Olmert refuses to rule out Gaza offensive ahead of key discussion

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due to meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni today to discuss the future of the Gaza lull, a day after Olmert threatened that Israel would lash out against Gaza militants in response to a recent escalation in rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip.

"We will never flee from our homes," Olmert said yesterday while speaking to children during a tour of rocket-battered communities bordering the Gaza Strip. "We won't defend, but will attack - and stop once and for all what threatens our daily lives."

"I say, with full responsibility, that we know what needs to be done, but we also know when to act so that you won't be scared and won't need to run breathlessly to the shelters," he said.

Olmert, Barak, Livni and top defense officials will discuss whether to extend the six-month-old lull, which officially ends December 19. They will also take into consideration the effect that the January 9 end of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' term will have on Hamas' activity. Olmert, Barak and Livni are expected to focus on policy rather than make any operational decisions during today's meeting.

Olmert has privately said the lull is dead and that even if Israel is interested in extending it, the rules need to be changed. Livni, who said yesterday that Israel must respond to Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, is expected to side with Olmert on the issue. Barak, however, does not want to change the current policy of military restraint.

"Israel must respond to all [rocket] fire," Livni said at a conference at Tel Aviv University. "It won't stop the attacks, but appearances have a purpose. When Israel creates an image of weakness, this weakens our deterrent capability."

Livni said adherence to a lull was no longer in Israel's interest.

"When we decided on the lull, the Israeli interest was quiet for the short term, and it's impossible to say now that that's also the long-term interest," she said. "I'm embarrassed to call the situation in the south a lull, because the rocket fire is unceasing."

Palestinians have fired more than 200 rockets on Israel since the Gaza border region flared up November 4, after six Hamas operatives were killed when the Israel Defense Forces destroyed a tunnel near the border.

Olmert recently asked defense officials and the Foreign Ministry to prepare position papers on various ways to secure the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, legal issues concerning a military and civil response to rocket fire from Gaza, and operational issues concerning the rocket fire.

The cabinet is slated to discuss on Sunday the legal elements of an Israeli response to the Qassam fire. Barak, who is working on this position paper, will present the methods the IDF seeks to use, including artillery fire and sanctions like halting the supply of water and electricity to Gaza, and the legal limitations involved.