OLMERT VOWS TO PRESS ATTACKS AGAINST HAMAS

Olmert vows to press attacks against Hamas (MSNBC)
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday pledged more attacks on Hamas after a rocket from Gaza killed an Israeli, and brushed aside efforts by Egypt and Palestinian moderates to negotiate a new truce. “No one is immune,” Olmert said of Hamas.

The 11-day campaign of Israeli airstrikes aimed at halting rocket attacks from Gaza has killed 49 Palestinians, most of them militants. But the rocket fire has continued, and Hamas said its attacks would continue as long as the Israeli airstrikes persist.

Another rocket slammed into the southern Israeli town of Sderot early Sunday, killing a 36-year-old computer technician as he was driving. It was the second fatal rocket attack in less than a week.

Olmert told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet Sunday that he had instructed the army to do whatever it takes to halt the rocket fire. “There will be no limit in acting against the terror groups and against those who are responsible for the terror. No one is immune,” Olmert said.

In the private segment of the Cabinet meeting, Olmert also seemed cool to efforts by Egypt and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate a new cease-fire, according to a participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

Olmert acknowledged that there is no quick military solution to halting the crude Qassam rockets, which have baffled Israel’s high-tech army for years. He told his ministers to be prepared for a long-term conflict. “We don’t want to create unrealistic expectations that it’s possible to stop the Qassams totally,” Olmert said.