Israel to ponder limited cease-fire

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Israel to ponder limited cease-fire
« Thread Started on Dec 30, 2008, 2:42pm »

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Israel to ponder limited cease-fire
Posted: 02:26 PM ET
JERUSALEM (CNN) — As Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continued for a fourth
day, bringing the Palestinian death toll to 375, the Jewish state’s defense
minister mulled a truce proposal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, an
official in the Israeli Defense Ministry said.

The official said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was considering the
proposal — originally raised by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner –
and would bring it to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for consideration.

However, Israeli Defense Forces denied earlier media reports saying it
would advise Olmert to adopt a two-day truce.

Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz had reported “the goal of the temporary
calm would be to see if Hamas can abide by the truce and cease firing rockets
at Israel.”

French Foreign Ministry sources said Kouchner had called Olmert Tuesday
afternoon about the proposal.

Meanwhile, President Bush called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss a “sustainable cease-fire,”
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters in Crawford, Texas.

Despite the rumblings regarding a potential truce, Olmert warned earlier
Tuesday the airstrikes were only the beginning of a wider military operation.
In a briefing to Israeli President Shimon Peres, Olmert told Peres “we
are currently at the first stage of the operation,” Israeli government
officials said.

The Israeli military says it is targeting only Hamas militants, which it
says are responsible for a recent barrage of rocket fire into southern Israel.
Palestinian parliament member Mustafa Barghouti, however, has called the raids
a “war on the Palestinian people” and said the incursion is politically
motivated.