Israel: Useless, But Survivable

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November 6, 2007: The Palestinian terror campaign against Israel continues, even though it's now pretty much nothing but failed terror attempts. Most of this activity is little noticed outside of Israel. Palestinian media cheers on the hapless terrorists, as they head for the cemetery or prison. It's an article of faith among Palestinians that current failures are a temporary setback and that, long term, they will prevail and destroy Israel.

November 5, 2007: The Palestinians are particularly eager to keep firing Kassam rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel. While these attacks are largely ineffective, they are less likely to get the attackers killed (compared to any other type of attack.) Several Palestinian groups, including Hamas, are involved here, and so far Israel has been unable to stop them.

November 4, 2007: Over the weekend, several hundred Hizbollah members carried out military maneuvers in southern Lebanon. The Hizbollah men were unarmed, and moving about as they would if there were another war with Israel. All this was part practical, and part propaganda.

November 3, 2007: Israeli intelligence discovered and Israeli troops destroyed, seven smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. The tunnels are mostly used to bring in consumer goods (cigarettes, drugs and popular consumer items) and enable terrorists (and anyone else who can pay) to move in and out of Gaza.

November 2, 2007: In the West Bank, Fatah policemen are arresting Palestinian terrorists, or at least finding out where they are (and letting Israeli police make the arrest). This, and the release of up to 2,000 Palestinians jailed on terrorism charges, is what Fatah wants in return for peace negotiations. Such a "peace" would only be a truce. Palestinian Arab language propaganda (from Hamas and Fatah) continues to call for the destruction of Israel. Fatah is more peaceful sounding in English.

October 31, 2007: Israel has turned Gaza into a huge prison camp, and appears ready to keep it that way until Hamas halts the attacks on Israel and Israeli troops guarding the fence. Hamas just blames Israel and urges people to resist the oppressor. This inspires some amateurish terror attacks, which mainly tend to get the attacker killed.

 

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