Israel ready for `long war' to free soldier, Olmert says.

Byline: Joel Greenberg

JERUSALEM _ Amid conflicting signals on the fate of an abducted Israeli soldier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Tuesday of a "long war" to secure his release and insisted that Israel would not give in to the captors' demands.

Olmert spoke after the expiration of a deadline for the release of Palestinian prisoners that was set by militants holding the soldier. Israel rejected the ultimatum and warned of dire consequences if the soldier is harmed.

There was no word from the militants on the condition of the soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, but a spokesman for the Army of Islam, one of the three factions that took responsibility for the abduction, suggested that he is still alive.

"We do not kill captives," said the spokesman, Abu Muthana. "Our Islam requires that we treat captives well and fairly."

Abu Muthana said that because Israel ignored the captors' ultimatum, they would disengage from discussions on the soldier's release. The groups "have decided to freeze all contacts and close the file of this soldier," he said.

The armed wing of Hamas, along with the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam took responsibility for seizing Shalit in an attack on an Israeli border outpost near the Gaza Strip on June 25.

The abduction triggered an Israeli Army offensive in Gaza that has included ground incursions, airstrikes and shelling from land and sea. Intensive diplomatic contacts and mediation efforts by Egypt have so far made little progress.

An airstrike early Wednesday hit the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Interior Ministry for the second time in a week.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, whose office was destroyed Sunday in an Israeli strike, called on the captors to protect the soldier and urged further efforts to resolve the crisis.

"We stress the need to continue the political and diplomatic efforts and negotiations, not to close the door and to use the language of wisdom and logic to end this," Haniyeh said at the start of a Cabinet meeting in Gaza City.

"The government ... is still calling for preserving the life of the captured Israeli soldier and for him to receive good treatment," Haniyeh added.

However Osama Muzaini, a legislator and Hamas leader, said the militants' announcement that they were closing the soldier's case meant that the issue has "entered a dark tunnel" and could be heading for a prolonged stalemate with no active channels of mediation.

Abu Muthana, the militant spokesman, said no information would be released on Shalit, indicating that the captors were trying to keep his status murky, like that of several Israeli soldiers missing for years after they disappeared during fighting in Lebanon.

Olmert ruled out a deal with the captors for the release of the soldier.

"We will not negotiate with terrorist elements, we will not enable anyone to believe that kidnapping is a means of bringing Israel to its knees," Olmert said at a business conference. "If we do this today, we will be abandoning many citizens of Israel who will be targets of such abductions tomorrow.

"This is a long war," Olmert added, "It requires a great deal of patience, it often requires endless restraint."

Olmert said he ordered the army to press ahead with operations "to strike the terrorists and those who dispatch them, those who sponsor them and those who give them orders. ... No one will go unpunished."

On the ground, troops pushed closer to the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Tanks and armored bulldozers churned up farmland in what the army said was a search for tunnels and explosive devices planted by militants. Troops also moved into areas near the Erez Crossing at Gaza's northern edge, which was closed following a security warning of a possible attack, the army said.

Artillery batteries continued shelling fields and open areas in northern Gaza, from where militants have launched crude rockets at Israel.

Despite the stepped-up military activity, Hamas militants fired a homemade Qassam rocket that landed outside an empty school in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, the first such rocket to land in the heart of the coastal city. Olmert called the attack "a serious escalation in the terror war" against Israel, and warned that it would have "far-reaching consequences" that Hamas would be the first to feel.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Israel allowed food and fuel supplies into Gaza on Tuesday, reopening the territory's main cargo crossing, but kept other border passages closed. The World Health Organization reported that patients referred to Israeli hospitals for critical medical treatment have not been allowed to cross into Israel since June 30.

In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers raided Islamic charities in several towns Monday and Tuesday, confiscating files and computer records. An army spokeswoman said the charities were linked to Hamas and funneled money "to fund terrorist activities." In the town of Jenin, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian militant in a clash with gunmen planting explosives, an army spokesman said, and a car bomb discovered by troops was blown up by sappers.

In an overnight raid in Ramallah, Israeli forces surrounded the local police station and apprehended three Palestinians held there on suspicion of kidnapping and killing an 18-year-old Israeli settler last week.

___

(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

_____

NEWSCOM PHOTOS can be viewed at http://www.newscom.com/nc/visuals.html (Username: fpnews and Password: viewnc05 allow editors to view photos.) To purchase photos or to get your own NewsCom username and password, U.S. and Canadian newspapers, please call Tribune Media (800) 637-4082 or (312) 222-2448 or email to tmssales@tribune.com. Others contact NewsCom at (202) 383-6070 or email support@newscom.com. Use search terms: "Ehud and Olmert"

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Israel ready for `long war' to free soldier, Olmert says.

Byline: Joel Greenberg

JERUSALEM _ Amid conflicting signals on the fate of an abducted Israeli soldier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Tuesday of a "long war" to secure his release and insisted that Israel would not give in to the captors' demands.

Olmert spoke after the expiration of a deadline for the release of Palestinian prisoners that was set by militants holding the soldier. Israel rejected the ultimatum and warned of dire consequences if the soldier is harmed.

There was no word from the militants on the condition of the soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, but a spokesman for the Army of Islam, one of the three factions that took responsibility for the abduction, suggested that he is still alive.

"We do not kill captives," said the spokesman, Abu Muthana. "Our Islam requires that we treat captives well and fairly."

Abu Muthana said that because Israel ignored the captors' ultimatum, they would disengage from discussions on the soldier's release. The groups "have decided to freeze all contacts and close the file of this soldier," he said.

The armed wing of Hamas, along with the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam took responsibility for seizing Shalit in an attack on an Israeli border outpost near the Gaza Strip on June 25.

The abduction triggered an Israeli Army offensive in Gaza that has included ground incursions, airstrikes and shelling from land and sea. Intensive diplomatic contacts and mediation efforts by Egypt have so far made little progress.

An airstrike early Wednesday hit the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Interior Ministry for the second time in a week.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, whose office was destroyed Sunday in an Israeli strike, called on the captors to protect the soldier and urged further efforts to resolve the crisis.

"We stress the need to continue the political and diplomatic efforts and negotiations, not to close the door and to use the language of wisdom and logic to end this," Haniyeh said at the start of a Cabinet meeting in Gaza City.

"The government ... is still calling for preserving the life of the captured Israeli soldier and for him to receive good treatment," Haniyeh added.

However Osama Muzaini, a legislator and Hamas leader, said the militants' announcement that they were closing the soldier's case meant that the issue has "entered a dark tunnel" and could be heading for a prolonged stalemate with no active channels of mediation.

Abu Muthana, the militant spokesman, said no information would be released on Shalit, indicating that the captors were trying to keep his status murky, like that of several Israeli soldiers missing for years after they disappeared during fighting in Lebanon.

Olmert ruled out a deal with the captors for the release of the soldier.

"We will not negotiate with terrorist elements, we will not enable anyone to believe that kidnapping is a means of bringing Israel to its knees," Olmert said at a business conference. "If we do this today, we will be abandoning many citizens of Israel who will be targets of such abductions tomorrow.

"This is a long war," Olmert added, "It requires a great deal of patience, it often requires endless restraint."

Olmert said he ordered the army to press ahead with operations "to strike the terrorists and those who dispatch them, those who sponsor them and those who give them orders. ... No one will go unpunished."

On the ground, troops pushed closer to the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Tanks and armored bulldozers churned up farmland in what the army said was a search for tunnels and explosive devices planted by militants. Troops also moved into areas near the Erez Crossing at Gaza's northern edge, which was closed following a security warning of a possible attack, the army said.

Artillery batteries continued shelling fields and open areas in northern Gaza, from where militants have launched crude rockets at Israel.

Despite the stepped-up military activity, Hamas militants fired a homemade Qassam rocket that landed outside an empty school in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, the first such rocket to land in the heart of the coastal city. Olmert called the attack "a serious escalation in the terror war" against Israel, and warned that it would have "far-reaching consequences" that Hamas would be the first to feel.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Israel allowed food and fuel supplies into Gaza on Tuesday, reopening the territory's main cargo crossing, but kept other border passages closed. The World Health Organization reported that patients referred to Israeli hospitals for critical medical treatment have not been allowed to cross into Israel since June 30.

In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers raided Islamic charities in several towns Monday and Tuesday, confiscating files and computer records. An army spokeswoman said the charities were linked to Hamas and funneled money "to fund terrorist activities." In the town of Jenin, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian militant in a clash with gunmen planting explosives, an army spokesman said, and a car bomb discovered by troops was blown up by sappers.

In an overnight raid in Ramallah, Israeli forces surrounded the local police station and apprehended three Palestinians held there on suspicion of kidnapping and killing an 18-year-old Israeli settler last week.

___

(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

_____

NEWSCOM PHOTOS can be viewed at http://www.newscom.com/nc/visuals.html (Username: fpnews and Password: viewnc05 allow editors to view photos.) To purchase photos or to get your own NewsCom username and password, U.S. and Canadian newspapers, please call Tribune Media (800) 637-4082 or (312) 222-2448 or email to tmssales@tribune.com. Others contact NewsCom at (202) 383-6070 or email support@newscom.com. Use search terms: "Ehud and Olmert"

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.