October 3, 2005: There have been several clashes between Palestinian Authority police and Palestinian terrorist gunmen in Gaza. Perhaps a dozen civilians and fighters have been killed, and over fifty wounded in these clashes over the last few days. The Palestinian Authority is trying to avoid a civil war between the majority of Palestinians who are willing to make a deal with the Israelis, and the terrorists, who want to resume attacks against Israel, and eventually drive all Jews out of the region. Any peace will be temporary, as long as the Palestinian terrorist groups exist, because the terrorists refuse to give up terror for the long run. Even the Palestinian Authority continues to post material on its Arab language web sites (and in textbooks, and other media) proclaiming their ultimate goal of destroying Israel.
October 2, 2005: Israel suspended military operations against Gaza, apparently satisfied that the Palestinian terrorists were really going to stop their attacks against Israel, for the moment. The terrorists were firing home made rockets, while the Israelis were responding with artillery, and missiles from warplanes and helicopters. Some of these attacks were against individual terrorist leaders.
September 30, 2005: Palestinian Authority attempts to stop terrorists from attacking Israel from Gaza have run into some serious problems. Some towns and neighborhoods are completely under Hamas control. While the Palestinian Authority has some 30,000 armed men at its command, versus only a few thousand for Hamas, the Hamas gunmen are much more determined and reliable in combat.
September 29, 2005: Local elections in the Palestinian West Bank saw control of the 104 local councils split with Fatah (the traditional Palestinian ruling party) getting 61, terrorist group Hamas getting 28, and 15 for other groups. Hamas continues to gain political strength, largely because Hamas leaders are much less corrupt that other Palestinian politicians. Fatah got 54 percent of the vote, while Hamas only for 26 percent. Hamas was expected to do better, but Palestinians are losing enthusiasm for Islamic terrorism.
September 28, 2005: One Israeli air attack cut electric power to much of the Gaza area.
September 27, 2005: Israel continues air strikes in Gaza, going after what appears to be a long list of Hamas targets. A meeting of 13 Islamic terrorist groups agreed to halt attacks on Israel (for the moment). But the Israelis have not responded to this gesture.
