The terrorist attack last week that killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers was even more cowardly than I had thought. It wasn’t just an ambush. The terrorists shot the Israelis in the back.

He said the four terrorists drove up to the Israelis in a jeep, had a conversation with them and that Amihai even thanked them in Arabic before he and the others turned to walk away.

“The girl said that before they started shooting they had finished the discussion and when they turned their backs and started to go, they [the terrorists] started shooting,” Rabbi Neriah said.

Disgusting.

Rabbi Yitzchak Neriah, a cousin of one of the slain soldiers, Cpl. Ahikam Amihai, 20, said the woman who had accompanied the soldiers on the hike hid when the shooting broke out and was physically uninjured. He said that after the shooting she ran about 45 minutes before she reached a spot where she could get a connection on her cell phone and call for help.

“She’s not hurt but she’s broken mentally,” he said.

I can only imagine.

These are the people that the world keeps telling us only wants peace with Israel. The “peace of the brave” is what Yasser Arafat used to say, referring to his commitment with his “good friend” Yitzhak Rabin. I call it “the peace of the grave.” That’s what they want.

Egypt Opens Crossing So Palestinians Can Return

Egypt opened its main crossing into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to allow more than 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims — including at least one official of the armed Hamas movement — to return to their homes there, outraging Israel in a growing dispute over border security.The return followed a month of increasingly bitter words between the two neighbors over Egypt’s policing of its border with Gaza, which Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni last month described as “terrible.”

The friction between the two long-standing partners in U.S.-brokered peace deals comes as President Bush prepares to visit the region next week with a goal of smoothing the way for further peace accords.

Egypt Permits Pilgrims to Cross Back Into Gaza

The Palestinians traveled to Saudi Arabia last month for the annual Muslim pilgrimage under the aegis of Hamas. Israel had demanded that they travel back to the Gaza Strip via an Israeli-controlled border crossing, Kerem Shalom, where they could undergo Israeli security checks. But Hamas refused to send the pilgrims back through Kerem Shalom, saying that its supporters could be arrested by Israel.Israeli officials suspect that some of the pilgrims brought back large sums of money and other contraband for Hamas. Israel, like the United States and the European Union, defines Hamas as a terrorist organization.

“If people are returning to Gaza without going through the required security procedures,” an Israeli government official said, “then that would be contrary to the understandings reached.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to exacerbate tensions between Egypt and Israel.

Another Israeli official said that Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had decided that the pilgrims would return via Kerem Shalom at a meeting on Dec. 26 in a Sinai resort.

In addition to undermining Israeli security, Backspin observes (from the NYT report) that the Egyptian action also undermines Mahmoud Abbas.

Not unrelated to Egypt’s perfidious behavior Contentions.Eric Trager notes that it is occurring as Egypt is cozying up to Iran. However he notes hopefully

Of course, with President Bush set to touch down in Israel and the Palestinian territories next week, mending Israeli-Egyptian relations is the last thing with which the administration hoped to be dealing. Yet much of what Bush hopes to accomplish in the Middle East before leaving office—particularly Israeli-Palestinian peace and Iranian isolation—depends on keeping this relationship stable. The good news is that Bush will also visit Cairo. Asking the Mubarak regime to explain its recent tryst with Iran should top that agenda.

That hasn’t been the president’s MO lately. More likely he’ll turn a blind eye. While it’s nice to see that President Bush will show some principle by not visiting Arafat’s tomb, he still continues to differentiate between Hamas and Fatah, though substantively there’s no real difference between the two.

Peace in the Middle East means never having to place blame on the Arabs.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Rocket lands near hotel in Ashkelon

Rocket fired by Palestinians in northern Gaza Strip lands near hotel on Ashkelon’s beach; no injuries or damage reported in attack. Police bomb squad says rocket might have been a Katyusha, as area is out of Qassam range

The justification of Palestinian terror against Israel has been the “occupation.” Of course by no measure is Ashkelon “occupied territory.” So what justifies this attack.

Coming so close on the heels of Egypt allowing members of Hamas to cross into Gaza unsearched, one has to ask if this is a Katyusha, did Egypt have a hand in getting in updating Hamas’s arsenal. And for that matter did Saudi Arabia? Remember Saudi Arabia arranged for the Hamas sponsored hajj.

Put simply have America’s “moderate” Arab allies taken an active role in aiding Hamas against Israel?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

I think the UN long ago outlived its purpose. Has it prevented any wars? Stopped any genocides? Stopped rogue nations from developing nuclear weapons? Really, has it done much other than send its peacekeepers out to rape little girls (and boys), suck up billions of our tax dollars, and regularly condemned Israel?

Why the current rant? Well, Libya is now president of the UN Security Council. Isn’t that special.

The Israeli mission to the United Nations protested on Wednesday the stinging absence of kidnapped Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev from a briefing held on December 21st. Ambassador Dan Gillerman issued a letter to newly instated Security Council President Giadalla Ettalhi of Libya on his first day in office and questioned why the abducted soldiers were ignored in a briefing titled ‘ Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.’

“Though the briefing rightfully informed the Council that the ‘Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is spending his nineteenth month in captivity in Gaza,’ it neglected to mention that Corporal Shalit has been denied any contact with the outside world, including visits from humanitarian and medical organizations like the Red Cross,” wrote Gillerman.

“Similarly, the briefing omitted the kidnapped Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, abducted by Hizbullah terrorists in an unprovoked cross-border attack on 12 July 2006, which also resulted in the killing of three other soldiers.

I’m anxious to hear the Libyan ambassador’s response, especially because we were told Libya would treat all nations fairly.

Libya will take Qatar’s place in the Council – Qatar itself has taken its turn as the Council’s president.

“We expect Libya, both as a member of this important council, and especially when acting as its president, to follow the Security Council’s guidelines,” Roee Leshno-Yaar, deputy director-general of international affairs in the Foreign Ministry told Ynet.

“We expect it to act fairly and without prejudice to all the nations in the UN, including Israel,” he added.

Shyeah. That’ll happen.