April 22, 2007:
Despite claims that
kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston has been killed, Palestinian officials
believe he is still alive. Johnston is one of the few Westerners
left in Gaza. Thousands of other have fled over the last few years, fearful of
the growing violence and anti-Western attitudes. The breakdown of law and order
in Gaza has brought out more groups of radicals, as well as criminal
gangs. The Gaza Palestinians complain of the growing anarchy, but they
elected Hamas, and do little to shut down the radical operations. So Gaza
becomes more lawless, poverty stricken and hospitable to terrorist acts. The
radicals promise only more attempts to attack Israel. In turn, Israel makes no
secret of its willingness to defend itself. The radicals have had some success,
even though they have been unable to get into Israel. For example, the
kidnapping of the BBC journalist caused the British journalists union to vote
for a boycott of Israel. It is believed that this gesture will persuade the
kidnappers to let Johnston go.
The situation in Lebanon is similar to Gaza.
Hizbollah, an Iranian supported Islamic radical group, has created a
state within a state, and the Lebanese government cannot, or will not, do
anything to assert its authority in southern Lebanon. When confronted
with these problems, Arabs tend to blame Israel, for giving the radicals
someone to focus their hate on, and gain public support because of it. More
pessimistic Arabs believe that if Israel did not exist, Arabs would still have
to deal with fanatic groups and general lawlessness.
April 21, 2007: Islamic terrorists
attempted to destroy the American School in Gaza. This is a college largely supported
by U.S. money (private and public.) Islamic terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda
have been attacking Gaza companies and institutions associated with Western
organizations or products. This includes stores that sell videos or Western
publications.
April 18, 2007: The Palestinians have
convinced more of their terrorist groups to stop firing rockets into Israel,
and bring Palestinians into compliance with the six month old ceasefire. Over
the last few months, 40-50 rockets a month were fired from Gaza into southern
Israel. In the last few weeks, the rate of rocket firings has declined by
about two-thirds. There is still sporadic sniper and mortar fire at Israeli
troops guarding the Gaza security fence (that keeps Palestinian terrorists out
of Israel). Palestinian officials are less optimistic about stopping that, and
are suggesting that the Israelis just ignore. This will work, as long as no
Israeli soldiers are killed or seriously hurt.
April 16, 2007: The new Palestinian
government is getting some international recognition, and, more importantly,
money. Most Moslem nations, plus Norway, Switzerland and China, have recognized
the Fatah/Hamas coalition government. This means these nations will give money
directly to this government, which will make it easier to divert funds to
terrorism efforts against Israel. Currently, most of the money is going
directly to aid operations. This forces the terrorist groups to go and extort
money and goods from the aid organizations.