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Defense Minster Ehud Barak. (Emil Salman / Jini)
Last update - 20:32 01/03/2008
Barak: Hamas will pay for its escalation in the south
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Tags: Gaza, Israel, Sderot, Qassam

Defense Minster Ehud Barak on Friday blamed Hamas for the escalating violence in the south, and said the Islamic movement would bear the consequences of it.

"Hamas is directly responsible for the current situation and will be the one to bear the cost of our response", Barak said during a visit to Ashkelon, adding that "an Israeli response is necessary and will be carried out."

The defense minister spoke in the wake of escalating rocket attacks that peaked Thursday with a direct hit on a home in Ashkelon, and Israel Defense Forces operations against militants which killed at least 18 Palestinians on the same day.
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During his visit to the port town, Barak was debriefed by officers from the Southern Command, the Israel Police, rescue services officials and the mayor of Ashkelon on steps being taken in the city in light of the present security situation.

Barak also visited a house in the city hit by a Katyusha on Thursday.

Also Friday, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said the IDF must reoccupy part of the Gaza Strip for an unlimited time and overthrow the Hamas government.

"The State of Israel must make a strategic decision to order the IDF to prepare quickly to topple the Hamas terror regime and take over all the areas from which rockets are fired on Israel," MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima) told Israel Radio. He said the IDF should prepare to remain in those areas for years.

MK Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) said his party would back an invasion of Gaza, though he fell short of advocating reoccupation.

"There is no doubt that the security response needs to include a ground component," said Sa'ar. He said the "takeover of territory in the northern Strip" from which the Palestinians launch rockets at Israel would reduce the barrages from Gaza.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai went as far as threatening a "shoah,"
the Hebrew word for holocaust or disaster. The word is generally used to refer to the Nazi Holocaust, but a spokesman for Vilnai said the deputy defense minister used the word in the sense of "disaster," saying "he did not mean to make any allusion to the genocide."

"The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," Vilnai told Army Radio on Friday.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said of Vilnai's comments: "We are facing new Nazis who want to kill and burn the Palestinian people."

Palestinians in Gaza fired about a dozen Grad rockets Thursday on the southern port city of Ashkelon, some 15 kilometers north of the Strip. A 17-year-old girl was lightly hurt in the rocket attacks and several others suffered from shock. The day before, a Sapir College student was killed in a rocket attack on Sderot. Fighting in Gaza also continued Thursday, with at least 18 Palestinians, including five boys and a 6-month-old baby, killed in Gaza air strikes.

Israeli military analysts say that as Ashkelon becomes a permanent target of Hamas missile attacks, an Israeli ground offensive is becoming inevitable and likely to occur sooner rather than later.

Such an offensive seemed to move one step closer Thursday, with Barak declaring that such an operation was "a real likelihood" - although he told Quartet representatives that it was not imminent, a position that appeared to be echoed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Barak also ordered rocket alert sirens activated in Ashkelon for the first time, starting Friday.

"The major ground operation is real and tangible," Barak told his security chiefs during a meeting Thursday, according to sources who took part in the meeting. "We are not afraid of it."

Meretz-Yahad chairman MK Yossi Beilin advocated a diplomatic solution rather than a military one.

"My solution is to reach a cease-fire with Hamas," said Beilin, who said Israel should also continue negotiation with the Palestinian Authority.

Beilin said Hamas has expressed an interest in a truce over the last few weeks and that it was irresponsible of Israel not to respond to them.

"There have been at least two requests from Hamas, via a third party, to accept a cease-fire," he said.

The government, for its part, has been sending mixed messages regarding the possibility of a ground offensive in Gaza.

Olmert appeared to suggest that a major Israeli ground operation against militants in the Gaza Strip was not imminent, saying Israel's fight against them was a "long process" and that there was "no magic formula" to halt frequent rocket attacks.

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, who visited Sderot on Thursday, rejected proposals to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, calling them "populist ideas which I don't agree with, and in my opinion, no intelligent person does either."

Nonetheless, Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman later said the violence "may leave us no choice" but to send troops back in, two and a half years after Israel ended its occupation of Gaza.

Early Thursday evening, a Katyusha-type rocket struck an apartment building in Ashkelon, crashing through the roof and slicing through three floors. No casualties were reported.

In another Grad-missile attack on Ashkelon, a 17-year-old girl was lightly hurt and several other people were treated for shock.

A senior Israeli security official said that the rockets fired into Ashkelon have been Iranian-made imports, with a range of about 22 kilometers, but some locally made rockets have fallen on the southern outskirts of the city.

The missiles, known as Grads, are taken apart, smuggled into Gaza through tunnels, and reassembled. But Hamas has only a limited supply, the source said.

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      1.   Don`t take the Bait 08:53  |  Born In The USA 29/02/08
      2.   Invade Gaza? 09:01  |  Ben 29/02/08
      3.   Don`t negotiate with Hamas, smash them 09:03  |  John 29/02/08
      4.   Beilin - Amazing Lack of Guilt and Abundance of Arrogance 09:03  |  Tod Zuckerman 29/02/08
      5.   "...two requests from Hamas, via a third party..." 09:22  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 29/02/08
      6.   OLMERT IS A FAILED LEADER 09:27  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 29/02/08
      7.   MK Beilin: Hamas has recently made two truce offers via third par 09:33  |  Esther 29/02/08
      8.   When and for how long? 09:36  |  sandra chitayat 29/02/08
      9.   Controlled Civil Uprising is a must 09:38  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 29/02/08
      10.   ISRAEL IS DYING OF THE PEACE PROCESS 09:46  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 29/02/08
      11.   Support Hanegbi! 09:46  |  Vital 29/02/08
      12.   What they couldn`t do in Lebanon... 09:51  |  sandra chitayat 29/02/08
      13.   apologist Beilin 10:07  |  ron 29/02/08
      14.   Threats of a Palestinian holocaust... 10:55  |  Maureen Ann 29/02/08
      15.   Beilin: Be quiet for a change 10:56  |  Jewish State 29/02/08
      16.   Where this so called solution is going to lead 10:59  |  Tzfonit 29/02/08
      17.   "Oslo" Beilin lives in a world of his own 11:07  |  Johanan 29/02/08
      18.   Holocaust 11:08  |  ana 29/02/08
      19.   threat of a holocaust? 11:09  |  danalogue 29/02/08
      20.   Beiln--Pathetic 11:21  |  Israeli 29/02/08
      21.   Beware Stalingrad 11:22  |  Clickfool 29/02/08
      22.   Use of the Holocaust 11:32  |  J Steiner 29/02/08
      23.   #9 boris the clucking fool and convenient history 11:44  |  v hardman 29/02/08
      24.   Matan Vilnai`s holocaust 11:45  |  Cpt. Jack 29/02/08
      25.   # 6 Ms. Ana 11:45  |  Palestinian 29/02/08
      26.   Don`t u see - we destroy ourselves 11:46  |  Dan 29/02/08
      27.   Government in slow motion 11:53  |  Sam 29/02/08
      28.   Vilna`i must be fired immediately. 12:01  |  The Judge 29/02/08
      29.   sweep hamas and hizbollah 12:04  |  ghassan 29/02/08
      30.   You need to understand/speak Hebrew in order to 12:05  |  Mefisto 29/02/08
      31.   This `holocaust` comment is shaking the world right now. 12:06  |  Doron 29/02/08
      32.   Strike down hard and close the game 12:09  |  IDF and IAF fans D. 29/02/08
      33.   Am I wrong? 12:10  |  Eric WIlson 29/02/08
      34.   "Holocaust" an unfit description 12:17  |  Robert Haymond 29/02/08
      35.   Temporary cease fire 12:18  |  Robin 29/02/08
      36.   Dear Maureen Ann down under in Aussieland 12:20  |  Joe Sittizen 29/02/08
      37.   which world is oisrael living in...? 12:22  |  ravi 29/02/08
      38.   Holocaust 12:22  |  JJ burke 29/02/08
      39.   Priorities 12:22  |  Steve 29/02/08
      40.   The use of the word Holocaust 12:24  |  Chris Linthwaite 29/02/08
      41.   Finally, Israel says what it means!!!! 12:30  |  Ahmed 29/02/08
      42.   Holocaust is an unfortunate word! 12:39  |  Michael 29/02/08
      43.   The real enemy is not in Gaza but in Tehran 12:41  |  Jonathan S 29/02/08
      44.   Fascism 12:45  |  ME Citizen 29/02/08
      45.   Threatening holocaust? where does he live-in angerville?? 12:51  |  Jo 29/02/08
      46.   Why Olmert and Livni refuse to defend Israel 12:56  |  Jonathan S 29/02/08
      47.   Is the collapse inevitable..? 13:04  |  Lean Lion 29/02/08
      48.   Vilnai 13:16  |  Peter 29/02/08
      49.   Threatening with Holocaust affront the victoms of Holocaust 13:17  |  Ben Sina 29/02/08
      50.   The future Holocaust in the Middle-East 13:26  |  Steven 29/02/08
      51.   Quoting Sharon 13:31  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 29/02/08
      52.   Most people are right! 13:34  |  Vital 29/02/08
      53.   May G-d show you what does holocaust really means israeli 13:36  |  shery.muslima 29/02/08
      54.   This is just what the Hamas wants 13:44  |  K 29/02/08
      55.   Beilin: head is screwed on backward so no vision is possible 13:47  |  Avi 29/02/08
      56.   #31, Jonathan S 13:54  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 29/02/08
      57.   A LIAR 13:59  |  indrajaya 29/02/08
      58.   Maureen 14:00  |  Rab Burns 29/02/08
      59.   Cant take the heat? GTFO out of the areas around israel 14:00  |  MUUSSLIIIMS Shiitee 29/02/08
      60.   "Shoah" 14:01  |  Sebastian 29/02/08
      61.   Nu, what a choice of words 14:02  |  A mother 29/02/08
      62.   Israeli MKs should note two wrongs don`t make a right 14:04  |  Dutch 29/02/08
      63.   As Stupid As 14:07  |  Johnboy 29/02/08
      64.   Thank You, Mr. Vilnai 14:08  |  Knott Bushman 29/02/08
      65.   Hamas is crazy. I fear for Gaza. 14:08  |  Hakeem 29/02/08
      66.   Holocaust Imagine if Hamas said that about Israel 14:11  |  Simon 29/02/08
      67.   Cipora Julianna Kohn. The same Sharon 14:20  |  vincent 29/02/08
      68.   #41 Ahmed, Excellent points! 14:20  |  Dutch 29/02/08
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