Intending to douse flames in Gaza, state department cautions against violence.
By JPOST.COM STAFFclinton good top 298 ap(photo credit: )
The US State Department released a statement Friday night intended to calm the spirits in Israel and the Gaza Strip following the recent upsurge in violence there. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters there was no “military solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."The Israelis have a right to self-defense. At the same, as we've said many times, we don't ultimately think there is a military solution to this,” he said."Our message remains to the Israelis and Palestinians that we need to get the proximity talks going, focus on the substance, move to direct negotiations and ultimately arrive at a settlement that ends the conflict once and for all."On Thursday night the IAF carried out several air strikes in the Gaza Strip, targeting four weapons factories and warehouses targets. The attacks were a response to the firing of a Kassam rocket earlier that evening, which fell near Ashkelon causing no casualties or damage.According to the latest assessments within the defense establishment,Hamas is under growing pressure from competing Palestinian terroristfactions to renew attacks on Israel from Gaza, and will likely resumeterrorism soon.The latest spat of violence was ignited by an incident last Friday, inwhich two Golani soldiers were killed in a clash with gunmen aftercrossing the Gaza border fence to confront what they believed to be aPalestinian bomb-planting squad."We are always concerned that steps taken by either side, legitimate orotherwise, can be misconstrued, can be twisted and end up causingturbulence that can be an impediment to progress," Crowley said.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
