IDF forces killed five Palestinian gunmen en route to carry out an attack near Israel's border with central Gaza on Thursday afternoon.As usual, take the Islamic Jihad claims with a large grain of salt. But they do indicate that the intent of the operation was fairly sophisticated and large-scale. Thank God they were unsuccessful.
Military sources said that the gunmen were advancing towards the Kissufim crossing in two cars when the IAF targeted their vehicles, thwarting the attack. Ground forces also fired on the gunmen.
The army said it was investigating the possibility that one of the vehicles had been rigged with explosives to serve as a car bomb.
The army said no soldiers were wounded and no damage was reported.
The Islamic Jihad and Fatah-allied Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Abu Ahmed, said a pickup truck crashed through the fence in central Gaza first, allowing an armored jeep to drive through.
The truck blew up inside the Israeli base (according to PIJ - EoZ) and militants inside the jeep began attacking soldiers with light arms and hand grenades, and an Israeli watchtower was blown up.
Because of this failure, it is unlikely that Western wire services will mention this story except in the context of "Israel kills 5 Palestinians."
It is notable that Islamic Jihad and Fatah consider this operation a success, because they claim that they managed to enter an IDF base. The fact that this is considered a success to them shows how much they have redefined "success" in order to assuage their extraordinarily low self-esteem.
It is also notable how the Palestinian Arab press is reporting on the Israeli Supreme Court ruling modifying the security barrier route around Bil'in. They are regarding this as a great victory, but not as a victory for non-violence or of the rule of law - they are regarding it as a victory for the "resistance." In other words, everything that PalArabs do is filtered through the prism of violence and even when something happens that is clearly not because of violence - on the contrary, if there was more violence in Bil'in chances are that the court would have ruled otherwise - even then, they celebrate it as a military victory.
The Arab psyche requires that their victories are seen as military, not diplomatic. Israeli concessions for peace are framed as being a result of successful military (i.e., terrorist) operations. In short, they define themselves as warriors, not as peacemakers.
Any peace agreement, from the Arab perspective, must be seen as being forcefully imposed by the Arab victors upon the hapless, weak Jewish victims. Anything less than that - any concessions on issues that they have held fast to for six decades - would be considered weakness and at odds with their own pretense of being proud warriors.
Which is yet another reason why a true peace is highly unlikely.