JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed his army commanders to halt airstrikes and land incursions into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after a decrease of rocket attacks on his country in recent days.
“I said a number of days ago that if there will be no (Gaza rocket) attacks against Israeli citizens living in the south, Israel will have no reason to fire back,” Olmert said Monday.
The comparative lull on Israel’s southern flank came after a spike in hostilities last week reaching from the coastal strip to Jerusalem.
Israel ended a several-day offensive into Gaza early in the week that left more than 100 Palestinians dead. On Thursday, a Palestinian gunman killed eight Israeli students in a Jerusalem religious school.
The violence temporarily halted U.S.-sponsored peace talks, but Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas since have recommitted to negotiations. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. William Frazier III, a Bush administration envoy, arrives Thursday to check on the status of each side’s commitments under the “road map” peace plan.
Vice President Dick Cheney also will visit Israel and the West Bank next week as part of a regional tour that will include stops in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Oman, the White House announced Monday.
President Bush said he was dispatching Cheney “to reassure people that the United States is committed to a vision of peace in the Middle East” and that the U.S. expects the others to meet “their obligations on the road map.”
