Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

so they breed like rabbits?

Partly and the increase is also because more Palestinians have been moved into Gaza by Israel over the last 10 years. Having such a young population will breed vast numbers of terrorists. If things look black now, it is nothing compared to when the 75% are 16 to 25.

Israel has exactly the opposite policy to what is needed. Their current foreign minister is just short of crazy and maybe not even short of it. The Israeli governemnt is negociating with Turkey in secret at present and it didn't tell the foreign minister, who is furious and says he has been insulted.

btw, i am sure a pragmatist would not care one way or another about this "new country" retaining the name israel ..... anyway, for very obvious reasons, there is less than a snowball's chance of israel foregoing "its" name, and i suspect even you would concur, much as you no doubt hate it

I am not bothered one way or the other . Hamas would certainly be bothered. Israel have no idea how much trouble is coming their way. Hamas was democratically elected and recent independent polls indicate that they would get a landslide victory in a new elecection. Israel attempted to strangle Gaza for having the cheek to elect Hamas. Israel's actions since the election has only strengthened Hamas's popularity. Hamas are very keen now to spread their wings into the West Bank.

Fatah is increasingly discredited and the Palestinian Authority is seen as collaborating with Israel. The municipal elections in the West Bank due this month have been delayed because Hamas have refused to stand as have other groups. Hamas have also banned the elections in Gaza. If the elections took place then Fatah would be standing alone and the result would be seen as illigitimate by the palestinians.

The decision to stop the elections is illegal under the constitution. It is also partly due to external pressure from other middle east countries. They were hoping that Fatah and Hamas could kiss and make up. That of course won't happen. Hamas don't resognise even the Palestinian Authority let alone Fatah. The PA was only supposed to be a temporary body lasting 5 years from 1994 and came out of the Oslo accord. Currently it has no legal powers. In practice it has ben increasingly acting as police for Israel and has been almsot as badly behaved as the IOF.

The prognosis is for things to get much worse. Events will soon bite the extreme right wing government of Israel. There are lots of flotillas being planned with dozens of ships in some of them.

Israel may complain that they are being bombarded by rockets. In fact there are hardly any and Hamas has been trying to stop them completely.

Israel may complain that they are being bombarded by rockets. In fact there are hardly any and Hamas has been trying to stop them completely.

You don't half talk a lot of bollocks, Haystack. Add 'em up, if you can count that high :-

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2010)

January 1
Two mortar shells were fired at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip. One of the shells landed in an open area within Sdot Negev Regional Council limits, while the other landed within the Gaza Strip, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attacks, claiming it had fired a total of five mortars. No casualties or damage were reported. The Color Red alert system did not sound.[2]
January 5
At about noon, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the Eshkol Regional Council. No casualties or damage were reported. In response, within an hour Israel carried out an airstrike on two weapons-smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip.[3]
January 6
Militants in the southern Gaza Strip were preparing to launch a rocket attack against Israel when they were hit in an Israeli airstrike. One militant was killed and three were wounded. They were said to belong to the Popular Resistance Committees.[4]
January 7
At least ten mortar shells were launched from the Gaza Strip, in separate barrages beginning around 7:45 am. Seven shells hit open areas in southern Israel, most of them landing between the Kerem Shalom border crossing and a community in the Eshkol Regional Council. Three shells landed within the Gaza Strip. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. Immediately after the firing, the residents of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom were asked to enter a fortified area, where they stayed for about half an hour. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in revenge for an Israeli air strike several days earlier that killed two of the group's fighters. The Israeli Defense Ministry responded by closing the Kerem Shalom border crossing until further notice, delaying trucks headed from Israeli into the Gaza Strip.[5][6]
Militants in the Gaza Strip fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli soldiers near the border. The soldiers returned fire toward the source of the attack. No casualties were reported.[5]
A Katyusha rocket launched from the Gaza Strip landed in an open field south of Ashkelon. No casualties or damage were reported. However, the projectile triggered air sirens throughout the area, causing panic among the residents. The Israeli Air Force responded by striking four targets in the Gaza Strip later that night, including several smuggling tunnels in the southern part of the territory, a tunnel which the army said was intended for infiltration of terrorists into Israel, and a weapons manufacturing facility. Palestinians said three men were killed and two were wounded in the strikes.[5]
January 8
In the evening, two Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and landed in open areas within the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. The Color Red alert system was sounded in nearby Sderot and in other communities. No injuries or damage were reported.[7]
January 9
Early in the morning, a mortar shell was fired from the Gaza Strip and landed in an open area within the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.[7][8]
January 10
At around 4:20 pm, Palestinians fired four mortar shells at a community south of Ashkelon. All the shells landed within the Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage were reported.[9]
In the evening, militants in the Gaza Strip were preparing to fire rockets into Israel when they were struck by an Israeli Air Force air-to-ground missile. Three senior Islamic Jihad operatives were killed and five militants were wounded. The three killed were senior Islamic Jihad field commander Awad Nuseir, Hassan al-Qatrawi and Huzaeifa el-Hams.[10][11]
January 20
According to a morning update on the IDF Hebrew language website, a Qassam rocket was fired at Israel overnight and exploded in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported. [12]
[edit]February

February 2
A Qassam rocket launched from the Gaza Strip detonated in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. The Color Red warning system sounded in a number of towns in the vicinity. No injuries or damage were reported. Israel responded to the attack and to a separate explosive barrel attack with air strikes on a weapons smuggling tunnel under the Gaza Strip's Philadelphi Corridor.[13][14]
February 3
A Qassam rocket launched from the Gaza Strip detonated near the border fence on farmland in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, near Sderot. No injuries or damage were reported.[15][14]
February 7
A Qassam rocket launched from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open area near Sderot. The Color Red warning system sounded in the surrounding areas. No injures or damage were reported.[16]
February 12
A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in an open area between Shaar Hanegev Regional Council and Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.[17][18]
[edit]March

March 11
A rocket launched from the northern Gaza Strip hit an abandoned workshop in Kibbutz Nirim in the Eshkol Regional Council, located several meters from residents' homes. The rocket damaged the building but caused no casualties. Ansar al-Sunna, a Palestinian Salafist organization affiliated with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack. In response, the following day Israel carried out an airstrike on a weapons laboratory and a weapons-smuggling tunnel in the Gaza Strip, wounding several people.[19][17][20]
Later the same day, two more rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel, but landed within the Gaza Strip near the border fence.[19]
March 13
In the evening, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council.[21]
March 16
Two mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, but missed their intended target and fell within the Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage were reported. The explosions were heard in the Sha'ar Hanegev area.[22]
March 17
In the evening, a Qassam rocket launched from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open area between Sderot and a kibbutz belonging to the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. Two people, including a young girl, suffered from shock and were treated by a Magen David Adom emergency crew. The Color Red alert system was activated in Sderot before the explosion.[21]
March 18
A Qassam rocket fired at around 1 am hit an open area north of Sderot. No injuries or damage were reported. The Color Red alarm system sounded in Sderot.[21]
A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into a greenhouse in Netiv Haasara, a cooperative agricultural community in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. Manee Singmueangphon, a 33-year-old Thai agricultural guest worker,[23] was killed in the explosion, and 50 additional Thai workers suffered from shock.[24] Ansar al-Sunna, a small, al-Qaida-inspired Salafist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a response to Israel's "Judaization" of Islamic holy places, without clarifying what acts it was referring to. The Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, independently claimed responsibility later. Islamist militant group Hamas, the de-facto ruling authority in Gaza, said that "the government of the Zionist enemy" (Israel) bore responsibility for the attack. (See Associated Press video of the attack)
The rocket was fired half an hour after European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Lady Catherine Ashton entered the Gaza Strip on a visit. The attack was condemned by Ashton, by the United Kingdom and by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the latter calling it an "act of terror" and "violence against civilians".[25][26][27] The United Sates and Russia condemned the attack as well, in a statement by the Middle East Quartet.[28] Human Rights Watch said that Hamas has the responsibility to stop indiscriminate rocket fire into Israel.[23]
Ashkelon Coast Regional Council Chairman Yair Farjun said, "The international community must wake up. We have left Gaza, so what do the Palestinians want now? All of these incidents are happening... because the Palestinians want all Jews out of this land and seek the destruction of Israel". Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that the attacks were the result of Hamas incitement to violence and a natural consequence of the Goldstone report, adding that Israel still seeks peace but would continue to defend its citizens.[29]
Israel responded to the attack by carrying out airstrikes on six targets in the Gaza Strip: three weapons-smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border, a weapons production facility and two tunnels intended for infiltration into Israel to carry out attacks. Two Palestinians were reportedly wounded in the strikes.[29] Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council. There was no report of a response.[30]
March 19
A Qassam rocket launched from the Gaza Strip landed in the Sha'ar Hanegev area. No injuries or damage were reported.[31] Israel responded to the attack by carrying out airstrikes on a Hamas facility near Dahiniyeh in the southern Gaza Strip and on two weapons-smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. Palestinians said that fourteen people were injured in the second strike.[32][30]
March 20
Four Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, causing the Color Red alarm to sound several times and forcing residents in southern Israel to take cover in secure rooms. The first rocket landed in an open area in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. Shortly after the strike, a second rocket landed in an open area near Sderot, activating the Color Red alarm in the Sderot region and in the Ashkelon area. A third rocket landed within the Gaza Strip near Kissufim. In the evening, a fourth rocket landed in an open area in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported in any of the attacks.[24][33]
March 21
In the evening, a Qassam rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip struck an open field in a kibbutz south of Ashkelon, in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported. Ashkelon's Deputy Mayor Shlomo Cohen said, "We are witnessing a deterioration whereby the rockets are getting closer and closer to Ashkelon. This merely validates our fears and demands for the fortification of educational institutions."[33][34]
A second rocket fired in the evening fell within the Gaza Strip.[35]
Israel responded to the attacks by carrying out an airstrike on a smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.[35]
March 22
Two Qassam rockets were fired at Israel. One rocket exploded in an open area around noon, and several hours later another rocket landed within the Gaza Strip, near the Erez crossing. Israel responded to the attack and to attacks in previous days by carrying out an airstrike on a weapons storage facility in Gaza City that night. Palestinians said four civilians were lightly injured from shrapnel, though the facility was empty at the time.[36][37][38]
March 23
A Qassam rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip exploded near a parking lot in the heart of a populated zone in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.[39][40] Israel responded to the attack and to other attacks in recent days by carrying out an airstrike on a weapons warehouse in the northern Gaza Strip that night. No injuries were reported.[41]
March 26
A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, according to the IDF. No injuries or damage were reported.[42]
March 27
In the morning, two Qassam rockets were fired at Israel. The first landed within the Gaza Strip. The second, fired from the northern Gaza Strip, landed near a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. The Color Red alarm was activated in the area shortly before the rocket exploded. No injuries or damage were reported.[43][44]
March 29
A Qassam rocket launched from the Gaza Strip landed in an open area within the Eshkol Regional Council during the eve of Passover. No injuries or damage were reported, and the Color Red alarm did not sound. Israel did not immediately respond to the attack.[45]
[edit]April

April 1
At night, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in an open area in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, near Ashkelon, causing damage but no injuries.[46] Israel responded by carrying out airstrikes on four targets in the Gaza Strip used as arms storage and weapons manufacturing sites.[47] These included a guard post of Hamas's armed wing in an open area near Khan Younis, a metal foundry in Nusseirat,[48][49] a facility in Gaza City's Sabra neighborhood identified by Palestinians as the Daloul cheese factory, and a nearby warehouse. According to a Palestinian official, five people including three children were lightly injured.[50][51]
April 3
In the afternoon, a mortar shell fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed in an open area near an Israeli community in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack,[52] stating that it was carried out "in response to Zionist crimes".[53]
April 4
In the late evening, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit an open space in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported. The fire came several hours after Israel allowed trucks stocked with goods into the strip.[54]
April 7
Six mortars were fired from the northern Gaza Strip toward the Eshkol region of Israel, but all fell within the Gaza Strip. One of the mortars hit a house in Beit Hanoun, sending shrapnel flying and lighting a small fire inside. Six Palestinians were injured, one of them seriously. The attack came two days after Islamic Jihad in Gaza announced that it would cease firing rockets into Israel, and several days after Hamas announced it would try to reduce attacks.[55][56]
April 8
Militants in the Gaza Strip opened fire at Israeli soldiers on the Israeli side of the border fence near Kibbutz Kissufim, shelling them with at least three mortar bombs and two RPG anti-tank projectiles. The soldiers were conducting a routine patrol. No injuries were reported.[57]
April 12
On Holocaust Memorial Day, Palestinian militants fired two rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip. One fell in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, the other near the Gaza border fence. No injuries or damage were reported. The Color Red alarm did not sound.[58]
April 15
At night, a Qassam rocket fired by militants in the Gaza Strip hit an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.[59]
[edit]May

May 8
A Qassam rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip exploded south of Ashkelon, in an open area in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. The Color Red alarm sounded in several nearby communities. No injuries or damage were reported.[60] Israel responded the following day by carrying out airstrikes on two targets in the Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.[61]
May 19
In the evening, at the end of the Shavuot holiday, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near Ashkelon, hitting an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.[62] Ansar al-Sunnah, a Salafist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack. Israel responded by carrying out airstrikes on three Gaza Strip border tunnels, one in the north and two in the south, which the IDF said were intended for transporting terrorists into Israel. No injuries were reported.[63][64]
May 25
Two mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip at the Netiv Ha'asara area, near Ashkelon. At night, two additional mortar shells were fired at Israel, with one exploding in the Sha'ar Hanegev area and the other exploding within the Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage were reported in either of the attacks, and the Color Red alarm did not sound.[65][66] Israel responded later that night by carrying out airstrikes on two Gaza Strip border tunnels, one in the north and one in the south. The IDF said the tunnels were intended for carrying out terrorist attacks within Israel.[67][68]
May 26
In the late evening, a Qassam rocket fired at Israel exploded in an open area in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. The Color Red alarm sounded in an adjacent community. Later in the evening, two mortar shells were fired at Israel but landed within Gaza strip, adjacent to the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported in either of the incidents.[69]
May 28
Shortly after 12 am, two Qassam rockets [70] launched from the northern Gaza Strip exploded on a road in the Shaar Hanegev industrial zone, near the city of Sderot. The blast shattered the windows of a nearby building, and shrapnel from the explosion damaged a nearby truck. No injuries were reported. The Color Red alarm sounded throughout the city of Sderot.[71] Israel responded to the attack, and to a separate attempt by Gaza gunmen to infiltrate Israel, with two airstrikes, one on a weapons production facility in the north and one on a border tunnel in the south. The IDF said the tunnel was intended for carrying out terrorist attacks within Israel. No injuries were reported.[72]
[edit]June

June 1
Overnight, a Qassam rocket exploded among greenhouses in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, damaging a greenhouse. No injuries were reported. The Color Red alarm did not sound, but the explosion was heard in the area.[73]
Later that day, three militants from the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired two rockets into southern Israel, which landed in open areas and caused no injuries. According to the group, its militants were killed shortly after the attack by an Israeli airstrike.[74]
June 3
Around 9 pm, two Qassam rockets exploded in an open area south of Ashkelon. The Color Red alarm sounded in the city's southern industrial zone, prompting employees to take cover. Another rocket landed in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, near a kibbutz. A fourth rocket caused the Color Red alarm to sound in Sderot, and apparently landed in an open area near the city.[75]
June 14
Around 11:30 pm, a Qassam rocket exploded in an open area in Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported.[76]
June 24
Eight mortars and one rocket were fired at Israeli communities. Around 1:30 pm, three mortar shells exploded in open areas in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. Around 5:30 pm, three additional mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip but fell on the Palestinian side of the border fence, in the vicinity of the Erez crossing. Later, two more mortar shells exploded south of a kibbutz in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. Shortly after that, a Qassam rocket exploded near a kibbutz north of the Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage were reported in any of the attacks.[77] Israel responded by carrying out three airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, targeting a weapons cache in the north and two smuggling tunnels in the south.[78]
June 28
A mortar shell fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed between two kibbutzim in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, causing no injuries or damage. Later in the day, a militant from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine fired mortar shells from eastern Gaza City at Israeli soldiers operating on the Israeli side of the nearby border fence, damaging a military vehicle but causing no injuries. The man was killed on the scene by Israeli aircraft fire.[79]
June 30
At about 4 am, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a packaging factory inside a community in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, badly damaging it. The Color Red alarm sounded, and no injuries were reported. Israel responded with airstrikes on several targets in the Gaza Strip, including a weapons manufacturing facility in the north and a terrorist infiltration tunnel in the south. No injuries were reported.[80][81][82]

Try comparing that to the damage done to Gaza by Israeli planes and large guns and by various incursions into Gaza, plus the damage done by IOF forces in the West Bank. Most of these rocket attacks are not Hamas anyway.

March 18 this year

"Israel has threatened military retaliation after the first fatal rocket attack from the Gaza strip in more than 14 months. "

"Israel warned Hamas would pay the consequence of the rocket strike, even though the group was not thought to be directly responsible for yesterday's launch."

"Regardless of which group claims responsibility for the Qassam fire, Israel holds Hamas accountable for anything that happens on the ground because it rules Gaza," Matan Vilnai, the deputy defence minister said."

Now that is really stupid. A splinter terrorist group attacks and the government is blamed because it is the government.

They are firing rockets into their own land which is being occupied.

Haystack:

you claim: Israel may complain that they are being bombarded by rockets. In fact there are hardly any and Hamas has been trying to stop them completely.

Are you retracting this bullshit or standing by it?

I don't see any point in reading any more of your made-up fantasy propaganda til we've wrapped this one up.

Compared to the rockets fired in previous times it is a small number. Hamas has been trying to stop the attacks and trying to find those responsible. Complain to the ones who are firing the rockets, not Gaza in general and not Hamas. Israel does far more damage to Gaza than Gaza has ever done to Israel. If the people living in areas of Israel affected don't like it then don't live there. They are occupying someone else's land. Gaza is just fighting back. what do you expect.

If you mean, do I mind them firing the rockets. No I don't. Hamas is trying to stop the rockets because it is politically expedient to do so and that seems sensible. The rocket attacks intensified from March because of Israel building illegal settelements. If Israel want any movement on hostilities then stop building settlements illegally. It is not their land.

So, in the face of damning evidence to the contrary, Mr Discredited Fantasy stands by his bullshit statement of: Israel may complain that they are being bombarded by rockets. In fact there are hardly any and Hamas has been trying to stop them completely.

Hardly surprising. It's no more nonsensical than any of the other so called 'facts' that you post on this thread. Keep taking the tablets.

don't build illegally on palestinian land.

Israel's disproprortinate response.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) escalated their attacks on the Gaza Strip on Thursday launching three air raids and shelling Rafah from the sea.

Security sources said that the IOF warplanes fired a missile south of Zaitun suburb in Gaza city, which was also repeatedly targeted by the IOF, with no casualties reported.

The IOF warplanes fired a third missile at a deserted area in Khuza'a town east of Khan Youns with minor damages reported in nearby homes.

Meanwhile, IOF gunboats opened heavy machineguns at Palestinian fishing boats off Rafah coast with no casualties reported in lines of fishermen.

The IOF command said that the raids were in response to the firing of a projectile from Gaza that hit the western Negev on Wednesday.

Yawn - more bullshit from Mr MakeItAllUpAsYouGoAlong.

Here is a link to the story from a source you might believe. The BBC 2 days ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10445898.stm

"The group is said to operate independently of Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.

Rocket fire out of Gaza has been greatly reduced over the past year after Hamas reigned in attacks, but there continues to be sporadic fire from other militant groups, says the BBC's Jon Donnison in Gaza.

It is almost always ineffective with rockets mostly landing in open fields, our correspondent says.

One Thai farmer in Israel has been killed in the past year.

Dozens of Palestinian militants have been killed in attacks from Israel over the same period."

Yawn - more bullshit from Mr MakeItAllUpAsYouGoAlong.

Yes. Of course it's bs. The BBC oftens publishes false reports. That report can be found via a variety of sources. Some of them are from Palestinian sites, some of them are from independent media who have no axe to grind. You seem to have read so much Israeli propangada that you are now believing it.

.................

Sign of splits in Israel's government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10471551.stm

Israeli Trade Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer held secret talks with Turkey's Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, reportedly in Brussels on Wednesday.

Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, was not aware the secret talks had taken place until they were reported by the media and he later accused Mr Netanyahu of undermining his authority.

"The foreign minister takes a very serious view of the fact that this occurred without informing the ministry of foreign affairs," he said in a statement.

"This is an insult to the norms of accepted behaviour and a heavy blow to the confidence between the foreign minister and the prime minister."

............................

More signs of splits in Israel government

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10458521.stm

Israel is ready to expand the powers of an investigation panel into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

His statement followed Israeli reports that the head of the panel, Yaakov Tirkel, had threatened to resign.

Mr Tirkel has demanded that the panel be recognised as a state commission of inquiry with the power to subpoena witnesses and recommend sanctions.

He also wants two more members added to the five-member panel.

Mr Tirkel said on Monday that the commission would summon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to testify, along with Israel's defence minister and military chief of staff.

He also sought two assistants for the three members and two foreign observers that make up the panel, whose work officially started on Monday.

Israel television and press reports said Mr Tirkel, a retired Supreme Court judge, had told Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman that he would quit the post if his demands were not met.

Haystack - More bullshit from that's you probably not worth reading.

I'm wondering whether you're ever going to even attempt to defend your earlier 'fact' where you claimed that hardly any rockets are now being fired from gaza into Israel? Or whether you'll retract that statement as the bullshit that it was?

Until you do one or the other, so far as I'm concerned, your credibility is at zero. And falling. So there's no point reading anything else you post.

I do regard the numbers as hardly any. It is also nothing compared to the damage done by Israel, the torture of prisoners, the illegal occupation. the illegal building and the war crimes.

I don't expect you to read my posts. You are too full of the Israeli bs that even Israeli citizens are now complaining about.

I do regard the numbers as hardly any.

50 rockets/mortars and more a month? Hardly any? You're a fool Haystack. You have no grasp of reality. Words fail me.

Most of them do little or no damage. Even the ones that do are nothing compared to what Israel is doing. Do you expect the Gaza residents to sit by while Israel builds illegally on their land? They are just fighting back. It is the same situation as when the founders if Israel behaved as terrorists, except they did far more harm. Israel's policies are just generating more hate and voilence. Israel is condemned to a permanent state semi-war for generations to come. Groups like Hamass are getting more politically smart and are beginning to isolate Israel. Israel'sonly answer is to pay back ten times what they get. It is a fatally flawed starategy and will end in disaster.

Gausie - perhaps we should fire a few rockets a month into Haystack's garden and maybe some into his front garden as well. Doubt we'll hit anything as he will be too scared to step out very often after the first few. If he complains we can just say it is hardly any and no damage done.