While Fatah-led Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah did their best to put a good face on things in Samaria, Hamas terrorists continued ‘business as usual’ in Gaza.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) officials announced at a briefing to reporters in Ramallah late Tuesday afternoon that “all” PA unity government factions were willing to hold their fire under a 72 hour cease fire.

The announcement was allegedly based on a proposal advanced by United Nations special envoy to the Middle East, Robert Serry, according to PLO official Yasser Abd Rabbo — who said Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers had agreed as well.

However, Rabbo did not specifically mention the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization in his announcement. That group has been responsible for numerous long-range missile attacks on Israel in the past three weeks.

Together with Hamas, the PIJ has broken every cease fire that Israel has agreed to. This time, Israel did not race to respond with an agreement — a wise move, given the capricious nature of the enemy with which it must contend.

Less than an hour after Rabbo’s announcement, Fatah’s ‘unity government partner’ Hamas denied ever agreeing to the deal.

A spokesperson for the terrorist organization categorically denied the report from Ramallah and said that Hamas did not, in fact, agree with the announcement made by Rabbo.

A cease fire cannot exist with IDF forces present in Gaza, Hamas stated. No response from Israel.

Earlier Tuesday, international media reported that a delegation of representatives from various Palestinian Arab factions arrived in Cairo for talks on an Egyptian cease fire initiative proposed two weeks ago. Reportedly, the PIJ had sent a representative to that meeting.

Even as these words are being written, Code Red incoming rocket alert warnings have continued to flash across this journalist’s screen, making it clear there is a far cry between announcements of agreements to cease fires in Ramallah, and facts on the ground in Gaza.

Upon hearing rumors of the possible cease fire, IDF soldiers in Gaza, meanwhile, told reporters in the field, “We can easily overcome Hamas.

“Don’t stop us now.”

I guess when you can’t have a real victory in your genocidal attempts to wipe out the Jewish state, mass celebrations over rumors of a kidnapping are the next best thing.

Yesterday Hamas began spreading rumors that an IDF soldier was kidnapped.

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor said the rumor isn’t true.

But Arab honor apparently needs some claim of victory, true or not. Just ask them who won the Yom Kippur war. Seriously ask, you’ll be surprised.

In the photos, we see the Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza celebrating the kidnapping that they hoped and believed was real. (Note all the Hamas flags).

To misquote Forrest Gump, “Evil is as evil does”.

Celebrations in Ramallah

Celebration in Kalandia

Celebrations in Gaza

Celebrations in Shechem

Israel’s Security Cabinet decided Wednesday night to continue Operation Brother’s Keeper at “full throttle” until three kidnapped Israeli teens are found and returned home.

The holy Islamic month of Ramadan begins this coming Saturday; during this period, observant Muslims traditionally fast during the daylight hours, abstaining from food and drink each day until after sundown. It is also time in which tensions usually rise between Arabs and Jews and often there is a corresponding increase in the number of terrorist and other attacks.

Earlier this week there was some discussion over whether Israel had reached the lion’s share of its secondary goals in the operation, in neutralizing the presence of the Hamas terrorist organization in Judea and Samaria. More than 360 arrests have been made thus far, with at least 250 of those taken into custody claiming membership in Hamas.

But with the primary goal of finding the kidnap victims still ‘up front and center,’ the security cabinet decided to move forward with the operation, albeit with due consideration for the local PA Arab population, given the holiday circumstances.

IDF soldiers are still searching daily and overnight throughout the hills of Judea and Samaria Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frenkel, 16 and Gilad Sha’ar, 16. The three boys were abducted from Gush Etzion by Arab terrorists on June 12 as they were hitchhiking home for the Sabbath from yeshiva.

In numerous homes and buildings, they have come across illegal weapons caches, hidden tunnels, previously undiscovered secret chambers, caves and cisterns whose presence was cleverly concealed by brush, rocks and in some cases even what appeared to be “ancient” agricultural terraces.

Overnight Wednesday IDF troops arrested a total of 10 Palestinian Authority fugitives during operations, including a terrorist who was tracked down near the southern Hevron Hills village of Samu’a but who fled to evade arrest. When warning shots did not stop him, IDF troops shot him instead, seriously wounding the fugitive. He was taken to an Israeli medical center for treatment, and will later be questioned by security personnel. A terrorist wounded while rioting against IDF soldiers during arrest operations several days ago in Ramallah also died last night.

It’s the 11th day of Operation Brother’s Keeper, since 19 year old Eyal Yifrach, 16 year old Naftali Frenkel and 16 year old Gilad Sha’ar were kidnapped by Arab terrorists.

Thousands of soldiers are out around the clock, searching for the kidnapped boys and putting pressure on the terror organization behind the abduction, Hamas. But they haven’t found them yet. Terrorism experts have assured journalists that the boys are “still alive… That’s the working assumption.”

Sunday night and the wee hours of Monday morning were spent hunting down and arresting 37 Palestinian Authority unity government fugitives in Hevron, El Aroub, Shechem, Tulkarem and Jenin. The process was not an easy one: each came at the cost of violent encounters with rioters as the IDF soldiers came to take the terrorists into custody. Since the operation began, more than 360 terrorists have been taken into custody — most of them members of Hamas.

Seven organizations linked to Hamas in various locations around Hevron and in Jenin were shut down, and eighty separate sites were searched meticulously for some sign of the kidnapped boys.

Hundreds of illegal weapons have been confiscated over the past 10 days, and IDF soldiers found numerous previously unknown tunnels and bunkers dug under Arab homes in Hevron.

Late Sunday night, Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh praised the terrorists, saying “the youth of the West Bank have restored honor to the intifada, the greatest legacy in history.”

Haniyeh’s Ramallah-based partner in the PA unity government, Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, said at his office in the Samaria PA capital the kidnapping was “unjustified and unacceptable.” He added that Israelis should see Palestinians in the same way, and realize they are “human beings like them.”

The Islamic holiday of Ramadan – in which observant Muslims fast during the daylight hours for the entire month – is due to begin shortly. However, Israeli defense officials say they do not intend to relieve the pressure until the boys are found.

An Israeli security official claims that Salach Al-Aruri, a founder and senior Hamas official, was one of those who helped prepare and organize the infrastructure for the kidnapping of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frankel, 16, and Gil-ad Shaar, 16, according to a report on Walla.

Al-Aruri, who has a home in Aaroura, a village north of Ramallah, now lives in Turkey and serves there as Hamas’s representative.

Over the past 2 years, Al-Aruri sent dozens of agents into Judea and Samaria via Jordan with money earmarked specifically for training to kidnap Israelis.

Many of his agents were caught as they tried to get into Israel from Jordan, but not all of them were intercepted, and were only recognized as Al-Arurui’s agents after they had already left the country.

The money that did make it in went for establishing and training of terror cells in Judea and Samaria.

Al-Aruri’s constant messages, in writing, to the terror cells he funded has explicitly been to kidnap Israelis.

The security official said there is no “smoking gun” linking Al-Aruri directly to the kidnapping of Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frankel, and Gil-ad Shaar, but this is what he has been endless urging and directing the terror cells he funded to do, over the past few years.

Al-Aruri also used charities to transfer money.

The security official said that Salach Al-Aruri receives his instructions directly from Hamas chief Khaled Mashal.

According to Yoni Alper’s Terror Watch the IDF gave orders to destroy Al-Aruri’s home near Ramallah.

The IDF also closed down two Hebron charities last night, both connected to Hamas.

Palestinian Authority security services assaulted a large group of journalists  Wednesday. The group was covering a Hamas protest against the detention of Hamas members by the Palestinian Authority at Lion Square in downtown Ramallah.

According to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom (MADA) a  Ramallah-based media watchdog group, PA security forces insulted the journalists, confiscated equipment, and prevented them from filming the event.
One victim, Filistin al-Yom cameraman Hadi Al-Dibbs, told MADA that plainclothes security forces attacked and punched him, then tried to seize his camera and prevented him from taking photos. Another man, an independent photographer named Mohammed Jaradat, said police broke into his office overlooking the square having spotted him photographing from the balcony. He was detained and police confiscated his camera. Others were beaten badly enough to require medical treatment from the Red Crescent Society.

In a statement posted on the MADA website, the organization said there has been a sharp escalation since the Palestinian Unity Government agreement was signed on June 2. The organization also demanded the Palestinian Authority investigate the attack and hold the individuals involved responsible.

However, one of the wounded journalists said he did not expect the Palestinian Authority to follow through on the incident. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he is afraid of government retribution, the journalist said those calling on the Palestinian Authority to show responsibility simply do not understand who they are dealing with.

“You want Abu Mazen to ‘investigate’?”, the journalist told The Jewish Press. “The Palestinian Authority has been harassing journalists since it was founded. Why do you think this episode will be any different?”

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahoud Abbas swore in what he called a new PA “unity government” today (Monday) at 1:00 p.m. local time in a televised ceremony in Ramallah. He apparently wasn’t confident enough to dare to do it in Gaza, and with very good reason.

“Today, after announcing the government of national unity we declare the end of division that caused catastrophic harm to our cause,” Abbas said. “This black page in the history (of the Palestinians) has been turned forever, and we will not allow it to come back.”

Initially, his new “unity” partners from the Hamas terrorist organization had declared they were backing out of the deal. But a few minutes later, Hamas official Salah Al-Bardaweel announced “the dispute between Hamas and Fatah has been resolved.”

Ministers who allegedly are politically unaffiliated took the oath of office at the inauguration, where Abbas vowed commitments and agreements made by previous PLO and PA administrations would be upheld. It is believed that he was referring to interim deals that were made with Israel.

There are a total of 17 new ministers, including five from Gaza. It is not clear how the Gaza-based ministers will join any legislative meetings, since it is unlikely they will be able to travel out of the region — nor are the other 12 likely to travel often to Gaza.

Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization, immediately disavowed the ceremony as a “unilateral” step and stated the terrorist group would “not recognize this announcement. Within the hour, he reversed himself, telling the AFP news agency, “We hail the national consensus government which represents all the Palestinian people.” He added the new government would enable the PA to “face the Israeli occupation.”

What a surprise.

Welcome to the Palestinian Authority unity government deal, the “Cha-Cha’ of the Middle East.

After a dozen or so leading-up announcements of how the PA unity government was “about to be completed,” Palestine Liberation Organization chief – and Fatah faction leader – Mahmoud Abbas apparently simply finally lost his patience and just set the wedding date.

Abbas heads what remains of the gutted Palestinian Authority from its Judea and Samaria capital in Ramallah, as well as the PA’s leading Fatah faction, and its umbrella organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In giving international media the heads-up that he would inaugurate the unity government one way or the other, he told reporters that Israel had already warned him it would shun such a government and that he would go ahead with the plan anyway.

Hamas, meanwhile, was threatening to renege on its commitment to the deal even after the swearing-in ceremony was being carried live on Hamas ‘al-Aqsa’ television.

This time the excuse was the intent by Abbas to dissolve the PA Ministry of Prisoner Affairs, which Hamas called a “stab in the back” to terrorist prisoners. That wrinkle got worked out with the disputed Prisoners’ Ministry being given to Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya had already told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency, “We made concessions on all stages … but some sides misunderstood our lenience and flexibility.” Without that ministry, he said, Hamas would definitely not join the unity government.

It would have been the umpteenth time that Hamas has backed out of a reconciliation deal at the ninth hour since it seized control of Gaza in 2007. Nothing new.

Abbas himself had no plans to turn his back on the bloodthirsty murderers who stole Israeli lives, and who he generously supports with monthly salaries from government coffers. Instead he was planning to form a prisoners’ affairs administration under the PLO.

Officially listed as a terrorist organization in the United States as well as in Israel, this new government with Hamas gives America considerable pause: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Abbas in a phone call over the weekend that it is not being taken lightly by the American government.

According to State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, Abbas assured Kerry on Sunday the new “unity government” would be “committed to non-violence and recognize Israel.” Kerry’s reply was that the U.S. would “judge the body by its composition, policies and actions.”