Word: gaza
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...second scenario: Israel invades a broad swath of northern Gaza as far as the teeming Jabaliya refugee camp, pushing the rocketeers back out of range of Sderot and other Israeli communities. In this plan, Israel would also turn a corridor along the Philadelphi Road, between Gaza and Egypt, into a no-man's land to stop smugglers from bringing more weapons into Gaza through an underground maze of tunnels. Israel would also cut off Gaza's electricity, gas and water, in what deputy premier Haim Ramon described as "a price tag" that Israel should stick on every rocket fired...
...downside to the second plan: Seizing northern Gaza would mean destroying hundreds of Palestinian houses and displacing thousands of families. It could also raise an international outcry that Israel was imposing a collective punishment on Gazans for having backed Hamas in last January's free elections. It is almost certain that President Abbas, despite his loathing of Hamas, would walk away from U.S. sponsored peace talks with the Israelis in protest. Hamas might also pull out longer-range missiles from its arsenal, able to strike as far as the Israeli port of Ashkelon...
...Plan Three, said to be favored by Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, calls for occasional ground strikes into Gaza and an increase in assassinations of Hamas's political and military leadership. "It wouldn't be Ismael Haniyeh [the Hamas leader and ex-Prime Minister], but it would be those right under him," one source told TIME. Until now, Israel has refrained from targeting Hamas's political leadership since they are not involved in the rocket attacks on Israel - the rocketeers usually belong to Islamic Jihad and other smaller Palestinian militant groups. "We want Hamas on the run so that...
...Hamas, meanwhile, says it is not afraid of an Israeli siege on Gaza. "The Israelis will pay a heavy price," said one Hamas leader, who claimed that his militia had studied Hizballah's tactics against Israeli in last summer's Lebanon war. That may be bravado, but since its takeover of Gaza, Hamas has been busy fortifying itself against a possible Israeli attack. And Palestinian militants may get increased support from Iran. On Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is hosting a Palestinian militant jamboree with envoys from Hamas and other resistance groups. Israelis say Iran is providing Hamas with funds...
...kindergarten rocket in Sderot narrowly missed causing a major battle between Israel and Gaza's Palestinians. It could be days, or even weeks before one rocket finds its mark. And when that happens, all bets for progress on Middle East peace this fall...