(Ha'aretz) Herb Keinon - Israel views any attempt to develop a Kassam rocket in the West Bank as a "ticking bomb" and will take the necessary military action to thwart it without first asking the PA to act, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet Sunday. Mofaz said that today in Gaza there were Kassam rockets with a range of 7 to 8 kilometers and that he could not guarantee that there were not longer range rockets there as well. He said the PA was not taking action against the Palestinian terrorist organizations and that Hamas was gaining both political and military strength and was emerging as a "second" Palestinian Authority, putting together a "people's army" under the nose of the PA. Mofaz said that Israel is taking Hizballah head Sheikh Nasrallah's threats to kidnap Israeli soldiers very seriously, and that there are concrete warnings regarding this possibility. (Jerusalem Post) Mofaz told the cabinet there have been more than 400 violations of the cease-fire, mainly by Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
2005-05-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive