Third Intafada Begins?

The timing on much of this is incredible. Just after the heightening scandal in the Catholic Church and the incessant beating of the Drums of War on Iran, one has to be blind to not see the potential problems here.

Palestinian militants fired a rocket from Gaza into Israel Thursday, killing a Thai farm worker, while the European Union's foreign affairs chief was visiting the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The E.U.'s top diplomat, Briton Catherine Ashton, had crossed into the Gaza Strip from Israel about an hour before the attack, the first to result in a fatality since the end in January 2009 of Israel's Gaza war.

An unknown Gaza group, Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility for the missile strike, which was launched a day before the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators was to meet in Moscow to discuss ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks. (Emphasis mine)

The Real Effect
Why would the militants want to make themselves look bad to outside observers, especially the EU? Either the "militants" are as dumb as a box of rocks or something else is in play here.
George Mitchell is going to the middle east, talks of the EU subsidizing Israeli security, and reports of munitions arriving in Diego Garcia. Very interesting.

Update: Israel responds -

Israeli fighter jets have bombarded at least two sites in the Gaza Strip shortly after a Thai agricultural worker was killed when a rocket fired from the besieged coastal enclave struck the northern Negev.

The eyewitnesses said Israeli F-16 fighter jets targeted an open area north of the Gaza City. The warplanes also fired missiles at an open area in the central Gaza Strip.

One of the warplanes broke the sound barrier in the skies of northern and central Gaza Strip, causing panic through the crowd, especially women and children.

This is the third rocket fired from Gaza in the past 24 hours. Five rockets have struck southern Israel in the past two days, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade — the armed wing of the Fatah movement — claimed responsibility for the Thursday rocket launch.