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Israel threatens to reoccupy Gaza

by ALJ
Israel will reoccupy the Gaza Strip if Hamas does not put an end to cross border rocket attacks, a senior military commander says.
Major-General Yoav Galant, head of Israel's southern command, said he was considering a range of options, including the possibility of re-entering Gaza.

Galant told the Maariv daily on Friday: "We're talking about more aggressive military activity. If the price we have to pay becomes unreasonable as a result of increased (Palestinian) attacks, then we shall have to take all steps, including occupying the Gaza Strip.

"It could be anything from a partial occupation of the Gaza Strip to a full occupation."

He said his plans had already been approved by senior officials, including Shaul Mofaz the Israeli defence minister.

Contingency plan

The Haaretz newspaper quoted senior army commanders on Friday as saying troops were being trained for an offensive in the Gaza Strip as part of contingency plans the army had drawn up.

But the newspaper quoted the commanders as saying such an operation was unlikely to be implemented in the near future as it could undermine international backing for Israel since Hamas took over the Palestinian government on March 29.

More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/47397BFE-1B5A-417D-B2F4-FAF4B5D01CF5.htm
by ALJ
Peace with Israel is achievable only if it returns land seized in 1967, including Jerusalem, back to Palestine, a senior Hamas leader has said.

Khalid Mishaal, Hamas's chief political officer, told ZDF, a German public television channel on Friday: "Israel must withdraw from territories it has occupied since 1967. This includes the capital of Jerusalem."

Other conditions Mishaal said include "the right of refugees to return as well as the dismantlement of Jewish settlements, the destruction of the separation barrier and the release of all (Palestinian) detainees.

"If and only if Israel does this, then Hamas, Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims will be ready for true peace."

The Palestinian Authority has said there can be no peace unless Israel gives up all Palestinian territory conquered in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2A9F0190-C31B-4428-A460-3C78FEFF0500.htm
by Haaretz (reposted)
The IDF has a contingency plan for ground operations in the Gaza Strip but for now is not recommending a go-ahead to the government.

Senior General Staff sources told Haaretz that it was still too early for a head-on clash with the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas government. They said Israel was "scoring points" in the international arena in view of its restraint following the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

IDF commanders believe that Hamas will have some difficulty raising the funds required to run the Palestinian Authority and to pay wages to more than 160,000 public sector workers.

They cite Hamas' internal problems as another reason for restraint, while a massive Israeli assault would help Hamas struggle against its international isolation, which has increased in the wake of Hamas figures' support for the suicide bombing.

IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz recommended to interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week to declare the Palestinian Authority an enemy. Halutz said that under certain circumstances, he would support selective attacks of Palestinian targets. However, at this stage, he said Israel should make do with aerial and artillery attacks in the Gaza Strip to fight the Qassam rockets and broadening arrests of Islamic Jihad and other activists in the West Bank.

The general staff sees no need for a return to occupation. The officers' thinking is, since the IDF has complete freedom of movement, they can pick up fugitives any time they see fit.

However, the IDF holds a pessimistic view of the future of the confrontation. Senior officers say Hamas is not making any effort to curb the Jihad suicide bombers and is even refraining, contrary to previous estimates, from stopping the rocket fire from the Strip. This could lead to a head-on collision especially if more large-scale suicide bombings take place.

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by When a Palestinian retatliates
When a Palestinian retatliates. See, then it's terror, but when it's done by the govt. of israel, it's 'self-defense'. More hypocrisy brought to you by the terror state of israel.
by more
CBS/AP) In a growing barrage of Israeli pressure against Hamas, a senior military commander said Israel is actively preparing to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and a powerful lawmaker said the entire Palestinian Cabinet could be targeted for assassination after the appointment of a wanted militant to head a new security force.

But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Friday vetoed the decision by Hamas to appoint a top militant as a security chief, two of his aides said.

Officials said there were no immediate plans to strike at the Hamas-led government. But the comments reflected rising Israeli impatience with the Islamic militant group, which has refused to renounce violence, defended a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv this week and failed to halt militant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

"If the price we have to pay becomes unreasonable as a result of increased attacks, then we shall have to take all steps, including occupying the Gaza Strip," Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, head of Israel's southern command, told the Maariv daily.

In other developments:

# Israeli media say wide gaps in the West Bank security barrier, especially around Jerusalem, make it easy for Palestinian suicide bombers to infiltrate Israel, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. Reporters on scene said Israeli troops hardly check any Palestinians crossing the still porous border through openings in the fence. Legal obstacles and bureaucracy have slowed construction of the barrier. After four years of building, only half the fence has been completed.

# Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday accused the Syrian and Iranian governments of involvement in a suicide bombing that killed nine people in Tel Aviv this week. "The order for the Tel Aviv suicide bombing came from Damascus and when the operation was complete the report went back to Damascus," Olmert told a visiting group of U.S. senators, according to his office.

# Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has invited Olmert to Egypt for an official visit, Olmert aides said Friday.

Abbas told Turkey's state-run news agency Friday that reoccupation of the Gaza Strip would be a "deadly mistake."

Israel withdrew from Gaza last summer, ending 38 years of military occupation. Since the pullout, militants have fired rockets into southern Israel on a nearly daily basis.

More
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/21/world/main1526377.shtml
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