Sharon Puts Gaza Offensive on Hold
The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, put a planned offensive into the Gaza Strip on hold today, and the army began sending home some of the reservists it had called up.

The Israeli government and the defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eleizer, decided that the element of surprise had been lost, Palestinian militants of Hamas and Islamic Jihad had gone into hiding and that there was less chance that a bloody operation in Gaza would achieve its goals.

Mr. Sharon was also under some diplomatic pressure not to destroy a fragile opening toward new peace talks with another dangerous and controversial offensive in the tightly packed refugee camps of Gaza.

But the Gaza operation has not been scrapped, a senior military official said. ``The troops are still there,'' he said, ``and we will have to go into Gaza sooner or later. Gaza is the central headquarters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.''

In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian laborer shot dead his Israeli employer near a checkpoint leading to the Jewish settlement of Rafiah Yam, an army spokesman said.

The incident followed an easing of tensions on the Israel-Gaza border.

Israel had sent troops to the outskirts of Gaza after a suicide bombing on Tuesday killed 15 people and the bomber at a pool hall south of Tel Aviv. The Hamas movement took responsibility for that attack. In a newspaper interview published in Kuwait, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, said the group did not feel bound by peace initiatives.

"We have in the past stopped martyrdom operations against the enemy," he said, referring to suicide bombings. But Israelis "did not stop their killing of our people, our leaders and officials," he said, adding, "That is why we are no longer obligated by our previous initiative."

The Israeli threat to Gaza followed several days of maneuvering. Israeli troops and tanks settled on the borders of the densely populated strip of refugee camps and seemed on the brink of attack.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke off a visit to Washington to return home immediately after the blast on Tuesday and ordered a call-up of reservists and the deployment of tanks around Gaza. That is Hamas's biggest stronghold and acts as headquarters for its operatives.

Within 24 hours, though, Israeli military planners were said to be considering a far more limited and targeted assault than its broad incursions into the West Bank. The planners were expected to meet late tonight. Also tonight, a rally organized by the Peace Now movement took place in Tel Aviv before further discussions on Sunday by Mr. Sharon's top security advisers. The police said 60,000 people had attended the rally.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/international/middleeast/12CND-MIDE.html