PALIS REARMING FOR GAZA SHOWDOWN

Gaza Militants Prepare for Showdown - Harry de Quetteville
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip are rearming and retraining for an imminent military showdown with the Israeli army, intelligence sources disclosed Wednesday. Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shalom Harari, a military intelligence officer, accused Iran of being behind the new weapons drive. He said Teheran had found willing partners in Palestinian fighters. "Iran is a Middle East superpower. For them it is very important to get rockets into Gaza to develop a threat that surrounds Israel from all sides," he said. "Meanwhile the war in Lebanon has renewed the will and added urgency to Palestinian efforts to upgrade their weapons systems." (Telegraph-UK)

Israel threatens Gaza invasion (JNewsWire)
Defense Minister Amir Peretz has threatened to order a major ground invasion of Gaza if terrorist rocket fire does not cease. He hopes, however, that his threat alone will be enough to deter the terrorists and bring the daily bombardment of communities in southern Israel's Negev region to an end.

Other defense officials, however, said a full re-conquest of Gaza may be inevitable in order to keep the coastal strip from becoming "a second Lebanon." Israel's top internal security chief warned on Wednesday that the "Palestinians" have smuggled huge quantities of high-grade explosives and other advanced weapons into Gaza since Israel abandoned the area last year.