PM: 'I am fending off pressure to attack Gaza' - Haaretz

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Mon., February 11, 2008 Adar1 5, 5768

Israel Time: 03:07 (EST+7)

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PM: 'I am fending off pressure to attack Gaza'

By Barak Ravid

"I am fending off heavy pressure to launch a major ground operation in Gaza, and thus in the meantime am making do with civilian sanctions in order not to bring about an escalation." These were Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's words to Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik last Wednesday during her official visit here. Their meeting became a genuine diplomatic embarrassment when the two began arguing over a number of issues, beginning with the Gaza situation.

At one point Olmert began responding sarcastically to Plassnik's questions. Sources in her entourage called their dialogue "harsh and very tense." A source in the Austrian Embassy in Tel Aviv said in a response, "The foreign minister and the prime minister discussed their differences of opinion in a frank manner." The Prime Minister's Bureau, in contrast, issued a short, laconic statement that gave no hint of the meeting's content.

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Plassnik expressed concern about the situation in Gaza in light of Israeli sanctions, telling Olmert that a humanitarian crisis there must be avoided.

"Israel has no intention of causing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza," Olmert responded. He said the hope was that the sanctions would bring about an end to Qassam missiles being fired from the Strip into Israel and make an Israeli military operation unnecessary.

"The civilian sanctions hurt only the people of Gaza, not the terror organizations," Plassnik told Olmert. She even hinted that Israel must hold talks with Hamas, noting, "The military option alone against Hamas will not solve everything."

Olmert and the Austrian foreign minister also argued over the pace of the negotiations between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "You must move more quickly on the peace talks," Plassnik said. "Israel must meet its obligations as set out in the first stage of the road map, and dismantle outposts. So far there has been little progress here."

Olmert responded: "The Palestinians haven't done anything yet, either. The terror attack this morning [in Dimona - B.R.] only proves that the Palestinian Authority does not control the ground or the terror organizations. From my perspective, Israel's security is top priority."

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