Israeli minister moots new Gaza truce amid threats

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-22  |     ONLINE EDITION

ISRAEL might be ready to consider a new truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli cabinet minister said today, in an apparent change of tone after escalating threats against the Palestinian Islamist group. A six-month Gaza ceasefire expired on Friday with a surge of cross-border fighting. Israel said a wider offensive was in the works, and leading candidates to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a Feb. 10 ballot pledged to topple Hamas if elected.

But a member of Olmert's security cabinet questioned the long-term efficacy of any major military sweep of the crowded and impoverished coastal strip, and said renewing the truce, originally brokered by Egypt, could be an option.

"The calm is, of course, one alternative, and it is an alternative that can be seriously examined," Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog told Israel Radio. "I, like many of my colleagues, am ready to consider continuing the calm, on terms that are comfortable for Israel."

Asked whether this might be broached with Hamas, Herzog said: "No, I don't think we can open negotiations. Right now we are dealing with an enemy who is not looking for negotiations."

Israel had previously voiced interest in maintaining the calm but rhetoric turned belligerent during the weekend after Hamas announced the end of the truce last week.

The head of the Hamas administration in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Sunday that his side did not seek escalation.

During the truce, Hamas had accused Israel of poor faith due to its protracted closure of crossings into Gaza, a lifeline of humanitarian and commercial goods for 1.5 million Palestinians.

Israel blamed security threats for the closures. Many Israelis also voiced dismay at the truce's failure to advance negotiations for the return of a soldier held in Gaza.


ELECTION LOOMS

Israel would likely limit any broader assault on Gaza to air strikes targeting Hamas leaders. But analysts believe that would invite retaliatory Hamas rocket barrages reaching deeper into Israel, in turn triggering a bloody Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Spiralling Gaza violence could boost the electoral prospects of right-wing Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu against his centrist rival, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Defence Minister Ehud Barak is also a candidate.

Livni instructed Israeli diplomats to mount a global public relations campaign blaming Hamas for the crisis and arguing that Israel could be forced to hit back, Haaretz newspaper reported.

Since the truce ended, dozens of short-range rockets and mortar bombs have been fired into Israel from Gaza. Most of the rocket fire was claimed by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group with loose links to Hamas. Over the weekend, an Israeli air strike killed one Palestinian militant.

Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon, who has long called for an invasion of Gaza in which Hamas would be crushed, said on Monday the Olmert government was not considering such an option.

"There has been no decision by the Israeli government to bring about the end of Hamas. Neither has there been a decision to continue the calm," Ramon said on Army Radio.

The chief of Israel's armed forces, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, told the radio station that the military was on standby and ready to act on "any" order given by the government.