Middle East Rules

Israel has rounded up 60 Hamas officials so far. It looks to me like Israel is finally playing by Middle East rules. Kidnap one of ours and we will kidnap as many of yours as we can lay our hands on. Then we negotiate a swap.

In an unprecedented operation, the IDF arrested overnight Wednesday over 60 senior Hamas members throughout the West Bank, including ministers in the Palestinian Authority parliament.

Detainees included such senior figures as Finance Minister Omar Abdel Azek, Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti, and parliament member Mohamemd Abu Teir.

PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh convened an emergency meeting of government members in Gaza early Thursday morning. An unofficial response said that, ""Israel is targeting Hamas' political wing, which wasn't involved in the kidnapping [of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit]."

Boo frickn hoo. Cry me a river. Two wings? We can fix that. Kill the whole bird.

Many Israelis have been saying Olmert is a pussycat. He recently said that due to the kidnapping of Shalit there were no limits. This time I think he means it.

BTW an Israeli commentator calls it Lebanese Rules.

Up to the minute updates on Operation Summer Rain from Israelis:

Israelly Cool
Vital Perspective

Technorati:
Israel, Shalit, Olmert, Palistinians, Middle East, Hamas, Middle East Rules, Lebanese Rules