A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

October 30, 2007 Large Scale Action in Gaza is Inevitable says Barak

With the Annapolis Conference approaching, opponents of any talks have organized.  Hamas and Syria have announced that they will be organizing their own conference in Damascus at the same time as the Annapolis Conference.  The third participant will be Iran.
 
Meanwhile, the Hamas military wing has been flexing its muscle.  In a large rally its leaders said that by the end of the fall Palestinian Chairman [of Fattah] Abbu Mazen will be destroyed and they will be dancing in the Muktata, the headquarters of the PA in Ramallah.  They went on to say that the time is quickly approaching when Hamas will move from defensive to offensive operations.  Hamas is clearly threatening to either increase Qassam fire or resume suicide bombings.  The sphinx of Israel actually responded today, Minister of Defense Barak stated that the day of a major military operation in Gaza is approaching rapidly. 
 
The Israeli Supreme Court met today for nine hours in the case of former President Moshe Katzav.  The court was hearing arguments on whether the plea bargain reached between state prosecutors and the President was correct.  The session was very bizarre in that the state prosecutors spent their time attacking those that accused the President by stating in effect that they may have been lying and thus it was risky going ahead with prosecution.  What makes this very problematic is that if the Supreme Court vacates the plea agreement, the prosecutors will then have to go out and prosecute a case that they just put on the record saying they do not fully believe in.