June 3, 2007: The fighting in Lebanon, between Lebanese troops and about 200 al Qaeda (Fatah al Islam) militants in a Palestinian refugee camp, continues. Over a hundred people have been killed so far (about 60 al Qaeda, 37 soldiers and 20 civilians). About 400 homes in the camp have been killed. Most of the 36,000 residents have fled the refugee camp, but thousands refuse to leave. Yesterday, the government began using helicopter gunships against the militants. The terrorists have been told that the army will not wait much longer before coming into the camp. But the terrorists insist they will fight to the death. The militants are considered a front for Syria and Iran. Syria, and Iran-backed Hizbollah, oppose Lebanese action against the militants. Syria, Iran and Hizbollah also oppose UN attempts to bring to justice those terrorists who killed former prime minister Hariri in 2005. The killers have been tracked back to Syria, as part of a wider campaign to kill or intimidate anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon.

June 2, 2007: There are about 80 percent fewer rockets being fired into Israel from Gaza, with only two or three landing near the Israeli town of Sderot each day. The Palestinians are calling it an undeclared truce, Israelis are calling it terrorists suffering from weeks of heavy artillery and missile attacks. Israeli intelligence networks inside Gaza have been more successful, as the popularity of Palestinian terror groups declines. The Israelis are getting better intel about where the key bad guys are, and when they people are killed, terrorist operations are greatly hampered.

June 1, 2007: Islamic militants in Gaza have threatened to kill women who read the news on television, unless these women wear "Islamic dress." This apparently means hiding their faces, as many of the women news readers already wear a headscarf. These same militants have been threatening stores that sell videos or what they consider "un-Islamic material." Some of these stores have been attacked and destroyed.

May 31, 2007: In the second half of May, Palestinian terrorists fired over 300 Kassam rockets into southern Israel. Most were aimed at the Israeli town of Sderot. Israel has an early warning system, which means the people of Sderot are constantly responding to the alerts (by running for cover). Not all the incoming rockets are detected, so nearly half the towns population has developed psychological problems related to anxiety and stress. During the last three weeks, two people in Sderot have been killed, and sixteen wounded. In six years of Kassam attacks, Sderot has suffered eleven dead and over a hundred injured. For the towns 23,000 residents, the recent increase in Kassam attacks have proved too much, and over a third of the population has left.

In response, Israel launched 68 attacks on specific terrorist targets in Gaza during the last two weeks, leaving fifty dead and nearly 200 wounded. About half (30) of those were between 24-27 May. That series of strikes killed seven people, and wounded 35. One of the dead and several of the wounded were civilians. The Palestinian terrorists know the Israeli rules of engagement put a premium on avoiding civilian casualties, and so they try to keep their key people surrounded by civilians as much as possible. That way, the Israelis may call off the strike, or, if they do proceed, the civilian casualties make great photo-opportunities for Palestinian propaganda and foreign media. This works, insofar as the UN declared that Israel had used "disproportionate force" during this period. Israel, being a democracy, has to respond to attacks on its civilians. The UN is responding to an attitude that recognizes Arabs as inept losers who can't do anything right, and the Israelis as a much more together group who should know better. In other words, it's all Israels fault.

Inside Gaza, the May 19th ceasefire is holding, more or less. The Palestinians are fed up with the inability of their elected, or self-selected, leaders to govern. Many Gaza residents openly speak of how much better things were when Gaza was under Israeli occupation, and why can't the Palestinians govern themselves. Hamas was seen as the last hope for an effective Palestinian government. Now Hamas is considered another bunch of loud, but inept, activists. Moreover, Hamas is more into violence, not just against Israelis (which most Palestinians don't mind), but against Palestinians who disagree with them (something Palestinians do mind.)

May 30, 2007: Norway has become the first European nation to recognize the new Palestinian coalition government, and has given the Palestinian government $10 million. Holland is planning on giving $8.4 million to the Palestinian police. Many Europeans are willing to overlook the Hamas goal of destroying Israel, and all the anti-Israeli Arab propaganda. For these Europeans, as long as the Arabs are unsuccessful in killing a lot of Israelis, the situation is bearable, at least for the Europeans.

May 29, 2007: In late 2000, the Palestinian Authority didn't just turn down an Israeli peace deal, but declared war, and began a terror campaign that has turned out disastrously for the Palestinians. Since 2000, Palestinian GDP has declined by 40 percent. Unemployment is 24 percent. The Palestinians blame Israel for all this, which is the result of Israeli travel restrictions. These were one part of a counter-terror campaign that defeated the Palestinian terror attacks. The Palestinians refuse to take responsibility for the terror attacks, or do anything to stop them. Palestinian media still calls for the destruction of Israel, praises dead terrorists as heroes, and proclaims any damage done to Israel by the terrorists as a great victory. Thus two dead Israelis, from over 300 rockets fired at the town of Sderot, is hailed as a big deal. Fatah and Hamas are still squabbling over how to share power, and give much less attention to a peace deal with Israel.