DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

IDF: We Know Where Kidnapped Soldier Is - Ilan Marciano (Ynet News)
    A senior military intelligence officer told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that the IDF has information pointing to the area where kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is apparently being held.
    The officer said the kidnappers had planned the operation for over two months.
    He also noted that Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal in Damascus was holding contacts with Ahmed Jaabari, the head of Hamas' military wing, who is considered to be the man behind the abduction.
    The officer noted that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail "Haniyeh is limited in his actions, because the significant decisions are taken in Damascus by Khaled Mashaal."

Israel Rejects U.S. Anti-Kassam System - Ran Dagoni (Globes)
    U.S. sources say that Israel has rejected an initiative by Northrop Grumman Corp. to jointly develop a defense system against Palestinian Kassam rockets.
    Northrop Grumman recently proposed to Israel to resume development of an improved version of the Skyguard tactical high energy laser (THEL) (previously known as Nautilus) to destroy incoming Katyusha and other rockets after launch.
    The system intercepted a Katyusha in a test in the U.S. in 2000.
    However, Israeli officials decided against the proposal because of the high development cost ($180-200 million) and the long development period (at least five years).
    In addition, the chemical laser produces toxic gases.

Israel to Provide PA with Ambulances - Meital Yasur-Beit Or (Ynet News)
    Israel's Magen David Adom will provide the Palestinian Authority with six ambulances bearing the Red Crescent symbol and Israeli license plates, MDA officials said Sunday.
    The ambulances will be allowed to cross IDF checkpoints with a minimum security check.

Montana Mother Fights al-Qaeda from Home - Francis Harris (Telegraph-UK)
    Shannen Rossmiller, 37, an American mother-of-three, has uncovered the whereabouts of al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan, tracked down an Islamist designing a nuclear device, and much more.
    For four years, she has donned a range of virtual disguises and uses her functional, self-taught Arabic to navigate into radical Internet chat rooms frequented by real terrorists.
    In America, the authorities have made several arrests based on Rossmiller's work.

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Observations:

Exacting a Price from the PA - Editorial (Jerusalem Post)

• The immediate challenge goes beyond better fortifying ourselves against attack, whether by missiles or through tunnels. It relates to ending the attacks. Such attacks can only be prevented if the price the Palestinian leadership pays for ordering or acquiescing in them is much higher than any conceivable benefit.
• The price to be exacted must necessarily combine military and non-military actions by Israel, preferably supported and supplemented by sanctions imposed by the international community. But if necessary, Israel must be prepared single-handedly to raise the price of attacking us to prohibitive levels.
• Hamas knows that Israel can deal a serious setback to the terrorist infrastructure that it has been building rather than dismantling, and that Israeli military action will mean that Hamas has delivered the opposite of the improved situation for Palestinians that it promised in the elections that brought it to power.
• Israel cannot become reconciled to a war of attrition with the Palestinians; the Palestinian attacks must end. And this can only be done by substantially raising the price of Palestinian aggression through diplomatic, economic, and military means.