Sderot: one more step towards ghost town

I could be somewhat obsessed about this, but here it goes again:

"We have decided to make Sderot a ghost town," said a spokesman for Hamas who gave his name as Abu Ubeideh. "We are not going to stop launching our rockets until they leave."

Today was not different from many other days in Sderot:

The Sderot Parents Association decided Monday evening to boycott the town's schools until further notice, after a Qassam rocket struck near a day car center earlier in the day. Twelve children suffered from shock after the strike on the southern town, and were evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment.

The parents of Sderot demand that the children be evacuated as soon as possible. Which, as it should be clear to everyone, means that the Gazan rocket scientists are as close as possible to their goal - to empty Sderot of its population.

While Olmert continues to issue empty threats, Hamas is already countering the "threats" in its usual hypocritical fashion:

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu called for the international community to prevent Israel from carrying out harsh reprisals. "We are taking this new threat by Olmert seriously," he said. "We are warning of coming massacres against the people in Gaza."

Which statement, when translated into simple words means that Olmert, even in his ineffectual way, should not interfere with the unalienable right of Gazans to lob rockets on Zionist Entity's towns and villages.

Meanwhile Islamic Jihad, who did not learn yet the art of hypocrisy, shows its ugly face quite boldly:

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, calling them "a gift for the opening of the school year."

This refreshing directness of IJ shows its real face, but it does not register elsewhere. So far the Haaretz article linked above is the only one (aside of the radio) that caught up with this monstrosity.

I do not claim to have a solution. I suspect that nobody has one, and I wouldn't like to be in Olmert's shoes now (or ever, for that matter). Unleashing even a small part of IDF's might on Gaza will cause a bloodbath, but letting terrorists launching Qassams at will is hardly an alternative. And there is no middle way. Not while Hamas sees it as politically expedient to continue the attacks.

While Israel indeed holds the key to many lifelines of Gaza, like water, electricity and other vital supplies, any attempt to interrupt the flow will cause uncounted suffering to all Gazans (probably the least of all to the terror gangs, who will take their wont by force from the defenseless anyway).

So what is left? You tell me...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

P.S. And read Treppenwitz' "rant", which I totally agree with.