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April 25, 2007

AFP Rounds Up Israeli Ceasefire Violations

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Nearly 170 Palestinian rockets have hit Israel since the November ceasefire. Israel has acted against the rockets just three times

By most counts, 168 to three isn't an even score. Yet, here's how the AFP's Adel Zaanoun yesterday described the ceasefire violations on the part of the Israelis and Palestinians:

Under the November truce, the army withdrew from Gaza and militants agreed to halt rocket fire. The ceasefire has largely held despite violations by both sides.

This passage inaccurately suggests that ceasefire violations by the two sides were pretty much on the same scale. In fact, they are not even close. Palestinian rocket fire has been a near daily occurrence since November. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center documents that from December 2006 through March, Israel was hit by Palestinian rocket fire 162 times. (Obviously, then, the number of fired rockets was actually much higher, since many do not reach Israel but land in Palestinian areas.) An additional six hits were identified in the first half of April.

In contrast, the Israeli army has reacted with near total restraint. Israeli troops fired into Gaza approximately three times since November. On April 21, Israeli aircraft fired a missile on the car of militants who had just fired rockets at Israel. On April 7, Israeli aircraft fired at DFLP members near the Jabaliya refugee camp. And AFP's Sakher Abu El Oun wrote less than a month ago, on March 28:

Four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza on Wednesday, the first military action against militants in the coastal strip since a November truce.

Posted by TS at April 25, 2007 07:19 AM

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