Gaza Becoming World Terror Hub; West Bank Next

Egypt: Hamas Harboring Dahab Attacker in Gaza

A suspected plotter of last month's triple bomb blasts in the Sinai resort town of Dahab has infiltrated the Gaza Strip and has been extended refuge there by local terror groups, including members of Hamas, according to Egyptian officials.

Egyptian authorities issued a request for Hamas to arrest and turn over the alleged attack plotter, who they said escaped from the Al-Arish region of the Sinai.

As predicted prior to the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the area is turning into a world terror hub similar to the Taliban's Afghanistan, where attackers can prepare, implement and return from terror missions. For another example from today's news, see:

UK Citizen Arrested for Transferring Money to Hamas

The article does not specify whether the arrest was made in Gaza or the West Bank, but the former is driving the terror infrastucture of the latter. In any case, there is a fungability of terror resources, as this story from today's news indicated:

Jihadists' Return from Iraq Worries Europe

Caroline Glick has now echoed IRIS' prediction with an excellent analysis of four key ways that the impending West Bank withdrawal will undermine America's national security interests in the Middle East and its efforts to win the global war against Islamofascism:

1. Weaken U.S. logistical capacities in Iraq. The destabilization of Israel and Jordan through the establishment of a Taliban-like regime in the West Bank will endanger the overland supply route U.S. forces use to move materiel from Israeli ports through Jordan into Iraq. This will increase U.S. dependency on Persian Gulf ports and invite Iran to create crises in the Straits of Hormuz.

2. Establish a new terror refuge in the West Bank that will serve as a training ground for terrorists who will fight not only against Israel and Jordan, but also against U.S. forces in Iraq.

3. Enhance the prestige of declared enemies of the U.S. including Iran, Syria, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Wahabist extremists in Saudi Arabia and Salafist extremists in Egypt at the expense of the United States. The widespread perception in the Arab and Islamic world of Israel as a U.S. client state will cause an Israeli retreat and its consequent destabilization of Israel and Jordan to be seen for what they are: strategic defeats for America. This will, in turn, likely translate into thousands of additional recruits for global jihad against the United States.

4. Decrease motivation to cooperate with the U.S. in the war against Islamofascism throughout the Arab and Muslim world. This perceived victory for the global jihad will undermine U.S. efforts to gain the support of regimes and individuals around the globe, particularly those in the Arab and Islamic world such as leaders like Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan. He, like democracy activists in Iraq, and advocates of Islamic moderation in Europe, will be undercut and possibly undone by the victory of the jihadist forces in the aftermath of Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank.