Palestinians Still Actively Waging War Against Israel

This should come as no surprise. Not only are Fatah and Hamas still waging war against Israel, but Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas is busy sticking medals posthumously on mass murdering terrorists from Hamas. Mere Rhetoric has the details. Yesterday's mortar attacks resulted in damage to Israeli property, but that was followed up by still more kassam attacks today.

Also, sadly, three Israeli soldiers were killed and two were wounded when they while they were patrolling on the Israeli side of the border and noticed a group of terrorists appearing to cross into Israel from Gaza. I suspect that it was meant as a trap to attempt and capture more Israeli soldiers to be used as bargaining chips, similar to what happened with Gilad Shalit.

Givati soldiers were patrolling the border near Kibbutz Be'eri when they spotted a number of armed Palestinians moving towards the border in what appeared to be an attempt to infiltrate into Israel. The soldiers then crossed into Gaza to engage the Palestinians, but fell into a well-planned ambush and came under heavy gun and rocket fire.

Initially, two soldiers were killed and three were wounded, one of them seriously. The wounded were then evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, where the soldier in serious condition later died of his wounds.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, and Israel says that it would not resume fuel shipments to Gaza as had been scheduled according to Defense Minister Barak.

But the explosion of the day came when Israeli forces cornered a bunch of terrorists in a mosque in Gaza:

Also Wednesday morning, eight Kassam rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza. The rockets fell in open areas and did not cause any damage.

On Tuesday, Givati Brigade and Armored Corps troops operating in the Kissufim area fired at a Kassam launching cell, and confirmed hitting it, the IDF said. The soldiers came under heavy mortar and anti-tank fire. No troops were wounded.

The army said that IDF soldiers shot several other armed Palestinians in the battle.

Gaza residents said IDF armored vehicles hit and damaged a mosque. The army said the mosque was full of explosives and exploded during an exchange of fire between troops and gunmen located inside.

Even as Hamas takes credit for killing Israeli soldiers, former President Jimmy Carter is busy meeting with the murderous thugs in Cairo. That comes on the heels of meeting with an Israeli Knesset member, Avigor Lieberman, to discuss population and land swaps.

Meanwhile, some must have slipped up at the United Nations because there are renewed calls to fulfill the terms of UN SCR 1701, which calls for the disarmament of all militias operating in Lebanon, including Hizbullah. Considering that Israel believes that Hizbullah has not only fully recovered from the August 2006 war, but now has newer and longer range missiles and rockets, it's about time.

UPDATE:
This photo shows just how absurd the situation is, and how people like former President Carter make the situation worse. He's seen visiting an Israeli hospital in Ashkelon, and the photo op shows him visiting a hospital room where a Palestinian is being treated. You couldn't say the same thing about a Palestinian hospital treating a Jew, because there aren't any Jews in Gaza. Israel provides medical care to Palestinians despite repeated attempts by Palestinian terrorists to attack hospitals with mortars, kassams, and suicide bombers. Yet, Carter and his ilk want Israel to make more concessions, ones that would put Israel's national security and integrity at risk, despite the fact that the Palestinians have failed to uphold their obligations under Oslo and every single follow up agreement.

Carter loves to claim that Israel isn't fulfilling their obligations under Annapolis and other agreements, but when Israel does not have a partner for peace, Israel must do what it must to protect its citizens from daily and incessant attacks by Palestinians.

UPDATE:
More Palestinian casualties have been reported (most of them terrorists from yet another splinter group associated with Hamas), and among those killed was a Palestinian photojournalist who apparently works for Reuters. Reuters is calling for an investigation. One has to wonder where the photojournalist was in relation to the terrorists firing on Israeli soldiers at the time.

Meanwhile, Abbas is in Moscow and called on Israel to "end the aggression and cooperate with Egypt's efforts to secure a ceasefire." Sorry Abbas, but Israel is responding to incessant terrorist attacks perpetrated by Palestinians who have fired on Israel practically every day since the disengagement from Gaza in 2005. Israel cannot and will not sit back and absorb those attacks, much as you'd like them to. Your culpability in the failure to create a Palestinian state goes back to the ongoing and pervasive failure of Palestinian leaders to not only accept a 2-state solution, but ongoing failures to fulfill terms of every agreement between the Palestinians and Israel. Palestinians wish that all agreements force Israel to make concessions, but that isn't the case.