Israel Mourns The Brutal Murder of Five Israelis While Rival Terror Groups Claim Responsibility

Israelis are in mourning today after burying a family of five Israelis who were butchered while asleep in their home in the West Bank. The Fogel family, Udi, Ruth, Elad, Yoav and Hadas, was laid to rest after a funeral attended by 20,000. They were slaughtered while they slept - and the youngest victim was all of three months. Their murderers slipped into the Itamar settlement near Nablus after dark and broke into a neighboring home first but found no one home before carrying out their murderous deeds in the Fogel's home.

Hamas approves of the terror attacks, and Fatah's response is to name a street after a Fatah terrorist who killed 37 people in 1978 (just days after naming a youth center after the first female suicide bomber last week).

Incitement is expressly forbidden under Olso, but Fatah and Hamas routinely ignore that.

Those are the terror groups that Israel is supposed to be negotiating peace with.

Building housing is not an impediment to peace - and it never has been. Housing can always be transferred, but when Israel lacks a partner, talk about negotiating and peace deals is a pipe dream.

As for who was behind the attack - both Islamic Jihad and Hamas claimed responsibility (and other Hamas thugs say it wasn't them) but Israeli authorities don't think that those groups were involved since they lack the terror network in the West Bank. Yet, Hamas is saying that they're going to resume terror ops from the West Bank.

Hamas militants in the West Bank have resumed their efforts to kill Israeli soldiers or civilians and abduct their bodies, Palestinian and Israeli security sources have told Haaretz.

The sources said Hamas activists believe they cannot keep Israeli hostages out of the Shin Bet and Palestinian Authority's reach for long. So they plan to kill them, abduct and bury the bodies, then negotiate returning them to Israel.

Hamas headquarters in Damascus and Gaza are pressuring organization cells in the West Bank to kill Israelis and abduct their bodies, in view of the effect Gilad Shalit's abduction has had on Israeli public opinion. Another reason for the pressure is the failure of Shalit's abduction to bring the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the sources told Haaretz.

The only way that Fatah has remained in power in the West Bank is because Israel has propped them up against Hamas - the evil of the lesser of two evils.

So, what can you take away from Hamas' contradictory statements? They are itching for a fight with Israel, but aren't ready to do so on their terms. They know that the murder of this Israeli family would be enough to get Israel to go after the terror group behind the attacks in a serious way - particularly because of the brutal and heinous way they butchered the family as they were asleep.