Boker Tov

According to the JPost:

IDF retakes Dugit, Elei Sinai, Nisanit

Excellent commentary on the irony can be found at Joe Settler, Israel Matzav, Hashmonean, and West Bank Mama.

In Former Chief of Staff: Sharon's Disengagement a Disaster, Arutz 7 reports

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Moshe Yaalon, IDF Chief of Staff until the implementation of the Gaza withdrawal, said Thursday that the entire Disengagement was conceived to save PM Sharon from legal troubles.

Bill Clinton orders the bombing of a Sudanese aspirin factory and some flyovers above Iraq when the Lewinsky scandal breaks; Ariel Sharon decides to implement the expulsion portion of the Road Map because of fiscal corruption. Well, that's one reason, anyway. Yaalon goes on to tick down the list of reasons why the Disengagement failed.

According to the latest reports, heavy fighting continues in the Northern Gaza region at this hour. Israel National Radio reports that, according to the IDF, the military advance into northern Gaza will continue for an "open-ended" period of time. While the Army denies that Israel wants to "re-occupy" the area, Carl in Jerusalem notes,

But here's the biggest proof (from the JPost) that the IDF is 'reoccupying' Gaza, regardless of what it's called:

Among the soldiers poised to reenter Gaza were officers from the IDF's Civil Administration, whose job would be to ensure that no humanitarian crisis erupted in the Strip during the operation. The security cabinet communique said that the defense establishment had been instructed to respond "comprehensively and immediately to all humanitarian needs."

The Israelis all know what this means, but for those of you abroad, the "IDF's Civil Administration" is the branch of the IDF that was responsible for cleaning the streets, supplying utilities, maintaining parks and doing all the other things that a normal, functioning municipal government would do in Judea, Samaria and Gaza before there was a 'Palestinian Authority.' It's 1967 all over again, without the miracles.

There have been miracles, though; every time a Kassam lands in an empty area it is a miracle. So far, there have been no IDF casualties in the Gaza fighting. However, I am convinced that the true miracles will come when Israel as a nation turns to HaShem and begs for them with the spirit of teshuva.

My question is this: how is the current re-taking of Gaza going to effect the planned withdrawals from the West Bank and the planned dividing up of Jerusalem? The latest news report via Israel Army Radio, posted on Israel Matzav indicates that some palestinians have holed-up in a home under construction in Kiryat Sefer (Modi'in Ilit), claiming it is being built on "palestinian land." Police and IDF troops are gathering at the site, awaiting orders. How long will it take for the palestinian uprising to reach Yhudah and the Shomron? What will it take to bring the battle to Jerusalem? We are in the 39th year after the retaking of Jerusalem and the relinquishing of the Temple Mount. Is HaShem, in His precise timing, waiting until the generation of the spies with the bad report has passed before calling out leaders from a new generation to reclaim the entirety of Eretz Yisrael?

Operation Summer Rains, Israel, IDF, Gaza