by Adam Gonn, China News
JERUSALEM, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) — The Israeli government on Monday afternoon lowered a high state of alert for rocket attacks on the southern part of the country, and instructed its nearly one million residents to return to their daily routine.
The announcement came as Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in Gaza officially announced a short time earlier that they would adhere to a cease-fire in rocket attacks against Israel. The two had previously announced such a truce on Sunday night, however Grad and Kassam rocket attacks continued throughout the night, and into Monday morning.
“Israel is waiting to see if there will be developments in the field, and in the meantime, does not intend on starting a major military operation in Gaza,” a government source told Xinhua after an emergency session convened by Israel’s security cabinet early in the day.
Analysts speaking to Xinhua said neither Israel nor Hamas are interested in an escalation of the fighting, and that Hamas stood aside during the launches.
After the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, Israel holds the organization responsible for any attack originating from within Gaza.
The desire by Hamas to achieve a cease-fire, according to analysts, is based on the assumption that the organization is anxious to avoid another large scale Israeli military operation against it.
Prof. Uri Bar-Joseph of the University of Haifa told Xinhua that the two sides are not heading towards another war because it is not in either sides’ interest to seek an escalation.
“(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu wants to show that he can protect the Israelis and he knows that an escalation will lead to a situation where there will be more casualties,” Bar- Joseph said.
He argued that unless there is a very dramatic event such as numerous Israeli civilians killed by a rocket, the calm would likely return to southern Israel within the next few days.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are conferring with security officials and receiving updates about what’s happening in the field. Israel hopes that the agreement signed between Hamas and Palestinian factions will, in fact, lead to calm,” the source told Xinhua.
Dr. Max Singer, of the Bar-Ilan University, told Xinhua that he too believed that neither side is interested in an escalation, but added that the intensity of the rocket fire could indicate that some groups in Gaza have decided Israel might not be willing to launch Cast Lead II.
A number of Knesset (parliament) on Sunday called for such a ground operation to be launched in light of the rocket fire.
However, Singer said, at the moment, Netanyahu does intend to rely on the Israeli Air Force, with the proviso that “as a matter of military competence I think they have to be considering and even exploring plans for a bigger attack.”
One major difference this time around that Israel has been able to deploy the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which is capable of hitting the longer-range Grad missiles that have been fired in salvos against cites such as Ashkelon and Beersheba.
The real-world deployment and use of Iron Dome, which has been highly successful, has given Israel the option of being able to calm the strategic situation by not retaliating to every rocket attack — while still protecting its citizens.
As such, the air force ceased operations for 24 hours on Saturday in a bid to de-escalate the conflict, a move that appeared to pay off as cease-fire was announced on Sunday, analysts said.
There has been some speculation in Israel that the current fighting is a prelude of what will come in September, when the Palestinian ask the United Nations to vote on a resolution recognizing them as an independent nation.
However Singer said that his impression is that they are two separate events: the rockets could be fired by people who support the UN bid, or by someone who opposed it. The idea of seeking UN recognition is spearheaded by Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
He added that “after some kind of UN statement about Palestinian independence, it could be quiet or it could be active. ”