"Right now, we face a situation where Hamas could wipe out the election
process within moment's notice," a government source said. "If Hamas doesn't
agree to a ceasefire, then there could be chaos next week [during the
elections]."
On Feb. 3, Hamas, in what the sources said marked a warning to Israel,
escalated rocket fire into the Jewish state. Palestinian gunners fired a
BM-21 Grad
rocket from the Gaza Strip that landed in the southern Israeli city of
Ashkelon. Nobody was injured, but damage was reported.
On Feb. 3, Defense Minister Ehud Barak convened what officials termed an
emergency meeting of military and intelligence chiefs. Barak was said to
have sought intelligence assessments of Hamas capabilities and intentions as
well as the feasibility of an immediate ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
"We know that most of the fire was not carried out by Hamas but by other
small organizations, but Hamas is responsible," Barak said. "Hamas must act
to stop this. If we have to, we will hit Hamas again."
The Israeli military response to Palestinian missile strikes from the
Gaza Strip has divided the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert
and many of his Cabinet colleagues support another ground invasion of the
Gaza Strip. Barak has appealed for patience, saying Egypt could win Hamas's
agreement to a ceasefire.
"Deterrence must now be achieved vis-a-vis Hamas, and deterrence is
achieved through force, and great force," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.
Officials said Olmert and several of his allies in the Cabinet support
the cancellation of the Feb. 10 elections. They said Hamas and its
Palestinian militia allies could disrupt national elections by massive fire
toward such Israeli cities as Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba and Gedera. Of all
the candidates for prime minister, only Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu,
deemed the frontrunner, has specifically pledged to topple the Hamas regime.
"We can either agree to postpone elections to a date after another
military operation or watch how Hamas turns this country into chaos next
week," an official said.
Officials said the intelligence community has assessed that Hamas was
being encouraged by Iran and Syria to torpedo the Israeli elections. They
said Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Masha'al and five members of the
political bureau were receiving tens of millions of dollars in aid as well
as instructions during their visit to Teheran in early February.
"Without defeating the Iranian regime, we will never defeat jihadi
Islam," former Israeli Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon told the
Herzliya Conference, an annual strategic session in Israel. "We need to
politically and economically isolate Teheran and use military force if
necessary."
