In the southern Philippines one islamic extremist problem have been neutralized by  following an old addage: a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.
    The southern island of Mindanao, in the Philippines, have a very diverse population of different ethnic groups. But the majority of these are  muslims and christians.
    During the 1960's-70's war in Mindanao there were radical muslim extremists who formed groups fighting for a separate homeland. These groups resorted in many diverse tactics. Some through open war and some through terrorism. They were adept at guerrilla tactics and had a preference for soft targets.
    The usual soft targets were churches, busy crowded markets and packed cinemas in predominantly christian communities. The weapon of choice for those terrorists then was the hand grenade.
    The problem of muslim separatists movements in Mindanao still exists to this day.  But gone are the terrorist tactics of lobbing grenades into crowds in predominantly Christian neighborhoods. How was the latter solved?
    Simple, by following the Bible. Specifically the old testament: a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.
    I see the problem in Israel about the terrorist rockets are akin to what the christians in Mindanao faced in a smaller scale.
     But I see the solution might be the same. The solution for the government during those times (of course there are no legal proof to this) was to allow christian vigilante groups or militias. Supposedly covertly armed and funded by the government for the sole purpose of "a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye."
    If a church is bombed, or a market or any crowded  place in the christian area, a curiously similar bombing also happens after a few days in the muslim areas. The government investigates all these incidences but the culprits are usually never caught. The bombings eventualy stopped.
    With the rockets it is so much simpler. If hamas fires one rocket into a village in Israel, why not a group of concerned citizens in Israel do the same?     

    After having given some deep thought to what I commented earlier it was tantamount to suggesting that Israel should stoop down to what Hamas was doing.  I now retract my statement and I acknowledge that it was wrong of me to have said such things. Innocent Palestinians  should not be made to pay for the crimes of their extremist countrymen. Israel should have the moral high ground.

Really, in the end the only effective defense for Israel is for the govt & the military to act in concert in attaining security goals, unfortunately there’s a big political price to be paid in order to really tackle Gaza – I don’t see this govt carrying that out, its prime concern is nurtutring itself which is bad news.