on the Israeli side, including the old city, and the main worship places.

One of the biggest problems facing the peace talks is the Palestinian refusal to stop their war crimes. Rather than obey international law and listen to human rights groups and the UN, the Palestinians insist that they are the only people on the planet who have the right to kill civilians with impunity. Palestinian policy is to kill Israeli civilians and claim that it is their "legitimate right to resist the occupation." It's not. Killing civilians and trying to kill civilians is a war crime, and despite being repeatedly told so the Palestinians insist that they can legally murder Israelis. They can't. There is no need to talk about "whether the rocket attacks are considered to be a war crime" because Goldstone, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch already said that they are. Noor - if you want peace, then you have to show the Israelis that you are ready to stop making war. Every kassam rocket is a war crime and proves to us that the Palestinians are lying about wanting peace. "From the facts available, the Mission finds that the rocket and mortars attacks, launched by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, have caused terror in the affected communities of southern Israel and in Israel as a whole. Furthermore, it is the Mission's view that the mortars and rockets are uncontrolled and uncontrollable, respectively. This indicates the commission of an indiscriminate attack on the civilian population of southern Israel, a war crime, and may amount to crimes against humanity." HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict Pages 473-474 15 September 2009 "... the report contains the clearest finding that Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups committed serious war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. The acceptance of those findings by the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly has been ignored completely..." Richard Goldstone, Interviewed by Ha'aretz, Nov 13 2009 *** "Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilian population centres..." "Whether or not attacks actually result in civilian casualties, they are in violation of international law, which also prohibits attacks aimed at spreading terror among the civilian population. The patterns of attacks and statements by members and leaders of Palestinian groups also indicate that they have no qualms about launching attacks against civilians and that they in fact carry out such attacks intending to kill and injure Israeli civilians. Such attacks constitute war crimes." Amnesty International report:ISRAEL/GAZA OPERATION ‘CAST LEAD’:22 DAYS OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION July 2, 2009 ***** Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have frequently violated the laws of war by firing rockets from within populated areas. Leaders of Hamas and other armed groups have publicly expressed their intention to target Israeli civilians... Even assuming the rocket attacks were intended as reprisals for Israeli attacks that killed and injured civilians, they still are unlawful under the laws of war. Hamas and other armed groups have publicly taken responsibility for a large number of rocket attacks on civilians in Israel, including the three fatal attacks on Israeli civilians documented in this report. Leaders of Hamas and other armed groups have publicly expressed their intention to target Israeli civilians, seeking to justify their attacks as lawful reprisals for Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians. Hamas leaders have also claimed that rocket attacks against Israeli civilians are justified by the "right to resist" Israeli occupation. Such statements, in the context of deliberate or indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians documented in this report, are evidence of war crimes. http://www.hrw.org/en/node/84867/section/8

Funny Erekat should feel that Israel is not a partner for peace. Israel has established her bona fides -- Sinai was returned to Egypt and Israel withdrew from Gaza. Israel has proven she is a partner in good faith. On the other hand, the Palestine Authority has proven nothing. Apart from rejecting the two-state solution in 1947, the Palestinians have twice since rejected such an offer. Along the way, they have fomented violence and engaged in horrific acts of terror. The Palestinians steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the right of the State of Israel to exist in its ancient homeland and the thirty-odd organizations which purport to be the true representatives of the Palestinian people have each refused to repudiate their respective charters which call for the destruction of the State of Israel and the extermination and/or expulsion of the Jewish people. Such a simple thing to ask -- yet they refuse. One does wonder why. In any event, that would have to be an essential first step. Absent that, there is no proof of Palestinian good faith, therefore no reason to continue to effect a meaningful dialogue. The ball is in the Palestinians' court. Let's see what they do with it. Historically, the Palestinians have never failed to overlook an opportunity to take advantage of an opportunity. Some things never change.

Noor's statement about "aerosol" rockets is an interesting facet of the Palestinian propaganda war against Israel. Canadian pro-Palestinian advocate Dianna Buttu appears to be one of the Pals media stars for the mis-information campaign. During Cast Lead she was interviewed on an international news station, looked at the camera and said point blank "everybody knows these missiles have no warheads". Why do the Palestinians lie? Is Noor willing to hold an "aerosol" kassam in her hand and show us that when it blows up it is harmless? Would Buttu do the same? Of course not, because we'd need spatulas to scrape up enough of their body parts in order to give them a proper burial. The kassam rocket is an indiscriminate anti-personnel weapon. As mentioned before, it's use against Israeli civilians is a war crime (Goldstone's conclusion, not mine). The Palestinians try to use the kassams to make us forget about the hundreds of Israeli civilians they've murdered with suicide bombers, car bombs, shootings and knifings. "Aerosol rocket"? Not in the slightest - they are weapons of war and their continued use indicates continued war crimes by the Palestinians.

because Israeli settlements and intrasigence regarding Jerusalem make the peace agreement difficult, if not impossible.

Of course they can't. One would think it is a simple enough demonstration of good faith, but if they do not or cannot, the whole "peace process" is a waste of time. The Palestinians do not understand the situation. They have told the same lies over and over for so long, they actually believe them. We've all heard the myth of peaceful villages and thriving orchands and groves when the reality was a treeless Palestine with swamps in the north, desert in the south and a population which, if one wishes to be generous, can only be described as sparse. This is more than well-documented. The Palestinians have managed to convince themselves that they are "equal" partners in any negotiations with Israel. What they need to understand is that they are the vanquished foe (six wars), they are the architects of their own misery (sixty-one years of terror has brought them nothing; rejecting a two-state solution no fewer than three times calls their motives into question). As far as I am concerned, let them rot in those sordid refugee camps. There will be no fourth bite at the apple. The Palestinians are fresh out of opportunities -- and they have only themselves to blame.

Your memory fails you as there was a suicide bombing in Israel committed by Hamas, in February 2008. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gODfmP2Qp1TP5axfEbdzU4vLdQ

How right you are.

Excellent post. Bravo to you JPS