WikiLeaks: Israel consulted PA before Gaza war

Palestinian supporters of Hamas gather during a rally honoring 24,000 Palestinians who memorized the Koran, organized by Dar al-Koran association in Gaza City September 12, 2010. UPI/Ismael Mohamad Photo via Newscom

Israel consulted with the Palestinian Authority prior to its defensive war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009, it was revealed in secret documents published by WikiLeaks.

WND first reported in December 2008 that Israel had consulted with the PA before the war that month, and that PA President Mahmoud Abbas had petitioned Israel to launch a massive military raid against his Hamas rivals in Gaza.

Some of the quarter-million leaked secret American diplomatic cables reveal Israel tried to coordinate the Gaza war with the PA.

In a June 2009 meeting between Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and a U.S. congressional delegation, Barak stated that the Israeli government "had consulted with Egypt and Fatah prior to Operation Cast Lead, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas."

"Not surprisingly," Barak said in the meeting, Israel "received negative answers from both."

Immediately after Israel launched the first air strikes in Gaza in December 2008, Abbas and his office slammed the Jewish states Gaza raid as "barbaric" and "unnecessary."

But WND reported at the time Abbas and his top representatives had waged a quiet campaign for months asking the Israeli government to target Hamas in Gaza just before his term in office was scheduled to expire on Jan. 9, according to PA sources.

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