During Cast Lead, the PA encouraged us to go further, to the extent that they wanted us to destroy Hamas altogether, and now they join in the international movement to support Hamas by prosecuting us for the results of Cast Lead.

Israel has informed the Palestinian Authority that it will not authorize the operation of a second cellular phone network until the PA withdraws its demand that the International Criminal Court in the Hague investigate alleged Israeli "war crimes," as documented in the Goldstone panel report on Operation Cast Lead.

Israel is especially indignant over the PA threat, officials said, because it shows the hypocrisy of the PA leadership – and the hypocrisy, the Israeli officials said, could end up costing the PA $300 million in money it guaranteed in the cellphone network deal.

Under an agreement in the framework of the Oslo Accords, Israel agreed to the operation of one cellular network in the PA, as Israel and the Authority were supposed to work together to ensure that all cellular networks operated on the appropriate frequency in a regulated manner, without networks invading the frequencies of others. The PA awarded the concession to PalTel, and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has been pushing hard for the opening of a second network, which would be operated by a company called Wattaniyeh. Fayyad has backed the second company with a hefty investment guarantee for private investors, using PA funds.

Under the deal with the PA, however, the Authority has until October 15 to authorize the Wattaniyeh project – and if it fails to do so, it will have to return some $300 million to investors who poured money into the company for infrastructure projects. The PA was supposed to authorize the project months ago, but infighting among PA ministers and its business elite has delayed the project.

Part of the delay has also been due to Israel's reluctance to release the frequencies Wattinyeh is seeking for the operation of the network. The frequencies are very close to frequencies used by the IDF for sensitive security work. PA officials have complained that Israel's demands are excessive, and that Israel wants the new company to use some of Paltel's frequencies for its operations.

However, those Israeli reservations have now turned into full-blown opposition on the part of many IDF officials, in response to the plans by Fayyad and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to demand that the International Criminal Court at the Hague prosecute IDF soldiers. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, among others, have fired off letters to the PA demanding that the Authority withdraw its request. Among the sanctions both have agreed to, the letters said, is the quashing of the Wattaniyeh project.

Israeli officials have been especially indignant over the PA's threat, security sources said, because it was the PA itself, headquartered in Ramallah, that encouraged Israel to attack Hamas in Gaza even more fiercely than the IDF had planned. An Israeli security source was quoted in Haaretz as saying that during Cast Lead, the PA encouraged the IDF to go further, to the extent that they pushed Israel to destroy Hamas altogether, and now they are joining in the international movement to support Hamas by prosecuting us for the results of Cast Lead – a prime example of hypocrisy.

"The PA must decided whether it is with us or against us," the official said.