ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Dec 25 - Israel Showers Hamas With Barrage Of Warnings

APS Diplomat Recorder, Dec 31, 2009

As tension around Gaza continues to escalate, Israeli leaders issue warnings to Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israel or pay a "heavy price". Israeli PM Ehud Olmert gave what was described as the clearest indication yet that Israel will resort to massive use of force. He appealed to Palestinians to reject Hamas leaders.

"I didn't come here to declare war", Olmert told Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV channel. "But Hamas must be stopped - that is the way it is going to be. I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and [Islamic] Jihad. How? I will not go into details now", he said. His threats coincided with emergency talks in Cairo between Israeli FM Tzipi Livni and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Livni described Hamas rocket fire as "unbearable" and declared "Enough is enough". Egypt had earlier brokered six-month ceasefire, which expired last Friday. Egypt said there was little it could do for the time being. Escalation "Egypt will not stop efforts [to broker a truce] as long as the parties want this, but I cannot imagine that we can convince the two sides to go back to the calm as long as there is this escalation", Egyptian FM Ahmad Aboul Gaith told reporters. Meanwhile, Hamas, also, warned Israel. "[Israel] should know that any decision to attack the Gaza Strip will open the gates of hell and we will make you regret your stupidity with tears of blood", the group's armed wing the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades said. Trading warnings, Palestinian analysts say, is a sign that both Hamas and Israel are in trouble. "Both don't know how to get out of it", Ali Garbawi, political scientist at West-Bank-based Bir-Zeit University told Gulf News . "If Israel attacks, it is in trouble and if it doesn't, Israel is still in trouble", he added, referring to the impact of the military offensive on next February's elections results . Israeli warnings were aimed "at preparing the public outside Israel" to what Garbawi believes would be attacks on "selected targets in Gaza".