JERUSALEM - Israel must not let the Gaza Strip's Islamist Hamas rulers dictate terms of a cease-fire after a recent escalation of fighting, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday.

Calm returned to Gaza Strip and southern Israel overnight after four days of cross-border violence in which 19 Palestinians died, with United Nations and Egyptian mediators having helped to negotiate a truce.

Lieberman, who leads the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, a main coalition partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, told Israel Radio that Hamas would use any lull to regroup before another round of fighting.

"The aim of calm is a serious mistake because calm is used (by Hamas) to smuggle more and more arms," Lieberman said, adding that Hamas was obtaining increasingly powerful rockets.

"At this rate they will also reach Tel Aviv," he said.

The latest violence began last Thursday when Hamas militants hit an Israeli school bus with an anti-tank rocket, critically wounding a teenager. This attack sparked the worst fighting since a 2008-2009 Israeli offensive into Gaza.

However, neither side appeared keen on a major confrontation, indicating they wanted to avoid escalation.

"Our central aim must be to stop the arms smuggling by Hamas but a second aim must be to topple the Hamas regime," Lieberman said.

Reuters

(China Daily 04/12/2011 page12)