Now, let’s be all dramatic like most of the headlines which say, “Middle East Ceasefire Shattered.” Because honestly, the truce was a big lie anyway. Now the possibility exists that the Palestinian government will have to succumb to more terrorist leadership or kill it outright. Policeman of the PA and Hamas terrorists are fighting now in Gaza as Abbas has declared a state of emergency. The fighting began when the government confronted Hamas after it attacked Israel.

The Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip last night, hours after an Israeli woman was killed when a Qassam rocket slammed into her home on Moshav Netiv Ha’asara north of the Strip.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire that killed Dana Glakowitz, 22.

The state of emergency was declared on the backdrop of fierce clashes between PA police and armed Hamas men in the northern part of the Strip.

Palestinian sources reported that a PA police force opened fire at a car carrying a number of Hamas activists, who were on their way to carry out more rocket launches at Israeli targets. The driver of the car ignored orders to pull over, and the PA police opened fire on the vehicle, wounding six of its occupants, one seriously.

In response, Hamas sent dozens of armed men out into the street of northern Gaza in a show of strength, which included the firing of an RPG at a base of the PA’s national security forces. Clashes between Hamas militants and PA police also took place in other areas of the Strip.

A state of emergency was subsequently declared by PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef, in coordination with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. PA police reinforcements were deployed to the north of the Strip and curfews were imposed on a number of areas.

All in all yesterday, some 20 Qassam rockets and mortars were fired at Gaza Strip settlements, Israeli communities close to the Strip and Israel Defense Forces outposts. The firing intensified in the afternoon, and a little after 6 P.M. a volley of four rockets was launched in the direction of Netiv Ha’asara. Glakowitz, who was sitting on the porch of her home, was critically hurt in the blast and pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Another two Israelis were lightly hurt in the incident.

Defense establishment officials believe that the Hamas attack came in response to two developments – the visit yesterday to the Strip by Abbas, and the escalation in the West Bank, where the IDF has been operating for the past two days, in Tul Karm and Nablus. During previous visits by Abbas to the Strip, the PA leader was challenged by Hamas by means of attacks on Israel.

Abbas is in the Strip in an effort to persuade Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a number of militant Fatah factions to stop the attacks on Israeli targets and return to the period of security calm agreed on by the Palestinian organizations. Abbas, who is supposed to be staying in the Strip for about a week, arrived there on the backdrop of increasing tension between the PA and the various factions with regard to the manner in which the Strip will be controlled following the Israeli pullout.

The various Palestinian factions are refusing to recognize the PA’s exclusivity when it comes to governing the Strip, and they are demanding that the area be run by a committee comprising representatives of all the organizations. Abbas had summoned the leaders of the organizations to a series of meetings that were to take place over the coming days, with Egyptian mediation, but in light of last night’s developments, these meetings have been cancelled for now.

Of course, this fighting is coming on the heels of the upcoming elections, in which Hamas is expected to do incredibly well. The PA thus far has been very weak in dealing with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who have want some governing authority. What never fails to amaze me is that the PA actually cedes it — and this is what results. They can’t keep negotiating with terrorists, even when so many support them. This is a huge reason I do not support the disengagement plan. Because irregardless of how much land Israel gives away, there are thousands of whackos who will continue to fire rockets and strap explosives to their bodies. They have got to be dealt with first before any progress can ever be made, and it’s supposed to be the PA’s job to do it.