[SunkenCiv]

from December 17th, note:

Gaza militants up rocket attacks as truce to expire

They ramped up attacks *before* the truce expired, and obviously, the rocket attacks had been going on throughout the truce. This Turkish-Egyptian initiation is DOA -- it says, put the "truce" back on, reopen your borders to your enemies, stop defending yourself.

[SunkenCiv]

Saudis and Arab League blame Hamas and Fatah for not being in solidarity with one another.

Saudi FM, Arab League chief blame IDF op on Palestinian rift
by Brenda Gazzar
Wednesday, December 31, 2008

In an apparent message to Hamas, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister and the Arab League chief on Wednesday blamed the divisions between Fatah and Hamas for Israel's attacks in Gaza, and urged them to unite to help end the fighting at an urgent Arab League meeting. "This terrible massacre would not have happened if the Palestinian people were united behind one leadership and one voice," Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said, at the opening of the league meeting in Cairo... The special session, which was closed to the media and lasted several hours, reflected differences in opinion between Western-backed Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and their rivals on the approach to resolving the Gaza conflict... Officials and pro-government media in Egypt and Saudi Arabia have responded by blaming Hamas for provoking Israel and accusing the Islamist group of being a proxy promoting the power of regional rival Iran. Faisal's words, aimed at his Palestinian brothers, were unusually harsh for an Arab summit and are believed to be targeted at Hamas, which recently rejected Egypt's attempts to facilitate reconciliation talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Echoing sentiments expressed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak the day before, Faisal charged that the division between the Fatah-dominated PA and Hamas opened the door for Israel to attack. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have both criticized Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, and have called on the two factions to unite, in part to advance efforts toward the creation of a Palestinian state.

[SunkenCiv]

Michael Scheuer writing for Jamestown.org:

• A Mujahideen Bleed-Through From Iraq? Part One -- A Look at Syria
• A Mujahideen Bleed-Through From Iraq? Part Two -- A Look at Lebanon
• A Mujahideen Bleed-Through From Iraq? Part Three -- The Case of Jordan
• A Mujahideen Bleed-Through From Iraq? Part Four -- The Case of Palestine and Israel

[I haven't read most of this yet, there's a lot here]