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JERUSALEM-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday the Israeli army had a "free hand" to target anyone in the Gaza Strip, particularly ruling Hamas Islamists, to bring an end to cross-border rocket fire at the Jewish state.Olmert also said the goal of peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to reach an understanding on "basic principles" for a Palestinian state by the end of 2008, rather than a full-fledged agreement.Olmert said Abbas had agreed to postpone talks on the future of Jerusalem until the end of the negotiating process, a move that could anger Palestinians but help Olmert hold together his fragile coalition government for now."I don't know if we will be able to reach an understanding with the Palestinians. I hope we will. We'll do everything in our power to. But we will not start with the issue which is the most difficult," Olmert said of Jerusalem.Israel asserts that it can maintain parallel tracks with the Palestinians, one aimed at reaching a statehood agreement with Abbas and the other at breaking Hamas's hold on the Gaza Strip.Olmert has so far been wary of launching a major ground operation in Gaza, which Hamas Islamists seized by force in June after routing Abbas's more secular Fatah faction.But the Israeli leader faces growing domestic pressure to act against the rocket salvoes, especially after Hamas claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed a woman and a rocket attack that cost an 8-year-old boy part of his leg.Some members of Olmert's cabinet have urged the army to start assassinating Hamas's political leaders..To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
