So what exactly is Israel getting for the truce?
Two mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon landed near the border fence, on its Palestinian side, in the Kibbutz Nahal Oz area. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the ceasefire reached between the Israel and the Palestinian factions was violated once again, as a Qassam rocket landed in an open area near a community in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council.
The Color Red alert system was activated at around 1:05 pm in Sderot and the Gaza vicinity communities. Several seconds later, an explosion was heard near one of the communities.
On Thursday, two Qassam rockets landed in the western Negev. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, claimed responsibility, saying the rockets were fired in response to the assassination of Talal Abed just outside the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday.
Hamas is “arresting” the rocket cells. And yet, the rockets keep on coming.
What is Hamas getting for the truce?
Everything.
Time to regroup, rearm, and train.
In a nondescript Gaza Strip mosque, a group of Islamic Jihad fighters wearing black facemasks and combat vests proudly showed off Chinese-made machine guns and Russian rocket-propelled-grenades.
“It’s like rain coming down,” said one 25-year-old militant who identified himself as Abu Thabet. “You can get all kinds of weapons.”
Though they aren’t regularly firing rockets, Islamic Jihad members said they’re still making new ones.
“This cease-fire is a matter of rest,” said a 20-year-old fighter who gave his non du guerre as Abu Mohammed. “It’s a fighters’ break, to prepare for the next stage.”
Way to go, Olmert. Way to go, Barak. Way to protect Israel. Her sons will pay the bill for this “truce,” just as they’ll pay the bill for the prisoner swap with Hezbollah.
“On the Palestinian street there is now an understanding that without kidnapping soldiers, we can’t get prisoners released. Through negotiation, we haven’t managed to get prisoners released,” the Palestinian Authority’s minister for Prisoners Affairs, Ashraf al-Ajami, said over the weekend.
Oh, as for that prisoner swap? Hezbollah isn’t holding up its end of the deal.
State officials told Ynet that they believe the document would not suffice Israel’s demands. They said the Israeli government would have to decide whether to continue with the prisoner exchange, despite the fact that the evidence Hizbullah was asked to deliver was not included in the report.
But the deal will go on, anyway. You know it will.
A statement by the Prison Service said that “on June 29 the government resolved to approve the draft for the agreement to release the Israeli kidnapped soldiers in Lebanon, according to which kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev will be returned to Israel in exchange for the return of Samir Kuntar and four other illegal Lebanese militants to Lebanon.” The statement also said Kuntar would be released this coming Wednesday.
Just a few minutes after the list’s publication on the Prison Service’s website, it was taken off for an undisclosed reason. Aside from Kuntar, the list includes Khader Zidan, Maher Qurani, Mahmad Srour, and Hussein Sleiman, all captured during the Second Lebanon War.
Olmert should be ashamed of himself. And yet, he is not. Word is he’s going to run in Kadima’s primary, even after more evidence of his corruption surfaced, and an indictment is expected within weeks. Try to imagine an American president holding onto power under this scenario. I can’t.
Israel’s political system is broken. They need to fix it. Where are the Israeli political reformers? Are they waiting for God to step in?
Not gonna happen.