Spring Break
Israeli official threatens Hamas as Olmert defends use of force
Mar. 3, 2008
Dion Nissenbaum - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 2/28/08 Section: MCT News
JERUSALEM _ Israel's defense minister threatened Sunday to move against Hamas leaders in Gaza as the next step in a confrontation that on Saturday reached its deadliest level in years.
Clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters that have killed more than 100 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers eased slightly on Sunday, and the number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel also dropped.
But the rhetoric continues to escalate, with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warning that the Israeli Defense Forces were prepared to storm into Gaza and overthrow its Hamas rulers.
"When the green light is given for the IDF to go in with its full forces, the goals will be first of all, stopping the Qassam fire, second of all lessening the weapons smuggling from Egypt, third of all weakening Hamas rule and, under the right circumstances, overthrowing the Hamas government," Barak warned in an unusually blunt interview on Army Radio. "And, in the long term, complete severance from Gaza."
An Israeli attempt to forcibly depose Hamas rulers in Gaza would mark a significant change in Israeli policy, and Barak might have been speaking out-of-turn.
"There is no such policy," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Obviously, in the long term, we would like to see the legitimate Palestinian government resume control of the Gaza Strip. Having said that, that is not one of our military objectives."
Hamas leaders dismissed Barak's threats as the latest in a string of counter-productive attempts to weaken the Islamist group's power.
"All the time they are talking about toppling Hamas and every day Hamas is getting stronger," said Ahmed Yousef, a political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was the Palestinian Authority's prime minister until he was fired last summer. "With these bloody massacres they have committed they are making people stand with Hamas."
Four days of deadly Israeli attacks inside Gaza already have created significant political aftershocks across the Middle East.
Clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters that have killed more than 100 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers eased slightly on Sunday, and the number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel also dropped.
But the rhetoric continues to escalate, with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warning that the Israeli Defense Forces were prepared to storm into Gaza and overthrow its Hamas rulers.
"When the green light is given for the IDF to go in with its full forces, the goals will be first of all, stopping the Qassam fire, second of all lessening the weapons smuggling from Egypt, third of all weakening Hamas rule and, under the right circumstances, overthrowing the Hamas government," Barak warned in an unusually blunt interview on Army Radio. "And, in the long term, complete severance from Gaza."
An Israeli attempt to forcibly depose Hamas rulers in Gaza would mark a significant change in Israeli policy, and Barak might have been speaking out-of-turn.
"There is no such policy," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Obviously, in the long term, we would like to see the legitimate Palestinian government resume control of the Gaza Strip. Having said that, that is not one of our military objectives."
Hamas leaders dismissed Barak's threats as the latest in a string of counter-productive attempts to weaken the Islamist group's power.
"All the time they are talking about toppling Hamas and every day Hamas is getting stronger," said Ahmed Yousef, a political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was the Palestinian Authority's prime minister until he was fired last summer. "With these bloody massacres they have committed they are making people stand with Hamas."
Four days of deadly Israeli attacks inside Gaza already have created significant political aftershocks across the Middle East.
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