The Conundrum, Part 11

Good to see that the French UNIFIL soldiers and Israeli soldiers are getting along and everyone is busy doing their job of disarming Hizbullah. Oh wait, strike that. Hizbullah isn't being disarmed, and the UNIFIL soldiers got into a dispute with Israeli soldiers and sought to prevent Israel from moving any deeper into Lebanese territory.

It is rather curious how the UNIFIL soldiers managed to grow a spine to stand up to the Israelis, but have thus far refused to take any action against Hizbullah including disarmament pursuant to UN SCR 1701 (and 1559, 425, and 426). UNIFIL claims that it has to consult with the Lebanese military before engaging in any actions, but here didn't have a problem stopping Israel.

Where was this backbone when Hizbullah was busy building its bunkers adjacent to UNIFIL positions? Where was the spine when Hizbullah infiltrated Israel across the border that the UNIFIL was supposedly watching to prevent such actions in the first place.

One gets the feeling that UNIFIL has two playbooks. One for Israel. The other for Hizbullah. Welcome to Israeli double standard time once again. All the while, Lebanese PM Siniora says that they're doing everything to disarm Hizbullah. Everything except actually confronting Hizbullah and making them turn over their weapons, that is.

This is curious. Faruq Qaddumi, Fatah's Secretary General, wants to topple the Palestinian Authority:

Fatah secretary general and head of the PLO politburo, Faruq Qaddumi, sharply criticized the Hamas and Fatah movements, warning that "their stubbornness will lead to fighting between Palestinian factions," and accusing those of taking in part in negotiations of "not wanting to reach an agreement."

In an interview to the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper, Qaddumi claimed that the lead negotiators between the movements "are not interested in reaching an agreement." He called on the Palestinians to overthrow their government "so that Israel will bear the responsibility for the lives of the Palestinians who still are under the fire of occupation."

I'd like to point out that Hamas and Fatah have absolutely no interest in peace with each other, let alone with Israel. Fatah passed on that opportunity in 2000, and the plight of the Palestinians has gotten worse each successive year as Fatah and now Hamas have proven that Palestinian leadership is anything but. Thugs running the Palestinian Authority set upon a course of conflict and war with Israel, and their fighting with each other underscores that the thugs have no interest in governance-only personal power.

The US still considers Hizbullah a threat, which should be no secret to anyone following the situation in the Middle East. Secretary of State Rice is planning on meeting with Palestinian and Israeli officials, but I wouldn't put much stock in anything fruitful coming of those meetings. Until Hamas and Fatah can come to an agreement on recognizing Israel - explicitly and unequivocably - there can be no movement on the peace process.

Syria is still backing Hizbullah and Hamas, which should give you some idea as to where their intentions lay. They can't directly fight Israel, so they're having their proxies do their dirty work for them.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres thinks that fighting terrorism is really a law enforcement action. Shimon Peres, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton all have the same approach. They're all peas of the same pod. Never mind that the law enforcement approach was a monumental failure, and treating jihadis fighting a war against us as a law enforcement action opens up a Pandora's box whereby the terrorists continue to maintain an advantage in tactics and freedom of action and movement while Western nations are constrained and limited out of political idealism and denial that the law enforcement approach was a failure in the 1990s.

Peres thinks that the IDF is unprepared to fight this new kind of war. I think that the politicans are the ones who are completely and utterly unprepared for this fight. They've chosen political expediency and the quick way out of the fight to deal with an entrenched terrorist group, rather than taking decisive and overwhelming action. Olmert's failures in the war are legion, but centers on his vacillation between aggressive action and measured responses and limited action. These constraints limited the IDF's actions and forced Israel's hand.

All the same, he does recognize the threats posed by traditional enemies like Syria and Iran. Specifically, he notes that Syria's calls for a peaceful resolution are empty since Israel has no intention of giving back the strategic Golan, from which Syria, or its proxies Hamas and Hizbullah, can then launch yet more attacks against Israel - and threaten Israel's water supplies.

Meanwhile, Israel has warned media outlets about the spate of photo manipulation and shoddy journalism.

The director of the Government Press Office, Danny Seaman, told the Post Israel reserved the right to act against any media outlets working out of Israel if they "fail to conduct themselves in a professional manner."

The foreign journalists' coverage of the Lebanon war was discussed, with the meeting focused on doctored photographs used by news agencies, Seaman said.

"This was something new to the world, but we've seen it before," he said. "We expect them to take precautions in the future. If they are not taking the necessary measures to maintain professional standards then we reserve the right to take action against their offices in Israel."

Palestinian protestors continue to agitate in Gaza because they haven't been fully paid by the PA. They managed to get partial payments today.

UPDATE:
We're now learning that the UNRWA is not complying with US anti-terrorism laws. What a surprise. By their actions, the UN is violating the US anti-terror laws relating to providing material support to terrorist groups.

In the letter, Kirk and Rothman cited a recently released United Nations Board of Auditors report that included a harsh assessment of UNRWA's management, efficiency and security.

Additionally, Kirk and Rothman called on Rice to do more to ensure UNRWA is complying with federal anti-terrorism laws.

UNRWA is charged with the mission of providing some services to Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza. US taxpayers are the most generous donors to UNRWA, contributing more than $100 million annually.

The Kirk-Rothman letter reports that UNRWA fails to comply with federal anti-terrorism laws. Repeatedly, UNRWA has refused to give names of Palestinian staff who left their agency positions to run for the PA parliament as Hamas candidates. While pledging to the State Department that they deny humanitarian assistance to terrorists, UNRWA does not check beneficiaries against a list of known terrorists provided by the police or Israeli government.

This is just the most recent problem with UNRWA, which has managed to look the other way as its refugee camps have turned into terrorist haven.

Another kassam rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel. No casualties reported thankfully. Is anyone keeping track anymore?

When in doubt blame the US. That's the Fatah and Hamas mantra. They can't agree on a unity government, so they're blaming the US for the mess because the US wont give a terrorist group any financial support in its ultimate goal of destroying a US ally-Israel.

UNIFIL is quick to report that Israel isn't complying with the UN SCR 1701. Funny how that works. Israel isn't withdrawing fully from Lebanon because its security isn't assured because UNIFIL isn't disarming Hizbullah.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Regev, Goldwasser, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.