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.