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Palestinians Cheering Hezbollah Despite Rocket Strike

The Hezbollah war on Israel, and Israeli war on Hezbollah, has seen civilian areas struck on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border. Some attacks upon Israel have landed in Israeli Arab towns, and sparked protests by the residents not against Hezbollah, but against Israel. So it should come as little surprise that when a Hezbollah missile apparently went off course and hit an area near the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinian Arabs were not angry.

In fact, the Palestinians saw the near-disastrous incident as cause for celebration, rather than concern. On a day when Hezbollah fired more than 200 missiles and rockets in the most furious volley against Israel following the war that began with a Hezbollah attack on Israel, the Islamist group based out of Lebanon and having a presence in the Lebanese government also fired over several rounds of mortars as well. "Even if it were to fall on our heads, it wouldn`t have spoiled our joy. All of us here are praying for Hezbollah`s success and victory," one member of the Fatah party said.

The strike near Jenin marked the furthest south Hezbollah weapons have ever reached in the area, though the Israeli town of Afula, not Jenin, was the likely target. Even so, there have been reports that Hezbollah tried firing rockets into the Golan Heights to try and trick Syria into joining the conflict, but Israeli government officials have heaped scorn on the outdated hardware and ill-trained Syrian military and expressed doubts that Damascus will get actively involved in the war.