Livni: We'll Use Force to Protect Our Citizens From Gaza Attacks

by Barak Ravid
Haaretz
November 15, 2008

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/408/livni-well-use-force-to-protect-our-citizens-from

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Saturday asserted that while Israel does not seek to escalate violence that has been threatening to unravel a five-month truce in Gaza, it would strike back if there were further violations of the cease-fire.

"If Israeli citizens are attacked, Israel will respond with force to defend them," said Livni, speaking at an event in Tel Aviv.

"The time will come when Israel will say: Enough!" she declared.

She added that if there is quiet in the South and Gaza militants do not exploit it to prepare for their next attack, Israel will grant quiet in return.

Livni was echoing similar comments made on Saturday by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

He warned that the Israel Defense Forces may embark on a broad operation in Gaza if Palestinian militants continue to launch cross-border attacks.

"It is possible that when the time comes there will be a need for a broad operation because we can't reconcile ourselves to the continued infringement of the truce, but we must work with forethought and discretion," he said.

Barak made the comments at a conference in Netanya. They came amid growing tensions between Israel and Gaza militants as cease-fire in the coastal territory appeared to be unraveling.

He did stress, though, the need to treat the matter of an IDF offensive in Gaza with great seriousness.

The defense minister said: "I am defense minister, not 'war minister.' Believe me, I have known war. I know what battle is, and I do not flinch from it when it's necessary. And I say now: If there is the need, the IDF and security forces are prepared for a powerful operation that will hurt the other side."

Barak also said he ascribed great importance to the five-month, and branded violations of it by Gaza militants as intolerable.

"One cannot regret one minute of quiet," he added.

"For almost six months, the children of Sderot and Gaza-area [communities] have been going to school under skies clear of Qassams, except for short term violations. These breaches are also intolerable, but we must weigh every matter separately."

PRC: We'll avenge deadly Gaza blast; IDF denies involvement

Earlier Saturday, the Popular Resistance Committees threatened to avenge the death of an operative killed in an explosion in Gaza the Palestinian militant group blamed Israel for, Israel Radio reported.

The Israel Defense Forces, however, denied having carried out an airstrike in the area, saying the blast was likely a result of a work accident.

The blast in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun killed a Palestinian militant and critically wounded another, Palestinian medical workers said on Saturday.

The Popular Resistance Committees said an Israel Air Force strike had targeted a group of its gunmen as they approached the Israel-Gaza border near Beit Hanoun.

Hamas on Saturday repeated its threat of ending the truce.

"The military wing of Hamas will avenge every Israeli crime," Army Radio quoted Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum as saying.

Army Radio reported that Barhoum stressed that rocket attacks on Israel by Gaza militants were a response to "aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip."

Nevertheless, a former deputy chief of the Shin Bet security service has said most Hamas leaders are interested in maintaining a cease-fire with Israel in the short term.

In an article regarding the recent escalation of violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip, published on a U.S. Web site, the official wrote that continuing the truce would allow Hamas to achieve its other political goals.

The cease-fire began to deteriorate last week. The fighting has killed 12 Gaza militants. Some 140 rockets, missiles and mortars have been fired from Gaza at Israel.

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