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Israeli Decision on Gaza Awaits Rice Visit

[Jerusalem Post] Herb Keinon - The Israeli government will wait until Wednesday - after U.S. Secretary of State Rice's visit - to define the overall goals of the current military campaign in Gaza, senior government officials said Sunday. "Israel wants to stop the rocket fire," one senior official said. "If it is done through diplomatic means, that's one way. But if it isn't, then we will have to do it militarily." The official said the security cabinet was not meeting until Wednesday to discuss Gaza, only after the Rice visit on Tuesday, to see if her intervention would put an end to Hamas rocket fire. The officials said that if Rice were able to get Hamas to stop the attacks, it was unlikely that the government would okay a widespread ground push into Gaza. Sources said the fighting tapered off on Sunday largely because the combat was most intense when the IDF first penetrated into Gaza. The intensity diminished as those who resisted were either killed or retreated. Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Ashkenazi said that since Wednesday, an average of 50 rockets had hit Israel every day. Israel Security Agency head Yuval Diskin said Hamas wanted "to create a new balance of terror to create calm, so they can consolidate their strength in Gaza and then move to the next level: taking over in Judea and Samaria (West Bank)."
2008-03-03 01:00:00
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