Another kassam rocket breaks the “truce.” I’ve lost track of how many times the “truce” has been broken.

The ceasefire between Israel and the armed Palestinian groups in Gaza was breached Thursday when a Qassam fired from the Hamas-controlled enclave landed in an open field near a kibbutz in the Sderot area. No injuries or damage were reported in the attack.

In response to the attack Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered that the goods crossings between Israel and Gaza remain closed, including Kerem Shalom and the fuel terminal at Nahal Oz.

At least the AP isn’t spinning this anti-Israel, for a change. And they’re not using weasel-words about the violation.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have fired a rocket into southern Israel in violation of a 4-month-old truce, but the strike did not cause any injuries or damage.

The Israeli Defense Ministry has responded Thursday by snapping shut cargo crossings into Gaza until further notice.

I think the AP is too busy hyping Obama at the moment to pay any attention to slamming Israel.

In his column yesterday, Thomas Friedman wrote:

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, compares it to bargaining for a Persian carpet in Tehran. “When you go inside the carpet shop, the first thing you are supposed to do is feign disinterest,” he explains. “The last thing you want to suggest is ‘We are not leaving without that carpet.’ ‘Well,’ the dealer will say, ‘if you feel so strongly about it …’ ”

The other lesson from the carpet bazaar, says Sadjadpour, “is that there is never a price tag on any carpet. The dealer is not looking for a fixed price, but the highest price he can get — and the Iran price is constantly fluctuating depending on the price of oil.” Let’s now use that to our advantage.

This is from an expert who has been writing for the past eight years that we “know” what Israel will need to concede to achieve peace with the Palestinians. He also advocates every single forum to pressure Israel to make those concessions. The advice he quotes would also makes sense regarding Israel, I doubt that he’d ever see that.

By stressing the importance of peace for Israel, peace processors of all disciplines show great interest. That, of course, raises the cost of peace. (It encourages the Palestinians and other Arabs to demand more concessions from Israel.)

If anything Eric Trager understands this much better than Friedman:

For this reason, the winner of next week’s presidential election would be well advised to renounce Annapolis as soon as possible. The incoming president should announce a freeze on U.S. involvement in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking until both parties’ domestic political situations are resolved. Without this declaration, Israel and the Palestinians will have every reason to believe that the next U.S. administration will follow along the lines of Annapolis–and thus every reason to sideline American proposals indefinitely.

If the winner is Barack Obama, don’t count on it.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.