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| By israelinsider staff May 7, 2007 |
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that Israel would "respond severely" to continuing Qassam rocket fire from Gaza. He said that the attacks "threaten civilian lives in the northern Negev," a statement from his office said.
"The Qassam attacks constitute a tangible threat to Israel," Olmert said earlier, during a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "Israel cannot show restraint forever."
However, no severe action seems to be a live option at the moment.
The Israel Air Force this afternoon tried to hit a Qassam rocket squad in northern Gaza. Ynet reported that only one passerby was injured moderately. The strike followed a rocket firing that landed near a kindergarten in Sderot. On Sunday, two people were wounded, one moderately, when a rocket hit a gas station near the western Negev town.
Indeed, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni cautioned Monday against a hasty decision to invade Gaza over the continued rocket strikes, saying the government must not repeat mistakes of the Second Lebanon War. It was unclear what she meant by "hasty" -- the Israeli government has absorbed hundreds of rockets attacks without any kind of incursion to seriously address the constant firing since Palestinians began to freely fire into Israel after its withdrawal from Gaza. Former Jewish communities in northern Israel have turned into launch pads for rockets attacks against Sderot to the east and the Ashkelon area to the north.
Livni asked that the military echelons present its plans, and a variety of alternatives, with the Foreign Ministry involved in any decision to choose one and go ahead. "I think that the time has come to change the way of working, both in the government and in the relationship between the military and diplomatic echelons," she said after a meeting with Steinmeier.
"As a member of the cabinet, I expect that there will be a debate during which the military echelon will present its plans," she said. "The situation in Gaza is complicated, and the government must hold a comprehensive and considered decision-making session."
Pundits interpreted her plea for involvement as a sign of insecurity following her call for Olmert to resign following the damning Winograd Commission report.
The foreign minister said that in view of the panel's findings, a change in the decision-making processes was required. "These decisions are only apparently security-related. The Foreign Ministry must be party to them," she said. "I expect to be given alternatives and discuss [them] in depth so that a decision can be made on the matter."
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who has already indicated in his desire to slink from his post following the Winograd criticism, said that despite his personal concern with the rocket attacks, he would not rush into retaliation.
"This morning we woke up to the sound of a Qassam barrage fired at the area where I live. I am familiar with every house and every family. We are doing everything in order to maintain the truce and prevent escalation, but I am saying this clearly: The terror organizations must not delude themselves," Peretz said.
"Our duty to defend Israel's citizens is not subject to any consideration," he added, not explaining what he meant.
The defense minister then added a consideration: "Alongside military courage we need diplomatic courage, because courage is required in the diplomatic system as well. And from this point of confusion and feeling of a crisis, it is time for a broad diplomatic initiative and an effort to establish relations with the entire Arab world." He did not explain why.
"Before anyone in the State of Israel issues an order to launch an operation or a war, we must look forward and say that we did everything to prevent it, that we exerted every effort in order to find another way, a diplomatic way," he said.
Peretz is likely to find himself out of a job after the election for chairman of the Labor party at the end of the month. He has said he would like to gain the Finance Ministry but that is hardly likely after his expected loss of leadership of Labor.
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