A look at the steps Israel has taken so far against the Qassam rockets makes clear that it will soon have to decide to escalate its responses. Israel will certainly put this off until the nature of the new government in the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas' place in it, is revealed.

A successful targeted killing in Gaza or Khan Yunis and a massive artillery barrage on empty areas in the northern Gaza Strip do not give a full response to the launching of Qassam rockets on targets considered strategic in the Ashkelon area, or on Negev communities like Sderot. In a deteriorating situation, there is clearly no choice but to respond more forcefully, whether by firing on populated areas, by inserting military forces into the northern Gaza Strip, or by cutting off the electricity.

Even Israel's advanced technology provides no solution, although it extracts a heavy price on the Palestinian side. Israel takes cautious steps that sometimes appear too cautious. After the Palestinians tried to hit the power station in Ashkelon with Qassam rockets, it was proposed that the electricity be cut to various sections of the Gaza Strip. The proposal was rejected; its opponents said the Israel Electric Corporation could cut the power, but might find it hard to turn it back on again. Better, therefore, to take power and water off the list of targets, even if the Palestinians take the opposite tack.

Artillery fire looks very threatening on TV. But because care is taken in the choice of target, the hundreds of shells only occasionally disrupt the rocket launchers. Israel has not fired on Palestinian settlements, despite the number of rockets fired on Sderot, Karmiya and other Negev communities.

Targeted killings are successful. When Israel recently took out 10 Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Brigades activists in the area of Gaza City, the cars they were riding in clearly contained explosives. However, the impact on Qassam launches is indirect, affecting the war against the terror organizations generally.

One solution to the problem is to send troops a few kilometers into the northern Gaza Strip in order to make it more difficult for the Qassam launchers to take proper aim at their targets, an action Israel has refrained from since disengagement, although it took the trouble to photograph its tanks at the border.