The entire month of August, during daylight hours as I sat in our home study trying to write and after dark as I sat on our porch trying to relax, there was (and continues to be) the sound of gunfire. The shooting is weapons familiarization and marksmanship practice. Some days it has commenced as early as 09:00. Some days it has not stopped before 24:00. Often, even during daylight hours, an attempt is made to mask the gunfire with the explosions of dozens of skyrockets and hundreds of other fireworks. The “Bangs” and the “Pops,” both day and night, have been so frequent, continuous and constant that none of my three dogs even react to the noise anymore.

I live in northern Jerusalem. My friends living in Gilo, Jerusalem’s southern most neighborhood, report not only hearing similar gunfire, but also observing the muzzle flashes from the M16s and AK-47s. The truth is that this weapons handling and marksmanship training is taking place all around Jerusalem. It is also happening throughout the West Bank. Thousands and thousands of assault rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition have been supplied to the “Good terrorists” who comprise the multiple and various security services of the Palestinian Authority. The gunfire is from these Good terrorists developing proficiency with their new weapons and doing so at a heady pace.

The weapons come from multiple sources, but always at the behest of the United States Department of State, supported by a U.S. military “needs assessment.” The Israeli government under Prime Minister Olmert has at best been little more than a rubber stamp, instantly approving the heavily arming of the Palestinian Authority as if it was not already bristling with legally and illegally possessed arms. I do however acknowledge that the Good terrorists’ weapons stockpile is today diminished. It is minus the vast majority of weaponry that was once possessed by the Palestinian Authority Security Forces deployed in the Gaza Strip. They left their arms, munitions, equipment, supplies, uniforms and secret documents, along with everything else, when they turned-tail and ran in the face of Hamas “resistance” last June.

The abject cowardice of these Good terrorists speaks volumes about their character and motivation and that of their leadership. Apparently they are only proficient at murdering hapless, defenseless innocents and at running away. This is after they had received substantial training in a wide-variety of disciplines and doctrines from an assortment of the best of the best European and American instructors. Or was it that the American military’s “needs assessment” was flawed?

During the past couple of weeks I'm not sure whether more Israeli legislators have visited the USA or more US congressmen and women have visited Israel. I can report that the American visitors are getting a real world education from meeting with the Palestinian Authority’s high and mighty. That education is how to deal with terrorists. There are six rules:

1. Don't;

2. Don't;

3. Don't;

4. Don't;

5. Don't: and

6. Don't.

Not too hard to learn and remember. But it is a lesson Israel's present government cannot learn or refuses to learn.

Last week Republican Congressmen met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad. The Prime Minister assured the visiting delegation that he was having nothing to do with Hamas. The next day the Palestinian Authority used a big chunk of the big bucks it had just received from Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's government, to pay the salaries of Hamas security personnel - the “Bad terrorists,” in the Gaza Strip! Of course transferring any of those big bucks to Hamas was the only thing the Palestinian Authority absolutely, “Cross-My-Heart-and-Hope-to-Die,” promised not to do with the money. Eric Cantor, Republican from Virginia was Angry! He did not take lightly to being lied to - to his face. And he let the Press know it big time!

The next day the lead headline in the Jerusalem Post read, "Israel defends Fayad to US House delegation." Israeli Foreign Ministress Zipi Livni felt the need to come forward to explain that Fayad was blameless and just a poor misunderstood soul. Yeh? Twenty-four hours later, the Post headlined "(Palestinian Authority Chairman) Abbas calls on the Hamas to 'return to national unity'!" Madam Foreign Minister, not only does the Palestinian Authority leadership lie, but they also make you personally look like Zippy from the Howdy Doody Show.

But do not simply take my word on that. These are the subjects of which Op-Eds are made. I refer you to Caroline Glick’s column, "Salaam Fayad, Hero of Israel." Also well worth reading is David Horovitz column, "Wishful Thinking - Here we are, after the first intifada and the failure of Camp David, and the second intifada and the failure of unilateralism, defiantly none the wiser." Both opinion pieces are from the August 17^th Jerusalem Post.

The present Israeli Government must have a genuine death wish for the State of Israel. Nothing less. It appears to be rushing to embrace an Oslo Two, refusing to acknowledge what a disaster Oslo One was. It is the same self-preservation tactic so successfully employed by Arik Sharon, whose ill-planned and executed disengagement from the Gaza Strip turned it into the truly nightmarish Hamastan. Ehud Olmert, Israel’s don’t confused me with the facts, my mind is already made-up Prime Minister continues full steam ahead to reach a yet another peace accord based on fantasy and delusion.

In that cause of securing that Fool’s Gold, Fatah members convicted of acts of terrorism are released from Israeli prisons as a unilateral goodwill gesture aimed at propping-up the Fatah Good terrorist government. Fatah members being hunted by Israeli security for having committing acts of terrorism, including some of the leaders of the most murderous terror calls, are given pardons in exchange for signing a pledge renouncing terrorism and turning-in a weapon for which they are mightily compensated. It’s a kind of Good terrorist gun buyback program. Well, yesterday the Fatah Good terrorists declared “dead” the merely 6 week-old amnesty deal and launched an attack on an IDF patrol in Ramallah. Those new M16s and AK-47s and American training are already being used against Israel. But plans continue apace to supply the Palestinian Authority with more of both. Nor is the training about to be provided to the Palestinian Authority Security Services’ Good terrorists limited to even advanced “police subjects.”

The Jerusalem Post reports, "US State Department to begin training Palestinian diplomatic security officers." This will be part of a series of courses the U.S. will run in the West Bank for Chairman Abbas's Presidential Guard, aka, Force 17, the absolutely most proficient of Fatah’s murderous, butchering Good terrorists. VIP protection is at the top of the State Department's must teach list.

Now I do not expect that this gang of murderers is going to be provided with the Playbook for protecting the President of the USA. But I suspect they are going to be taught lots of "inside information" about "how to." And VIP protection includes advanced sniper training among the other various means and methods and techniques and doctrines to be taught. Good Lord, how long do you think it will be before the information is passed along to Hamas, PFLP, al-Quida, Hezbollah, etc. I assume the terrorists do not know everything. Hell, if the terrorists, Fatah included, already know what they are about to be taught, then why spend our taxpayer dollars on teaching it to them? And if they don't know, once we have taught them, we had better never use it anywhere ever again ourselves. Or is it that, after the terrorists graduate and get nice certificates of course completion and take a class photo, the State Department just wants to send some of its own here to get them killed?

I believe Israel has never been in worse shape. Its military is at a historical low point both in preparedness and ability, as well as morale. The government is self-absorbed and despised by a large cross-section of the population. Means of defense and counter-terrorism are being discarded while increasingly sophisticated weapons pour into the Bad terrorists in Gaza/Hamastan and to the Good terrorists in Fatah, thousands of who are headquartered in Ramallah less than 3 miles from where I sit writing this piece. Grim, yes, but a true picture of reality.

Do you need more convincing of this summer’s insanity? The Anti-bus-bombing unit of the Transportation Ministry is about to be closed to save money. Due to the sharp decrease in bombed busses, attributed in large part to the Unit's superb work, the unit is soon to be history. It is a classic Catch 22.

Now that I have sounded the warning, I'm going to go sit on my porch and listen to my Good terrorist neighbors’ evening firing practice, while I sip a can of ice cold A&W Root Beer in a glass mug just removed from the freezer.

Of late my friends here have started calling me Jeremiah.