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Last update - 05:26 29/12/2008
Foreign Ministry readies 'diplomatic exit plan' from Gaza
By Barak Ravid
Tags: Gaza, Israel, Hamas 

The Foreign Ministry on Sunday released preliminary options for a "diplomatic exit strategy" from the operation in the Gaza Strip. Political sources in Jerusalem say the options are not similar to those available during the Second Lebanon War, which ended with a UN Security Council resolution and the deployment of peacekeepers.

On Saturday evening Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered work to begin on a policy for ending the Gaza operation. The foreign ministry's ideas were discussed at a meeting headed by Olmert political adviser Shalom Turgeman and including representatives of the Foreign Ministry, National Security Council, Defense Ministry, Military Intelligence, Shin Bet security service and Mossad.

This team aims to give daily briefings on political-defense issues and make recommendations to the prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister on ending the operation. It would operate like the team headed by former Olmert chief of staff Yoram Turbowicz during the Second Lebanon War.
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The ministry's options for a diplomatic exit strategy from the Strip were first compiled under the instruction of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the start of the six-month cease-fire with Hamas in June. A special staff led by ministry deputy director-general Yossi Gal analyzed several scenarios in recent months for occupying Gaza.

These models focused on political gains the operation could achieve; the ministry, for example, hopes to increase pressure on Hamas and isolate it politically.

The sources in Jerusalem said the current operation will end differently than the Lebanon war, in which a political solution came in the form of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the deployment of international peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. "It seems that this time we won't move toward a Security Council resolution," said one source. "Moreover, the option of an international force does not apply."

The source added that the options presented thus far are only at a preliminary stage, and the operation has yet to take a definite course.

"There are still actions they want to take in Gaza, only after which will we know which political solution will apply," he said. "Hamas' responses and its own activities in the coming days will have a significant influence on this."

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