After so much time i think we can finnaly understand this a blast from the past This was not addressed You have three texts all AP from the end of January not the beginning of the war which mention in this context southern communities The phrasing they used is identical So you edit is referenced now It remains for me at least to see whether that formula employed by the Associated Press reflects precisely Israeli government or IDF statements of intent expressed when the assault began on Dec 27 or whether it is retrospective Nishidani Because if we DO go back to the beginning of this conflict and we should when addressing the lead we ll find the following Dec 30 Israel attacks Gaza for the fourth day from the BBC On goals aim Israel s defence chief earlier said his country was fighting a war to the bitter end against Hamas On whether to use stated or not Israel says its aim is to end the rocket attacks by Hamas linked militants of which there were reportedly more than 40 on Monday Dec 27 Israel s attack on Gaza kills hundreds On goals The government said the open ended campaign was aimed at stopping rocket attacks that have traumatized southern Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said late Saturday that the goal was to bring about a fundamental improvement in the security situation He added It could take some time Stated see above plus Israel warned it might go after Hamas leaders and militants kept pelting Israel with rockets killing at least one Israeli and wounding six Dec 30 Israel Assaults Hamas In Gaza On goals Israel s stated goal is to cripple Hamas ability to launch rockets at Israeli towns which means that a ground invasion is becoming more likely as it becomes clear that airstrikes alone can not finish the job Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has declared all out war against Hamas Stated Yes But infrastructure and since Hamas fire those rockets from civilians area not having military bases of their own police stations and houses in gaza are Hamas infrastructures I recognized Nishidani s point as being that from the beginning there was ambiguity as to what this Israel s attack was to bring Israel itself Now there was a target inside Gaza Hamas there is war but is war about what goals yes to some degree but most of those goals can t be archived until conquering has been archived re Iraq war AND Israel s previous occupations of both Lebanon and Palestine so to cripple Gaza only Hamas s infrastructure was the stated goal At what point even Israel s foreign minister was at odds with what the prime minister was stating as the goals for this operation Needless to say then it would be a great disservice if we use Israel s stated goals as of Jan 30 My humble suggestion is to leave it as The operation was aimed at Stated is a loaded term There should be even more discussion on this BTW Cryptonio talk Plus Dec 30 ANALYSIS Hamas is hoping for an IDF ground operation in Gaza On goals The operation s goals as defined by the cabinet are creating a different long term security situation in the south while bolstering Israel s deterrence The IDF does not interpret this to mean a complete end to the rocket fire as it considers this impossible Rather its goal is to eliminate Hamas desire to attack Israel The bombing campaign has so far dealt a severe blow to Hamas Fire in the hole Notice ref to as defined so they are defining what they are stating or vice versa plus IDF does not interpret what s been stated which of course was defined before it was stated which at the end they disregard what was stated for them perhaps rather just defined in order for them to interpret on their own because they found what was defined for them impossible or what they interpreted as being defined to them Cryptonio talk