Sid, I think that the Israeli policy is to check suspect convoys before they reach Gaza so as to prevent explosives and rocket-building equipment getting there in the first place, precisely because they do not want the Palestinian Hamas to fire rockets on Israel and because they do not want to retaliate by bombing Hamas targets in Gaza and in so doing risk killing or injuring civilians!
I was trying to make an estimation of what happened, and pointing out that there has been, and no doubt is, a great deal of good relations between Israelis and their Palestinian neighbours, that it is not al hatred, hatred, hatred. Was not justifying anything, Sid, either one way or the other. I am concerned with Britain's problems and am not going to get involved here in a dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.
