Lieberman: Hamas and Abbas are responsible for escalation

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday laid the blame for the renewed hostilities in the Gaza area squarely at the foot of Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas, saying Israel is not responsible for the violent flare-up, which saw 15 Palestinians killed and over 120 rockets fired at Israel over the weekend.

“In our view there is no doubt that Hamas and Abbas are responsible,” Lieberman said in an Army Radio interview. Hamas controls the Gaza strip and although the organization has refrained from launching rocket attacks itself since 2009, it is largely viewed as allowing competing factions in Gaza to launch rocket attacks against Israel.

The recent violence began on Friday when Israeli forces conducted an airstrike in Gaza that left terrorist commander Zuhair al-Qaissi dead, along with two others. Al-Qaissi had previously publicly acknowledged his responsibility for Gilad Shalit’s abduction, but Israel alleges that he was now planning an imminent, large-scale terror attack akin to the coordinated assault on Route 12 of August 2011. Military sources said al-Qaissi oversaw the August infiltration and was planning a similar attack; hence the decision to strike at his car in Gaza City on Friday.

“There is no doubt that it is not our decision,” Lieberman said. “In a clear situation where there is no doubt that a terror attack is imminent, we can not allow it to take place. We are showing too much restraint sometimes, but we try as hard as we can to keep things quiet.”

Referring to the recent Palestinian agreement to form a unity government, with Hamas and Abbas’s party Fatah sharing power, Lieberman said that Israel is ready for negotiations but that “Abbas needs to decide if he is on the side of serious peace negotiations, or if he is on the side of Hamas and terror.”

In response to the weekend violence, schools throughout the south were closed on Sunday. Remaining open were schools in towns in the immediate vicinity of Gaza. Schools in places like Sderot and Nahal Oz can function as they were fortified in recent years to protect them from rocket fire.

“We are trying to live a normal life in an area that is not normal, and the alternatives are not simple,” Lieberman said. “We are living in range of rockets. It is a terrible situation in and of itself and it is terrible that we have gotten used to it.”

Also interviewed on Army Radio, Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said the current escalation in violence was not expected to conclude in the immediate future. “Success isn’t measured in hours or minutes, but it much longer time frames.”

Vilnai saluted the IDF for its performance over the weekend in thwarting rocket attacks and also commended the residents of the south for their fortitude under fire. “We have shown that we know how to handle any situation we are put in,” said Vilnai.

Vilnai said that residents that followed Home Front Command’s instructions and remained in safe areas were better off than those who acted irresponsibly and put themselves in harm’s way. He spoke harshly about people who had taken unnecessary risks climbing on rooftops to take videos of Iron Dome missiles intercepting Palestinian rockets.

Like Lieberman, Vilnai also justified the decision to attack al-Qaissi despite knowing it would lead to retaliation by Palestinian terror groups. Vilnai argued that knowing as Israel did that a major attack was in the works, it was right to attack al-Qaissi first.

Vilnai, who is scheduled to leave his position and become the next ambassador to China in the summer, said Israel still had much to do to protect the home front, but expressed satisfaction with the level of protection available to residents of the towns closest to Gaza.