All Is Not Quiet in Israel/Gaza: Presidents Keep Working

Nadene Goldfoot
We may not be reading articles about what's happening in Israel right now, but Ashdod just saw and felt a rocket fall in their neighborhood on Tuesday morning.  The IDF air force responded overnight by hitting 2 rocket launching sites and an arms storage facility.

That makes 858 rockets and mortars that have been shot into Israel this year so far.  119 of them were shot in the latest round that fell into Israel.  The Iron Dome also intercepted 110.  Dozens fell inside the Palestinian territory.

Besides this one rocket shot during the new ceasefire, Gazans were rioting near the border fence trying to damage it.  The IDF were forced to shoot at them and injured 7.  So the IDF must remain alert to problems that keep happening.  Jerusalem Post has an article saying that Hamas is counting on Jews leaving the country because they feel they have scared them enough to leave if another round of shooting starts up again.  They don't know the resistance these people have to their adversity.

In the meantime, Fatah, living in Judea and Samaria territory have Abbas who is going to the UN to become a state of sorts.  There already are 48 Muslim majority states, and this would make 49.    The United States will not be able to veto this as it'll take place in the General Assembly, but not surprising, France said they will go along with it.  What do they care?  They're not neighbors.  They're not involved.  What the USA has done is threaten Abbas that they will cut off  the annual $500 million aid if they make the bid without any negotiations and peace terms with Israel.

Why I"m against it is that it gives Fatah clout that they will use against Israel, making a solution even farther away; definitely in the time of the Messiah, no doubt.  Abbas is intent on retiring with this accomplishment, as he'll be 78 years old on March 26, 2013. If he gets this bid, it'll also mean his political survival if he wants it, as he took over leadership from Arafat when he died 8 years ago.    Only someone like Israel's President Shimon Peres, who'll be  90 years old on August 2, 2013, has the stamina and intelligence to keep working for the public.  This Polish-born dynamo is the grandson of a Rabbi in a line of Rabbis.  He seems to know how to live with stress, and is in good shape.

Resource:  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4304605,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimon_Peres
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-28/abbas-tries-to-outflank-hamas-with-return-to-un-statehood-bid

Gaza Palestinians For Neighbors, Not

The 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip want to become neighbors and have their own government alongside of Israel. To show their friendliness, they continually shot kassam rockets into Israel and kidnapped several Israeli soldiers. Yet they knew they were dependent on Israel since all its fuel and medical supplies have to come through Israel.

Naturally, when shelling started from Gaza, Israel was forced to close all of its border crossing sites with Gaza. After all, the Islamist Hamas's charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, not an exactly friendly thing to do when one wants to move into the neighborhood. This included the Rafah terminal which lies on the border with Egypt that bypasses Israel.

80% of this future Palestinian state depends on foreign aid. They have not come up with the wherewithall to support themselves to any degree as yet. Right now they are living in poor conditions. They have spent much time fighting over who is the supreme ruler of Palestinians, the Fatah group who was in power, or the Hamas group who were supported by Iran. Fatah of course has won in this Gaza Strip.

Israel will continue to supply electricity and water to the people there for humane reasons. Palestinians have enough food in grocery stores to last for several weeks. With all the internal killings going on, Palestinians need a steady supply of blood, which was running low as of yesterday. Early in the week blood was brought in from Ramallah.

Israel said it was ready to supply humanitarian aid there. They wonder who will accept the delivery of such aid on the Palestinian side as at present they know of no one. The takeover by Hamas presents problems as Israel will have no dealings with these radicals who want to kill them, so they have no one to coordinate the border crossings.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat stated that the international community should make sure that no harm comes to these people and that their situation does not worsen. John Ging, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, commented that not only do they need aid but also commercial trade comes through the crossings that are now closed.

One would have thought that for people so dependent on Israel for so many things, they would have shown more neighborliness when preparing for statehood. Fatah is the group that refuses to have peace with Israel and they now rule. Palestine will have to remain on the back burner.

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