World Tribune.com

U.S. presses Israel to limit attack, involve international community

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

JERUSALEM — Israel has come under increasing U.S. pressure to limit its military incrusion into the Gaza Strip.

Israeli government sources said in a series of message the Bush administration has urged the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to minimize any military strike on the Gaza Strip. The sources said the messages recommended that Israel employ the international community to help free an Israeli soldier abducted by Hamas on June 25 and taken to the southern Gaza Strip.

"The messages have taken the form of 'We understand your anger but any attack would only make things worse for you,'" a government source said. "It's a familiar message."

On Tuesday, a senior Israeli military officer told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that international efforts for the release of the abducted soldier have been insufficient. The officer said Egypt remains the "only ray of hope" in winning the release of the soldier, Middle East Newsline reported.

The sources said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has spoken to Olmert or Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at least once a day since the Palestinian assault on an Israeli military outpost on June 25. They said Ms. Rice has refused to provide U.S. support for a large-scale Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

In one message, the State Department said a military strike was not the accepted way to respond to an abduction of a soldier. Instead, the message encouraged the use of Egypt to pressure Hamas to release the soldier.

"Give diplomacy a chance to work and try to budget this release," Ms. Rice said.

"We tried every way," Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said. "We demonstrated patience. We appealed to Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas]. We appealed to the world."

The U.S. opposition to an Israeli military strike was said to have delayed the operation. Officials said Olmert was the only holdout to an invasion of the Gaza Strip. On June 26, they said, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz expressed support for a major air and ground attack against Palestinian insurgency strongholds.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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