Olmert resists pressure to invade Gaza

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resisted pressure Sunday to launch a broad military operation against Gaza rocket squads, a day after an 8-year-old boy lost his leg in a rocket attack on a much-targeted Israeli town.

The ongoing rocket barrages and Israeli military attacks threaten to scuttle U.S.-backed efforts to prod Israel and the Palestinians toward a final peace agreement by the end of the year. Israel has warned it would not implement any peace deal if the violence continues.

Yet, senior military and government officials oppose a broad Gaza invasion, for fear dozens of soldiers and Palestinian civilians would be killed. Instead, the military has been focusing on pinpoint operations against rocket squads.

"Anger is not an operational plan," Olmert said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting. "We must operate in a methodical and organized fashion, over time. That's what we're doing, that's what we'll continue to do. We'll continue to go after all terror operatives, their handlers and their dispatchers."

The boy was wounded by one of the 11 rockets fired at southern Israel on Saturday. He, his 19-year-old brother and a friend were walking down a street in the rocket-scarred town of Sderot when a siren announced an incoming projectile, but they didn't manage to find shelter in time.

One of the boy's legs, which was partially severed by the blast, was amputated, and doctors weren't sure they'd be able to save his other leg, Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon said Sunday. He also underwent abdominal surgery. His brother, who was also wounded, was in moderate condition.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened tough retaliation Sunday during a visit to Sderot. Four Israeli airstrikes after the attack killed a Gaza gunman and targeted weapons-making operations of the Islamic militant Hamas group that rules the territory.

But Sderot residents, who have been pressing for a large-scale military invasion of Gaza, were not reassured. They accused Barak of neglecting them. And hundreds of residents left Sderot for Jerusalem on Sunday to protest outside Olmert's office.

Rockets barrage southern Israel almost daily, severely disrupting daily life and killing 12 Israelis in the past seven years.

The assaults have not subsided despite Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation. Harsh military retaliation, and an economic blockade of the territory in recent months have not bowed the militants, either.

Eighteen Palestinians, all militants except for one, were killed last week in Israeli strikes in Gaza. Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Army Radio some 200 militants have been killed in the past two months.

Israel supplies all of Gaza's fuel and about two-thirds of its electricity, and controls most crossings into the territory. In recent months, it has cut back fuel supplies and sharply restricted the entry of other goods through the crossings.

On Thursday, it cut about 1 percent of its power supply to the coastal territory in an effort to pressure the 1.4 million Palestinians there to get their Hamas rulers to stop the launchings.

"If they fire a rocket, then there should be no electricity, or water or fuel. If they don't fire, then there will be," Ramon said.

Refusing to name names, Ramon also suggested Israel should go after the militants' political leaders.

"Whoever is involved in rocket fire or acts of terror against the state of Israel is a target for assassination," whether he is directly or indirectly involved, he said.

The vice premier is a close political ally of Olmert's, and his comments often reflect the prime minister's thinking.

National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, advocated severing all ties with Gaza.

"They are pressing us to reoccupy Gaza, but we're not interested in doing that, so we will impose economic sanctions," Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio on Sunday. "I very much support additional steps that will bring about a total cutoff from Gaza."

The ongoing rocket barrages and Israeli military attacks threaten to scuttle U.S.-backed efforts to prod Israel and the Palestinians toward a final peace agreement by the end of the year.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read stupidity like this. I think the author really believes that "final peace agreement" is a meaningful concept in the middle east.

Ehud Olmert is a coward. He tells the people of Sderot to calm down. They need to get fired up - one Jewish child with an amputated limb is one amputated Jewish child too many! If this Israeli government is not going to defend the country, it needs pressured to step aside for one that will do the job!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

3 posted on 02/10/2008 8:52:59 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)

Let’s hope that the ongoing rocket barrages and Islamist military attacks do scuttle U.S.TAXPAYER’s $$ backed efforts...no more US $$s to Terrorist in the ME!

I am amazed at the reasoning these days. I am listening to Voices from Hitler’s Army on the first day of the invasion of Russia. 45 men started on day one. 22 out of that 45 were killed in the first day. And we worry about causalities to stop an cowardly adversary.

5 posted on 02/10/2008 9:02:39 AM PST by Citizen Tom Paine (Swift as the wind; Calmly majestic as a forest; Steady as the mountains.)

If boys in Laredo lost legs from Mexican-launched mortar attacks would the U.S. just stand still and take it?

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