Sunday, 28 December 2008
The cabinet on Sunday approved the mobilization of thousands of reservists to support Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.
Ministers okayed defense officials' request to call-up of 4,500 reserve troops, in addition to 2,000 who were mobilized on Saturday.
The additional troops were to be allocated to the home front as well as the reinforcement of ground forces.
During the meeting ministers heard briefings from defense officials, and were told that some 50 percent of Hamas's underground rocket firing potential was destroyed in the second wave of the attack. This was given as one of the reasons that the Hamas reaction has so far been limited.
It was also mentioned that Israel has not received any requests from Hamas to negotiate, and neither has it been offered mediation by the international community.
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet that many in Gaza were pleased with the Israeli attack, because of the suffering that Hamas has brought upon them.
The cabinet also approved a continued "special situation" in the Gaza periphery, which Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared on Saturday. A "special situation" allows the Home Front Command to instruct local authorities to act to close down factories, keep people in their homes and so on.
In addition, ministers okayed initiation of Melah (Economy in Time of Emergency) in the Gaza periphery, a plan which would mobilize civilians, along with government and security service infrastructure, to aid in times of crisis.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at the meeting that while world leaders were pressing for restoration of the calm, they were placing the blame for the current violence on Hamas. This is an important message, she said.
However, she added, "If civilians are hurt and as the operation goes on, international attempts to bring about quiet will become greater."
But Livni said that Israel would stand firm on its demands, and would not be satisfied with superficial solutions and would accept only a true answer to the problem.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet that "the perseverance, resolution and patience of Israelis in the home front will determine our ability to attain our goals as we defined them."
"Israel has opened a military campaign in order to restore quiet to the citizens of the South, who have suffered restive times and disruptions to the normalcy needed by any sane person. The home front has become in recent years a target of attacks which overshadow the lives of hundreds of thousands of people," Olmert said.
"The government has invested many resources in the home front in the past few years. I take this opportunity to call on members of the government to make the utmost effort to meet the vital needs of citizens of the South, as this situation may last for longer than what might be expected at the moment," the prime minister added.
Olmert added that he was hoping all government ministries would maintain hot-lines with offices in the South.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. -Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi met before the cabinet convened. Barak said following his briefing with Israel's top general that "so far we have achieved good operative results. We should know this is not going to be fast nor easy, and we will have to withstand what lies ahead."
Science, Culture and Sports Minister Ghaleb Majadle, of Barak's Labor party, notified the government's secretariat that he would not be sitting in during the weekly cabinet meeting. He called on the government to halt escalation in the South and on Hamas to cease rocket fire against Israel. According to Majadle, "extending the operation might bring about a collapse of the diplomatic process with the Palestinians and the Arab world."
Deputy Prime Minister and Shas chairman Eli Yishai reacted to Majadle's statement, saying it was "a pity that he did not embargo the cabinet and Knesset meetings during the eight years when Palestinians fired rockets and mortar shells. If this is what he thinks, he should not run for the next Knesset."
