Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal sees the government declaration as a \"verbal escalation\" that, if nothing else, \"accustoms the public to understand that there is really no one to talk to [on the Palestinian side] nor anything to talk about, and that war is close.\" The following brief history may shed some light:
After the Dolphinarium massacre on June 1, Prime Minister Sharon said, \"The situation is definitely not simple, but we must look at the entire picture. I want to say that even restraint is a form of strength.\" Following the murder of victim #121, Danny Yehuda from Chomesh on June 18, Sharon said, \"There are many things that must be done, but to take the nation to war now in my opinion would be a first-degree mistake, from many standpoints… Sometimes there is no choice, but that is not the situation now.\"
Following the murder of victim #188, Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi on Oct. 17, Sharon declared, \"What has been until now will not continue.\" The government demanded that the PA extradite the murderers, and if not, then the government \"would have no choice but to see the PA as a terrorism-supporting entity.\" The PA did not do so, and neither did Israel carry out its threat. Even after Gen. Zinni\'s arrival in Israel and the second Afula bus station attack, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said, \"The ceasefire talks must not deal narrowly only with a ceasefire, but must also include other elements - economic, social, emotional…\"
Yediot Acharonot\'s Fishman wrote that people who were with the Prime Minister last night when he heard the news of the attack said they never saw him as angry before. It remains to be seen, then, if last night\'s massacre really was the \"turning-point attack\" in terms of Israel\'s military response.
It\'s not clear whether the decision means no more contacts with Arafat alone, or no more contacts with the Palestinian Authority at all. Today\'s meeting between IDF officers and senior PA leaders implies that the former is correct. Labor MK Effie Oshaya explained to Arutz-7 today that his party did not object to the government decision this time, as opposed to last week, because, \"there is a limit to what even we are willing to tolerate in our pursuit of peace.\"
After the Dolphinarium massacre on June 1, Prime Minister Sharon said, \"The situation is definitely not simple, but we must look at the entire picture. I want to say that even restraint is a form of strength.\" Following the murder of victim #121, Danny Yehuda from Chomesh on June 18, Sharon said, \"There are many things that must be done, but to take the nation to war now in my opinion would be a first-degree mistake, from many standpoints… Sometimes there is no choice, but that is not the situation now.\"
Following the murder of victim #188, Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi on Oct. 17, Sharon declared, \"What has been until now will not continue.\" The government demanded that the PA extradite the murderers, and if not, then the government \"would have no choice but to see the PA as a terrorism-supporting entity.\" The PA did not do so, and neither did Israel carry out its threat. Even after Gen. Zinni\'s arrival in Israel and the second Afula bus station attack, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said, \"The ceasefire talks must not deal narrowly only with a ceasefire, but must also include other elements - economic, social, emotional…\"
Yediot Acharonot\'s Fishman wrote that people who were with the Prime Minister last night when he heard the news of the attack said they never saw him as angry before. It remains to be seen, then, if last night\'s massacre really was the \"turning-point attack\" in terms of Israel\'s military response.
It\'s not clear whether the decision means no more contacts with Arafat alone, or no more contacts with the Palestinian Authority at all. Today\'s meeting between IDF officers and senior PA leaders implies that the former is correct. Labor MK Effie Oshaya explained to Arutz-7 today that his party did not object to the government decision this time, as opposed to last week, because, \"there is a limit to what even we are willing to tolerate in our pursuit of peace.\"