Palestinian Terrorist Rocket War Continues

The Palestinian terrorists continue their rocket war against Israel, and Israeli officials acknowledge that they simply do not have any defense against the rockets even as one landed near a school in Sderot.

Israel's ability to counter and deal with the threat of Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip is limited and almost non-existent, Chief Intelligence Officer Brig.-Gen. Yuval Halamish, said Thursday.

Speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv University on the use of Electro-optics on the future battlefield, Halamish said that sometimes luck plays more of a factor when facing the Kassam than Israel's military capabilities.

"This is a close threat that has an impact on the home front as well as the national morale," Halamish said. "Our ability to deal with this threat is difficult until being almost impossible in certain places."

Halamish said that Iran and Syria were transferring know-how to the Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip and that the characteristics of warfare in Gaza today were similar to those used against the IDF by the Hizbullah in Lebanon and against American troops in Iraq.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attacks and claimed that they were in response to the Israeli airstrikes that dispatched Islamic Jihad leaders (who had been conducting these kinds of attacks for years on end).

The terrorists have been sharing tactics and weapons skills, and this bodes poorly for Israelis who are within range of the rockets and mortars, especially places like Sderot.

The Israeli government has not handled the situation well at all. They've allowed their citizens to come under harassing fire for two years with a minimal response. Every few months, the Israelis would launch serious raids against the terrorist groups, but have not gotten a respite from the attacks.

The terrorists have been emboldened by the failure of the Israeli government to deal with the problem and attacks have actually escalated since the Annapolis conference.

Just today, at least six rockets hit Israel, with one landing near a school. Sixteen people were sent to the hospital for shock, including 10 children.

This is what the terrorists do. They terrorize children.

These attacks do not register on the pages of the New York Times or the website of MSNBC except as an afterthought in a report on Israel's planned construction of housing in Jerusalem.

The moral equivalence and blindness to pure evil should be astounding, but it's clearly institutional and longstanding since this has been ongoing for more than two years now. More than 3,500 rocket attacks later, and few realize that the terrorists are at war with Israel.

UPDATE:
The Israeli military has continued to engage in firefights with Palestinian terrorists, killing seven, but three Israeli soldiers were injured when an RPG struck their position.

UPDATE:
Don Surber links. Thanks!

UPDATE:
JPost is reporting that Israel may accept Hamas hudna offer.

According to Channel 10 news, the group proposed to stop all attacks from Gaza if the IDF halts its operations in the Strip. Hamas also reportedly vowed to force other Gaza terror groups to comply with the eventual deal.
The group emphasized, however, that the ceasefire would not apply to the West Bank, Channel 10 said.

The television channel claimed that some 10 Israeli officials were in contact with the group about the offer via Egyptian mediators.

Also Thursday, the Palestinian Pal Press agency quoted "informed Arab sources" as saying that Hamas's Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal and Hamas headquarters in Syria were behind the telephone call from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to a Channel 2 reporter during which the Hamas leader reportedly offered Israel the "hudna."

It wont involve the West Bank, it wont involve releasing Gilad Shalit, and Hamas is likely only promising to do its best to prevent other terrorist groups from attacking, which means that we'll see a bunch of new terrorist organizations taking credit for the continued attacks, even as they're rehashed Hamas and Islamic Jihad thugs behind the attacks.

Every time the Israelis start to get serious in dealing with the terrorists, the terrorists pull this stunt - and it gives them time and space, and the Israelis fall for it every time.

UPDATE:
A total of twelve mortar shells were fired at Israel in and around the Erez crossing. No injuries were reported.

The al Quds Brigade claims responsibility for the RPG attack that seriously injured four Israeli soldiers in Gaza. Al Quds is part of Islamic Jihad.