The Palestinians are ratcheting up the violence to make it look like Israel is fleeing the Gaza Strip:
Palestinians armed with rifles and grenades attacked Israeli soldiers doing construction work near the Gaza border with Egypt, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the army said. One of the Palestinians was also killed in the attack… Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a joint operation between it and an armed resistance group loosely affiliated with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.
You have to go to JPost to find out that by “armed resistance group” AP means a the Abu Rish Brigades, whose public “aim is to liberate every piece of land in Palestine, including what is now called Israel”. I couldn’t make this stuff up.
Palestinian violence in the lead-up to disengagement is a reason for a massive offensive in the Gaza Strip, not a reason for stopping disengagement.
UPDATE: Mediacrity catches Reuters burying the lede on this story.
