Overview
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Israeli security forces continue preventing terrorist attacks in Israel . Qassam rocket attacks against the western Negev continue, wounding residents of Sderot and hitting homes, although there was less Qassam rocket fire in August and September than in previous months.
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Lately there has been a marked a significant increase in the number of weapons smuggled into the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian terrorist organizations. According to the media, at a government meeting, the head of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) stated that Egypt makes no real effort to stem the incoming tide of smuggled weapons, terrorist-operatives and cash from the Sinai to the Gaza Strip.
- In the internal Palestinian arena, contacts for the establishment of a national unity government have reached a dead end. That is chiefly the result of Hamas’s intransigent refusal (particularly the leadership in Damascus ) to accept the conditions set down by the Quartet and to make their hard-line position more flexible. In the background are the ongoing economic crisis, strikes, protests voiced by Palestinian Authority civil servants who have not been paid and the violent clashes between Fatah and Hamas (which have greatly worsened and spread during the past two days).
