Lieberman: We should not settle for truce with Hamas

Tuesday April 12, 2011 01:08 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC & Agencies

Israel should not invest efforts in settling for truce with Hamas in Gaza and should instead try to topple Hamas' government in Gaza, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdore Lieberman said on Monday.

Settling on truce with Hamas is “a grave error” said the right wing Minister amidst international meditation efforts are underway to maintain a temporary truce-like following days of exchange of attacks, during which 19 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in the Gaza Strip.

"The objective must be to force Hamas out of power," said Lieberman, who heads the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.

On his part, Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman of Hamas said the movement is interested in calm, however, they want to see Israeli military halt their attacks as well.

19 Palestinians, mostly civilians have been killed as a result of the Israeli military shelling of the Gaza Strip during the past week. Hamas has fired a number of home-made shells and some Grad rockets at Israeli targets, however, no casualties have been reported.

The U.S. Congress recently approved over $200 million in funding for Iron Dome, which Israel will use to stop attacks form the Gaza Strip.

In the meantime, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the league decided yesterday to ask the UN Security Council to call on Israel to halt its strikes on Gaza. Moussa added the Arab League would ask the UN to authorize a no-fly zone over Gaza to prevent aerial bombing.

gaza strip | truce | news report george at imemc dot org