bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Jane Kinninmont

Even by the standards of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the firing of Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip seems a remarkable exercise in futility. From my viewpoint on an Israeli observation post on the Gazan border,  a few days before graphic images of the Gaza beach deaths of eight Palestinians sparked international outrage, the border area appeared a wasteland and the smell of smoke from Israeli artillery shells was in the air.

But in this small territory, the watchtower, barbed wire and single tank of the observation post was only a short distance from orchards and farmland on the Palestinian side, and a children's playground and picnic area on the Israeli side.

That morning, Palestinian militants had fired six Qassam rockets into the nearby Israeli town of  Sderot, home of Israeli Defence Minister  Amir Peretz, and wounded one woman; one rocket landed on the bed of a child who had not long got up  for school. The rocket firers sometimes hide behind citrus trees in the Palestinian orchards.

We were a few metres from the fortified fence that Israel built on the Gazan border in the 1990s in order to keep potential suicide bombers out. The fence, surrounded by a sandy no-go area on both sides, provided the model for the much larger and more hi-tech separation barrier still being constructed in and around the West Bank.

My companion, retired Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Colonel  Miri Eisin, said with pride: 'No suicide bomber from Gaza has been able to breach the fence since 1994.' But the crude, homemade Qassam rockets can breach it. And the daily fire is leading Israelis to fear that if they withdraw from parts of the West Bank, they'll face more rocket attacks from these areas, barrier or no barrier. This puts the government's plan for a partial West Bank pullout at serious risk.

The Qassams are wildly inaccurate, usually falling in empty fields belonging to the farmers of Israel's Negev area. According to IDF figures quoted by Colonel  Eisin, even a number of Israelis have been killed by Qassams since April 2001. The total number of rockets fired over this period is estimated at 3,000.

The other main effect of the Qassams is that they attract Israeli artillery fire into Gaza in response. Israeli shelling escalated on the day of my visit, when Israeli defence officials said Hamas was directly involved in the rocket attacks - previously blamed on a semi-autonomous offshoot, the Popular Resistance Committees. On that day, Israel fired 200 shells into Gaza.

Later in the week, Palestinians  said these shells killed the family of eight who were picnicking on the Gaza beach on June 8. An Israeli army investigation attributed the deaths to a Palestinian landmine, although this is questioned by former Pentagon battle damage expert  Marc Garlasco, who investigated the explosion site on behalf of Human Rights Watch. According to Palestine Liberation Organisation figures, 29 Palestinian civilians (including the beach family) were killed by Israeli artillery and air raids in the first two weeks of June.

The Qassam fire is almost a caricature of the pattern of violence here: low-tech Palestinian attacks, which are aimed at a random selection of Israeli civilians, are met by heavier counterattacks from Israel, which are aimed at militants but also kill and injure Palestinian civilians. Meanwhile, the chances of a peace agreement recede.

So what motivates these attacks? There's clearly an irrational, despairing element to the ongoing Palestinian violence against a vastly militarily superior adversary.

Under attack from a far superior and better-funded force, the physically weaker Palestinian side seeks to portray itself as morally stronger, tapping into 'David and Goliath'-style myths of heroic resistance against the odds.

As Palestinians blame Israel for the Gaza beach deaths, the tragedy is a propaganda victory for local militant groups. The weeping image of the family's sole surviving daughter, who's now been adopted jointly by Palestinian President  Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister  Ismail Haniyeh, will no doubt boost the ranks of violent Islamist organisations not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but around the world.

Add to this Israel's latest 'targeted killing' of suspected Islamic Jihad members, which killed seven Palestinians, including two children, and one could be forgiven for thinking the IDF is playing into the hands of militant recruiters.

Yet for their part, Israeli army officials say they're being relatively restrained, in the face of pressure from Sderot residents to do more. According to Captain Jacob Dallal, a young soldier and  university PhD student speaking on behalf of the IDF at the border observation post:  'This artillery fire is designed to deter the terrorists from upgrading to  Katyushas, which are proper weapons-grade rockets, unlike the homemade Qassams. We want to avoid a land invasion, so artillery fire is the lesser of two evils.'

Militants have already fired the longer-range Katyushas into Gaza on a few occasions - which has seriously raised the stakes.

While there is some criticism of army tactics among the Israeli left -  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's left-wing academic daughter,  Dana Olmert, joined a march protesting against the Gaza beach deaths - mainstream opinion seems to back both artillery fire and targeted assassinations.  Saul Singer, opinion editor of the popular Jerusalem Post newspaper, said: 'Targeted killings are a base that everyone agrees on. In fact, the army is taking the minimal possible action. The debate is about whether they should do more. But Israel is reluctant to launch a land invasion.'

Whenever Israel steps up targeted killings, he said, Palestinian factions call for a ceasefire, but it never lasts. No doubt, some Gaza residents are frustrated at the  rocket fire, not least because misfired rockets regularly land on Palestinian homes and cause frequent injuries.

Speaking on behalf of the  PLO, legal adviser  Sanaa Hamoud said: 'The PLO condemns the rocket fire, like any activity which is targeted at civilians or has a significant risk of harming civilians.'

But there has so far been scant evidence of real pressure on militants to end rocket fire, due to a combination of sympathy, national solidarity, and fear. A local humanitarian worker said no serious public pressure to end rocket attacks had been seen this year.

Much now depends on whether Hamas is willing and able to implement the ceasefire that its predecessors never managed to achieve. Without this, Israel's plan for further West Bank pullouts may yet fall apart.



Picnics, orchards and missiles part of life on Gaza front line