Any lull in terror attacks is merely a tactic employed by the PA. So said the head of IDF Military Intelligence Corps to a Knesset committee today. In the meanwhile, mortar shelling continues.

Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze´evi-Farkash told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the relative drop in terrorism could be expected to continue only until after mext week´s meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA chairman Abu Mazen next week. Terror groups in the PA were asked to halt attacks, he said, with the promise that Abu Mazen would use such a lull to extract further concessions from the Israeli side.

It seems that even one more week is too long for terror groups to go without attacking Jewish towns, however. Arutz-7´s Kobi Finkler reports that 10 mortar shells and Kassam rockets were fired at Jewish communities in Gush Katif last night. One shell slammed into the kitchen of a N’vei Dekalim home.

The house’s owner told Israel Radio that she hoped people wound not continue to be fooled by the “trickery” of the PA police, who "rather than fight terror, take an active role in it." Over 2,000 armed PA Arabs have been deployed in the area surrounding Gush Katif, ostensibly to prevent the firing of rockets and mortars.

Today, two mortar shells landed in the Gush Katif communities of Gadid and Gan-Or, causing two people to go into shock and damaging two cars.

Despite the attacks, the Rafiah border crossing in southern Gaza was opened today to enable PA Arabs traveling through Egypt to return from their Mecca pilgrimage. It had been closed since December 12 following a terror attack there.

New rules of engagement for soldiers serving in Gaza have also been issued in honor of the supposed cease-fire. The new orders stipulate that merely hearing gunfire and then seeing an armed gunman is no longer sufficient grounds for opening fire – but a soldier may only return fire if he is actually being shot at. Additionally, soldiers must get approval from several levels of command to open fire and are no longer authorized to use their own judgment to open fire if the situation is anything less than unquestionably life-threatening.

According to a Ynet internet site report, soldiers assigned to the northern area of Gaza have already expressed their concerns, explaining their hands are tied – adding that it looks like they are no longer permitted to use their weapons until they are wounded.

MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) accused the government of once again preventing the IDF from defending Israeli citizens living in Gush Katif. “The political echelon is once again refusing to allow the IDF to put a stop to the mortar fire,” he said. (IsraelNationalNews © 02/01/05)