Qassam hits Sderot-area high school in new salvo
By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents and
Haaretz Service Last update - 13:47 17/05/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/860522.html

As Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz sparred over
the issue of whether to evacuate the residents of Sderot, seven Qassam
rockets struck the embattled area early on Thursday, one of them slamming
into a high school, lightly wounding two people.

Another rocket hit the yard of a house, without causing injury. Palestinian
gunners struck Sderot and its environs with more than 30 Qassam rockets on
Wednesday alone.

Following a decision by Olmert on Wednesday, the military prepared to take
'harsh' measures in an effort to stem new attacks.

On Thursday afternoon, Israel Defense Forces tanks crossed into the northern
Gaza Strip, taking up what an army spokesman termed "defensive positions"
just inside the territory.

Israel Radio reported Thursday that the Defense Ministry had begun
evacuating a number of Sderot residents to a Association for Soldiers'
Welfare hostel in the northern town of Givat Olga.

Olmert has opposed evacuating Sderot, Peretz' home town, where one rocket
slammed into a house near the defense minister's own on Wednesday. Peretz
has proposed that sizable numbers of residents be brought out of the city
for a "break" from the rocket attacks, which have continued sporadically for
the last five years.

Municipality officials said that many families have already left the city on
their own. Schools in the city will be closed Thursday for the second day in
a row.

Hundreds of Sderot residents have signed up for a program to receive rooms
in Society for Soldier's Welfare hostels in other areas of the country.
Sderot city officials and the Defense Ministry have opened an information
hotline for Sderot residents interested in leaving the city.

In tandem, tycoon Arkadi Gaydamak has funded rooms for some 600 Sderot
residents in a Be'er Sheva hotel.

Harsh response

The disagreement over evacuation came as Palestinian militants continued
their rocket barrage on the western Negev on Wednesday, firing some 30
rockets at the area, wounding two people.

During consultations between Olmert, Peretz and senior members of the
defense establishment on Wednesday, it was decided to resume the
assassinations policy, targeting militants, as well as other, unspecified
actions.

"Israel will not be able to continue and show restraint when its citizens
are being targeted, and therefore it was decided to respond harshly," Olmert
said after the meeting.

"It was decided to authorize the IDF and the defense establishment to carry
out a series of actions in order to target those launching Qassam rockets
and their leadership, to disrupt their ability to launch rockets and to
strike the terrorist infrastructure," a statement said.

A political source in Jerusalem said that Olmert had changed his mind and
decided to end the "policy of restraint" following intelligence assessments
that Hamas intends to escalate its attacks against Israel.

The intelligence reports, presented during the meeting, suggest that the
recent hail of rockets on Sderot were directly linked to the internecine
fighting between Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip. They stressed that the
bombing would continue and even escalate.

Gaydamak launches evacuation of his own

Russian-born business tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak has added complexity to the
debate over evacuating Sderot, by taking hundreds of Sderot residents to the
Golden Tulip hotel in Be'er Sheva.

The possibility of evacuating people from Sderot was raised Wednesday by
Peretz during a meeting with defense officials called by Olmert to discuss
the developments in the Gaza Strip and the constant bombardment of Sderot.

"Gaydamak is evacuating people, and he will take over the whole thing,"
Peretz said. "He sent buses and we need to consider an evacuation."

Olmert opposed the idea. "I am not willing to evacuate Sderot. These are
precisely the sort of scenes that Hamas is waiting for. During the war [in
Lebanon], when 200 Katyushas fell every day, we did not evacuate entire
towns. I don't need to compete with Gaydamak's buses," Olmert said.

"I'm not talking about an evacuation, but a break," Peretz said.

"A break is fine," Olmert said.

The two were referring to what Gaydamak offered residents of Sderot last
summer, when he sent thousands at his expense to Eilat to recuperate from
the stress of the bombing.

Wednesday night Peretz authorized in principle a plan for the evacuation of
hundreds from Sderot for a few days. The idea is to take the evacuees to
facilities of the Association for Soldiers' Welfare all over Israel.
Priority in the evacuation would be given to the elderly, the infirm and
people with no family members.

Peretz is expected to confirm the authorization on Thursday.

According to an analysis by the Home Front Command carried out under orders
from Peretz, there are 2,600 Sderot residents who are eligible due to their
status as "needy population."

Nonetheless, by last night only 400 spots were prepared to receive evacuees,
and only for a few days.

For his part, Gaydamak is also evaluating the possibility of undertaking the
reinforcement of homes in Sderot. In consultation with a construction firm,
Gaydamak decided to make a visit to the town Friday to evaluate the extent
of the project, first hand.