"PM meets Chancellor Merkel in Berlin as part of Israel's diplomatic efforts to garner international support for wide-scale military operation in Strip, reiterates claim that no sovereign nation would allow attacks on its civilian population without retaliation. Iran also discussed
Roni Sofer
Published: 02.11.08, 23:53 / Israel News
BERLIN – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday evening as part of Israel's diplomatic efforts to garner internal support for a wide-scale operation in the Gaza Strip.
Olmert has expressed his disappointment with the decline in European support for Israel's policy in Gaza despite the incessant Qassam rocket fire on southern Israel.
Sources in the PM's Office attributed the development to a joint attempt by the Palestinians and elements in the United Nations and the European Union to convince the international community that there is a growing concern that Gaza may face a humanitarian crisis.
During his meeting with the chancellor, Olmert reiterated Israel's claim that no sovereign nation in the world would tolerate massive rocket fire on its civilian population without retaliation and stressed that Israel's current policy of low-intensity military activity coupled with economic sanctions has not halted the Qassam attacks on Sderot and neighboring western Negev communities.
The prime minister also expressed his support for Merkel's position in favor of imposing a third round of sanctions against Iran, perhaps even before the release next month of the International Atomic Energy Agency's report on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. However, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has argued for a softer line against Tehran.
Olmert hopes Merkel will keep up the pressure on German firms exporting goods to Iran, and disclosed to her information Israel had obtained regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Yoram Turbowicz, a senior aide to the prime minister, and Olmert's diplomatic adviser Shalom Turgeman also took part in the meeting. Merkel and Olmert are expected to meet again Tuesday morning, at which time they'll discuss the chancellor's scheduled visit to Israel on March 17."
"IDF Ready for Large Operation in Gaza, Waiting for the Order"
"The army is ready for a large-scale counter-terrorist operation in Gaza, but is waiting for the government to give the go-ahead, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday at a conference of senior army officers. Government leaders say the army is free to act in defense of Sderot, Ashkelon and other southern towns. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority rocket attacks continue.
Speaking at a gathering of hundreds of IDF officers on Monday, Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi declared that the IDF is "prepared to expand and extend its operations [in Gaza] as needed and in accordance with [government] decisions." He went on to say that he has "complete faith" in the ability of the army to meet the security needs of the State of Israel. The year 2008, Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi explained, will be a year of many such challenges on the military front.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Olmert said, "The security establishment has the tools and all of the necessary confirmations to deal with [the] threat" of rocket attacks on Israel. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that Israel would not rule out any possible course of action. "IDF operations are continuing day and night and will even be expanded," he said.
Last April, the Chief of Staff told the government at a cabinet meeting that "the only solution to continued Palestinian rocket fire into the western Negev is to implement a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip." However, as of Tuesday, the IDF is continuing to implement a policy of targeted airstrikes against terrorist cells and leaders in the Gaza region.
This week, Israeli intelligence sources warned that Hamas terrorists, including senior leaders, will now be targeted in response to rocket attacks. The head of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, the Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh, has reportedly gone into hiding in order to avoid Israeli retaliation. On Monday, an Air Force strike in Rafiah targeted a vehicle carrying Hamas terrorists. The car was hit and two people were reportedly injured.
PA attacks continue, however. Gaza terrorists fired two rockets at Ashkelon and a second Israeli town on Monday. The rockets landed in open areas. Early morning Tuesday saw seven rockets and mortar attacks in the area of the Negev communities Alumim and Nachal Oz. No injuries were reported in the shellings, but a Golani Brigade soldier was lightly injured in a shootout with a group of armed terrorists in northern Gaza. He was transported to a hospital for treatment.
Overnight, IDF infantry, tanks and combat engineering forces entered northern Gaza to carry out operations against the terrorist infrastructure there."
"IDF to step up Gaza assassinations""The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet internal security service are preparing to step up assassinations against key Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip in response to the continued Qassam rocket attacks against Sderot. The renewed campaign of targeted killings is not likely, at this stage, to include members of the Hamas political leadership.
During a meeting on security developments yesterday, and at the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel needs to continue its preparations for a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, but there is no point in rushing into one.
Olmert was steadfast against pressure from cabinet ministers to change Israel's response to the Qassam attacks from the Gaza Strip.
"There are many operations against the Qassam attacks, but there is no way to put an absolute end to the terrorism in a single blow or a single air attack," Olmert later told reporters on his plane, on his way to a visit to Germany.
"Even after Defensive Shield [the operation against militants in the West Bank in 2002] terrorism continued and it took a long time to curtail it," Olmert added.
During the cabinet meeting, Olmert answered calls for retaliation for the injury of two brothers in Sderot by saying that "rage is not a plan."
Many ministers were critical of the situation in Sderot and the other communities bordering the Gaza Strip.
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit was vociferous in his demands for action. "We are trying to talk in English to a population that only understands Arabic," he said, suggesting that the gloves need to come off.
"We need to target all those responsible for terrorism without asking who they are. It is not acceptable that we do not respond when we are being attacked. The IDF needs to wipe out a neighborhood in Gaza - warn the residents and then go into the neighborhood."
But on the plane, Olmert was almost nonchalant about cabinet criticism concerning the Gaza operations. "There has been fighting in the Gaza Strip for many months. We are holding regular talks on the Gaza Strip and we will have more talks. In 2007 we killed 500 militants in Gaza, so saying that we are doing nothing ignores reality."
For its part, the IDF is stepping up its preparations for the possibility of a large-scale ground operation in the Strip.
Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi recently gave orders for such preparations, but army sources insist that they have not received any order to initiate an operation. Military sources said that such operation is not likely to begin for several more weeks.
Barak has reiterated that Israel will not embark on a military operation unless Israel defines its goals, "has a [political] exit plan" and prepares the ground for broad international support for its action.
For now, the IDF has been ordered to continue its current operations, but step up the intensity of activity. This will include more intensive air strikes against Hamas targets, assassinations, and limited ground operations with forces not penetrating beyond the three-kilometer mark from the border fence into the Gaza Strip.
Security sources also said that there is solid information that the terrorist organizations in the West Bank are readying to dispatch suicide bombers inside Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip did not carry out any Qassam rocket attacks against Israel yesterday.
Nonetheless, yesterday afternoon a member of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine was killed in a firefight between a group of Palestinian gunmen and an IDF patrol, near the border fence in the northern Strip.
Also yesterday, a leading Hamas militant, Mohammed Matir,23, was killed in an air strike on Rafah.
In another air strike on an installation of Hamas' military wing of Hamas near Khan Yunis, 10 Palestinians were injured."
Sounds to me like the invasions and assassinations have begun -- never ended, in fact!
