JERUSALEM - Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has told Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas he must put an end to the firing of rockets and mortars in the Gaza Strip after a barrage of weekend attacks.
Mofaz called Abbas on Sunday to signal that Israel would not tolerate any further escalation of violence and demanded that he deploy his security forces to stamp out the firing at Israeli settlers and troops in the territory, Israeli sources said Monday.
More than 70 mortars and makeshift rockets were fired by a raft of Palestinian militant groups on Saturday and Sunday after three Palestinian youths were shot dead in southern Gaza by Israeli soldiers. No one was injured by the rockets.
Israeli sources said the trio were involved in smuggling weapons under the border with Egypt although Palestinian sources say that they were only trying to steal a security camera.
It was the first deadly incident in the territory since Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon both called for an end to nearly five years of bloodshed at a summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on February 8.
Palestinian militant groups are meant to be observing a ceasefire while security forces are also under orders to prevent the firing of rockets.
"This can't continue," Mofaz was quoted as saying by the Maariv daily.
"You aren't doing what needs to be done, and Israel won't accept this.If you don't act quickly, who knows how badly this will deteriorate?"
Hawkish Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned that Israel was ready to respond militarily to the attacks.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas) does not give the impression of wanting to stop these attacks," Netanyahu told public radio. "I have no confidence in him, and we must give him a serious warning that we are ready to respond with all necessary force."
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres however called for restraint and said the government should be looking to help rather than undermine Abbas.
"We must show restraint and carefully measure our response to this firing as Abu Mazen is interested in maintaining the calm that we have witnessed over the last few months," Peres, the leading dove in Sharon's coalition cabinet, told public radio.
"He (Abbas) is preferable to his predecessor (the late Yasser Arafat) and also perhaps to any successor... There are Palestinian extremists trying to wreck his efforts for peace and we can try to encourage him discreetly to reduce the tensions," he added.
Sharon is also likely to bring the issue up with US President George W. Bush at their summit in Texas Monday, arguing that Abbas is not keeping his side of the truce agreement.
"The firing was a flagrant violation of the understandings achieved at Sharm el-Sheikh, and it will be a central issue to be raised at my talks with President Bush," a senior aide said, quoting the Israeli leader.
04/11/2005 10:52 GMT