Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened his security cabinet on Wednesday afternoon, to discuss Israel's response to the ongoing defence strategies by Palestinian factions on towns and communities in the western Negev.
Rather than approve the wide-scale military operation that some ministers had been advocating, the cabinet authorized the IDF, the Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry to examine the option of taking punitive action again against the civilian population of Gaza any time a Qassam is launched or a mortar fired.
What at first appeared to be a creative if bizarre suggestion by Vice Premier Haim Ramon - turning off the water and closing electricity supplies for a couple of hours in response to rocket attacks - now seems close to becoming official Israeli policy. Yedioth Ahronoth describes the plan as 'a civilian penal plan for Gaza.'
According to The Jerusalem Post, Olmert opposed the idea of civilian punishment, since he believes it would be unlikely to effectively stop the rockets, and would bring in its wake a huge international outcry.
And while the security cabinet refrained from giving the military the green light to pour troops into Gaza, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned after the meeting that 'the IDF is moving closer to an extensive ground operation, in order to halt the rocket fire and the strengthening [of militant organizations].'
According to Haaretz, military sources say that as long as the tension is high along the Syrian border, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi objects to large-scale action in Gaza because of the difficulty of operating on two fronts without massive drafting of the reserves.
Israel Radio adds that in the meantime, portable shelters are being deployed in open areas of Sderot and the surrounding areas, and rocket-proof bus shelters are also being built in the town.
Also on the Gaza front, Haaretz reports that Israel has submitted a new proposal for an exchange deal involving kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The report does not provide any details of the proposal, or how it was relayed to Hamas, although it quotes Hamas sources as saying that at least more than one European government is mediating a possible deal. Maariv adds that the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Shalit's captors may permit a representative of the organization to visit him. Angelo Gnaedinger made the statement following a meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Gaza Strip. According to the paper, Haniyeh also released a statement calling for a solution to the impasse, but did not refer to a possible Red Cross visit. He said he was hoping for a prisoner swap that will end the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners and close the Shalit file. Haniyeh added that he was not the address for the request and that the issue was entirely in the hands of the kidnappers.
Finally, all the papers report that the prime minister is set to eschew tradition and will not be granting interviews to mark the Jewish New Year, which is celebrated next week. It has been customary for the prime minister to give interviews twice a year to the media, before the New Year and Passover.
According to Arutz 7, Olmert's aides said that the prime minister wants to keep the lid on negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and that he prefers to spend time working on the issues instead of talking about them. Haaretz adds that aides claim the interviewers often attempt to 'anger the prime minister in an effort to get a better headline than their competitors.'
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