Israel urged to show restraint as rockets rain in from Gaza
JOSEF FEDERMAN, JERUSALEM
The Israeli government came under increasing pressure to respond to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip after an overnight barrage wounded dozens of soldiers as they slept in their tents at an Israeli army base.
Despite the violence, US officials urged Israel to show restraint, fearing heavy action in Gaza could jeopardise new momentum in peace efforts.
Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has been facing growing calls to respond to the near-daily rocket attacks out of Gaza. Israel has limited its response to brief ground incursions and airstrikes aimed at rocket launchers.
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But after yesterday's attack, along with a rocket last week that exploded near a crowded nursery school in the southern town of Sderot, many Israelis are growing impatient.
"The question is not whether to create deterrence, but when," Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, told Israel Radio.
Olmert discussed the attack with security officials. Sources said Israel decided to hold off on major military action for the time being, though it might step up its air attacks.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity ,said Israel is hesitant about opening a second front at a time of rising tensions with Syria.
Israeli military officials confirmed yesterday that the army is on high alert along the Syrian border amid allegations by Syria that Israeli aircraft entered its airspace last week. Israel has refused to comment on last Thursday's incident.
The army is also reluctant to mobilise large numbers of troops during the Jewish New Year holiday, which begins today. Officials also are wary of damaging recent progress in peace efforts ahead of the US conference, expected in November.
Some leaders have urged non-military steps, such as cutting off fuel and power to Gaza. "I think we have tools to do this, tools that are not only military," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told a news conference in Jerusalem.
In Washington, the US State Department urged restraint.
"We would only counsel, in this case Israel which has suffered injuries and losses as a result of attacks, to take into consideration the effects of what they might do in self defence on the overall political process," spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The Gaza strip is controlled by Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seized the area in June after five days of fighting against the Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel has no relations with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group.
Palestinian officials said yesterday Abbas has hinted of progress on two of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: which territories that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war will become part of a future Palestinian state and how the disputed holy city of Jerusalem will be shared.
But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a confidant of Abbas, said talk that the leaders have agreed on principles or documents are baseless. "The only thing they have agreed upon is to form a Palestinian-Israeli team to begin working on how to tackle these core issues," he said.
Israeli officials said that Olmert and Abbas have worked out "overriding principles" toward an agreement, but have not ironed out the details.
Abbas holds little sway in Gaza following the Hamas takeover.
Israel urged to show restraint as rockets rain in from Gaza
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