[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA - 27 June 2006 - Israel Radio indicated in a
report this morning that Israeli officials have effectively given the US
veto power over Israeli action. The reporter explained that Israel cannot
launch a major operation inside the Gaza Strip without America's consent.]

Rice urges diplomacy over Israeli hostage in Gaza
Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:49pm ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-06-27T034905Z_01_L27330928_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-GAZA-USA.xml

PRESTWICK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel
late on Monday to give diplomacy a chance to win the release of an Israeli
soldier taken hostage by militants in Gaza.

Palestinians in northern Gaza have begun blocking roads with mounds of earth
and Israeli armor has massed on the other side of the Gaza frontier as
Israel awaits word on the fate of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by
Palestinian gunmen and taken to Gaza on Sunday.

"There really needs to be an effort now to try and calm the situation, not
to let the situation escalate and to give diplomacy a chance to work to try
to get this release," Rice told reporters who landed in Scotland for a
refueling stop en route to Pakistan.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held Hamas, an Islamist group that came
to power in March, and the Palestinian Authority chaired by President
Mahmoud Abbas responsible for the assault by gunmen on the frontier with
Gaza during which Shalit was abducted.

"The time is approaching for a comprehensive, sharp and severe Israeli
operation. We will not wait forever," Olmert said in a speech. "We will not
become a target of Hamas-terrorist blackmail."

Rice said there was a concerted international effort to win the soldier's
release and that she had talked to Israel's foreign minister and Abbas to
seek a resolution.

The United States is Israel's most important ally and also has strong
influence over Abbas, who has received consistent U.S. support in his power
struggle with a Hamas-led government.

Rice said that if Hamas was behind the raid it would show that the group --
considered a terrorist organization by the United States -- was ignoring
international pressure to eschew violence.

"This is not behavior that is tolerable in the international system," she
said.