After having hesitated to use force (for months, years) Olmert warns HAMAS he will not hesitate to use force

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday issued a "last-minute" appeal to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to reject their Hamas rulers and stop rocket fire at Israel, warning them he would not hesitate to use force.

His comments were the clearest indication yet that Israel was preparing a possible Gaza offensive which could result in heavy casualties on both sides and fuel a humanitarian crisis.

Political sources said Olmert's security cabinet approved a "staged" military escalation, beginning with air strikes against a wider range of Hamas targets in the densely-populated enclave. A large-scale operation has yet to be authorized but could get a green light depending on Hamas's response, the sources said.

Comments

[scp]

A few months ago, I read somewhere that Olmert was pushing for a favorable peace settlement *quickly,* before a potentially more hostile administration took over in Washington. (I read this in August or September, from either israelnationalnews.com or from jpost.com, or some such site.) I wonder if his above statements are related to just such a change of power in Washington, given the fact that there is no such peace deal.