Israel Under Siege

Israel remains under siege from the Palestinians who continually fire rockets at Israel. Still more Israelis have been injured, including a young boy who was injured when a rocket fell on his house in Sderot. Meanwhile, Israeli raids have taken out more Hamas thugs:

Overnight, Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip killed two Hamas gunmen as Israel launched strikes against Palestinian militants that left 11 dead in 24 hours.

The simmering conflict between Israel and Gaza's terror organizations has escalated less than a week before US President George W. Bush's visit to the region, overshadowing peace efforts and increasing the chances of a full-scale armed conflict in Gaza.

On Thursday, Palestinian terrorists hit Israel with a Katyusha rocket, a weapon with a deadlier warhead and longer range than the smaller rockets the extremist groups regularly launch. It hit in the northern part of the town of Ashkelon, the longest reach yet for a Palestinian rocket.

Israeli media largely refuses to call this war, and the world media is even more reluctant to cover the Palestinian war against Israel. Also, it appears that the Israeli government doesn't consider Sderot worth defending because they've apparently decided that major reprisals are warranted only if a major city is attacked. PM Olmert is letting the residents of Sderot and all the border communities twist in the wind because the government is not taking the incessant rocket and mortar barrages seriously enough to deal with the terrorists in Gaza the way they must. No other country would show as much restraint as Israel has towards Gaza. It is neither warranted nor a wise course of action as it shows the terrorists that they can indeed strike at Israel with impunity up to a certain level - disrupting the lives of tens of thousands of Israelis on a daily basis for years on end.

If this report is accurate, what does it say about the Palestinian polity except that they demand war with Israel? Fatah continues to lose support among Palestinians while Hamas gains. Fatah managed the "diplomatic success" of Annapolis, received hundreds of millions in pledged monies to support the Palestinian Authority, and yet they lose support to Hamas, who has seen Gaza's economy ruined even further and where Israeli reprisal raids have slammed the terrorist groups openly operating there.

Hamas not only rejects talks with Israel, but they want Israel to release Barghouti for Shalit.

The fact is that the US and Israel have lost their way on dealing with Palestinian terrorists - instead of propping them up as they have with Fatah, they should be looking to shut them down permanently.

While much of the focus of late has been on Gaza, the terrorists have been busy in the West Bank as well. Israel continues to uncover terror cells in places like Nablus, where a bomb lab was discovered.

UPDATE:
Palestinians rally to demand end to siege of Gaza.

Hey - stop firing thousands of rockets and mortars at Israel and plotting for mass casualty attacks against Israel, not to mention picking the most violent thugs to lead you and Israel might consider changes. Goodwill gestures and fulfilling obligations under Oslo and all that jazz. All those obligations and goodwill gestures are a two-way street, and it's way past time for the Palestinians to realize it.

Israel left Gaza in 2005. All Palestinians have done since then is turn it into a bigger hellhole than when Israel was present. Anarchy, lawlessness, and Islamists running amok dominate. Hamas and Fatah slug it out regularly. Economic opportunity is laughable - especially when you remember that Israel left Gazans with greenhouses and other engines for economic possibility, and the terrorists promptly turned those into terrorist platforms.