Yesterday a report from a high ranking officer in the Southern Command was made public: Palestinians released in prisoner exchanges, he said, “always return to terrorism.” Always. That’s pretty clear, and pretty direct as the gov’t considers releasing more than a thousand prisoners in return for Shalit. He spoke specifically about three Islamic Jihad higher-ups who were released from prison in a swap with Hezbollah in 2003– all three are now involved in building up terror infrastructure in the Hebron area and in Nablus. “This is what happens when terrorists are released in such deals,” he said. “They immediately return to terrorist activity.”

This officer (whose name was not given) said that there was a major increase in terrorist activity in Judea-Samaria in 2006. Since we pulled out of Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians have been strengthening themselves for a future attack.

In 2006 there were 593 shooting attacks and 400 roadside bombs (up from 149 in 2005).

The IDF was very successful in thwarting attacks during the course of the year. This is something that should always be kept at the forefront of our awareness. The quiet is not because they’ve stopped trying but because we’ve been so good at stopping them (please G-d let it continue). In all, 187 suicide bombings were stopped last year.

“We succeeded in lowering the level of terrorism… This was made possible by our continued presence and the non-stop operations that we carry out inside the cities… “

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Now today yet more information of a most serious nature has come from the IDF: According to “high ranking defense officials,” Palestinian terror cells from Gaza recently went abroad to learn how to manufacture and launch short-range Katyusha rockets. One officer related that terror cells have decided to switch to the use of Katyushas: “The Kassam cannot undergo any more upgrades and the Palestinians need a new weapon.” The place or places to which the terrorists traveled was not identified, but speculation is that is was Lebanon (i.e., Hezbollah) and/or Iran directly.

On the basis of this new intelligence, Home Front Command is now formulating new defense plans. The Katyusha is both more accurate and more powerful than the Kassam. The Katyushas that the Palestinians are known to have carry a 12 kilogram warhead and have a range of up to 30 km.

Now, the question is whether the political echelon, which has final word on military decisions, is paying attention to all of the above.

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Yesterday I wrote about the alternate universe of Condoleezza Rice. Today I’d like to mention someone who is solidly in our universe. This is Barry Rubin. In his column of yesterday, called “Can you handle the truth?” he asks:

“Sure, it’s nice to believe that the radicals will be turned into moderates, that all the conflicts can be talked away, and that the swords will be beaten into computers and CD plays. But are we going to accept the reality that you cannot make deals with extremists and that the terrorists mean what they say? That the Palestinians are incapable of making peace or building a peaceful state? Or will all this be explained away because it is too unpleasant — and requires too much from us — to face?”

Now there are some first class questions that Sec. Rice ought to consider.

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Speaking of the State Department…

Thanks to Caroline Glick in her column of January 1, there is attention being paid to a cable from the State Department, which is 33 years old and was just released now, very quietly, by the State Department historian.

The essence of what is involved is this: Over the years, Fatah, founded and controlled by Yasser Arafat, and the controlling party of the PLO and (until this year) the PA, has utilized terrorist spin-offs to do its dirty work and provide it with deniability: Al Aqsa Brigades, Tanzim, and, years ago, the Black September Organization (BSO).

In March 1973, members of the BSO stormed the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, during a farewell party for US Charge D’Affaires George Curtis Moore. They took Moore, US Ambassador Cleo Noel, and Belgian Charges D’Affaires Guy Eid hostage and demanded the release of terrorists from prison in return for the hostages’ release. The next day, not having received satisfaction, they murdered Moore, Noel, and Eid.

Arafat denied any involvement in this and the US officially accepted his denial.

As it turns out, however, James Welsh, who was then an analyst at the National Security Agency, had intercepted a communication from Arafat, who was in Beirut, instructing his agents in Khartoum to proceed with the attack.

While interest was thus aroused in pursuing this matter, it was quashed, and for all of these years the American government denied having knowledge of Arafat’s involvement in this incident. With the release of the 33 year old State Department cable, this situation has now changed. The cable reads:

“The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, (PLO), and the head of Fatah. Fatah representatives based in Khartoum participated in the attack, using a Fatah vehicle to transport the terrorists to the Saudi Arabian Embassy…

“The Khartoum operation again demonstrated the ability of the BSO to strike where least expected. The open participation of Fatah representatives in Khartoum in the attack provides further evidence of the Fatah/BSO relationship. The emergence of the United States as a primary fedayeen target indicates a serious threat of further incidents similar to that which occurred in Khartoum.”

Quite simply, they knew. They knew and they preferred to cover for Arafat. Even though he had arranged for the murder of American diplomats and his people represented a threat to the US. They knew and they covered for Arafat.

Writes Glick, “… the released cable, which calls into question the very foundation of US Middle East policy for the past generation is simply stunning.”

She asks:

“Specifically, what does the fact that under seven consecutive administrations, the US government has covered up Arafat’s direct responsibility for the murder of American diplomats while placing both Arafat and Fatah at the center of its Middle East policy, say about the basic rationale of US policy towards Israel and the Palestinians? What would have US Middle East policy looked like, and what would have been the results for US, and international security as a whole, if rather than advancing a policy that made Arafat the most frequent foreign visitor to the White House during the Clinton administration, the US had demanded his extradition and tried him for murder?

“How many lives would have been saved if the US had not been intent on upholding Arafat’s big lie?”

Ponder these questions, please. There is a direct line from the State Department cover of Arafat 33 years ago to Condoleezza Rice’s current statements.

I recommend you read Glick’s entire piece at:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467639999&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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Please understand that this Fatah that was and is complicit in terrorism was co-founded by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who now heads it, as well as the PLO. Abbas was there and a participant in all the planning. Understand that in labeling him “moderate” and rushing to give him money the US government — perversely, obscenely — persists in its role as a party to this cover-up.

This message of the true nature of Fatah and Abbas is one that I have sought to deliver in a hundred different ways. I have recently completed research documenting ways in which Fatah is in bed with terrorism. You’ve not heard the last on this from here.

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See my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info

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