Israel Matzav

Good-bye fake 'truce:' Four more Kassams hit the Negev

Well, that didn't take long, did it now?

Four more Kassams hit the Negev on Tuesday afternoon in what ought to be the end of the fake 'truce' in Gaza. At least it means the 'Palestinians' have ended the truce. Maybe the Olmert-Barak-Livni-Yishai government will take a few more hits....

Four Palestinian Qassam rockets fired from Gaza struck Sderot and a surrounding area Tuesday afternoon, further imperiling a brittle truce declared six days ago.

One of the rockets struck a vacant home in Sderot and three others hit the city. A fourth exploded in an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Late on Monday night, Palestinians fired a mortar shell at the Negev, in the first such strike since a cease-fire went into effect in the Gaza Strip last week.

...

Also on Tuesday, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic-language daily, quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying that if the smuggling of weapons into Gaza does not cease, Israel will consider the cease-fire agreement violated, and will be forced to respond militarily. Hamas has said it will not stop smuggling weapons.

On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick confirmed a DEBKA report that smuggling has increased significantly since the 'truce' went into effect.

At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin gave the government his first post-cease-fire intelligence briefing. Diskin told the cabinet ministers that since Thursday, Hamas has stepped up its arms smuggling and military training. The significance of his statement is clear. The Hamas that Israel will confront in the aftermath of Barak's cease-fire will be a more formidable foe that it was before the cease-fire. And consequently, more soldiers will need to sacrifice their lives in the postponed confrontation. And since Hamas is using this lull to expand its arsenals, it will no doubt expand the range of its missiles. Consequently, more Israeli civilians will be attacked by Hamas rockets and missiles in the inevitable, delayed showdown than would have been under fire if it had been launched this week.

In other words, far from being informed by his concern for Israeli civilians and the families of soldiers, Barak's embrace of Hamas as a negotiating partner has ensured that more Israelis will be burying their loved ones when the cease-fire leads inevitably to war. Indeed, it is because of this that residents of Sderot have been the loudest proponents of military action and the angriest opponents of the government's cease-fire agreement with Hamas.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

UPDATE 4:53 PM

YNet has this as three Kassams and the JPost has it as two.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:29 PM