By Lee Smith, WEEKLY STANDARD

An explosion in southern Lebanon last week destroyed what is believed to have been a Hezbollah weapons depot. This latest in a series of mysterious “accidents” in Hezbollah-controlled precincts proved, as one Israeli official wryly remarked, that those who “sleep with rockets and amass large stockpiles of weapons are in a very unsafe place.” With the Party of God’s overland supply route through Syria choked off by the 22-month-long uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and Israel virtually in total control of the maritime route, Hezbollah’s stockpile is being systematically degraded.

Yet the arsenal of Iran’s other regional proxy force, Hamas, is growing. The Israeli Defense Forces’ campaign against Hamas last month in Gaza targeted Iranian missiles, including the Fajr-5, capable of reaching Tel Aviv and other points north, and destroyed most of them within the first hours of the conflict. But Hamas is already rearming, and it’s not clear that Israel or even Muslim Brotherhood-governed Egypt, which is ostensibly capable of controlling the Sinai tunnel networks through which Hamas receives its arms, can do much about it.
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This idea could have legs. But Jordan isn’t a democracy and the Westbank is, if they would only hold elections. I can’t see such a confederation without enfranchising all Palestinians (including in Jordan). The king would have to give up his dictatorial powers. The Bedouin would resist it. But if all this could be agreed upon, it would be no loss to the confederation if Israel kept Area C to the west of Ramallah. Jordan would thus be on both sides of the Jordan but Jordan has faithfully maintained the peace and could be counted on continuing to do so if a new border was agreed upon. Jordan has lots of land and could easily accommodate all Palestinian refugees. The biggest drawback to this deal is that it is too rational and Israel gets more than the world community wants her to get. Ted Belman

President Abbas may be pursuing a confederation with Jordan — a move that could finally break the stalemate in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
By Daoud Kuttab, The Atlantic Monthly

In the summer of 1993, I was granted a rare scoop as a Palestinian journalist: an exclusive interview with the prime minister of Israel at the time, Yitzhak Rabin, the first ever given to a reporter working for a leading Palestinian newspaper. Midway way through the one-hour meeting, I asked Rabin for his vision as to the ultimate political status of the West Bank and Gaza in 15 or 20 years. Rabin, who at the time, we later discovered, had approved the Oslo back-channel, took a puff at a cigarette given to him by one of his aides, and answered that he envisions It being part of an entity with Jordan.
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By Michael Ordman, JPOST

The second-in-command in Lieberman’s Yisrael Beyteinu party, explains his views on crucial issues in Israel’s foreign policy.

Yair Shamir, Deputy Head, Yisrael Beytenu

Many have expressed concern over the U.S. strong opposition to Jewish construction in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria. I think the time has come to release ourselves from such simplistic conceptions that insult American intelligence.

Most American legislators and policy makers understand that the strategic cooperation between Israel and the U.S. does not hinge on the Palestinian issue nor on the settlement issue, not even on the overall conflict between Israel and the Arab nations. Rather, it is based on mutual and common interests in the Middle East and the world over, such as Iran’s nuclear threat, counter- terrorism, missile defense, intelligence-sharing, battle tactics, defense and commercial industrial research, where Israel has a competitive edge over any other country in the world.
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The ceasefire deal, so far.

By Ted Belman

At the opening of the Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu campaign PM Netanyahu emphasized that he would do a lot for settlements and stressed Jerusalem is ours but Liberman was more specific:

“There is a dispute between [Israel] and the world. The dispute is over construction in Jerusalem and the settlement blocs.

The corollary to this is that we agree with the world regarding massive building in Judea and Samaria but we do not agree with them on the settlement blocs and Jerusalem. This implies that the Levy Report won’t be approved.

This point is driven home by the fact that Netanyahu made no mention of the Levy Report at a time when it was important to state his party’s intentions regarding it.
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Egyptian forces intercept 17 rockets headed for Gaza

By DAVID BARNETTDecember 24, 2012

On Monday, an attempt to smuggle 17 short-range rockets into Gaza was foiled by Egyptian security forces. The rockets, said to be of the French-made SNEB 68 mm caliber air-launched unguided model, were reportedly confiscated 22 kilometers (13.67 miles) south of el Arish, in the northern Sinai.

The interception occurs just a few days after the Jerusalem Post reported that “Israel and Egypt are carrying on discussions in Cairo that could lead to the further easing of restrictions on the Gaza Strip and prevent a swift rearming of Hamas.”

Following the institution of a ceasefire on Nov. 21 that brought an end to Operation Pillar of Defense, Hamas officials claimed that the agreement did not prevent them from continuing their smuggling efforts. “There is no way to relinquish weapons …. These weapons protected us and there is no way to stop obtaining and manufacturing them,” Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Associated Press.
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Turkey resumes NATO ties with Israel – a Netanyahu breakthrough

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis December 24, 2012, 7:13 PM (GMT+02:00)
Turkey dropped its ban on cooperating with Israel as a third-nation NATO partner at the 28-member alliance meeting in Brussels on Dec. 4, in response to a reprimand from Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen that the ban had “created a lack of confidence among the partners.” The same meeting approved the deployment of Patriots on the Turkish border with Syria.

Turkey’s consent to effectively revive its strategic cooperation with Israel represents a major breakthrough for Binyamin Netanyahu. As he runs for reelection on Jan. 22, he is constantly accused by opposition leaders of bringing Israel into deep international isolation. Turkey and NATO have undercut that charge
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Internal criticism against Netanyahu after second poll shows Likud weakened by attack on Bennett.

By Gil Ronen, INN

“Hamateh Haleumi Balikud (The Nationalist Likud Faction),” an internal group made up largely of party members from Judea and Samaria, criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Tuesday for his attacks on Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett.

The criticism follows two polls that show Bennett and his party gaining strength in the wake of Likud’s attacks upon them.

In a letter addressed to Netanyahu, the group wrote, “At a time at which the Left is crumbling suicidally, we would have expected Likud to learn from the Left’s mistakes and avoid unnecessary wars.” Read more…