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Livni: Cease-fire in Gaza would grant Hamas legitimacy
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: IDF, Gaza, Hamas, Israel News

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, on a visit to Paris on Thursday, reiterated her government's rejection of a French-proposed cease-fire in the
Gaza Strip.

Livni told her French counterpart Bernard Kouchner that Hamas must must not be given the opportunity to gain any sort of legitimacy within a renewal of a truce. Under the current offensive, she said, Hamas understand that Israels will not tolerate Gaza rocket fire without response.
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The foreign minister also voiced concern that Hamas would exploit the cease-fire to restock its weapons arsenal, according to Army Radio.

Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has damaged Hamas and will not end until Israel no longer deems the Palestinian Islamist faction a threat, Livni told reporters in Paris.

"I think that even now, after a few days of operation we have achieved changes," she said.

"We affected most of the infrastructure of terror within the Gaza Strip and the question whether it's enough will be according to an assessment on a daily basis."

Livni, who met French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said Israel intended to "change the reality" in and around Gaza. Israeli officials say this would entail ending Palestinian rocket salvoes that have sown panic in neighboring southern Israel.

"We want to weaken Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the end of the day, Hamas is a problem not only to Israel but to the entire Palestinian people," Livni said.

"They are a problem to all the Arab states who understand that they have their own radical elements back home, including Muslim brotherhoods in different places."

Hamas has remained defiant despite an Israeli barrage that has killed more than 400 Palestinians. Four Israelis have been killed by retaliatory rocket strikes.

Reiterating Israel's rejection of the 48-hour humanitarian cease-fire proposal, Livni said "there is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce."

In her remarks to reporters, Livni said Israel had been careful to protect the civilian population and had kept the humanitarian situation in Gaza "completely as it should be".

"The crossings are open, more than it used to be before the military operation," she said.

On Wednesday, Israel rejected the proposal for a 48-hour humanitarian truce as unreasonable. "We did not go into the Gaza operation only to end it while rocket fire continues," Olmert told cabinet ministers during a special session.

The government, meanwhile, allowed more than 90 truckloads with food and medicine would be permitted into the territory on Thursday and a similar number on Wednesday.

The Israel Defense Forces recommends a diplomatic exit plan be prepared while a cease-fire agreement is formulated.

Defense officials tend to favor a clear agreement with Hamas, even if it is not enshrined in a written document.

Livni, however, reportedly believes that it might be better to aim for a situation in which there is no clearly set-out agreement, but Israel would make clear beforehand that it would respond forcefully to any firing from Gaza after hostilities ended.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, for his part, has conditioned any future truce between Israel and Hamas on the establishment of an international mechanism to monitor the cease-fire.

During an appearance on Thursday in rocket-besieged Be'er Sheva, Olmert said that Israel is not seeking an extended military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

"It became clear that it is impossible to live under these circumstances," the premier, who also met with municipal and council heads of southern communities, said. "We could not come to terms with the situation in which hundreds of thousands of people go to sleep and wake up in fear, uncertainty, and discomfort. We will act so that there will be quiet in the communities of the south."

"We did not declare war against the residents of Gaza, but against Hamas we will act with an iron fist," Olmert said. "Hamas is making things difficult for us, but more so for its people."

The prime minister said he is hopeful the goals of the operation will be attained quickly. "We have no interest in waging a prolonged war," he said. "What we want is that our children will grow up in security and that they will not need to run away from the shrieking whistles of rockets."

"We also are not eager to wage a war on a wide front," Olmert said. "We want quiet and that the way of life in the south will change so that the children will not live in fear."

The premier also addressed concerns that the Gaza operation was beginning to resemble the Second Lebanon War. "In contrast to the war in Lebanon, there is no sense of collapse or a lack of capability, but rather there is a sense that the home front is being cared for quickly."

The premier also refuted claims of a rift between him and his two key cabinet ministers, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "What was said and written in the newspapers is not what we know," Olmert said. "There is a government that is functioning with full cooperation. I won't allow election season politics into the rooms where decisions are made."

Olmert is interested in the establishment of an international supervision and enforcement mechanism for any cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Olmert has made that a precondition of any deal and emphasized it in talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other world leades.

"Israel cannot agree that the only party responsible for implementing and regulating the cease-fire be Hamas," a senior Israeli diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

According to the source, lack of an external supervisory body was the central reason for the collapse of the calm earlier this month.

"The situation in which Hamas didn't have to account for implementing the cease-fire did not prove viable," the source said.

Olmert clarified in Wednesday's cabinet meeting that Israel will not end the Gaza operation until it achieves its goals. The cabinet did not debate any cease-fire proposals and resolved to continue the operation already approved.

"We did not go into the Gaza operation only to end it while rocket fire continues," Olmert said.

According to Olmert, a decision now to opt for a cease-fire would carry a heavy price.

"Let's say we unilaterally stopped and a few days from now a barrage fell on Ashkelon," he said. "Do you understand the consequences in Israel and the region? For Israeli deterrence, for Israeli measures."

Related articles:
  • Gaza rocket barrage hits Negev; direct strike on 8-floor Ashdod residence
  • IDF recommends major, but brief Gaza ground offensive
  • On sixth day of op, IAF destroys 3 Gaza government buildings
  • Top aide to Barak: IDF aiming to stop Gaza rocket fire, not crush Hamas
  • Ari Shavit / Israelis who blame Israel are not helping Gazans
  • Poll: Most Israelis support continuing Gaza military op
  • Israel Harel / Like in Lebanon, Israel blinked first in Gaza
  • Amira Hass / Thousands of Gazans near Rafah displaced by IAF bombing of tunnels
  • Olmert: Israel has no interest in a prolonged war in Gaza
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Disturbing trend
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    IDF gains in Gaza have softened Israel's stance on Shalit deal.
      1.   Olmert: We will act so that there will be quiet 15:48  |  Avi 01/01/09
      2.   Talk is cheap 16:08  |  Yanosh 01/01/09
      3.   Why Not? 16:14  |  Mike 01/01/09
      4.   No Win by War from the Air is not 16:45  |  Yaakov 01/01/09
      5.   OLMERT: I am standing right behind you on this 17:12  |  Alicia 01/01/09
      6.   Hamas always to blame never Israel 17:58  |  Mo 01/01/09
      7.   Does she realize how insane that sounds? 18:04  |  Mark Lincoln 01/01/09
      8.   I suggest that critics of Israel view the pictures coming out of 18:12  |  Jehudah Ben-Israel 01/01/09
      9.   Israel always to blame never Hamas 18:23  |  Walt 01/01/09
      10.   the 1%ers gave hamass legitimacy 18:48  |  Arie 01/01/09
      11.   A Disproportionate response 18:53  |  Arie 01/01/09
      12.   Livni and "Legitimacy" 18:55  |  Neil Robertson 01/01/09
      13.   Does democratic election win not give legitimacy? 18:55  |  Manny Goldstein 01/01/09
      14.   Dont need a Phd to be Hamas leader 19:08  |  C. S. 01/01/09
      15.   #8 Jehudah Ben-Israel 19:21  |  sh 01/01/09
      16.   Livni 19:27  |  Ralph 01/01/09
      17.   International monitors must be in place of truce to hold... 19:31  |  Smadar 01/01/09
      18.   I fully agree with Mark Lincoln....... 19:36  |  Swiss (Dino) 01/01/09
      19.   Media coveage especially CNN is biased gainst Israel 19:41  |  r 01/01/09
      20.   A follow-up to my previous post: 19:57  |  Jehudah Ben-Israel 01/01/09
      21.   The solution is simple, 20:02  |  Cal 01/01/09
      22.   #13 M.G.:THIS IS BRITISH STYLE DEMOCRACY 21:47  |  Ian 01/01/09
      23.   international monitors 21:49  |  KT 01/01/09
      24.   Cal - #21 22:04  |  KT 01/01/09
      25.   its not that simple 22:08  |  GR 01/01/09
      26.   What did Sarkozy say? 22:55  |  Palestinian Brit 01/01/09
      27.   #8 Jehuda no humanitarian disaster 00:20  |  alan 02/01/09
      28.   There is mutual nonrecognition between Hamas and Israel 00:23  |  17 02/01/09
      29.   Israel always to blame never Hamas (Mike) 00:27  |  Fair deal 02/01/09
      30.   #7 Mark Lincoln 00:53  |  Moshe 02/01/09
      31.   GOD IS GREAT 01:17  |  Mossa 02/01/09
      32.   Israel has to save its face, more propa ganda 02:27  |  Fritz T. 02/01/09
      33.   alas 02:43  |  annonymous 02/01/09
      34.   Save Lives!!!! Who cares about legitimacy? 02:49  |  Dov 02/01/09
      35.   We shall return 03:01  |  Mossa 02/01/09
      36.   SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS - 2nd Try 03:30 03:33  |  Mark of Lewiston 02/01/09
      37.   #7, MarkL, do you realise how insane Hamas sounds? 03:44  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 02/01/09
      38.   Mark Lincoln & Dino excellent comments 04:29  |  Ari 02/01/09
      39.   I thought Israel was launching a PR blitz to convince people? 04:43  |  Johnboy 02/01/09
      40.   well done israel 04:44  |  well done Livni 02/01/09
      41.   Palestinian Brit, you noticed too? 05:29  |  BBSNews 02/01/09
      42.   Jehudah Ben-Israel 05:46  |  Hugh 02/01/09
      43.   West Bank 06:03  |  Hugh 02/01/09
      44.   #30 Moshe 06:14  |  Hugh 02/01/09
      45.   #35, Mark Of Lewiston 06:23  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 02/01/09
      46.   45 Cipora - Not Comedy, Reality 07:21  |  Mark of Lewiston 02/01/09
      47.   #45, Cipora Julianna Kohn- Live by the sword, die by the sword 09:53  |  Fair Deal 02/01/09
      48.   Gaza and Iranians 10:01  |  Fatemeh 02/01/09
      49.   many Manny Goldstein are wrong 18:38  |  Reuven Nof 02/01/09
      50.   #42 Hugh 16:59  |  Moshe 05/01/09
     Read & React
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    Responses: 36
    Amir Oren: 'Decisive' Gaza show merely rehearsal for next crisis versus Iran
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