Israel weighs tactics toward Hamas

But even after missile strikes killed up to 32 people since Thursday, many Israelis suspect that only a broad military incursion can cripple Hamas's military capabilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert found himself under new pressure this week to order such an operation when Strategic Threats Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to pull his party out of the coalition if the government didn't decide on a "bold" operation to "dismantle" Hamas.

But from the outset of the current round of violence, Mr. Olmert has been handicapped by the political fallout of last summer's war. With his government coalition buckling under a scathing report on his handling of the month-long battle with Hizbullah, Olmert can't rely on public backing for a ground offensive that is expected to include many casualties.

Almost alluding to the criticism leveled in the report on Lebanon, Shlomo Brom, a retired brigadier general, warned Israel's political leadership against choosing unrealistic goals in the fighting against Hamas.

Israel "needs to examine the degree to which its unwillingness to work with the Palestinian government … contributed to the recent deterioration," wrote Mr. Brom in a position paper published by Tel Aviv University on Sunday.

Indeed, the trauma of the Lebanon war is shaping the way Israelis view the current battle with Hamas. Like Hizbullah, Israelis fear that Hamas is in the process of upgrading its ability to strike at cities deeper into Israel and obtain better arms to defend themselves.

Ashkelon, a major Israeli city located about 10 miles from Gaza's northern border, has absorbed sporadic missile fire in recent years and is preparing for larger attacks. "It will come. It's a matter of when and how many," says Alan Marcus, director of strategic planning for the city. "If they can hit Ashkelon, they can hit within a big radius." The Israeli army, he says, should push the militants so they are out of range of large Israeli cities.

In a further indication of how the war last summer in Lebanon affects current Israeli thinking, officials are now considering the deployment of a multinational force along Gaza's border with Egypt – a move that would mimic the security arrangements following Israel's withrawal from southern Lebanon.

"When we agreed to the expanded UNIFIL [United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon] role in Lebanon, it was a change in a longstanding position that was very cautious about international forces at our borders," says a foreign ministry official who asked to remain anonymous. "UNIFIL has some successes."

Getting UN backing for such a force in Gaza, however, would probably require political dialogue with Hamas. That shouldn't bother Israel, argued Doron Almog, a reserve general who used to head Israel's Southern Command. Israel and Syria have kept their border quiet for three decades, despite what remains a technical state of war between the nations.

"There is a dominant reality in the territories. Hamas is the ruling power. We can't ignore that fact," Mr. Almog said Sunday in an interview with Israel Radio. "The question is whether, through a combination of military and political means, we can reach a long term ceasefire agreement."

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