Sounds of Silence

There's still no word on Gilad Shalit's condition and the Palestinian terrorists continue to hold him hostage while Hamas and Fatah both try to extort even more concessions from Israel. Israel continues to pound sand and fire into empty buildings and kassam launch sites, as if that is going to somehow convince the terrorists that they must release Shalit.

However, the Israeli security cabinet approved a deeper strike by the IDF into Gaza. That will slowly drop the gauntlet on the Palestinians and further limit the area from which they can attack Israel or operate out in the open.

Palestinian terrorists continue to attempt to make good on their promises to strike at Israeli schools and hospitals. They fired a kassam rocket into Israel, and hit a school in Ashkelon. There were no injuries as the school was empty, but this again shows the fallacy of trying to negotiate with the terrorists.

A Palestinian suicide bomber was killed in the West Bank before he could attack Israelis. A six kilogram bomb was discovered and destroyed near Jenin. And a work accident" killed two other Palestinians. That's what happens when you mess with TATP and or cross wires when building bombs.

A Palestinian woman was arrested for planning to carry out a terrorist attack against Israel.

All the while, Syria looks on with its fingers firmly in the cookie jar. Israel continues to warn Syria of trying to affect the outcome of the situation in Gaza - as Syria is providing a safe haven for Hamas, Hizbullah, and other Islamic terrorist groups that are plotting Israel's destruction.

And for those that aren't keeping track, Israel isn't occupying Gaza anymore. It's under the full control of the terrorist groups Fatah and Hamas.

You know how Israel says that no matter how far beyond their legal or moral obligations they go (say, by giving food, water, and supplies to people who want to kill them) they still get attacked diplomatically? This is that.
Israel is not collectively punishing an occupied population. It is preparing to launch an attack against an enemy entity whose government committed acts of war and terrorism after being elected on a platform of warmaking and terrorism.

At some point, the international sophisticates who make a career out of demonizing Israel are going to have to come to grips that the Palestinians in Gaza are not under Israeli occupation any more. Not to worry - we're confident that the international press will soon form a consensus on what new Israeli policy they can use to excuse Palestinian terrorism.

UPDATE:
Palestinians claim that a child was badly injured in the ongoing fighting between Israel and the terrorists groups. As has been repeatedly noted, the Palestinian terrorists purposefully operate in areas where civilian casualties, and particularly children, are extremely likely. It is their modus operandi such that when the inevitable casualties occur, the Palestinian apologists can cry crocidile tears before the international media and denounce Israel despite the fact that it was the Palestinians themselves who put those children in the situation in the first place.

UPDATE:
Ed Morrissey notes the Israeli approval of raiding deeper into Gaza to deal with the ongoing terrorist threats. I think carving out a security belt from northern Gaza will not eliminate the threat posed by the ongoing kassam rocket launches. Only eliminating the terrorists themselves will deal with the problem, and the Israelis are reluctant to deal the fatal blow to Hamas, al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Fatah, PRCs and PIJ.

Israellycool has running updates, as does Carl in Jerusalem. In both cases, keep scrolling.

Meryl Yourish points out the AP whitewashing of reports about Hamas engaging in mass casualty attack planning that were thwarted by Israeli forces over the past 24 hours. The participants clearly identified themselves as members of Hamas, and yet the reports deemphasize that basic fact. Why?

UPDATE:
Also per Meryl, the high school where the Kassam was fired was not empty as some media reports were indicating. There were quite a few people in the vicinity when the kassam landed.

Every Israeli news agency reported that there were many people in the school, and one said that some of the students were playing soccer outside and were thrown around by the force of the explosion.

Apparently, the AP doesn’t rely on Israeli sources for information on events within Israel. I’m sure the palestinian spokesliars, or their UN/EU/ISM enablers, were happy to oblige them in this case.

UPDATE:
Via Carl in Jerusalem, Justice Minister Haim Ramon has confirmed that Shalit is still alive and is still being held by Hamas.

UPDATE:
The UN Envoy says that the Gaza siege violates human rights law.

Israel's military action, launched after an Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Palestinian militants, was a "disproportionate use of force against civilians," said John Dugard, U.N. Special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Big deal. You know what precipitated this current crisis? The invasion of Israel by Palestinian terrorists who killed two Israeli soldiers and resulted in the capture of Gilad Shalit but I don't hear condemnations of that action. Not only was that a violation of international law, but casus belli for going to war. Nor do I hear the condemnations of the incessant shelling of Israel by Palestinian terrorists. No, the only complaint is when Israel takes action to defend itself.

UPDATE:
Israel's warnings to Assad may be paying dividends. Assad and Maashal are having a falling out, if reports can be believed.

Independent Palestinian website PNN reported Wednesday evening of a stormy meeting held recently between Syrian President Basher Assad and senior Hamas leaders in Damascus.

According to the report, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal was ordered by Assad to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

The report, which so far does not have confirmation in other sources, says that Mashaal and other Hamas top figures rejected Assad's demand, and left Damascus for Algeria.

Assad doesn't want to be sucked into the mess created by Hamas any more than he already is. And Hamas is making that quite difficult.

UPDATE:
Vital Perspective has more on the kassam rockets fired into Ashkelon today. There were two, and one apparently caused several injuries. I'm sure that the Palestinians will fret about the infliction of injuries on Israeli civilians, but for the simple fact that the Palestinian terrorists do not consider any Israelis to be civilians. All are enemies worthy of being murdered. Vital Perspective also points to two op-eds, one by Tom Friedman and the other by Charles Krauthammer that are succinct and to the point. Israel withdrew from Gaza last year, and all the Palestinians have done is turn Gaza into a shooting gallery from which to assault Israel.

The Arab League continues to fund the Palestinian terror operations by transferring $50 million to the Palestinians. No doubt some portion of that money will go towards weapons procurement that will be directed at Israel's destruction.

UPDATE:
There's a few new developments this evening (8PM EDT). Israel is considering a security zone in Gaza. I'm not particularly optimistic about that as that worked out so well for Israel in Lebanon. No, what needs to happen is continued operations against the terrorists themselves. MSNBC is reporting that the Israelis fired on a car filled with reporters near Beit Lahiya. However, others are reporting that the circumstances of the explosion are undetermined.

Carl in Jerusalem reports that Israeli forces went into the Erez industrial park, and the Palestinians quickly followed - to strip the place bare.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Rains, Summer, cavaliers, wrath, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel