Israeli short range missile defense system

Since Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip in June 2005, the Hamas terrorist organization has launched thousands of crude but deadly rockets (mostly Qassams) into civilian populations in Southern Israel, including an estimated 35 in one night last week. Occasionally, these rocket attacks elicit a brief Israeli military response. Just as often, however, there are calls to fortify local schools and homes to help reduce the damage.

As the recent Qassam salvos indicate, Hamas cannot be expected to honor the ceasefire much longer, and Israelis are growing frustrated. Their question: where is the high-tech missile defense system, promised by Israeli leadership in recent years, to shoot these rockets out of the sky?

Filed under: Analysis, Arab, Arab Media, Barack Obama, Cold war, Egypt, Foreign affairs, Foreign policy, France, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, Holocaust, IAF, IDF, International, Israel, Israel Air Force, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, MidEast, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Propaganda, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, UK, War, West Bank, World

George Mitchell’s prospects for Israeli Palestinian Accord

Aaron David Miller, who for more than ten years was a top U.S. Middle East negotiator, says naming George J. Mitchell as the new special envoy for Arab-Israeli issues shows the Obama administration at this early stage is substituting ” process for substance.” He says the administration has “no intention of making major changes in America’s approach to the Arab-Israeli issue, because right now, the prospects of any sort of conflict-ending agreement between Israelis and Palenstinians are slim to none.”

Filed under: Think Tank, Arab, Arab Media, Barack Obama, Cold war, Egypt, Foreign affairs, Foreign policy, France, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, Holocaust, IAF, IDF, International, Israel, Israel Air Force, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, MidEast, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Propaganda, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, UK, War, West Bank, World

Gaza tunnels weapons highway

A half-dozen U.S. military officers and engineers recently toured Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Maan News Agency reported.

They reportedly are working to install high-tech sensing equipment to locate the smuggling tunnels that snake beneath the sands between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. Maan notes that the group is already training Egyptian security personnel to use the equipment.

Filed under: Analysis, Arab, Egypt, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, International, Israel, Middle East, MidEast, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.S.A, United States, West Bank, World

The Lessons of Holocaust

On this United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day, words may ease the pain, but they may also dwarf the tragedy. For the Holocaust is uniquely evil in its genocidal singularity, where biology was inescapably destiny, a war against the Jews in which, as Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel put it, “not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.”

This year, in the immediate aftermath of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international Magna Carta of human rights born out of the ashes of the Holocaust, and the Genocide Convention – the “Never Again” Convention which has tragically been violated again and again – we should ask ourselves: What have we learned, and what must we do?

Filed under: Think Tank, Arab, Arab Media, Barack Obama, Cold war, Egypt, Foreign affairs, Foreign policy, France, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, Holocaust, IAF, IDF, International, Israel, Israel Air Force, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, MidEast, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Propaganda, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, UK, War, West Bank, World

U.S. show change in policy not tactics – Iran

Iran said on Wednesday it would welcome President Barack Obama’s offer of a change in U.S. policy provided it involved a withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad and an apology for past “crimes” against Tehran.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking after Obama offered to extend a hand of peace if Iran “unclenched its fist.”

Filed under: MidEast, Arab, Arab Media, Barack Obama, Cold war, Egypt, Foreign affairs, Foreign policy, France, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, Holocaust, IAF, IDF, International, Israel, Israel Air Force, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, MidEast, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Propaganda, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, UK, War, West Bank, World

Bleak future for children in Swat

Many families in Swat district, in Pakistan’s embattled north-west, are packing up and leaving after Islamist militants began attacking schools, reports the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan, who is travelling in the region.

Can the security forces establish the government’s rule in Swat and protect schools against attacks by Islamist militants?

Filed under: Analysis, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Children, Islamabad, Islamic law, Kabul, Militants, Pakistan, Sharia, Taleban, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War

Palestinian attack breaches Gaza ceasefire

Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli army patrol along the Gaza border Tuesday in the first serious breach of the cease-fires declared by Israel and Hamas last week. The attack prompted Israeli counterstrikes and threatened the calm that has largely prevailed since Israel ended its three-week offensive Jan. 17.

Filed under: MidEast, Arab, Arab Media, Barack Obama, Cold war, Egypt, Foreign affairs, Foreign policy, France, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, Holocaust, IAF, IDF, International, Israel, Israel Air Force, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, MidEast, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Propaganda, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, UK, War, West Bank, World

Israel’s effort to topple Hamas has failed

Hamas Monday rejected an Israeli offer that linked the opening of Gaza’s border crossings to the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Haaretz that under no circumstances would the organization accept such a linkage. First, Israel must open the crossings, he said; then the parties can talk about Shalit.

Filed under: Analysis, Arab, Arab Media, Barack Obama, Cold war, Egypt, Foreign affairs, Foreign policy, France, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, Holocaust, IAF, IDF, International, Israel, Israel Air Force, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, MidEast, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Propaganda, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, UK, War, West Bank, World