Peace & Safety = A Total Quiet,
Will be in Force Before the Fight,
Which Drives IDF Forces to Flight,
To Negev due to Islam Army Might!
March 2, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Begin Excerpt 1 from Jerusalem Post
PM vows to bring ‘total’ quiet to South
March 1, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Following a weekend of rocket fire on Ashkelon and other areas of the western Negev, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that Israel would not tolerate the escalation and would employ a wide array of measures in order to end the threat on southern Israel.
“Terrorists, led by Hamas, are trying to recuperate from the hard blow of Operation Cast Lead, and are doing this in the only way they know how to – through terror,” he told ministers at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
“The Israeli government has formulated policies and a unanimous decision has been made by the cabinet according to which, should the rocket fire continue, we will respond in a serious, painful, strong and uncompromising way,” Olmert continued. “The cabinet’s decision will be carried out until the terror organizations understand that Israel is not willing to accept their way.
“Israel has a wide range of options which can be used and these options will be utilized until total quiet is brought to the South,” he added.
On Friday and Saturday, at least eight rockets struck various areas of the western Negev, including one that hit a school in Ashkelon.
Nobody was wounded in any of the attacks, but various buildings sustained extensive damage.
During the meeting, the cabinet upheld its approval of an additional NIS 2.5 billion for the defense budget, rejecting the Finance Ministry’s appeal against the extra funds.
Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On had said that the additional financing were unnecessary since the IDF could get its required funds from money already allotted to the defense establishment.
Prior to the cabinet meeting, Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel “must respond severely” to the rocket fire.
Similarly, Pensioners Minister Rafi Eitan said that Israel “cannot leave the situation like it is,” and that it needs to respond “decisively.”
Meanwhile, Public Security Minster Avi Dichter said he had “no doubt” that there would be more IDF operations in Gaza.
Speaking to Israel Radio, Dichter said that the operation had achieved its main objective of hitting Hamas hard, citing “700 Hamas gunmen killed and some one thousand wounded,” but he conceded that it hadn’t totally deterred the group from launching more rockets and smuggling weapons.
Dichter said that “whoever thinks Hamas can be smashed with one blow is mistaken,” adding that although it would take years to destroy the group’s military capability, that should be Israel’s ultimate goal.
Concerning Gilad Schalit, Dichter said Israel was making the utmost effort to secure the captive soldier’s release and dismissed claims that recent internal Israeli developments had hindered chances of a deal.
With regards to the Hamas reconciliation talks with Fatah, the public security minister said they were an attempt by the Islamic group to take over the whole of the Palestini
an territories.
“Hamas aims to rule the entire Palestinian Authority,” he said. “It tried to do this militarily and failed, so it’s now trying legally, just like Hizbullah did in Lebanon.”
Begin Excerpt 2 from Haaretz
Six Qassams hit Negev after Olmert vows ‘painful’ response
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
March 1, 2009
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday launched six Qassam rockets into southern Israel, just hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised a ‘painful, uncompromising response’ to Palestinian rocket fire.
One of the rockets struck in a field in the Sha’ ar Hanegev region.
Another exploded in the backyard of a Sderot home, causing damage.
A third launched earlier in the day hit near Ashkelon,
There were no casualties reported in any of the strikes.
Olmert’s vow came a day after ten rockets were fired at Israel from the coastal territory, bringing the number of projectiles launched from Gaza since the truce to more than 100.
Speaking before the weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert accused Hamas of using Qassam rockets to make up for their losses suffered during the three-week Israel Defense Forces offensive in the Gaza Strip which ended in late January.
“Hamas is trying to recover from the stiff blow they suffered during Operation Cast Lead through the use of terror,” Olmert said.
Olmert said that Israel would respond to rocket fire until “terror groups understand that Israel will not accept these attacks.” He also said that Israel’s response will not adhere “to the expectations of terrorists,” and include a wide array of operations that can implemented “until quiet is restored to the South.”
Six of the rockets fired Saturday targeted Gaza-area communities, two hit Ashkelon, one landed in the Eshkol district and one near Sdot Negev area, the IDF said.
There were no casualties or property damage in the rocket attacks, with the exception of an empty schoolyard in Ashkelon that suffered some damage.
Israel launched a three-week offensive into the Gaza Strip on Dec. 26th, in response to continued rocket fire on southern communities over the last several years. During the operation, 10 IDF soldiers and three Israeli civilians were killed, in addition to over 1,300 Palestinians, according to Palestinian sources.
Begin Except 3 from DEBKAfile Special Report
Hamas missile upsurge erodes Israeli deterrence, dashes ceasefire hopes
DEBKAfile Special Report
March 1, 2009, 9:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ten Palestinian missiles struck Israel from the Gaza Strip Saturday, Feb. 28, including two heavyweight Grads aimed at Ashkelon.
The number since Israel halted Operation Cast Lead Jan. 18 has risen to eighty – 81 Sunday night with a direct hit which set a Sderot home on fire.
DEBKAfile’s military sources directly correlate the upsurge of Palestinian rockets attacks on Israel and the setbacks in securing the release of the captive Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit
with defense minister Ehud Barak’s dogged insistence on the imminence of an Egyptian-brokered long-term ceasefire.
The figures are irrefutable, the ceasefire is receding and the message from Cairo is plain. The Egyptians say the rockets will keep on coming and the Israeli soldier stay missing until the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reach an accord on sharing power, which is Cairo’s top priority.
Israel is not offered any say in this process; neither is Hamas required to abandon violence or its ruling ambition to destroy Israel. But the Palestinian Islamists’ conditions for a deal are largely addressed to… Israel. Hence the pressure-by-missile.
Cairo optimistically forecasts a “successful” outcome later this month; other Arab sources mention April-May.
But Barack and his envoy to Cairo Amos Gilead seem to have no qualms about Cairo’s linkage of Palestinian missile fire and a Palestinian unity accord, although this makes Ashkelon hostage to a Palestinian factional reconciliation. And what happens if the Palestinian deal falls through, as it has before?
For more than a month, therefore, Israeli retaliation for the missile attacks has been muted, restricted to the harmless aerial bombardment of empty buildings and smuggling tunnels in Gaza.
This tactic contradicts the promises Barak and foreign minister Tzipi Livni made that Israel would respond instantaneously and effectively to Palestinian aggression from Gaza, if the military operation of January failed to bring the promised “new security reality” to southern Israel.
Sensing this weakness in Israel’s stance, Hamas which has quickly recovered from its hammering at Israel’s hands is moving forward on three fronts:
1. An upsurge in missile attacks: Saturday, two newly upgraded 170mm Grad missiles were launched against Ashkelon.
One went through the fortified roof of a schoolroom where no lessons were held because of the Sabbath.
This attack on an important Israeli port-city made nonsense of the defense minister’s claim that Israel’s deterrence capacity was in place.
2. Iran is smuggling larger quantities of weapons to Hamas via Sinai than during the days prior to Operation Cast Lead: 50 improved Grad rockets, different types of anti-air missiles and tons of explosives were delivered in the last two weeks.
That takes care of another solemn promise (delivered by Amos Gilead) that, if Israel agreed to a Cairo-brokered unilateral ceasefire last month, Egypt would reciprocate with strenuous action to stem the smuggling of arms to Hamas through its territory.
Our sources add that Tehran, which took that promise seriously, had planned alternative, more expensive and roundabout smuggling routes. Now Iran sees it can save itself the trouble and go back to shipping arms via Sinai to Gaza relatively undisturbed.
3. Hamas is digging its heel in harder than ever before on the release of Gilead Shalit.
This tramples yet another of Barak’s assurances, this one endorsed by the outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert, that the military offensive would bring his freedom closer. Hamas has made it clear that the price for his release is up and still rising.
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