Three Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon landed in northern Israel yesterday, but there were no injuries reported, and the Israel Defense Forces believes that the incident is unlikely to recur.

IDF sources also predicted that the government will not order a military response to the launch, as it would prefer not to reignite the conflict with Lebanon after 11 months of quiet on the northern border.

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The rockets were fired at 4:43 P.M. from four launchers stationed in a dry riverbed between the Lebanese villages of Taibe and Adisa, a few kilometers from Kiryat Shmona. According to the Lebanese Army, which arrived at the site to investigate the incident, the launchers were set on a timer, presumably so that they would fire only after the operators had escaped.

One of the four missiles was not successfully fired, apparently due to a technical problem, and the Lebanese Army dismantled it. Another landed on a road running through Kiryat Shmona's industrial zone, destroying a car, and two others landed in open areas near the town. No alarm sirens went off in Kiryat Shmona before the rockets fell.

About an hour after the launch, Hezbollah published a statement disclaiming responsibility, and quoting Lebanese and Israeli sources attributing it to a Palestinian organization.

Lebanese security officials confirmed that they believe the perpetrators were Palestinians, and that the Katyushas were possibly a response to the ongoing battle between Lebanese Army troops and the radical Palestinian organization Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.

Another source of tension among Palestinian groups has been a spate of recent attacks on Hamas officials in Lebanon following Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last week.

The IDF also believes that an as-yet unidentified Palestinian group was responsible, possibly Fatah al-Islam. While it is not ruling out the possibility that Hezbollah was involved, this seems unlikely, a senior officer in Northern Command said.

"This was a localized incident; we aren't talking about months of preparations for a 'quality' attack," he said, suggesting that the perpetrators probably exploited a momentary advantage on the ground to launch the rockets.

"For a long time, we have been complaining that weapons are entering South Lebanon, and today, we received proof that our complaints are justified," he added. "I hope that UNIFIL will fulfill its mandate in South Lebanon and that the Lebanese Army will take responsibility for what happens in its territory."

UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, has several outposts in the vicinity of the launch site, and the IDF is trying to determine whether its forces were deployed there and, if so, why they did not prevent the launch.

Both UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army said that in response to the incident, they have beefed up their forces in the area. They also began an investigation to determine who fired the missiles, and the Lebanese Army reportedly set up checkpoints throughout the area, as well as north of the Litani River, in an effort to catch the perpetrators.

UNIFIL spokesman Milos Strugar told Haaretz that the launch was a clear violation of the cease-fire, but that all sides must act with restraint and avoid escalation.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke by phone with several of her counterparts around the world, stressing that Israel expects the Lebanese government and UNIFIL to prevent such launches.

In Israel, mayors in northern towns demanded that the government take action to prevent Katyusha launches from becoming "routine."

"The Israeli government must send a clear, sharp message to the Lebanese government that it will not tolerate a return to the days of 'Fatahland' in South Lebanon, and that we cannot tolerate a situation in which Katyushas are fired every month or two," said Ma'alot-Tarshiha Mayor Shlomo Buhbut, who heads the forum of front-line communities in the North. He was referring to the years prior to the First Lebanon War in 1982, when the PLO effectively controlled southern Lebanon and used it as a launching pad for attacks on northern Israel.

Northerners are also worried about the launch's potential economic consequences: Summer is the area's peak tourism season, and should the Katyusha fire continue, or should Israel respond with military force, many tourists are likely to cancel their plans. That would be a harsh blow for the local industry, whose summer season was destroyed last year by the Second Lebanon War.

Nevertheless, life quickly returned to normal in Kiryat Shmona yesterday: The defense establishment informed the town's mayor that there was no need to send residents into bomb shelters, and schools will open today as usual.

The former decision was a relief to residents, since even 11 months after the last war, many shelters are still not fit for use. But many people were furious with the government. "Instead of dealing with the real problems, [the politicians] are busy with primaries, the president and cabinet posts," complained Dikla Ben Avraham-Shein.