firing over 60 rockets on 24 December. On 27 December 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against Hamas. Numerous human rights organizations accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes.[103]
In 2009 Israel placed a 10-month settlement freeze on the West Bank. Then United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the freeze as an "unprecedented" gesture that could "help revive Middle East talks."[104][105]
A raid was carried out by Israeli naval forces on six ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010[106] after the ships refused to dock at Port Ashdod. On the MV Mavi Marmara, activists clashed with the Israeli boarding party. During the fighting, nine activists were killed by Israeli special forces. Widespread international condemnation of and reaction to the raid followed, Israel–Turkey relations were strained, and Israel subsequently eased its blockade on the Gaza Strip.[107][108][109][110] Several dozen other passengers and seven Israeli soldiers were injured,[108] with some of the commandos suffering from gunshot wounds.[111][112]
Following the latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, 13 Palestinian militant movements led by Hamas initiated a terror campaign designed to derail and disrupt the negotiations.[113] Attacks on Israelis have increased since August 2010, after 4 Israeli civilians were killed by Hamas militants. Palestinian militants have increased the frequency of rocket attacks aimed at Israelis. On 2 August, Hamas militants launched seven Katyusha rockets at Eilat and Aqaba, killing one Jordanian civilian and wounding 4 others.[114]
Intermittent fighting continued since then, including 680 rocket attacks on Israel in 2011.[115] On 14 November 2012, Israel killed Ahmed Jabari, a leader of Hamas's military wing, launching Operation Pillar of Cloud.[116] Hamas and Israel agreed to an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire on 21 November.[117]
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said that 158 Palestinians were killed during the operation, of which: 102 were civilians, 55 were militants and one was a policeman; 30 were children and 13 were women.[118][119] B'Tselem stated that according to its initial findings, which covered only the period between 14 and 19 November 102 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, 40 of them civilians. According to Israeli figures, 120 combatants and 57 civilians were killed.[120] International outcry ensued, with many criticizing Israel for what much of the international community perceived as a disproportionately violent response.[121] Protests took place on hundreds of college campuses across the U.S., and in front of the Israeli consulate in New York.[122] Additional protests took place throughout the Middle East, throughout Europe, and in parts of South America.[122] However, the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Netherlands expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself, and/or condemned the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.[123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133]
Following an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas, Israel started an operation in the Gaza Strip on 8 July 2014.[134]
Israel's military role in the Syrian Civil War has been limited to missile strikes,[135][136] which until 2017 were not officially acknowledged. While the Israeli official position is neutrality in the conflict, Israel is opposed to Iran's presence in Syria.[137] Israel has provided humanitarian aid to Syrian war victims, an effort that was drastically geared up since June 2016 when the Operation Good Neighbour was launched by the Israeli military. There are many different national interests playing a role in the war^^One of them is ^Iran, which Israel is concerned could gain too much regional influence. Iranian proxies such as Hezbollah are suspected of carrying out attacks against Israeli positions on the borders to Syria and Lebanon, and Israel is suspected of carrying out air strikes against convoys transporting weapons to such organisations.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Clinton,_Yitzhak_Rabin,_Yasser_Arafat_at_the_White_House_1993-09-13.jpg
So I guess the answer to your question about “soft” targets, depends on what is regarded as a “soft” target. Illegal indiscriminate terrorists like Hamas attacking civilians and civil police, politicians etc, are definitely nor 'soft' targets. A legitimate force defending it’s people, against terrorists groups based on the definition posted to OldMeg I would say is legitimate by defininition. If you regard Hamas and any of the other Israel attackers as ‘soft target” for Israel's retaliation that is your conclusion.
There is another aspect for Trisher which is to answer her question about the size of Israel’s armed service including reserves who will be anyone who served as a conscript who is eligible.
www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2018/02/26/ten-strongest-military-forces-middle-east/#77b1871016a2
www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/04/24/the-top-15-countries-for-military-expenditure-in-2016-infographic/#13cdce1b43f3
Syria
Active personnel: 142,500
Algeria
Active personnel: 130,000
Saudi Arabia
Active personnel: 227,000
Iran
Active personnel: 523,000
Israel
Active personnel: 176,500
Egypt
Active personnel: 438,500
Turkey
Active personnel: 355,800
Since the PLO and PLA particularly cannot be separated from Syria, Iran, Egypt, and Lebanon it is impossible to accurately say how many fight under the PLA banner from other Arab Muslim Country’s or indeed how may PLA fight under the banner of the Nations mentioned above. However looking at the figures, I might take a guess that, at any time the main protagonists could muster enough legitimate armed forces to wipe out Israel. The resulting International outcry is all that keep’s that from happening in my view.
There is information available to identify how well armed these Country’s are in Forbes.
Since we have wandered off the thread, if you want a discussion about Palestinian 'refugee's' may I suggest you start a new thread. Instead of blaming Israel for their plight from action taken just short of seventy years ago, rather than asking why are second and third and possibly fourth generation Arab Muslim Palestinians not absorbed into largely Arab Muslim communities and Country's across the Levant? That's the issue, that's the question.