A dialogue of Qassams and air strikes

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/863247.html

No side has an interest in going to war in Gaza," says a member of the security cabinet. "Hamas knows it will lose in a confrontation, Israel knows it will pay a price in casualties, and Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas understand that it will thrust them into a difficult period. If a conference were to be held in Madrid, or in Hebron, all sides would agree on this."

In the absence of such a conference, Israel and Hamas are conducting the dialogue between them by means of Qassam rockets and airborne assassinations.

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May 16, 2007
Over thirty rockets were launched at the Israeli town of Sderot, seriously wounding one woman. The attack came after at least 15 Palestinians were killed during an internal feud between Hamas and Fatah within the Gaza strip in order to prompt for an israeli intervention which will unite the factions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Qassam_rocket_attacks

May 18
Officials said more than 90 rockets from Gaza have landed in Israel since Tuesday

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/18/gaza/index.html?section=cnn_latest

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israel strikes back at gaza, arrests hama lawmakers....and presto: (cause and effect)

less kassams.
one may or may not like the israeli response, but it has in fact reduced the kassams coming out of gaza,

for good? The article at your link is dated May 18 . The arrests in Nabulus happen 6 days later may 24

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070524/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians

The only way Israel could permanently stop the attacks would be to continue bombing, assassinating, and arresting on a non-stop basis, can Israel afford to do that?

the arrests are on going....the israeli responses are now ongoing...and there are now less kassams...

can israel afford to keep it up?...the answer is yes...we've been doing it in one form or another since 48. The alternative is to accept the kassams......


stopping them is an internal political matter for hamas/fatah/Islamic Jihad/Al Aska, etc

I have never heard of them, looked it up and found among other things that it is a mosque located on the Temple Mount.


As far as stopping qassams being an internal matter your right, but will Israel continue to harass Gaza in non-military ways? ie stifle economics?

have never heard of them, looked it up and found among other things that it is a mosque located on the Temple Mount.


As far as stopping qassams being an internal matter your right, but will Israel continue to harass Gaza in non-military ways? ie stifle economics, block roads, make security checks so cumbersome as to bring life to a stand still?

Not to trivialize but sometimes the situation is like two siblings Israel being sib A and Palestinians being sib B. A tease takes pokes at generally annoys B until B loses it and smacks A. A being the bigger stronger sib then precedes to beat the crap out of B while pointing out how much B deserved it because he hit first.

because it does have that 'aspect" to it......

al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (i looked up the english spelling) is one of the off shoots of fatah.
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the stifling of the economics was an initial attempt to stop the kassams via "non violent" meassures as well as keep the various armed groups far from israel (i.e. closing down the terminals). I doubt it helped stop the kassams, given the smuggling from egypt. I personally would like to see egypt open up its border to gaza, but they dont seem to interested as the rafah border is only open in short intervals (and even then there seems to be attacks on whomever)

ITs clear that shooting rockets at Israel or sending in suicide bombers is bad for the Palestinians in both the long term and short term. Those that are doing it do not have the best interests of the Palentinians in mind, but their own goals.

If Israel could just kill the Islamists and not the Muslims, there might be a chance at peace