The IDF success is attributed to its freedom of movement in Judea and Samaria, which it would lose if the area is handed over to Palestinian Authority control.
Iran has been trying to smuggle rockets into Judea and Samaria, but cannot overcome the IDF's preventive actions. The IDF enjoys no such freedom of movement in Gaza, where similar rockets have successfully been smuggled in.
Iran is interested, according to IDF evaluations, in stirring up the same type of violence against Israel from Judea/Samaria as exists in Gaza. Elements connected with Lebanon-based Hizbullah are also involved, the IDF feels.
Jordan's border with Israel, including the Jordan Valley adjacent to Judea and Samaria as well as the Aravah, runs 300 kilometers – as opposed to a 14-kilometer-long border between Gaza and Egypt. "Despite this," a senior IDF source told correspondent Haggai Huberman, "the IDF is able to stop such attempts on the Jordan border, but not on the Egyptian border, except for rare cases."
The IDF success is attributed to its freedom of movement in Judea and Samaria, which it would lose if the area is handed over to Palestinian Authority control.
In other rocket news:
The Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabiye editorialized on Friday that in the next war, Hizbullah would fire rockets not only to Israel's north and Galilee, but also towards Tel Aviv and even Eilat… Tensions between Jordan and Hamas are high, and Hamas diplomatic desk chief Khaleh Mashal sent a letter to Jordan promising that his organization had nothing to do with the rockets fired at Eilat and Aqaba, Jordan last week, which killed one Jordanian…