Israelis on edge after heavy rocket attack

[King_David]

JERUSALEM – People in southern Israel waited to see whether an uneasy calm would last after they hid in bomb shelters to get away from the heaviest Palestinian rocket fire since 2012.

The Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad announced Thursday that it would observe a cease-fire after launching 60 rockets at Israel, which prompted the Israeli Defense Forces to attack "terror" positions inside Gaza, a territory controlled by the anti-Israel group Hamas.

After Islamic Jihad's announcement, rockets were fired at southern Israel on Thursday evening. One was intercepted by anti-missile batteries.

The violence shattered a truce Israel and Hamas made in November 2012 after more than a week of intense fighting and has set Israelis on edge.

In Sderot, an Israeli town near the Gaza border that has weathered hundreds of rocket attacks over the past decade, Mayor Alon Davidi said the city's residents are prepared.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/13/israel-gaza-rockets-war/6370457/

[Scootaloo]

1. So, just a question.

The attempts to marginalize Hamas seem to be working. You know despite all the simultaneous claims that Hamas would "never give up any power." (interesting dichotomy, but dichtomous thinking seems to be a feature of this topic... anyway...)

However, as Hamas is marginalized, what happens is that its major competitor in Gaza - Islamic Jihad - sees opportunity. Since 2005, Hamas has been trying to tamp down these freaks (say whatever you want about why, but the fact is they were doing so) but now, apparently IJ sees a chance for relevancy again.

IJ... has absolutely no political reasons to restrain themselves. Seriously, Hamas at least has that little bit of incentive to play the political game. IJ, however, has nothing except bombs and free time. They're both reactionary nitwits, but if nothing else Hamas was seeking legitimacy as a valid part of the political operations in a Palestinian state. Islamic Jihad... doesn't. They're your old-school splodeydope motherfuckers.

So, was this the plan? I'll be the first to say that i don't think Israel actually has a coherent plan on this subject, so probably not, right? However it seems fairly obvious that power vacuums never stay empty for long, and without any sort of capable option, this result should have been expected, even if it wasn't explicitly planned for.

[shira]

2. Now that's some crackpot conspiracy shit there...

Israel wants Islamic Jihad to stir shit up?

So that Israel can bomb the shit out of Gaza, re-occupy, ethnically cleanse, go all genocidal?



How about this instead? Islamic Jihad are even more fanatically suicidal lunatics than Hamas. God says what they do is mandated and it's their duty to carry it out no matter what. The once lowly cursed Jews should in no way have regained control of Muslim or Islamic territory. Their victory in 1948 and everything since then is religious blasphemy & must be fought with every source of their being? Hamas believes the same but they're just not yet willing to push the envelope like IJ.

How's that? Rather than Israel pulling strings bullshit....