Last update - 00:00 19/12/2007
Mofaz: Israel should mull indirect talks with Hamas over Qassams
By Mazal Mualem, Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents, AP, and Haaretz Service
Israel should not rule out indirect negotiations with Hamas in an effort to halt Qassam rocket fire at southern Israel, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz told Army Radio on Wednesday.
"Mediation is something we can think about but one thing needs to be clear," Mofaz told Army Radio. "This subject is the responsibility of Hamas and the terror groups and as long as these firings and terror from inside the strip won't stop we must continue this policy and not stop for even one hour."
Mofaz was reacting to what the radio said was an invitation by Gaza's Hamas ruler, Ismail Haniyeh, to launch talks.
"Israel will not stop its air strikes against the group and other militants that are involved in the incessant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip," Mofaz said.
Cabinet minister Ami Ayalon also said Israel should not rule out speaking to "anyone" in order to stop rocket attacks from Gaza, but urged caution to ensure a ceasefire would not lead to a strengthening of Hamas.
President Shimon Peres on Wednesday ruled out Israeli negotiations with Hamas, and dismissed an announcement by the Islamist group that it was prepared to discuss a ceasefire as "pathetic and misleading".
The ceasefire call by Hamas leader Ismail Haniya was nothing more than "an attempt to divert international attention away from the crimes of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as expressed in the organized launchings from the Gaza Strip of rockets and mortars on innocent Israeli citizens," Peres said in a statement.
"If Hamas and Islamic Jihad stop firing rockets at our women and children, Israel will immediately hold its fire, so there is no need for negotiations," said the President.
Earlier Wednesday, a mortar fired from the Gaza Strip at the western Negev struck near an Israel Defense Forces base in Zikim, which serves as a training facility for non-combat personnel. Six female soldiers were treated for shock.
Palestinians fired some 15 mortar shells and six Qassam rockets at Israel Tuesday, causing no injuries or damage.
In September, a Qassam rocket struck the same IDF base, wounding 69 soldiers, one of them critically.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged Tuesday to target terrorist leaders in the Gaza Strip responsible for the rockets fired at southern Israel, after Israel Air Force raids killed at least 11 Palestinians since Monday night including the head of the Islamic Jihad military wing in Gaza.
"We will continue to seek out the heads of the terror organizations and strike at them," Olmert said at a Kadima meeting in Jerusalem last night. "We will get all those who are responsible for firing rockets on the communities near Gaza and on Sderot."
"Events in the field speak and will speak for themselves, and I think the terror organizations feel this and will continue to feel this in full force in the near future," he said. "I think that in the past two days, more people understand that a war is underway there. This war will not cease."
Israeli security officials signaled that other Islamic Jihad leaders could be targeted, saying Israel has drawn up plans to hit the heads of the organization as well as activists involved in firing rockets and other attacks.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said after meeting with James L. Jones, the special United States envoy for Middle East security, that Israel would not let up in its offensive in Gaza, but warned that the militants' threats of revenge must be taken seriously.
"I hope these successes continue," Barak said. "At the same time we must be on our guard for the responses that may come from the other side."
Three Islamic Jihad operatives and two Hamas police officers were killed in two separate Israeli air strikes Tuesday morning, and six Palestinians were killed the night before.
Among the dead were Majed Harazin, Islamic Jihad's charismatic military commander for Gaza and the West Bank, and master rocket-maker Karim al-Dahdouh.
"There is no doubt that this is a big loss," said Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.
Islamic Jihad countered with a threat to resume suicide bombings in Israel, as thousands of Gazans took to the streets in funeral processions for the dead militants, many firing assault rifles. In northern Gaza, bullets from the rifles of mourners severed an electric wire that fell and injured five people, medics said.
"The blood of our comrades will be the fuel for the rockets that will bring death and destruction to the Zionists," Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza told reporters.
Islamic Jihad officials instructed their operatives to avoid using cellular phones and traveling in vehicles, in an effort to keep Israel from killing more of them.
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