Israel wants EU help to scare off Hamas http://euobserver.com/9/32059

Israel's deputy prime minister, Silvan Shalom, told national radio on Wednesday: "We may have to consider a return to that operation." The culture minister, Limor Livnat, spoke of "Operation Cast Lead 2."Palmor said that Hamas picked a fight in order to raise its profile after its political rival, the Fatah government in the West Bank, recently gained prestige by securing recognition of Palestinian statehood by Uruguay.The Palestinian Authority's envoy to Brussels rejected the Israeli narrative.Leila Shahid said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is keen for a fight in order to block Hamas-Fatah reconciliation because he does not want the Middle East peace process to move forward. 

"The Israeli government has used all this to sabotage the proposed visit of [Fatah] President Mahmoud Abbas [to Gaza]," she said. "The occupation of Gaza has been going on for 44 years. If Mr Palmor thinks he needs European pressure to stop the shooting, we want European pressure to end the occupation ... the problem isn't shelling on this or that day, it's 44 years of occupation," she added.Reacting to the Shalom and Livnat 'Cast Lead 2' statements, she noted: "This is very wrong, because Israel actually has the means to do it. I would be surprised if the world would allow Israel to get away with another Cast Lead."Pointing out that the UN did nothing to stop Israeli jets from bombing Gaza back in 2009, Shahid said: "It shows how the world community, whether its the UN Security Council or the EU or the Americans, is silent and impotent in front of Israeli violations, when they have been quite effective on Libyan violations."