Ambassador of Israel Sallai Meridor made the following statement in response to news that the Obama administration has appointed Senator George Mitchell and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as special envoys:

“As the United States and Israel continue to work jointly on achieving peace and stability in the Middle East, and of countering the common threat of terrorism and state sponsors of terror from acquiring nuclear weapons, we warmly welcome and congratulate Senator George Mitchell on his appointment as special envoy for Middle East peace.

“Israel holds Senator Mitchell in high regard and looks forward to working with him on taking the next steps towards realizing a future of peace and security for Israel and her neighbors.

“I would also like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke on his appointment as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ambassador Holbrooke has been a longstanding friend of Israel and we wish him every success.”

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Much has been made of Hamas’s use of tunnels to smuggle arms and fighters into the Gaza Strip.  They also used these tunnels to shoot Qassam rockets and hide from the IDF.  The following, from Newsweek (emphasis added):

“They [the Israelis] were claiming there are tunnels under here,” she said. Hamas fighters use tunnels, often short ones that are little more than bunkers, to pop out and launch attacks and then get back in, hiding from Israel’s ubiquitous surveillance drones, reemerging in a house or backyard as an unarmed civilian. “There aren’t any tunnels around here, we are not resistance,” she said. Yet not more than 20 feet away from Najah, there was just such a tunnel, which Israeli troops had unearthed. Right in the middle of the road, it had a convincingly camouflaged roof that matched the rest of the road. Inside it was shored up with timbers and concrete.

In similar news, the Associated Press reports today that Palestinians are reopening their smuggling tunnels, some of which were damaged during the recent operation.  While smuggling Iranian weapons may not have restarted, this may be a sign of things to come.

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A report in today’s Corriere della Sera (in Italian) profiles some Gaza residents who say Hamas used some strong arm tactics to keep them in harm’s way.  For example, Hamas gunmen forced residents to stay at home while they fired at Israeli troops (rather than telling the civilians to run away).  You can read an English-language summary in Haaretz.

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