Last night there was another terrorist incident at a check point on a road leading south from Jerusalem. Our road to the city was closed for a while. The attacker, an Israeli Arab, stabbed two border police, one male, on female, and paid for it by becoming a “martyr”. Israeli security forces have arrested nearly 3000 Hamas supporters on the West Bank since October. There may be lots of Palestinians there that hate Jews, but the pro-active operations of the security forces have kept the open attacks down to a “reasonable” level.
The official inquiry into the tragic accidental killing of 3 former hostages by IDF soldiers has concluded. No one will be prosecuted, but the entire IDF will be reviewing / refreshing the orders regarding when to open fire.
The pace of operations in Gaza is actually slowing, but not so much as to be very noticeable. Sometime soon I expect the IDF to begin releasing reservists who were called up for the war. Of course it’s dependent upon Hezbollah backing down, too. I believe the US has quietly warned Lebanon that America will not be able to restrain Israel indefinitely if Hezbollah doesn’t pull back north of the Litani River, as required by UNSC resolution 1701.
Yemen is still sabre rattling, and European support for the US Operation Prosperity Guardian is lukewarm. But active support has appeared from a different quarter. India deployed 3 destroyers to protect civilian merchant ships transiting the Indian Ocean, and Pakistan followed suit by sending 2 of their own destroyers to the same area.
The Israeli government is finally beginning to think seriously (or maybe not) about what Gaza will be like after the IDF pulls out. UNRWA might be exiled, but after the IDF leaves, who will take over? Could whoever it is just invite UNRWA back? One Gazan prisoner being interrogated put it very clearly;
“But Sir, UNRWA IS Hamas!”.
Wetherhorn 