Sharon threatens to attack Gaza

The Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon renewed his threat to launch a large scale military attack against Gaza if attacks of the Palestinians continue.

This was expressed during the weekly meeting for the Israeli government which was held, exceptionally, in Sdeirut in southern Israel in solidarity with its people whose protests recently increased because of the failure of the Israeli army to protect them from the Palestinian al-Qassam missiles and mortars shelling.

Sharon explained that Israel will make every effort necessary to halt the attacks against Sdeirut and the towns of western al-Negeb from areas to north of Gaza. He said that Tel Aviv is watching the situation closely after the deployment of the Palestinian security forces, noting that calm prevailed during the few past days.

For his part, the spokesman for the Israeli defense ministry accused the leaders of certain Palestinian leaderships in Damascus of trying to obstruct reaching a truce and foiling the mission of the Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas to that effect.