Last year, more than 1,000 crude Qassam rockets fired by Gaza militants hit southern Israel. Despite all the strikes, only two people were killed.

Some might chalk that up to the fact that the rockets have no guidance systems, little explosive power and a limited range.

But ultra-religious leaders in Israel suspect there may be other, or other-worldly, reasons why some homes are hit and others are not.

Maariv reported this week that religious leaders have discovered that many of the homes hit by Qassam rockets had "defective" mezuzahs. (Mezuzahs are parchments with Biblical passages placed in special cases and affixed to the doors of Jewish homes for protection.)

A defective mezuzah was even discovered in the office of the mayor of Sderot, the town hit most by the Gaza rockets.

Sderot officials say they are immediately embarking on a campaign to rectify the problem... 

Sderot: Special Unit Locates Defective Mezuzahs

Maariv

by Yaron Sasson

Despite the many tactics being used today, from targeted killings, developing anti-rocket weapons and fortifying homes—the inhabitants of Sderot are trying to find solutions from other directions in order to protect themselves from the Qassam rockets.

Now on the agenda: repairing mezuzahs.  

Religious officials in the city claim that examinations of mezuzahs there located many that were defective, and many of the defective ones were found in homes that had been hit.

They said that in places where the Qassam rockets fell in the street and did not enter the yards of houses, kosher mezuzahs were found.

Because of the security situation, ritual scribes from Lod have come to the city every Friday, checking the mezuzahs in homes and various public buildings in Sderot.

Until now, thirty percent of the mezuzahs that were checked were found to be defective or completely unfit. Seventy percent were found to be completely kosher.

In the city’s schools, many defective mezuzahs were found, and the scribes reported this to the school’s administration. Similar examinations were carried out in the Sderot municipality, where the scribes were appalled to discover an unfit mezuzah at the entrance to the office of Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal and at the entrance to the auditorium.

Although in other places the scribes had asked people to buy mezuzahs and put them up, the scribes replaced the mezuzahs in the mayor’s office on their own initiative.

“Moyal is responsible for the city and his office is the entrance to the city, so we did it,” said Rabbi Moshe Zeev Pizam, the director of Sderot’s Chabad House. “An unfit mezuzah does not do anything bad. It just doesn’t provide protection, and the inhabitants of Sderot need that very much.”

The deputy mayor of Sderot, Rabbi Oren Malka, said yesterday that the municipality intends to adopt the scribes’ recommendations and change the mezuzahs that were found to be unfit.

A woman stands on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Dome of the Rock and Jerusalem's Old City amid a rare snow storm. (AP/Kevin Frayer)

Schools are shut, highways are closed and pipes are bursting as a rare snow storm is falling on Jerusalem...

For all the obvious reasons, I love Brazil. The music, the landscape, the beauty... But I think one Brazilian Samba school this year might have missed the mark.

Reuters reports that one major Samba school in Rio is preparing a Holocaust-themed float for Carnival with stacks of model dead bodies. (See picture via link...)

Um, what?

The artistic director assured Reuters that the float would be respectful and not have scantily clad women dancing on top of the stacks of faux dead bodies.

"If we had people dancing on top of dead bodies that would indeed be disrespectful," he said.

Right. Well that should take care of any potential offense people might take to having a Holocaust float amid a river of frenetic debauchery...

UPDATE: In response to a complaint from a Jewish group, a judge in Rio has banned the controversial Holocaust float. At least, they can't depict piles of dead bodies. AP reports that the float was set to have a dancing Hitler and parade under the theme "It gives you goose bumps."

Americans aren't the only ones paying close attention to the presidential election.

And Israelis may be paying closer attention than just about anyone else around the world.

Since Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II, it has a big stake in who becomes the next U.S. president.

So, to track the candidates, Haaretz is running a regular series called "The Israel Factor," which asks a panel of eight pundits to rate the candidates by posing one fundamental question: "How good is the candidate for Israel?"

Each month, the panelists are asked to rank the candidates, with one being "worst for Israel" and ten being "best for Israel."

So who does the pundit panel think is best for Israel right now?

The top ranking (8.37) goes for former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani, who was praised for returning a $10 million dollar donation from a Saudi prince after 9/11 because he criticized Israeli policy towards the Palestinians and suggested that the U.S. re-examine its policies in the Middle East.

Despite expressing strong support for Israel, U.S. Senator Barack Obama ranks dead last with a ranking of 5.12.

"The Israel Factor" is run by Shmuel Rosner, the conservative U.S. correspondent for Haaretz, who refuses to include U.S. Rep. Ron Paul in the survey.

Rosner and the panel basically concluded was too anti-Israel and not likely to be the nominee. (Though they did include Chris Dodd and Sam Brownback before they dropped out...)

A woman rides a donkey cart through the flooded streets of Rafah, Egypt on Sunday.

The grizzled man in a robe and sandals grumbled as he waded through the muddy Rafah streets on his way back into the Gaza Strip.

"I don't know why I even came," the Palestinian said as he returned to Gaza empty handed.

Rain and tighter Egyptian restrictions put a damper Sunday on the influx of Palestinians into Egypt, but there are few signs that a political solution is on the horizon.

Egypt is trying to cut off the supply of goods and pressure shop owners to stop selling to the visiting Palestinians.

On Sunday, a long line of trucks rumbled through the flooded Egyptian streets and back into Gaza with empty loads.

"Forget about it," said one Gaza truck driver who had been back and forth a couple of times. "There is nothing. I'm never going again."

One of the strangest sights was seeing pickup trucks with red Egyptian license plates selling diesel by the side of the road as far north as Gaza City. Egyptian cars were seen in Beit Hanoun, the Palestinian town right near the northern border with Israel.

Hamas is taking control at the Rafah border by setting up a temporary command post where they coordinate patrols and bring accused thieves for a little slapping around.

On Sunday I watched one accused thief wander away in tears and saw Hamas members smack around two men covered in mud after they apparently started a fight.

Basil Abu Yazan, a 30-year-old coordinator for Hamas forces at the border, boasted that they could quickly restore order - if there is an agreement.

"We can close the border in five or ten minutes," he said. "In three hours we can bring all the people back, but there should be an agreement."

Hamas figures are supposed to head to Cairo tomorrow to discuss the situation, followed on Wednesday by PA President Abbas.

Abbas wants to put his loyalists on the border, but neither Hamas nor Israel seems willing to accept that solution. That means a solution that repairs the broken border may not be on the horizon...

The streets of Gaza City are deserted these days. Anyone who could make the 45-minute trek south to Rafah has gone into Egypt for supplies and a chance to break out of Gaza - if even for a few hours.

Overnight, the price of cigarettes was cut in half. At the beginning of the week, a pack of cigarettes in Gaza could cost more than four bucks. By week's end, the price was back down to two dollars.

The other reason Gaza's streets are empty these days is because many people can't get gas for their cars.

Israel is refusing to resume normal fuel shipments into Gaza until Palestinian militants stop firing crude rockets and mortars into Israel.

Israel is pumping in some fuel for Gaza's only power plant and offering some diesel, but Palestinians are actually refusing to accept the small shipments of diesel to protest Israel's policies.

This week, Hamas political strategist Ahmed Yousef was ebullient and boastful.

First, Rafah, he said. Next, maybe Erez, the sole passenger terminal linking Gaza and Israel.

On its face, the idea seems unrealistic and reckless. One can easily imagine what would happen if thousands of Palestinians tried to storm the well-defended Israeli border crossing - and it is not a pretty picture.

The Rafah events have given Hamas some new political leverage and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is offering to mediate talks between Hamas and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

So far, Abbas is refusing to talk. Abbas will meet tomorrow with Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in what looks like an attempt to boost the PA president's profile at a time when he has been sidelined by events in Gaza.

After that, Abbas is reportedly heading to Egypt to talk with Mubarak about Gaza.

Abbas and his pro-Western caretaker government have been crafting a plan to take control of the Gaza borders. But the idea has so far failed to take hold.

In a speech today in Ramallah, Abbas renewed the offer to put forces on the borders. Maybe the idea will gain some traction in Egypt, though it's not likely that Hamas will accede to the plan without receiving some concessions...

As expected Israel's anti-war film, "Beaufort," received an Oscar nomination this week for Best Foreign Language Film.

No Israeli film has ever won the award and this is the first time in more than 20 years that an Israeli film has become an Oscar finalist.

The other movies in this category include, "Mongol," the first Kazakh film to garner a nomination, and Austria's "The Counterfeiters," which "Beaufort" director Joseph Cedar apparently thinks has the best chance of winning the award.

"Beaufort's" nomination didn't come without controversy: Israel's first choice, "The Band's Visit," was disqualified because too much of the film is in English and there was a whisper campaign that "Beaufort's" producers had quietly suggested that "The Band's Visit" wasn't eligible.

In 2006, some Israeli activists organized a protest against "Paradise Now," a movie about a pair of conflicted Palestinian suicide bombers, that was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

"Paradise Now" won a Golden Globe that year, but not an Oscar.

Palestinian militants use a bulldozer to break through the Gaza-Egypt border.

(AP/Hatem Moussa)

In a remarkable act of defiance, Hamas militants stood up to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak - and won. Again.

After forcing Mubarak to let more than 100,000 Palestinians flood into Egypt over the last three days, Hamas forces refused today to let Mubarak's forces seal up the open border.

When Egyptian forces used water cannons and dogs to prevent Palestinians from coming into Egypt, Hamas responded by bringing in bulldozers to break through the low concrete wall and create a new opening.

One bulldozer crashed through the wall while Egyptian forces in riot gear looked on.

Then, as Palestinians resumed their flow into Egypt, the Egyptian soldiers pulled back.

It is clear that Hamas is not going to stand by and let Egypt seal off Gaza's only opening to the outside world. Hamas appears to be well prepared for a fight.

That puts Mubarak in an untenable situation: He can use force to battle Hamas militants in a fight that would likely be seen around the Arab and Muslim world as a calamity; he can keep the unregulated border open, which would draw the ire of Israel and the US, among others; or he can try to negotiate a deal with Hamas, which would help the Islamist forces regain some political legitimacy.

Hamas leaders are ebullient over events unfolding in Gaza. They have thought this through and were clearly prepared when Mubarak sought to seal the border.

In this ongoing chess game, Hamas right now appears to be out-thinking Mubarak.

I am an illegal immigrant.

I was. Briefly, anyway. A few times.

Over the last three years, I have illegally crossed into Lebanon (after the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war) and, twice, into Egypt.

My first illegal crossing came in September, 2005 when Israel pulled the last of its military forces out of the Gaza Strip after 38-years of military rule.

As soon as people were certain that Israel was gone, Gaza residents headed to the border where Egyptian soldiers looked the other way as thousands of Palestinians flooded into Egypt to shop and celebrate.

Many had not left Gaza in years, if not decades. Some had never been outside of Gaza at all.

Gaza-Egypt border, September, 2005 (Photo: Adam Pletts)

Back then, we used ropes and ladders to follow Palestinians as they scampered over the 25-foot-tall corrugated iron fence to get out of Gaza.

Climbing the Gaza-Egypt border fence, September, 2005 (Photo: Adam Pletts)

While Israel was in Gaza, this area was a deadly no-go zone for Palestinians. Israeli tanks destroyed large parts of Rafah neighborhoods to create the buffer zone here between Gaza and Egypt.

On our way back into Gaza from a long visit in Egypt, we pulled and pushed ourselves through a small hole in the metal as Palestinians on both sides fought to get in or out.

Illegally crossing from Gaza into Egypt, September, 2005

This time, militants prepared a more sophisticated escape.

For weeks, according to one eyewitness, Palestinian militants had been methodically using blow torches to undermine the integrity of the metal fence.

Freelance Palestinian journalist Zuhair Najar said he was in Rafah a week ago working on a story about the network of smuggling tunnels under the border (used to get weapons in and militants out) when he saw militants doing some work on the iron fence.

Najar watched as the militants brought in a bulldozer and, within sight of Egyptian forces on the other side of the border, knocked down a small section of the fence. It was clear, Najar said, that the militants had methodically used blowtorches to cut through and weaken the metal before bringing it down.

The militants, who Najar said were with Hamas, told him they were preparing to repel any possible Israeli attack.

But now it is clear that it was part of a long, well-organized plan to bring down the wall and break the Israeli economic siege.

The Gaza-Egypt border fence, January, 2008

Palestinian women carry bottles of Coke back across the Gaza Strip border after shopping in Egypt.

Mahmoud Abu Ghalion sat in a Gaza City kitchen, debating whether or not to join the throngs of Palestinians flooding over the broken border into Egypt.

"You know," the young property manager said, "I feel better just knowing that we can leave. I can breathe easier."

"See," said one of his friends, "we are chasing the illusion of freedom."

Palestinian militants may have created a temporary escape valve for Gaza's 1.5 million residents. But the seven-month-old standoff is far from over.

“This is how pathetic the situation has become that people have to literally break out of Gaza just to get food and fuel,” said John Ging, the Gaza City-based director of the United Nations refugee agency. “There is no dignity for anybody.”

While walking along the toppled border wall and watching Egyptian soldiers directing Palestinians to the places they were allowed to cross into Egypt, an older man with bad teeth and scruffy white beard came up to me and opened up a small sack.

Inside was a small box of dish washing soap he had bought in Egypt.

Look at what we are reduced to, said the Palestinian man.

While Palestinians were streaming past Egyptian border guards and off on their Egyptian shopping expeditions, Israel was again cutting off the flow of fuel for Gaza's only power plant.

Israel delivered less fuel than expected and the power plant operators said tonight that they may have to shut down one of their generators as soon as Thursday to conserve fuel for a few days. That means it will be producing about half the amount of power. That means more Gaza City blackouts.

And even a one-day Egyptian shopping spree is only going to get families so far. Without a political solution that creates normal borders, Gaza residents will very quickly run out of supplies once again.

Late tonight, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed little sympathy.

"There is no justification or basis to demand that we allow the residents of Gaza to live normal lives while mortars are fired and missiles are launched from their streets and the courtyards of their homes towards Sderot and the communities in the South," said Olmert.

For now, the open border is proving to be a much-needed escape valve for Palestinians.