Israel is growing impatient with the situation along the Egyptian border with Gaza. The issue of smuggling tunnels is out of control, and with the Palestinians completely unwilling or incapable of shutting down the tunnel operations, Israel may have no choice but to target the Philadelphi route with precision guided munitions to destroy the tunnels. More than 15 tunnels have been discovered in just the past week.
The situation isn't going to get any better as Hamas and Fatah continue to smuggle in arms and personnel to aid in their fight against each other and Israel.
Meanwhile, Ed Morrissey notes that a deal may be in the works on Gilad Shalit's release. It would require Shalit's release followed by about 1,000 Palestinians in some time frame thereafter. Sorry, but that's the same bad deal we've been hearing about for months now. There isn't anything new to add here. The Palestinians have dropped demands for an immediate swap, but unless they drop their demands for a swap, this deal should be DOA. That it continues to be resurrected shows that the Israelis are not resolute on dealing with the terrorists who would seek their destruction.
The Russians are sending a separate force to Lebanon, and the Russian Foreign Minister notes that UNIFIL doesn't have the capability to disarm Hizbullah. Sorry, but they (UNIFIL, Lebanon, and the UN at large) simply do not have the political willpower. The capability was there, but the world told Israel to stop. The UN has told Israel to stop overflights that can track down Hizbullah movements, especially around the Syria/Lebanon border. UNIFIL will not disarm Hizbullah, and will defer to the Lebanese military, which reluctantly deals with the issue - by not dealing with it at all.
Meanwhile, the rockets continue to hit Sderot, though no one was injured in the latest volley.
Technorati: terrorism, nasrallah, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Regev, Goldwasser, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.
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