Props and Tools Revisited

I recently wrote about how the terrorists would use people like Gilad Shalit or Alan Johnston as props and tools in their propaganda campaign.

I certainly wasn't disappointed. That's Johnston on the left, and Ismail Haniyeh on the right. Haniyeh is the top terrorist in Gaza and head of Hamas there. He's responsible for multiple terrorist attacks and has no problem with launching rockets into Israel in its war against Israel.

It looks like whatever differences between the Doghmush clan and Hamas have been resolved, and they will be working together again. I get the feeling that this was all a sham of being able to play bad cop and worse cop.

Carl in Jerusalem points out how his release came to pass:

Useful idiot Alan Johnston was released early this morning by the 'Army of Islam' after a 'prisoner exchange' with Hamas. The fact that Hamas regarded Johnston as its prisoner, and gave up members of the Dugmash clan in return for his release, along with the picture at the top of this post, speaks volumes about who Johnston really is and what he represents. While rejoicing with Johnston, Haniyeh said that kidnapped IDF corporal Gilad Shalit could be released as well if Israel will be 'reasonable.' I wonder how many murderers of Hamas members were released in exchange for Johnston. I would assume none.

The only kind of reasonableness that Hamas wants is the release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails in exchange for Gilad Shalit. Anything less has been unacceptable. Israel says that Hamas must now release Shalit.

There will be a demonstration on July 16 in front of the UN building at noon to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Shalit and Goldwasser and Regev who are being held by Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Alan Johnston Released

Alan Johnston, who had been held by Hamas or Army of Islam or the Doghmush clan (a group aligned with Hamas until recent disputes focusing on Johnston's captivity) depending on who was reporting the story, has been released. I'm happy that he is able to be reunited with his family and friends.

Charles Johnson wonders what Johnston might have to say about his experience.

I'm actually more interested to know if a ransom was paid or whether a quid pro quo was arranged between Hamas and the UK, BBC, Israel or any other entity/nation. That, more than Johnston's comments, will shape events going forward. For if a ransom was paid, that means that terrorists will be able to use that money to continue terrorizing Gaza and consider kidnapping an acceptable means of sustaining their operations.

Also, it's good that Johnston was released, but he was far from the only one held in Gaza. Gilad Shalit continues to be held, more than a year after he was taken by Hamas in an invasion of Israel that resulted in two other Israeli soldiers killed. Hamas has been holding him hoping to force Israel to concede a prisoner release.

Hot Air also has coverage.

UPDATE:
Others blogging Johnston's release: The Jawa Report, Gateway Pundit, Kim at Wizbang.

UPDATE:
Hamas is touting Johnston's release as proof that they're providing law and order in Gaza. Except for those pesky kassams fired into Israel, that is.

Summits and Realities

While the diplomats are busy with their summit in Jerusalem, the Israeli military is dealing with the reality of Palestinian terrorism.

The NY Times and AP would like you to think that this was a sudden outburst of violence, but if you've been reading my postings for the past month, you'd know that it is anything but a sudden outburst. Palestinian terrorists have been firing rockets into Israel on a daily basis. Those attacks apparently don't count and don't register in the minds of the journalists covering the story for the AP or the New York Times. It's only when the Israelis respond to the attacks on their civilians by going after the Palestinian terrorists in Gaza that hide behind civilians do they take notice.

The Israelis have finally managed to install a kassam rocket warning system in Sderot. We'll see if it does any good in saving lives; though it certainly will not stop the attacks. Eliminating the terrorists who fire them will.

The diplomats meanwhile, have realized that the situation in Lebanon needs to dealt with by strengthening Lebanon's border security. Hey, that's a novel idea - one that I noted last year during the Hizbullah war. Hizbullah and other groups were able to smuggle equipment, men, and weapons into Lebanon from Syria unimpeded, despite the presence of UNIFIL. I suggested that Israel's best hope to starve Hizbullah's weapons resupply routes would be to drive for the Syria/Lebanon border and seal it themselves. That didn't happen, and UNIFIL hasn't done the job since then. The Syria-Lebanon border is completely porous, which means that UNIFIL cannot claim to have demilitarized the border with Israel since it has no way of knowing what Hizbullah or Syria has been doing.

The border between Syria and Lebanon is highly porous, and there is no mechanism capable of preventing the smuggling of weapons and other materials, according to a special report by the United Nations' Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team (LIBAT).

The UN team writes in its report - signed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - that the means for border supervision are inadequate, including at the designated crossing points.

Israel has insisted for some time that Security Council Resolution 1701 - which brought an end to the Second Lebanon War - is not being implemented because the flow of arms into Lebanon from Syria is not being halted, as stipulated in the resolution.

In other words, the UN admits it hasn't been doing its job under UN SCR 1701, which is exactly what Israeli reports (and my postings) have been saying for months.

Meanwhile, the fighting between Fatah al Islam, its allied terrorist groups, and the Lebanese military continues. And captured terrorists have noted that they've been planning attacks against UNIFIL and UN personnel to further destabilize the situation in Lebanon.

The UN also says that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza isn't going to go away anytime soon. Food shortages are a possibility. Well, considering that Hamas is far more concerned with guns than butter, what do you expect? If you cut off humanitarian aid, it will force Hamas to either have to devote more resources to food and humanitarian aid, Gazans will get fed up with the situation and take out Hamas themselves, and/or the violence against Israel will lessen because Hamas will not be able to devote all of its energies to destroying Israel as per its mission statement and ideology. It certainly sounds harsh to reduce humanitarian aid to Gaza and it would harm those civilians living there, but we've repeatedly seen what happens when humanitarian aid is provided to failed states and regions - the thugs in charge monopolize the aid, and the fighting continues because money and aid enables the thugs to continue fighting. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Hamas is trying to create a humanitarian crisis. They know that the West and Israel will be pressured into taking action; action that enables Hamas to skip out on whatever culpability and responsibility it has for the situation.

Abbas supposedly claims to have outlawed unauthorized arms. Right, and who exactly is going to pry all those weapons from the hands of Fatah's thugs? Other Fatah thugs in freshly pressed uniforms? It's a joke. It's also something that Fatah and the PA were supposed to do years ago under Oslo and the follow-up agreements. It didn't happen then, and it is unlikely to happen now. However, it is entertaining to watch a terrorist group try to outlaw the carrying of explosives and weapons in public.

The terrorists holding Alan Johnston have once again renewed their threats to kill him. That shouldn't be surprising, and their calls to swap Johnston for three terrorists, including al Qaeda-types, is telling. Are the terrorists holding him trying to curry favor with al Qaeda?

UPDATE:
Meryl Yourish continues to slam the ongoing media bias against Israel. It's a daily battle, and she does as good a job at showing the Israeli double standard time that pervades the media reporting on the Middle East and Israel in particular. Sadly, you could take any of her postings and replay 'em any day of the week and they'll be accurate in their scathing criticism of how the media portrays Israel's self defense versus Palestinian terrorism (or even that of neighboring countries taking similar actions).

UPDATE:
This is along the lines of what I've been saying for some time now. The diplomats have been living in their own fantasy world and haven't learned from past mistakes, so they're making them over and over again. I've been calling the diplomats pushing this pseudorealists because there is nothing even remotely connected to reality in the choices behind their actions:

So far as it could have any merit at all, the idea appears to be "divide and conquer." This is the moment to embrace Fatah, against the outwardly more radical party the Palestinians actually voted into office, to have a "peace partner" who is scared enough by what Hamas has just achieved in Gaza, to welcome our embrace. Moreover, those "moderate" Arab "states," starting with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are themselves aware that Hamas is, like Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, now beholden to Iran, and that revolutionary Iran is quickly becoming a bigger worry for them than Israel could ever be. Surely, under these circumstances, hay can be made. Let's everybody who is frightened (and with cause) come to an arrangement that will subvert the ayatollahs.

It is one of those ideas, too clever by at least half, that has never worked in the Middle East, where all alliances are temporary, and no enemies are ever forgotten. The very concept of "national interest" does not exist among the Arabs. (I know that sounds strong, but it's true.) This is not only because pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism have successively kept an alternative to the nation-state alive, but because from the origin of modern Arab statehood, almost every Arab state has been almost constantly governed by a family clique. The Arab states remain today essentially dynastic, as well as essentially tyrannical. The interests being served are thus the interests of the clans -- whether Sauds, Assads, Hashemites, Mubaraks or the others. In each case the nation is perpetuated only as a kind of monstrous family business.

We nevertheless persist, in the West, in thinking that we are dealing with states. Israel is a state, and we can certainly deal with it; the Americans are attempting to create proper states in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the difficulties we are encountering in the latter cases are such as we would encounter anywhere in the region.

Read the whole thing.

Summit Talk

So, we're in the midst of yet another Middle East summit and Israel is once again making concessions that do not appear to make sense for Israel's national security. The Quartet is meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the situation. Among the issues to be discussed is naming outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as envoy to the region:

There was no official statement released after the meeting of the foreign diplomats, known as the quartet. A proposal to name Mr. Blair to a key new position for the regions has been endorsed by President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Heading into the meeting, a United Nations spokesman said the envoys had “no set agenda” and would discuss “recent developments and the way forward,” according to The Associated Press.

While there has been no formal announcement that he would become the envoy after stepping down as prime minister on Wednesday, Mr. Blair, speaking in London today, said that a negotiated settlement on the issue of Palestine is “essential” for world peace and he would do “whatever it takes” to help achieve a lasting solution.

“Anybody who cares about peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential,” he said in a news conference, according to remarks published on the prime minister’s Web site. “As I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about.”

As the representative of the quartet of world powers, Mr. Blair’s appointment would signify the most visible attempt at laying the groundwork for a Palestinian state since President Clinton worked with Yasir Arafat and Ehud Barak in 2001.

Yes, and we know how well that worked out in 2000. Camp David exploded in Clinton's face - Arafat got nearly everything that had been demanded of Israel and not only rejected the proposal, but never ever so much as offered a counterproposal. Instead, Fatah and the Palestinians launched yet another Intifada.

That should be the backdrop for any future negotiations on the subject - demanding the Palestinians start living up to their obligations, rather than forcing Israel to make still more concessions. Those concessions have gotten Israel no peace, and have reduced its ability to defend itself from terrorist attacks (see Gaza withdrawal or the disengagement from South Lebanon).

Hamas still holds Gilad Shalit and his health situation is still unclear. He has not recovered from his wounds sustained when he was captured a year ago. Well, they probably would have been healed had Hamas released him months ago, but that's not going to happen unless Hamas gets Israel to make still more concessions along the lines of prisoner releases. Egypt's Mubarak says that Shalit's release depends on calm in Gaza. No, it depends on whether Hamas can be forced to release Shalit without Israel having to release terrorists in exchange. Shalit could be released tomorrow if Hamas wanted to, but it knows that Shalit's value lies in the ability to obtain concessions from Israel that threaten Israel's security down the road - prisoner releases (both in the immediate form of terrorists back on the streets and the precedence of what happens when Israeli soldiers are captured).

Rockets continue to be fired into Israel from Gaza, including one that landed in a schoolyard in Sderot.

Israel has already announced that it would release 250 Fatah thugs from Israeli jails, in a bid to prop up Abbas, whose own thugs have no problem carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel when they're not enriching themselves or fighting with Hamas. Netenyahu says that the prisoner release was a mistake, which is true, but Bibi doesn't have a problem with allowing the Badr Brigade to come to Abbas's rescue. The Badr Brigade, yet another force of Fatah thugs, are currently in Jordan.

There is one possible reason that Bibi has no problem with this deal (and this is purely speculation) - getting Fatah all in one place makes it easier to track 'em down going forward should things go sour. It would keep Israel and Jordan on the same page as they've had closer relations than Israel has with any other country in the region.

Israel allowing Fatah to bring in more thugs eases the problem for Jordan - and the question then becomes what is Israel getting in return. There's got to be something that isn't getting reported in the media to account for it.

UPDATE:
The Army of Islam has issued a list of demands for the release of Alan Johnston. They want three jihadis released - including a spiritual leader of al Qaeda held in Britain and an al Qaeda thug responsible for hotel bombings in Amman, Jordan that killed dozens, and another jihadi spiritual leader being held in Jordan.

This suggests that the Army of Islam's links to al Qaeda may be far stronger than previously acknowledged. Hamas has also been implicated in Johnston's capture, so this bodes poorly for all involved. Al Qaeda definitely wants to increase its footprint in Gaza, and they've found a willing fellow traveler in the form of the Army of Darkness.

UPDATE:
We're beginning to find out just how some of these news outlets are able to get the news reports - and the attendant bias - because they're in bed with the very terrorists we're supposed to be fighting. Like those who would rather not know how sausage is made, the British would rather you not know what goes into making BBC news reports - and how tied into the jihadis they really are. In this case, the BBC is employing Hamas thugs.

It must hurt something fierce to see how Hamas has repaid that close relationship with the ongoing capture of Alan Johnston.

You can be sure that this likely violates all kinds of British law, not to mention journalistic standards, but what's a few laws or standards when they've got an anti-Israel biased scoop to run.

Props and Tools

Hamas has released an audio tape with Gilad Shalit criticizing the Israeli government. Go figure. He's being held by terrorists who are ideologically dedicated themselves to Israel's destruction and think nothing of killing Israelis. The only reason Shalit may still be alive is because the terrorists think they can get the Israeli government to release hundreds of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli jails in an exchange for Shalit.

No doubt the tape was made under duress and should not be used to construe how Shalit actually felt about the Israeli government.

In the message, posted on the Web site of Hamas's military wing, Schalit sent greetings to his family and said his health was deteriorating. He also expressed disappointment in the government's "lack of interest" in his fate.

The Hebrew recording can be downloaded from http://www.blue-song.net/video//shallete.rmvb.

"Mother and father, my sister and brother, my friends in the Israel Defense Forces. I greet you from prison and miss you all," he said.

"I have spent a full year in prison, and my health is still deteriorating, and I need a prolonged hospitalization. I regret the lack of interest on the part of the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces in my case and their refusal to meet the demands of the al-Kassam brigades," he added.

In the tape, Schalit also called on the government to meet Palestinian demands for a large-scale prisoner swap, "especially since I was in the middle of military service, on a military operation and I was not a drug dealer" - probably said in reference to Elhanan Tannenbaum, who was abducted by Hizbullah and released as part of a prisoner exchange deal in 2004 and subsequently admitted that he had entered Lebanon to conduct a drug deal.

Once again, we have signs that the terrorist group Hamas is behind Shalit's abduction and ongoing captivity. However, we have no idea when the tape was made.

It would also appear that the letter was writting by his captors and that he was coerced into saying those statements. Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, also believed the message was coerced, although Noam has been a critic of how the Israeli government has been handling the situation. Indeed, I've been a critic of how Olmert has dealt with the situation.

I'm leaning even stronger towards the idea of swapping humanitarian aid for Shalit's release. Gaza gets nothing from Israel unless Shalit is released. Why should Hamas benefit from Israel's humanitarian gestures while Hamas continues to agitate towards Israel's destruction.

At the same time BBC journalist Alan Johnston is now seen on a video tape wearing a bomb vest:


If someone attempts to rescue Johnston, his captors will blow him up. He's seen on the tape pleading with Hamas or the British government not to use military force to rescue him. He's also been told to say that negotiations are very close to succeeding in rescuing him. How much will that cost the BBC or the British government, as that can only mean that a ransom is likely in the works?

Meanwhile, al Qaeda's Zawahiri is urging Hamas to make Gaza an Islamist state. Go figure.

So, Olmert says that Hamas is out to destroy Israel. If that's the case, why provide humanitarian aid that frees up Hamas to continue using its ill-gotten funds to procure weapons and continue its fight. Humanitarian aid simply allows Hamas to devote more of its resources for the fight against Israel than to actually take care of the day to day tasks of providing for the Palestinians living in Gaza.

This week's summit is sure to produce some mighty interesting demands on Israel. Abbas wants Barghouti released from Israeli jail. Barghouti is serving a life sentence for his involvment in the murder of numerous Israeli citizens in an array of terrorist attacks. He's also primed to ask for more weapons and armored vehicles. Yes, so Fatah could lose and hand them over to Hamas? Thanks but no thanks. Some in Israel are also worried about the folly of giving Fatah weapons.

Others are concerned that this latest summit will be a sham. As I've been saying, it will be yet another opportunity for the other countries and Fatah terrorists to prod Israel to make concessions without Israel getting anything concrete in return. Vague promises to fight terrorism are insufficient. Fatah is unwilling to make a real peace with Israel since it calls for Israel's destruction. It has refused to eliminate provisions in its charter calling for Israel's destruction. Abbas cannot even make that largely symbolic gesture, so how can they be trusted to deal with the more substantial actions of cracking down on other terrorists in the West Bank or Gaza?

Israeli airstrikes killed an Islamic Jihad terrorist and wounded two other terrorists in Gaza. The dead terrorist was responsible for firing rockets at Sderot early in the day.

UPDATE:
So, the ties that bind are far stronger than previously noted: Fatah thugs were cooperating with Hamas thugs prior to the Hamas takeover of Gaza.

Palestinian security official says officers received money from Hamas in exchange for transferring information on deployment of Palestinian Authority forces in Strip

"Dozens of officers in the (Fatah-affiliated) security forces are suspected of cooperating with Hamas during the Islamist group’s takeover of the Gaza Strip,” a senior Palestinian security official said Sunday.

According to the official, some senior officers have been suspected of cooperating with Hamas even prior to the decisive round of clashes with Fatah. He said the officers received money from Hamas in exchange for transferring information on the deployment of Palestinian Authority forces in the Strip.

This is yet more evidence that no monies should be transferred to Fatah or Hamas, as they are both flip sides of the same coin - terrorists dedicated to Israel's destruction who will use whatever aid is provided by Israel and the West to further line their own pockets and wage war against Israel.

UPDATE:
Haniyeh thinks that the release of the Shalit tape is an act of goodwill. Sorry, but releasing Shalit is an act of goodwill. The tape is an act of unmitigated propaganda designed to increase pressure on Israel to cut a deal for a prisoner swap.

UPDATE:
Physicians For Human Rights says that Shalit's captors must treat his ailments.

The Physicians for Human Rights organization appealed to Gilad Shalit's captor demanding they arrange medical treatment for him. The organization's statement said that "preventing treatment is a serious violation of the rules of medical ethics".

How about releasing him? Isn't that a better way to ensure Shalit receives the kind of care he should be getting - complete with the moral and physical of support of his family and friends?

UPDATE:
Free Gilad is polling as to what course of action the government should take now that Gilad has been in the hands of Hamas for a year.

UPDATE:
Breaking news: Israeli PM Olmert to release 250 Fatah prisoners as 'gesture of goodwill'

Nothing good will come of this. Not the release of Shalit, nor that of Johnston. It will only signal that if Hamas and the other terrorists persist long enough, they'll get Israel to capitulate on their demands.

UPDATE:
It will be interesting to watch to see if there was a quid pro quo between Olmert's statement on releasing prisoners and whether Johnston or Shalit are released or other movement happens - particularly at the summit this week.

UPDATE:
Conflict Blotter has some indispensible reading today - both about the history of recent summits between Israel and its neighbors (short answer - no good has come of them, the long answer isn't any better), and about what Olmert may be up to - trying to give concessions to Fatah without actually making concessions. That's a neat trick considering the news of the prisoner release.

UPDATE:
Abbas, who also goes by the nom de guerre Abu Mazen, remains a thug, and those who continue to think he's the solution are pushing a fantasy. That's what I've been saying.

UPDATE:
Noam Shalit calls for a renewal of the ceasefire. Compare that with the ongoing Palestinian attacks against Israel. They aren't going to stop, and are likely to be emboldened by the capitulation by the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Abbas is saying that it's a step in the right direction and that Israel must start talks for a Palestinian state. Hey, here's a news flash. Gaza is already in Palestinian hands - just not Fatah's. They're using it to go to war against Israel, and aren't willing to settle for just Gaza. They want the West Bank too. And Israel.

Egypt says that they'll renew efforts to mediate a deal between Hamas and Israel. Hamas says that Shalit's captors are treating him well. Israel's medical community could do a much better job at that, but they'll hold on to him until they get what they want.