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Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9965
Israel Has to Be Prepared for the Next Gaza Confrontation
(Israel Hayom) Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror - After Israel decided not to pay the price required to prevent Hamas from resuming manufacturing rockets and rebuilding terror tunnels, there was no way to break Hamas' will to fight or to prevent it from remaining in power. Therefore, having no illusions about the future, we must prepare for the next operation while simultaneously making every effort to push it as far into the future as possible. The rules of the game will be decided by our response to the first instances of rocket fire. We must have a very clear policy under which Israel responds to every cease-fire violation with force and immediacy. In the negotiations that will soon begin in Cairo, Israel will be pressured to allow the reconstruction of Gaza. Israel must develop a mechanism that will minimize, as much as possible, the use of materials for building terror tunnels and military command centers. The true test is not whether Hamas will continue to rebuild its military might - in the absence of Israeli occupation that is the only possible scenario - the true test is the test of preserved calm. The longer the calm persists, the more of a success the operation will have been. The writer is a former national security adviser to the prime minister of Israel.