Defense Minister Amir Peretz made it clear Thursday that diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in Lebanon will have to be exhausted before he gives the go-ahead to expanded military operations.
"We must be able to look at every mother, father, and child, and say that we tried every other move," Peretz said during a briefing that also included Chief of Staff Dan Halutz andNorthern Command Chief Udi Adam. Peretz was standing between the two military officials, who did not exchange any words.
Earlier, Halutz appointed his deputy Moshe Kaplinsky as his representative at the Northern Command, in a move widely seen as tantamount to Adam's dismissal.
"The combination of operational decisions and the speeding up of the diplomatic process is the right combination, and we must be at peace with ourselves the moment the troops go into the field," Peretz said. "The easiest thing to do is give the order to thousands of soldiers to go out there. If there's no diplomatic decision there will be an unequivocal military victory. We'll remove the Katyusha threat over the citizens of Israel and we'll do it in the most decisive way."
According to Peretz, a "persistent effort," both military and diplomatic, is taking place to that end.
"We're doing everything so that both efforts will serve each other and at the end of the day the objectives we sat are demilitarization of the south (of Lebanon) and the entrance of a multinational force in conjunction with the Lebanese army."
"Another objective is a genuine pledge to dismantle Hizbullah," Peretz said. "If we achieve this through diplomatic means and are sure that there's indeed an intention to implement the document, we'll certainly see a situation where the military operation created the diplomatic space and a new situation was created in the North.
"If not – we'll use all the tools and we have the capability. We intend to free the north of the country from the need to stay in bomb shelters and that's an unequivocal decision," the defense minister said.
'Do more, talk less'
Halutz, meanwhile, said "the State of Israel is defending its home. It doesn't compromise over this matter. It doesn't retreat, but rather, moves forward." When asked about the role of Northern Command Chief Adam, Halutz said: "The Northern Command Chief is a wonderful man who's doing his job faithfully. The Northern Command Chief heads the Northern Command."
Regarding the blows sustained by the IDF during the war, Halutz said: "The fighting exacted a toll both on civilians and soldiers. A war has price tags and I believe that in this fight we must make it clear that when the State of Israel is defending its home we move forward, not only on the battlefield but also in the diplomatic arena."
"The time has come for us to adopt a new way where we do much more and talk much less," Halutz added. "This will be good for everyone."
Peretz, meanwhile, added: "A day will come where it will turn out that this fight managed to erase this legend about Hizbullah being Lebanon's defender. The Lebanese people will wake up a day after the war and discover that it caused them destruction, and I'm sure the Lebanese majority will prefer to live peacefully alongside Israel."
Hanan Greenberg contributed to the report