Dear Avw,

I'm afraid the statistics backup my so called 'unfounded theory'.

Of the 50 recorded rocket and mortar attacks that occurred from January 2001 through to July 2001 49 were fired from within Gaza hitting mainly Israeli targets within the strip. Only one was fired in the West Bank.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2001

That percentage has generally held through the years to date. More over in the early days the rocket and mortar fire was generally directed at targets within Gaza.

Concurrent data is often difficult to find but I have managed to draw these from Wikipedia for the first two weeks in February of 2009.

February 1
The Israeli Air Force bombed a car in the southern Gaza Strip, killing one person and wounding three others.
Palestinians in Gaza fired at least five Qassam rockets and 14 mortar shells at southern Israel.

February 2
The Israeli Airforce bombed a cluster of caravans in Mughraqa, in the central Gaza Strip, that served as a Hamas security headquarters, and two suspected sites of tunnels along the border with Egypt.

February 3
Palestinians fired a Grad into Ashkelon

February 4
Israeli aircraft bombed smuggling tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypt, as well as Hamas training position in the central strip. There were no casualties in those incidents.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip launched a mortar shell at southern Israel, which exploded in the Eshkol Regional Council.
 
February 6
Israeli Airforce bombed four tunnels and a weapons storage facility in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians fired two rockets from the coastal strip into Israel.

February 8
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a Grad rocket at Ashkelon. Earlier that day, aQassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck the western Negev.

February 9
Israel Air Force hit two Hamas positions in Gaza in response to rocket attacks on Israel launched by militants in the coastal strip on the preceding day, the army said.

February 10
Palestinians fire a Qassam rocket which struck the western Negev

Cont..

Cont..

February 11
Israeli warplanes on late Wednesday night struck a Hamas post in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said that the strike came in response to mortar fire on the western Negev. There were no reports of casualties in the attack.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired four mortar shells at the western Negev

February 13
An Israeli warplane bombed a target in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis Friday, killing one and critically wounding another. Later, Israeli aircraft carried out six strikes on smuggling tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. There were no reports of casualties.
Palestinians fire two Qassam rockets and a mortar shell which exploded in the western Negev, causing no casualties or damages.

The first thing that is obvious is that during that time there was not a single rocket or mortar fired from the West Bank. The second is that unlike the narrative the Israelis would have us believe it is not a matter of thousands of rockets being fired until it forces Israel into yet another invasion and slaughter, but rather a tit for tat responses between a belligerent, powerful, brutal nation intent on enforcing a crippling blockade and a beleaguered people retaliating against strikes on essential supply lines.

Please refrain from pushing the holier than thou attitude about the behavior of the Likud government and the IDF. Even your own link tells it like it is;

“Western analysts should never forget that at a certain moment, Jews stop being a people with a 3000-year-old civilization behind them and become normal Middle Easterners: tough, cruel, quick in responding to a threat and having serious problems in controlling the wish to simply convert their neighbors into a slightly smoking black parking lot.”

For many in the West the primary condemnation comes from the number of dead and maimed children and on that measure Likud soars over Hamas. The rest ultimately takes a back seat to this atrocity.

Dear SR:

What do all these incidents prove? I’m not sure what point you are trying to make here. Are you claiming that rockets fired into Israel from Gaza prior to 2005 caused the Israeli withdrawal? Do you really believe this is a sensible conclusion? Instead of escalating their efforts to stop the rockets at the source the Israelis just gave up and left, hoping that if they bury their head in the sand and pretend the rockets are not there, the rockets will just fizzle out? Somewhat counter-intuitive don’t you think? Especially given the IDF’s proven record of going into Gaza to stop the rockets whenever Hamas decide to escalate the violence.

No one is claiming that Likud or the IDF are “holier than thou”. Although, when compared with the practices of Hamas, I can certainly see how such a conclusion can be reached.

“For many in the West the primary condemnation comes from the number of dead and maimed children and on that measure Likud soars over Hamas. The rest ultimately takes a back seat to this atrocity”

Taking a leaf out of your book, this paragraph could just as easily and far more accurately be written as

“For many in the west condemnation is directed at rogue organisations that instigate countless terror acts against civilians, whether their own or those of a neighbouring country. On that measure, Hamas is up there with other terror elites such as Hezbollah, Boko Haram and ISIS. The rest ultimately takes a back seat to their atrocities”

SR,

The point of the article is that Israel responding to the rockets being fired at it is entirely justified and predictable. The only points of criticism of Israel is the scale of the response. The suffering of the Gazan's is therefore mostly the responsibility of Hamas.

Starting the firing of Rockets again while peace talks are in progress is insanity. If Israel wanted to convert Gaza to a black smoking parking lot, it could have done so far more easily and cheaply than its measured response so far.