VZCZCXRO0978
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #0273 0331538
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021538Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0317
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 8070

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000273 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER MOPS LE KWBG IS
SUBJECT: ISRAEL'S REACTION TO MORTAR AND ROCKET FIRE 
FOLLOWING UNILATERAL CEASE-FIRE 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have 
exchanged numerous salvos over the past week, but the 
unilateral cease-fires that brought an end to major 
hostilities in the Gaza Strip on January 18 have not fully 
unraveled.  Tensions flared on January 27 when a roadside 
bomb struck an Israeli patrol along the border with Gaza, 
killing one IDF soldier and injuring three others.  Israel 
retaliated the same day with at least three airstrikes on the 
Gaza Strip.  Cross-border exchanges continued with 
Palestinians firing a rocket the next day and Israel 
responding by striking what officials called a weapons 
manufacturing facility.  On January 29, another rocket landed 
in Israel (no casualties or damage), with the Israeli 
retaliation against a Hamas activist causing collateral 
injuries to Palestinian civilians.  On February 1, 
Palestinian militants (according to Israel Defense Forces 
sources they probably were not from Hamas) staged their 
heaviest barrage since the cease-fire, with close to 20 
mortars and rockets striking the western Negev, causing light 
injuries to five Israelis.  Israel responded late in the 
evening of February 1 by bombing a Hamas security building in 
Gaza City, along with six smuggling tunnels in the southern 
part of the strip, according to the IDF. 
 
ISRAELI POLITICIANS REACT TO ROCKETS 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Prime Minister Olmert told his cabinet on February 
1 that he had instructed all the security services to "act 
determinedly against any violation of the quiet by Hamas... 
The response to a violation of the quiet will be vigorous and 
painful, and will come at a time and place that Hamas does 
not expect."  Despite this declaration, there appears to be 
disagreement among the Olmert-Barak-Livni troika involved in 
security decisions.  Olmert and Livni are prepared to order 
what Olmert has called a "disproportionate" response to the 
rocket and mortar fire, while Barak prefers to test whether 
Hamas will accept and adhere to an Egyptian-mediated truce 
that could begin as early as February 5.  Livni is reportedly 
pushing for a decision to hit Hamas hard and she remains 
against an agreement with Hamas. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Barak told Israeli radio February 2 that the IDF has 
hit Hamas "very seriously," but he noted that most of the 
Gazan terror organizations violating the cease-fire were 
small splinter groups (not the Hamas organization itself). 
Barak underscored his view that there is an Israeli interest 
in maintaining the cease-fire -- despite the recent firings - 
and lambasted his political rivals for their escalatory 
rhetoric.  Barak commented that "those who need to plan 
operations are the best people in the country, who understand 
better than a large number of ministers -- the members of the 
defense establishment and the IDF General Staff," according 
to press reports.  Barak reportedly infuriated Livni and her 
supporters at the February 1 cabinet meeting when he asserted 
that people who have never carried a gun are second-guessing 
his security decisions. 
 
SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT CONCERNED ABOUT HIZBALLAH 
 
¶4. (SBU) Israel meantime is keeping an eye on Hizballah 
activities in Lebanon and beyond.  The first anniversary of 
the assassination of senior Hizballah official Imad Mughniya 
(February 12, 2008) is approaching, and Hizballah leader 
Hassan Nasrallah has blamed Israel for the killing and has 
threatened retaliation.  Israeli leaders have publicly warned 
Hizballah against targeting Israel or Israeli or Jewish 
interests abroad. 
 
********************************************* ******************** 
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
********************************************* ******************** 
CUNNINGHAM