The sharp drop in Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza over the past few days since the deployment of Palestinian policemen in the northern part of the strip proves three key points:

1) Palestinian responsibility for terror - If the Palestinian Authority (PA) wants to prevent attacks against Israel, it can do so. In just a matter of a few days, the PA was able to clamp down – which once again underlines the Palestinian leadership’s direct responsibility for all the violence that has occurred until now. Had they wished to, they could have stopped it at any time.

2) Watch out for Abu Mazen - Newly-elected Palestinian chairman Abu Mazen is much smarter (and therefore much more dangerous) than his predecessor, Yasser Arafat. Whereas Arafat would typically have taken only a few limited measures before making utterly ridiculous demands of Israel, Abu Mazen has gone one step further. He has created a terrific Palestinian photo-op – that of armed Palestinian policemen on patrol, ostensibly to prevent mortar attacks on Israel. He’ll give Israel a couple of days of quiet – and then will undoubtedly ask for some “gestures” or “concessions” to bring back to “his people”. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, of course, will be hard-pressed not to give in.

3) All this is beside the point – The fact is that even if Abu Mazen does succeed in bringing about a week or two of quiet on the Gaza front, this is beside the point. The main issue remains that the terrorist groups such as Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad, all have the manpower and infrastructure in place to resume anti-Israel attacks at any time. Their agreement to a temporary cease-fire is tactical, not strategic – as far as they are concerned, this is little more than a chance to take a few days off and recoup before going back out to wage war on the Jewish state. The only way for Israel to ensure that the threat of rocket attacks from Gaza is eliminated once and for all is to eliminate the terrorists who pose the threat. Anything less is just biding for time, and nothing more.

Last week, after a Palestinian suicide bombing attack on January 13, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to “freeze” all contact with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Yesterday, after a wave of Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli towns and cities, Sharon decided to… resume contact with the leadership of the PA.

Is this making sense to anyone?

Let’s leave aside, for the moment, whatever you might think about the PA itself, and focus instead on the tactics being adopted by Israel.

Presumably, the “freeze” imposed on ties with the Palestinians was intended to send a message to newly-elected Palestinian chairman Abu Mazen that Israel’s patience was wearing thin with intensifying terror attacks against the Jewish state.

The Palestinians responded to Sharon’s “freeze” with more “heat”, launching still more attacks against Israel. To react to this upsurge in violence by resuming contact, rather than fighting back, is nothing short of astonishing.

Essentially, Sharon has zig-zagged from tough talk to tender chatter, in the process making Israel look flippant and even foolish in the eyes of the Palestinians.

Why should the PA leadership ever again take Sharon’s threats seriously if he so quickly retreats from them within a matter of mere days?

And why should they fear retaliation or punitive action if they know that Israel’s resolve melts as quickly as ice?

Whatever the coming days will bring, as the PA deploys its security forces throughout northern Gaza, one thing is for sure: Israel’s defensive posture has once again taken a painful, and completely self-inflicted, blow, courtesy of Ariel Sharon.

Hundreds of residents of Sderot, the Israeli town in the Negev that has been the target of repeated Palestinian rocket attacks, are today conducting a protest march that will take them to the Gaza village of Beit Hanun, from where the bulk of the rockets have been launched.

The people of Sderot are angry, and justifiably so – their lives have been disrupted by the near-daily assault on their city, and they are fed up with the government’s thus far empty promises to bring about an end to the rocket attacks against them.

The campaign launched by Sderot’s residents has been the subject of intense coverage in the Israeli media in recent days. It has dominated the airwaves and the print media, and has led off the evening news. In-depth reports have looked at the psychological toll of the rocket attacks on Sderot, in addition to the physical and economic damage that have been caused.

And this is how it should be – after all, it is the media’s job to be telling us this story, and drawing the public’s attention to what the residents of Sderot are being forced to endure.

The responsible manner in which the media has been covering Sderot, however, stands in sharp contrast with the irresponsible way in which they have failed to adequately report on similar attacks against Jewish communities in Gaza.

It is hard to escape the feeling that the assaults on Gush Katif and its residents just don’t seem to matter as much to the pundits and anchormen because the victims are “settlers” rather than “Israelis”.

I sincerely hope this is not the case, but the very absence of balanced reporting on what the Jews of Gaza are going through does raise more than a few question marks.

Regardless of what one’s position might be on the presence of Jews in Gaza, the fact is that they are Israeli citizens no less than their neighbors in Sderot, Tel Aviv or anywhere else. As such, they deserve the same amount of compassion, sympathy and – yes – coverage, as do other Israelis coming under attack.

I am glad that the Israeli media has decided to hear the cry of Sderot and give its inhabitants a platform to reach out to the public. But it’s time for them to stop with their selective hearing (and selective reporting, as well) and to give the Jews of Gush Katif their fair share of exposure, too.

Imagine that – it now turns out that the Palestinian elections held last Sunday, January 9, under the not-so-watchful eyes of former US President Jimmy Carter and European election observers was little more than a sham.

Though Carter and others were quick to hail the vote as a “free and fair election”, the Palestinians’ own election organizers now admit otherwise.

46 officials from the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) resigned en masse yesterday, citing threats, intimidation, abuse and outright fraud on the part of supporters of newly-elected PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

Armed gunmen reportedly stormed the CEC’s office on election day, demanding that thousands of Palestinians who were not registered to vote nevertheless be allowed to do so. The CEC complied, and also was forced to extend the voting by two hours to allow more of Abbas’ supporters to get to the polls.

Baha al-Bakri, one of the two heads of the CEC who quit, said that on the day of the balloting, "We were visited by senior officials from Abu Mazen's campaign," he said. "Our personal lives were at risk."

Al-Bakri’s colleague, Ammar Dweik, who served as Deputy Chairman of the Commission, said, “I was personally threatened and pressured.”

Hence, once again, the gap between the Left’s wishful thinking and the Palestinian reality is laid bare for all to see.

Abu Mazen and his supporters manipulated the election and its results, cheating their own people of a unique opportunity to express themselves freely and fairly at the polls.

But don’t expect much of an outcry over this, because as the decade since the Oslo Accords has made quite clear, those who support the Palestinian cause won’t let facts get in the way of their agenda. And so, the farce continues.

Well, it has been quite a week here in Israel – Abu Mazen was elected Chairman of the Palestinian Authority (that’s Chairman, and not President as much of the media would have us think), Ariel Sharon succeeded in forming a new coalition government thanks to the far left, and a Palestinian suicide attack last night claimed the lives of six Israelis.

Thank G-d the weekend is almost here.

But despite all the gloom engendered by the events of the past few days, there is a reason for all of us to remain resolutely and uncompromisingly optimistic. Take a look at the following picture:

The photo above is from the prayer rally that took place in front of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, this past Monday, which was attended by tens of thousands of people. At first glance, it might just seem like any other protest event. But take a closer look at the faces, and you will see that much of the crowd was made up of young people, especially those in their teens and early twenties.

Why, you might ask, does this matter? Well, I think the answer is really very simple. In many other Western countries, young people often gather en masse for what can best be described as less than noble motivations, often involving sex, drugs and rock-and-roll.

But here in Israel, as this picture shows, there are still thousands of young men and women willing to give up a chunk of their free time not to party, but to pray – to pray for their fellow Jews, their well-being and their safety. Look at the intensity on their faces, the deep concentration, the emotional outpouring, the manner in which they are pleading and beseeching G-d to have mercy on His people and His Land.

And therein lies our real strength – for no matter what may end up happening here in the Middle East in the next few months, we can all rest assured that the Jewish people do indeed have a future, and a bright one at that.

This picture, I think, says it all.