November8, 2006:
Palestinians claim that 18 civilians were killed by five Israeli
artillery shells landing in Gaza. The Israelis were shelling because the
Palestinians had again fired rockets into Israel. The Palestinians believe it
is their right to fire rockets into Israel, and that Israeli attempts to stop
the rockets, are a war crime. In the 14 months since Israel pulled out of
Gaza, nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed fighting each other and the
Israelis. While the Israeli border defenses have kept Palestinian terrorists
out of Israel, the Palestinians have turned to firing home made
("Kassam") rockets into Israel. This has brought down Israeli
artillery and air strikes on rocket building and firing sites, and raids by
Israeli troops to stop the rockets. The Israeli operations have killed about
two thirds of the Palestinians who have died in the last 14 months.
Hamas
has now called for Moslems around the world to attack America. In the past,
Hamas has not done this, mainly because the U.S. was the major contributor of
aid to Palestinians. But most of this aid has been cut off since Hamas won the
election to run the Palestinian territories. Hamas refused to back off on its
call for the destruction of Israel, so, by law, American aid was stopped.
Apparently Hamas does not believe the aid will ever be restored.
November
7, 2006: Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza, after a week of searching for
rocket workshops and weapons. Israeli troops attacked nine different
groups that were firing rockets at Israel. The week of operations left forty
Palestinians and one Israeli dead. There were also the usual air attacks on
terrorist locations and leaders in Gaza and the West Bank.
November
6, 2006: In Gaza, a female suicide bomber attempted to attack Israeli troops,
but her explosives only killed her, and wounded a nearby Israeli soldier. The
Palestinians are increasingly using women, because Palestinian men are
generally ineffective in attacks against Israelis, and the Israelis tend to be
less alert with Palestinian women. With more Palestinian women taking part in
attacks, the Israelis will have to spend more time dealing with checking
Palestinian women for weapons and bombs. This will cause more of an uproar in
the European press, and help get the Europeans to intervene on the side of the
Palestinians. A week of Israeli operations in Gaza has left seven
Palestinians dead. The Israelis have been searching for rockets, and arresting
those known to be involved in attacking Israel.
November
5, 2006: Hamas and Fatah continue to try, without success, to form a unity
government. Hamas refuses to back down on its policy of making war on Israel.
This prevents most of the foreign aid from being delivered. Hamas apparently
believes that if there is enough fighting with Israel, the resulting
Palestinian civilian casualties will enrage the Palestinians, and cause the
Europeans to restore aid.
November
3, 2006: In Gaza, Israeli troops have over fifty Hamas gunmen besieged in a
mosque. Hamas calls for local women to assemble outside the mosque, and push
past the Israelis so the Hamas gunmen can escape. This almost works, but a
dozen women are shot in the process, and only about ten of the Hamas gunmen
escape. Hamas declares it a great victory. The siege of the mosque continues.
In
Egypt, police found two buried caches of explosives (TNT). One, containing a
ton of explosives, was apparently to be smuggled into Gaza. The other cache was
for the use of Islamic terrorists in Egypt.
