There is no truce, only the pretense of one.
Despite a relative lull during July and August, during which an average of five rockets and six mortar shells were launched each month, November saw a steep escalation in violence, with 148 rockets and an additional 85 mortar shells documented.
In 2004, before the Gaza pullout, less than a thousand rockets and mortar shells were launched at Israel from the Strip.
Please read that again. The “lull” still saw 11 rocket attacks on Israeli territory by Palestinian terrorists each month. Because hey, it’s not five a day, it’s only “Keep ’em guessing while their children walk to school under threat of death.”
And now we see about the same level of attacks as we saw pre-truce.
Four Qassam rockets landed Tuesday morning in open areas within the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage. In response, Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the defense establishment to close the crossings to Gaza and stop the planned transfer of aid into the Strip.
The rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at the Gaza vicinity communities at around 8:45 am. Residents reported hearing loud explosions.
The Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for Tuesday morning’s rocket fire in response to an earlier incident, in which 23-year-old al-Quds Brigades commander Jihad Nawahahda of the village of al-Yamon was killed in an exchange of fire with Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
Here’s a challenge for you: Someone go back in my archives and find pretty much the exact same cause-and-effect game that the terrorists always play. Guaranteed you will find many posts where Israel goes to arrest a terrorist, the terrorist shoots at troops, he is killed, and the rockets then bombard Israeli children on the way to school.
And when a Hamas operative is killed, you will see a bombardment of scores of rockets. Watch.
Meantime, the world is pressuring whom to give concessions? That’s right, the party that is under rocket fire. Because it worked so well before.
Sorry, Meryl, your nomenclature is incorrect. “Truce” means “not a lot of Arab attacks on Israeli civilians.” “Breaking the truce” means “Israel takes steps in self-defense.”
Ah, how sad, the cycle of violence that besets this war-torn land.
It’s the “Palestinian cease-fire.” Meaning the Israelis cease while the Palestinians fire.