Terrorists: Security Fence Works

The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose group has been responsible for numerous suicide-bomb attacks inside Israel, recently admitted that the so-called security fence Israel has constructed along the Green Line border with the West Bank has complicated his group's efforts to successfully launch more bombings, according to an unclassified Israeli intelligence report citing media accounts.

"There is the separation fence which is an obstacle to the resistance [i.e., the terrorist organizations], and if it were not there, the situation would be entirely different," said PIJ leader Ramadan Shallah.

Apparently, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzuk agrees. He reportedly told Egyptian intellectuals and politicans: “[carrying out] such [suicide] attacks is made difficult by the security fence and the gates surrounding West Bank residents." Marzuk's comment suggests that not only the fence, but the IDF presence and their activities in the West Bank also help deter suicide attacks.

Vote McCain Because Arabs Fear Him

The continued existence of non-democratic Arab regimes encourages radicalism and terror and perpetuates the depravation of many of the Arab people, who derserve the political and economic freedoms enjoyed by much of the rest of the world. Now, leaders of those Arab regimes are coming out against John McCain's candidacy for President of the United States because he has expressed support for Israel, concern about Iran's nuclear program, and generally supports continued US political and military involvement in helping transform the Middle East. Because of Arab leaders' opposition, our choice for President this November is easier. Vote McCain! It's simple -- if he is the candidate Arab leaders want the least, then he is the candidate we need the most, to fight radicalism and promote Arab reform.

Egypt Should Arrest, not Entertain, Palestinian Terrorists

The New York Times reported on Friday that Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman hosted a delegation of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members for discussions on reaching a cease-fire with Israel in Gaza. Instead of welcoming the Palestinian terrorists with open arms and hot coffee, the Egyptian official -- whose country signed a "peace" treaty with Israel and is bound by United Nations resolutions to fight terrorism -- should have summoned his security men and arrested and jailed his guests for transfer to Israeli or US authorities. The US and Israel should demand that Egypt stop providing the political cover these terrorist groups need to survive. The solution to terrorism is not to strike a deal with these groups but, rather, to dismantle them and starve them of legitimacy.

Israeli Official: Expel Palestinian Arabs Who Support Terror

On Friday, Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter did the right thing. He said a legal and legitimate way should be found to expel Palestinian Arabs from East Jerusalem who aid and abet terrorism. A day earlier, one such Palestinian shot dead eight young Israeli boys, and wounded as many as 10 more, at a Jewish seminary, or yeshiva, in Jerusalem. Read more here.

Palestinian Terrorists Use Civilians as Shields

A new report from the public information branch of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) describes several recent instances when Palestinian terrorists in Gaza used civilians as shields to prevent IDF retaliatory attacks. In at least one case, terrorists had a child fetch and return the weapon of a terrorist shot by the IDF. On several occasions, Hamas and Popular Resistance Committees terrorists fired rockets toward Israel from within heavity populated areas and used mosque at weapons depots and as cover during IDF raids.

This information should serve as a reminder of the nature of the enemy Israel faces and of the challenges Israel faces in fighting its enemy while sparing civilians.

Terror Groups in Damascus Have No Fear

Palestinian terrorists in Damascus used to meet in secret, so as not to embarrass their Syrian hosts. Today, they held a much-publicized "conference," attended also by Syrian officials, in which calls were made to step up violence against not only Israel but Americans.

Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mish'al reportedly said, "I call for the pursuit of popular anger against the Zionists and the Americans until the blockade is lifted." Mish'al was referring to Israel's closure of its borders with Gaza after an increase in rocket attacks against southern Israel.

The fact that Syria not only allowed the conference but also attended is a reminder of how far Damascus must come before any lasting peace with Israel is achieved, and how fruitless and premature would be any Israeli concessions, or talk of concessions. Also, the explicit threat not only to Israel but to the United States must not go unchallenged. The United States should call for the UN Security Council to rebuke Syria for allowing organizations it shelters to call for violence against Americans. If the Syrian government continues to allow such gatherings, then the United States and Israel should use their intelligence-gathering capabilities to identify, track, and capture or kill terrorists who attend such meetings.

AP Presses Palestinian Agenda

Veteran AP reporter Mohammed Daraghmeh continues, in his reporting, to seek to advance the Palestinian cause -- this time, to ensure that Western audiences view the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the most positive light. Daraghmeh has found a PA official to public claim that some 300 Palestinian militants of the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have "turned in" their weapons.

"...more than 300 Al Aqsa gunmen have surrendered their weapons to Palestinian authorities and pledged to refrain from violence, said a senior Palestinian security official.... The official said 25 gunmen from Islamic Jihad also signed the pledge and handed in their guns, defying the group's leaders....

Unmentioned is that many of those al-Aqsa gunmen probably continue to moonlight in the PA's security services and have access to weapons there and that other weapons will soon be easily replaced owning to the illegal weapons trade.

Daraghmeh also reports that Israeli officials could not confirm the Palestinian claims but also did not express doubt about them. One wonders how many "officials" he asked, whether they are at all representative of the Israeli government's assessment, and why, after nearly seven years of fighting, could there not be any doubt as to the PA's claims. Surely, with no precedent for militants voluntarily giving up weapons, some Israeli officials are questioning whether in fact this, now, has occurred.

According to Daraghmeh, a Hamas legislator claimed that "more than 400 Hamas activists have been detained by Abbas' security forces in the West Bank" but could not say how many have since been released. Daraghmeh should have mentioned the PA's long history of a "revolving door," whereby it arrests militants only to give the impression of a crackdown while releasing them almost immediately.

In an effort to further bolster PA leader Abbas's credibility as having made good on his word, Daraghmeh adds: "Abbas said after the Hamas takeover of Gaza that he would not tolerate militias in the West Bank." Daraghmeh reports that the PA hopes to "take full security control of the territories" on the West Bank. Daraghmeh's agenda-driven reporting is intended exactly to leave his readers little basis on which to deny the PA what it wants.