Israel: Victory Without Peace

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July 15, 2011:  Overnight, Israeli warplanes struck six terrorist targets in Gaza, in response to the rocket attacks yesterday. Two smuggling tunnels were hit. Since the blockade of Gaza has largely been lifted, the tunnels are only used for moving illegal goods and people. During the last three days there have been rocket attacks or air raids every day, the most such activity since April. Hamas is supposed to be controlling all terrorist activity in Gaza, but can't or, in some cases won't even try (lest terror groups turn their anger against Hamas). Hamas and Fatah (which controls the West Bank) are facing a cash crunch as foreign donors cut back, in response to Palestinian refusal to pursue peace negotiations with Israel.

July 14, 2011: Former Egyptian prime minister Atef Obeid was arrested for corruption (for selling public land for less than ten percent of its worth so that he and the seller could share the profits when the land was sold again for what it was worth). Many Egyptians believe that the revolution is not over, and that most of those responsible for triggering the revolution (via corruption and poor governance) are still in power, and plan to manipulate the upcoming elections to stay in power. The Egyptian armed forces are seen as at the center of this conspiracy. The generals, for their part, blame the United States and Israel for the continued unrest, especially the growing violence against Egyptian Christians. The threat of a revival of the revolutionary activity has caused the government bureaucracy to "purge" itself of the those who appear most guilty of corruption and violence.

Pro-reform protests continue in Syria, where the Assad clan dictatorship persists in using violence against protestors. The Assad dictatorship in Syria, which is a Shia minority, subsidized by Iran, is running a Sunni majority country. The Sunnis, and some of the minorities, want a democracy. Iran is willing to kill, a lot, to prevent this sort of un-Islamic behavior.

Five rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel, in several different incidents.

Lebanon is seeking aid from the UN to back their version of where the maritime border with Israel should be. This is now an issue since Israel discovered $100 billion worth of natural gas off shore, near the Lebanese border, last year. Since Israel and Lebanon do not have diplomatic relations, and the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization constantly calls for war with Israel, the negotiations must be made through the UN.

July 13, 2011: Egypt fired over 600 senior police commanders, and accused them of being responsible for the violence against pro-reform demonstrators killed last January.

July 12, 2011: In Egypt, four masked, and armed, men forced pipeline guards to lay down their weapons, and then blew up a portion of the natural gas pipeline that crosses the Sinai desert, to Israel and Jordan.

July 9, 2011:  Three rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel. One misfired and exploded inside Gaza, while the other two landed near Ashkelon. These factory made (apparently in China) 122mm rockets, are the only type of Hamas weapon that could reach this coastal city.

July 7, 2011:  A Israeli soldier was wounded by a roadside bomb placed along the Gaza border road. Palestinian terrorists are constantly trying to place these bombs, but most are captured, killed or run off. Four days late, an Israeli warplane bombed a terrorist location in Gaza.

July 6, 2011: An Israeli UAV fired a missile at three terrorists in Gaza, killing two of them.

July 5, 2011:  An Israeli warplane attacked a terrorist target in Gaza, in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel recently.

July 4, 2011: There was a riot in Cairo, Egypt, after the court released ten policemen accused of killing pro-democracy demonstrators. Only one policeman has been convicted for the killing of 840 demonstrators.

July 2, 2011:  In the West Bank, Palestinian police rounded up members of an Islamic radical group that wants to establish a worldwide Islamic dictatorship. There are dozens of Islamic radical groups based in the West Bank and Gaza (usually officially). These groups are violent and unstable, even towards their hosts.

July 1, 2011: In Lebanon, Hezbollah has blamed the United States for the recent UN indictment of Hezbollah members for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri six years ago. Hezbollah or Syria was long suspected, and eventually the mounting pile of evidence led to Hezbollah (which is believed to have murdered several other Lebanese politicians who opposed Hezbollah's efforts to take control of the country.)

 

 

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