Then why did they give it away?
Livni: Israel Won't Agree to a PA State With Gaza
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) Foreign Minister and Vice Premier Tzipi Livni warned the international community Sunday that Israel would not agree to establish a Palestinian Authority (PA) state that would include Hamas terrorist-run Gaza unless attacks on the western Negev cease. Livni pointed out the constant rocket and mortar attacks launched from the region as proof there could never be peace with Gaza.
Speaking at a gathering of the Foreign Ministry’s United Nations Model Project, Livni harshly condemned Gaza terrorists for a Kassam rocket attack on Sderot Saturday evening, and warned that Israel “must first and foremost do what is right for [her] citizens.
“Gaza is today a problem for anyone who seeks peace and therefore can never be part of a future Palestinian state,” she said.
Livni is the chief negotiator on the Israeli side in talks with the Palestinian Authority. Among the concessions demanded from Israel is agreement to the establishment of a PA state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Terror Victims Are Not Civilian Victims of Defensive Attack
“When an Israeli child is hit by a rocket and loses his leg, and the world relates to that as one of the casualties of the conflict – our response is no. An Israeli child who suffers terror-inflicted injuries is not similar to a civilian who is injured unintentionally by defensive measures anchored in international law,” she stated.
Israel has repeatedly been criticized in the international community when retaliatory attacks on rocket-launching terror cells miss the mark and wound or kill civilians among whom the terrorists hide.
“You want to judge Israel, do it by your own criteria,” she said, addressing the international community. “Intentional murder can never be compared to unintentional injury. Here too, terror is terror is terror, and there can be no justification for it.”
Two brothers were seriously wounded and at least 13 others suffered severe emotional shock, including the boys’ mother and 15-year-old brother in Saturday evening’s Kassam rocket attack on Sderot.
Doctors were forced to amputate eight-year-old Osher Tuito’s left leg at the knee and were not sure if they could save his other one. Osher’s 19-year-old brother Rami also went through surgery, to remove shrapnel from his legs.
More than 7,000 Kassam rockets and mortars have been fired at Jewish communities in the western Negev since the beginning of the Oslo War in 2000, also known as the Second Intifada. Most have exploded in the city of Sderot, prompting 20 percent of the population to abandon their homes and a significant number of businesses to relocate due to the constant barrages.
Olmert: No Special Consideration for Terrorist Leaders
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters Sunday night during a flight to Germany that it would be impossible to end the attacks immediately.
“There is no way to stop terrorism completely in a single blow or a single blast,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Olmert said in his opening statement at the weekly cabinet meeting that while he sympathized with the Sderot residents, and that their anger was understandable and natural, nonetheless “it must be clear that outrage is not a plan for action. We must act in a systematic and orderly fashion over time. This is what we are doing. This is what we will continue to do.”
The prime minister also warned that terrorist leaders, including Hamas chief and former PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, would not be exempt from retaliation. “We will continue to reach all the responsible terrorists, including those who dispatch and operate them. We will not give anyone special consideration.”
Barak: Government Will Find a Solution to Kassams
Defense Minister Ehud Barak vowed Sunday during the weekly cabinet meeting that the government would “find an answer and bring a solution for the Kassams, even if this doesn’t happen tomorrow morning or in two days.”
The Defense Minister said the government would “increase its activities and economic pressure on Gaza” as a means of forcing terrorists to stop their attacks through pressure from the civilian PA population. “We will continue the preparations for a wide-scale operation in the Strip while using judgment, self-control and bravery,” he added.
Barak traveled with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi to Sderot early Sunday morning following the devastating rocket attack that hit the city the previous evening but was met by angry residents shouting at him and ordering him to leave.
The residents later demonstrated at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, where they were joined by hundreds of supporters in the capital.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later blamed Barak for not allowing a detailed discussion on IDF military plans for Gaza, saying Barak feared leaks to the media that might warn Hamas and destroy the element of surprise.
Sheetrit: Choose a Gaza Neighborhood and Wipe It Out
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit advocated during the cabinet meeting for a strong military response to the ongoing Kassam attacks. “It is inconceivable that we are living in a country where citizens are wounded every day but we are not responding with the appropriate force,” he said.
Sheetrit reportedly recommended that the government allow the IDF to choose a Gaza neighborhood and wipe it out as a warning to others who allow terrorists to launch attacks from their midst.
“That is how those in Gaza will understand that we are serious,” adding that Israel must bring the Hamas terror leaders to justice, “or we must bring justice to them.”
In an interview with Israel government television, Sheetrit specificly mentioned Haniyeh. "From my point of view, anyone who is responsible on terror, sheltering it, guiding it, giving him support, which Haniyeh is doing, he's [in] my opinion a legitimate target to be hit…," he said.
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