August 21, 2007: Hamas backed terrorist groups are continuing to dig tunnels from Gaza into Israel, to be used to get terrorists past the security fence and into Israel. One such tunnel was recently discovered and destroyed. It extended 700 meters into Israel, and was apparently intended for an attack on a small Israeli town north of Gaza. Meanwhile, Palestinian terrorists continue to fire unguided Kassam rockets into southern Israel. Now, the terrorists are also firing mortar shells at the border crossings from Gaza into Israel. Some shells are also being fired in the direction of Israeli villages near Gaza. Hamas denies any involvement in these attacks, and protests Israeli attacks on Hamas terror organizations. At the moment, Israel has the Palestinian terrorists in check. In the West Bank, Fatah cooperation has led to serious damage being done to the terrorist cells there. Moreover, many Palestinian terrorists groups are turning their attention to each other, as the competition between Hamas and Fatah gets more violent.

In Gaza, Hamas is forcing the clan based gangs to turn in some of their weapons, and to stop anti-Hamas operations. Getting the clans and gangs to halt their criminal activities is another matter. Acknowledging that Hamas is the most powerful gang in Gaza, the other gangs publicly tow the line, while running their scams more discretely.

Meanwhile, the real struggle is between Hamas and Fatah. Both have tried to rid their territory (Hamas controls Gaza, Fatah the West Bank) of their opponents. But this has not worked. There are many Fatah supporters in Gaza, and Hamas supporters in the West Bank. The Palestinian civil war will continue, in the shadows.

In Lebanon, the siege of Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp continues. There are about 70 terrorists left alive, and a hundred of their wives and children. The terrorists will not surrender and say they will fight to the death. The Lebanese air force has been dropping 550 and 880 pound bunker buster bombs on the al Qaeda affiliated fighters. So far, 140 soldiers have died in the fighting, while nearly 300 terrorists have been killed, captured or got away. Several dozen civilians have died as well. Lebanese politicians are still deadlocked over how to deal with Hizbollah control of south Lebanon.

August 20, 2007: The European Union (EU), which still supplies nearly half a billion dollars of aid each year to Palestinians, has cut off money for fuel for the Gaza electric plant. This was in response to a Hamas attempt to impose a tax on electricity bills. This would have put the EU in a position where they were subsidizing Hamas. This the EU will not do as long as Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel. There is a dispute inside Hamas over this issue. Some Hamas leaders call for taking the Fatah approach, where you simply lie to the foreigners, tell them what they want, and take the money. Other Hamas leaders believe that this is not possible now, because Hamas has been calling to Israels destruction for so long, and because Fatah began their scam long ago, and the foreigners have had time to get used to it.