Earlier today, America’s Voices in Israel held a briefing for bloggers, in conjunction with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and  New York Consulate.  The conference call featured Jeremy Issacharoff, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. and Brigadier General in Reserve Relik Shafir of the Israeli Air Force, who spoke from Ashkelon.

They made it clear that Israel’s objective is not the reoccupation of Gaza or the elimination of Hamas, but rather the crippling of the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and its ability to threaten Israeli citizens, and the establishment of new “rules of the game” (including the elimination of arms smuggling from Iran).  There will be no ceasefire without the complete cessation of firing into Israel, and the “status quo ante is not an option.”  Asked about an “exit strategy,” they said it was Hamas that should be thinking of one.

There was no discussion on the conference call of the “peace process,” but I think it might be useful–particularly for those who think that Israel is currently pursuing a fruitless “military solution”–to view what is happening now in Gaza in terms of long-delayed Phase I of the “Performance-Based Road Map”:  the “sustained, targeted, and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.”

That step was supposed to be taken by the Palestinian Authority (which committed itself to the Road Map in 2003 and “recommitted” itself at Annapolis in 2007).  It is something that everyone — the U.S., the UN, the EU, Russia, and the Palestinian Authority — all agreed was the necessary first step.  Given the complete failure of the PA to meet its commitment in Gaza, it is now being done by the IDF.