Olmert vows deterrence will be achieved against terror groups

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking in his first response to the Thursday terrorist attack in Jerusalem, vowed Saturday that Israel would achieve deterrence against terror groups, as it has done against Hezbollah.

"As we achieved deterrence against Arab states and against Hezbollah, which for a year and a half has not dared to shoot even one missile, we will achieve deterrence against terrorist organizations," Olmert told an event celebrating International Women's Day in a Tel Aviv suburb.

"Those launching rockets and those involved in the shooting attack had the same purpose," Olmert said, referring to Gaza militants' rocket fire against communities in southern Israel.

The prime minister continued: "The perpetrators of both intend to make our lives unbearable... This won't happen," he said, calling the shooting attack "horrible" and having been carried out "in cold blood."

"Israel will use both military and diplomatic tools to ensure its existence," Olmert pledged. He did not speak directly about the peace talks with the Palestinians.

Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said peace efforts with Israel must move forward, despite an especially bloody spate of violence capped by a deadly attack on a Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Abbas also reiterated his support for Egypt's efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

"Despite all the circumstances we're living through and all the attacks we're experiencing, we insist on peace. There is no other path," Abbas said in a speech also marking International Women's Day.

The Palestinian President stressed that the Gaza Strip should be politically reunited with the West Bank via dialogue, adding that Hamas "was a firm part of the Palestinian people despite the mistake they made."

Abbas urged the Islamic group to end its control of Gaza, which it wrested from his Fatah movement in a bloody coup in June 2007.

Israel has sent mixed signals since Thursday night's shooting, in which a Palestinian gunman burst into the prestigious Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem and killed eight students, many of whom were studying religious texts in the building's library.

Officials have indicated a willingness to move ahead with peace talks with Abbas, launched last November at a U.S.-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland.

The sides hope to reach a final agreement by the end of the year. The Egyptian-backed truce efforts remain more cloudy, especially if it turns out that Hamas was behind the seminary shooting.

Abbas had earlier condemned the terror attack.

"President Mahmoud Abbas condemns the attack in Jerusalem that claimed the lives of many Israelis and he reiterated his condemnation of all attacks that target civilians, whether they are Palestinians or Israelis," said Abbas aide Saeb Erekat.

	Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (AP)