Israeli minister wants recapture of Gaza border zone

JERUSALEM, Nov 18 (Reuters) A member of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet called today for Israel to recapture a part of Gaza evacuated a year ago and dismissed moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as ''irrelevant.'' Avigdor Lieberman, an Israeli rightist recently named minister of strategic affairs, told Israel Radio ''we have to take back control of the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi corridor'', zones along the Gaza border with Egypt.

Israel accuses the Palestinians of smuggling in tonnes of ammunition across from Egypt, and blames this for a recent spate of rocket fire at southern Israeli towns that killed an Israeli woman on Wednesday and seriously wounded a guard.

Gunmen have stepped up rocket fire at Israel since Israel killed 19 civilians including women and children in a November 8 artillery shelling on the town of Beit Hanoun. Israel apologised for the shelling but said it was a response to Gaza rocket fire.

Lieberman heads Yisrael Beitenu, a party Olmert added to his coalition to shore up support after criticism of his handling of a campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon in July and August. Around 1,200 Lebanese and 157 Israelis were killed.

While Lieberman's views are more hawkish than most of Olmert's cabinet, his comments reflected growing public frustration with the Israeli army's failure to halt increasingly lethal rocket strikes from Gaza.

Israel withdrew forces and Jewish settlers from Gaza last year after a 38-year military occupation.

''I don't think there is reason to conquer Gaza anew,'' Lieberman said, urging Israel to hit more at militant leaders rather than raid civilian areas.

''There is no point in hitting refugee camps or Beit Hanoun where they live on 10 shekels a day ... we should focus on those with something to lose,'' Lieberman said.

He also criticised Olmert's efforts to try to sidestep the Hamas-led government that refuses to recognise Israel by holding dialogue with Abbas, saying he was ''irrelevant ... he has no authority or strength.'' TWO PALESTINIANS KILLED Olmert has said he would meet with Abbas but the talks have been delayed over thus far unsuccessful efforts to negotiate the release of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza since June.

In the latest violence in Gaza, soldiers shot at Palestinian militants who fired an anti-tank rocket at them in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, killing a militant and a 16-year-old, a rescue service said.

Three soldiers were wounded in that clash, an Israeli army spokesman said.

In an apparent response to a new push by Washington to kick-start an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Hamas-led Palestinian government said Washington should change its policies rather than pressure Hamas to recognise Israel.

Officials and diplomats in Washington said yesterday the US is preparing for a possible peace push that could include an international peace conference in Jordan later this month.

But they said any such meeting hinged on a planned Palestinian unity government meeting the conditions of the Quartet of West Asia mediators: to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by past agreements.

Hamas's Ghazi Hamad, the Palestinian cabinet spokesman, rejected the condition, saying: ''American policy is the biggest obstacle to bringing peace and security to the region.'' ''The Americans should not demand from the Palestinian side to commit or to abide by the Quartet conditions. The Americans should change their own policy and ask Israel to change its policies toward the Palestinian people,'' Hamad added.

REUTERS SY KP2238