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You are right that Qassam rockets dont pose much of a threat, but suicide bombers do. You also forget that the reason for the decrease in Israeli civilian losses is that Israel has shut the borders, including the one between Gazah and Egypt, tight. This hurts the Palestinian economy a lot and is in many ways a tragedy for the Palestinian people, but it is a very understandable measure from the Israeli side.
A comparison of the civilian/combatant loss ratio between the two sides will not look good for the palestinians. You cant even compare the nature of the two, as Israel targets combatatants/bombmakers with civilian deaths a BYPRODUCT of this, while Palestinian attacks generally target hard military installations like BUSES or DISCOTHEQUES. That Israel admittedly uses heavy-handed tactics at times doesnt change the fact that their approach is qualitatively different. Israel is also investigating and likely punishing (if mildly) incidents like the recent attack, while the reaction from Hamas on a bombing inside Israel is quite different...
I was actually fairly optimistic after the elections, as Fatah had failed pretty badly and Hamas was in a ceasefire that more or less was respected both by them and the Isrealis. It is true that Israel havent been helping the situation, but what do you suggest they do to deal with a part that doesnt acknowledge the right of them to be in the region at all? I know it would have been hard for Hamas to change their program out of the blue, but the proposed referendum would have given an opportunity to retreat from an obsolete position without losing face.
At the end of the day I wonder if the near civil war between Hamas and Fatah isnt more of a problem for the Palestinians than anything Israel does.
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