1. From Arutz7:

Brig.-Gen. Gadi Shamani told a Knesset committee today that the IDF has a wide range of responses to the ongoing enemy bombardment of Gush Katif, including reconquest of all Arab-controlled areas.

Following the General Staff officer's report to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, several Knesset members in attendance accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of tying the military's hands for political reasons. They said that he has failed to halt the shelling of Jewish homes. Mr. Sharon, for his part, reacted with anger, calling such accusations false and assuring the committee that the military is under no such political restrictions. "Don't impute political motivations into this matter," he warned. When the Prime Minister explained that the IDF will react forcefully if the Arabs attempt to disrupt the withdrawal in his "disengagement plan," Knesset member Sha'ul Yahalom (National Religious Party) wondered aloud why, if it will be possible to halt the rocket and missile attacks during an evacuation, it is not possible to do so now.

People of Israel: The primary function of a government - absolutely second to none - is to protect its citizens. A government that ties the army's hands in pursuit of this primary objective should be replaced.

2. In related Resistance News, Arutz7 informs:

Nearly 1,000 Residents Demand: Let The Army Win Politics The Gush Katif residents demonstrated outside Defense Ministry offices in Tel Aviv Sunday afternoon, demanding that the gov't allow the IDF to fight terrorists who have been pounding them daily.

The main artery in front of the Defense Ministry, Kaplan Street, was closed off for two hours during the demonstration. The rally was generally peaceful, but “in one place, it was pretty nasty and several girls were beaten,” Hevron's spokesman David Wilder told Arutz-7. He said about half a dozen girls were arrested, although their alleged offense was not made clear.

The rally was quite noisy, however. The protestors spent a portion of their time banging on metal cans, making a tremendous racket "so that the Defense Minister can hear what it's like to be constantly bombarded with mortar shells."

Over 5,000 mortar shells and rockets have been fired at the Jewish communities in Gaza since the outbreak of the war more than four years ago. Several children marched with remnants of some of the shells.

3. In a third story, Arutz 7 reports on the defiance of Yesha's pioneers, in the face of a hostile government:

Communities Continue to ´Grow´ in Gush Katif
Despite a government proposal to evacuate Jewish communities, residents of Gush Katif continue to plant their roots deeper into Gaza.
In celebration of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shvat (January 25th), known as the new year for trees, Gaza residents will be planting seedlings throughout the Israeli territory slated for expulsion. New trees will contribute to the environmental development of Jewish communities. Israel is the only country to boast a net increase in trees during the twentieth century

4. The collaborators
The Ottawa Citizen, which usually concentrates only on major stories, found it appropriate to highlight the item on the 20 collaborator families from Pe'at Sadeh. The headline of this story stretches over four of the six columns and the bold, large print of the headline eclipsed all other headlines on the page (p. A7). How important is this collaborationist act in the grand schema of things? Arutz 7 reports:

Less than 2% of Gush Katif Families Interested in Leaving

Disengagement Authority director Yonatan Bassi Sunday made it clear that he is not succeeding in wooing Jewish residents to leave their homes in northern Samaria and Gaza.

After announcing that an entire community of about 20 families - Pe'at Sadeh, in southwestern Gaza - has agreed to move en masse to a moshav near Ashkelon, he admitted that the number is very small in comparison to the approximately 1,500 families living in the areas the government wants to dismantle.

It goes without saying, that the de facto PLO organ, al-Ha'aretz, gives the article prominence, with the misleading headline, "All Pe'at Sadeh settlers sign moshav relocation deal". That's like saying, "a thief was caught stealing - he used all his hands to commit the crime". But even al-Ha'aretz had to admit that "The 25 families constitute less than 2 percent of the total number of families slated for evacuation under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pullout plan.". (The 25 collaborationist families consist of 20 from Pe'at Sadeh and five from elsewhere.)