Today's Situation

RESTRAINT OR RESPONSE, December 04, 2006

With the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip more or less holding, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened his security cabinet on Sunday to discuss Israel's response to sporadic but persistent Qassam fire from Gaza.

In the 'restraint' corner - Olmert and his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni; in the 'respond' corner - Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the IDF. When the vote came around, Olmert imposed his will and his authority as premier to pass the decision: the army would maintain its policy of restraint.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Peretz told the cabinet that 15 rockets have been fired since the start of the ceasefire a little over a week ago. Army Radio reported that senior officers told ministers that despite the truce, Palestinians terror organizations have continued smuggling weapons and are preparing for another round of attacks.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who advocated further restraint, told EU High Commissioner for Common Foreign and Security Policy Chief Javier Solana at a meeting Sunday night that while Israel notes the continued Palestinian violations of the ceasefire, it is aware of its 'responsibility to make the right decisions for the future.'

The cabinet stopped short of endorsing an extension of the ceasefire to the West Bank, but it emerged that a decision was made whereby arrest operations in the West Bank would no longer be possible without explicit approval from either the GOC Central Command or the commander of IDF forces in the territories.

According to Haaretz, 'the decision is aimed at reducing tensions in the West Bank that could disrupt the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.'

Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel Radio that the IDF would try to refrain from any military action that could serve as an excuse for retaliatory terror attacks by Palestinians. He added, however, that the rules of engagement have not been altered and that the military would continue to counter terror.

Speaking on Israel Radio, Rafi Eitam, the Pensioners Party representative on the security cabinet, said that Israel should make every effort to expand the truce to the West Bank, but stresses that the security forces must constantly ensure that the terror groups are not using the ceasefire to rearm.

On the Palestinian side, there were mixed messages coming from the talks aimed at establishing a national unity government and expanding the Gaza ceasefire.

On Sunday evening, hours before negotiations were due to resume, Hamas said it was breaking off talks with Fateh over what it termed 'Israeli violations of the ceasefire.' A poster distributed by Hamas stated that Israel has broken the truce, which Hamas said has been executed at the cost of advancing a unity government.

Earlier, Islamic Jihad warned that the ceasefire is on the verge of collapse, due to 'continued Zionist violations and the attacks against our Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza,' Abu Ahmed, a Gaza-based spokesman for the group's armed wing, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the father of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit will meet with Hamas and Fatah officials in the Gaza Strip in the coming days, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported on Monday. Noam Shalit will ask the Palestinian officials to permit him to visit his son in the place he is being held, according to the report. Shalit refused to elaborate on the report.

The cabinet also decided to withdraw Israeli forces from the divided border town of Ghajar, allowing United Nations to take responsibility for the 2,000 Israeli citizens who live on the northern side of the Israeli-Lebanese town. According to Maariv, the announcement made at the conclusion of the meeting stressed that the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Lebanese part of Ghajar would be temporary and would last until the end of the mapping project currently being conducted by UN experts.

The Jerusalem Post, meanwhile, reports that long-range missiles and truckloads of advanced antitank missiles from Iran and Syria have been smuggled to Hizbollah in Lebanon over the past four months. According to the paper, new intelligence obtained by the defense establishment shows that, 'in the four months since the war ended, weapons convoys carrying short-range missiles, antitank missiles and long-range missiles have reached Hizbollah. Most of the convoys crossed into Lebanon from Syria at night.'

The above text was written and compiled by Simon Spungin using newpaper, radio and wire reports, in English and Hebrew.

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