Sneh: Retaking Gaza 'not a preferred solution'

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Deputy Defense Minister Ephriam Sneh said Tuesday that recapturing the Gaza Strip was "not a preferred solution" to the ongoing Kassam attacks on the south of the country. Speaking to Channel 1, he emphasized that "the solution is more complex" than dialogue alone, and that only a combination of military, economic, and other considerations would bring about the weakening of terror groups in Gaza. Sneh said that without diplomatic prospects, there was no chance of defeating Hamas; however, he called the war on terror a "military issue" and said it was in the defense minister's jurisdiction. Regarding criticism leveled by a range of MKs at Defense Minister Amir Peretz over his Sunday phone call to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Sneh said simply that each government minister should do his or her own job and let others do theirs, but added that no minister was authorized to hold diplomatic talks on their own.