Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this evening, invited to his office, mayors and regional council chairmen whose cities and councils are within 40 kilometers of the Gaza Strip and awarded them citations for their excellent performance during Operation Cast Lead and in the preceding years. Interior Minister Meir Shetrit, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, Prime Minister's Office Director-General Ra'anan Dinur and Interior Ministry Director-General Aryeh Bar were also present.
The local leaders thanked Prime Minister Olmert for working with local authorities during IDF operations in the Gaza Strip and noted the Prime Minister's quick response, and that of PMO Dir.-Gen. Dinur, to incoming requests. Be'er Sheva Mayor Rubik Danilovitz told Prime Minister Olmert: "I would like to thank you. The leadership of the system, under your direction, and the country was exceptional. All ministries supported and responded efficiently and I would like to thank the entire system. Your visits and frequent telephone calls were a source of security, as was the way in which you ran everything." Sderot Mayor David Buskila added: "We felt that there was a Government, that things were being coordinated as in an orchestra. We felt that the lessons of the Second Lebanon War had been implemented and we sensed that we had someone to turn to."
Prime Minister Olmert thanked the local leaders and said: "Approximately one month ago, the Government understood that we no longer had any possibility of saying that we were patient. All of the ways that we tried to avoid a military response – failed, and we decided to respond in order to change the reality in which you had hitherto been living. We wanted to bring quiet to your communities. We wanted children to be able to go to school quietly, with their parents knowing that they would be safe. We wanted everyone to be able to sleep peacefully at night. We knew that there would be difficult days. We warned that the quantity of rockets fired at you was liable to increase during part of the operation. Throughout this period, but mainly during that which preceded it, when we prepared for the operation, we knew that local mayors would be at the center of things. It was clear to us that this great array of assisting residents, of conducting civilians' lives in time of emergency, would be guided by local mayors, and this view proved itself. You proved yourselves through successful management, concern for your residents and responsibility for all that was done. I thank you for your important contribution and for giving your residents the sense and the knowledge that there was someone looking out for them. With the end of the operation and the restoration of quiet in the communities, your mission is not done. Systems must return to their routines. Many issues must be seen to. However, I am certain that you will do this just as you have done up to now – calmly, efficiently, thoroughly and with love."