February 3, 2006:
The way these things usually work, Hamas will officially say it is no longer involved in terrorism. Meanwhile, a branch of Hamas, which Hamas will officially deny any connection to, will continue to use terrorism against Israel. If this ploy does not work to persuade the EU and the US to continue giving the Palestinian government money (currently about $700 million a year), then Hamas will get the money from Arab governments. In any event, Hamas will have a lot more money to play with. Since Hamas is much less corrupt than the previous, Fatah, Palestinian government, there will be many improvements in the lives of Palestinians. But there will be some negatives. Many Hamas leaders are Islamic conservatives, and want to impose Taliban like restrictions on all Palestinians (women cover up, no booze, even for Palestinian Christians, who will be harassed for not being Moslem, and so on). Hamas has its factions, and several of them are eager to begin killing Israelis again (so far, about 550 Israelis have died as a result of Hamas terror attacks). Israel is prepared to fight Hamas, and destroy it as an organization. The next round of fighting between Israel and Hamas will be against a Palestinian government, not just a terrorist organization. As a government, Hamas has a lot more targets for the Israelis to go after. Hamas is a bigger target now, and a more vulnerable one.
February 2, 2006: Gunmen from al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades seized a Palestinian television station building in Ramallah. Apparently this was part of a salary dispute. Terrorist gunmen are often used as enforcers in commercial and labor disputes.
January 31, 2006: Palestinian gunmen briefly shut down EU aid offices in Gaza, to protest Danish anti-terrorism cartoons. These cartoons have been deemed, by Moslems, to be offensive to Moslems and have thus sparked protests throughout the Moslem world.
In the West Bank, Israeli police continued to hunt down Palestinian terrorists, killing a Islamic Jihad leader, and arresting several others. Also on the West Bank, over 5,000 Israel security troops were brought in to clear Jewish settlers from an illegal settlement. There were 230 injuries (a third of them police) before this was accomplished.
January 30, 2006: Germany admitted they had agreed to sell Israel two submarines, for $610 million each. Moreover, Germany would cover a third of the cost, as a further atonement for German crimes against Jews during World War II.
January 29, 2006: Fatah party gunmen and police stormed the Palestinian parliament building, as a protest over losing their jobs. The gunmen left after about twenty minutes.