Israel Threatens War on Gaza and Iran
Published on Saturday, June 7, 2008 by The Telegraph/UK
Israel Braced Itself for Conflict on Two Fronts Against Militants in
Gaza and an Iranian Government Persisting with Its Nuclear Programme.
by Tim Butcher
Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, said the `pendulum is closer’ to a
large scale military operation in Gaza after another Israeli civilian
was killed by a mortar fired from Gaza on Thursday.
Amnon Roseberg was the 8th Israeli civilian to be killed by weapons
fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew its settlers from the Gaza Strip
two years ago.
While the number of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza by Israel in
retaliatory strikes dwarfs Israeli casualties, Mr Olmert’s government
takes every Israeli civilian death very seriously.
When asked by reporters as he flew back to Israel after a three day
visit to Washington about the chance of a negotiated ceasefire with
Gaza’s militants, Mr Olmert said he thought military action more likely
than a ceasefire.
`We are always checking between the various possibilities of reaching
complete quiet that will bring security to the residents of southern
Israel without having to get into a violent and serious clash against
the terror organizations in Gaza, and the impossibility of reaching
such an arrangement, which is likely to bring us closer to an operation
that would be a lot more serious and resolute against the terror
organisations,’ he said.
`Based on the data as I see it now, this pendulum is closer to a
decision for a serious operation.’
Israel has tried large-scale military action in Gaza several times
before to silence the rockets and mortars. While it sometimes creates a
short-term lull, the inevitable loss of Palestinian civilian lives
sparks yet more militant attacks.
But while the precedent is not encouraging, Mr Olmert cannot be seen by
the Israeli people as doing nothing.
On the Iranian front, Mr Olmert privately pronounced himself happy
after his visit to the White House that Israel and America are of one
mind over the possibility of military intervention against Tehran’s
nuclear programme.
In President George W Bush, Israel has a firm ally who shares its
belief that Iran must be stopped at all costs from becoming a nuclear
power.
One of Mr Olmert’s party deputies, Shaul Mofaz, kept up the pressure on
Iran saying an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looked
`inevitable’ given the apparent failure of diplomatic and economic
sanctions on Tehran.
`If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons,
we will attack it,’ he said.
`The sanctions are ineffective. Attacking Iran, in order to stop its
nuclear plans, will be unavoidable.’
It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of the
Olmert government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred
to hint at force as a last resort should UN Security Council sanctions
be deemed to have failed.
Israel has twice acted by itself to stop its regional enemies
developing a nuclear capability, in Syria last year and Iraq in the
1980s.