Death and destruction

On Wednesday, a Hamas leader, Abbas al-Sayed of Tulkarm, was found guilty by
an Israeli court of planning the suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in
Netanya on Passover 2002 that killed 30 Israelis, and another suicide
bombing that took 5 lives in Hadera. The prosecution asked for 35
consecutive life sentences. He was paid tens of thousands of dollars by
Hamas headquarters in Syria for the Park Hotel attack. He showed no remorse
and said that he was currently planning other attacks against Israelis.
On Thursday, three Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed in a village near
Tulkarm. An Israeli platoon entered the village and surrounded a house
where the wanted IJ terrorists were hiding. They refused to come out and
instead a gunfight developed. The terrorists were all killed during the
firefight. There were no Israeli casualties.
On Friday, a massive explosion occurred in the Jabaliya camp in Gaza, when a
rocket-laden truck that was part of a Hamas demonstration exploded, killing
19 and wounding many more. Hamas immediately blamed Israel for this
incident, but the IDF denied any involvement, and the PA itself blamed
Hamas, and said that they should stop all such armed demonstrations.
Later on Friday, "in response" to this explosion (which was probably
self-inflicted), Hamas and IJ fired a total of 29 rockets into the Negev,
mostly near Sderot. One hit nearby a group of civil guards and five were
injured, one moderately. Other rockets hit near a sports stadium and a
school. Israel, following its warning that it would respond seriously to
any rockets fired into Israel, attacked sites in Gaza with
helicopter-launched rockets, and claimed to have destroyed a rocket factory.
Three civilians were reported to be lightly wounded.
On Saturday, IAF planes hit several sites in northern Gaza, one a field near
Beit Hanun and sites near Khan Yunis, from where rockets are often fired.
More explosions were heard near Gaza City. One of them in Zeitoun is
reported to have been the targeting of two vehicles carrying Hamas
officials, and five of them were reportedly killed. The IDF announced that
it was amassing an armed force on the northern Gaza border and that if the
rocket firing continued they would attack. This would be part of the Israeli
"zero tolerance" response to rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel announced
in the wake of the disengagement from Gaza..
In negotiations with the PA, Hamas and IJ have apparently agreed to stop all
post-disengagement armed demonstrations in Gaza. In fact, the PA officially
announced that after Saturday no armed men will be seen on PA streets, that
the various armed groups had agreed that only PA security and police would
be allowed to be armed in public. This type of agreement has been announced
before but has not been adhered to. This will be a test of the ability of
the PA to govern its territory under "one gun" as Abbas has often stated.
However, the head of the Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, told a Knesset Panel this
week that Abbas exercises hardly any control in Gaza.
Until now violence continues to be the way of life of the Palestinian
people, so this test is the crucial one that the Quartet and Israel have set
for Abbas and the PA. Can they in fact run a civil society in which the gun
does not rule and death and destruction are not the norm?