Mofaz: Significant drop in terror from Gaza since disengagement

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Friday said the number of casualties in terror attacks that originated from the Gaza Strip dropped significantly since the disengagement, and while 61 suicide bombings emerged from Gaza in 2002, year 2005 saw only 5 such attacks.

Speaking on a visit to the southern city of Ashkelon, Mofaz also said that al-Qaeda has been trying to gain a foothold in Jordan and Egypt and continuously works to establish terror cells inside Israel, but that these attempts have all failed so far.

The Defense Minister visited Ashkelon at the invitation of mayor Roni Mahtzari in the wake of attempts by Gaza terror groups to fire Qassam rockets at the city.

Mofaz said Israel would make its utmost to prevent Qassam fire from the Gaza Strip and that all those involved in rocket launches are a prime target for the Israel Defense Forces.

Halutz: No imminent action against IranChief of Staff Dan Halutz said Thursday that he does not think the Israel Defense Forces will act soon against the Iranian nuclear program.

"I do not believe an IDF operation against the Iranians will be necessary soon," Halutz told Army Radio.

Halutz told interviewer Ilana Dayan that he believes Iran will achieve its goal - a nuclear bomb - in the next decade. He differentiated between the "point of no return" when Iran acquires the independent technological capability to make the bomb, and completing the process. Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this week that Iran could cross the point of no return in a matter of months.

Halutz also said that all political options to torpedo the Iranian nuclear program should be exhausted before any other action is considered. He said those efforts have successfully delayed Tehran's plans by two years.

Halutz also said that because Iran doesn't yet have a nuclear bomb, it does not constitute an existential threat to Israel. "When there is an existential threat, a country must take every action to ensure its existence."

Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Iran seeks to produce more than a single nuclear bomb. Dagan warned that within a number of months, Iran will attain technological independence, and that the subsequent development of a nuclear bomb will only be a matter of time. He refused to predict when Iran would be able to produce a bomb.

Presenting an annual assessment to the Knesset panel, Dagan noted that Iran's chances of attaining the necessary technology depends on whether its plans will be thwarted by other countries or whether it will be able to advance the uranium enrichment process.

"There exists a strategic Iranian decision to reach nuclear independence and the capability to produce bombs," Dagan stressed.

He said that he considers the diplomatic effort aimed at preventing or at least delaying Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons to be of utmost importance. The Mossad chief added that these efforts have resulted in a two-year delay in Iran's nuclear program. He noted that it is very important that the United Nations Security Council impose economic sanctions against Tehran, because of Iran's heavy reliance on imported replacement parts for automobiles and grains.

Speaking after Dagan, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said that if Iran's nuclear program continues unchecked, Tehran will certainly have operational nuclear capability within one or two years.

Steinitz added that if Iran possesses atomic weaponry, the region will become a "black Middle East" that will pose a danger and a threat to the entire world.

He stressed that a nuclear Iran would mean a threat to the existence of Israel, and called on the global community, under American leadership, to take steps to thwart the Iranian program.

In a prior appearance before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Dagan said that "Iran will reach the point of no return by the end of 2005 in its technological capability to develop a nuclear bomb. Three or four years later, they will be able to produce the bomb."

	IDF Chief of Staff Halutz said he does not think the IDF will act against Iran in the near future. (Haaretz Archive)