Israel's Meretz Party campaigns for end to Gaza operation

The new Meretz alignment party announced Wednesday that it would launch a new Internet campaign calling on the government to stop the military operation in Gaza and refrain from sending ground forces into the Strip. Slogans planned for the campaign include "We won't enter Gaza", "Cease fire immediately", and "Entering again? Getting entangled again? Casualties again?" MK Zahava Gal-On explained that the party has two objectives it hopes the campaign will help secure. "First–to cease fire in Gaza, and second–to halt the ground incursion," she said. "From past experience we know that whatever has not been achieved in the first 48 hours will not be achieved in later stages either. I call on the government to accept the French initiative in order to stop the fighting." Gal-On rejected claims that the campaign is ill-timed, as barrages of rockets continue to fall in southern Israel. "There's nothing here against the IDF. From what we learned in the Winograd Report, it's clear that there's no use in entering Gaza in order to achieve various objectives," she said. "I call for a halt in the military operation before blood is shed and before we drown in the Gazan mud."