Report: Washington gave Israel green light to invade Gaza
Date: 10 / 05 / 2008 Time: 14:00
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=29190

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The United States has given Israel a green light to
carry out a large-scale military attack in the Gaza Strip, the Lebanese
newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Saturday.

Quoting anonymous sources, the newspaper said that Israel sent an
intelligence report to Washington to stressing the importance of military
action to crack down on Palestinian military groups that Israel believes
have developed an "unprecedented" level of weaponry.

The source said that Israeli intelligence officials believe that the armed
wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and even Fatah, are rearming.

Regarding the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah's armed wing, the source said, "It
received huge amounts of money from several sources, especially from
Hizbullah of Lebanon through which the brigades reorganized itself and
increased its military readiness."

A large share of the reported Israeli intelligence was devoted to the issue
of arms smuggling routes from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. Israel asked
Washington to pressure Egypt to stop the flow of weapons across the border.
The Israeli report said that limited military operations in Gaza's southern
border area would be required simply to gather information about the
location and extent of the tunnels.

Diplomatic sources also told Al-Akhbar that the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert and Defense Minister Barak have been holding meetings about the
timing and scope of an invasion of Gaza.

Israel pulled its forces from the streets of the Gaza Strip in 1994 as a
part of the Oslo peace process, and evacuated settlers in 2005. Israel
however continues to control the Strip's borders, airspace, territorial
waters, and tax system. The Israeli military also makes frequent incursions
into the Strip, exercising what some observers term "effective control"
inside Gaza.