As rockets rain down, political leaders split on military response

The recent rain of rockets on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip has sparked a heated debate in Israel over how to respond - not only between the government and the opposition, but within the government itself.

Palestinians fired 15 rockets and mortars at Israel from Gaza yesterday, with most landing in the western Negev. The rocket assaults have intensified since Hamas formally ended its cease-fire with Israel last Friday.

Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the former Kadima Party chairman, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who heads Labor, continued to urge restraint yesterday. But Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who replaced Olmert as Kadima's head, and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads Likud, argued that Israel must get rid of Gaza's Hamas-run government.

Livni, who supported the truce until recently, told a Kadima faction meeting yesterday that "Israel needs to topple the Hamas government in Gaza, and a government led by me would do so." Earlier, at the cabinet meeting, she declared: "The truce has ended, and we're now in a state of unilateral combat. We need to examine diplomatic, military and economic means of response."

Netanyahu, who was touring the southern town of Sderot, said that "in the long run, there will be no choice but to topple the Hamas government." Ministers in the current Kadima-led government, he charged, "have been sitting and doing nothing, burying their heads in the sand. The time has come to change that."

Barak, in contrast, defended his policy of restraint, saying: "Anyone who thinks it's possible to topple the Hamas government must understand that there's no way to do it without returning to the Strip. And there's no guarantee that we could halt the fire even with two or three divisions in Gaza."

Olmert concurred. "When I get a phone call that a Qassam [rocket] has landed in the south, my blood boils, too, " he said. "But my responsibility is to calm things down."

So far, Olmert and Barak are in control: Senior army officers told Haaretz yesterday that the Israel Defense Forces have not been ordered to make any preparations for a major operation. In fact, they said, the Gaza Division has received no orders for any ground operations. Thus, for now, offensive efforts will be waged mainly from the air.

However, they added, a ground operation could be launched in the future if Hamas escalates from relatively small-scale attacks on border regions to large-scale rocket attacks deeper inside Israel.

Meanwhile, the IDF is increasing its level of readiness. In particular, the Home Front Command has worked hard over the past two weeks to improve rocket alert systems in communities located 30 to 40 kilometers from the Strip. It has systematically examined the warning systems in those communities and installed sirens in locations that lacked them, including educational institutions.

It also sent explanatory letters to residents and distributed 12,000 beepers to notify people of "Color Red" alerts whenever a Qassam is fired.

In yesterday's incidents, one Qassam struck a greenhouse in Moshav Netiv Ha'asara in the early morning, lightly wounding a foreign worker, who was hit by shrapnel. Later, a Qassam landed next to a factory in Sderot and another hit a house in the city. A rocket also landed in Ashkelon's southern industrial area. And the Israel Air Force struck a rocket-launching cell in northern Gaza.

Also yesterday, the Home Front Command instructed mayors to order students to stay in reinforced areas during class breaks instead of going outside. This order will remain in place until the Hanukkah vacation begins tomorrow.