(Government Press Office)
Yediot Aharonot cautions that "Everything that we have seen up to now in Operation Cast Lead will be child's play compared to what awaits us and the Palestinians in the third stage. If it indeed gets underway, the IDF will enter – with great strength, with tens of thousands of soldiers – into the heart of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip". The author suggests that "Already on the fourth day of the ground operation, Israelis discerned, with absolute certainty, the growing rift in the Hamas leadership. They began to internalize the size of the catastrophe. Today, Hamas leaders in Gaza are already saying that with a little more Israeli pressure and Hamas will begin to lose Gaza's streets. At the same time, a rift has appeared between Hamas in Gaza and Hamas in Damascus", especially over the various ceasefire proposals as the Damascus leadership, bolstered by Iran, rejects any settlement and issues strongly warlike statements over the backs of the Palestinians in Gaza". The paper calls on the Government to act to widen the cracks in Hamas by stepping up the military pressure on it.
Ma'ariv declares that Israel's guiding principle vis-a-vis a settlement in Gaza must be: "No rockets out of Gaza; no rockets into Gaza", especially in light of the bitter experience since the Second Lebanon War in which Hezbollah has made "a joke" out of the clauses of UN Security Council Resolution #1701, which bars smuggling weapons to the organization. The author asserts that "Only the presence of the IDF, not the Egyptian army and not a multi-national force, will prevent the smuggling of rockets that will allow Hamas to threaten the Greater Tel Aviv area as well". The paper calls on the IDF "to create a buffer zone under its control on the Egyptian-Gaza border".
Yisrael Hayom dismisses talk of postponing the February 10 elections – the chief proponents of which are "political circles close to Ehud Olmert, who is seeking to extend his term, and minor parties such as the Pensioners" – and avers that "Postponing the elections would be a victory for Hamas, that could dictate to Israel the date of its elections."
The Jerusalem Post calls on the government not to cave in to international pressure calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and declares that "Israel would have preferred to act with the support of those who claim to back our right to self-defense. In a cynical world, Israel must press ahead without it ".
Haaretz calls on the Central Elections Committee not to disqualify any Arab party's candidate list, as petitioned by Yisrael Beiteinu and the National Union parties, and states that the Central Elections Committee should take its work seriously, exercise the necessary open-mindedness, and prove that Israeli democracy includes the Arab parties.
[Alex Fishman, Amos Gilboa and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma'ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]