October 11, 2005: In Lebanon, Hizbollah (a Shia terrorist organization that was formerly protected by the Syrian army) refuses to disband and insists that it is a "reserve army" for defending Lebanon from enemies (particularly Israel, but not Syria.) The government does not want to go to war with Hizbollah, as about 35 percent of Lebanese are Shia and look to Hizbollah for protection.

October 10, 2005: Israeli police have found Palestinian terrorists trying to establish mortar and rocket teams in the West Bank. This requires smuggling in the raw materials used for building the mortar tubes, mortar shells and Kassam rockets. In the last year, terrorists have made several attempts to set up these workshops in the West Bank. So far, they have only been able to do this in Gaza. Israeli counter-terror operations have increased in the West Bank, since the Israelis withdrew from Gaza last month.

October 9, 2005: Gun battles between Palestinian Authority and terrorist gunmen continue in Gaza. The chaos and lawlessness in Gaza is largely the result of the Palestinian police and security forces being destroyed by the Israelis after those police and security forces joined in the terrorist attacks on Israelis over the last six years. As a result, the neighborhoods of Gaza are each controlled by some political or terrorist gang. The Palestinian Authority has to rebuild its police force, then go after all these gangs.

October 6, 2005: While violence between Palestinians and Israelis declines, the fighting among Palestinians increases. For the first time since the latest Palestinian terror campaign began six years ago, the number of Palestinians killed by other Palestinians exceeded the number killed by Israeli security forces. In 2002, 42 Palestinians were killed by Palestinian gangs, terrorists or vigilantes. That number has grown to 151, so far, this year. During the same period, 127 Palestinians were killed fighting with Israeli troops and police. Violence in Gaza has gone up sharply since Israeli troops pulled out. The various Palestinian militias are fighting for control of the streets, and the criminal gangs are killing to maintain their illegal enterprises.

October 5, 2005: Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has backed off and agreed to stop the practice of its militiamen parading through the streets carrying firearms.

October 4, 2005: Lebanon has sent troops to the Syrian border, to crack down on the smuggling. During the decades that Syrian troops occupied most of Lebanon, this smuggling was left along, and the Syrians got a cut. The smuggling gangs don't want to give up such a lucrative enterprise, and will have to fight Lebanese troops to continue moving drugs and other goods in and out of Lebanon.