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Israel Willing to Hold Ground Assault, Give Talks Chance

By Calev Ben-David and Jonathan Ferziger - Nov 20, 2012


Israel postponed a decision on whether to launch a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to give the international community a chance to reach a cease-fire, a government official said, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to the region to join peace talks.

The official, who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the information, said Israel was prepared to send in the troops if an agreement wasn’t reached. Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are joining Egyptian-led efforts to broker a cease-fire between the Islamist Hamas movement and Israel as fighting enters its seventh day.

“Both sides must cease fire immediately,” Ban told journalists in Cairo before traveling to Israel. “A ground operation would be a major escalation,” he said, as Israel boosted its forces on the Gaza border.

Clinton will visit Jerusalem, Cairo and Ramallah, said Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser. “The goal on that trip is for everybody to use their voices, their influence, for a peaceful outcome,” he said at a briefing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Palestinians fired more than 40 rockets into Israel today, according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, and Israel continued its attacks on Hamas and related targets in the Gaza Strip. Israel, the U.S. and the European Union label Hamas a terrorist group.

Israeli strikes killed 39 Palestinians in Gaza yesterday, raising the death toll to 113 since Nov. 14, said Ashraf al- Qedra, spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Three Israeli citizens have been killed.

Bank Hit

Israel launched about 100 air strikes overnight against “terror sites,” the army said in an e-mailed statement, including the Islamic National Bank in Gaza City, devastating the Hamas-owned lender that the group uses to pay the salaries of its 35,000 employees. “A financial institution used by Hamas to fuel its terror activity was targeted,” the army said.

Israeli officials have said any cease-fire must include a long-term agreement with Hamas to halt the rocket fire that threatens 4.5 million people, or half the country’s population

“Without that, there’s no point,” Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said in an interview with Army Radio.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with eight senior Cabinet ministers late yesterday to decide whether to order an advance on the Palestinian territory by troops and hundreds of tanks arrayed on its eastern border. The meeting ended early today with no statement issued.

Israel’s Duty

Israel has massed tanks on its border east of Gaza and began to call up 75,000 reservists for a possible ground operation.

Speaking in Cairo yesterday, Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas, said Israel must end its blockade of the Gaza Strip for there to be an agreement on a cease-fire.

“Israel is the one that started the war and should stop it,” he said, adding that Hamas won’t accept any Israeli conditions. “Certain demands must be met,” including an end to the blockade of Gaza, he said.

MORE - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-11-20/un-s-ban-brings-diplomatic-weight-to-israel-hamas-talks.html