This is Liana B. Baker reporting live from the Middle East. Okay, I might be getting ahead of myself but I am reporting live from The Media Line, an American non-profit news agency with a bureau in Jerusalem. Check it out at www.themedialine.org . I'm interning for the summer ie: working for free but gaining valuable experience. It's only Day 3 of my six week internship but because of the recent events transpiring in Gaza (sneak attack through the tunnel, kidnapping of an Israeli soldier), I have a lot on my plate. I conducted my first phone interview yesterday as part of my research on the Islamic Army (Jeish Al-Islam). The Islamic Army, or Army of Islam is a new Palestinian terrorist militant group which made headlines when it claimed responsibility, along with Hamas and the Palestinian Resistance Committees for Sunday's sneak attacks. The militants spent months building an 800 yard tunnel stretching from Gaza to an army outpost in Israel. The raiders caught the Israeli army off guard, killed two soldiers and then kidnapped another soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit is still in the custody of his captors who want to use him as a bargaining chip to free Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. That's a very broad recap of what's happening. While Israelis are praying for the 19-year -old soldier's release, the residents of Gaza are holding their breath as Israeli troops gather at the Israeli-Gaza border. If the soldier is not returned safely, an Israeli armed force might enter Gaza for the first time since last fall's withdrawl.

It's obvious that things are a little tense. I also never thought that on Day 2 of my internship I would be calling up people asking if they knew anything about the Islamic Army. I'm not exactly an expert on the conflict in the Middle East.. My last published freelance article was about the family run ski school I work at in Montreal. So, for the first time ever, I made a phone call over a recording system. Instead of a regular telephone, I strapped on earphones and spoke into a microphone. Of course, I did forget to press the record button in all this excitement, but I assure you the phone call went very well. I found out that the Islamic Army may be the new kid on the Palestinian Terrorist organization block, but there's nothing new about their ideology. They are homegrown in Gaza and not funded by the outside or Al-Qaeda, which was a possibility.

That's enough terrorist jargon for now. This was my first post ever and hopefully, for the sake of my two person audience, they'll get shorter.