August 14, 2007:
Gaza has turned into a large
prison camp, with Hamas trying to maintain control of the 1.5 million
Palestinians. Hamas has forbidden anti-Hamas demonstrations, and over a hundred
dozen people that have been injured or arrested for trying. Government
officials who refuse to swear allegiance to Hamas are being fired, which is
causing more disorder. Meanwhile, Hamas does nothing to halt terrorists making,
or attempting, attacks on Israel. In response, Israel continues to maintain an
intelligence operation in Gaza, and the army makes raids every few days to
capture or kill key terrorists. About 50 Gaza terrorists a week are being
killed, wounded or captured by these operations. There has also been a
reduction in Kassam rockets being fired into Israel, caused by a shortage of
fertilizer (used to make propellant and explosives) in Gaza. Hamas has not
dipped into its reserve of professionally made rockets, preferring to save
these for a larger attack, perhaps coordinated with Hizbollah in Lebanon. These
rockets are stored in residential neighborhoods, which would force the Israelis
to kill civilians in order to destroy the rockets.
Meanwhile, Israel and Fatah continue to cooperate
and negotiate. Fatah is cooperating with Israel in identifying and arresting
Palestinian terrorists who continue to operate in the West Bank. Israel is
willing to negotiate a deal to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank,
and leave Gaza for later. But the Palestinians must be able to control their
radicals, or it's no deal.
In northern Lebanon,
Palestinian terrorists allied with al Qaeda, have offered to surrender, but
only to Palestinians. The Lebanese army, which has lost 136 men fighting the
Palestinians for three months. About fifty of the Palestinians are left, and
the army is demanding unconditional surrender.