OLMERT DECIDES NOT TO RESPOND TO EILAT ATTACK

IDF ordered not to change Gaza policy (JPost)
Despite Monday's suicide attack in Eilat, the government will maintain its policy of restraint in Gaza, in part so the warring Palestinian factions will not have a reason to unite, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided on Tuesday.

Olmert met with Defense Minister Amir Peretz and other top security officials to discuss Israel's response to the bombing, and decided that a widespread military action in Gaza would, according to one government official, "unite the Palestinians against us."

At the same time, the official said, it was decided that military action against Islamic Jihad, which took responsibility for the blast that killed three people, would be permitted. According to defense officials, the IDF is still "extremely limited" in its ability to stop infiltrators and it is very possible that terrorists would succeed in crossing the border from Egypt to Israel.