Are they perhaps getting the idea that they are facing a jihad that has been going on in one form or another for 1,400 years, and not an “insurgency” that can be bought off or negotiated away?
From Reuters, with thanks to all who sent this in:
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel warned the governing Palestinian faction Hamas that the “sky will fall on them” if they harm a captured soldier after a deadline passed on Tuesday for the Jewish state to accept a prisoner exchange.
While Israeli tanks and infantry massed along the Gaza Strip’s northern border for a threatened ground incursion, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the campaign to free Corporal Gilad Shalit could turn into “a long war.”
Three Palestinian factions, among them the Hamas armed wing, pulled out of negotiations with Egyptian mediators trying to end the standoff over Shalit, a Hamas political leader said.
Israel rejected the 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) ultimatum set by the factions, which demanded that the Jewish state free 1,000 prisoners in exchange for Shalit.
But Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas called on the factions to return to the negotiating table, putting himself at odds with militants who said further discussions over Shalit’s fate were out of the question.
Haniyeh, whom Israel has hinted could be targeted for assassination, also urged militants to keep Shalit alive.
The factions had warned Israel that it will “bear full responsibility for future consequences” if their prisoner swap demands were not met.
Of course. The jihadists never bear any responsibility for any of their actions. It is always entirely the fault of the accursed infidel.