Israel ramps up Gaza air strikes, tells Gazans to evacuate border areas, after Hamas’ blanket rocket fire on Tel Aviv. Rockets from Lebanon, DEBKAfile, July 13, 2014

Israeli ground forces building up at Gaza border

The Hamas-IDF contest spiraled to its highest level in three frantic hours Saturday night, July 12: Hamas hurled 10 rockets at the broader Tel Aviv area, after one-hour’s notice, and for the first time targeted the Modiin-Maccabim-Reut cluster of central Israel. The Israeli air force reacted with a heavy carpet bombardment the length and breadth of the Gaza Strip.

This aimed at achieving two military targets:

1. The “suppression of enemy forces” capable of disrupting an Israeli ground invasion if and when Prime Minister Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approves this operation in the coming hours.

2. To pin the bulk of Hamas chiefs and forces operating out of bunkers underground and afraid of coming out to fight. This also applies to the large stocks of rocket launchers held below ground.

An Israeli military official told DEBKAfile that the army had notified the Palestinian residents of the northern Gaza to evacuate their homes for their own safety, as the area would be hit with great force in the next 24 hours. This area served as the launching pad of the rocket blitz against Tel Aviv.

The official noted that Israel had in the Lebanon war employed the tactic of warning civilians in embattled areas to evacuate, so as to reduce collateral harm. This tactic was not being applied to the Gaza Strip for the first time.

In fact, DEBKAfile reported on Thursday, July 10 that IDF notices were sent to 100,000 residents of the northern Gaza towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, Greater Ibsen and Smaller Ibsen, advising them to leave their homes and make for the beach or the south. At that time, the prime minister had not yet decided to order an IDF ground incursion of Gaza.

The repetition of this message to northern Gazans, and the heavy Israel Air Force bombardment Saturday night, strongly indicated that a decision to send the IDF into the Hamas enclave for ground assaults on pinpointed targets at predetermined locations.

Northern Israel was also attacked for the second time in two days with rocket fire from Lebanon. Sirens alerted Nahariya, Rosh Hanikra and Shlomi to the launching of three rockets from the al Qlalayleh Plain south of the coastal Lebanese town of Tyre.

DEBKAfile reported earlier Saturday that for five days, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon had opted to confront Hamas rockets with Israel’s air force alone, without the IDF at large. They were not even willing to approve a small-scale raid by special forces for pinpointing a few key targets.

The Hamas blitz on Tel Aviv and subsequent celebration in Gaza Saturday night appear to have convinced Israel’s prime minister that without greater force by the IDF, Hamas would never stop shooting rockets.

Early Saturday, July 12, saw a few hours respite from Palestinian rocket fire before the first sirens starting wailing again in the western Negev and central Israel. The rockets fired during this week came in an ever widening arc. Israel air strikes wrought heavy surface damage to the Gaza Strip, but scarcely scratched its rocket capabilities.

Friday night, air strikes hit 60 Palestinian targets, mostly buried missile launchers and arms stores, one cached in the Nuseirat mosque, which was razed except for the minaret, and others in a school and three multistory buildings. Before they were bombed, civilians were warned to get out of harm’s way.

The IDF spokesman reported 10 “terrorists” killed, including rocket team leaders. The Palestinians report their total death toll had climbed to 121 and 900 injured.

Israel reported 750 Palestinian rockets launched in five days, with no fatalities,  and 82 people injured, many of them suffering the effects of shock.

Five days after Operation Protective Edge was launched to terminate the Hams rocket offensive, it was beginning to be blunted by the fading prospect of ground action. The decision for the time being not to launch ground forces into the Gaza Strip to finish the job, by reaching the thousands of rockets concealed by Hamas and Jihad Islami underground was indicated by the news leaking out of the security and policy cabinet meeting held in Tel Aviv on Friday, July 11, and the words of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz – “We stand ready for all possible action and await nothing more than a political decision.”

They reflected Netanyahu’s decision to hold off on a ground incursion, so long as Iron Dome batteries shoot rockets down before they hit population centers and cause fatalities, and Israelis remain remarkably obedient to the Home Command’s rules for keeping safe.

The prime minister exercised the same sort of restraint in meting out punishment to the same Hamas for abducting and murdering the three Israeli teenagers, Gil-Ad Shear, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach, whose bodies were discovered in a Palestinian West Bank village on June 27.

In the space of weeks, therefore, the Palestinian Islamist organization has twice got away with barbaric acts of terror without having to endure the full might of Israel’s armed forces.

This is consistent with the policies Netanyahu has pursued for five years.

In his televised news conference Friday, the prime minister publicly admitted for the first time the presence of al Qaeda forces around Israel’s borders – to the east, in Iraq and Jordan; to the north, in Syria and Lebanon; and to the south in the Gaza Strip and Sinai.

Although, he seemed to lump Hamas in with the looming Islamist menace, Netanyahu’s answers to reporters’ questions turned abruptly at this point to the issue of Judea and Samaria, left open by the breakdown of the umpteenth round of Israel-Palestinian peace talks earlier this year.

He stressed that in the current circumstances, it was incumbent on Israel to retain its armed forces in the West Bank. If Hamas was permitted to move in, it would “create 20 new Gazas on the West Bank,” he warned.

It may therefore be determined that the Netanyahu government has sketched in the lines of the end-game for Operation Protective Edge: Israel will abstain from a ground incursion and crushing Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip, but will claim in return international-Palestinian and pan-Arab sanction for the IDF to be assigned responsibility for the security of the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria.

This plan was behind Netanyahu’s comment Friday that the round of conversations he held with world leaders were “good” after which he pledged that “no international pressure would prevent us from acting against a terrorist organization aspiring to destroy us,” and “We will continue to defend our home front, the citizens of Israel, with resolve and prudence.”

What the prime minister appeared to be driving at was this: Israel would eradicate a major portion of Hamas’ military resources in Gaza but leave it in power – enfeebled and surrounded by Iron Dome batteries. IDF security control of the West Bank would be internationally accepted as the regional protector for holding al Qaeda belligerency back from swarming out of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

Netanyahu’s plan provides Israel with an exit strategy from the Gaza operation, without requiring a ceasefire, which Hamas has anyway flatly refused to accept, except on ridiculously tall terms. But he will find his plan hard to sell outside Jerusalem. In any case, the events of Saturday show it is premature.

President Obama Gives Palestinians a pathway to peace and prosperity, Dan Miller’s Blog, July 12, 2014

Frustrated by the senseless slaughter of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, President Obama advances His Grand Solution.

Because of Israel’s unprecedented slaughter and maiming of countless innocent Palestinians in Gaza — guilty of nothing more than honoring their leaders’ entirely reasonable requests to help end the Zionist occupation directly, or indirectly by remaining or assembling in the vicinity of rockets, rocket launchers and other religious necessities — President Obama today offered His Grand Solution to the Zionist Aggression Problem (GS-ZAP).

This Executive Decree was released only moments ago by Orgasms for Obama Organizing for Activity, a bipartisan think tank specializing in religious and political freedom:

Executive Decree Number 2014 – 19,878

This Executive Decree has been cleared by My Attorney General as dealing lawfully, fairly, evenhandedly and justly with the unwarranted slaughter and maiming of innocent Palestinians in Gaza.

1. The Zionist regime will immediately cease all attacks and other forms of aggression against the oppressed people of Gaza.

2. My Government will immediately provide appropriate travel documents and free, first class, air transportation for all inhabitants of Gaza who desire them to such places as they may select within My America.

3. My Department of Homeland Security will immediately enact special emergency laws

(a) waiving all health requirements for entry into My American and

(b) permitting all Gaza residents who accept My GS-ZAP offer to bring with them, at no charge, such peaceful missiles, rocket launchers and other necessities for exercise of their freedoms of assembly, expression and religion pursuant to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

4. To encourage all residents of Gaza to accept My GS-ZAP offer, every adult and every child who comes to My America from Gaza will be given free healthcare, housing, electricity, gasoline, water and food of his, her or its choice. All adults among them will

(a) receive, at no charge, current-model automobiles of their choice and

(b) be registered as Democrats in good standing

after agreeing to vote Democrat in all elections.

Any attempt to prevent them from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed voting rights as citizens of My America will be deemed racial and religious terrorism and prosecuted accordingly by My Department of Justice.

5. Any Palestinians who elect to remain in Gaza will be transported to the West Bank, where Israel will be required to provide for all of their physical and religious needs under the attentive supervision of My Embassy. Should that unexpectedly be insufficient, We shall also direct the United Nations to deal with the Zionist Regime as it sees fit.

6. The Zionist regime will be prevented, by force if necessary, from re-occupying Gaza, which shall remain available for use solely by My closest Islamic allies. The Zionist Regime will be required to provide full economic and infrastructure support — including free water, free electricity, free medical services, supplies and personnel, free building supplies and such other free necessities as We shall from time to time specify. This will be done under the supervision of My Embassy. If necessary, We shall also direct the United Nations to monitor the Regime’s activities and to ensure that it complies with this part of My GS-ZAP.

The International Community, considered to be among the most enthusiastic admirers of President Obama, is expected to be overwhelmingly supportive. All members are likely to congratulate Him effusively on His historically unparalleled understanding of the realities of Zionist aggression against Muslims and on His truly unprecedented solution to at least one aspect of the Jewish Zionist Problem.

Although jingoistic Islamophobes, Republicans, Zionists and other racist haters of President Obama may attempt to express disapproval, there are no Constitutional protections for hate speech. Accordingly, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Haters such as this will be among the first:

Rockets Launched at Israel from Sinai, Too

Five rockets were fired by an Al Qaeda linked group at an Israeli community, probably on Wednesday.

By Dalit HalevyFirst Publish: 7/12/2014, 11:07 PM

via Rockets Launched at Israel from Sinai, Too – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

The Ansar Bayt Al-Makdis terror organization, which identifies ideologically with Al Qaeda, published a video Friday allegedly documenting the launching of five 107 mm rockets at Israel.

The launch took place in the Sinai peninsula, south of the Egyptian city of Rafah. The rockets were apprently fired on Wednesday, and were aimed at an Israeli community in the Negev desert.

A complex terror infrastructure operates in Sinai. It is linked with the Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza, including Hamas and Al Qaeda’s ideological offshoots.

The infrastructure is largely based on the local Bedouin community, as well as “mujahedeen” volunteers from neighboring Arab states. Some of these participated in terror attacks on Israel and on the Egyptian security forces in Sinai.

Three rockets fired from Lebanon at Western Galilee

Sirens blare in Nahariya, Shlomi and Rosh HaNikra; IDF responds to rockets with artillery fire.

For the first time since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, three rockets fell in open areas in the Western Galilee on Saturday night. The IDF responded to the rockets with artillery fire towards the source of the rockets lauching.

Sirens blared at 10:42pm in Nahariya, Shlomi and Rosh HaNikra, among other areas.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4542342,00.html

UN Security Council calls for Gaza-Israel cease-fire15-member group urges restitution of the November 2012 truce;

UN, Jordan jointly draft statement

By AFP and Times of Israel staff July 12, 2014, 8:44 pm

via UN Security Council calls for Gaza-Israel cease-fire | The Times of Israel.

The UN Security Council urged Israel and Hamas Saturday to end their hostilities in Gaza, calling on both sides to respect “international humanitarian laws” and stop the loss of life.

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In a unanimous declaration, the 15-member council called for a de-escalation of the crisis that has claimed well over a hundred lives, and urged a return to the “calm and restitution of the November 2012 ceasefire.”

The council expressed “serious concern” over the “protection and welfare of civilians on both sides.”

It also called for a return to the negotiating table by Israelis and Palestinians “with the aim of achieving a comprehensive peace agreement based on the two-state solution.”

The resolution was drafted jointly by the United States and Jordan, Israel Radio reported.

The council issued its declaration amid news that eight more Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

Those attacks raised to 135 the number of Palestinians that medics said have been killed since hostilities flared.

Gaza officials said nearly 950 people have been wounded in the strikes.

Israel began Operation Protective Edge on Tuesday in an attempt to halt cross-border rocket fire by terrorist groups.

IDF Begins Dropping Leaflets Telling Gazans to Leave

The move is a possible prelude to a major offensive.

IAF jets, helicopters and artillery pounding Gaza.

By Gil RonenFirst Publish: 7/12/2014, 10:08 PM

via IDF Dropping Leaflets Telling Gazans to Leave – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

The IDF has begun dropping leaflets on certain parts of Gaza, telling residents to leave their homes, reported Channel 2 Saturday night. The move is being interpreted as a preparation for a possible ground offensive by the IDF.

Channel 2 also reported that the IDF is carrying out a combined large-scale operation by fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery in Gaza Saturday night. The artillery was being fired at open spaces that could serve as launch sites for rockets. The operation may have been timed to forestall the rocket salvo against Tel Aviv that Hamas launched at about 9:00 p.m., after announcing earlier in the evening that it would do so.

Experts including former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin said Saturday that a possible ground offensive should be aimed at achieving limited tactical goals, such as destruction of terror tunnels and hidden rockets.

According to Israeli media reports, there are attempts to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. One such attempt is being led by Qatar, which sponsors Hamas and also has trade relations with Israel.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council unanimously called for a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza, while Britain’s foreign minister said he would be discussing cease-fire efforts with his American, French and German counterparts on Sunday.

The 15-member Security Council issued a press statement calling for a de-escalation, restoration of calm and a resumption of Mideast peace talks.

Hamas launches blanket rocket assault on central Israel.

Hamas gives advance notice of imminent attack on Tel Aviv | JPost | Israel News.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEH

07/12/2014 20:36

Armed wing of Hamas says they will launch long range J-80 missiles at 9 p.m at the center of Israel’s biggest metropolitan area.

The armed wing of Hamas,  Izzadin Kassam, announced that at 9 p.m. on Saturday they will launch long range, yet unused J-80 rockets at Tel Aviv. They made the statement on their website.

Earlier Saturday evening, Code Red rocket sirens blared throughout Jerusalem, Ma’ale Adumim, Hebron and other surrounding areas.

Rockets landed in Hebron and Bethlehem, the IDF Spokeperson said.  Four rockets landed in total in the attack- three in Palestinian areas and one near a Jewish West Bank settlement.

The sirens on Saturday evening was the third time since Operation Protective Edge began five days ago, that they were heard in the capital.

At approximately 7 p.m. the city-wide siren could be heard, as Jerusalemites rushed to find shelter.

“We are cautioning city residents to continue to heed the sirens and take cover within 90 seconds,” Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said.

On Thursday evening at least six rockets landed near the city.

Earlier in the evening, the Iron Dome intercepted two rockets over central Israel in the Shfela area. Prior to the interceptions, rocket sirens sounded in Ashdod, Lod, Rishon Lezion and other areas in the area.

Following the rocket attack in central Israel at around 6:00 a.m., Magen David Adom EMS was treating one person in Rishon Lezion who fell down the stairs while he was running to a protected area during a rocket alert siren. MDA was treating another person in Ness Ziona who suffered shock.

Sirens blare in Jerusalem, rockets land in Hebron and Bethlehem | JPost | Israel News.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

07/12/2014 19:14

Sirens heard as far south as Dead Sea area and in West Bank; earlier, two rockets intercepted over Shfela area in central Israel after sirens blare in region.

Code Red rocket sirens blared throughout Jerusalem, Ma’ale Adumim, Hebron and other surrounding areas on Saturday evening.

Rockets landed in Hebron and Bethlehem, the IDF Spokeperson said.

Earlier in the evening, the Iron Dome intercepted two rockets over central Israel in the Shfela area. Prior to the interceptions, rocket sirens sounded in Ashdod, Lod, Rishon Lezion and other areas in the area.

Following the rocket attack in central Israel at around 6:00 a.m., Magen David Adom EMS was treating one person in Rishon Lezion who fell down the stairs while he was running to a protected area during a rocket alert siren. MDA was treating another person in Ness Ziona who suffered shock.

Earlier on Saturday, before the attacks on the Jerusalem area and the Shfela, two Israelis were injured just moments after a Palestinian rocket slammed into a home in the Gaza frontier town of Netivot.

The injuries, which are not considered serious, occurred as they were running toward bombproof shelters.

The IDF retaliated by killing the Palestinians who launched the rockets toward Netivot.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip resumed rocket fire at Israel on Saturday, the fifth day of Operation Protective Edge.

After a relatively quiet overnight, Israelis in the western Negev, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and the Shfela region awoke Saturday to the sounds of sirens. Most of the 50 or so rockets fell in uninhabited areas, while media reports indicate at least one rocket was intercepted by Iron Dome.

The Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted a rocket over Rehovot, while others fell in open areas near the city. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

The renewed barrage comes one day after two Israelis were lightly injured when a Palestinian rocket struck a home in Beersheba. One of the injured, an 80-year-old woman, was rushed to Soroka Medical Center.

An hour earlier, the Iron Dome battery intercepted two rockets over Tel Aviv and at least two rockets over Herzliya on Friday evening just seconds after sirens were heard across the region.

Earlier in the day, the anti-missile system intercepted dozens of Palestinian rockets fired at suburban Tel Aviv, the Shfela region, Beersheba, and the western Negev, which was the hardest hit.

Since hostilities were renewed, Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives have launched nearly 700 rockets at Israeli towns.

Israel crisis: Obama’s obscene moral relativism | Fox News.

As Palestinian terror dramatically escalates, the Obama administration is working hard – not to defeat the terrorists, but to tie Israel’s hands behind its back.

Sure, there is background noise paying lip-service to an Israeli right of self-defense and babbling about a Palestinian peace partner.

The reality, however, is that responsibility for the harrowing transition from the kidnap and murder of three Jewish teenagers by Hamas members to 4 million Israelis running in terror from Hamas rocket attacks leads directly to the White House.

Here are the dots that need to be connected.

On June 2, President Obama emboldened Hamas by immediately announcing that American support and financial aid would keep flowing to a newly formed Palestinian unity government that included the terrorist organization.

While the rockets flew and the kidnappers murdered, the State Department continued to insist on the existence of a phantasmagorical technocratic terrorist.

For instance, on July 2, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki explained a unity government between Hamas and Fatah – that was mysteriously missing the Hamas half. “They’re not a part of the technocratic government,” she said. “Obviously, the technocratic government is different from the reconciliation process. Obviously, everything’s linked. It’s all – but it’s different.”

Then there is the Obama administration’s twisted response to the kidnapping and murder of Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach and Gilad Sha’ar.

Over 18 days, Obama never called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Palestinian leader Mahboud Abbas to voice concern over the abduction of Fraenkel, a dual American-Israeli citizen.

In fact, Obama never publicly commented on the kidnapping of this American boy, or the grotesque anti-Semitism and support for the kidnapping that mushroomed across Palestinian society while he stayed silent – until the lifeless bodies of Fraenkel and the other boys were discovered on June 30.

By contrast, Obama did call Netanyahu on July 10, complaining about the reported police maltreatment of an American-Palestinian teenager who seems to have thought going to a riot in a war zone was a good way to spend a summer vacation. And Obama prioritized this case – to the highest level possible in the world of diplomacy – knowing that the State Department had already descended on Israeli authorities within hours, and that Israeli officials had already taken action to address it.

To this day, the Obama administration has refused to admit there was any Palestinian perpetrator involved in the teens’ kidnap and murder.

The Nuremberg Tribunal taught us that “crimes…are committed by men, not by abstract entities.” Refusing to out the criminals responsible for killing Jews is a hell of an incentive to keep going.

Add to the list White House Middle East Coordinator Philip Gordon’s contribution. On July 8, while hundreds of rockets were slamming into Israel and targeting Tel Aviv, Gordon was dispatched to Tel Aviv to slam Israel too. Evidently refusing to believe his lying eyes, Gordon blamed Israel for “no movement on the political track” and threatened it with “international isolation.”

Finally, the president’s overriding message has been one of obscene moral relativism. Begrudging throwaway lines about Israeli self-defense are routinely accompanied by appeals for “all sides” to “restrain” themselves – the democratic state under attack and the genocidal terrorist organization.

Even when Obama did write a condolence message to the families of   Naftali, Eyal and Gilad, he used it as an opportunity to lecture Israel, and the euphemistic “all parties,” “to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation.”

A dozen times over the past three weeks, both during the kidnap-murders and the Gaza rocket attacks, the press briefings of the State Department spokesman have included: “We encourage all sides to exercise restraint.”

On July 8 – before he had ever called Netanyahu on the Hamas terror attacks – Obama instructed Israel’s democratically elected leaders from the op-ed pages of an Israeli newspaper: “All parties must exercise restraint…”

When Obama finally picked up a phone and called Netanyahu on July 10, he “urged both sides not to escalate the crisis and to restore calm.”

Given that Hamas’ official screed is to kill Jews everywhere and obliterate Israel, the president’s orders were directed to a party of one – the one under attack.

The fact is that in the middle of one more variation of the Arab war against the Jews, President Obama did not call Israel’s leader to offer unwavering support for Israel’s right of self-defense. On the contrary, he wants a cease-fire now. Having done everything in his power to rescue Hamas politically, he is now trying to save it materially.

It may seem mystifying why the president of the United States should talk the talk of self-defense but walk the walk of self-defeat. But this is the same man who saved Bashar al-Assad, strengthened Vladimir Putin and legitimized Hassan Rouhani.

Rescuing Palestinian terrorists is not the exception, it’s the rule.

Anne Bayefsky is director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust. Follow her on Twitter @AnneBayefsky.

Reports of ceasefire formula emerge as Gaza hostilities continue

By JPOST.COM STAFF07/12/2014 17:24

Palestinian initiated talks taking place to reach ceasefire with Egypt, Qatar involvement, Channel 2 reports; Blair meets with Sisi to discuss ways to restore 2012 ceasefire; Gal-On says PM must involve Abbas to end hostilities.

via Reports of ceasefire formula emerge as Gaza hostilities continue | JPost | Israel News.

As hostilities between the Hamas ruled Gaza Strip and Israel continued on day 5 of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, talk of an emerging formula for a ceasefire began to be heard.

Various Arabic media outlets reported on Saturday that the ceasefire was being devised at the initiative of the Palestinians with Egypt and Qatar’s involvement, according to a Channel Two report. According to the report, Hamas refused to confirm that a framework existed upon which a ceasefire could be reached, but did confirm that contacts were being made towards this end.
Related:

Turkey says Israel’s Gaza offensive threatens rapprochement
Liberman says Israel must ‘go all the way and eradicate Hamas regime in Gaza’

Israel has not confirmed that ceasefire talks were taking place.

The Turkish Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday that Middle East Quartet Envoy Tony Blair met Saturday with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo to discuss ways to restore a 2012 Cairo-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

A diplomatic source said Saturday that Sisi agreed with Blair “on the necessity of halting military escalation” in Gaza, Anadolu reported.

Islamic Jihad deputy head Ziad al-Nakhaleh said Saturday that there was no serious talk about a truce and that they were just rumors.

Reports differed on what would be included in a ceasefire agreement but some claimed it would include the release of Palestinian prisoners, opening the crossings into Gaza, and transferring funds to Gaza, Channel Two reported.

Head of Meretz Zehava Gal-On on Saturday urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to involve Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in any effort to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Israel has an interest that there be a strong stable regime in Gaza, to prevent a power vacuum if Hamas collapses which would create an opening for more extremists elements like The Islamic Jihad and others,” Gal-On said at a cultural event in Kfar Saba.

“Because Abu Mazen (Abbas) has the ability to speak directly with the Hamas, using him with Egypt’s backing, will bring about a ceasefire and will strengthen Abbas and his standing both in the West Bank and in Gaza.

Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.