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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (8990)	5/20/2005 2:12:24 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32591

Ceasefire at breaking point BEN LYNFIELD IN JERUSALEM THE Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, yesterday ordered the army to use "all necessary means" to stop the firing of rockets by Hamas militants against Jewish settlements in Gaza, as the Middle East ceasefire threatened to give way under the strain of the worst escalation in three months. However, senior officials from both sides met in a bid to restore calm, with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas each having compelling interests in averting an all-out conflagration. Hamas kept up its rocket attacks against settlements yesterday, firing what Israel said were 12 mortars and a Kassam rocket in the northern and southern Gaza Strip. There were no casualties. But one real danger last night was that a rocket could score a direct hit and cause Israeli fatalities, forcing Mr Mofaz to make good on his threat. Hamas's Izzedin al-Qassam armed wing said the attacks, which came after a similar barrage on Wednesday, were "the continuation of the response to the repeated Zionist crimes, most recently the assassinations of the holy warriors in Rafah and Khan Yunis". A Hamas fighter was killed under disputed circumstances on Wednesday in Rafah, while another died in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack against militants poised to fire rockets from Khan Yunis. It was the first helicopter gunship strike since the two sides announced a ceasefire in February at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit meeting. Palestinian officials said the strike marked a return to Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian militants and constituted a further retreat from the understandings reached at the summit. During a meeting with security officials, Mr Mofaz gave the army a freer hand to deter Palestinian fire, including further air strikes, senior officials said. They said he had urged the officials to "use all necessary means to prevent any attempt to fire" at Israeli targets. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reportedly met Dov Weisglass, a senior aide to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, in a bid to halt the escalation. If reason prevails, the ceasefire will be stitched together for now. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is anxious to prevent the unravelling of his greatest achievement, the ceasefire, especially in advance of a meeting with George Bush next week. Israel would like calm to prevail while it carries out its withdrawal from Gaza in August. Hamas also does not want to derail the holding of Palestinian legislative elections in July in which it is expected to make a strong showing. While violence had dropped off sharply since February, hopes for genuine reconciliation were already foundering before this week's escalation. In the Palestinian view, Israel has undermined the Sharm al-Sheikh understandings by backtracking on its commitment to transfer security control over West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority and by putting the freeze on a planned second release of Palestinian prisoners. To make matters worse, according to Palestinians, Israel has kept up its expansion of settlements in occupied West Bank areas seen as vital for a future Palestinian state. news.scotsman.com