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An Israeli army artillery piece fires a shell toward the northern Gaza Strip from its position near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, just outside the Gaza Strip, Thursday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners December 25, 2005 |
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Israel will enforce a new off-limits zone in the Gaza Strip with artillery, helicopter and gunboat fire, its latest response to rocket attacks on Israeli towns, defense officials said.
If enforced, the aerial barrage would mark some of Israel's toughest military action in Gaza since it withdrew from the coastal strip in September. Palestinian officials on Friday promised to send in more security forces to the border area to prevent the rocket attacks.
Israel's deputy defense minister, Zeev Boim, said the no-go zone was part of Israel's stepped up response to the rocket fire, which has intensified since the Gaza withdrawal. Israel has already launched missiles and artillery fire at suspected launching areas and killed several terrorists in recent months.
Israel hopes the Palestinians "will get the message and that this will stop the rocket squads," Boim told Israel Radio. "If we must, we will have to tighten the screw further."
But Boim ruled out a major ground offensive in Gaza.
The rockets have a range about six miles (10 kilometers). Since the Gaza pullout, militants have been able to move their launching sites closer to the border fence, bringing the Israeli city of Ashkelon into range, along with sensitive infrastructure installations, including a power plant and a fuel depot.
Preferred launching grounds are the ruins of three Jewish settlements in northern Gaza, close to the border.
The "no-go zone" will be 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) deep and run along the northern and eastern edges of Gaza, defense officials said. Gaza is about 25 miles long and six miles wide. The officials said the areas are uninhabited, though they include Palestinian farmland.
Abbas, who has ignored previous Israeli calls to crack down on terrorists, has ordered the deployment of additional security forces along the border in a bid to restore calm, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
The violence comes amid Palestinian and Israeli election campaigns. Continued fighting could hurt Abbas' Fatah Party, which faces a tough challenge from the terrorist Islamic group Hamas.
Fatah has also been weakened by infighting between party veterans and its disgruntled "young guard," which split from the party last week and presented a separate list of candidates under the name "Future."
Eager to bring the young guard back, Abbas agreed to award top slots on the Fatah list of candidates to younger activists who did well in recent primaries. The move, which still needs court approval, has upset party veterans, who will now have to compete in district voting where re-election is not guaranteed.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and Rauhi Fattouh, upset with the compromise, have decided not to run for parliament, a top Fatah official said Friday. The two men, however, will likely receive political appointments as ministers in the next government.
"Fatah is passing a real crisis. We hope to end this crisis between now and the elections in order to win the election," said Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah's central committee.
In Israel, meanwhile, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's personal physician said the Israeli leader's medical records show he has normal cholesterol and blood pressure levels. With elections scheduled in March, Sharon's health has become a campaign issue since he suffered a mild stroke earlier this week.
The medical records, first published in the Yediot Ahronot daily Friday, showed his blood pressure was 120 over 80, his cholesterol level was 195, and all other major tests were
within the proper range.
Polls published Friday showed Sharon's new centrist party, Kadima, retains a solid lead over the moderate Labor Party, despite the stroke.
Kadima would win 40 of 120 seats in parliament, while Labor would get 19 seats, according to a poll in the Maariv daily, which had a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points. The hardline Likud Party, which Sharon bolted to form Kadima, would win 15 seats under its new leader, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The AP contributed to this report.
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