January 13, 2006: Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has dropped "the destruction of Israel" from it's official list of goals. This was done to placate foreign donors and supporters. Hamas is gaining support among Palestinians and is trying to replace the more corrupt Fatah party in the coming elections. Hamas still officially backs violence against Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Thus the current change is cosmetic, not substantial.

January 12, 2006: Israeli police raided the West Bank town of Jenin, searching for terrorist leaders, and trapped a suicide bomber, who had his bomb on and detonated it, killing himself and causing no other injuries. Another suspected terrorist was killed when he tried to sneak past the police cordon.

In Lebanon, police arrested their foreign Arabs who were attempting to move down the coast, towards Israel, in a boat loaded with weapons. The men were believed to be Islamic terrorists trying to deliver the weapons, which included rockets, to Gaza.

January 10, 2006: Islamic radical groups are celebrating another victory because of Ariel Sharon's health problems, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The border between Gaza and Egypt is now the scene of more arms smuggling, with all manner of weapons coming in. Most Palestinians believe those weapons will be used against Israel, not in a Palestinian civil war. But Israel could easily battle its way back into Gaza. The Palestinians have never been able to must much effective military power. Years of hate propaganda against Israel and Jews brings out lots of young guys with guns, but they are killed rather quickly by the more professional Israeli troops.