May 21, 2007: Shirel Friedman, 32, is killed when standing near a car that was struck by a rocket in Sderot.

May 27, 2007: Oshri Oz, 36, is killed in Sderot when a rocket hits his vehicle as he is driving in the city where he worked as a computer technician. He lived in Hod HaSharon, near Tel Aviv, and commuted everyday to Sderot.

May 2007 - Jan. 2008: Increased shelling of southern Israel - After Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip, rocket and mortar fire from Palestinian terrorist groups increases dramatically. Terror groups launched an average of 285 rockets every month in this period -- more than one rocket every three hours. [16]

Nov. 27, 2007: Annapolis Conference - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sign a joint statement in Annapolis, Md. to lay the groundwork for peace talks and a final peace agreement by the end of 2008. [17]

In 2007, 2,312 rockets and mortar shells are fired by Palestinian terrorist groups (1,263 mortars and 1,049 rockets). [18]

Jan. 9-11, 2008: President George W. Bush’s Visit to Israel - President Bush embarks on a tour of a number of Middle East countries, starting with Israel, to advance peace the negotiations initiated at the Annapolis conference in Nov. 2007.

Israel continues to move forward with its peace agenda, attempting to reach a two-state solution through negotiated agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference earlier this month, Olmert explained that “[t]here are endless arguments why not to invest in the attempt [for peace], why the chances are slim, why the dangers are great. I am aware of this. I am familiar with these arguments, excuses and interpretations – and yet, I am fully determined to continue ahead. We have no other way but to conduct peace talks. We have no more promising horizon of hope than the chance to hold dialogue with the present Palestinian leadership.” [19]

*Source for all listed fatalities from rocket and mortar fire within Israel and in the former Israeli settlements in Gaza: “Rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007” - Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dec. 2007 - http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/rocket_threat_e.pdf

Footnotes

[1] “Israel’s Disengagement Plan: Renewing the peace process,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 20, 2005, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Israels+Disengagement+Plan-+Renewing+the+Peace+Process+Apr+2005.htm

[2] “Federal Minister Fischer on the start of the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip,” United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine, Aug. 14, 2005, http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/fd807e46661e3689852570d00069e918/5c22d4599b12cdfc8525705f0051f101!OpenDocument

[3] IDF Spokesman’s Unit, Jan. 2 and Jan. 20, 2008; “Rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007,” Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dec. 2007, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/rocket_threat_e.htm; Berger, Ronny and Gelkopf, Marc, “The Impact of the Ongoing Traumatic Stress Conditions on Sderot,” Natal, The Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War in cooperation with Dr. Mina Tzemach, Director, Dachaf Public Opinion Research Institute, Oct. 2007

[4] "What took place at Camp David in 2000?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_campdavid_2000.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[5] “Improvised Rockets – Terrorist Military Industries,” Israel Police Bomb Disposal Division, Presented at The Israel Project’s Qassam Press Confernce, Dec. 17, 2007

[6] “Rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007” - Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dec. 2007, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/rocket_threat_e.htm

[7] Ibid.

[8] What was the 2003 'Road Map' for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs?" Palestine Facts, http://palestinefacts.org/pf_current_roadmap.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[9] “Rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007” - Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dec. 2007, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/rocket_threat_e.htm

[10] Ibid.

[11] IDF Spokesman’s Unit, Jan. 2 and Jan. 20, 2008

[12] “Rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007” - Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dec. 2007, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/rocket_threat_e.htm

[13] “Israeli Centrist Party Wins, Hamas Forms Government,” National Public Radio, March 29, 2006, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5309250

[14] “Rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000-2007” - Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Dec. 2007, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/rocket_threat_e.htm

[15] “Hamas takes full control of Gaza,” BBC, June 15, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6755299.stm

[16] IDF Spokesman’s Unit, Jan. 2 and Jan. 20, 2008

[17] Ravid, Barak, Benn, Aluf and Uni Assaf, "Israel, PA agree to strive for accord by end of 2008," Haaretz, Nov. 27, 2007, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/928637.html

[18] IDF Spokesman’s Unit, Jan. 2, 2008

[19] “PM’s Speech at the Herzliya Conference,” Prime Minister’s Office Web site, Jan, 23, 2008, http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechherzelia230108.htm

The net is the haven for the stupid, of pseudoscience, superstition, crackpot fallacies.

It makes you think that everyone is almost as smart as you. And since you're retarded, being right OR wrong on that point makes no difference.