Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Israeli reservists were sent into action for the first time in the current Gaza conflict as the fighting continued yesterday and Palestinian deaths reportedly rose to 900.
Israeli forces were, however, holding off from a surge into the heart of Gaza City, the so-called Phase 3 in the military operations, and there were fewer air strikes, 25, compared with previous days, when they had averaged 60 to 70.
Meanwhile there were reports of a split within the Israeli cabinet with claims that Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, and Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, were pressing for an early end to the offensive while Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister, wanted it to continue.
Mr Olmert, who resigned as head of the Kadima party in September following corruption allegations, is said to be planning to present his case to a cabinet forum where he enjoys support.
Ms Livni, the Kadima candidate in the elections on 10 February, has indicated publicly that she is strongly opposed to any peace agreement involving Hamas. She is said to favour, instead, a unilateral halt to the offensive, in effect challenging Hamas to halt the rocket fire or face a renewed onslaught on Gaza.
Mr Barak, the Labour Party's candidate in the election, on the other hand, is said to prefer a ceasefire indirectly agreed with Hamas through mediation by Egyptians and is said to have been privately critical that not enough was being done at peace talks in Cairo.
Ben Caspit, one of Israel's leading newspaper commentators, reported "some sources" as claiming that Mr Olmert was seeking to prolong the war in order to postpone the elections. However, his office has denied any such claims. Caspit also suggested that a full victory over Hamas and possibly the rescue of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was abducted in June 2006 by Hamas, might give Mr Olmert a "real historical achievement". But elections have only very exceptionally been postponed in Israeli. While there was a delay during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, there was none in the 2001 election, which took place as the intifada was nearing its peak.
Ms Livni declared yesterday that the military offensive had "restored Israel's deterrence ... Hamas now understands that when you fire on its citizens it responds by going wild – and this is a good thing."
However, she was forced to defend herself against charges that she had failed in her duty as Foreign Minister by not stopping the UN resolution demanding a ceasefire. "Anyone who has any understanding of what happens on the diplomatic field during any military operations knows that at some stage an agreement is reached similar to that one which was reached at the Security Council," she said.
read more:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-cabinet-divided-over-fresh-gaza-surge-1332024.html 
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
