May 29, 2006:
UN peace monitors on the Lebanese border have persuaded Islamic terrorists in Lebanon to stop firing rockets into Israel, at least for the moment. In Jerusalem, Israeli police arrested two suicide bombers, and the 15 pound explosive belt they were carrying. The police acted on a tip. Hamas has still not been able to make the public payroll, but Israel is letting emergency food and medical supplies in. No one will starve, but no one will do much else either.
May 28, 2006: Someone fired two rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel, wounding two Israelis. No one took responsibility, but terrorist group Hizbollah controls the border area, and allows Palestinian terrorist groups to move around there. One of the Palestinian groups lost a leader recently, to an Israeli missile. The Lebanese government is trying to get Hizbollah to disarm, but because of support from Iran and Syria, Hizbollah has told the Lebanese to back off. Israel fired artillery at Hizbollah camps in retaliation for the rocket attacks.
May 27, 2006: Palestinian rockets fired into Israel brought artillery fire in return, leaving four Palestinians dead. Hamas put some of its 3,000 security troops back on the streets of Gaza, daring Fatah to do something about it.
May 26, 2006: In Gaza, Hamas withdrew its new, 3,000 man security force, from the streets. The Hamas force faced a much larger number of hostile gunmen loyal to Fatah. There were daily firefights as the hostility escalated.
May 25, 2006: Israel is supply several hundred weapons to Fatah in Gaza. Fatah and Hamas gunmen are skirmishing with each other daily in Gaza. Fatah has called on Hamas to accept a deal to recognize Israel in the next ten days, or else Fatah, which holds the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, would hold a referendum on the matter. Opinion polls indicate that Fatah would win, because most Palestinians want peace negotiations with the Israelis.
May 24, 2006: An Israeli police raid into the West Bank stirred up heavy resistance, resulting in a firefight that left four Palestinians dead. The raid did accomplish its mission of capturing another terrorist leader. In Gaza, violence continued, with a Hamas security man killed, while a Fatah military commander was killed by a bomb. This is the third terror attack on Fatah commanders in the past week. Islamic terrorists have been taking credit for these attacks. Fighting between Palestinian factions in Gaza has, so far this month, left nine people dead.
May 23, 2006: The top Hamas leader in the West Bank, Ibrahim Hamed, was captured by Israeli police after eight months of pursuit. Hamed was responsible for planning several major suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians.
Egyptian police accuse Palestinian terror groups of training and supporting Egyptian Islamic terrorists who recently carried out raids in Egypt. Apparently, Hamas hard liners are joining al Qaeda cells in Gaza, and have been freelancing. Jordan is also cracking down on local Hamas members, because it suspects Jordanian Hamas operations are supporting attacks inside Jordan.
