Last update - 00:00 26/05/2007
Ex-chief of staff Ya'alon says Abbas is 'no partner for peace'
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said on Israeli television on Saturday that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is "no partner for peace."
Ya'alon reiterated his opposition to the Gaza disengagement of 2005, saying that "the unilateral approach that drove the disengagement plan has failed and Israel must abandon it."
"The disengagement is seen by the other side as Israel fleeing," Ya'alon said, adding that with him as head of the IDF, the war in Lebanon last summer would've turned out differently.
Ya'alon argued that the Gaza disengagement was responsible for the failures of the Second Lebanon War and stated that if the situation in Gaza deteriorates further, there will be an escalation of hostilities with Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon.
In regard to talks on developing an anti-Qassam defense system for the western Negev, Ya'alon stated that said defense systems do not work and are not an adequate answer for the rocket threat.
Ya'alon ventured in the interview that the IDF should launch a massive land deployment in Gaza in order to "cleanse" the land of the rocket threat, without the need to establish long-term control or reoccupy the area.
"The problem in Gaza will not solve itself and no one will solve it for us. It requires us to reach the terrorists and the areas in which they operate, and strike at the industry of terror. We did this during Operation Defensive Shield, and before that operation we were unsure about whether to proceed. Today, you must be blind not to realize the necessity of entering Gaza," Ya'alon said.
Ya'alon also expressed his support for a military option against Iran if diplomatic efforts to stop its nuclear weapons program fail.