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| Israeli soldiers gather with their armored personnel carriers in a gathering area near the Israel Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. |
BANGKOK (AP) -- The U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket attacks.
The remarks by President
Barack Obama and Britain Foreign Secretary William Hague were part of a
diplomatic balancing act by the West as it desperately seeks an end to
the escalating violence without alienating its closest ally in the
region.
"Israel has every right to expect that
it does not have missiles fired into its territory," President Barack
Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok at the start of a
three-nation visit to Asia.
"If that can be
accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's
preferable," Obama said. "It's not just preferable for the people of
Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are
in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being
wounded."
The president spoke shortly before
an Israeli airstrike leveled a home in a residential neighborhood.
Palestinian medical officials said at least 11 civilians, mostly women
and children, were killed. The attack was the single deadliest incident
of the 5-day-old Israeli operation.
The
Israeli military said the target was a top rocket mastermind of the
Islamic Jihad militant group. The claim could not be immediately
verified, and the attack raised speculation that Israel could face
increased international pressure if the civilian death toll continued to
rise.
Hague said Hamas, Gaza's militant
rulers, "bears principal responsibility" for initiating the violence and
must stop all rocket attacks on Israel. But Hague also made clear the
diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation.
"A
ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community
to sympathize with or support, including the United Kingdom," he said.
Israeli
officials say the airstrikes are aimed at ending months of rocket fire
out of the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel began the offensive with an
unexpected airstrike that killed Hamas' military chief, and since then
has targeted suspected rocket launchers and storage sites.
The
Mideast ally is now at a crossroads: launch a ground invasion or pursue
Egyptian-led truce efforts. But with Israel and Hamas far apart on any
terms of cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared
at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, "The Israeli military is
prepared to significantly expand the operation."
The
crisis threatened to overshadow Obama's trip to Asia, which includes
stops in Myanmar and Cambodia as part of a broader effort to expand the
U.S. economic and military presence in a region long dominated by China.
So
far, the U.S. has thrown its weight behind Israel, and Obama has called
on Egypt and Turkey to intervene on Israel's behalf. Obama said he has
told Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and Turkey's prime minister,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan that "those who champion the cause of the
Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the
situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind
of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed
off way into the future."
Obama also pointed to the next 48 hours "to see what kind of progress we can make."
Members
of the U.S. Congress, which overwhelmingly supports Israel, criticized
Egypt and Turkey for not doing enough to intervene. They said all eyes
were on Morsi, Egypt's first civilian and freely elected leader.
"Egypt,
watch what you do and how you do it," said Sen. Sen. Lindsey Graham,
R-S.C., in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." `'You're teetering
with the Congress on having your aid cut off if you keep inciting
violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians."
In
a separate interview on ABC's "This Week," Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of
the Armed Services Committee, called Egypt's response to the crisis
"pretty weak" so far.
"I think that they're
going to have to take some very serious steps diplomatically to make it
clear to Hamas that they're going to lose support in the Arab world if
they continue these rocket attacks on Israel," said Levin, D-Mich.
Lawmakers also blamed Iran for arming Hamas militants, and questioned Egypt's role in that.
"My
guess is there has to be some tacit involvement in Egypt and the border
or these things wouldn't be getting in to Gaza," said Rep. C.A. "Dutch"
Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence
Committee.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said he thinks the threat of a ground war is overblown.
"I
don't think the Israelis really want a ground war," he told "Fox News
Sunday." `'They'll go into Gaza if they feel they need to, to eliminate
the remainder of the missiles. ... So really, the decision is up to
Hamas, as to whether there will be a ground invasion of Gaza or not."
