Word: barak
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...alert against mortar fire and possible guerrilla raids, were wondering out loud about what's holding back their political leaders from giving the green light. And the flirtation with various cease-fire proposals earlier in the week by the man in charge of Operation Cast Lead, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, has prompted a revival within the ranks of the nickname "Zig-Zag" - originally applied to Barak in reference to his skittish diplomacy as Prime Minister in 2000, ahead of the failed Camp David summit...
...answer to the question of what's restraining Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from launching a full-scale ground attack may be found in the goals of the Israeli operation and the time available. Israel has made clear from the outset that its objective is to attain a cease-fire on its own terms that will last at least a year or two. While they hope to weaken Hamas, Israel's leaders are aware that they're unlikely to destroy the organization, and among their primary concerns is to avoid getting dragged into a quagmire. Destroying Hamas would take...
...ground offensive is still likely. For the past two days, Israeli leaders have said they will not agree to an early cease-fire and instead want to cripple Hamas permanently. Sources in Israel's Defense Ministry said Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave France's Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, a polite "no" to his request for a 48-hour cease-fire. But today, as the voices of well-known Israeli writers joined the call for an immediate end to hostilities, the idea of a cease-fire was still being debated, according to the Defense Ministry sources. It's probably no coincidence...
That perceived early success is benefiting two of the leading candidates for the premiership in the upcoming Israeli election scheduled for early February. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were trailing in the polls behind their hawkish Likud rival, Benjamin Netanyahu. But the aerial assault against Hamas has given a lift to Barak and Livni, at Netanyahu's expense...
...Hebron events are unlikely to affect the outcome of Israel's election in February. Polls show conservative Likud Party candidate and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding a solid lead over acting Prime Minister Tzipi Livni, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak - who ordered the Hebron raid on the same day his Labor Party held its primary election - running a very distant third. But their impact on other players in the West Bank may be profound: the actions of the Hilltop Youth were condemned and strongly discouraged by the long-established settler leadership of the Yesha Council, who recognized that young...