News From The Epicenter

Today's news seems to be concentrated in and around the epicenter:

Rocket Attack Rattles Negev Residents

Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza resumed rocket fire on the western Negev Sunday morning.

The IDF has not retaliated but, based on previous incidents, it will likely do so in the next 24 hours. Response to rocket attacks usually consists of bombing rocket factories and tunnels designed for terrorists to infiltrate into the Negev in order to kidnap or murder civilians and soldiers.

And, we see an important reminder:

...the primitive Kassam rockets have no guidance system, and their trajectory usually leaves Israeli residents in the Gaza Belt area in a situation of being unwilling players in “Russian Roulette.”

Gaza flotilla to set sail Monday despite numerous setbacks

The organizers of the Gaza-bound flotilla said Sunday that all operational ships will set sail on Monday, despite the numerous delays the flotilla activists had encountered in the past week.

The decision to depart on Monday was made following several days of deliberations on the subject, and the exact number of ships due to sail is still unknown.

Gazans admit said flotillas are unnecessary

Israel has maintained that the international aid flotillas that keep trying to break the Israeli maritime blockade and reach the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip are unnecessary, since no one is starving in the narrow coastal strip.

Now local Gazans are saying the same thing.

In a series of conversations with Gaza businessmen, Israel's Ynet news portal revealed that the Palestinians living there are unimpressed with the latest aid flotilla, the first ship of which set sail from Greece on Friday.

Palestinian efforts for sovereignty not limited to the UN

The Palestinian plan for achieving statehood this September is not limited to a vote recognizing a state in the United Nations General Assembly. While several overseas trips in the past month by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have been focused on enlisting countries to vote against the expected UN resolution, Palestinians officials are discussing other measures to increase the PA’s sovereignty – either alongside the UN bid or in the case of its failure.

Another move being discussed as part of the larger Palestinian plan to move toward sovereignty in the absence of a negotiated two-state solution is one rooted in international law. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has discussed the possibility of turning to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an advisory opinion on the bid for statehood.

Adam Yoffie, a recent graduate of Yale Law School, writing in the Yale Journal of International Law, wrote that after decades of being failed by the UN, “Palestinians are adopting a broader view of international law that is not restricted to the United Nations.”

The emergence of international legal bodies such as the ICJ and the International Criminal Court offers new opportunities to use international law to advance the prospect of statehood.

While neither a General Assembly resolution nor an advisory opinion by the ICJ would infer de facto statehood or sovereignty on the PA, he argued, it “would serve as another crucial, falling domino in the greater push toward statehood.”

Syria Fails to Deflect Criticism Onto 'Israeli Occupation'

Syria attempted to shift international focus from President Bashar Al Assad's brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in his country by raising Israel's 'occupation' of the Golan Heights.

"The real role of the Security Council is to end the illegal occupation of Israel and the Golan," Syrian ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari argued

The discussion veered to Assad's domestic woes after Ron Prosor, Israel's new ambassador to the UN, accused Syria of sending protesters to the border to provoke Israel and violate its territory.

France's permanent representative to the UN, Gerard Aruad, also took aim at Syria and steamrollered over Jaafari's objections calling them 'hypoctitical' before going on to lambaste Assad's brutal police crackdown at great length.

"The council can not accept the hypocrisy of Syria exploiting the Palestinians to divert international criticism from Syria's internal problems. This attempt to divert international attention will not distract us from the repressive measure's Assad's regime has taken against its citizens," said Araud.

Interestingly, Syria's plan was observed by others as well.

Britain's ambassador also expressed concern over the violence employed by the regime and the riots at the Israeli-Syrian border. Germany's ambassador joined Britain its its concerns about the incidents at the border.

"The protesters were not able to get to the border without the consent of the Syrian regime, and leaders keep sending people to the border of Israel. They encouraged protesters to reach the border of Israel," Dr. Peter Wittig, Germany's permanent representative to the United Nations said.

"Syria was trying to trigger a flare-up at the border to divert attention from its internal problems. It was behind these provocations" Wittig added bluntly.

America bows before Muslim Brotherhood's rising power

The Obama Administration on Wednesday signaled that it will reestablish official ties with Egypt's rising Islamist power, the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood, while not actively involved in terrorism at present, has a very violent past and continues to support allied terror groups across the region. The Brotherhood also has a stated long-term goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate, first in Egypt, then stretching across the Middle East, and finally encompassing the whole world.

But first, the Muslim Brotherhood wants to see Egypt return to a state of war with Israel, an entity that it sees as a blight on the Muslim Middle East.

There is concern in Israel that if Washington can succumb to pressure to accept the Muslim Brotherhood, it may eventually open its arms to Hamas and Hizballah, too. After all, both of those groups also wield considerable political clout in their respective societies.

Iran: UN sanctions can't slow missile advancements

Iran's defense minister says the country's missile development shows that UN sanctions are ineffective and won't hinder defense programs.

Gen. Ahmad Vahidi says Iran's missile program is "indigenous" and has no reliance on foreign countries.

Iran on Monday unveiled underground silos that can carry missiles capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases.

State TV broadcast footage of deep underground silos, claiming that medium- and long-range missiles stored in them are ready to launch in case of an attack on Iran. The silos are widely viewed as a strategic asset for Iran in the event of a U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities.