Israel in the News: 2005

Here are some stories from or about Israel that I feel may have prophetic significance. It is for each of you to read and pray about these things. Learn more about Israel here.

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• Daily Palestinian Qassam missile attacks on surrounding Israeli locations (December 28, 2005) - From 6 p.m. local time, Wednesday, Dec. 28, any person entering the buffer zone of northern Gaza will be a target. Israeli’s armed forces has formally conveyed this notice to the Palestinian Authority. It follows daily Palestinian Qassam missile attacks on surrounding Israeli locations and the failure of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas to stop the shooting. Jihad Islami Wednesday rejected his appeal to cease the missile fire. Washington justifies Israel’s response to the Palestinian attacks but regrets the decision to enforce a security zone in northern Gaza.

• IAF strikes militant base in Lebanon after rockets hit north (December 28, 2005) - The Israel Air Forces struck a Palestinian militant training base in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, hours after Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into houses in the northern Israel town of Kiryat Shmona. Three residents of Kiryat Shmona were treated for shock in the Tuesday night Katyusha attack. One of the three houses hit was severely damaged. A dog was seriously injured. The Israeli air strike targeted a training base operated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a small, Syrian-backed group that has been waging a decades long fight against Israel. The strike was the deepest in Lebanon since June 2004. more...

• 65% of Palestinians Applaud Terror Attacks on US and Europe (December 27, 2005) - A poll carried out in the Palestinian Authority shows 65% support for Al Qaeda terror attacks on the United States and European countries - the biggest donors to the PA. The poll comes at a time when US and European funding of the Palestinian Authority is at an all-time high. With elections due to be held next month and the Hamas terror group gaining significantly in municipal elections and polls, the survey further illustrates the desire of a majority of PA Arabs to establish an Islamic state, similar to Iran. A whopping 79.9% of Palestinians would like the PA to follow Shari'a - Islamic religious law. Included in the figure are 11.3% of the respondents, who would like to see Shari'a supplemented by the laws of a PA Legislature. more...

• Netanyahu: Sharon Plans to Withdraw From 90% of W. Bank (December 27, 2005) - "The real election is between our policies and policies ... that encourage terror," Netanyahu said of Kadima. Netanyahu said this in his address to the Central Committee on Monday in its first formal meeting since his election to chairman of the party. As was widely expected, the Central Committee members voted to give Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom the number two spot on the party's Knesset list. The committee members also voted to postpone the Likud internal elections until January 12, due to changes in the party constitution that are supposed to prevent Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Jewish Movement within the Likud, from competing for a spot on the list. Netanyahu also criticized the Palestinians, saying "We gave [them] everything, down to the last crumb, and they respond by firing Qassam rockets on Ashkelon," Netanyahu said. Two Qassam rockets landed in Israeli territory on Monday afternoon and evening. He said sources in the Palestinian Authority are trying to convince Hamas to abstain from initiating terror attacks until after Israel's general elections on March 28 in order to increase the chances that Sharon will win. more...

• Full-scale terrorist attacks against Israel will resume Jan. 1 (December 26, 2005) - Unless Abbas surrenders to terms laid down by Jihad Islami, the Popular Resistance Committees and Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused to withdraw the 200 Palestinian security personnel posted in the northern Gaza Strip, so frustrating the Sharon government’s no-go tactic in this region and efforts to curb Qassam attacks. This Palestinian force therefore provides the Qassam missile crews with a protective umbrella against Israeli artillery, which is forced to confine its shelling to vacant land. Taking part in the Qassam offensive now are the Jihad Islami and factions of the Al Aqsa Brigades backed and paid by the Fatah old guard, led by prime minister Ahmed Qureia, which is now at war with Mahmoud Abbas. If Abbas refuses to postpone the January 25 election - in obedience to their diktat - these groups plus the PRC will re-ignite full-scale attacks on Israel. This is designed to prompt large-scale Israeli retaliation and generate a crisis that precludes voting - and so deprive Hamas of its predicted victory. Their deadline for this ultimatum is Jan. 1. Israel has thus become a hostage to the Palestinian factional war. Earlier Monday, a Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades spokesman revealed the acquisition of new missiles of 25km range, the first able to reach to points north of Ashkelon. He spoke of creating a Palestinian buffer belt on Israeli territory north of the Gaza Strip.

• Sharon orders Gaza security zone (December 26, 2005) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the army to enforce a no-go zone for Palestinians in northern Gaza to try to end rocket attacks on Israel. It is part of a series of new measures Israel says it will take to stop Palestinians firing missiles. Palestinians have launched scores of rockets at Israel since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip this summer. A Palestinian official rejected the plan, saying security forces in Gaza had been told not to leave their posts. Interior ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu-Khusah said the Palestinian Authority (PA) would "not yield to Israeli dictates and attempts to impose the zone by fire and bombardment", Palestinian radio reported. Mr. Sharon returned to work on Sunday after spending most of the week recovering from his stroke. He gave the order at a meeting with cabinet colleagues and security officials. "We must make sure that [Palestinian militants] won't act against us, this is my policy and my instructions," Israeli media quoted him as saying. The move followed talks on Thursday in which the prime minister told the army to do everything possible to stop rocket fire from the territory. more...

• Terrorists Threaten to Upgrade Missiles (December 26, 2005) - Three armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip on Monday threatened to continue their attacks on Israel and said they have long-range missiles capable of reaching more Israeli towns and cities. One of the groups belongs to Fatah, the ruling party headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The two others are the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various armed groups, and al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad. PA officials in Ramallah expressed deep concern over the threats and said Israel was responsible for the latest cycle of violence. "Israel must stop its military offensive before the situation gets out of control," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "Israel's decision to set up a security zone [in the northern Gaza Strip] will only complicate matters." Asked about the new long-range missiles, the official said he did not rule out the possibility that such weapons had been smuggled from Egypt in recent weeks. more...

• Ailing hearts boosted by Israeli stem cell treatment (December 22, 2005) - Ever since she gave birth two years ago, Jeanine Lewis' heart had grown increasingly weak and enlarged, due to a condition called cardiomyopathy. She was diagnosed with the condition at age 17, but childbirth significantly worsened her health. With each pump, her heart moved only about half the blood that a healthy heart should be circulating throughout her body. The 29-year-old Pennsylvania resident was on the verge of despair when she found an Internet site that described revolutionary stem cell treatments for conditions like hers, and she decided to fill out the questionnaire to see if she qualified. Two months later, she received a phone call from a representative from the company TheraVitae, who told her that the company could offer a possible solution to her problems. In May, a team of cardiac surgeons led by Dr. Kit Arom, a renowned cardiac surgeon worldwide at Bangkok's Heart Hospital, and Dr. Amit Patel of the University of Pittsburgh operated on Lewis in Thailand, and she became the first patient in the world to have stem cells that had been harvested using TheraVitae's Israeli-developed VesCell therapy implanted directly into her heart. "I'm not ready to run a marathon," she recently wrote on her website. "But I feel like I did before I was pregnant. That they could take something from your own body and use it to heal you, there's nothing more natural than that." Lewis's miraculous recovery was a result of TheraVitae's novel technology which offers treatment for heart disease with stem cells taken from the patient's own blood. more...

• Norwegian county boycott of Israel ires Jewish groups (December 22, 2005) - A Norwegian county's decision to boycott Israeli products because of its occupation of Palestinian territories has outraged Jewish groups. Soer-Trondelag became the first province in Norway to bar the purchase of Israeli goods when the provincial board voted on December 16 to impose the boycott. Torill Skaerseth, a board representative from the far-left Red Electoral Alliance, said she hopes the boycott will spread to other Norwegian provinces. "We see Israel as an occupying force that could be compared with the apartheid regime in South Africa," she told the regional newspaper Adresseavisen. "We also want to campaign for the people of Soer Trondelag to also boycott." Although the economic impact would be insignificant, the political signal angered Jewish groups. more...

• Israel Increasingly Likely to Attack Iran (December 21, 2005) - Israel is sending increasingly clear signs that it is gearing up for a major military confrontation with the soon-to-be nuclear power of Iran.

  Consider that in recent weeks:

  • Israeli military intelligence chief Aharon Zeevi Farkash said Israel will have to admit the failure of diplomatic efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear weapons program if Iran is not referred to the U.N. Security Council before the end of March.
  • Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz declared that Israel must get ready for actions “other than diplomatic” to solve the Iranian problem.
  • And citing Iran as an “existential threat,” Likud Party Chairman candidate Benjamin Netanyahu was even more blunt, making an attack on Iran an explicit campaign promise.
    
  These signals were amplified by a December 11 report in Britain’s Sunday Times claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already ordered the Israeli military to prepare to attack Iran with both ground troops and air strikes at the end of March. Israel’s response to the report was coy, with its Defense Ministry declaring that there were no intentions to attack Iran “at the moment,” whatever that may mean. more...

• Iran’s Fanatical Regime Threatens London as Well as Israel (December 21, 2005) - Deep-cover Mossad agents in Iran have discovered the regime is rushing to complete the development of a giant missile. It has a range of 2,200 miles that would bring London and other European cities in range and a 1.2 ton nuclear payload that would leave any city a wasteland. The missile is an updated version of the North Korean Taepodong-1 rocket. Based on Russian technology and sold to North Korea in 2003 in a secret arms deal that MI6 uncovered last month, the rocket’s ballistic technology is among the most sophisticated in the world.
  Nuclear proliferation expert Al Venter said: “This confirms why Tony Blair issued his blunt warning of possible military action. The stakes are growing in the confrontation between Iran’s Islamic regime and the West. Britain and Europe are now in the firing line”. Last week the Mossad agents discovered that only days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel “must be wiped off the map”, a fleet of giant flying tankers from North Korea arrived in Iran carrying liquid propellant to drive its 8 Shahab-3 missiles. The fuel came from North Korea’s state-owned Chongchengong Arms Corporation. Each rocket has a range of 800 miles, capable of hitting Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities. The Mossad agents have obtained an Iranian target-selection map that shows the prime target would be Dimona, Israel’s own nuclear arsenal in the Negev desert. It stores over 200 nuclear weapons. The target map, along with details of the sites where the long range Taepodong rocket is being rushed into operation, was passed to MI6. They will form a briefing paper by John Scarlett for Tony Blair this week. Until now the Iranian sites have remained secret. But the threat they pose to Britain and Europe is so serious that Mossad has revealed the details. more...

• Israel and Europe must nurture detente (December 20, 2005) - Almost overnight and unnoticed, relations between the European Union and Israel have gone through a major transformation. A few weeks ago, the odds of that happening seemed remote. Centuries of persecution, expulsions, blood libel and, finally, the Holocaust are the core of the Israeli (and Jewish) attitude towards Europe. The sense of betrayal at two existential junctures - by France in the 1967 war and by Great Britain in the 1973 war - and the perception of Europe as pro-Arab have amplified Israel’s suspicion of Europe. European attitudes towards Israel are no less complex. There is recognition of a moral debt and of Israel’s achievements and its democracy, but also criticism of Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories and of the means deployed by Israel to protect itself (the security fence, combating terror and its impact on the Palestinian population). The close co-operation between Washington and Jerusalem irked the Europeans while Europe’s infatuation with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, dismayed Israel. All of these things prevented a meaningful political dialogue, let alone co-operation, on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the diplomatic language it translates into "correct" relations, meaning cold and remote. The death of Arafat, the EU positions on Lebanon and Iran, the improved EU-US dialogue on the Middle East and, above all, Israel’s acceptance of the road map for peace and its disengagement from Gaza and settlements in the West Bank, have created a new environment between Europe and Israel. The first harbinger was the European Neighborhood Policy agreement between the EU and Israel, which included a wide-ranging political dialogue on the peace process, methods of combating terror, anti-Semitism, human rights abuses and weapons of mass destruction. The Gaza disengagement and the manner in which it was implemented transformed Europe’s view of Ariel Sharon, Israel’s prime minister. It also created a new agenda enabling Europe to find for the first time a role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict beyond just being a financial donor. In a matter of weeks, the EU has found itself engaged in three different missions - the opening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the upgrading of the Palestinian internal security forces and the facilitation of trade relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. more...

• Netanyahu sweeps to victory in Israel's Likud contest (December 20, 2005) - Former premier and arch hawk Benjamin Netanyahu swept to victory in the contest to succeed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as leader of Israel's beleaguered right-wing Likud party. His closest challenger, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, conceded defeat in a speech to activists at his campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv, pledging to help take the party to victory at the country's general election on March 28. Although official results were still to be declared, an exit poll had given Netanyahu 47 percent of the votes against 32 percent for Shalom. Ultra-nationalist candidate Moshe Feiglin won 15 percent while Agriculture Minister Israel Katz trailed in fourth place with six percent, the poll for public television showed. Candidates needed to secure more than 40 percent of the vote to avoid the contest going into a second round. "I congratulate Netanyahu on his victory and I stand ready to serve the party," Shalom told supporters after phoning the victor. Party officials put the turnout at around 40 percent of the 130,000 members who were entitled to cast ballots. The vote was held a day after Sharon, who dramatically resigned from Likud a month ago, was admitted to hospital suffering from a mild stroke, although doctors expect the 77-year-old to be released and resume his duties on Tuesday. more...

• Official Egyptian Paper Denies Holocaust (December 20, 2005) - An official Egyptian government newspaper defended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, asserting, in a column, there was no massacres of the Jews during World War II, and the gas chambers were intended for disinfecting clothing. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, wrote columnist Hisham Abd Al-Rauf in the newspaper Al-Masaa, was not against Jews and had allowed Jews to immigrate to the Holy Land during his first years in power. The column, titled "Israel's Lies," was translated into English by the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Institute, or MEMRI. "The world is truly discriminative and oppressing. Israel spreads whatever lies it wants, and the so-called 'cultural' world congratulates it and views these lies as absolute indisputable facts," Al-Rauf wrote. Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a "myth," and stepped up his rhetoric over the weekend, calling on the world's Muslims to be on guard against the Jewish state. "The Zionist regime is today a threat to the whole Middle East region and therefore Muslims should increase their vigilance against this regime," he said. more... 

• Sharon to divide Jerusalem? (December 19, 2005) - Just days after a principle adviser to Ariel Sharon told the media the Israeli prime minister will divide Jerusalem if he wins in upcoming elections, a senior minister and close Sharon ally today refused to answer whether she would support relinquishing parts of the holy city to the Palestinians. The statements follow the lauding by several senior dovish Israeli lawmakers and Palestinian leaders of Kadima, Sharon's newly formed political party, as Israel's "best chance" at creating a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea and Samaria and the eastern sections of Jerusalem. "My parents' friends demand that I promise to say there won't be a Palestinian state and that I promise to fight and prevent its establishment, but I'm not saying it," said Justice Minister Tzipi Livni at a community gathering earlier today. Livni then refused to respond to a question posed to her by a reporter for Israel's Haaretz daily about whether she would support splitting Jerusalem to create a Palestinian state. Livni was one of the first politicians to join Sharon's Kadima party after the Israeli leader announced he is leaving the ruling Likud Party he helped found to start his own "centrist" party, prompting new elections that will be held in March. Since Sharon's move, multiple Kadima members have stated the new party is looking to change Israel's borders. more... 

• Ariel Sharon has a stroke (December 19, 2005) - Ariel Sharon undergoes further tests Monday after his admission the night before to Hadassah hospital with a stroke. He underwent a second MRI at noon. Czech PM cancels Israel visit His staff say he received his usual daily briefing after a quiet night. DEBKAfile’s political analysts: As the prime minister bids for a third four-year term at the head of a new party, Kadima, in the March 28 general election, politicians are focusing for the first time on his age, 78 next February, and state of health. This consideration will impact Monday’s Likud primary and the integrity of Kadima as a one-man show. Sharon’s aides are bending over backwards to play down the stroke as minor, release a minimum of medical data and present the prime minister as raring to go back to work. At the same time the hospital is keeping him in under scrutiny and his staff plans to set up a small provisional bureau at his bedside. Any suggestion of Sharon’s ill health drastically impacts the Kadima party he established a month ago, basically a one-man show like the government, and the general election he called for March 28. more... 

• Putin Calls Russia Defender of Islamic World (December 13, 2005) - Russia is the most reliable partner of the Islamic world and most faithful defender of its interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Chechnya’s capital Grozny. Putin unexpectedly visited the war-ravaged republic to speak in the local parliament that opened for its first sitting on Monday. “Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world. Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally. By destroying Russia, these people (terrorists) destroy one of the main pillars of the Islamic world in the struggle for rights (of Islamic states) in the international arena, the struggle for their legitimate rights,” Putin was quoted by Itar —Tass as saying, drawing applause from Chechen parliamentarians. “Those who are trying to defend these false (extremist) ideals, those who are used as cannon fodder, who plant a mine for ten dollars or shoot with automatic weapons either do not know or have forgotten this,” the president said. “Those who organize such activity certainly do this deliberately, understanding what goals they want to achieve,” Putin went on to say. The leaders of the main Islamic states understand this, he added. “For this reason their representatives were present at the general voting in the referendum on the Constitution of the Chechen Republic, they were at the presidential elections; both the Organization of Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States, our colleagues and friends were present at the elections to the parliament.” more...

• EU won't publish east Jerusalem report (December 13, 2005) - The European Union on Monday chose not to endorse or publish a draft report highly critical of Israel's activity in east Jerusalem, particularly of the security barrier and "illegal settlement" activity. Israeli officials welcomed the decision of the EU's 25 foreign ministers, who considered whether to accept the report at a meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. Israeli diplomats objected to the report, calling its language "very unpleasant" and suggesting its formal adoption could threaten relations between Israel and the EU. In his official statement on the decision on the report, UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw referred to the "changed circumstances in Israel and the Occupied Territories," adding that the EU would "continue to make strong representations to the government of Israel about the matter in the normal way." Straw, who chaired the council meeting because the UK holds the EU's rotating presidency, also said publishing the report now was inappropriate because the EU does not want "to get embroiled in domestic [Israeli] politics in the run-up to elections." Privately, EU diplomats gave the additional reason that now was not the time to cause problems with Israel, since its recent evacuation from the Gaza Strip was seen as having improved prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev described the move not to adopt the report as "the right decision." more...

• Palestinian Authority Claims Western Wall is Moslem Property (December 12, 2005) - The Palestinian Authority’s official website, echoing the claims of its religious affairs office, also attempts to negate Jewish ownership of the Western Wall. The PA office claims Moslem ownership of the Western Wall by referring to the wall on its website as the Al-Boraq Wall. According to Moselm legend, the wall is the place where Mohammed parked his horse, named Boraq, before ascending to heaven. Moslem tradition holds that Mohammed rose to heaven from the Temple Mount, though that idea is not mentioned anywhere in the Koran, the central text of the Moslem faith. Rabbi Chaim Richman, Director of the International Department of the of the Temple Institue in Jerusalem, said that the PA’s claims of Moslem ownership of the Western Wall has “far reaching implications” for Israel. Richman said that the PA’s denial of the Jewish Temple's existence “is part of a campaign to totally eradicate, erase, and destroy all Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and the land of Israel.” more...

• The Roots of Evil in Jerusalem (November 9, 2005) - This report will shock and upset some; it is one I have put off for over 4 years. After struggling with it I have decided now is the time to write it. Knowing it could be misunderstood as anti-Semitic. God forbid that I a Jew should ever say or do anything that would be remotely considered as such, but I must admit this report does not come easy for me. The fact still remains that an evil force has been put into place in Jerusalem and has spread throughout Israel , in preparations for the end time and the seat of the anti-Christ. For if we are to believe that the anti-Christ is to have his seat on the Temple Mount , then we must come to grips with some truths not being preached today. One such truth is the foundation for such a move of the Devil must be underway even as we speak if this is to happen. Or we simply are not in the end days. This report will prove that such a move is underway and has been for quiet some time. It will be accepted by some and rejected by others, but that is the way it goes. In this report I will use many pictures showing the establishment of the Illuminati and establish proof that there has been a diabolical plot by those we refer to as the New World Order. Showing the architectural design of the New Israeli Supreme Court Building designed and paid for by the Rothchilds reflex the presence of Free Masonry and the Illuminati. I took all but one of the pictures you are about to see so I can assure that what you are seeing is real and in place.

  The same families who own and control the Federal Reserve and other major financial institutions have their eyes set on the Temple Mount , and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Just as Scriptures say, the man who will be revealed as the anti-Christ will sit in that place, before the appearance of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach, and many will receive him as their messiah. Just actually how that will come about remains to be seen, but one thing I am convinced of is that Holy men of God will not be the ones to rebuild the Temple , it will be the Illuminati. For God would not send men to that place to perform blood sacrifices. His Son's blood was the perfect sacrifice; there is no need to shed the blood of dumb animals any longer. Yeshua did a perfect work, and it was finished. But He will return and take control of the New Temple that I feel will be built soon. But before He will return this world will have to get in such bad shape that the anti-Christ can be accepted by most as the savior who can bring peace and order to the world. But then you know the rest of that story so lets go on.

  For those who may think this article is anti-Semitic I ask you to read an article on (Synagogue of Satan) for there are those who call themselves Jews but who are of the house of Satan. And many have found their way into the Israeli Knesset. more...

• “EUROPEANS SHOULD CREATE JEWISH STATE” (December 8, 2005) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued his anti-Israel rhetoric Thursday afternoon, denying the Holocaust and calling on Germany and Austria to create a Jewish State within their borders, Israel Radio reported. "We do not believe that Hitler killed six million Jews, but even if this is true by some chance, then why should the Palestinians pay the price for it," he asked, and suggested that the governments in Vienna and Berlin concede two or three provinces to the Zionists and settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all. "If Germany and Austria feel responsible that the Jewish people suffered at their hands during the Second World War, then all they should do is create a Zionist State in their territory," he said in a television interview in Teheran. Israeli officials condemned Ahmadinejad's comments as "outrageous and even racist." "Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the president of Iran has made outrageous and even racist remarks concerning Jews and Israel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. more...

• ABBAS APPROVES PA ASSISTANCE TO FAMILIES OF SUICIDE BOMBERS By Jonathan D. Halevi, Daily Alert (December 8, 2005) - On December 5, the very day of a suicide bombing in Netanya, it has been reported that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA) gave budgetary approval to assistance for the families of suicide bombers. Each martyr's family will receive a monthly stipend of at least US $250 from the PA. The budget for families of martyrs, prisoners, and the wounded could reach $100 million a year out of an annual budget of over $1 billion.

• UN Ceremony Includes Map of ´Palestine´ in Place of Israel (December 7, 2005) - The United Nations held a "Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" last week. A large map of “Palestine,” with Israel literally wiped off the map, featured prominently in the festivities.

  During the festivities, a map labeled a "map of Palestine” was displayed prominently between UN and PLO flags. The map, with “Palestine” written in Arabic atop it, does not include Israel, a member of the UN for 56 years. The map does not even demarcate the partition lines of November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish state alongside an Arab state. The partition was dictated by the UN General Assembly itself.

  With the map hanging behind him, Secretary-General Annan addressed the public meeting at UN Headquarters. At the start of the ceremony, the dignitaries present asked attendees to observe a moment of silence. “I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people,” the master of ceremonies said, “and the return of peace between Israel and Palestine.“ Anne Bayefsky, who reported on the event for the Eye on the UN organization, said that the ceremony's wording was aimed at giving honor to the worst of Palestinian terrorists. "It was a moment ... crafted to include the commemoration of suicide-bombers,” she wrote. In response to the event, Bayefsky and her organization have once again asked the U.S. to withhold funding from the UN.  more...  See how the Palestinian kids are taught > Relentless trailer

• Israel kills top Gaza militant after suicide attack - Israel killed a senior Gaza militant in an air strike on Wednesday and wounded 10 other people, after it vowed to avenge a suicide bombing in central Israel. The violence put a new strain on a shaky Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and distanced further the chances of resuming peace efforts that were already largely on hold as Israel readies for a national election in March. Leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees, whose senior field commander, Mahmud el-Arqan, 29, died when two missiles fired from an Israeli aircraft struck his car in the Gaza town of Rafah, said they would avenge his slaying. "Our reaction will be painful," Abu Abir, a spokesman for the militants, said. Medics said 10 other people were wounded in the blast, among them three children younger than 10, struck by shrapnel from the vehicle in a residential area as it rounded a bend on a road crowded with pedestrians. Islamic Jihad, a separate militant organization from el-Arqan's group, had claimed responsibility for Monday's bombing of a shopping mall that killed five in the Israeli town of Netanya. Israeli military sources said el-Arqan was targeted for having collaborated with Islamic Jihad in a series of recent attacks on Israeli troops and in weapons smuggling into Gaza. In the West Bank, witnesses said Israeli forces had raided a village near the town of Jenin, where they surrounded a building in search of militants suspected of hiding inside. more...

• Israel shuts door to Gaza, West Bank (December 7, 2005) - Israel clamped an open-ended closure on the West Bank and Gaza yesterday, banning virtually all Palestinians from Israel, and arrested at least 15 militants in a first response to a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis outside a shopping mall. Israeli officials also said the army would target Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank, both through arrest raids and assassinations, and renew air strikes in the Gaza Strip in response to any Palestinian rocket attacks. "We decided to operate in a much broader, much deeper and more intensive manner against the Islamic Jihad infrastructure, and I hope that we will be able to prevent such attacks in the future," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Army Radio after a late-night meeting of security officials. The army said the 15 arrests took place throughout the West Bank, with eight Islamic Jihad members rounded up in Tulkarem, near the village of Monday's bomber. The attack, in the coastal city of Netanya, was the fifth since Israel and the Palestinians forged a ceasefire in February. Islamic Jihad has claimed all of them, saying its attacks are in response to Israeli violations of the truce. The closure, which the army said would remain in effect indefinitely, prevented thousands of Palestinian merchants and laborers from reaching jobs in Israel. Gaza's main cargo crossing, however, remained open.  more...

• Iran Warns Israel After Netanyahu Attack Threat (December 7, 2005) - Iran on Monday warned Israel of "heavy consequences" if its nuclear installations were attacked by the Jewish state, after a former Israeli premier suggested Israel should take an aggressive stance toward Iran. "The Islamic republic is a tough target and there would be heavy consequences," said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. He was speaking after former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel needed to "act in the spirit" of the late premier Menachem Begin, who ordered an air strike on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. "I view the development of the Iranian nuclear (programme) as a paramount threat and as a real danger to the future of the state of Israel," Netanyahu told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper. "Israel needs to do everything to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear threat against it," said Netanyahu. But Larijani said Iran, which maintains its nuclear programme is peaceful, was not afraid of an attack. "Comparing Iran and Iraq is an error, because Iran is not an easy target. You should not pay attention to such rude comments by Israeli officials," he told a news conference. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also said Iran's response to such an attack would be "devastating and unbearable". more...

• PA PARTY CAMPAIGN SLOGAN: "DESTROY THE ZIONIST ENTERPRISE" (December 6, 2005) - The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a veteran component of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), will be running in January’s Palestinian Authority election under the banner, “Destroy the Zionist Enterprise.” At the head of the PFLP’s list for the PA parliament is Ahmed Sa’adat, the organization’s chairman, who ordered the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze’evi in October 2003. Another prominent figure on the list is Mohammed Alrimawi, who led the hit men who shot Ze’evi. Sa’adat and Alrimawi are supposed to be serving time in a Jericho prison for that assassination. The PA agreed to imprison the two men under pressure from the United States and Great Britain. The terrorist group’s platform for the PA elections was composed by George Habash, who founded the Marxist-Leninist organization in 1968. Although the group’s ideology has become anachronistic in an era when most Arab terror groups base their terror on Islamic jihad, or holy war, the PFLP, which has strong ties to the ruling clique in Syria, remains a significant force in the PLO. more...

• U.S. Army report: Israel can't stop Iran nukes (December 6, 2005) - Geopolitical limitations render Israel's air force militarily incapable of halting Iran's nuclear weapons program according to a new report published the by U.S. Army War College. The report asserts Israel lacks the military capability to locate and destroy Iranian nuclear assets. The report said the Israel Air Force cannot operate at such long distances from its bases. "The Israeli Air Force has formidable capabilities and enjoys unchallenged supremacy vis-à-vis the other Middle East air powers, but Israel has no aircraft carriers and it cannot use airbases in other Middle East states," the report entitled "Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran," said. "Therefore its operational capabilities are reduced when the targets are located far from its territory."
  [On Sunday, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz warned that diplomatic pressure would not stop Iran's nuclear weapons program, Middle East Newsline reported. Halutz was one of three senior Israeli officials who warned that Iran would soon be able to turn into a nuclear power.] In an article authored by Shlomo Brom, former head of air force strategic planning, the report said Israel's deep-strike air capability was based on the F-15I and F-16C/D aircraft. At a range of more than 600 kilometers, Brom said, Israel could not sustain an air campaign. Iran is about 1,000 kilometers from Israel. "It is possible to determine that at long ranges — more then 600 kilometers — the IAF is capable of a few surgical strikes, but it is not capable of a sustained air campaign against a full array of targets," the report said. An Israeli air attack on Iran must also include such support aircraft as air refueling, electronic countermeasures, support, communication, and rescue, the report said. The mission would also require precision intelligence. Brom said Israel's intelligence and military community was divided over the Iranian threat. He said military intelligence regards Iran as determined to destroy Israel. The Mossad and National Security Council see Teheran as preoccupied with national defense and regime survival. more...

• Netanyahu Backs Pre-Emptive Strike on Iran (December 6, 2005) - Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in remarks published Monday that he would support a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu's comments, made in the heat of a campaign for leadership of the hardline Likud Party, drew criticism from rivals, who accused him of playing politics with the country's security. Iranian leaders brushed off the threat, warning that an attack "will have a lot of consequences." Israeli leaders have long identified Iran as the nation's biggest threat. Israel accuses Tehran of supporting Palestinian militant groups and rejects Iran's claim that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in October that Israel must be "wiped off the map." Iran's announcement Monday that it plans to build a second nuclear power plant along with a deadly suicide bombing the same day by the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group in the central town of Netanya is likely to heighten Israel's concerns. more...

• ROCKET ATTACKS CONTINUE DESPITE ISRAELI WARNINGS (December 5, 2005) - Palestinians fired two rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Sunday December 4, in the hours following a series of strikes by Israeli jets on targets in Gaza. Israel says six more were fired early Monday, December 5. The latest Palestinian attacks came fewer than 24 hours after Israel’s Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz issued a stern warning that rocket launches from Gaza will not be tolerated by Israel. The latest Palestinian strikes were the first missiles to land on the Israeli agricultural village Shuva. Palestinian rockets targeted Israeli civilians on December 2–3.

• Pope, Abbas Discuss Mideast Peace Process (December 5, 2005) - Pope Benedict XVI discussed the Middle East peace process Saturday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who invited the pontiff to visit the Holy Land. ``You will be very welcome in Jerusalem and all the holy places,'' Abbas, speaking English, told the pope after their private 20-minute meeting in Benedict's library. ``Thank you very much,'' the pope replied. Abbas later told journalists that Benedict ``responded positively'' to his invitation but indicated no date for a visit. Last month, Israeli President Moshe Katsav invited Benedict to Israel and said he hoped the pope would visit next year. During their meeting, Benedict and Abbas talked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the pope stressing ``the need to integrate all components of the Palestinian people into the peace process,'' Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a written statement. The statement did not elaborate but appeared to be a reference to extremist elements blamed for violence and terrorism. Violence marred primary elections across the Palestinian territories earlier this week. Briefing journalists at a Rome hotel, Abbas said the pope with ``his symbolic weight ... can carry out a decisive role for peace.'' One of the members in the Palestinian delegation presented the pope with a document that Abbas later said was fashioned by Bethlehem's inhabitants ``to express the ties of friendship and spirituality that link the Vatican and the people of Bethlehem, dear to Christians as Jesus' birthplace.'' When Pope John Paul II received Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1982, the first of many meetings between the two men, it sparked protests in Israel and in the worldwide Jewish community. John Paul consistently championed rights for the Palestinian people while at the same time greatly improving the Vatican's relations with Israel. more...

• Netanyahu hints could consider Iran nuclear strike (December 5, 2005) - Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that he could consider a pre-emptive air strike against Iran's nuclear installations if he were to be re-elected. Netanyahu, who is widely expected to regain the leadership of the right-wing Likud party later this month, said Israel needed to "act in the spirit" of the late premier Menachem Begin who ordered an air strike on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. "I view the development of the Iranian nuclear (programme) as a paramount threat and as a real danger to the future of the state of Israel," Netanyahu told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper. "Israel needs to do everything to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear threat against it." "We need to act in the spirit of Menachem Begin, who defied the entire world and with a bold step prevented Iraq from arming itself with nuclear weapons." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu's arch rival said last week that Israel would never allow its arch-enemy Iran to come into possession of nuclear weapons. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad caused an international backlash in October when he called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map". The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in September found Iran in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, paving the way for the matter to be referred to the UN Security Council if Iran does not halt nuclear fuel work and cooperate fully with an IAEA investigation. Iran has insisted that its nuclear programme is merely designed to meet domestic energy needs.

• El Baradei: Iran only months away from a bomb (December 5, 2005) - IAEA chairman Muhammad ElBaradei on Monday confirmed Israel's assessment that Iran is only a few months away from creating an atomic bomb. If Teheran indeed resumed its uranium enrichment in other plants, as threatened, it will take it only "a few months" to produce a nuclear bomb, El-Baradei told The Independent. On the other hand, he warned, any attempt to resolve the crisis by non-diplomatic means would "open a Pandora's box. There would be efforts to isolate Iran; Iran would retaliate; and at the end of the day you have to go back to the negotiating table to find the solution."

• Israel Voices Worry Over Iran-Russia Missile Deal (December 4, 2005) - Israel on Sunday lambasted Russia over the sale of anti-missile systems to arch-enemy Iran, the latest round of what the local press has dubbed the "Iranian-Israeli arms race", AFP said. Iran, already under intense international pressure over its nuclear activities, has reportedly bought 29 mobile air defence systems from Moscow in a deal worth more than $700 mln. "When a country sells arms to Iran, it strengthens the military strength of the state and serves only the interests of the most negative elements in the region," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Marc Regev told AFP. The contract with Russia, which is already helping Tehran build a nuclear reactor in Bushehr, coincided with an Israeli announcement it had successfully testfired an Arrow defence missile against a mock Shahab missile. Tehran's rapid progress on its ballistic missile programme is a major cause for concern in the international community. Israel's own fears were heightened in October when Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Jewish state must be "wiped off the map". more...

• Russia Justifies $1 Billion Worth Weapon Deal with Iran (December 4, 2005) - Russia’s weapons sales to Iran are purely for defensive purposes, a government spokesman said Saturday, in response to reports that Russia was selling $1 billion worth of weapons to Iran, AP reported Saturday. The news reports said Russian was selling Iran advanced missiles and other systems, but the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, did not comment on specifics, saying in a statement only that they were “exclusively defensive weapons.” Kamynin said the sales fully complied with nonproliferation commitments and Russian law. The statement appeared timed to head off the heated reaction expected from the United States after Russian media reported Friday that officials had signed contracts in November that would send up to 30 Tor-M1 missile systems to Iran over the next two years. The Interfax news agency said the Tor-M1 system could identify up to 48 targets and fire at two targets simultaneously at a height of up to 20,000 feet. A high-ranking Iranian official downplayed the deal, telling the official Islamic Republic News Agency on Saturday that Iran buys arms from many countries and would not stop. “Iran’s and Russia’s military cooperation is not a complicated issue,” said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “It existed before, and there was no ban on it.” Moscow is already at odds with the West over its nuclear ties with Tehran but has sought to use its warm relations with Iran to be recognized as a key mediator between the West and the Islamic Republic, Reuters added.

• Israeli Aircraft Fire on Gaza Rocket Lab (December 4, 2005) - Israeli aircraft fired missiles at an abandoned building and a rocket launching ground in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday in the first aerial attack on Gaza in more than a month, the military said. Palestinian security officials said missiles also struck a charity belong to the Islamic Jihad militant group. A bystander was slightly wounded by flying shrapnel, they said. The Israeli military said it targeted a building used for terror operations and open fields where homemade rockets had been launched in recent days. No one was injured, it said. Palestinians said the building was an abandoned metal workshop. Israel targets workshops it suspects are used to produce producing weapons. After a lull of several weeks, Palestinians began firing homemade rockets at southern Israel from Gaza again last week. Israel responded initially with artillery fire. The air strike Sunday was the first since Oct. 27, the military said. Some Palestinian officials say the attacks on Israel, which have caused no injuries, have been renewed in an effort to show force ahead of Jan. 25 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

• Amazing discovery in heart of biblical Jerusalem (December 4, 2005) - In what many archaeologists hail as the potential find of the century, remains of a massive structure dating to the time of King David have been discovered in the heart of biblical Jerusalem. Eilat Mazar, the Israeli archaeologist leading the excavation, has suggested that it may, in fact, be the palace built by David as described in the Bible. The discovery has shaken the already contentious field of biblical archaeology to its roots: For the last few years, a number of respected archaeologists n most prominently Israel Finkelstein, chairman of Tel Aviv University's archaeology department and author of the 2001 best-seller The Bible Unearthed have argued that the biblical accounts of Jerusalem as the seat of a great and united monarchy under the rule of David and Solomon are false. If Mazar's hypothesis proves right, it would go a long way toward proving Finkelstein and the others wrong. Her findings will also doubtlessly affect the broader political battle over Jerusalem that is, the question of whether the Jewish people has its origins in the city and thus has a special hold over it, or whether the concept of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is nothing but a myth. With such a potentially powerful find, there will naturally be no shortage of skeptics, whether for reasons of politics or scholarship. Yet there are many good reasons to identify Mazar's find, at least provisionally, as the palace described in the Book of Samuel. These reasons deserve to be heard. more...

• GAZA BECOMES THORN IN ISRAEL'S SIDE (December 2, 2005) - Israelis were promised that withdrawing from Gaza would result in being able to drop the area as a major security concern. But expected Palestinian Authority action against terror has not been forthcoming, the international community has not afforded Israel any meaningful understanding for its right to respond to and deter attacks on its citizens, and Gaza has instead become a thorn in Israel side. So said Brig.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Gaza Division, in a message to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, explaining that the number of terrorist incidents emanating from Gaza since Israel left the area “is enormous.” The army has reported 75 incidents of small arms fire from Gaza, 130 Kassam rocket and mortar shell attacks, and at least 18 bombs planted along the border fence–the smallest one weighing some 40 kilograms (88 lbs.)–since Israel's “disengagement” from the coastal strip, according to Ynet. “This isn't the border we intended” when Israel decided to relinquish Gaza under the directives of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Kochavi said. Many security experts, including Likud party leadership candidate Binyamin Netanyahu, are warning this is just the beginning, and that Gaza is likely to become the gateway for an unprecedented wave of Islamic terrorism against Israel's Jews. Meanwhile, Senior Likud Knesset (Parliament) Member Yuval Steinitz issued a blistering attack against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz December 1 for reneging on their commitment to protect Israel from any post-Gaza withdrawal violence by unleashing a most severe military response at the first sign of Palestinian aggression. Instead, the IDF has been reduced to lobbing a few shells into open fields in retaliation for recent terrorist artillery attacks. “I am sure the Gazans are laughing at us more than they are scared by our shooting at them,” Steinitz, who chairs the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Arutz 7. more...

• Militants let back in Gaza, Israel threatens sanctions (December 2, 2005) - Palestinians have allowed up to 15 militants wanted by Israel to return to the Gaza Strip in recent days, officials said Friday, in what Israel said was a violation of U.S.-brokered deal for securing the border. The dispute over the entry of the Hamas militants — including one of the group's founders — through the Rafah terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border threatened to undermine the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. Palestinian security officials acknowledged that wanted men entered Gaza through Rafah, but said anyone with a Palestinian identity card can come into the coastal strip. They said Israel was making demands that are not part of the crossing accord. Israel closed the Rafah passage — Gaza's main gateway to the outside world — shortly before withdrawing from the strip in early September. The crossing reopened last week after months of wrangling between Israel and the Palestinians over security procedures. Israel was afraid militants or arms would flow into Gaza through Rafah, but agreed to let the border reopen after the Palestinians accepted the presence of European monitors and installed security cameras to let Israel monitor the crossing live. Israeli officials said Friday, however, that the Palestinians are allowing militants into Gaza and that they are now helpless to prevent the wanted men from entering. Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said between 10 and 15 wanted militants have entered Gaza from neighboring Egypt in recent days. "We know this, but we have no ability to stop them because we are relying on the people there — the Europeans and Egyptians," he said. more...

• Sharon: Iranian nukes unacceptable (December 2, 2005) - Israel "can't accept a situation where Iran has nuclear arms" and "is making all the necessary preparations to handle a situation like this," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday. Iran's enemies have "the capability" to use military force to disrupt Iran's bid for nuclear arms, he said at the annual Editor's Committee gathering in Tel Aviv, adding that "before exercising it, every attempt should be made to pressure Iran into stopping its activity." Sharon stressed that "Israel doesn't lead the struggle" to keep Iran nuclear-free, and he hoped the UN Security Council would neutralize "this great danger." Sharon's comments raised Israel's rhetoric against Iran and came on the heels of assessments by IDF brass that, after March, diplomatic efforts to curtail Iran's nuclear program will be pointless. "Israel is not without hope and is taking all necessary measures, as it should," he said. Changing tack, Sharon referred to international pressure on Syria as critical, saying he was not inclined to discuss a return of the Golan Heights or anything else that might "make things easier for the Syrians." There are "no contacts" between Israel and Syria now, he said. Sharon alluded to diplomatic pressure on Israel when he said Israel had no plans to build an eastern fence in the Jordan Valley, which he termed "within Israel's security zone." more...

• Israel Military Intel Chief: Must Act Against Iran by March The Media Line (December 1, 2005) - The head of Israel’s military intelligence has told a parliamentary committee that if by March 2006 the international community has not reached an agreement with Iran that will end its nuclear program, diplomacy will be “pointless.” Although Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze’evi-Farkash did not articulate the obvious, members of the Knesset (Parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, who heard his presentation, believed he was advocating a military option as early as April. Ze’evi-Farkash also revealed that the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization was planning to unleash a massive barrage of rockets against civilian targets in the north of Israel. He said the torrent of rockets was to have followed an Israeli response to last week’s cross-border incursion that was aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers and apparently provoking a substantial Israeli retaliation as well.

November 2005

• Sharon's Party Favors Palestinian State Israel National News (November 29, 2005) - Sharon's Kadima party platform, presented to the public on November 28, is identical to Labor's on the Israeli-Arab conflict. It vows to keep only Jerusalem and settlement blocs–less than 10% of Yesha (Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza). Justice Minister Tzippy Livny, one of the leading cabinet ministers who bolted the Likud to join Sharon's party, presented the new party's platform on November 28.
  • The platform's main diplomatic points:
    • A Palestinian state should be established in Judea and Samaria.
    • The PA state is to be demilitarized and clean of terrorism.
    • Jerusalem and Jewish settlement blocs must remain under Israeli sovereignty.
    • Israel must balance the need to retain a Jewish majority with maintaining control of some of the areas in dispute.

Arutz 7 diplomatic correspondent Haggai Huberman noted that the "demilitarized and clean of terrorism" clause is fairly questionable, as the Palestinian Authority has never fulfilled similar clauses in the past or agreed to do so. Huberman explained that the "settlement bloc" issue, as well, raises many questions. "To many people who are not familiar with the map, it sounds impressive, as if Israel will retain a great presence in Judea and Samaria. But for those who do know the situation–and it can be seen on the ground when you look at the partition fence/wall that's being built–it's a very different picture. The blocs that are being talked about are really not very large at all." more...

• Sharon readies plan for total West Bank pullout by '08 (November 25, 2005) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has drafted a plan for Israel's withdrawal from virtually all of the West Bank by 2008. Political sources said Sharon has begun briefing senior U.S. officials of his intention to withdraw unilaterally from more than 95 percent of the West Bank. They said Sharon, who quit the ruling Likud Party on Nov. 21, would seek a U.S. and international security presence in the area as well as a commitment for the dismantling of Palestinian insurgency groups. On Wednesday, Haim Ramon, a Cabinet minister who joined Sharon's new party, said the prime minister plans to withdraw unilaterally to what would constitute Israel's final borders, Middle East Newsline reported. Ramon said Sharon does not plan to discuss this before the parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 28. "His decision [to quit the Likud] stems from his desire to bring the state of Israel to permanent borders during his term of office," Eli Landau, a longtime confidante of Sharon, said. "He knows that this step will be a dramatic one." The sources said Sharon's plan was based on an assessment that the Palestinian Authority was not prepared to sign a formal peace agreement with Israel. They said that under this scenario Sharon would order a unilateral withdrawal from more than 90 percent of the West Bank, but retain control over air space. more...

• PA admits Jewish towns turned into 'training camps' (November 25, 2005) - The Palestinian Authority admitted in an official document published that today parts of Gush Katif, the former Jewish communities of Gaza, are now "training camps" for terror groups. In an exclusive story last week, WND reported Hamas has turned Neve Dekalim, the former capital of Gush Katif, into a "martyrs training camp," and has used the territory to fire rockets into Israel. Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef yesterday toured Gaza's former Jewish communities and detailed a PA plan to bring security to the area. Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in August, the land that comprised Gush Katif has been the scene of regular internal Palestinian clashes. An official dossier of Yousef's schedule released today by the Interior Ministry states, "The Minister Nasser Yousef toured the newly liberated areas of Gaza, parts of which are used by the Palestinian groups as training camps." As WND reported, in what some expelled Jewish residents of the area called the "ultimate insult," Hamas leaders said they turned Neve Dekalim into a "martyr training camp" and have used the territory to launch rockets into Israel. more...

• Tel Aviv To Become Gay Capital of the World (November 25, 2005) - Israeli tourism officials announced this week that they plan on turning Tel Aviv into the gay capital of the world. Tel Aviv is known throughout the world as “The White City” due to the many Bauhaus-style structures that adorn its streets, but the city may soon be called “The Pink City,” as tourism industry heads are planning on transforming the city into the gay capital of the world, Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported. “Tel Aviv and gay people are a perfect fit,” an Israel Hotel Association (IHA) official said. The idea was born when IHA Director-General Eli Ziv visited London recently to participate in the 2005 World Travel Market exhibition. During the exhibition Ziv met with representatives of the homo-lesbian travel industry, and discovered an audience that would travel just about anywhere for a good party, even to the Middle East. “The gay community has amazing consumer power, and Tel Aviv has a lot to offer to this community,” Ziv explained. “We have the beach, sun, culture, and nightclubs. To our knowledge, gays are capable of hopping on a plane and traveling to the other side of the world just to participate in parties and events that are related to the gay community.” Tourism Ministry Director-General Eli Cohen said he would offer any financial assistance necessary to turn Tel Aviv into the gay capital of the world, and he is not alone: TUI, Europe’s largest tourism conglomerate, has recently decided to offer charter flights to Tel Aviv. Israeli tourism officials said they believe the decision would facilitate the travel of thousands of gays to the country. During the biblical period, the coastal area of modern day Israel was inhabited by the Philistines, while the Israelites lived in the hilly regions. The cultic practices of the Philistines included temple prostitution, noted for its debauchery, and the worship of multiple gods. In contrast, the children of Israel worshipped one God and were given a code of ethics, called the Torah (Gen.–Deut.). In the Torah, homosexual activity was forbidden. Interestingly, In Israel today, the more liberal, secular society tends to live in the coastal areas, and the more Torah observant live in the inland and more hilly areas, just as in days of old. more...

• EU stays mum on East Jerusalem as ties with Israel improve (November 23, 2005) - The European Union has prepared a harsh report on Israel's activity in East Jerusalem, but has decided to delay its release in the wake of the recent warming of ties between Israel and Europe. EU foreign ministers discussed the Middle East in a meeting Monday and decided to express "deep concern" over Israel's activities in East Jerusalem and its environs, including establishing settlements, constructing the West Bank separation fence and demolishing homes. According to the EU, such Israeli activities minimize the chance for a final-status agreement over Jerusalem, threaten to make any solution based on the coexistence of two states impossible, and conflict with international law. The foreign ministers called for certain EU officials to prepare a detailed analysis of the situation in East Jerusalem, to be adopted and publicized during the next foreign ministers meeting. Political officials in Jerusalem said the EU report had already been prepared by European consuls in East Jerusalem and that the report severely criticizes Israel's actions in the area. However, the foreign ministers apparently decided Monday that the timing was not appropriate - Europe is finally set to play an active role in the political process by sending monitors to the Rafah border crossing and establishing a European delegation to improve the Palestinian police. more...

• Multi-Pronged Hizbullah Attack on Northern Israel (November 22, 2005) - In a massive offensive, Hizbullah terrorists fired Katyusha rockets and mortar shells at Israeli targets and infiltrated an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) position in the Har Dov region on November 21, wounding nine–three seriously. Dozens of Katyusha rockets were fired at the cities of Kiryat Shemona, Metulah, and other targets in the Galilee throughout the afternoon and evening of Monday, November 21. In addition, two Hizbullah terrorists infiltrated the IDF's Gladiola position, wounding four soldiers, including one seriously. The injured soldiers were evacuated to Haifa's Rambam Hospital. Reports from the scene say the rocket attacks were particularly intense. The attacks then continued later in the evening, with rockets launched at the Galilee city of Metulah, followed by an IDF Northern Command announcement for all residents of the northern Galilee to enter their bomb shelters. The Metulah attack directly struck a home. Residents of nearby Kibbutz Snir (communal settlement), in the Galilee panhandle below Har Dov, took cover in their bomb shelters during the afternoon attack, as one rocket struck the kibbutz itself. As a precaution, children in three other Galilee kibbutzim were also rushed into bomb shelters due to the bombardment. During the barrage, Israeli security forces exchanged fire with several terrorists near the Arab village of Rajar, which straddles the Israeli-Lebanese border. Four Hizbullah terrorists were killed in the exchange. The IDF launched an air strike against a Hizbullah command post and surrounding roads used by the terrorists. Political commentators predict that Israel will not offer a stronger response than that already taken for fear that a more intense reaction would play into the hands of Hizbullah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who would benefit politically from an escalated conflagration. There has been a heightened alert along the northern border in recent days, with the reception of intelligence information pointing to planned Hizbullah attacks and kidnappings.

• Sharon Quits Likud, Calls for New Elections (November 21, 2005) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday he gambled and broke away from his hardline Likud Party because he did not want to squander peacemaking opportunities created by Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip or waste time with political wrangling. Sharon, whose split from Likud electrified Israeli politics and set the stage for likely March elections, ruled out unilateral withdrawals from the West Bank, however. He also said he remains committed to the internationally backed "road map" plan, which calls for a negotiated peace deal culminating in a Palestinian state. "There is no additional disengagement plan," he told a televised news conference, referring to the summer's Gaza withdrawal. "There is the road map." Sharon's decision to form a new party he described as "liberal" cemented his transformation from the hawkish patron of Israel's settler movement to a moderate peacemaker reconciled to the inevitability of a Palestinian state. Weekend polls indicated Sharon, Israel's most popular politician, could marshal enough support to return to the prime minister's office for a third term at the head of a moderate coalition. more...

• EU Wants Israel to Divide Jerusalem Israel National News (November 20, 2005) - The European Union (EU) has accused Israel of a de facto annexation of eastern Jerusalem. An EU conference in Barcelona is discussing the issue, with the Palestinian Authority (PA) calling for dividing Israel's capital. A EU document, reported in The New York Times and The Guardian, urges member countries to prevent the security fence from "sealing off most of East Jerusalem" and allowing Israel a "de facto annexation" of Jerusalem–the city, which was re-united after the 1967 Six Day War. The report charges that "Israeli activities in Jerusalem are in violation of both its Road Map obligations and international law." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and virtually every previous prime minister and leader of major parties have declared that Jerusalem will remain united. The PA has insisted that its proposed new Arab state will include Jerusalem as its capital. The EU report, prepared by its diplomats in eastern Jerusalem and Ramallah and written by British consulate officials, was sent to foreign ministers of the 25 countries in the group. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said he hoped the document would not lead to a "regression to the one-sided [European] position of the past." The report is to be published in December, but was leaked as the EU increased its involvement in PA-Israel relations by placing European observers at the reopened Rafiah border between Gaza and Egypt. The report, along with an EU conference in Barcelona on December 3, may put the status of Jerusalem in the forefront in the current Israeli election campaign. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is to attend the Barcelona meeting, but both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom have absented themselves to continue their campaign in the upcoming elections in Israel. Finance Minister Ehud Olmert is taking their place. Abbas is expected to exploit the opportunity to demand that Israel tear down the security fence. The EU implicitly has sided with the PA, against Israel on the status of Jerusalem. Its official policy states, "The EU opposes...actions aimed at changing the Palestinian character of East Jerusalem." The EU has blamed Israel for policies that it says "are reducing the possibility of reaching a final-status agreement on Jerusalem that any Palestinian could accept," because the security fence separates 230,000 Arabs from Judea and Samaria. The result is a "de facto annexation of Palestinian land," according to the report, which the Times said was leaked "from someone who wanted to publicize it." Diplomats also accused Israel of "radicalizing the hitherto relatively quiescent Palestinian population of East Jerusalem" by discrimination against them on matters of work and building permits, house demolitions, and taxation.

• Hamas Lays Out Post-Election Agenda (November 20, 2005) - The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) on November 18 published a translation of an October interview in which Gaza-based Hamas Chief Mahmoud al-Zahar laid out his group's post-election agenda. “Hamas' mission upon joining the [Palestinian Authority] Legislative Council will be to eliminate the last remnants” of the so-called “Oslo” peace process, Zahar told elaph.com. Should Hamas one day control a majority of seats in the parliament and be asked to form the government, it will go one step further and end all relations with the Jewish state. “The national interest demands that we not cooperate with Israel in the security, political, or economic spheres,” Zahar explained. “The facts should lead us to cut off our relations with the Israeli enemy by all means. The question is whether to do this gradually or all at once.” Hamas is expected to garner up to 40% of the vote when Palestinians go to the polls in late January, giving the group considerable influence over official policy. Due to its overtly destructive agenda, Israel continues to insist the Palestinian Authority (PA) and western nations involved in the peace process prohibit Hamas from participating in the election, or risk the collapse of everything they have worked for. But following this summer's withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas views Israel as a vanquished foe, and “the defeated [party] does not dictate conditions,” Zahar said. Public opinion polls have consistently shown a majority of Palestinian Arabs agree with that view. And as for disarming, Zahar said everyone concerned can forget about it. “We will join the Legislative Council and serve the Palestinian street with our weapons in hand,” he insisted. “We want to turn into the weapon of resistance in all the Land.” more...

• Hamas Leader Signals Resurgence of Terror Attacks (November 18, 2005) - Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal says there is no reason to maintain the "calm" to which his group has agreed, signaling a possible resurgence of terror attacks against Israeli targets, Israel Radio reported on November 18. Apparently basing their report on Arabic-language newspapers, the radio said Meshal called for the postponement of a summit of Palestinian groups scheduled to take place in Cairo at the end of the month because there was no reason to refrain from attacks. Israel Radio also said that Meshal had spoken by cell phone to Palestinian prisoners held in Israel's Ketziot Prison and told them that the Palestinian Authority security services were aiding Israel by arresting suspected militants in the West Bank.

• Sharon Surprises with Call for February Elections Media Line (November 18, 2005) - The Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot came up with the scoop when it reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants elections to be held as early as February. The conventional wisdom had been that a March date would emerge from Sharon’s first meeting with Amir Peretz, the newly-elected head of Israel’s Labor Party. Atop the agenda for the tête-à-tête is Peretz’s formal notice to Sharon that Labor will be leaving the coalition and a demand for new elections. Elections were to have been held in November 2006. One analyst at Media Line pointed out that Sharon’s desire to accelerate the process should not come as a surprise and is consistent with typical Sharon strategy. The prime minister is by all accounts firmly in the lead in both the fight for leadership of his Likud party and head-to-head against Peretz. Sharon apparently believes that less time for opponents to organize and campaign against him works to his advantage.

• EU security teams to region taking shape (November 17, 2005) - An Italian police commander with experience in Albania and Hebron and an Irish police superintendent with experience in Ulster and London will head EU security-related teams dispatched to the Palestinian Authority, the EU announced Wednesday. EU special Middle East envoy Marc Otte told the Associated Press that Italian police Gen. Pietro Pistolese will head the 50-man EU team that will monitor the Rafah border crossing. Pistolese previously headed a European mission to Albania and also served as a TIPH observer in Hebron. Otte said that the team will be comprised of monitors from Italy, Germany and Great Britain, and that the goal was to have the crossing point open - at least on a partial basis - by November 25. An EU technical team has been in the area for a week assessing the team's logistical needs, but Otte said it had still not been determined whether the monitor force will be armed. Otte met Wednesday morning with Minister Haim Ramon and senior officials in the office of Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and a Palestinian delegation led by Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat, to reach an agreement in principle outlining the mechanism for the deployment of what will be known as "EU Border Assistance Mission (EU-BAM) at the Rafah Crossing Point on the Gaza-Egypt border." Peres, who met Wednesday with visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, said EU-BAM "constitutes an entrance of the EU into the Middle East in a more political sense than ever before." more...

• Iran Now Says Satellite Can Spy on Israel (November 17, 2005) - Iran said the satellite would be purely scientific. But a month after its launch _ and only weeks after the president said Israel should be wiped off the map _ the head of Tehran's space program now says the Sina-1 is capable of spying on the Jewish state. The launch of the Russian-made satellite into orbit aboard a Russian rocket last month marked the beginning of Iran's space program. Officials say a second satellite _ this one Iranian-built _ will be launched in about two months, heightening Israeli concerns. The Sina-1's stated purpose is to take pictures of Iran and to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation. Sina-1, with a three-year lifetime, has a resolution precision of about 50 yards. But as it orbits the Earth some 14 times a day from an altitude around 600 miles, with controllers able to point its cameras as they wish, Sina-1 gives Iran a limited space reconnaissance capability over the entire Middle East, including Israel. "Sina-1 is a research satellite. It's not possible to use it for military purposes," said Deputy Telecom Minister Ahmad Talebzadeh, who heads the space program. But he agreed it could spy on Israel. "Technically speaking, yes. It can monitor Israel," he told The Associated Press. "But we don't need to do it. You can buy satellite photos of Israeli streets from the market." more...

• All of Israel’s security branches sent strong written protests to Sharon against the new Gaza crossings deal as exposing Israel to grave terrorist peril (November 16, 2005) - US secretary Rice forced the accord through in a diplomatic blitz Tuesday Nov. 15. The protests came from the top levels of Israel’s armed forces, the Shin Beit and all other intelligence services and the police. Rarely before have so many expressions of alarm been rushed to the head of government by all of top security agencies.
  By this extreme step -
  1. Each of the branches submitted separate warnings to prime minister Ariel Sharon and defense minister Shaul Mofaz. They were alerted to the grave hazards in store when the crossings are reopened later this month and the rest of the accord goes into effect, shorn as they have been of appropriate security controls.
  2. Each branch placed its reservations in writing to clearly record where responsibility lies for the worst possible contingencies.
  
  DEBKAfile’s security sources report gloomy forecasts from all the leading officials responsible for Israeli national security and the war on terror. The accord signed Tuesday caught them in the middle of constructing a new security system designed to safeguard the country after Israeli troops were pulled out of the Gaza Strip. The new accord threatens to push this system aside. Israel is divested of the means of keeping terrorists from making free use of the crossings which reopen Nov. 25 and the Palestinian convoys driving from Gaza to the West Bank and back from Dec. 15. There is no longer any barrier to Palestinian terrorists bringing shoulder-launched anti-air missiles any time to the point from which they can turn Israel’s international airport into a disaster zone and paralyze international air traffic to and from the country. more...

• Palestinian election platforms: Terrorize Israel (November 16, 2005) - As part of their campaign for upcoming Palestinian elections, senior politicians from Palestinian Authority President Mahmous Abbas' Fatah Party have been advocating the past few days continued terror attacks against Israel, including the firing of missiles, until the Jewish state leaves the West Bank and Jerusalem, WND has learned. The rhetoric comes in spite of a cease-fire signed in February by Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and Abbas' pledge to the international community to disarm the Palestinian terror groups. "The West Bank is still occupied, and resistance is a legitimate right. I am not in favor of [launching] missiles, but it is our right to resist, to react and to confront the occupation," PA National Security Adviser Jabril Rajoub said in an interview last week with an Egyptian newspaper, according to a translation by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies. Rajoub, PA Minister of Civil Affairs Muhammad Dahlan and senior Fatah activist Muhammad Hijazi are all running in Fatah primaries slated for tomorrow, and have been making statements to the Arab media advocating terrorism in interviews highlighting their election campaigns. Rajoub then told the Arabic Al-Arabiya TV he is opposed to disarming Hamas and Islamic Jihad, stating several times during an interview the matter of weapons was an "internal Palestinian issue" that would be dealt with by a dialogue between the PA and the terror organizations. February's cease-fire, Rajoub said, was simply to appease international public opinion and put pressure on Israel. "The lull is open and changes according to developments in the field. Its main objective is to maintain local and international momentum, which serves Palestinian interests. The lull's function is also to exert pressure on the criminal Israeli government." more...

• Islamic Radicals Plan World Revolution from Temple Mount (November 16, 2005) - One of the radical groups operating on the Temple Mount is Hizab Altahrir (The Islamic Liberation Party), which espouses an ideology similar to Al Qaeda. Hizab Altahrir’s network spans most Western European countries. The party puts Islamic revolution and an uncompromising form of Jihad (holly war) at the top of its political agenda. The group advocates subjecting the entire world to Islamic law (Shariya), and destroying non-believing nations and religions. The party has targeted Europe, specifically Denmark, for spreading its ideology, and providing a springboard for renewing Islamic conquests in Europe. A senior party activist in Jerusalem, Sheikh Issam Amira, expressed this philosophy in a recent speech which he made on the Temple Mount: “Listeners! The Moslems in Denmark make up three percent [of the population], yet constitute a threat to the future of the Danish kingdom. It’s no surprise that in Bitrab (the ancient name of Medina, a city in Arabia to which Mohammed immigrated) they were fewer than three percent of the general population, but succeeded changing the regime in Bitrab. more...

• Israel Buckles on Gaza Border (November 15, 2005) - Visiting United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice strong-armed Israel into prematurely surrendering control of the dangerously porous border between the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian Sinai to the Palestine Liberation Organization on November 15, senior Likud Member of Knesset Yuval Steinitz said. “Israel was pressured into opening up the crossings before we were ready; we gave in to pressure from the Americans,” said Steinitz, who also chairs the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Rice managed to extract, in a matter of days, an Israeli security concession the international community, through Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn, had been pushing for, for months. According to the deal, Israel will be provided a video feed from the Rafah crossing, and any dispute that arises over the passage of an individual into Gaza will be settled by European monitors stationed at the border. Gazan Arabs will also be permitted to travel between the coastal strip and Judea-Samaria in bus convoys. The lack of a physical Israeli presence on the Gaza-Sinai border is an invitation for Palestinian and Egyptian violation of the new agreement and a fresh influx of terrorist arms, many in Israel fear. more...

• Saudi Arabia Agrees to end Boycott of Israel Media Line (November 13, 2005) - Saudi Arabia will end its economic boycott of Israel and become the 149th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Saudi admission to the WTO was assured on November 12 in a special session of the organization’s general council. To gain admission, the Saudi’s agreed to “cancel all economic boycotts and pledged not to resort to any future discriminatory trade measures against Israel.” Bahrain recently ended its participation in the decades-old boycott in order to meet American requirements for a free-trade agreement. Israel’s WTO representative was quoted as saying he hoped the move “opens the door to a better future” in the region.

• On Anniversary of Arafat's Death, Abbas Vows to Raise Palestine Flag in Jerusalem (November 12, 2005) - Thousands of Palestinians gathered near Yasser Arafat's grave in his old West Bank compound on Friday for a subdued commemoration of the first anniversary of their iconic leader's death. Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, his successor, led a rally attended by top officials from major factions and a handful of foreign diplomats in honor of Arafat, who died aged 75 having failed to realize his dream of a Palestinian state. The focus of the official commemoration was Arafat's old headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah where he spent his final years isolated and encircled by the Israeli army. "I renew the pledge to continue on the path that he started and exert whatever efforts are needed to raise the flag of Palestine on the walls, the minarets and the churches of Jerusalem," Abbas said in a speech at the rally. Abbas, like many in the crowd, wore the traditional Palestinian "keffiyeh" scarf that became Arafat's trademark. Pictures of Arafat were held by many in the crowd. Abbas earlier laid the foundation stone for a new mausoleum complex while Koranic verses were broadcast over loudspeakers. Many shops in West Bank cities stayed closed, with portraits of Arafat adorning their shutters. Smaller ceremonies were held in Bethlehem and Hebron. In the Gaza Strip, a low-key memorial gathering was held on Thursday night. Arafat, a former guerrilla leader who won a Nobel Peace Prize and the deep admiration of his people only to sink into renewed conflict with Israel, left a complicated legacy. more...

• Sharon faces collapse after Labor elects new leader (November 11, 2005) - Israel's coalition government was on the point of collapse yesterday after the veteran politician Shimon Peres, a winner of the Nobel peace prize, was unseated as the head of the Labor party. Mr. Peres's political future is now uncertain after decades at the forefront of Israeli and world politics, during which he earned a reputation as a dove who favors a negotiated settlement to the conflict with the Palestinians. He was defeated in a Labor leadership election by a relative unknown who had promised to withdraw the party from the coalition headed by the hawkish prime minister, Ariel Sharon, the leader of the Right-wing Likud party. Amir Peretz, a 53-year-old trade union leader, squeaked past Mr. Peres after winning the votes of 42 per cent of Labor's 100,000 members. The poll, held on Wednesday night but lasting long into yesterday morning after the Peres camp alleged fraud, was never expected to be so close. In fact, surveys before voting suggested that Mr. Peres, 82, would breeze through. By dawn, the party committee had dismissed the claims of fraud and pronounced Mr. Peretz its first leader of Middle Eastern origin. In his acceptance speech at Labor's headquarters in Tel Aviv, Mr. Peretz repeated his pledge to withdraw from the Mr. Sharon's government. "We want to turn the Labor party into an alternative that intends to take power in the next elections," said Mr. Peretz. A meeting between him and Mr. Sharon is scheduled for next week. If Mr. Peretz withdraws Labor, Mr. Sharon will be without a parliamentary majority, and without a suitable replacement partner to secure a majority. That will force Mr. Sharon to announce new elections within three months, or to delay the poll and continue ruling through a caretaker government. more...

• PA Police: Our Guns are Aimed at Israel (November 10, 2005) - In an ominous letter to Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chief Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), a large number of Palestinian Authority (PA) security officers confirmed Israeli's worst fears regarding the Oslo peace process–the guns Israel allowed them to obtain are to be used against Jews and their allies only, not terrorists. The Arabs “know very well that if they use these guns against us once, at that moment the Oslo Accords will be annulled and the Israel Defense Forces will return to all the places that have been given to them,” late-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin warned after signing that agreement with Yasser Arafat in 1993. Rabin's words were neither heeded, nor backed up. Despite Palestinian police officers having turned their weapons on Israelis numerous times over the past decade, the “peace” process has rolled on. In fact, many members of recognized terrorist organizations actually double as PA policemen. Abbas is trying to add more by bringing his Fatah faction's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades into the fold. But, if the man Washington insists is a “moderate” thinks such a move will lessen, at least temporarily, the violence between those he governs and Israel, this letter sought to set him straight. According to The Jerusalem Post, the officers who attached their names to the document stressed, “that their weapons would be used only against Israel and suspected collaborators”–those Palestinian Arabs that, in the spirit of Oslo, cooperate with Israel in the war against Islamic terror. Cracking down on terror groups, such as Hamas, in compliance with United States and Israeli demands is out of the question, the officers wrote. “We are the soldiers of the homeland, not [U.S. security Coordinator] General William Ward. Neither are we a branch of the Israeli Shin Bet [internal security organization], nor members of a hired gang serving certain centers of power.” more...

• More Moslem Destruction of Temple Mount Feared (November 09, 2005) - The Committee to Prevent Temple Mount Artifacts Desecration warns that Muslim Waqf construction works are once again underway - this time at the Temple entrance path taken by Jews 2,000 years ago. The Committee sent a letter on the matter this week to the Prime Minister and to the Director of the Antiquities Authority. The letter states that new information has been received indicating the Waqf's intention to continue its "refurbishing" works on the Mount. Yisrael Caspi, an active member of the Committee, told Arutz-7, "For some years now we have been standing guard to try to have the Waqf stop its destruction works. The Waqf is trying to take over the Mount and make it a totally Moslem site, with no Jewish presence." "The problem is that the Prime Minister has neutralized all other elements - the Minister of Public Security, the Education Ministry, and the Antiquities Authority - and has taken full control of the situation. And the cycle is always the same: The government gives the Waqf a permit for refurbishing and the like, then the Waqf starts building and turning the area into a mosque, while destroying or hiding Jewish artifacts, and then we are not even allowed into the sites. This cycle has to be stopped!" Caspi said that the latest information indicates that the Waqf plans to begin work at the site known as the Hatunya, adjacent to the Southern Wall excavations and the Dung Gate entrance to the Western Wall. more...

• On A7 Radio: Slice Her Up! The Un-doing of Israel (November 07, 2005) - AUDIO The Vatican wants Jerusalem's King David's Tomb for themselves. The Evangelists want the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The U.N. is hinting it wants Jerusalem to be its new home and the Arab invaders want ALL of Israel. How much will Israel secede before fading to oblivion? Plus: Prof. Paul Eidelberg speaks on, "The State Versus The Jewish People".

• Italian FM calls for global backing of Israel (November 07, 2005) - Italy's foreign minister has called on the international community to help guarantee Israel's security and condemned Iran's president for saying the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad merely said what many others think "but have not always dared speak with such brutality," Gianfranco Fini also was quoted as saying in an interview published Saturday in Milan daily Corriere della Sera. "Not recognizing Israel's right to exist is an incentive for terrorism because the moment you don't recognize a state's right to exist you don't recognize a people's right to exist," Fini was quoted as saying. "That makes it clear that it is indispensable to guarantee to Israel the commitment of the international community towards its safety," Fini said. During a visit to Israel earlier this week, Fini said Italy wants Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions on the issue of nuclear weapons. Until then, Fini had rarely spoken in public about Italy's position on the Iranian nuclear issue.

• Report: Israel to Hand Control of Jerusalem Holy Site to Vatican (November 07, 2005) - According to the reports, Israel will give the Holy See possession of the Coenaculum, or the Room of the Last Supper (also known as the Upper Room or the Cenacle), on Mount Zion. In exchange, Israel is to gain control of a 12th-century synagogue in Toledo, Spain, which is currently the Santa Maria la Blanca Church, says the Times of London. The synagogue became a church during the 15th-century expulsion of Jews from Spain. President Moshe Katsav and Pope Benedict XVI are to announce the historic real estate deal during their upcoming meeting in Rome, the reports claimed. The Foreign Ministry has dismissed the reports as "nonsense," but they have already aroused stormy reactions from religious factions warning against a change in the fragile status quo in relations among Christians, Jews and Muslims. Israeli government sources said the report recycles an old proposal that came up during more than a decade of Israel-Vatican talks on bilateral ties. They called the Catholic proposal "insulting and unreasonable," and said an Israeli investigation indicated that the Vatican does not even own the Toledo church. The ministry said Israel rejected the proposal in 2003 and that the issue has not been raised since. The only Israeli official who has publicly spoken about this issue is former interior minister Avraham Poraz (Shinui), who said during a visit to the Vatican last September that from Israel's perspective, the exchange could take place if the relevant parties were to agree. In the last few days, officials in the Greek Orthodox Church have asked the Jerusalem municipality for an explanation, since it claims ownership of all of Mount Zion. The Diaspora Yeshiva, which uses several buildings on Mount Zion, asked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday to intervene in an effort to prevent "the Tomb of David from getting into Christian hands." more...
• Sanhedrin Project Unveiled With Humility (November 06, 2005) - Since it was launched in Tiberias last year, the Court of 71 rabbis has strived to fulfill the halakhic (Jewish legal) requirements for renewing authentic semicha (rabbinic ordination passed down from Moses) and for reestablishing the Great Court, which was disbanded 1,600 years ago. At Sunday’s conference, distinguished members of the Court, led by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz), presented a humble, yet exhilarating plan to widen the scope and acceptance of the Court to truly move toward becoming the restored Sanhedrin of old. Along with the increasingly modest references to the current institution of a Court or Sanhedrin project came new high-caliber participants in the project. Rabbi Even-Israel publicly accepted the position of Nassi, President of the Sanhedrin, and Rabbi Re’em HaCohen – head of the Otniel Hesder Yeshiva - delivered the first address of the morning. Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi and Dayan (Rabbinical Court Judge) Dov Lior spoke both at the conference and later at the festive meal. Also participating in the conference were Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, who heads the Tzomet Institute, and Rabbi Ratzon Arussi, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Ono and a member of the Chief Rabbinate. Both spoke about the relationship of Torah Law with the law of the State of Israel, with Rozen focusing on the grassroots desire for honest and sincere leadership in Israeli society following the crisis of the Disengagement, and Arussi outlining the critical importance of the formation of a unified court of Torah monetary law.
  Rabbi Ratzon Arussi addresses those attending the conference. more...

• Abbas' group: We're with Iranian president (November 06, 2005) - Expresses solidarity with call to 'wipe Israel off map'  The military wing of PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party today expressed solidarity with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks to "wipe Israel off the map," and is currently the only Palestinian terror group to reject a cease fire being quietly negotiated by Egypt, WND has learned. "We express our full support and solidarity with the Iranian President in which he frankly called to erase Israel from the map of the world. We support the Iranian President's position vis-à-vis this illusion that is the state of Israel and we say that with the help of Allah this illusion will disappear," stated a pamphlet distributed in Gaza yesterday by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and obtained by WorldNetDaily. The Brigades was founded in 2000 by senior Fatah members to serve as the "resistance" wing of their party. Continued the pamphlet: "Everyone who recognizes Israel as a state while it continues to exist on Palestinian land neglects and disregards the Palestinian people who daily sacrifice their blood for the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem." Al Aqsa also stated "the clashes taking place in our occupied territories will determine our destiny for hundreds of years to come." The comments come as Egypt is attempting to broker a renewed cease fire with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al Aqsa since the current truce, signed in February, expires at the end of the year. more...

• Thousands Demonstrate at Pro-Israel Rally Near Iranian Embassy in Rome (November 04, 2005) - Italy's foreign minister said he would not participate in a pro-Israel rally in Rome on Thursday evening, despite a promise to Israel that he would do so, in order to avoid damaging Italian national interests. The Italian defense minister also said he would not attend the rally, Israel Radio reported. Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini issued a statement a few hours before the torch-lit demonstration outside the Iranian embassy to protest remarks by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel should be "wiped off the map." "My physical presence, as foreign minister, at this evening's rally could cause harmful consequences to our national interests and to the security of our fellow citizens from the Iranian side," Fini said. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi expressed support for Fini's decision not to attend the rally, news agencies reported Thursday night. Fini had made a two-day official visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel earlier this week. During the visit, he had promised Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that he would participate in the Rome rally. As Iran worked behind the scenes to express displeasure over a planned pro-Israel rally scheduled to be held in Rome on Thursday, Italian politicians from the left and right have said they were to join the event. more...
• Israel will fall from within: Ayatollah (November 02, 2005) - IRAN'S supreme leader said yesterday that Palestinian "resistance" will topple the Israeli regime, amid international condemnation of the Iranian president's remarks that Israel should be erased from the map. "It is the resistance in Palestine which will undoubtedly lead to the fall of the Zionist regime," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a statement carried by the student-run news agency ISNA. Mr Khamenei's statement came four days after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked international outcry when he declared that the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map." The UN Security Council condemned the hardline president's words. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday the statement "only demonstrates why we are working so hard to keep Iran from getting technologies that lead to a nuclear weapon under cover of civilian nuclear power." Mr Khamenei retorted: "These ignorant people do not realize that nuclear weapons are no good for toppling regimes or governments. It is the nation's resistance and will that destroys corrupt regimes."

October 2005

• Israeli Company "Engineuity" Develops Car That Makes Its Own Fuel (October 31, 2005) - As President Bush urges Americans to cut back on the use of oil in wake of the recent surge in prices, more and more people are looking for more viable alternatives to the use of petroleum as the main fuel for the automotive industry. IsraCast recently covered the idea developed at the Weizmann Institute to use pure Zinc to produce Hydrogen using solar power. Now, a different solution has been developed by an Israeli company called Engineuity. Amnon Yogev, one of the two founders of Engineuity, and a retired Professor of the Weizmann Institute, suggested a method for producing a continuous flow of Hydrogen and steam under full pressure inside a car. This method could also be used for producing hydrogen for fuel cells and other applications requiring hydrogen and/or steam. The Hydrogen car Engineuity is working on will use metals such as Magnesium or Aluminum which will come in the form of a long coil. The gas tank in conventional vehicles will be replaced by a device called a Metal-Steam combustor that will separate Hydrogen out of heated water. The basic idea behind the technology is relatively simple: the tip of the metal coil is inserted into the Metal-Steam combustor together with water where it will be heated to very high temperatures. The metal atoms will bond to the Oxygen from the water, creating metal oxide. As a result, the Hydrogen molecules are free, and will be sent into the engine alongside the steam. The solid waste product of the process, in the form of metal oxide, will later be collected in the fuel station and recycled for further use by the metal industry. more...

• Israeli DM: No peace likely with Palestinians in this generation (October 28, 2005) - Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz launched a blistering attack on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, calling him "a one-man show" bereft of support from his own people and saying he sees little chance that a permanent peace deal can be reached between the sides in the present generation. In an interview published Friday in Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, Mofaz said he had complained to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at a meeting in Cairo Wednesday at Abbas' lack of leadership and Israel's increasing frustration with him. "I'm not at all sure that we can ever reach a peace agreement with the present Palestinian leadership," Mofaz told the paper. "We shall have to wait for the next generation." He went on to say that for the time being the best that could be expected was another round of interim agreements between the sides rather than any final peace agreement. more...

• UN's Annan expresses dismay over Iranian anti-Israel comments (October 28, 2005) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed dismay about remarks made by Iran's hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggesting that Israel should be 'wiped off the map'. 'The secretary general has read with dismay the remarks about Israel attributed to Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,' a statement released by his spokesman said. Annan reminded all member states that Israel is a long-standing United Nations member 'with the same rights and obligations as every other member.' 'He recalls in particular that, under the United Nations Charter, all members have undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,' the statement said. Noting that he had already planned to visit Iran in the next few weeks to discuss other issues, Annan said he now intended 'to place the Middle East peace process, and the right of all states in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force, at the top of his agenda for that visit.' Ahmadinejad told a conference Wednesday in Tehran entitled 'The World without Zionism' that 'the establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world.' more...

• Terrorist: All Israeli citizens 'are military targets' (October 28, 2005) - While Israelis were burying casualties from this week's suicide bombing and over a dozen injured were still lying in hospitals – some in critical condition – a senior leader of a terror group reportedly involved in the attack told WND the blast just north of Tel Aviv was "legitimate" because all Israelis are "military targets, they are not civilians." "As long as Israelis do not react against their government and its policy, we will never consider them as innocent civilians and they will always be a legitimate goal for our attacks," said Abu Carmel, a West Bank leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. Abu Carmel was speaking to WND after a suicide bomber exploded in an open-air market in the coastal city of Hadera Wednesday, killing five people and wounding more than two dozen others. The attack was carried out in front of a falafel stand at the entrance to the market. Hadera has been a frequent target of bombings during the past five years. The Islamic Jihad terror group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, saying the bombing was retaliation for the death of one of its senior leader in an Israel Defense Forces raid in the West Bank earlier this week. Sources close to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades told WND the group was involved in the attack as well. more...

• Israel presses militant crackdown as tensions soar (October 28, 2005) - Israel's hardline defence minister has dismissed the Palestinian leadership as a partner for peace and ruled out any Palestinian state in the foreseeable future after a night of attacks by Israeli warplanes. In an echo of the Israeli stand against the late Yasser Arafat, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said Friday: "I doubt very much that one day we can reach a peace accord with the present leadership of the Palestinians. We must wait for the next generation." Quoted by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, Mofaz added: "I don't think that a Palestinian state will see the light of day in the coming years." The minister, a close aide of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was speaking two days after a suicide bomber blew himself up in northern Israel and killed five civilians. As Israel forged ahead in the early hours with its offensive against militants, Palestinians on Friday prepared for the funerals of two militants and six bystanders killed in an airstrike late Thursday in the Gaza Strip. They died late on Thursday when Israeli planes slammed three missiles into a vehicle in the northern Gaza Strip, in a targeted operation against a senior Islamic Jihad operative and his assistant. Mofaz's comments brought swift condemnation from chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat who accused the Jewish state of taking "one sided measures" and not wanting a partner to revive the largely non-existent peace process. more...

• Iranians hold anti-Israel street protests (October 28, 2005) - Tens of thousands of Iranians have joined anti-Israeli protests in support of their president's call for the destruction of Israel. Iranians staged multiple protests in the capital, Tehran, and other cities such as Mashad in Iran's east, holding banners carrying anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian slogans. "Death to Israel, death to America," read many placards. The street demonstrations are being held as part of annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem) protests, first held in 1979 after Shia Muslim clerics took power in Iran. The state-organised rallies were expected to grow throughout Friday as worshippers gathered for midday sermons and prayers at mosques across Iran. At the same time, however, Iran's embassy in Moscow has sought to smooth the effects of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments, saying the president did not mean to speak in such "sharp terms". The statement was the first official Iranian reaction since the president's speech on Wednesday to a meeting of consevative Islamic students. "Mr Ahmadinejad did not have any intention to speak up in such sharp terms and enter into a conflict" more...

• Iranian's 'wipe Israel off map' words prompt sharp world response (October 27, 2005) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" triggered widespread outrage and prompted Israel to describe the regime in Tehran as "a clear and present danger". "We believe that Iran is trying to buy time ... so it can develop a nuclear bomb," said Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Jerusalem. "Iran is a clear and present danger," he said at a joint press conference in Jerusalem with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In Washington, the White House said the words of the hardline Iranian president also underlined US concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions. "It just reconfirms what we have been saying about the regime in Iran. It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's nuclear operations," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. In Berlin, the German government said the comments were "completely unacceptable". "If these comments were in fact made, they are completely unacceptable and should be condemned in the strongest terms," said foreign ministry spokesman Walter Lindner. Together with Britain and France, Germany is a member of the so-called EU3 group that is negotiating with Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme. But the Russian foreign minister differed, saying Moscow had no substantial evidence that "we have a clear and present danger" from Iran's nuclear programme. more...

• Iran is a clear and present danger says Israel (October 27, 2005) - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued call to ”wipe Israel off the map” and threatened a new wave of Palestinian attacks to destroy the Jewish state. Israel responded: Iran is a clear and present danger. As well as the Hizballah, Iran is the principle sponsor of the Palestinian Jihad Islami whose suicide bomber killed 5 Israelis in Hadera market a few hours later. Ahmadinejad told students at a conference in Tehran called The World Without Zionism: “An yone who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury. Any Islamic leader who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is ackn owledge the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world.” France is reported considering recalling its ambassador from Tehran in protest against an unacceptably savage attack on Israel.

• Russian Foreign Minister Brushes Off Israel's Call for Quick Action Against Iran (October 27, 2005) - Lavrov also suggested that Russia will not pursue UN sanctions against Syria. The U.S., France and Britain want the Security Council to consider sanctions after last week's UN report alleging Syrian involvement in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "Our aim is not to adopt sanctions as an aim in itself but to make sure that the culprits in the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri are brought to justice," Lavrov said after a meeting with his Palestinian counterpart, Nasser Al Kidwa. As one of the five permanent members of the council, Russia can veto any of the body's decisions. Lavrov said Russia will accept the results of the inquiry and has urged Syria to cooperate with the commission. The report implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials and accused Syria of not cooperating with the probe. Syria denies the allegations. Israeli officials have long considered Iran to be the biggest threat to their country, and accuse the Tehran government of pursuing nuclear weapons and missile technology that could be used against Israel. more...

• Sharon: Israel to launch 'broad, non-stop' operations (October 27, 2005) - In the wake of Wednesday's suicide bombing in Hadera, which claimed the lives of five Israelis, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the media that Israel would launch a "broad, non-stop" operation against Palestinian terror groups. "Yesterday we witnessed a serious terror attack," Sharon said Thursday morning at the start of a meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority isn't taking a single serious step to fight terror. We are unwilling to tolerate, under any circumstances, the continuation of terror. Therefore, our operational activity will be broad and non-stop until we bring about the end of the terror." Overnight Wednesday, Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided to clamp down on Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said there was no time limit to the offensive, which will continue until the group's infrastructure is eliminated or the Palestinian Authority begins to act against terrorist groups. "Islamic Jihad has declared war on every Israeli civilian and of course we're 100 percent entitled to take the appropriate action to defend our civilians," Regev said. more...
• IDF Launches Air Strikes in Gaza in Response to Attack (October 27, 2005) - There were no immediate reports of casualties in the strike in an open field near Gaza City. Shortly afterwards, Israel launched a new air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, damaging a road but causing no casualties, Palestinian witnesses said. The Israel Defense Forces said it was checking the report. The government on Wednesday night approved a major military operation in the territories a few hours after a suicide bombing in Hadera killed five people and wounded 55. The military operation, which was approved by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, will take place on two fronts: the northern West Bank and northern Gaza. The operation's main target will be Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the bombing. However, ordinary Palestinians will also be affected, since a series of measures aimed at easing life for civilians will be rescinded for at least the duration of the operation. more...

• Both Bashar Assad & Mahmoud Abbas are Teetering (October 27, 2005) - The Syrian leadership has gathered itself in for the next shock after the UN Hariri investigation’s findings drawn up by Detlev Mehlis implicated President Bashar Assad’s close family circle in the assassination of Lebanese leader Rafiq Hariri last February. They expect the UN Security Council convening Tuesday, Oct. 25, to pass an American-French draft resolution condemning Damascus. They are also braced for another disastrous UN report. This one was drawn up by Special Middle East Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen - according to DEBKAfile’s sources, as a cooperative effort with Mehlis. It damns Damascus for violating Security Council resolution 1559 which ordered foreign forces to quit Lebanon and the dismantling of militias in the country. Larsen will expose Syria as continuing to maintain military intelligence agents in Lebanon and derailing efforts to start decommissioning the Hizballah. The presidential palace in Damascus has set up an emergency response team to ward off these hammer blows. It is made up of officials of the presidency, the foreign ministry, the security services and legal experts. But this official framework is only a façade; it does not affect the turmoil raging inside the close Assad family circle or pacify the top military brass. more...

• Iran president wants Israel ‘wiped off the map’ (October 26, 2005) - Iran’s hard-line president called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish state, state-run media reported Wednesday.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also denounced attempts to recognize Israel or normalize relations with it. “There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad told students Wednesday during a Tehran conference called “The World without Zionism.” “Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury, any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad also repeated the words of the founder of Iran’s Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel. “As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” said Ahmadinejad, who came to power in August. Ahmadinejad referred to Israel’s recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a “trick,” saying Gaza is part of the Palestinian territories and the withdrawal was meant to make Islamic states acknowledge Israel.

• Syria gets Iranian boost (October 26, 2005) - Western diplomat says Iran made commitment to Syria to provide Iranian technical assistance to facilitate Syria's chemical warfare program. With the release of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission interim report on 20 October into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri increasing international pressure on Syria, a diplomatic source has said that Damascus is nevertheless pursuing what they describe as "an innovative chemical warfare (CW) program in co-operation with Iran", Jane's Defence Weekly newspaper reported Monday. The essence of this co-operation, the source told the newspaper, "is Tehran's contractual commitment, made to Syria a few months ago, to provide Iranian CW technical assistance to facilitate Syria's CW program". Utilizing this assistance, they said, Syria hopes to reach an independent production capability of precursors for producing CW agents, which it has so far been unable to achieve. According to the source, Iran will assist Syria in the planning, establishment and pilot operation of about four or five facilities throughout Syria for the production of precursors for VX and Sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent. "This project is unprecedented and millions of US dollars have been allocated to implement it," the source said. "The project includes building major facilities, including advanced equipment to produce tens to hundreds of tons of CW precursors per year that are sufficient for CW industrial manufacturing pilot production," the source added. more...

• Syrian show: Jews cut Christian throats (October 26, 2005) - A rabbi cuts the throat of a Christian boy, drains his blood into a bowl and then eats blood-baked matzo. A Jewish official plots the destruction of German Jewry with Nazi strongman Adolf Eichmann. A member of the Zionist Agency discusses the "small matter" of Japan, after which scenes of a nuclear attack on Hiroshima are superimposed over the Star of David. All this and so much more can be viewed in "The Diaspora," a Syrian-produced television series airing this month on Al-Mamnou, an independent Jordanian satellite network, reports Palestinian Media Watch. "Diaspora" presents itself as a historic documentary depicting the Zionist movements that led to the creation of the Jewish state. According to PWM, Jews are shown killing Christian children, plotting the Russian Revolution and the World Wars, encouraging Nazi concentration camps and pressuring America to use atomic weapons against Japan. In one scene, the head of the "Secret Jewish World Government" says, "We have to assist [Adolf] Hitler in the extermination of the Jews because this is the only way to drive the Jews in the countries which haven't been occupied by Hitler to immigrate to the Promised Land." Jews are seen toasting the deaths of Jews and Christians during World War II. A Jewish leader is later depicted talking to Eichmann, a Nazi official who oversaw Germany's death camps during the Holocaust. The leader comments, "Mr. Eichmann, believe me that if we the Zionists were not Jewish, we would have been Nazis. ... You the Nazis consider the Aryan race to belong to the perfect people and the German people as the most perfect. We also consider ourselves a perfect people, and Zionists, the most perfect ones." more... Clips of nine scenes from the series, along with the transcripts.

• Iran hosts 'The World without Zionism' (October 26, 2005) - Iran's hard-line president called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish state, state-run media reported Wednesday. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also denounced attempts to recognize Israel or normalize relations with it. "There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad told students Wednesdays during a Tehran conference called "The World without Zionism." "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury (while) any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad also repeated the words of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel. "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, who came to power in August and replaced Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who advocated inter-civilization dialogue and tried to improve Iran's relations with the West. Ahmadinejad referred to Israel's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a "trick," saying Gaza is part of the Palestinian territories and the withdrawal was meant to make Islamic states acknowledge Israel.

• Israeli Government Representatives Commission Christians to be Watchmen over the Holy Land (October 26, 2005) - I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night…" (Isa. 62:6).
  The Jerusalem Watchman prayer update reports on an historical event of biblical proportions last Thursday, when high-ranking Israeli government representatives presided over the very first "Watchmen Commissioning" of Christian pilgrims. The article goes on to state: 
  Deputy Mayor Yigal Amedi and Knesset Member (MK) Dr. Yuri Shtern joined religious leaders in recognizing nearly 100 Christians gathered at the Wall, for their dedication and support for the nation of Israel. Many of those recognized were also commissioned - under the sanctioning of the city of Jerusalem - as official "Watchmen on the Wall." "These watchmen are a new breed of Christians," Robert Stearns said from the ceremonies in Jerusalem last week. "With the full weight of the government of the city of Jerusalem behind us, we are witnessing the fulfillment, in a new dimension, of ancient biblical prophecies." The newly-commissioned representatives are members of Watchmen on the Wall, a program organized by Eagles' Wings, which trains believers to be informed intercessors and articulate ambassadors by completing both the required training curriculum and a "prayer pilgrimage" to the Holy Land. These semi-annual pilgrimages bring to life not only the Biblical roots of Christianity, but also the current situations in the land that need our united prayer. more...

• Israel Renews Gaza Air Strikes After Rocket Firings (October 25, 2005) - The flare-up in violence, which included rare Israeli artillery fire toward militants in Gaza, was one of the most serious since an Israeli pullout last month raised hopes for Middle East peacemaking. A Palestinian woman and her two daughters were wounded in one of the air raids, which destroyed two buildings linked to Islamic Jihad and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. The army said militants from both groups had used the structures. The army said the air strikes, the first such attacks in about a month, came in response to cross-border rocket barrages by Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza avenging Israel's killing of one of the group's top commanders in the West Bank. Israel has often targeted buildings in Gaza that it says were used by militants during more than five years of violence. Israel had said after the rocket salvoes, which caused no casualties, that it would respond to any attacks on its people. Islamic Jihad said the attacks were an "initial response" to the killing of their commander in the West Bank town of Tulkarm. The army said troops targeted the militant and his comrade because they had masterminded past attacks against Israelis and were planning more. Israel has often raided West Bank towns in search of militants during a five-year-old uprising. Abbas said the killing of the Islamic Jihad militant undermined his efforts to maintain calm during an eight-month ceasefire militants declared in March. He also wants to ensure violence does not disrupt a legislative election in January. more...

• Israeli dig to spark Temple Mount violence? (October 24, 2005) - A senior Al Aqsa leader whose group has been accused of associations with Hamas told WorldNetDaily yesterday recent Israeli digs near the Temple Mount and a plan to construct an underground visitors center near the Western Wall are really Jewish designs to destroy the mosque, potentially sparking deadly riots. The group, which has previously been involved with Temple Mount violence, has been sending buses the past few weeks to Israeli Arab neighborhoods asking Muslims to "swarm" the Al Aqsa Mosque to protect it from "Jewish attacks," WND has learned. "The truth is these digs and plans are political in character and goal. It is part of the Israeli occupation and of the Israeli big plan to hurt Al Aqsa," Sheik Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement, told WND. "These diggings endanger the basis of the mosque. The Israelis want and hope that these works will contribute and hasten the destruction of the mosque. In that way they think they will not be accused that they have directly destroyed Al Aqsa." Hatib was responding to a new archeological site near the Mount recently unveiled by Israel, and Israeli plans announced last month to open an underground tourist center that will snake around pathways under the Western Wall. Discoveries at the new site include a ritual bath from the period of the second Jewish Temple, destroyed in 70 AD, and a wall archaeologists say dates to the first Jewish Temple, destroyed in 586 BC The findings were widely reported by the media as strengthening Jewish ties to the Temple Mount. more...

• The Ball is Now in Syria's Court (October 24, 2005) - The findings of the United Nations-sanctioned Mehlis commission have ripped like a thunderstorm through Syria and Lebanon. When parts of the 53-page report began to emerge at about midnight (Damascus time) on October 20-21, everybody turned on Arabic satellite TV. People were waiting to hear a clear sentence saying: "Syrian Mr X pressed the explode button on February 14, 2005, killing former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, under orders from Damascus." Such an explicit statement was not made. A threat, rather than an accusation, was fired at Damascus in the Mehlis report, making it clear that it could not find concrete evidence against Syria. Had the investigation obtained something tangible to incriminate the Syrians, by name, it would not have failed to include it in the findings. Hariri, a billionaire politician, and 22 others were killed in a car bombing in the Lebanese capital of Beirut in February. The incident led to calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence agents who had been in Lebanon since the early stages of the country's civil war (1975-1980). more...

• Evangelicals slam Protestant calls to divest from Israel (October 22, 2005) - Evangelical Christians yesterday criticized efforts by some Christian groups to divest from companies associated with Israel, saying they planned to counter with a campaign to create partnerships between Israel and international businesses. Several Protestant groups, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), have looked into selling stock in companies that profit from Israeli policy in the territories. Companies targeted by the Presbyterian Church include Caterpillar Inc., ITT Industries Inc., Motorola Inc., and United Technologies Corp. The Presbyterians accused the firms of selling products such as night vision equipment, wireless communications and helicopters the Israeli military uses to hurt Palestinians and bolster territorial control. The International Christian Embassy, a Jerusalem-based Evangelical organization, said it was launching a campaign against the divestment moves. The Evangelical groups represented at a news conference yesterday did not provide details about their plans to bring new investment to Israel. President of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, Dale Neill, said his organization was looking to build a permanent office in Jerusalem to become more involved in the Israeli economy. "We have come to understand that commerce is the lifeblood of any nation," Neill said. "One of the things that needs to happen - and we're very actively working on ways to enhance or enable that to happen - is it needs to be easier for small investors... to get that money into the nation and the economy." Neill said that while his organization was actively seeking new companies to invest in Israel, he was unprepared to name specific businesses that had agreed to participate in the initiative. more...

• Al Aqsa leader: Jews have no right to Mount (October 22, 2005) - Following is a WorldNetDaily exclusive interview with Sheik Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement, the Muslim group in Israel most identified with Temple Mount militancy. The Movement, which Israel says is associated with Hamas, campaigns for Islamic control of Israeli holy sites, and has been calling the past few weeks for Muslims to ascend the Mount en mass to protect it from "Jewish attacks." more (conversation)...

• U.S. Won't Oppose Hamas Participation in the PA Poll (October 21, 2005) - Even before the White House meeting, American officials said that while Washington objects in principle to allowing an armed organization run in the elections, the final decision rests with the PA. And while Bush raised the issue of disarming Hamas prior to elections at Thursday's meeting, he did not dwell on it or pressure Abbas, Palestinian sources said. He also did not mention the issue during a joint press conference with Abbas following the meeting. American officials explained that Bush believes there is no advantage to staging a frontal confrontation with Abbas a few months prior to the January elections. Abbas reiterated after the meeting that he has no intention of barring any Palestinian faction from running, since he believes it would be counterproductive. The correct strategy, he said, is to maintain quiet on the security front and move forward on the road map. At the press conference, he said this strategy is working as evidenced by the armed organizations' consent to a cease-fire and, more recently, a ban on carrying weapons in public places. Only a new, democratically elected legislature, he argued, will have the legitimacy needed to finally disarm the militias. Bush stressed at the press conference that "the way forward must begin by confronting the threat that armed gangs pose to a genuinely democratic Palestine." The PA, he said, must "earn the confidence of its neighbors by rejecting and fighting terrorism." Abbas responded that the PA has already taken steps to impose law and order in the territories, and complained that Israel has not fulfilled its responsibilities under the road map, since it has not frozen construction in the settlements, stopped building the separation fence, or removed roadblocks that interfere with Palestinian movement in the West Bank. Bush agreed that Israel "must remove unauthorized [out]posts and stop settlement expansion." more...

• Exclusive: Temple Mount tour (October 21, 2005) - Ynetnews presents rare, exclusive video of holy site, currently closed to Jews, after Israeli able to sneak camcorder into Mount. Prominent archeologist who watched video says Muslim renovation did not damage shrine A unique video filmed by an Israeli who was able to sneak a camcorder into Temple Mount in recent weeks provides rare images of the holy shrine, where Jews are banned from entering. The images feature a series of well-known sites including Solomon’s Stables, al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Dome of the Rock. Ron Peled, 34, a computer professional who shot the video, says “to walk here, to roam under the Temple Mount, the site of the Temple my forefathers longed for, is the realization of a dream.” Peled, a former tour guide, is well aware of the immense significance of the rare images of sites that are normally only open to Muslim worshippers. more...

• Bush: Palestine Is Upon Us Jerusalem Newswire (October 20, 2005) - United States President George W. Bush declared October 20 that the dream he shares with the Arab world of birthing a Muslim state on the ancient Jewish lands of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is closer to reality today than ever before. He vowed to use America's considerable influence to help “realize [that] shared vision.” Speaking at a joint press conference in Washington, Bush heaped praise on visiting Palestine Liberation Organization chief Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), despite the latter's refusal to honor his primary peace commitment to disarm and dismantle anti-Jewish Palestinian terrorist organizations. For Israel he had a warning: You will be “held to account” for any actions that hinder Washington's “peace” efforts and burden the lives of the Palestinian Arabs. Bush also admonished Abbas, telling him that “the way forward is confronting the threat that armed gangs present to the creation of a democratic Palestine.” He said it is time for the Palestinian Authority to “earn the confidence of its neighbors by rejecting and fighting terrorism.” The tone of his remarks indicated the president had accepted Abbas's assertion that the Palestinian Arabs are “committed to peace,” and that his regime has already taken steps to impose the rule of law. But Abbas made it clear that his policies do not include the forced disarmament of those dedicated to Israel's demise. “We are following a policy I believe is successful,” he said. “All [terrorist] organizations accepted the [temporary truce].” more...

• Police Defy Ruling Allowing Jews to Pray at Temple Mount (October 20, 2005) - On Monday, the eve of the Sukkot holiday, the High Court of Justice handed down a ruling officially permitting Jews to pray on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Wednesday, between 7:30-9:00am. The court’s decision was in response to a petition filed by the Temple Mount Faithful organization. The ruling stipulated that in order to prevent a confrontation with Muslims, prayers must conclude by 9:00 o'clock, when Islamic worshippers usually arrive. The decision sets a precedent, as it permits Jews not only to visit the Mount but also to pray there. Such a position has not been taken by the court since at least 1976. When worshippers arrived on the scene on Wednesday morning at the appointed time, however, the police did not allow them to enter the area, telling them that they were unaware of the High Court ruling. This was in spite of the fact that according to the conditions laid down by the court, the police do not have the authority to unilaterally decide to cancel the permit based on security concerns, as has generally been the case in previous rulings. “I don’t recognize such a ruling at all,” stated one of the officers at the Temple Mount police station. In the end, officers allowed only three groups to enter the Temple Mount, but they informed them that prayer was strictly prohibited. One of the visitors later told Arutz Sheva that when he asked a policeman if he could pray at the site, the officer replied, “If you intend to pray, it’s better that you don’t go up at all because we’ll only bring you down again.” However, according to some of those present this morning on the Mount, in practice, the police did not interfere when two groups of Jews ascended the Mount in succession and read from printed pages of the morning prayers. Those who were allowed to enter could only do so from 7:45 till 08:15, in contravention of the High Court ruling. more...

• Annan: Israel Must allow Hamas to Run in Palestinian Elections (October 19, 2005) - Annan said, however, that it was important that no armed militia sit in the Palestinian parliament. He also said that the demand that Hamas disarm itself before the general elections would only strengthen the radical Islamic group on the account of other moderate movements. Report: Palestinian factions vow to honor PLC election results. Twelve Palestinian factions, but not Hamas, signed an agreement Monday night to honor the results of the January 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, media reports said Tuesday. The factions also agreed that they would not carry weapons while campaigning, Israel Radio reported. The Voice of Palestine radio station said that Hamas did not sign the agreement under instructions from its leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, who objected to a clause in the agreement banning campaigning in mosques. Meanwile, the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, which is printed in London, reported Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority security forces are taking up position in the Gaza Strip, in particular around the main command centers, fearing an attack on them by Hamas. Last week, the Palestinian Authority asked Israel not to meddle in the elections, and not to attempt to prevent the participation of Hamas, lest this serve only to strengthen the organization. more...

• U.S. Urges Israel to Ease Up on Palestinians (October 18, 2005) - In a message also delivered privately by Lt. Gen. William Ward, the U.S. security envoy in the region, the State Department said that it condemned the attacks but continued to ask the Israeli government "to take steps to ease the daily plight of the Palestinian people." The State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said "the Palestinian side" has an obligation to fight terror and to dismantle terror networks. "It's important to see action," he said, in sounding a now-familiar call for Abbas and other leaders of the Authority. Israel, like the United States, is a victim of terror attacks, McCormack said, and "it is an important duty and responsibility of any government to protect its own people." However, he said, "at the same time we urge them, in whatever steps that they do take and keep their eye on the ultimate objective which we all know and all sides share - two states living together side by side in peace and security." On the eve of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, security officials raised the alert level Monday evening after receiving dozens of terror warnings, none place-specific. The move followed Sunday's drive-by shooting attack. more...

• Israel weighs unilateral pullout from 90 percent of West Bank (October 16, 2005) - The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is examining plans for a multi-stage unilateral withdrawal from as much as 90 percent of the West Bank. Officials said the Israeli withdrawal plans have been discussed with the United States. On Oct. 20, President George Bush was scheduled to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and last week Bush assured a Palestinian delegation that Israel would withdraw from additional areas of the West Bank. Officials said the Defense Ministry and military have been reviewing a range of options for unilateral withdrawal in the West Bank by 2007, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the National Security Council has drafted options for the removal of between 10,000 and 100,000 Jews from the area. "Only unilateral [withdrawal] can work in this era," [Res.] Brig. Gen. Eyval Giladi, a senior adviser to Sharon, said. "Israel determines where, when and how it withdraws." more...

• Israelis Seek the Lord By Rebecca Brimmer (October 14, 2005) - The State of Israel was almost completely shut down on October 12–13 for the biblically mandated Day of Atonement, known as Yom Kippur in Hebrew. Most of the country’s Jewish residents join in a 25–hour period of fasting, prayer, and introspection. Traffic came to a standstill, as all public and virtually all private transportation was stopped. No flights were allowed in or out of the country. Israeli radio and television services were halted. Yom Kippur is a day of afflicting oneself. During the twenty-five hours (sundown to sundown) of the day, no food or water is ingested; no entertainment is enjoyed; no one bathes; husbands and wives refrain from intimacy; and all attention is turned to spiritual matters. The synagogues were full as the people joined together to seek the Lord in an attitude of repentance. All this activity is in accordance with the Lord’s command that the Children of Israel set aside the tenth day of the seventh month (on the Hebrew Calendar) for a day of divine atonement. “It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:27–28). The ten days leading up to Yom Kippur are known to Jews as the Ten Days of Awe, a period of slichot (prayers for forgiveness). During this time, Jews endeavor to make things right between themselves and God and also with their fellow man. In fact, one is obligated to grant forgiveness when requested by another. Most Bridges for Peace staff members fasted from food and joined the Jewish people in prayer on Yom Kippur. We prayed for God to hear the cries of the people and to bring redemption. Immediately after Yom Kippur, everyone starts to build their sukkah, a temporary dwelling biblically mandated for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), which begins five days after the end of Yom Kippur. In contrast to Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a joyous festival that forbids mourning. Thousands of Christians come to Jerusalem each year to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles Celebration sponsored by the International Christian Embassy. The Bridges for Peace staff will join many of the activities and also have our own joyous party this week. We have much to celebrate–25,000 immigrants have been assisted in entering the Land of Israel through our Project Rescue program.

• Former Israeli Commander: God Protected Us in Battle (October 13, 2005) - Like most Israelis just before the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, then-Israeli commander Effie Eitam did not expect an Arab attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year. Eitam was leading a routine reconnaissance patrol on the Golan Heights. Moments later, he was facing the might of the Syrian army. “I saw hundreds of Syrian tanks moving forward, and they were painted in a camouflage of green and yellow,” Eitam recalled. “And I remember, I thought to myself that they're kind of prehistoric lizards, you know, who just came out of a cave, because they came out of nowhere. I didn't see them before.” For days, the surprise attack dealt a serious and nearly fatal blow to Israel. The men on the front lines bore the brunt of the battle. Eitam said, “The first three days were hell, you know. We didn't have any anti-tank weapons, and we had to shoot them with American World War II-made bazookas. You know, a very primitive anti-tank rocket launcher, and we had to shoot them from a distance of 50-60 meters. People just got killed. Some of them were smashed by the tanks… from such a short distance.” The Israelis paid a high price in lives lost during the first few days of the war. But they held on, and contained one of the most fearsome attacks ever made against the nation. When Israel counter-attacked, Eitam received orders for a daring mission: go miles behind enemy lines and take the Syrian division headquarters. Like many commando raids, this assault meant close- quarters face-to-face, sometimes hand-to-hand combat. Eitam was a highly trained soldier, but he was not prepared for what faced him when he went around a corner in the Syrian bunkers. “We came there and we started to ‘clean’--in other words, to kill--the generals that were there, and their guards. I was throwing hand grenades, shooting, you know, in the broad concrete corridors. And then when I turned, behind one of the corners of the corridors that was full of smoke and dust, I saw a silhouette--a kind of something coming out of the dust, and smoke towards me. I was very sure it was a Syrian soldier, and I took my rifle, and I was aiming the rifle and was ready to pull the trigger, and then I saw a bird coming out of the smoke. She just flew behind my head and she stood on my right shoulder,” Eitam said. At first, Eitam thought the bird was actually a bat, living in the cool, dark corridors of the bunker. So in the midst of an intense firefight, Eitam found himself trying to shoo away a bird. “So I just whipped her out,” Eitam remembers. “[But] she turned again and stood on my left shoulder. I didn't have time to have all kind of argument with a bird: What are you doing here, who are you? It was in the middle of a shooting battle. So I completed the assault and hand grenades and everything. And when I went out of the corridor of the bunker, I saw a dove, a pigeon, standing on my left shoulder. I just tried to let her [off] of my shoulder. She turned and was very determined not to leave me. I put my hand just like that, and she stood on my hand.” Despite Eitam's attempt to get rid of the dove, she stayed with him and his unit for the next 10 days, in some of the most intense battles of the Yom Kippur War. During that time, Eitam's unit appeared to have supernatural protection. Eitam declares, “Since we had that angel protecting us, none of my company's soldiers was killed or wounded, and we were involved in very intensive battles. It's not that we stood in the rear or we sat there. We were involved in the middle of the most bitter battles, but she was there. What was unnatural and very interesting was that, even in the night, when we had night operations and night battles, where usually these birds, pigeons, do not move at night--they don't have a very good night sight--she was with us patrolling, a little bit forward, looking what's going on around, sitting here [on my shoulder].” more...

• Mossad rocked by resignations (October 8, 2005) - Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, has been rocked to the core by an internal crisis provoking an avalanche of resignations since Meir Dagan was appointed its chief in 2002, a newspaper reported yesterday. “Earthquake at heart of Mossad,” ran a headline on the front page of the Yediot Aharonot, detailing a “wave” of unprecedented departures from staff accusing their boss of driving the elite agency into a “dead end”. Defections stem from a serious breach of trust between agents and reserve general Dayan. Among six recent people to leave are the second and third in command, plus the head of special operations, the daily said. The latest report comes just over a year after Israel’s private Channel 2 television claimed in November that more than 200 agents, including seven department heads, had resigned over the policies of its controversial boss. Dagan, a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has come under fire for launching risky operations abroad, said the documentary based on interviews with former officials in the agency. more... 

• Iran's radicals in control of nuke program (October 9, 2005) - Hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's new president, has given the West new reason to doubt his claim that Tehran's nuclear program is intended only for peaceful purposes – he's placed it under the control of militant commanders of the Revolutionary Guard. Ahmadinejad initiated a purge of moderates in the government at the national and provincial level shortly after being elected two months ago. Now he has put fellow radicals in charge of a program many believe is designed to develop nuclear weapons. Many of the appointees, the London Telegraph reports, are from the Revolutionary Guards' Quds (Jerusalem) Force, where the president previously served as brigadier general. The Revolutionary Guard was responsible for seizing U.S. diplomatic hostages during the Carter administration and this particular unit is the main backer of Hezbollah in Lebanon. As WorldNetDaily has reported, Ahmadinejad was involved in the assassination of a Kurdish leader in Austria in 1989 and has helped recruit and train thousands of suicide bombers in his country over the last year. Now, the young radicals of the 1979 Islamic revolution are the hardliners controlling Iran's nuclear weapons program.

• Hamas West Bank Battle Plan Exposed By Aaron Klein, World Net Daily (October 6, 2005) - JERUSALEM–After declaring Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip a victory for their "resistance operations," Hamas is now planning to focus attacks on the West Bank, where it will fire rockets and carry out guerrilla operations against nearby Jewish towns until Israel leaves the territory, a research center affiliated with Hamas announced in a published study.
  "[Hamas will be] transporting warfare technologies such as mortars and rockets from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. These will provide an easy way to bombard Israeli populated areas adjacent to the security fence, and the fence, which is currently under construction, will therefore become useless," stated a recent publication by the Al-Mustaqbal Research Center in Gaza.
  Al-Mustaqbal is headed by a Palestinian professor and, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies, is associated with Hamas and is known to publish surveys and studies that reflect the terror group's attitudes.
  The study credited Israel's West Bank security barrier with limiting Hamas's ability to infiltrate Jewish cities to perpetuate suicide bombings, but it said, "Carrying out such acts remains an option since Hamas will find methods to circumvent the obstacle built by Israel. The length of the fence and its proximity to populated areas will make the task easier."
  Al-Mustaqbal said Israel's withdrawal in August from four West Bank towns provides Hamas and other terror groups with a staging ground from which to launch attacks and to transport rockets to other West Bank communities. It said the Gaza and West Bank withdrawals prove Israel will vacate other areas in response to repeated attacks.
  "[Following Israel's withdrawal] the new warfare technology [of Qassams and mortars] will be produced, and from there, they will be distributed to other West Bank areas," said the study.
  Along with rocket fire at West Bank Jewish communities, Hamas will carry out guerrilla attacks against local residents and Israeli Defense Forces positions, the study stated, citing what it said was Hezbollah's success in using such attacks to drive Israel from Lebanon in 2000.
  "The fighting in the West Bank in the new era [after Israel's Gaza withdrawal] will be characterized by guerrilla actions carried out by small groups of terrorists as was done in south Lebanon, and by long-distance shooting as was done in the Gaza Strip during the lull in the fighting. These actions will focus on soldiers and settlers, and they will consist of attacks on roads, military bases and settlements," al-Mustaqbal published.
  Israel last week rounded up over 450 suspected Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in the West Bank, and has been warning that the terror groups are planning to step up operations in the area.
  A senior security source told World Net Daily: "The terror groups will now attempt to step up attacks because they believe they can drive Israel from the rest of the West Bank. Al Aqsa and Islamic Jihad have recently been the dominant players [in the West Bank], but signs are Hamas is poised to catch up."
  Since Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza last month, Palestinian terrorists have fired over 30 mortars and rockets at nearby Israeli Negev towns. So far, there has been no rocket fire in the West Bank.

• Iran warns Israel: Don't attack us (October 6, 2005) - Speaker of the Iranian parliament tells London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat, ‘Our goal is to establish trust with world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace; we in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies’ Iranian parliament speaker Ghulam Ali Haddad-Adel warned Israel against "folly that would lead it to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities," London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported. "If Israel realizes its threats and strikes our nuclear facilities, as happened in Iraq in 1981, we'll teach her a lesson she will never forget," the official warned following his recent meeting with Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus. Haddad-Adel added, “Our goal is to establish trust with the world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace. In the past two years more than 1,200 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have visited Iran, but they did not find any proof indicating that we are planning to direct our nuclear plan toward producing military weapons.”
  'Atomic energy for peaceful purposes' According to Haddad-Adel, should the Iranian nuclear program be referred to the U.N. Security Council, in accordance with the recent IAEA decision, “we will regard this as certain pressure that is being applied on us. We in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies.” more... 

• Shakin' in the New Year: Quake hits Israel, West Bank (October 3, 2005) - A minor earthquake hit Israel just west of the Jordan early Monday but no injuries were immediately reported, police said. The tremor measured 4.3 on the Richter scale, causing beds to shake in the West Bank town of Jericho. The epicenter of the quake was in the Israeli city of Beit Shean in the northern Jordan Valley.

• Iran: Will Give Unforgettable Lesson to Israel if Nuclear Sites Attacked (October 3, 2005) - Damascus: If Israel goes mad enough to target Iranian nuclear sites as it did against Iraqi installations in 1991, Iran would give it a lesson which it could not forget forever, Majles Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel said on Sunday. He made the statement in his address to members of Syrian parliament in reply to a question on Iranian reaction to US-Israel threats against Iranian nuclear sites if they are translated into practice. "The Iranian nation will proudly advance the goals of Islamic Revolution and will never surrender to bullying and will proceed with its legitimate rights," he said. "We have made clear that Iran follows regulations of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran is a signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran implemented Additional Protocol to NPT voluntarily to build confidence with international community and ensure that Iranian nuclear program is civilian," Haddad Adel said. "We have proved our good faith by opening up Iranian nuclear sites to IAEA inspectors in the past two years." "Almost 1,200 persons/days from IAEA have inspected Iranian nuclear sites and they said there is no sign of any diversion from civilian nature of the nuclear program," the Majles speaker said. He said that the attempts being made to refer Iranian nuclear case to United Nations Security Council is outcome of pressure on Iran adding that Iran will never yield to extortion of the enemy. Haddad Adel condemned the ominous phenomenon of terrorism and drew distinction between terrorists and those fighting to liberate their homeland from occupation. He said that both Tehran and Damascus have common views about supporting Palestinian rights and civilian nuclear program. Haddad Adel said that in his negotiations with President Bashar al-Assad, they reached an agreement to take practical steps for cooperation on international issues. more... 

• Israeli President Will Visit Vatican (October 3, 2005) - Israeli President Moshe Katsav has accepted an invitation from Pope Benedict XVI to make the first official visit to the Vatican by an Israeli head of state, officials said Sunday. Katsav will visit Italy for about a week in mid-November, said Katsav's spokeswoman, Hagit Cohen. The Foreign Ministry said the visit was ``unprecedented.'' Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations in the 1990s, and Pope John Paul II hosted Israeli prime ministers and other officials as part of his effort to build ties with the Jewish state. The presidency in Israel is a largely ceremonial office, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the visit was ``of great symbolic value.'' ``We have every reason to believe that the new pope is building on the foundation that the previous pope already built, and we will see a further strengthening of our relationship,'' Regev said. Since becoming pope in April, Benedict has visited a synagogue in Germany, met Israeli chief rabbis and warned of a rise in anti-Semitism around the world. The synagogue visit was the second time a pope had entered a Jewish house of worship. The visit follows a diplomatic spat that erupted in July when the pope did not include Israel in a list of countries that suffer from terrorism. more... 

• Al Qaeda in Sinai Has Advanced to Striking Range of the Suez Canal, Israel and Jordan (October 3, 2005) - The emphatic advisory to Israeli travelers to stay clear of their favorite Sinai resorts for this year’s High Holidays reflects incoming intelligence on the broadening threat posed by al Qaeda today. Since the Taba attacks exactly a year ago, the Islamist terrorist organization has planted a daunting infrastructure amid the inaccessible peaks of the strategic desert peninsula. Egyptian attempts to access their strongholds have been thrown back. Al Qaeda has established local terror networks in northern Sinai – centering on el Arish, as well as strongholds in the inaccessible central mountains of the peninsula around Jebel Hillal. In all, the jihadists control roughly one-fifth of Sinai total area (61,000sq. km or 23,500sq. miles). Egyptian forces of law and order have learned not to venture into these bastions or into the areas commanded by age-old smuggler clans who currently collaborate with al Qaeda. This leaves about half of the forbidding desert peninsula inaccessible to Egyptian security forces. Today, they can only claim to control the main roads routes fringing the vast desert expanse: from Ras Sudeir down to Sharm el Sheikh along the Suez Canal and Suez Gulf shores; from the Suez Canal east to El Arish along the Mediterranean shore and from the Sharm el-Sheikh resort center north along the Gulf of Aqaba to Taba and the Israeli port of Eilat. The spectacular, biblical landscape conceals terrorist bomb traps and roadside devices. Gunmen armed with RPG and anti-tank weapons lurk behind huge rocks in wait for any Egyptian police or security unit daring to step off a main road into one of the dry valleys dissecting the forbidding peaks. more... 

• Don't worry, we'll take care of Iran nukes: Israel (October 2, 2005) - Washington, September 30: If Washington and its allies do not stop Iran’s nuclear programmes by force if necessary, Israel will, three Israeli legislators visiting the US have warned. “Israel will not live under the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb. We feel we are obliged to warn our friends that Israel should not be pushed into a situation where we see no other solution but to act unilaterally against Iran,” said Yosef Lapid, head of the Shinui party. Lapid and his colleagues Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and Arieh Eldad, a member of the Israeli National Union party said conventional diplomacy will not work with Iran. “They won’t be stopped unless they are convinced their programmes will be destroyed if they continue,” they said. Steinitz said Israeli officials estimate Tehran is only two to three years away from developing a nuclear bomb and that time is running out for the world to act. “We see an Iranian bomb as a devastating existential threat to Israel, to the entire Middle East, to all Western interests in the region. For us, either the world will tackle Iran in advance or all of us will face the consequences,” he said. Eldad said Israelis across the political spectrum see Iran as the most serious threat to Israel, one that cannot be ignored. Eldad conceded that there could be problems if Israel acted. “If we have to do it, we will do it. If the United States and the world community do it, there is a chance the issue can be contained. If Israel has to do it alone, there is no chance the conflict can be contained,” he added.

SSeptember 2005

• Assad Calling for Attacks Against Israel Seeking to Divert Attention Away from Syria Israeli National News (September 30, 2005) - Syrian President Bashar el-Assad has instructed Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in Damascus to step-up terror attacks against Israel in an effort to divert the focus of the international community away from him, PA intelligence officials report. According to the Palestinian Authority (PA) report, Assad is concerned over mounting diplomatic pressure against him, well aware the White House favors increased sanctions against Damascus. The Syrian ruler met with the terror chiefs earlier this month, and according to the PA report, the recent meeting in Cairo between el-Assad and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discussed Assad’s instructions to increase terror attacks, stating Mubarak opposes such a move – with the Egyptian leader instructing Assad not to involve himself in the Israel-PA conflict. more...

• Israel to open ancient site near Jerusalem shrine (September 30, 2005) - Israel will soon open to the public an underground archaeological site near Jerusalem's most sensitive shrine, an official said on Thursday, in an area where inauguration of an exhibit in 1996 led to bloodshed. The Jewish ritual bath, dating to the 1st century, will be opened at a site running parallel to Judaism's Western Wall in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem. Palestinians have long opposed Israeli excavations in the area, citing dangers to the foundations of al-Haram al-Sharif, the site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques where the biblical Jewish Temples once stood. In 1996, Israel's opening of an archaeological tunnel near al-Haram al-Sharif sparked Palestinian violence in which 61 Arabs and 15 Israeli soldiers were killed. Adnan Husseini, director of the Waqf, or Islamic Trust in Jerusalem administering al-Haram al-Sharif, an area revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, voiced opposition to the new site. "Excavations are dangerous for the mosques' structures," he told Reuters. "Such moves are also illegal." Arieh Banner, an official with Israel's Western Wall Heritage Foundation, said the ritual bath did not run under al-Haram al-Sharif or endanger the shrine. "This is a very important discovery from the second (Jewish) Temple period and we hope to open this to the public within the next month to two months," Banner said. more... 

• Hamas vows more attacks (September 30, 2005) - In an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily yesterday, Hamas senior spokesman Sami Abu Zahri taunted Israel for its vulnerability to rocket attacks and warned that the terrorist group plans to kidnap more Israeli citizens just days after it claimed responsibility for the abduction and murder of a Jerusalem resident. Zahri also told WND Hamas maintains "good relationships" with Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. "Our relations are good with all the honest forces in the Arab world and this includes Assad's Syria, Hezbollah and other movements and forces," Zuhri said in the interview, which will be released in full on WND this weekend. Zahri claimed Israel does not have the military capability to stop Hamas' Qassam rockets from flying out of Gaza and hitting nearby Jewish communities. "Israel has always tried to stop Qassam attacks and she always failed to do so, even while using the most sophisticated technological and military tools. ... Hamas succeeded in creating a new military equation against Israel." Israel withdrew the last of its troop from the Gaza Strip Sept. 12. Since then, Palestinian groups, including Hamas, have fired more than 25 rockets at Jewish towns near the Gaza border. Following Israel's assassination this week of a senior Islamic Jihad commander, Hamas' Gaza leader Mahmoud al-Zohar vowed to halt all attacks from Gaza. But Zuhri said Hamas will only cease rocket attacks "as long as the enemy [Israel] is committed to stopping its escalation." more... 

• Israelis urge U.S. to stop Iran's nuke goals (September 30, 2005) - The United States and its allies must act to stop Iran's nuclear programs -- by force if necessary -- because conventional diplomacy will not work, three senior Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum warned yesterday. As a last resort, they said, Israel itself would act unilaterally to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms. Iran will not be deterred "by anything short of a threat of force," said Arieh Eldad, a member of Israel's right-wing National Union Party, part of a delegation of Knesset members visiting Washington this week. "They won't be stopped unless they are convinced their programs will be destroyed if they continue," he said. Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the best hope was for the United States and other major powers to make it clear to Iranian leaders now there was "no chance they will ever see the fruits of a nuclear program." "Threats of sanctions and isolation alone will not do it," said Mr. Steinitz. Yosef Lapid, head of the centrist opposition Shinui Party in the Knesset, added that Israel "will not live under the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb." more... 

• Hamas study predicts rocket war on Israel (September 29, 2005) - Now that Israel has withdrawn its troops and citizens from Gaza, Hamas will continue the next phase of its "war to destroy the Jewish state" by focusing on Qassam rocket attacks instead of suicide bombings, a research center affiliated with Hamas announced in a published study. The disclosure coincides with a statement earlier this week by Hamas' Gaza leader Mahmoud al-Zahar vowing the terror group will halt all attacks from Gaza, including the firing of rockets. "The movement (Hamas) announces it has stopped its operations from the Gaza Strip against the Zionist occupation," al-Zohar said. "Hamas is committed to protect Palestinian people from the Zionist entity. ... The movement is concerned for the Palestinian national interest." Al-Zohar's comments were reported extensively this week by the international media. But according to the Al-Mustaqbal Research Center in Gaza, "the Qassam rockets will be the strategic weapon (for Hamas) in the coming period of time [now that Israel withdrew from Gaza]. Hamas will focus on firing Qassam rockets on Israeli towns adjacent to the Gaza Strip." Al-Mustaqbal is headed by a Palestinian professor, and, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies, is associated with Hamas and is known to publish surveys and studies which reflect the terror group's attitudes. The study predicted the Jewish state will retaliate against Palestinian organizations for any rocket fire, but will be unable to successfully quell the rocket threat. more...

• Sanhedrin Moves to Establish Council For Noahides (September 29, 2005) - A council of non-Jewish observers of the Seven Laws of Noah has been selected and will be ordained by the reestablished Sanhedrin in Jerusalem this January. B'nai Noach, literally "Children of Noah," known as Noahides, are non-Jews who take upon themselves the Torah's obligations for non-Jews - consisting of seven laws passed on from Noah following the flood, as documented in Genesis (see below). Until now, Noahide communities and organization had been scattered around the globe, with a particular concentration centered around the southern United States. The communities themselves are a relatively recent phenomenon bolstered by the fact that the Internet has allowed individuals sharing Noahide beliefs to get in touch with one another. The court of 71 rabbis, known as the Sanhedrin, which was reestablished last October in Tiberius following the reinstitution of rabbinic semikha, decided, after numerous requests from the Noahide community, to assist the movement in forming a leadership council. more... 

• Dispelling rumors, PM reaffirms pledge to road map (September 29, 2005) - "There is no other plan besides the road map," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday a day after key officials declared their support for more unilateral steps. Sharon, who addressed an economic conference in Tel Aviv, said, "This country is plagued by rumors. Yesterday such a rumor began circulating, a rumor which emanated from unfounded comments, as if Israel was examining other plans." "Israel is not and will not examine any other plan; there is only one plan – the road map. It is the best plan for the future of Israel," Sharon emphasized. According to the prime minister, "One ambassador after another approached the Prime Minister's Office to determine if the rumor was correct, including a very stern appeal from Washington." On Wednesday, outgoing OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze'evi (Farkash) and Eival Gilady, former head of strategic planning in the IDF, came out in favor of further unilateral Israeli steps. more... 

• Syria is pushing complete Palestinian battalions with their commands and weapons into Lebanon in the largest military movement since Syrian troops’ May exit Debkafile (September 28, 2005) - intelligence sources report the men are taken out of refugee camps near Damascus by Syrian intelligence agents and loaded on Lebanese civilian trucks hired by the Syrian army. In Lebanon, half are destined for the southern port town of Sidon and the rest for the Beqaa Valley. The estimated 1,200-1,500 men are operatives of Hamas, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front and the Abu Mussa splinter faction.

• Syria moving troops to Israel’s northern border (September 28, 2005) - Syria is planning something big, or so it seems, they have taken 1,500 Palestinians from a refugee camp and taken half of them to the port town of Sidon and the rest into the Bekaa valley. It is also known that the Hizbullah has been arming in preparations for a possible assault on Israel some time in the near future. Assad of Syria is caught between a rock and a hard spot, knowing that America is possibly planning a strike against him for harboring and transporting Terrorists into Iraq to kill US troops, not to mention the fact that he protects and assists nearly every known Terrorist group. It would be his thinking that if he can get something going between Hizbullah and Israel it could possibly kick off a regional war bringing Iran and possibly even Egypt into the fight. This would keep the Americans so busy they would leave him alone, so he thinks. But it seems that every time we think we have this figured out it goes in another direction, we will see this time, but one thing is certain he is moving a lot of terrorists in Israel’s direction for some reason and that can’t be good.

• IDF: We'll turn Gaza town into DMZ if Qassams fired (September 28, 2005) - The army's chief of operations sharply warned Palestinians Wednesday that if Qassam rockets were fired from the town of Beit Hanun in the Gaza Strip, Israel's retaliatory artillery barrages would be such that "the Israel Defense Forces will turn this town into a demilitarized zone." Operations chief Major General Yisrael Ziv added that he would not rule out using artillery against homes in the town in response to Qassam fire from those areas. He later explained that if the fire continues, "we will warn residents, make sure they leave, and then fire artillery into the area." Ziv stated that the IDF has already shelled open areas in the northern Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent Qassam units from firing. "Our message is clear," Ziv added, "We will not tolerate any Qassam fire." On Tuesday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said said that Israel will employ an "iron fist" until there are "zero" Qassams. more...

• First Temple-era seal discovered (September 28, 2005) - A First-Temple period seal has been discovered amidst piles of rubble from Jerusalem's Temple Mount, an Israeli archaeologist said Tuesday, in what could prove to be an historic find. The small - less than 1 cm - seal impression, or bulla, discovered Tuesday by Bar-Ilan University archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay amidst piles of rubble from the Temple Mount would mark the first time that an written artifact was found from the Temple Mount dating back to the First Temple period. The 2,600 year old artifact, with three lines in ancient Hebrew, was discovered amidst piles of rubble discarded by the Islamic Wakf that Barkay and a team of young archaeologists and volunteers are sifting
  through on the grounds of a Jerusalem national park. The seal, which predates the destruction of the First Jewish temple in 586 BCE, was presented Tuesday night to the press at an archaeological conference at the City of David sponsored by the right-wing Elad organization. Barkay said that the find was the first of its kind from the time of King David. more...  (With all the archaeological discoveries happening in Israel now-a-days, I wouldn't be surprised if something is discovered that unites Israel and they return to the God of their fathers.)

• Israel: Stop 'nuclear threat' resolution (September 28, 2005) - Israel urged Arab nations on Wednesday to withdraw a push to have it declared a menace to peace at a 139-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, suggesting Iran's suspect nuclear programs posed the real threat to the Middle East. Gideon Frank, the head of Israel's nuclear program and Israel's chief delegate to the IAEA's general conference, was responding to preparations by Arab countries to present a resolution stating that Israel's secretive atomic program threatened Middle East peace. Israel "will not be in a position to support" a separate resolution urging all Middle East nations to throw open their nuclear program to IAEA controls unless the plan to table a text on the Israeli threat is dropped, he said. Israel neither confirms nor denies its nuclear status but is considered the only nation in the region with nuclear weapons. Experts estimate it has up to 200 atomic warheads. Arab nations at the annual conference regularly threaten to submit a resolution labeling Israel's nuclear capabilities a threat to Middle East peace but have always dropped such plans, settling instead for a statement of the conference president with relatively neutral language that carries much less weight than a resolution. Of the "many alarming proliferation developments in the Middle East ... none of these involve Israel," said Frank, criticizing the "alarming attitude of some regional states to their international commitments in the nuclear domain." more...

• Israel Vows 'Crushing' Response to Attacks (September 24, 2005) - Israel ordered ground forces to the Gaza border Saturday and threatened a "crushing" response after Israeli towns were hit by the first major Hamas rocket barrage from the coastal territory since Israel's pullout two weeks earlier. Israel also resumed airstrikes against Hamas targets, hitting several suspected weapons workshops, and imposed a blanket closure that bars all Palestinians from its territory. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his Security Cabinet for a meeting later Saturday to approve the military's response, expected to last several days. A large-scale operation appeared unlikely but the timing of the Cabinet meeting suggested a sense of urgency. The Cabinet session comes as Sharon faces a major leadership challenge in his Likud Party this week over the Gaza pullout. Sharon's challenger, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned the withdrawal will endanger Israel. The barrage of 39 rockets, with five Israelis hurt, could give him a boost against Sharon. The escalation was set off by an explosion Friday at a Hamas rally in the crowded Jebaliya refugee camp that killed at least 15 Palestinians. Witnesses said the blast went off near a pickup truck carrying Hamas militants and homemade rockets. Hamas blamed Israel and said it fired rockets on Israeli border towns in retaliation. However, the Palestinian Authority described the explosion as an accident that happened when Islamic militants mishandled explosives and renewed demands that armed groups stop flaunting their weapons. more... 

• Netanyahu pushes impeachment of PM (September 23, 2005) - As the Likud prepares for the big confrontation Monday evening between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and party leader hopeful Binyamin Netanyahu, MKs both in and out of the Likud have been determining their allegiance. Israel Radio reported that Netanyahu has been meeting with Knesset members in an attempt to get together a blocking body of 61 representatives to impeach the prime minister in the event that Sharon decides to leave the Likud or dissolve the Knesset. Netanyahu met both Likud and non-Likud parliamentarians over the last few days for the purpose of gathering the required majority. Among these were Shinui's Eliezer Sandberg and former Shinui member Yosef Paritzki. Paritzki described the meeting: "What we discussed is that if a no-confidence vote will be held, would I vote in favor or against it? I stated explicitly that I would vote no-confidence for the purpose of bringing down the government headed by Ariel Sharon. Within the family we try to help each other, just like any good family." Sources close to Netanyahu responded that bringing down the government was not discussed in the meetings, but rather, only the course of action to be taken should Sharon attempt to dissolve the Knesset. According to Israel Radio, Sandberg asserted that his "meeting with Netanyahu was incidental, and that Shinui prefers bringing down the government over replacing prime ministers within the Likud." more... 

• Israel: Al-Qaida likely in Gaza (September 23, 2005) - Israel has information al-Qaida-linked members likely infiltrated the Gaza Strip while its border with Egypt was opened last week, senior security officials told WND. "Militants linked to Hezbollah, al-Qaida and other international terror groups are now very likely in Gaza," said a senior security official. "The groups had set up bases in the Sinai that are still functioning, and we have information indicating members managed to get inside Gaza. These are people with advanced knowledge in specific kinds of deadly attacks and explosions." The statements also were made by Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, who said, "We're talking about Iran, we're talking elements in Syria, we're talking about groups like Hezbollah and we're talking also about international terrorist groups like al-Qaida," referring to terrorists crossing into Gaza. more... 

• Kabbalist Urges Jews to Israel Ahead of Upcoming Disasters (September 22, 2005) - Israel's leading known Kabbalistic Elder, Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri called upon worldwide Jewry Tuesday night to return to Israel due to natural disasters which threaten to strike the world. In a class between the Mincha (afternoon) and Maariv (evening) prayers at his Jerusalem yeshiva seminary, Rabbi Kaduri issued the following call:
  ”This declaration I find fitting to issue for all of the Jews of the world to hear. It is incumbent upon them to return to the Land of Israel due to terrible natural disasters which threaten the world. In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring about great disasters in the countries of the world to sweeten the judgements of the Land of Israel. I am ordering the publication of this declaration as a warning, so that Jews in the countries of the world will be aware of the impending danger and will come to the Land of Israel for the buliding of the Temple and revelation of our righteous Mashiach (Messiah).” Rabbi Kaduri also stated that the upcoming year would be a year of "secret and revelation" in the world. The Jewish year 5766 begins in less than three weeks, with the holiday of Rosh Hashana. The Rabbi explained that the numerical Hebrew abbreviation for 5766, taf, shin, samech, vav gives insight into the nature of the upcoming year. "This will be a year of secret (or sod, from the letter samech) and revelation (or v'giliu from the letter vav). Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio show host Yehoshua Meiri first publicized the declaration on his Hebrew radio show late Tuesday night. Meiri typed out the words of Rabbi Kaduri's declaration and presented them back to the Rabbi who signed on the document. Associates of Rabbi Kaduri were dispatched to communicate the Kabbalistic Elder's call to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before the latter's departure to the United States later the same night. Meiri says he will publicize the signed declaration after Prime Minister Sharon delivers a speech in the U.S., in which he is expected to call upon the Jews of the Diaspora to make Aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. more...

• Pakistan's Musharraf Speaks at Ground-Breaking Meeting with American Jews (September 20, 2005) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is the first leader of a Muslim nation that has no diplomatic ties with Israel to hold a public dialogue with Jewish leaders, according to a report today from the BBC. The historic address began in New York with the breaking of bread and prayers from the Koran being recited, three days after Musharraf shook hands with Israel's prime minister at the U.N. The report notes that the president was given a standing ovation as he arrived for the meeting "at which he called for the establishment of a Palestinian state to end violence in the Middle East and bring security to Israel." "Israel must come to terms with geopolitical realities and allow justice to prevail for the Palestinians," he said, while also criticizing Islamic society for "failing to embrace modernity." "I am convinced that peace in Palestine that does justice to both the Israelis and the Palestinians will bring to a close the sad chapter in the history of the Middle East [and] will revive the historical ties between Islam and Judaism." more...

• South African Ambassador Sees Israelis As "Loving People" (September 20, 2005) - South African Ambassador Major General Fumanekile Gqiba was "publicly humiliated and treated in a racist manner" by a border control official at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel recently, according to a report in Haaretz. But the insulted ambassador holds no grudges and blamed the press for making a mountain out of a mole hill. Gqiba several people at the gym in the Azrieli Center, where he works out four mornings a week before going to the embassy apologized to him. "They told me they didn't even know I was an ambassador until they saw my picture in the paper," he said. "[Their response] shows the other side of Israel, the positive side. Israelis are often painted as very arrogant, but the people here are actually very soft, loving people who like life." This week Gqiba said he is maintaining his decision to make any complaints related to the incident through official channels only, adding he was satisfied with the apology he had received from the Foreign Ministry and the Israel Airports Authority, which promised a thorough investigation into what happened. more...

• Sharon, EU—Signs of the Prophetic Times (September 20, 2005) - The prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah may well be in play as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faces a career-ending political battle and Israel is seriously considering inviting the European Union into Gaza to police the Egyptian-Gaza borders. The remarks of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before American Jewish leaders in New York last Sunday couldn’t help but to have a prophetic undertone. The embattled Israeli leader, who has taken tremendous criticism for being the first Jewish leader to evict Jews from their own property in Gaza and the West Bank, admitted that he had tremendous political problems. Sharon earned applause from the audience when he said at the beginning of his remarks, "I have to go back to solve some of the internal problems I am facing. I have been gone for about a week, and I have to go back if you want me to come back in my present capacity." Indeed, the heat is on. Like his American counterpart President George W. Bush, Sharon’s popularity has declined immensely since the Gaza evacuation. For the rest of this article and other biblically relevant articles subscribe to “Koenig’s Eye View from the White House.” The news report is distributed by email every Friday by 2:00 pm ET and posted in our subscriber area at the web site.

• Iran Making Its End Times Move As Supported By Russia, China, India - Bill Wilson (September 20, 2005) - Telltale signs of Iran’s intent to develop its nuclear capabilities and share them with the rest of the Islamic world emerged last week at the United Nations, while at the same time, Russia, China and even India have discouraged the United States and its European allies from aggressively pursuing U.N. Security Council action against the Persian Empire. Speaking before the United Nations in New York, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country had an “unalienable right” to pursue a nuclear program He said that the United States and European Union negotiators—Britain, France and Germany—were employing a propaganda campaign to wrongly accuse Iran of having non-peaceful intentions with its nuclear program. Ahmadinejad, however, seemed to be using the United Nations as a soapbox for his own brand of propaganda. For the rest of this article and other biblically relevant articles subscribe to “Koenig’s Eye View from the White House.” The news report is distributed by email every Friday by 2:00 pm ET and posted in our subscriber area at the web site. more...

• The influx of Palestinian long-range Qassam, anti-tank, anti-air missiles and terrorists entering Gaza from Sinai swelled Monday a week after it began (September 20, 2005) - Palestinian security forces posted to halt the illegal traffic helped it through instead. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the scale of the weapons transfers expanded most in the Rafah area where two battalions of the Palestinian Authority’s crack Force 17 troops charged a hefty toll in cash which they pocketed for letting the weapons through. On orders from Jerusalem, the IDF continues to bide its time as though expecting the Egyptian and Palestinians to assert control over the lawless traffic transiting the Egyptian-Gazan border unchecked.

• Israel open to EU policing role on Gaza border (September 19, 2005) - Israel has agreed in principle to a European Union role in policing Gaza's volatile border crossing with Egypt, Israeli officials said on Monday, a turnabout after years of opposition to an EU security mission. The deal would go beyond EU monitoring already discussed. Israel has long been reluctant to allow outside involvement in its conflict with the Palestinians, perceiving Europe, and indeed the world except its U.S. ally, as pro-Palestinian. Securing the border took on more urgency when controls collapsed after Israel's pullout last week after 38 years of occupation. Tens of thousands of Palestinians swarmed into Egypt -- most to visit relatives or shop, but some to smuggle arms. An EU presence would help resolve a dispute over Israel's demand to retain some control over crossings via the Rafah terminal, rejected by Palestinians as tantamount to continued occupation. Rafah has been shut because of the stand-off. Senior Israeli officials said a deal in principle had been reached with the EU for its personnel to work with Palestinian security forces and Egyptian police who sealed the frontier on Sunday to end days of chaos. more... 

• Weapons Pour Into Gaza by Ryan Jones, Jerusalem Newswire, (September 18, 2005) - Israel's worst fears regarding the withdrawal from Gaza appeared be come true September 18 as Arab terrorists continued to import large quantities of arms into the volatile coastal strip. In its morning broadcast, Israel Radio cited security officials as saying thousands of guns and anti-tank missiles had been brought into Gaza since the completion of the IDF's (Israel Defense Force) pullout September 12. This was despite purported efforts by Egyptian and Palestinian forces to seal the border. Israel Radio Arab Affairs Correspondent Avi Yissakharov noted that drug and arms smugglers were blowing holes in the concrete and steel Gaza-Egypt border at will. Officials were most concerned by unconfirmed reports that terror groups had managed to smuggle “balance breaking” weapons such as anti-aircraft and medium range surface-to-surface missiles into Gaza. According to the online news and information service Debkafile, sourcing unnamed military and intelligence sources, the weapons smuggled in include:
  –3,000 automatic rifles, most of which are destined for Hamas, and which give the organization a total of 10,000 Kalashnikovs, enough for thousands of new recruits.
  –Hundreds of AT-23 Sagger anti-tank missiles.
  –SAM-14 Strela anti-aircraft missiles–quantity unknown.
  –Improved Kassam surface-to-surface missiles. Their range is 13km or 18km, depending on whether Israeli or Egyptian intelligence evaluations are accepted. The shorter-range can reach Ashkelon, the longer one can menace the southern suburbs of the port town of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi (where the Israeli President's private home is located), Ofakim, Netivot and prime minister Ariel Sharon's Sycamore Ranch.
  –Land mines of different types–quantity unknown.
  –More than 250 tons of explosives.
  –In addition, an estimated 500-700 armed and highly-trained men have infiltrated Gaza through Sinai to boost the ranks of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
  Sources in the IDF's Southern Command told Ynet they believe Hamas will also take advantage of the situation to widen its front against Israel by sending cells into Sinai and infiltrating through the long Egypt-Negev border. Shortly after noon on September 18, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chief Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) declared the border had finally been sealed and the chaos in southern Gaza ended. Israelis were skeptical, having heard a similar announcement days earlier. Later in the day, a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official told the Associated Press the Gaza-Egypt border crossing in the town of Rafiah would be reopened within 48 hours, despite Israel's protests. United States sources said Washington had remained purposely mum on the issue, not wanting to publicly criticize either Egypt or the PA, according to Middle East Newsline. The Bush Administration determined Egypt and the PA need more time for troop deployment. “It's not something that begins and ends on one day. This is a process,” said State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli last week. IDF officials, however, told Ynet that “if the Egyptians wanted to, they would completely seal off the border within an hour.” Israel managed, with hostile forces on either side, to control that same border day in and day out for over 30 years. Responding to repeated PA demands for Israel to loosen its defenses around Gaza, Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz said Jerusalem intends to treat its border with the volatile coastal strip as it does those with Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan. To that end, Pines-Paz officially declared Israel's frontier with Gaza an international border and said anyone traveling to or from the strip would need a passport.

• Israeli Troops Leave Gaza, Palestinians Move In (September 12, 2005) - "This is a day of happiness and joy that the Palestinian people have not witnessed for a century," President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Gaza City. Attacking symbols of the hated Israeli presence, youths smashed and set ablaze several of the synagogues left behind in the 21 evacuated enclaves, the first settlements Israel has abandoned on land the Palestinians want for a state. Some Palestinians, chanting "Allahu Akhbar" (God is greatest), brandished pictures of fighters killed in an uprising. Some kissed the ground. Others scampered down to pristine Mediterranean beaches they could not reach for years. "Today is the happiest day in my life," said Jawal Abu Lafi, 50, after praying amid the rubble of one former settlement. Tanks and armored vehicles trundled out of Gaza into Israel after the army issued its final withdrawal order to complete Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for "disengaging" from conflict with the Palestinians. "We are leaving with our heads high," said army chief of staff Dan Halutz at a flag-lowering ceremony on Sunday. Flares fired by Israeli troops and fireworks launched by celebrating Palestinians illuminated the desert strip that has been scene of some of the bloodiest fighting since peace talks failed in 2000. "We will begin a new life, a life that is empty of fear and occupation," said one woman as celebratory gunfire mingled with joyful ululation. While welcoming the pullout, the Palestinian Authority fears Sharon is trading Gaza, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, for permanent hold on larger areas of the occupied West Bank where 245,000 Jewish settlers live isolated from 2.4 million Arabs. Gaza and the West Bank were captured in the 1967 war. more... 

• Palestinians Torch Synagogues in Former Gaza Settlements (September 12, 2005) - Palestinians also set fire to synagogues in the evacuated settlements of Netzarim and Kfar Darom. In one of the synagogues, gunmen climbed on the roof and waved flags of militant groups, including Hamas, shouting "God is great." Hours earlier, the Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman said the Palestinian Authority would destroy the synagogues left behind in Gaza by evacuating IDF troops. All remaining buildings in the evacuated Jewish settlements would be destroyed except for the hothouses, the spokesman, Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, told The Associated Press. Earlier in the day, the Israeli government voted not to demolish the synagogues. The Palestinians expressed dismay at the Israeli decision, saying it puts them in an impossible position because they may be criticized for destroying houses of worship but at the same time they need the space for their development plans for post-Israel Gaza. "It's better for us and for you to destory the synagogues," Jibril Rajoub, the PA chairman's security adviser, told Israel Radio on Sunday. "I think the synagogues are symbols of the occupation." more... 

• Gaza synagogues face likely desecration (September 12, 2005) - With the Israeli government yesterday voting against the demolition of Gaza's synagogues ahead of Israel's final pullout from the area later today, the Palestinian Authority is "not confident" it can protect the holy structures from desecration and "doesn't want to deal with the problem," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told WorldNetDaily. Sources say the synagogues may be turned into Palestinian medical clinics and libraries in an effort to avert desecrations. "We of course have the highest respect for Judaism and the Jewish religion, but we cannot guarantee the synagogues won't be desecrated," said Erekat, speaking by cell phone from Gaza City. "We are very upset at Israel about this decision to throw their problems on us. They are trying to make us look like barbarians and now we're stuck in a situation about whether to protect. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't." more...

• A Qassam missile was fired from Gaza Strip two hours after Israeli troops handed the territory over to the Palestinian Authority (September 12, 2005) - As Israeli troops redeployed in new lines outside Gaza during the night, howling Palestinian mobs made bonfires of the Gaza synagogues and public buildings left behind. Abu Mazen’s security men stood by. They also watched Hamas and Jihad Islami gunmen overrun the flattened former Israeli locations and hoist their flags over the rubble. The IDF earlier bulldozed the homes of 8,500 Israelis and military bases in the Gaza Strip but Israeli ministers balked at ordering Israeli troops to destroy synagogues in deference to the rabbis’ prohibition. Under Jewish law, places of worship retain their sanctity even after ritual articles are removed and were clearly marked as holy places in English and Arabic. Gaza commander Aviv Cochavi was the last Israeli soldier to depart the Gaza Strip. He drove through the Kissufim crossing and shut the gateway down for the last time.

• Palestinian PM says can end chaos in Gaza by Jan (September 12, 2005) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged "to control the chaos in Gaza" by the end of the year in an interview published on Monday that coincided with the completion of an Israeli pullout from the territory. But Abbas told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, one of whose reporters was abducted but quickly released by gunmen in Gaza on Saturday, that he would not try to disarm the powerful militant group Hamas to assert Palestinian Authority control. "There is no point at the moment, it would be a useless step that would be destined to start a civil war," Abbas said, despite a call in a U.S.-backed peace "road map" for the Palestinian Authority to confiscate "illegal weapons". For its part, Israel has ignored the road map's call for a halt to Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. "Give me until the end of the year and I will be able to control the chaos in Gaza," Abbas said. "Now that the Israeli pullout is completed, we will be able to better deal with the problem." He noted that Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state, would take part for the first time in a Palestinian legislative election, slated for January 25, and "if this happens, they will very soon not need weapons". Abbas praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for having taken a "very important and courageous step" in removing 8,500 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. But he warned Sharon against trying to trade Gaza, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, for a permanent hold on larger areas of the occupied West Bank where 245,000 Jewish settlers live isolated from 2.4 million Arabs. more...

• New life for the Dead Sea? (September 10, 2005) - If you want to realise how far the water level has fallen, it is worth stopping on Route 90, not much more than a kilometre south of Qumran where a Bedouin looking for a lost goat discovered the first Dead Sea Scroll in a cave in 1947. The shimmering expanse of the sea, stretching east to the Jordanian cliffs, is obscured here by reeds and shrubbery that have grown up around the freshwater spring of Ein Feshka. So look up at the cliffs lining the road on the western side, formed from limestone deposits perhaps 80 million years old. About 12ft up, you can see a red line less than a foot long. It was painted on the rock just over 100 years ago by members of the Palestinian Exploration Fund, a venerable British institution which counted T E Lawrence and Lord Kitchener among its members. The fund made two expeditions here, one at the turn of the century and one in 1917, not long after General Edmund Allenby walked into Jerusalem to seal his triumph over the Turks. But there is only one line. It takes a moment for its meaning to sink in. The fund's Levantine scholars and archaeologists were in a boat when they painted the line to show the level of the Dead Sea. Where we are standing was then four metres underwater. The mystery is what prompted them to mark it at all. Given that the level had been pretty well stable for the best part of 75,000 years, how were they so prescient as to realize that within half a century or so it would start to fall so catastrophically that a record would be necessary? And that a place, since prehistory the lowest on the planet, would become steadily lower still, so by 2005 the edge of the Dead Sea would be some 500m of cracked and gently sloping sandy, salty flatland east of where, bobbing on what was then its surface, they had carefully painted the line in the cliff? Perhaps it is not too fanciful to think that they foresaw some of the havoc man would wreak here during the next century. The level of the Dead Sea - now 1,370ft below sea level - is falling fast, by about a metre a year. Since the line was painted, the sea has shrunk by more than a third, or 20km, so the long southern stretch of deep water where King Herod's boat would be moored when he visited Masada is now dry land. more...

• A debate of biblical proportions (September 9, 2005) - The recently ended season of excavations at the top of the City of David slope was accompanied by much excitement. With every passing day, more and more parts of an enormous building were unearthed. Dr. Eilat Mazar, the archaeologist in charge of the site, believes this could be the palace King David built after conquering Jerusalem from the Jebusites. The discovery has stirred up the old argument among archaeologists as to whether the events described in the Bible in fact occurred, and in this context, the importance and greatness of David himself. In this case, the disagreement is more than an academic question: It touches on the roots of the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, and could serve as ammunition in any argument over the future of the city. What's more, the excavation was conducted by the Shalem Center, with the academic auspices of Hebrew University, and in collaboration with Elad, the non-profit association that owns the land on which the City of David visitors' center is built. The excavation took place in a rectangular strip 10 meters wide by 30 meters long, and the structure that has been unearthed occupies the entire site, even extending beyond its boundaries. It is constructed from immense stones that served as the foundation of a palace. The stones were placed on an earthen landfill in which hundreds of broken pieces of pottery were found, mainly of cooking pots. Mazar, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center and a researcher at Hebrew University, states that the pottery can be dated to the 12th and 11th centuries BCE, in other words, to the Jebusite period, which immediately predates David's reign. more... 

• Sharon delays razing of Gaza Strip synagogues (September 9, 2005) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided Thursday night to postpone the demolition of synagogues in the Gaza Strip, despite a Supreme Court decision earlier in the day allowing the razing of the buildings. Sharon complied with a request by Defense Ministry Shaul Mofaz, who suggested trying to find ways to avert the demolitions, and to transfer responsibility for the houses of worship to other parties. A final decision on the matter will be made at a cabinet meeting on Sunday. In light of the decision, the IDF has put off the start of an operation to raze the synagogues, which was scheduled to begin late Thursday night. Earlier Thursday, an expanded panel of Supreme Court justices gave a go-ahead to the demolition of the Gaza synagogues when it decided by a 4-3 majority not to hold further debates on the issue. The Yesha Council of settlements expressed its shock at the Court's decision. The council said "the High Court displays sensitivity only when it comes to non-Jewish issues, sometimes even those related to Israel's enemies, but turns a blind eye to the innermost feelings of every Jew." more...

• As anarchy spreads in Gaza, the Israeli troop pullback is put on fast forward (September 8, 2005) - Israeli soldiers will be ready for exit at 24-hour notice before the allotted Sept. 12-15 timeline. DEBKAfile reported earlier an Israeli army warning to the Palestinians to maintain a 400-meter distance from the perimeter fences of evacuated settlements and approach roads. Intruders will be shot. Furthermore, Palestinians firing on retreating Israeli forces will face an instant artillery response. Israeli ministers were asked to leave their weekend telephone numbers with the cabinet secretariat in case a vote becomes necessary to effect a full overnight troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are expected to defy Palestinian Authority orders and stage a stampede for the vacant properties. Sharon informed ministers Wednesday that defense minister Shaul Mofaz will hold responsibility for Gaza Strip security only until the last Israeli soldier exits. After that, it passes to vice prime minister Shimon Peres. more...

• Moussa Arafat Murder Is Widely Seen as Palestinian Authority Inside Job (September 7, 2005) - The assassination of Moussa Arafat was obviously well-planned and carefully staged. According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, the crime bears the hallmark of Palestinian minister for civilian affairs Mohammed Dahlan and his sidekick, Gaza preventive security chief Rashid Abu Shebak, two would-be Gaza strongmen who are no strangers to violence. Suspicion is strong that they contracted the Popular Committees’ Salahedin Brigades for the slaying. Scores of armed men dragged the former Palestinian military intelligence chief and head of national security forces in the Gaza Strip from his home, shot him dead and abducted his son Manhal. The fact that a large band of armed men was allowed to pump 23 bullets into Arafat’s body - whereas none of his bodyguards suffered a scratch - bespeaks betrayal and conspiracy. In Nablus, the local Palestinian intelligence chief Maher Yousuf wondered aloud how nearly 100 gunmen could have fired rocket-propelled grenades, automatic weapons and grenades for 45 minutes in the heart of Gaza City, which is packed with Palestinian Authority security men, without interference. Another Palestinian official, military security chief, Col. Maher Fares, accused interior minister Nasser Yousef of abetting the murder. He refused to believe the Popular Committees, whose Salahedin Brigades claimed the assassination, acted alone without the connivance of someone in authority. A third Palestinian Authority cited Hamas. The inevitable reprisal may be illuminating, although the round of accusations is a measure of the speed with which the Gaza Strip is already sinking into a bloody factional warfare in readiness for Israel’s pullback next week, Sept 12-15. more...

• Israel to Transfer Parts of Northern West Bank to Palestinian Authority (September 7, 2005) - The area where the four evacuated settlements, Ganim, Kadim, Homesh and Sa-Nur, used to sit is considered Area C - in full Israeli control - reportedly in order to keep it as a bargaining chip in future negotiations over the West Bank. According to government and defense sources, because Israel does not want to maintain a presence in the evacuated area, Israel has told the Palestinians during talks between officers that it intends to give them most of the responsibility for the region. The IDF will reportedly not enforce the prohibition against unauthorized Palestinian construction, as it does not in other areas of the West Bank, as long as building does not take place close to the separation fence or roads. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to meet Wednesday for consultations with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Finance Minister Ehud Olmert, Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Minister without Portfolio Haim Ramon. On the agenda are control over the Gaza-Sinai border, the IDF's evacuation of the Philadelphi route, and the timing of the transfer of responsibility for the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians. According to government and defense sources, Israel is leaning toward accepting an Egyptian-brokered compromise over the operation of the border crossing from Sinai to the Gaza Strip. According to the proposal, Egypt will close the present Rafah crossing for "renovations" for a period of six to nine months immediately after Israel leaves the Philadelphi route. People and goods will cross into the Gaza Strip via a new terminal Israel is building at Kerem Shalom at the Gaza-Sinai-Israel border, which will be under Israeli control. more...

• Quake felt in Jordan Valley, Tel Aviv (September 7, 2005) - An earthquake was felt in the Jordan Valley and near Tel Aviv Wednesday around noon. The quake measured 3.7 on the Richter scale; No injuries or damage were reported. In a striking coincidence, the government's ministerial committee for earthquake preparedness met on Wednesday morning (before the earthquake struck). Experts told the ministers that in case of a major quake, as many as 51,000 structures throughout the country could collapse, Army Radio reported. Members of the committee, which was formed after the Tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, met as the United States continued to grapple with the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. According to the current assessment, the structures built prior to 1974 that are three stories tall or more are most likely to collapse. more...

• Iran's leader calls for Jihad against Israel (September 5, 2005) - Iran's supreme leader hailed Palestinian militants for "expelling the Zionist regime from Gaza" and called for the "continuation and fortification of resistance and Jihad," or holy struggle. "The only way to confront the Zionist enemy is the continuation and fortification of resistance and Jihad," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying Saturday in a meeting with the militant group Islamic Jihad's secretary general Ramazan Abdullah. "Although the retreat of the Zionist regime from Gaza is short of Palestinian rights and demands, it is however a big victory that shows the inability of the occupier regime of Qods (Jerusalem)," the ISNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying. He added that "with the cooperation of Jihadi groups", further "success is also possible in other parts of the occupied territories". Iran is frequently accused of funding and supplying Palestinian militant groups, but the clerical regime says it only provides "moral" backing. Tehran also refuses to recognise Israel. more...

• Israel Rejects Claims by Palestinians That Pullout Won't End Gaza Occupation (September 5, 2005) - The controversy over the border flared up over the weekend after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that even after the pullout from the Gaza Strip, Israel would still be occupying some Palestinian land there. "The evacuation of the settlers, the settlements and the army from the strip are steps in the right direction, but it does not mean the end of the occupation .... There are lands in eastern and northern Gaza [such as the Karni and Erez border crossings] still under occupation," Abbas said in an interview published yesterday in the Palestinian daily Al Quds. "We need to renegotiate the details and get back to the real border," Abbas said, referring to the pre-1967 border between Israel and Gaza. Israel says that the 1949 cease-fire line was altered afterward based on an agreement between Israel and Egypt, which controlled the Gaza Strip at the time. The amended border was also used later during the Oslo Accords, with the PA's consent. Israel maintains that the border determined in the Gaza and Jericho agreement of 1994 is the one that counts. The border controversy has led to the PA suspending talks with Israel on the new terminal at the Erez checkpoint, claiming that it is on Palestinian land. Israel is proceeding with building a large terminal with corridors for people and merchandise and waiting rooms. more...

• PM and Netanyahu Reject February Primary Date (September 4, 2005) - Their remarks came after Sharon and his main rival, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both rejected a compromise over the primary's date that ministers Silvan Shalom, Tzachi Hanegbi and Limor Livnat proposed Sunday. The three ministers, who plan to meet again with both candidates in the coming days, suggested that the primary be held in February and that both publicly pledge to remain in the Likud if they lose. Netanyahu and the third candidate, MK Uzi Landau, both want the primary to be held in November or December, while Sharon prefers to hold it in May 2006, six months before the scheduled date for national election, in November 2006. Netanyahu has already announced that he would remain in the Likud if he loses, but Sharon has publicly declared that he would never agree to be Netanyahu's No. 2. Sharon has also refused to pledge to remain in the Likud in private conversations with ministers who support him. That has posed a problem for some of these ministers. "How can we go with him if he doesn't promise to remain in the Likud?" asked one. more... 

• Report: U.S. Urges Allies to Ease Pressure on Israel (September 4, 2005) - Citing senior officials within the Bush administration, the Times said the Americans' top priority in the Middle East is for Israel to complete its military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to show he can impose security control over the area being evacuated. Bush administration officials openly hope Sharon remains in charge of the Likud and later carries out steps to accommodate the Palestinians, the Times said. "There's no question that we are aware of the toll that the whole disengagement debate took on Israelis," a senior administration official told the paper. "In our view, the message to Prime Minister Sharon from people in New York should be one of congratulations, not one of new pressures." Since the disengagement, Palestinian leaders have called on Israel to work to halt the growth of West Bank settlements. "We will be saying to anyone who asks us that if your goal is Israeli-Palestinian progress, you're not going to get there by misunderstanding the Israeli political situation," the unnamed official told the Times. The newspaper reported that the Americans will seek to stave off diplomatic pressure on Israel later this month, during the United Nations General Assembly summit meeting, which Sharon is expected to attend. The Likud Central Committee will vote on September 26 on a proposal to advance the party's leadership primaries, thereby effectively beginning the process of ousting Sharon as the party's head. more... 

• Palestinians set to take over settlements (September 3, 2005) - Palestinians are preparing to take over abandoned Jewish settlements in Gaza - drawing up plans for high-rise apartments and debating whether to name evacuated towns after deceased leaders or historical events. The Palestinian Authority says it's ready to assume control, but the most important decisions for Gaza's future - how to get people and goods in and out - are still up in the air. Israel is expected to complete its military pullout from Gaza within two weeks, after having emptied the coastal strip and four West Bank enclaves of some 9,000 Israeli settlers. Now the Palestinians are fast at work figuring out what do with the land they call "liberated," and dreams of a better future abound. In the evacuated areas, the Palestinians envision parks, industrial zones, a new seaport, a nature reserve, tourism facilities and new housing to ease overcrowding in the fenced-in coastal strip that is home to 1.4 million mostly impoverished Palestinians. more... 

• Israel-Pakistan diplomatic ties on the horizon (September 1, 2005) - After the first high-level meeting between Israel and Pakistan, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Thursday that Israel and Pakistan were likely to announce the forming of diplomatic ties during the September 14 59th UN General Assembly in New York. "We still have to finalize several issues before a formal announcement, issues I would rather not elaborate on at this time," Shalom told Israel Radio after meeting Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri in Istanbul. Shalom hailed the move as a "breakthrough, the first-ever meeting," and continued, "We hope to form diplomatic ties. [President] Musharref initiated [the talks] and Sharon welcomed the idea and asked me to go. We met yesterday for dinner and there was a very good atmosphere. Today's meeting was also very good." The foreign minister called Pakistan's diplomatic act "a brave move," and pointed out that Pakistan, as the second largest Muslim nation, "has major influence." more... 

August 2005

• Netanyahu: Jerusalem is under siege (August 31, 2005) - Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of caving into American pressure on Wednesday for not building in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. Netanyahu made E-1 his first stop on the campaign trail on Wednesday morning, touring the area with former minister Natan Sharansky, Ma'aleh Adumim mayor Benny Kashriel, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, and Likud MKs Michael Ratzon, Ehud Yatom, Michael Gorlovsky, and Ayoub Kara. Standing on a barren desert hilltop north of Jerusalem, Netanyahu told reporters that if he is elected prime minister, he will build 15,000 housing units in the area, in an effort to connect Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim and prevent illegal Palestinian construction from cutting off Ma'aleh Adumim from the capital. "We have to break the siege on Jerusalem," Netanyahu said. "There is a battle for Jerusalem. Sharon has frozen the building here and prevented the creation of a greater Jerusalem. Instead, he is enabling the creation of a greater Palestine." more... 

• The Sharon-Netanyahu Contest and the Palestinian Agenda (August 30, 2005) - US president George W. Bush, Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas are certain the Israeli government did the right thing in uprooting Israel’s civilian presence from the Gaza Strip ahead of the final pullback of troops on Sept. 15. But their gratification is likely to be short-circuited by the rush of events on the ground. Already, Sharon is paying the price for his action. The praise he won from Bush and other world leaders for his courage in going through with evacuations is proving expensive: his Likud has set in train the first steps for his ouster, accusing him of deserting its principles by expelling Israeli communities for nothing at best, a heightened terrorist menace, at worst. His long-time challenger, Binyamin Netanyahu, translates Sharon’s courage and the praise thereof as “a headwind for Palestinian terror.” Netanyahu’s belated challenge to Sharon’s leadership is less important per se than the dangerous prospect of its outcome being determined not by the Israeli voter but by Palestinian terror tacticians. Had Abu Mazen followed up on the Israeli pull-back with determined action to disarm and disband Palestinian terrorist organizations and then moved forward to join Israel in peace negotiations, Sharon could taken the Netanyahu threat in his stride. But this is not happening. The fact of the matter is that the level of Palestinian terror is climbing day by day, and the first post-evacuation suicide attack has already taken place in Beersheba. Israeli troops are still in Gaza demolishing Israeli homes and dismantling their installations - and already they are targeted by the gunmen of the first outside Palestinian terror group to arrive from Lebanon, Ahmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC. more...

• Foreign Minister: World Will Back Gaza Re-invasion Jerusalem Newswire (August 29, 2005) - Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said ON August 29 he was certain his nation would have the world's backing to attack the Gaza Strip, should the Palestinians living there dare to launch missile strikes on Israeli towns. “If missiles are fired from Gaza towards Israeli towns, Israel will exercise its right to retaliate, I think, with significant international backing,” Shalom told Israel Radio. Historically, the international community has harshly criticized and censured Israeli anti-terror military activity, whether retaliatory or preemptive, and it regularly demands Israeli restraint in the face anti-Jewish Islamic terror. Seeking to strike a positive note, Shalom said if Israel's recent withdrawal from Gaza resulted in the Arabs reciprocating with extended calm, the Jews would willingly surrender more of their biblical homeland. “If this model [of evacuating settlements] will work, and things will be calm and quiet, it will undoubtedly become a positive model for any future moves.” A day earlier, Shalom met in Jerusalem with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who called the Gaza pullout “the first phase of disengagement,” and urged Israel to follow it up with further concessions to the Arabs. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has publicly insisted there will be no second unilateral Israeli withdrawal, and that the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to prove itself a worthy peace partner.

• Hamas videotape shows shadowed Mohammed Deif speaking after 10 years in hiding. His words represent hardened line against Israel and Abu Mazen (August 27, 2005) - A videotape released early Saturday, Aug. 27 purports to show the once mythic Hamas commander and bomb-maker Mohammed Deif sitting in a chair, his face in shadow, declaring that just as the Palestinians humiliated and drove the Jews out of Gaza, they will expel them from all parts of Palestine. “We will recreate everywhere the hell we made for you in Gaza,” he said. Badly injured in an IDF 2003 targeted assassination, Deif has never been seen in public since. He read out his message with difficulty passage by passage. “Our weapons should be out in the open,” was his answer to the US-Israeli demand of the Palestinian Authority to disarm the terrorist organization. He goes on to urge the Iraqi guerilla underground to continue fighting the Americans until they are victorious. DEBKAfile adds: This is the first time Hamas has voiced support for anti-American forces in Iraq, going further than even Yasser Arafat dared. Deif’s words are a pointer to the form of combat Hamas is preparing against Israel and the level of anti-American sentiment on the Palestinian street. It also warns Abu Mazen not to put his trust in Washington backing. In an assembly Saturday in Gaza’s Jebalya, Hamas leaders showed a hardening of their line against Israel and Abu Mazen. Local leader Fathi Hamad threatened the Palestinian Authority with a huge popular uprising if it failed to care for the people’s needs. He also demanded a share in government for the Hamas.

• Transcending tensions though technology (August 21, 2005) - Dvora Peretz, from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor and Regeen Handan of Bethlehem might reside only a few kilometers away from each other but they speak different languages and live in very different worlds. Thanks to a unique program, the two girls now have had the chance to learn and work together in a common and non-political language: the language of computers. The program they are participating in, MEET, is simultaneously empowering Israeli and Palestinian youth while teaching them leadership and management skills, all in the name of coexistence. "I wanted to get involved in the program when I heard about it because I liked the idea," said Handan. "I have met many wonderful friends" motioning in the direction of her lab partner, Dvora, "we do most of our activities together." Now in its second year, MEET (Middle East Education Through Technology), partnered with MIT, is teaching the high school students how to communicate through computer programming. "The attitude and atmosphere is very fun, the instructors from MIT are great and it's nice to be in a place where everyone wants to learn," says Peretz. Founded two years ago by MIT students' siblings Anat Binur and Yaron Binur and their friend, Assaf Harlap, MEET aspires to give youth technology and leadership tools that they can take back to their community. The program, held at computer labs on Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus, brings students from Jerusalem and Bethlehem for a six-week intensive course on Java script programming and business and leadership skills. The courses are all facilitated by volunteer MIT students. more... 

• Israel Sends in More Troops for Gaza Eviction (August 17, 2005) - Convoys of buses, trucks and other vehicles carried security forces into Gaza from Israel at Kissufim crossing. For weeks the security forces have been training for scenarios that include violent resistance. Buses carrying troops rolled into the settlement of Ganei Tal. Israeli media reports said residents of Ganei Tal agreed to leave peacefully by 1 p.m. (1000 GMT). But confrontation loomed at Neve Dekalim, the biggest of the 21 Gaza settlements, where hundreds of ultranationalist youngsters who slipped into the community of red-roofed homes over the past several weeks holed up in a synagogue for a possible last stand. Israel Radio reported the army could complete the evacuation of all the settlements within days, speeding up an operation the military had said it hoped to complete by September 4. "We feel the residents' pain," Israeli police commissioner Moshe Karadi told The Jerusalem Post. "But we will do our job and are entering with our full force to show the settlers that we are unstoppable." The Gaza pullout, hailed by Palestinian militants as a victory and assailed by its Israeli opponents as surrender to violence, will mark the first removal of Jewish settlements from land that Palestinians want for a state. more... 

• Army to close Kissufim crossing tonight (August 14, 2005) - At midnight tonight, less than 24 hours before disengagement commences, the army will seal the Kissufim crossing into the Gaza Strip. Tomorrow morning, teams of Israel Defense Forces and police officers will fan out to every settlement in the Strip to inform residents they have 48 hours to leave their homes and if they refuse, they will be evacuated by force. The order in which settlements are to be evacuated will be decided on Tuesday afternoon. A senior police source told Haaretz that even then, each brigade commander will be given two alternative assignments, to keep the order of evacuation vague for as long as possible. The real assignments will be handed out only on midnight Tuesday. The evacuation itself is to begin on Wednesday morning. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced Thursday that the new target date for completion of disengagement is September 4. In response to the shorter deadline, the IDF will bring in two evacuation divisions simultaneously, one in the north and one in the south, and put off the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip and the isolated settlements to a later stage, beginning the evacuation Wednesday with five or six smaller settlements. more... 

• Gazans celebrate pullout; Abbas: Jerusalem is next (August 14, 2005) - The government-organized rally is Abbas' most high-profile attempt yet to seek credit for the pullout. Tens of thousands of Palestinians crowded into Gaza City's small fishing harbor Friday to celebrate the impending Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, waving flags and hearing promises from their leader, Mahmoud Abbas, that the West Bank and Jerusalem will be next. The government-organized rally under the theme "Setting Sail for Freedom" - the first mass celebration - was Abbas' most high-profile attempt yet to seek credit for the pullout, and defuse claims by political rival Hamas that its attacks have driven Israel out. Abbas, surrounded by security guards, spoke briefly. "From here, from this place, our nation and our masses are walking toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas told the crowd. Yet tensions between Abbas and Hamas became apparent when Cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan said the Palestinian flag must be the official banner at all celebrations. He did not refer to Hamas directly, but the militant group has said it plans its own military-style celebrations, and is sewing thousands of its own green banners. "This era is the era of unity, and the era that will end any competition or disagreement," Dahlan told the crowd. more... (This article is for all those "peaceniks" out there who feel sorry for the poor PLO. Their expressed goal is to destroy every Jew and have Israel to themselves. Read their websites! They don't hide it. We call that genocide here in the US. At least we did.)

• On Jews' 'darkest day,' expulsion set to begin (August 14, 2005) - With Jews in Israel and around the world marking the darkest day of their history by fasting and reading the Book of Lamentations, the Jewish state today prepares to expel its residents from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, and a nation once again braces for the possibility of tragedy. Today marks the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, the date on the lunar calendar on which the First and Second Temples were destroyed. Other more recent tragedies occurred on the same date, such as the outbreak of pogroms against Jews during the First Crusade, the expulsion of Jews from Spain and later from England, and the crushing of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in Germany. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC 100,000 Jews were killed and the remainder were exiled from their Holy Land for 70 years. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans, according to traditional sources, because of baseless hatred between Jews. The Jewish people at the time, the Talmud relates, hated one another for no reason. Two million Jews were killed during the destruction, and those remaining were once again exiled. more... 

• Lutherans In National Meeting Condemn Israeli Security Barrier (August 14, 2005) - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America denounced the security barrier Israel is building along the West Bank, saying Saturday that Israeli policy throughout the territories has brought "extreme hardship" to Palestinians. The statement, called "Peace Not Walls: Stand for Justice in the Holy Land," is part of an advocacy plan for Mideast peace that delegates to a church wide assembly adopted on a 668-269 vote. It was approved at a time of heightened tension between Protestants and Jews. Several protestant groups have angered Jews by protesting construction of the barrier, and some Christian denominations have considered divestment from companies that profit from Israeli control of the Palestinian territories. The new ELCA strategy doesn't mention divestment, but it urges the denomination to move toward "stewarding financial resources - both U.S. tax dollars and private funds - in ways that support the quest for a just peace in the Holy Land." Lutheran leaders insist it is not an endorsement of economic pressure against Israel. more... 

• Hamas Vows to Continue Fight After Pullout (August 13, 2005) - For the first time in a decade, the founders and top political leaders of Hamas gathered on the same stage Saturday, vowing to go on fighting Israel and claiming victory for its impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. In a direct challenge to the Palestinian Authority, the militant groups' top brass said it rejects the idea of a sole decision-making body for the area and insists it has the right to possess weapons. Tensions between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have heated up in the days before Israel begins its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements, with each trying to claim victory for the pullout. On Saturday, Hamas leaders positioned themselves in front of the group's logo and a green Islamic flag to send a message that they have the right to possess weapons and to claim responsibility for pushing Israel out of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas news conference comes just a day after the Palestinian Authority held its first official celebration - with the attendance of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas - of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements. Speakers at Friday's ceremony made it clear that all celebrations of the withdrawal would take place under the official Palestinian banner - the red, black, green and white flag - a message to Hamas.  more...

• Church warns 5 US firms of divestment (August 13, 2005) - The US Presbyterian Church has threatened to divest from five American giant corporations, accusing them of supporting and helping maintain the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The church’s ‘Mission responsibility through investment’ (MRTI) committee said in a statement it would have to use the church’s multimillion-dollar stock holdings in the five corporations to put pressure on them to stop supporting Israeli occupation. It also said it hoped to engage in a dialogue “so that these corporations might change their business practices which inflict harm on the innocent and delay movement towards a just peace”. “If these dialogues fail, we may conclude that our investments are not being used for activities that support the broad mission of the church,” church official Bill Somplatsky-Jarman said in a press release. “At that point, divestment is an option that the general assembly may consider.” more...

• Chief rabbi sees imminent coming of Messiah (August 13, 2005) - Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar believes the Earth will soon see the coming a Messiah to judge all mankind. "We know that he is very near at hand, but he needs not only to be born but also to come," Lazar told the Gazeta daily. "The Messiah may well have been born already, but unless he is ordered by God he cannot reveal himself with God’s help and change the world for the better." Lazar explained his assumptions about the imminent coming of a Messiah. "The world today is in a state described by our sages as 'hevley mashiah,' that is, labor that precedes the coming of a Messiah," he said. Lazar continued: "It is a time when many good things are created in the world and the progress of science and technology has made it possible to solve many human problems, to overcome diseases, famine, etc., on one hand. On the other hand, it is for the first time since God created human beings that humans have taken hold of such means of destruction that the whole of our race and even the globe itself can be destroyed instantly." "We are living on the verge of history," he said. "It can be felt everywhere." Recalling the comparison made by philosopher Maimonides, who likened the world to scales, Lazar assumed that "perhaps God is waiting for only one deed to be put on the good scale to order the Messiah to reveal himself." Speaking about it, Russia’s chief rabbi called upon everyone "to add this good deed, as one's contribution may prove decisive." (The Bible said that many would say "there is Christ" etc. [Matthew 24:23-27] We also know that the antichrist will set himself up to be God in the temple in about the middle of a seven year period by a prophecy in Daniel. [Daniel 9:27] The Jews are still waiting for their Messiah, so they don't think of His return as the New Testament describes.)

• Ancient water system discovered near Jerusalem (August 13, 2005) - Israeli and American archaeologists have discovered what they term a "monumental rock-hewn water system" near Jerusalem dating back to the eighth century BC The discovery, announced Aug. 9, was made during an eight-week dig at a cave close to Jerusalem, in Ein Kerem, which is regarded as the traditional birthplace of John the Baptist. Last summer, Shimon Gibson, the chief archaeologist at the dig, announced that he had found a cave that may have been used by John the Baptist to anoint his followers. A statement by Gibson and archaeologist James Tabor from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte said that the latest excavations have revealed the cave to be part of "a much larger Iron Age water system, rock-cut in places to a depth of 65 feet." The archaeologists said the cave, which dates back to the time of King Hezekiah (according to pottery shards from that period), contains a vertical shaft, an open horizontal corridor, a flight of stone steps above a tunnel and three external plastered pools, all of which was on the slope above an underground reservoir. more...

• 'Stop pullout, go to polls' (August 13, 2005) - Settler leaders call on Prime Minister Sharon to go to polls, vow to head for settlements to prevent disengagement. About 150,000 pullout objectors gathered in Tel Aviv to demonstrate against evacuation. 150,000 protesters gathered in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Thursday evening to protest against the disengagement, in what was the last large protest of its kind planned before the official pullout start date, August 15. Before the rally, police officials said they do not intend to estimate the number of protesters at the event. Protest organizers, however, said about 300,000 people demonstrated at the square and around it. The demonstration began with the sayings of psalms by Binyamin Regional Council head Pinchas Wallerstein. “We came here today to say: Gush Katif, I swear allegiance to you forever, north Samaria, I swear allegiance to you forever. We came here to say that we will do everything to fight and stop the expulsion machine,” said Wallerstein. Yesha Council Chairman Bentzi Lieberman addressed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in his speech at the protest, saying, “We’ve already said that this program is destructive and must be put to a national referendum, or general elections. Its impossible to take such a harsh step, which no other country in the world has ever initiated, this way. We said that we would accept the will of the people. And we are saying now, after the resignation of the finance minister (Netanyahu) that we know that elections are coming up close behind your program of destruction.” more...

• Yesha Council: Block Access to Gaza Strip (August 12, 2005) - An estimated 1,000 buses brought in protesters from all over Israel. Earlier police assessments had predicted only 50,000 protesters would come to demonstrate. Leaders of the Yesha Council of settlements presented to the crowd the settlers' plan - called "Orange Dawn" - to prevent the disengagement from taking place. One leader, Tzvika Bar-Hai, told the protesters to make their way to Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip "on Monday by car, by bus, and by foot. We will then leave for the entrances into Gush Katif. "We will not be stopped at checkpoints, we will bypass them from the right and from the left. We will not raise a hand against police and army personnel, we will reach our destination by use of our bodies and with our children. We will not confront anyone," Bar-Hai told the crowd. "Neither the blows of police or the batons of Border Police will deter us. We will glue ourselves to the ground until the prime minister faces the people and tells them he will hold new elections," he added. Yesha Council chairman Bentzi Lieberman also called for new Knesset elections at the rally and said the settlers would have accepted a decision to withdraw from Gaza if it had been made democratically. Participants received instructions on how to begin their protest after the Tisha B'Av fast, which ends Sunday night. more...

• IDF and PA Step Up Security Coordination for Pullout (August 12, 2005) - The IDF said there has been a sharp drop in Palestinian terrorism in the Gaza Strip, which the army chalks up to a concentrated effort to pressure by the PA, assisted by the Egyptians, on terror groups. On Sunday they will meet again for a final pre-pullout meeting and joint or adjacent operations rooms will be inaugurated to coordinate the deployment of forces. By Monday night the Palestinians are to deploy 7,500 security personnel near the settlements, to prevent Palestinian marches on the communities before they are evacuated, and to thwart rocket, mortar and shooting attacks. more...

• Israeli hawks circle Iran's N-plants (August 12, 2005) - Ever since its 1979 Islamic revolution the only fate Iran has had in mind for Israel has been simple: its destruction. Now that Teheran seems to be moving towards acquiring its own nuclear arsenal, its plans for its great enemy threaten to be both fiery and radioactive. Sometimes Iran's stated policy towards Israel is couched in inflammatory rhetoric, like that on a 40ft banner that used to hang outside the entrance of the foreign ministry in Teheran bearing the message: "Israel Must Burn". Sometimes the language is tamer, such as the "Down With Israel" chants of students who march after Friday prayers in Teheran week in, week out. But whatever the tone, the message remains the same. The Jewish state has survived wars, internal upheaval, intifadas and bloody entanglements in the internal affairs of its neighbours. But now a major enemy, one committed to its annihilation, appears close to deploying the most destructive force known to Man. more...

• Tisha B'Av: Does the Divine Cry? (August 12, 2005) - On Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av (which this year begins at nightfall August 13), Jews mourn over the loss of the Holy Temple, Beis HaMikdash in Hebrew, that stood in Jerusalem. On this day, the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE., and the Romans demolished the Second Temple in 70 C.E.. Each Tisha B'Av, we have a custom to read Eicha, or the Book of Lamentations, a painful account of the prophet Jeremiah's intense sorrow over the destruction of the First Temple. In addition to reading the Eicha, we abstain from any physical pleasures the entire day. We are not allowed to eat, drink, wash our bodies for enjoyment or wear leather shoes. A little less-known Halacha, or Jewish law, is that we are not allowed to say hello to each other. This law is perhaps the most difficult for me and yet the most meaningful. In Jerusalem in the summertime, when there are many new faces to meet and old friends to greet, not saying hello to people saddens me deeply. If only we felt the simple pain of not saying hello to each other and internalized the meaning of this mournful act, perhaps we would then be more careful to warmly and lovingly greet each other and not hurt each other. more...

• Israeli President Asks Forgiveness for Uprooting Settlements (August 11, 2005) - Israel's President Moshe Katsav asked settlers about to be uprooted from their homes for forgiveness in an address to the nation on Wednesday evening at the same time that tens of thousands of pullout opponents gathered in Jerusalem to pray that it would not take place. The uprooting of 21 Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank is scheduled to begin next week as part of the government-approved disengagement plan. In a rare televised address, Katsav, the largely titular head of state, asked those about to be evacuated to forgive the state but to recognize that they must obey the decision of the government. "On behalf of the State of Israel, I ask you, the settlers, for forgiveness, over the demand that you leave after dozens of years of construction and [terror] victims," Katsav said. Katsav said that he and many in the nation sympathized with the pain of the settlers. "We know that your settling in the territories was an act of conscience that was also carried out in accordance with Israeli governments' decisions. You have established thriving settlements and raised generations of children and youths who glorify Israel," Katsav said. The 25 settlements slated for removal were started by various governments on both the right and the left, some as many as 30 years ago. more...

• Mass Prayer Rally Against Expulsion Fills Jerusalem's Old City (August 11, 2005) - More than a quarter million people attended a massive prayer rally at the Western Wall Wednesday to beg their Heavenly Father to have mercy and annul the expulsion decree. Former Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliyahu, Shas Party Leader and former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, members of the hareidi-religious Council of Torah Sages, former MK Rabbi Menachem Porush and other prominent Hassidic rabbis all took part in the massive event. The gathering held special significance in that it marked a rare uniting of leading, influential Rabbis from the hareidi, Sephardic, and National Religious sectors together in one event. At an emergency meeting that took place last week at his home, Rabbi Menachem Porush, a well-known hareidi-religious leader and former Member of Knesset, burst out in tears, telling those present that over the past 80 years of his life, he cannot remember a time where thousands of Jewish families were being expelled from their homes in such a manner, when 25 Jewish towns were set to be utterly destroyed, when the destruction of dozens of synagogues and houses of Torah study was to take place, as well as the desecration of Jewish graves. "Even in Russia it was not like this," he said. more...

• Palestinian Gaza “ceasefire” commission breaks up (August 07, 2005) - Breaking exclusive from debka.com : Ten days before Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip begins, the Palestinian commission supposed to oversee the Gaza ceasefire has collapsed. It was Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen’s only channel for dialogue with the Hamas and Jihad Islami terrorist leaders and his only mechanism for trying to keep them in check. The commission's dissolution could remove the brakes holding them back from attacking.

• Israeli Finance Minister Resigns Over Gaza (August 07, 2005) - Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigned from his post Sunday to protest next week's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, a ministry spokesman said. Netanyahu, seen as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's biggest political rival within the Likud Party, submitted a letter of resignation during the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, said the Finance Ministry spokesman, Eli Yosef. The resignation will take effect within 48 hours. After Netanyahu submitted his resignation, the Cabinet gave its final approval to the first stage of the Gaza pullout - the dismantling of the isolated Netzarim, Kfar Darom and Morag settlements. Israel plans to begin removing some 9,000 settlers from their homes, starting in days. All 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank are marked for dismantling. more...

• Arabs, Israelis prepare Temple Mount showdown (August 07, 2005) - A Palestinian Temple Mount leader with alleged links to Hamas has called on Arabs to flood the holy site next weekend to protect it from "Israeli protesters," while a Jewish group is urging Jews to ascend the Mount en mass the same day. The announcements come one day after an Israeli soldier who refused orders to participate in this month's planned Gaza withdrawal killed four Arabs and wounded 19 others in a shooting attack, fueling tensions here and prompting Arab calls for revenge. Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement, a Palestinian Temple Mount activist group, called on Arabs Friday to "defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque" Aug. 14, the day Jews commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples with a 25-hour fast. The Western Wall, below the Mount, is usually particularly crowded the day of the fast, with several large Jewish prayer services taking place throughout the day and the night before. The Jewish worshippers traditionally do not ascend the heavily restricted Mount itself. Salah, who was recently released from prison, has been accused by Israel of receiving funds from organizations related to terror groups, including Hamas. He said Friday, Muslims must defend Al Aqsa by outnumbering the Jews praying at the Western Wall below. The Islamic Movement's call for Palestinian protests coincides with an announcement by Revava, a Jewish Temple Mount group, for Jews to ascend the Mount Aug. 14 to hold a "massive prayer assembly for the rebuilding of our holy Temple on its historic site." more...

• Northern Israel on alert after bus attack (August 07, 2005) - Israeli authorities have been placed on alert in wake of the killing of four people by an army deserter. Officials said police and security forces were placed on alert in northern Israel in wake of a bus attack by an Israeli soldier, later lynched by a mob. Those killed were members of Israel's Druse community. A man identified as a Jewish army deserter entered a bus in the Arab town of Shfaram on Thursday and opened fire. At least four were people were killed and 16 injured in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon deemed a terrorist attack. "This was a reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist who sought to attack innocent Israeli citizens," Sharon said. "This terrorist event was a deliberate attempt to harm the fabric of relations among all Israeli citizens." A crowd of passersby rushed the bus and killed the gunman, who by then had been handcuffed by police. The dead attacker was later identified as Eden Zaada, a 19-year-old resident of an Israeli community in the northern West Bank. Zaada's parents said their son did not want to serve in the army and sought to turn in his weapon to Israeli police last month. They said police refused to accept his son's weapon. more...

• In Israel's vacuum, al-Qaida moves in to Gaza (August 07, 2005) - As Israel plans a unilateral withdrawal of all Jews from the Gaza Strip this fall, al-Qaida operatives are reportedly ready to move in. Al-Qaida's presence, in the name of "The Jihad Brigades in the Promised Land," was announced on an Islamic website known to be friendly to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. The group claimed responsibility for mortar and rocket attacks against Jewish communities in Gaza. The al-Qaida affiliate boasted of using a new rocket called the Sajil. "The Brigades are not a new organization but merely a spirit of faith pushing the jihad fighters in the promised land to close ranks behind an honest and uncompromising leadership," the announcement said. Al-Qaida is known to have a working relationship with Hamas, the most active terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. The news of an al-Qaida presence in Gaza did not shock Israeli military officials, one of whom has already drawn up a battle plan to take on bin Laden's group, as reported last week in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. more...

• Israel arrests senior Palestinian cleric in Jerusalem (August 07, 2005) - Israeli police arrested a senior Palestinian cleric near Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday, his son said. Israel Radio said Sheikh Hamed Bitawi was arrested because he did not have a permit to enter Israel and that police were also checking whether he used inciting language in a sermon he delivered at the mosque several weeks previously. Bitawi, 61, was detained after the end of prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Bitawi is an influential figure in the Islamic movement in the West Bank city of Nablus. He is not known to be a member of any militant group. more...

• IDF troops kill gunman trying to plant bomb in Gaza settlement (August 06, 2005) - The Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed a Palestinian gunman attempting to plant explosives near the settlement of Ganei Tal in the southern Gaza Strip late Friday night. Soldiers noticed three Palestinians crawling near the security fence surrounding the Gush Katif settlement bloc. The IDF forces opened fire on them and killed one gunman. No IDF soldiers were reported wounded in the incident.

• U.S. Presbyterian Church Targets Five Companies with Israel Links (August 06, 2005) - The move Friday follows a vote last year by leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to put economic pressure on companies that profit from Israeli policy in the West Bank and Gaza. The group named heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, communications giant Motorola, military contractor United Technologies, and electronics manufacturer ITT Industries - all of which are firms who have been contracted to supply the Israel Defense Forces. The Church also listed international banking conglomerate Citigroup, which was cited in April by The Wall Street Journal for "having moved substantial funds from charities later seen to be fronts funneling money to terrorist organizations," including "funds [which] ended up as payments to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers." "We have chosen these companies because we believe that they can make changes that will increase the possibilities for a just peace in the region," said Carol Hylkema, who heads a Church subcommittee spearheading divestiture from companies with links to Israel. more...

• A Special Report from Jerusalem by Bill Koenig (August 05, 2005) - During my return to the U.S. from Israel Wednesday for speaking commitments, I pondered the many very serious dynamics that are in play in Israel. I will share the ones that I feel are the most relevant in this commentary. How these existing complex factors affect the others will play out in the weeks ahead. There is no doubt the Devil, who is the master of disruption, deception and confusion, has used all the resources available to him in the replacement theology part of the Church, in the Israeli and U.S. governments, in the Arab League, and in the EU and the U.N. to bring the situation in Israel to a very serious point in history. The situation in Israel is so serious that it could grow to a regional conflict soon. Ironically, the U.S. has to make some tough decisions, too. They are very concerned about the insurgents who continue to flow into Iraq. These insurgents are using much more firepower and costing Americans their lives. The Iranians continue to play a “cat and mouse” game in the development of their nuclear program, which at some point will put U.S. and British troops and Israelis at risk. The bottom line is there are a lot of biblically significant events transpiring. The good news is we know how it all ends. more...

• Anti-Pullout Protests-Massive But Peaceful-Continue (August 04, 2005) - The mass protests against Israel’s impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip continued through the night on August 3. Once again, predictions of imminent violence were proven to be wrong. Demonstrators moved from the assembly point in the Negev community of Ofaqim to the Peduyim junction in the direction of the Gaza Strip, where most spent the night. Although participants numbered in the thousands, police reported making few arrests. Several hundred protestors, however, were stopped and prevented from infiltrating into Gaza. None of the reported incidents were violent in nature. Due to harsh conditions, protestors returned to Ofaqim in the early morning hours on August 4. Protest organizers and leaders of the anti-pullout movement were conspicuously working the crowd, admonishing demonstrators not to engage security forces with either physical or verbal abuse. All the time, protest leaders and police remained in contact, discussing ways of reducing tension. In a dramatic rebuke to those predicting internecine warfare, residents of the Gaza community of Netzer Hazani, located in the Gush Katif enclave, will hand over their personal weapons to the army on the evening of August 4. The move is intended to refute rumors that the evacuees are planning to turn their weapons on Israeli police and soldiers once the pullout begins.

• Orthodox Jew beaten in racial attack (August 04, 2005) - An orthodox Jewish man was beaten by two black men in Crown Heights as they spewed hate-filled words at him, police said yesterday. The 50-year-old victim was walking home on Schenectady Ave. between Crown and Carroll Sts. at 10:45 p.m. Monday when the men sneaked up behind him, hit him and knocked off his glasses, cops said. They punched him repeatedly in the face and demanded to know what he was doing in his own neighborhood, the victim and cops said. "What are you doing over here, you f-----g Jew!" he said the men screamed at him. The attackers took off moments later, after residents responded to the bloodied victim's cries for help. The man asked that his name not be printed for fear that the suspects, who were thought to be in their teens or early 20s, would seek him out. The victim, a kosher supervisor at a food processing plant, was treated and released at Kings County Hospital.

• 50,000 to march to Jewish Gaza (August 03, 2005) - Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters made it last night to a resting area just south of Gaza and are preparing to march tonight into Gaza's Jewish communities in spite of police opposition. The protest and march aims to flood Jewish Gaza with large numbers of Israelis to thwart the Aug. 17 evacuation. Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters infiltrated Gaza yesterday, some with the assistance of Israeli forces, and dispersed themselves among local residents. After an anti-Gaza withdrawal rally in a nearby town, about 50,000 Israelis arrived late last night by foot, cars and buses to Ofakim, a community about 10 miles south of Gaza's Gush Katif slate of Jewish neighborhoods. An estimated 20,000 more Israelis joined the protest this morning, with still more streaming in. more...

• Lahoud: no peace without Israeli withdrawal from occupied lands (August 03, 2005) - Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud on Wednesday said "a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East will not be achieved except through implementing international relevant resolutions." "There will be no peace in the region without realizing the Palestinian people 'right to return' home and the Israeli full withdrawal from the occupied Arab lands," President Lahoud said during a meeting with Chairman of the Politburo at the Palestinian Liberation Organization Farouk al-Qaddomi. He warned against Israeli attempts to instigate disputes and impose a status quo that hinders the achievement of the aspired peace. more...

• Lebanon commemorates 23rd anniversary of confronting Israeli invasion (August 03, 2005) - Civil societies and organizations to Support Resistance and Intifada on Tuesday marked the 23rd anniversary of the Arab and Lebanese National socities' confrontation of the Israeli invasion of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Speeches delivered at the celebration hailed courageous and heroic operations of Lebanese national organizations which obliged the Israeli enemy to retreat and withdraw from the Lebanese capital to South Lebanon. Participants also praised the resistance of Beirut's citizens backed by the Syrian army and Palestinian resistance defending the city. Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Eli Ferzli, said that the "Arab nation is passing through a sensitive and dangerous stage," stressing that the aim of all plots against Lebanon aim to destroy the Palestinian refugees' "right of return" to their home in Palestine. Ferzli, in an opening speech to "the Palestinian Return Camp" held at the eastern region of Bekaa, called for facing those plots, showing adherence to the Palestinian "right of return".

• Plane Filled With North American Immigrants Lands In Israel (August 03, 2005) - Yet another airplane filled with North American Jews choosing to make Israel their home touched down in the Promised Land Wednesday morning. The chartered flight was organized by the Nefesh b’Nefesh organization, which assists North American Jews wishing to make Aliyah (immigrate to Israel). Nefesh b’Nefesh is bringing a record of 1,800 Jews to Israel this summer. More than 220 immigrants, 100 of them children, were on Wednesday’s flight, the fourth of six due to land this summer. Former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive VP of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, accompanied the olim (new immigrants) on their journey to their new home.

July 2005

• Peaceful Kfar Maimon Protest Had “Profound Effect On Soldiers” (July 31, 2005) - An article in the IDF weekly B'Machane ("On the Base") illustrates how the non-violent standoff at Kfar Maimon two weeks ago shattered the stereotypes held by the thousands of soldiers there. The article, written by an unnamed platoon commander last week, reads:
  "During the course of the past week, my battalion stood opposite those opposing the Disengagement. At the beginning, we were stationed on the road to Kisufim Crossing, in case ant-Disengagement protesters broke through the police perimeters surrounding Kfar Maimon. Later on, we were sent to Kfar Maimon itself, where we surrounded the community's fence...
  ..."The protest at Kfar Maimon had a profound effect on my soldiers. The demonstrators stood and sang, 'We love you, IDF soldiers.' Many of the soldiers who arrived with preconceived notions about the demonstrators were faced with the reality that these were not those people [they expected]. more...

• World-Wide 'Shema' Wednesday (July 31, 2005) - An appeal has been made to every Jew around to world to simultaneously read the first lines of the prayer known as Shema: "Hear O Israel, The L-rd is Our G-d, the L-rd is One" on Wednesday. The prayer is intended to ask for Divine help to prevent violence toward the planned expulsion of Jewish residents from Gaza and northern Samaria and for Divine intervention to cancel the plan. The prayer is organized under the motto, United We Stand, Divided We Fall. The prayer will be recited at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem and at 2 p.m. in New York. Children around the world also are being asked to pray together the following night, one day before the beginning of the new Hebrew month Av. Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu will lead the Thursday night prayer at the Western Wall. An unidentified group of women initiated the call for the children's prayer, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Israel (12:30 p.m. in New York). Chabad (Lubavitch) leaders said they are encouraging children to attend the prayer rally at the Western Wall, where more than 20,000 children are expected.

• Pope Refuses to Back Down; Porush: Vatican Returns to Hatred (July 31, 2005) - The Vatican told critics of its failure to condemn terror against Israel it "cannot take lessons" from others on what to say. MK Porush said the pope has returned to a policy of hatred of Jews. Israel initially expressed anger that the new, Pope Benedict XVI, omitted Israel in his condemnation recent Arab terror in Egypt and Britain. After the Vatican did not respond, except for issuing a statement that it could not react to every attack in Israel, the Foreign Ministry charged Pope Benedict with encouraging violence against Jews. The Vatican responded, "The Holy See [pope] cannot take lessons or instructions from any other authority on the tone and content of its own statements." It added that the pope's predecessor, John Paul, often refused to condemn Arab terror against Israel because Israel's retaliations were "not always compatible with international rights." more...

• Israel: Militant Attacks Would Spur Military Operation (July 31, 2005) - Israel would launch a massive ground operation if Palestinian militants fire on Israeli soldiers and settlers during next month's Gaza pullout, the deputy defense minister said Sunday. In such a scenario, the evacuation of settlers would be halted for 10 days to two weeks while Israeli forces occupy Palestinian towns near the Jewish settlements, said Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim (search). Boim told Israel Radio the ground operation would be massive, on the scale of the "Defensive Shield" offensive of 2002, in which Israel reoccupied West Bank (search) towns in response to a series of suicide bombings.

• Abbas moves to Gaza for pullout (July 31, 2005) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has announced he is moving his office to Gaza until the completion of Israel's withdrawal from the territory. He said he would be co-ordinating the Palestinian side of the withdrawal, and mediating between different factions. The run-up to the pullout has seen renewed clashes involving militants, Palestinian police and Israeli forces. Israel, which has occupied Gaza since 1967, plans to start evacuating all 21 settlements in about three weeks' time. more...

• Police Plan to Block Anti-Pullout March to Gaza (July 31, 2005) - The Yesha Council of Settlements says its plans for the Sderot rally will not change and that marchers will also head for Gush Katif from Ofakim and Netivot. Settler leaders emphasized Saturday that the objective is to stage a non-violent yet effective protest akin to the one at Kfar Maimon two weeks ago, with one goal being to pin down large contingents of security forces before the disengagement to hamper the evacuation of Gush Katif. The police's southern district informed the Yesha Council categorically that marchers would not be allowed to advance on the Kissufim checkpoint. Police are threatening to be "more determined than sensitive." "We won't let them reach Kissufim even if that means employing force, mounted police, water canons and any other means. They won't reach Gush Katif," senior officers vowed Saturday. more...

• Israel's 2005 Disengagement Initiative: Numbers to Know (July 30, 2005) - If there is anything that reveals in numbers the heart- wrenching facts and figures of the upcoming evacuation of the Israelis from Gush Katif, it is this carefully researched report by Jennifer Packer from the Israel project: 
  "In May 1967, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon - with backing from several other Arab countries - amassed on Israel's borders in a bid to wipe out Israel. In response, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack and unexpectedly gained control over land including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel later gave up about 90 percent of the territory it captured when, to make peace with Egypt, Israel evacuated the Sinai Peninsula. After numerous fruitless bids to find a partner for peace with the Palestinians, in August 2005 Israel will carry out its disengagement initiative. Israel will hand over all of Gaza and part of the West Bank to the Palestinians, making it the first country in modern history to give up land acquired in a defensive war. more...

• Poll: Most Palestinians credit terror for Israeli withdrawal (July 30, 2005) - Most Palestinians think the Islamic insurgency forced Israel's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, according to a new poll. The survey reported that a majority of Palestinians credit strikes by Hamas and Islamic Jihad for the decision by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank and evict their 10,000 Jewish residents.  Forty percent of respondents agreed that "pressure caused by Palestinian resistance" led to the Israeli withdrawal decision. Another 34 percent said Israel regarded its presence in the Gaza Strip as a "security and economic inexpediency." Twenty-two percent of respondents did not cite the Palestinian war as a reason for the Israeli withdrawal. Instead, they said the pullout decision stemmed from international pressure on Israel. About 40 percent expressed support for continued attacks on Israel after the Gaza withdrawal. Fifty-two percent opposed the insurgency campaign and 8.4 percent said they were undecided. more...

• Israel building triple wall on Gaza border (July 30, 2005) - Israel is building a triple fence on the border with Gaza to curb infiltration by militants after its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August. Israeli military sources said Friday that two walls will be built parallel to an existing electronic fence. The project will cost $220 million. The walls will be about 23 feet high in certain points and will be equipped with cameras, sensors and barbed wire. Observation towers and military outposts will also be set up near the walls. Israel is boosting border defenses ahead of its military absence in Gaza after the dismantling of Jewish settlements in the strip.

• Sharon and Chirac – Partners in Distress (July 28, 2005) - French president Jacques Chirac lavished brilliant fanfare and ceremonial warmth on a rare visitor to Paris, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, when he arrived Wednesday, July 28, on a state visit to France. The ice-breaking symbolism was just that, no more than a thin veneer over the true state of Franco-Israel relations and the difficulties besetting the two leaders. Chirac’s approval rating at home has plummeted to just over 33%, an unpopularity record unmatched by any previous French president in office. He is beleaguered at home and isolated in Europe. The plight of his foremost ally, German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, sunk by his economic failures, reflects on Chirac’s own position. France’s traditional lead-role in the European Union is under siege by the British prime minister Tony Blair, who is determined to use his six-month EU presidency to shoot Britain to the top of the tree in Brussels in place of France. Very few French political commentators see Chirac winning a third term as president should he run for re-election. Israelis have not forgotten his pursuit of pro-Arab, anti-Israel policies and championship of the Palestinians over three decades. In the 1970s he sold a nuclear reactor to his friend, Saddam Hussein, over Israel’s protests; his other close Arab friend was Yasser Arafat whom he embraced throughout the Palestinian war against Israel without a word to persuade him to halt his campaign of suicidal terror. One of the French president’s senior advisers is the former UN secretary general Boutrous Boutros-Ghali, author of the interesting doctrine which holds that the Arab nation would be better advised to eschew military force for destroying the Jewish state and opt for peace diplomacy, or the salami method, for cutting Israel down to its “natural dimensions.” more...

• Moslems Destroy Temple Mount Artifacts (July 24, 2005) - In November 1999, the Wakf or Islamic Trust that oversees the Temple Mount, began illegally excavating an area at the southern end of the compound. Workers dug up tons of earth and dumped the “rubble” in the Kidron Valley. more...

• Egyptian TV 'experts' blame Israel (July 24, 2005) - Several Egyptian "security experts" and "political analysts" interviewed by Arab TV stations after the Sharm e-Sheikh bombings on Saturday claimed that Israel and Jews were behind the carnage. The accusations were made despite a claim of responsibility by a group citing ties to al-Qaida, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site. Similar charges have been made against Israel in the past, particularly after the suicide attack at the Taba Hilton Hotel in October 2004 and after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. more...

• Rare Scrolls Reveal Early Biblical Writing (July 24, 2005) - Three ancient scrolls — one parchment and two silver — recently have been identified as containing some of the world's earliest known verses from the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. The discovery of two fragments of a 2,000-year-old parchment scroll in the Judean Desert was announced last week by Israeli archaeologist Chanan Eshel of Tel Aviv's Bar Ilan University. The fragments contain verses from Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible, attributed to the tribe of Levi from which Israeli priests are said to be descended. The book consists of regulations for both the priests and their followers. The two silver scrolls were found by Bar Ilan archaeologist Gabriel Barkay in 1979 in a cave at Ketef Hinnom near Jerusalem. It was only until recently, however, that technology made it possible for scientists to read the scrolls, which date to the 7th century BC and likely were worn around the neck as protective amulets. Project leader Bruce Zuckerman told Discovery News that the scrolls not only are the oldest known Hebrew amulets, but they also are the earliest known artifacts to quote Biblical verses. more...

• Shh! Don't tell them it's aliya (July 22, 2005) - How do you get an American to leave the comforts of his US home for a life in faraway Israel? Tell him how much money he'll save – and don't tell him it's aliya. At least, that's the strategy the Jewish Agency for Israel is hoping will help make 2005 a banner year for North American aliya. In a campaign spearheaded by the Jewish Agency's New York-based Israel Aliyah Center, the agency is trying to draw North Americans to Israel with the lure of free education. Rather than advertise aliya, which carries with it the incidental benefit of free tuition, the Jewish Agency instead is promoting programs of free education in Israel - with nary a mention that aliya is a mandatory component. more...

• Israeli march to Gaza called off (July 21, 2005) - After an intense standoff last night between tens of thousands of protesters and a massive police force, the Israeli march to Gaza to halt next month's evacuation of the area was called off. Meanwhile, about two thousand marchers still are attempting to reach Gaza and breach its main checkpoint. Yesterday, tens of thousands of marchers rested in the Kfar Meimon farming community about 15 miles south of Gaza after pushing through a barrier of thousands of security forces who tried to halt their protest the night before. The marchers awakened to find themselves completely surrounded by a force of over 20,000 police officers and soldiers. more...

• Israeli Police Seal Off Gaza Settlers (July 20, 2005) - Israeli police backed by officers on horseback sealed off an encampment filled with thousands of Jewish settlers and their supporters Tuesday, trading punches and dragging off protesters in the biggest confrontation yet over Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. The government has vowed to stop protesters from marching to Gaza Strip settlements marked for evacuation in August, fearing that more Israeli hard-liners at the sites would further complicate the contentious pullout. more... 

• 100,000 Israelis march to Gaza (July 19, 2005) - Nearly 100,000 people have poured into a central meeting site several miles south of Gaza for a massive protest rally against next month's Gaza evacuation. The protesters will shortly begin marching to Gaza to halt the evacuation, while over 10,000 Israeli police and soldiers prepare to stop them. The Yesha settlers council last month called for tens of thousands to meet for a rally today in the southern town of Nativot and walk the 20 miles to the main entrance to Gush Katif, the large slate of Jewish neighborhoods in Gaza. The rally was called for 4 p.m. local time but was postponed when only about 4,000 people were able to get past dozens of makeshift checkpoints on the roads leading to the area. more... 

• Jewish Settlers Clash With Israeli Forces (July 18, 2005) - Israeli security forces clashed early Monday with Jewish settlers trying to break a blockade placed on Gaza Strip settlements, a possible preview of confrontations later in the day when opponents to a planned withdrawal from Gaza try to march to the coastal area. The two days of clashes at the crossing point between Jewish settlers and police are expected to get worse when security forces enter the Gaza Strip in mid-August to evacuate 8,500 settlers. In early September the army will remove an additional 500 settlers from four West Bank settlements. Elsewhere, Israel on Sunday threatened to invade Gaza if Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas does not control militants who have stepped up rocket and mortar attacks ahead of Israel's planned pullout from the coastal strip next month. more...

• Protesters mobilize as Israel closes Gaza (July 13, 2005) - In what is being widely viewed as the official start to his evacuation plan, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this morning ordered the Gaza Strip and towns in the northern West Bank completely closed, declaring the areas military zones in an effort to thwart plans by protesters to flock here. Meanwhile, anti-withdrawal activists declared today "zero hour" and pledged mayhem throughout the country. The Gaza closure order, agreed to at a meeting last night of Israel's top military brass, permanently bans all non-residents from entering the Jewish communities slated for evacuation Aug. 17. An IDF spokeswoman said commanders at Gaza checkpoints would have the authority to issue temporary entry to select individuals, such as resident family members, credentialed journalists, businesses providing services to the area, and humanitarian workers. In response to the closure, anti-withdrawal groups have called for a massive road-blocking campaign throughout the country, beginning 5 p.m. local time, and warned they might initiate protests at Gaza checkpoints. more... 

• EU offers to serve as Gaza 3rd party (July 13, 2005) - The European Union is willing to serve as a third-party presence at the Rafah crossing after Israel leaves the Gaza Strip, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday. more... 

• Israel to pass U.S. as biggest Jewish community (July 12, 2005) - Israel will by next year become home to the largest Jewish community in the world for the first time, surpassing the Jewish population in the United States, a think tank said on Tuesday. Not for nearly 2,000 years has the Holy Land been home to the globe's biggest Jewish community. The report from the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute said the Jewish population of Israel was about 5.24 million and of the United States some 5.28 million, but the balance was shifting quickly. "The Jewish community in Israel is the most vibrant in the world," said Avinoam Bar-Yosef, director general of the Jerusalem-based JPPPI. "In the U.S., the community has been stagnant by numbers for many years," he told Reuters. more... 

• Israel to hand over Bethlehem this week (July 12, 2005) - The Israel Defense Forces is expected to hand over control of Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority this week, and military sources said yesterday that control may be transferred as early as tomorrow. more... 

• Forecast in Israel: Raining Rockets (July 12, 2005) - Hamas will begin the next phase of its war to destroy the Jewish state by launching Qassam rockets at Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and West Bank communities instead of focusing on suicide bombings, the terror group explained on its website. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been launching an average of three rockets or mortars per day at Gush Katif, the largest area of Jewish communities in Gaza scheduled for evacuation Aug. 15. The Israeli army has done little to stop the rocket attacks. Now Hamas has published an article on its website stating it will extend its Qassam manufacturing and firing capabilities to the West Bank. It warned it will launch a rocket onslaught against Israeli cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, until the Jewish state is destroyed. "Should the Zionist army partially withdraw from the cities of the West Bank ... Afula, Hadera, Beit She'an, Netanya, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities will all fall within the range of the Qassam rocket. ... The implication is that this rocket, which was previously looked upon with disdain by many, will serve as the weapon of choice in the coming period of time, as the acts of suicide martyrdom served as the weapon of choice during all the previous years," stated the Hamas article, translated by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies in Israel. more... 

• Prayer Rally Scheduled for Next Week (July 07, 2005) - A prayer rally is scheduled for next week, 7 Tammuz (14 July), at the Western Wall (Kotel) of the Temple in Jerusalem, in the presence of former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. The event, scheduled to get underway at 6:00pm is to beseech the Heavens to cancel the disengagement decree which intends to evict Jews from their Gaza and Shomron homes followed by turning portions of the Land of Israel over to the Palestinian Authority. more...

• Israel might close Gaza within 7 days (July 06, 2005) - With large numbers of anti-withdrawal activists flocking to the area, Israel may completely close off the Gaza Strip within the next seven days to ensure protesters will not try to stop the Aug. 15 evacuation of Jewish communities, senior military sources told WorldNetDaily. "We are still in deliberations, but leaning heavily in the direction of closing off Gaza for good this week or early next week," a senior military official said. "We're not going to continue tolerating all the activists who are coming in right now." more...

• Israel Wants to Build Railroad for Arabs Linking Gaza to Judea - One of the many provisions in the Oslo Accords that were never implemented was an idea known as “safe passage.” Safe Passage meant that Israel would provide the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority with an overland route - approximately 25 miles - through Israel’s pre-1967 boundaries, allowing them to travel freely with a minimum of restrictions, between the coastal Gaza region and Judea, south of Jerusalem. The idea was fraught with major logistical problems, particularly the issue of how to prevent the Arabs from driving off the road and into the heart of Israel. The authors of the Oslo agreement were worried then about car thieves, job seekers without permit, and the possibility of providing safe passage for suicide bombers. They believed that if something went wrong, the idea could be safely shelved and implemented at a later date. more...

• Pope to Say Prayers in Hebrew - German-born Pope Benedict XVI will say prayers in Hebrew when he visits the synagogue in Cologne, Germany, that was destroyed by the Nazis, a cardinal organizing the trip said Tuesday. Jewish representatives invited the pope to visit while he is in Germany in August for the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day and Benedict replied, "I will come," said Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner. The visit will include a prayer service in which the psalms will be "prayed," the cardinal said. "We have learned them in Hebrew." more...

• Israel, Egypt close to Philadelphi deal (July 04, 2005) - Israel and Egypt expect to reach an agreement on Egyptian troop deployment along the Philadelphi route within 10 days, officials said Monday. The comment comes following meetings Sunday night in Egypt between Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's political bureau, and head of Egyptian intelligence Gen. Omar Suleiman. The sides are attempting to reach a final agreement on the placement of 750 Egyptian troops along the border to clamp down on the smuggling of weapons and other contraband in a way that would not lead to a revision of the peace treaty with Egypt, which proscribed such troop deployment. The Philadelphi route is a roughly 14-kilometer long strip running along the Egypt-Gaza border. Whether Israeli troops will remain along the corridor following disengagement has been a major point of contention. Diplomatic officials said that the agreement would not necessitate a revision in the peace accord between the two countries, and the agreement, when reached, would be signed by senior-ranking officers. more...

• Israel's new neighbor to be state of Taliban? (July 04, 2005) - With prime minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza evacuation plan drawing closer, and Hamas swiftly gaining power in the area, analysts are worried the terror group will use its gains to impose a Taliban-like Islamist regime neighboring Israel. The Palestinian Authority announced yesterday it will hold talks with Hamas and other terror groups regarding the possibility of a "national unity government" that will incorporate the various violent factions. PA leaders have repeatedly expressed concern over Hamas' growing popularity on the Palestinian street, particularly in Gaza, where the terror group has made strong showings in local elections. With PA leader Mahmoud Abbas reportedly weakened in Gaza, Mideast experts have noted Hamas – which now fires an average of three rockets or mortars per day at Gaza's Jewish communities – is quickly filling the void. more...

• Gaza Evacuees Promised: No Secular Neighbors (July 04, 2005) - Secular families will live only in the southern section - the one farthest from Nitzan - of a temporary neighborhood that is being built in the vicinity, the ministry said. On the Sabbath they will only be allowed to use the access road that does not pass through Nitzan. The agreement was reached Friday after Nitzan residents petitioned the High Court of Justice against construction of the temporary neighborhood, comprised of caravans, and expansion of the existing community. The residents are retracting the petition in the wake of the deal. more...

• Israel Girds for Political Violence (July 04, 2005) - Settler leaders on Monday drew up a code of conduct to deter followers from violence during protests against the upcoming Gaza pullout (search), while Israel's president warned that the increasingly charged climate could lead to political killings. more...

• Israel Warns of Assassination Danger (July 04, 2005) - Israel's president warned Monday that Jewish extremists opposed to this summer's pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank could assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. more...

June 2005

• Sharon: Government Must Take 'Every Measure' To End Extremists' Acts (June 30, 2005) - "The battle now is not over the disengagement plan, but over the image and future of Israel, and under no circumstances can we allow a lawless gang to try to take control of life in Israel," he said. "The country's citizens must understand this danger, and every measure must be taken to end this rampaging." Sharon's remarks came at the end of a day in which disengagement opponents throughout the country clashed with both the security forces and Palestinians. The events included an attempted lynching of a 16-year-old Palestinian by right-wing extremists in Gaza; clashes with soldiers who came to evacuate the extremists' Tal Yam stronghold on the Mawasi coast, near the Gush Katif settlement bloc; and demonstrations that blocked 10 major roads throughout the country. more...

• Egypt, Israel to sign landmark gas deal (June 30, 2005) - Egypt and Israel are due to sign a much-delayed deal for Egypt to supply natural gas to the Jewish state, hailed as major step in strengthening sometimes icy ties between the two neighbors. more...

• Israeli commandos storm Gaza hotel (June 30, 2005) - Israeli police commandos stormed a hotel in a Gaza settlement on Thursday to eject radical Jews from a bastion of resistance to Israel's planned pullout from the occupied territory, witnesses said. more...

• Russia-Israel cooperation developing positively (June 29, 2005) - Russia-Israel military and technical cooperation is developing positively, a Russian minister said Tuesday. Information Technologies Minister Leonid Reiman said Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov had met with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after a session of a Russian-Israeli inter-governmental commission. The Russian premier had said that bilateral military and technical cooperation was developing positively. At the same time, Reiman said there were problems in bilateral relations. "As compared with other sectors, there are problems with investment protection," he said. "We have been discussing the text of an agreement for five years, but two points have become a stumbling blocks." According to the Russian minister, Israel and Russia agreed to set up a special working commission on solving problems in the field of protecting investment in both countries. more...

• Russia wants to build more nuke reactors for Iran (June 29, 2005) - Russia wants to construct up to six new nuclear reactors for Iran, despite U.S. criticism of its assistance to the Islamic republic, Moscow's top nuclear boss was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Russia has pressed ahead with construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant near the southern city of Bushehr, dismissing Washington's belief that Tehran could use Moscow's technology and know-how to make an atom bomb. "When Iran announces new tenders to construct nuclear reactors, we'll take part in them," Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia's Atomic Energy Agency, told Itar-Tass news agency. "Tehran intends to build another six nuclear reactors." Rumyantsev's remarks came just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would continue developing nuclear ties with Iran after ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election as president of the Islamic Republic last week. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful. more...

• Moscow, Beijing to sign declaration on world order (June 29, 2005) - Chinese leader Hu Jintao will arrive here Thursday to sign a joint declaration on world order in the 21st Century, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry wrote in an article published in the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta Wednesday. "This is a crucial document that reflects the convergence of Russia and China's fundamental positions on key issues in modern world order - our common view for the outlook of the development of humankind," Alexander Yakovenko wrote. According to Yakovenko, the declaration will affirm the parties' commitment to forming a new fair and rational world order and to increasing the role of the UN in international politics.
  Russia and China will announce the unacceptability of monopolizing global affairs, dividing states into those who lead and those who are led, imposing models for social development from the outside and applying double standards, he wrote. Yakovenko wrote the sides will urge the international community to combine efforts in order to create a new architecture of security by shaping a global strategy to counteract new threats and challenges under the UN aegis, the article reads. more...

• Syria Attacks Israel Soldiers on Golan Heights (June 28, 2005) - Syrian soldiers attacked Israel Defense Force troops yesterday. The IDF reported reported that automatic fire was opened on Israel soldiers who were performing engineering chores with Israel's security border fence. The IDF did not return fire and the incident is now under investigation. Israel security sources stated that there were no casualties. The unprovoked attack from the Syrian side of the border occurred when the troops were working near the Kuneitra crossing point. IDF sources said it appeared the fire was perpetrated by at least one Syrian soldier on the basis of the fact that there is a Syrian army position in the proximity of the origin of the shooting. The IDF would not go into further details. They noted that there was no apparent reason for the shooting by light weapons fire at the time of the incident because the IDF soldiers had been involved in routine work. more...

• Jewish-Christian dialogue: a demanding miracle (June 23, 2005) - Given the history of their relationships, interreligious dialogue between Christians and Jews may be seen as a "miracle", but it's also a complex and demanding endeavour. In the following article, three practitioners of interreligious dialogue - two Jewish and one Christian - who participated at a major interreligious conference hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) early June in Geneva share their views on what it takes to advance a dialogue often complicated by political issues. more...

• China, Israel discuss expanding defense ties - Expansion of defense ties with Israel was on the agenda during talks with his Israeli counterparts this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said Tuesday. more...

• Israeli soldiers refuse Gaza evacuation (June 22, 2005) - Hundreds of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers and reserve officers assembled here yesterday to announce they will refuse to participate in the implementation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza evacuation plan and to call on fellow soldiers to follow their examples. "There are those who tell us we are destroying the IDF – that a soldier must fulfill every order given to him,” retired Col. Moshe Leshem said at the meeting, held in a large Jerusalem auditorium. “At Nuremberg, people were hanged for saying ‘We were fulfilling orders.’ We say to them: ‘We are saving the IDF.’” more...

• Chinese Foreign Minister to visit Israel (June 19, 2005) - Li Zhaoxing, Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China, will arrive in Israel on Sunday, 19 June, for an official visit, as the guest of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom. The visiting minister will meet with President Moshe Katsav and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and will hold a talk with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who will also host a festive dinner in his honor. In his meetings with his Israeli hosts, the Chinese minister will discuss the peace process, as well as global issues that affect both sides and ways to promote bilateral relations. (It's amazing to me how many nations are in talks and visiting with Israeli diplomats. It's almost like their trying to offer peace to Israel! Hmm, the Bible talks about this and says there will be a time of peace in Israel, but it will be a fake peace meant to decieve into complacency for the eventual overthrow which Jesus himself will come and prevent)  more...

• Hamas won't drop goal of destroying Israel (June 19, 2005) - Hamas refuses to renounce its goal of one day destroying the Jewish state, but visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not feel that was reason enough to bar the terror group from participating in “Palestinian” government. Earlier this month, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa asked his visiting British counterpart if London would consider taking Hamas off its list of known terrorist organizations if it had a strong showing in upcoming parliamentary elections. Britain's Jack Straw responded that Hamas would remain on the terror list until it renounced violence and amended its charter, which calls for Israel's demise, Israel's Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported. more...

• LESS “OUCH” FROM DONATING BLOOD, THANKS TO ISRAELI INNOVATION By Judy Siegel, Jerusalem Post (June 14, 2005) - If the painful pinprick in your finger to determine if you are anemic has kept you from donating blood to Magen David Adom (MDA), you no longer have an excuse: MDA announced that it has begun to use a noninvasive, Israeli-developed device worn on the finger for a few seconds to determine hemoglobin levels. MDA announced this to mark International Blood Donors Day on June 14. Many would-be blood donors have complained about discomfort from the pinprick carried out before the pint of blood is taken; the pinprick is more painful than the insertion of a needle into a vein to remove the blood. The new device, based on a ring-shaped sensor, is called NBM-100. It calculates the level of hemoglobin by combining an optical reading with pressure on the finger. The device, developed and manufactured by the company OrSense and MDA's blood services, has been proven to produce very accurate results. "We are sure that testing for hemoglobin without a pinprick will significantly improve the experience of donating blood," said MDA blood services director Professor Eilat Shinar. more...

• Survey: Israelis want Palestinians booted (June 14, 2005) - A grass-roots organization that has set up survey stations across the country says it is finding a large majority of Israelis favor transferring the Palestinian population out of Israel instead of implementing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Jewish settlements from Gaza and parts of the West Bank this summer. Mishalot Yisrael a group formed to assess public opinion with regard to the Gaza withdrawal, has been sending teenage volunteers throughout the country to man survey stations in public areas. The teens stop pedestrians of all kinds who pass by their ballot booths, usually situated outside bus stations and shopping malls in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities. Participants are given a ballot card asking whether they "prefer the 'Sharon/Peres Disengagement Plan,' which includes transferring Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control and expulsion of all Jews who live there. Or do you prefer the 'Jewish Alternative Disengagement Plan,' which includes annexing these territories and expulsion of the Arabs living there to an area outside Israel, deep beyond a safe security buffer zone?" What Mishalot is finding, it says, is staggering: Upwards of 90 percent of respondents are checking the box in favor of the mass transfer of Palestinians. more...

• PA SENIOR FIGURE: "NO NEED TO DISARM TERRORISTS" By Arutz Sheva, Israel National News (June 13, 2005) - The Palestinian Authority (PA) will not disarm terrorists until Israel totally withdraws to the pre-1967 borders, PA Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Kidwa said on June 13. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has not distanced himself from the remarks, which mark a senior PA official going on record as being even more extreme than arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. Analyst Dr. Aaron Lerner of Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA) has noted that the Oslo Accords in September 1993 were forged when Arafat wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, saying, "The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations, and discipline violators." Al-Kidwa, speaking to the Reuters news agency, said, "Under international law, the Palestinian people have the right to resist this occupation and defend themselves. When occupation ends, it becomes a different matter." He stated that after Israel withdraws, everyone but the security apparatus will have to be disarmed. Reuters also reported that Israel's vice prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said in response to similar statements Al-Kidwa made on PA television that a PA refusal to disarm terrorists was "akin to dropping a cluster bomb" on diplomatic negotiations. The United States-sponsored Road Map Plan says the PA leadership must "undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain" those who plan anti-Israeli attacks; confiscate illegal weapons; and dismantle terrorist infrastructures. more...

• Life from 2,000-year-old seed in Israel (June 13, 2005) - The point of growing the seed is to find out what was so exceptional about the original date palm of Judea, much praised in the Bible and the Koran for its shade, food, beauty and medicinal qualities, but long ago destroyed by the crusaders. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree," says Psalm 92. "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing." Dr. Sarah Sallon, who runs a project on Middle Eastern medicinal plants, said the date-palm tree in ancient times symbolized the tree of life. But Dr. Elaine Solowey, who germinated the seed and is growing it in quarantine, says plants grown from ancient seeds "usually keel over and die soon," having used most of their nutrients in remaining alive. Dr. Sarah Sallon, who runs a project on Middle Eastern medicinal plants, said the date-palm tree in ancient times symbolized the tree of life. But Dr. Elaine Solowey, who germinated the seed and is growing it in quarantine, says plants grown from ancient seeds "usually keel over and die soon," having used most of their nutrients in remaining alive. The plant is now 11.8 inches, or 30 centimeters, tall and has produced seven leaves, one of which was removed for DNA testing. Radiocarbon dating in Switzerland on a snip of the seed showed it to be 1,990 years old, plus or minus 50 years. So the date seed dates from 35 BC to AD 65, just before the famed Roman siege. more...

• Israel May Use Sound Weapon on Settlers (June 10, 2005) - Israel is considering using an unusual new weapon against Jewish settlers who resist this summer's Gaza Strip evacuation - a device that emits penetrating bursts of sound that leaves targets reeling with dizziness and nausea. Security forces could employ the weapon to overcome resistance without resorting to force, their paramount aim. But experts warn that the effects of prolonged exposure are unknown. The army employed the new device, which it dubbed "The Scream," at a recent violent demonstration by Palestinians and Jewish sympathizers against Israel's West Bank separation barrier. more...

• JUSTICE LEVY: “DISENGAGEMENT UNDERMINES JEWS' RIGHT TO ISRAEL” (June 9, 2005) - Israeli High Court Justice Edmond Levy joined a growing chorus of experts warning that the planned surrender of Gaza and northern Samaria will ultimately weaken the Jews' claim to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan “will ultimately undermine the Jewish people's right to settle even in those parts of the land where there is a consensus that they should remain under Israeli sovereignty under any future agreement,” Haaretz quoted Levy as writing. Levy was responding to the high court's ruling that the expulsion of Jewish settlers from their homes was legal and that, in fact, Jews had no right to live in Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza). Levy was the only one out of 11 justices to vote against the ruling, which put an end to 12 petitions, filed by settlers and their supporters, and removed the final legal obstacle to implementation of the evacuation. After consulting past League of Nations and United Nations decisions, Levy concluded that Israel was not an “occupying power” in Yesha, but rather exercised sovereignty there both by historic right and “a right anchored in international law.” more...

• New 'Sanhedrin' plans rebuilding of Temple (June 8, 2005) - The Israeli rabbinical council involved with re-establishing the Sanhedrin, is calling upon all groups involved in Temple Mount research to prepare detailed architectural plans for the reconstruction of the Jewish Holy Temple. The Sanhedrin was a 71-man assembly of rabbis that convened adjacent to the Holy Temple before its destruction in 70 AD and outside Jerusalem until about 400 AD. The move followed the election earlier this week of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz as temporary president of a group aspiring to become Judaism's highest-ranking legal-religious tribunal. (I believe that with the public re-discovery of the Ark of the Covenant, the world will back the rebuilding of the temple because of the archaeological evidence it will provide.) more...

• Rabbi Elected to Head Re-established Sanhedrin (June 7, 2005) - As parades filled the streets of Jerusalem Monday - Jerusalem Day - the reestablished Sanhedrin convened in the city to elect a Nassi and representatives to lead it.  The Sanhedrin was reestablished last October in Tiberias, the place of its last meeting 1,600 years ago. Since then, it has met in Jerusalem on a monthly basis, various committees meeting more often to discuss issues ranging from the areas of the Temple Mount permitted to Jewish worshipper by Jewish law, to the establishment of courts of non-Jews who accept the Seven Laws of Noah and to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to uproot the Jewish communities of Gaza and northern Samaria.  Semicha - original rabbinic ordination - was successfully reintroduced when hundreds of Israel's rabbis agreed on the worthiness of a certain rabbi to serve on the Sanhedrin. This was also agreed upon by leading Sephardic and Ashkenazic spiritual leaders Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv. This fulfilled the Jewish legal requirements as outlined by Maimonides.  The rabbi himself eventually backed down from serving as Nassi of the Sanhedrin due to pressure from a leading Hassidic rabbi, but not before granting semicha to Rabbi Tzvi Idan, who granted semicha to the 71 other members of the body and served as its temporary Nassi. 

• Take Back the Temple Mount! (June 6, 2005) - Today is Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day – the anniversary on the Hebrew calendar of Israel’s liberation of the Holy City during the 1967 Six-Day War. And today, of all days, the country received a potent reminder regarding the intolerance and bigotry being fostered by ascendant Palestinian nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism. When a small group of Jews ascended the Temple Mount this morning to visit Judaism’s holiest site, they were set upon by a group of Palestinians, who emerged from the gold-roofed Dome of the Rock and attacked them with stones, slightly injuring two of them. The police were forced to step in and restore calm, but only after resorting to the use of stun grenades to quell the attackers. The Temple Mount, of course, is effectively under the control of the Muslim Wakf, which is an arm of the Palestinian Authority. And so, while Israel is sovereign over the area, in practice the government allows the Palestinians to dictate what happens on the site of the ancient Temples of Jerusalem. This is not only an affront to Jewish history – but as the attack today demonstrated, it is also an outrageous and absurd situation, in which Jews can not safely visit our holiest of sites. The world media will undoubtedly distort today’s incident beyond recognition – but the key point to bear in mind is this: why is it that Palestinians feel they can riot because Jews visit a holy place? And, more importantly, why does Israel tolerate such a situation? The time has come for Israel to take back the Temple Mount, once and for all, and to reassert its control over the area. That is the only way to ensure that Jews, as well as others, are free to visit the site and worship there freely. more comments to story...

• See some of the amazing innovations coming out of Israel here! (June 6, 2005)
  • Health Breakthrough: A Natural Alternative to Ritalin 01/02/06
  • Israeli Adult Stem Cell Treatment Yields Amazing Recoveries 12/22/05
  • Nano-Armor: Protecting the Soldiers of Tomorrow 12/17/05
  • Israeli Company "Engineuity" Develops Car That Makes Its Own Fuel 10/31/05
  • Newly Developed Israeli "Baseball" Camera Could Help Spy Out Terrorists 06/21/05
  • Invention Allows Humans to Breathe Like Fish Underwater - 06/12/05
  • Meet an Israeli 'virtual reality' helmet that raises IQ - 06/12/05
  • Israeli Father-Son Team Patents New Technology to Overcome Dyslexia - 06/05/05
  • The Israeli algorithm inside your satellite box - 06/05/05
  • Tangled garden hose? Israeli ingenuity solves a common suburban dilemma - 05/15/05
  • Israeli researcher introduces the 'Maestro' - voice-only Internet system for drivers - 05/29/05
  • Where there's smoke, there's Firesys - 05/29/05
  • Israel's Rosetta Genomics - cracking the RNA code - 05/22/05
  • Israeli super-towels mop up in Las Vegas - 05/08/05
  • Israeli airport technology detects intent of terrorists - 05/08/05
  • Israeli dental robot makes implants less painful, less expensive - 04/17/05
  • Israeli software leads the way in speech recognition technology - 04/03/05
  • Israeli TV chip launches boost in color - 04/03/05
  • Israeli biomolecular computer can operate a billion programs - 03/22/05
  • Israeli armor saves American lives in Iraq - 03/20/05

• Shalom Broaches Possibility of Israeli Seat on UN Sec. Council (June 4, 2005) - "The time has come to normalize the status of Israel here in the United Nations," Shalom told reporters after talks Annan. "I told him that one way forward to normalize our status here is by asking to be a member of the Security Council." The UN has a checkered past regarding Israel, including an infamous 1975 resolution that equated Zionism with racism which was repealed in the 1990s, but Annan has made a priority of reaching out to Jews during his tenure. Shalom said the recent election of Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman as a vice president of the General Assembly moved the country toward a "normalization" of relations. But he said it was time for Israel to seek a seat on the Security Council. "It is a symbolic move but for us it is a very important move forward," Shalom said.

• Israel blueprint to cement control over Jerusalem (June 2, 2005) - JERUSALEM - Development plans to cement Israel's control over Jerusalem are to be submitted for government approval next Monday, the prime minister's office said Wednesday. The blueprint will be put forward as Israel celebrates Jerusalem Day - this year the 38th anniversary since the city was "reunified" following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Each year, the cabinet attends an annual ceremony held on Ammunition Hill, the last bastion of the Jordanian defence in the eastern sector and which was captured by Israeli paratroopers in a fierce battle. The plan sets aside 134 million dollars for construction and job-creation projects to encourage young couples to move to the city, said a statement. more...

May 2005

• Ark of the Covenant's discovery imminent? (May 29, 2005) - "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is one of my all-time favorite movies, filled with mystery and adventure. It focuses on the search for a biblical artifact and treasure called The Ark of the Covenant. What makes the movie particularly exciting is how closely it mimics (with some added Hollywood flair) the real life hunt for the lost Ark. more...

• His mission: Seek and ye shall find oil (May 19, 2005) - John Brown believes he'll find oil in central Israel, although he has no scientific data or particular experience in the drilling business on which to base that.
  The Dallas native is a relative novice in the energy industry. He says he'll find oil because his reading of the Bible tells him it's right here — under Maanit, an inland plain northeast of Tel Aviv, where he began drilling last month. "God sent me for one purpose: to help Israel with oil," says Brown, a born-again Christian, as he leafs through his Bible. Brown says he received divine inspiration, starting his company, Zion Oil, to help Israel become energy-independent. "I believe God talked to me." Zion's geologist, Stephen Pierce, and drilling manager, Stacy Cude, have decades of oil experience and plenty of discoveries under their belts for major producers such as Shell and Superior, now part of ExxonMobil. Like their boss, they also are born-again Christians, but they say there is science to support their faith in the project. The skeptics "are going to have a hard time once the oil comes," Brown predicts.

• “EXTERMINATION OF JEWS AND SUBJUGATION OF CHRISTIANS…” www.bridgesforpeace.com (May 13, 2005) - The final stage of history will be the subjugation of all Christian countries under Islam and the extermination of every single Jew - this according to the Palestinian Authority (PA) religious leader during Friday’s sermon. The Jews are so evil, Ibrahim Mudayris teaches, that they cannot be subjugated like the Christian countries, and therefore the only solution awaiting them is death - literally the extermination of every Jew. In his words: “The day will come and we shall rule America [and] Britain; we shall rule the entire world, except the Jews.”

  In the sermon, Ibrahim Mudayris reiterated many of the often-repeated PA justifications for the anticipated genocide, including the following hate messages:

  1. The Jews have inherently evil character traits that Muhammad warned Muslims about in the Koran.
  2. The Jews have been the source of conflict throughout all of history: “The Jews are a virus similar to AIDS, from which the entire world is suffering.”
  3. The persecution of Jews throughout history is presented as natural responses of self-defense by numerous countries against the evil of the Jews.
  Britain, France, Portugal, Czarist Russia, Nazi Germany, all persecuted and/or expelled Jews - as acts of self-defense and revenge.
  4. Zionism was created by Britain in order solve its Jewish problem by sending them to Israel.
  5. God has predetermined that the Jewish problem will be solved with the extermination of the Jews.
  6. God has predetermined that the Christian-Islam interactions will end with today's Christian countries under Islam.
  7. Israel has no right to exist and will be destroyed.

  Palestinian Media Watch’s (PMW) report: “Kill a Jew - Go to Heaven,” a full report outlining the PA systematic justification of genocide, can be found on the PMW Web site, at the following address: http://www.pmw.org.il/KAJ_eng.htm

• Report: Israel offers land for evangelical Christian center (May 14, 2005) - The government has offered to donate 35 acres beside the Sea of Galilee for an evangelical Christian center to boost Christian tourism, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

• UN wants Israel out of Palestine - UN Report (May 13, 2005) - PALESTINIAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS ‘CRITICAL ISSUES REQUIRING Concrete action’
  BY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
  Observer of Palestine Cites Human Rights Violations, Dire
  Socio-Economic Situation, Need to End Israel’s Colonization of Palestinian Land
  Incessant human rights violations by the occupying forces; Israel’s continued illegal policies aimed at changing the legal status, demographic composition and character of occupied East Jerusalem; the dire socio-economic situation in Palestine; and the need to put an end to Israel’s colonization of Palestinian land were highlighted as critical issues that required concrete action by the international community, as the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People met this morning. (I just thought this was funny considering the TRUTH of the matter. Jerusalem and the temple mount are not even mentioned in the Koran, just a place to the East. The Arab nations won't help out their own Muslim brothers because they all want the same thing, Israel gone; driven to the sea and dead. They say it all the time in their teachings, but when it's translated to English, it sounds totally different. Besides, the "Palestinians" are the ones launching mortars into Israel. Just how backwards can you turn everything?)

• Israeli PM Confirms Pullout Delay (May 11, 2005) - The withdrawal will not now take place until the middle of August, to avoid clashing with the traditional Jewish mourning period of Tisha Be Av. The original date for starting the removal had been 25 July. Mr. Sharon plans to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza, but will maintain control over the territory. "The evacuation will be carried out... immediately after the day of Tisha Be Av - on 15, 17 or 16 [August]. I don't want to commit myself to an exact date," Mr. Sharon said in an Israeli TV interview.

• Muslim populations fuel sharp rise in anti-Semitism (Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff)  (May 5, 2005) - Israel and the West are fond of saying "never again" when remembering the Holocaust, but a new study has rekindled concerns that Jew-hatred could again reach genocidal levels in the future. The study - conducted by Tel Aviv's Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism, the World Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League - was published Wednesday, just one day before a two-minute siren brought the nation to a grinding halt as Israelis stood for a moment of silence Thursday morning in remembrance of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. It showed global anti-Semitism in 2004 had reached its highest level since 1989. During 2004, some 480 severe cases of violence against Jews and 20 anti-Semitic terror attacks were recorded, Ynetnews reported. In 2003, there were 30 terror attacks and 330 cases of severe violence.

April 2005

• PALESTINIANS WARN U.S. OVER JERUSALEM BILL (Jerusalem Newswire, April 26, 2005) (Bridges For Peace)  The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas has threatened to increase violence against Israelis if the United States Congress dares to ratify a bill calling for global recognition of Jerusalem as the Jewish capital. The proposed legislation was submitted by Senator Sam Brownback (Republican-Kansas). It links recognition of a unified Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state. The bill also notes that while Jerusalem is central to the Jewish faith, it is not mentioned even once by name in the Koran. “Jerusalem is essential in Judaism; it is mentioned in the Bible 766 times,” the proposal states. Hamas responded on April 25 by threatening to end the temporary pause in its campaign of violence against Israel should Congress pass the bill. “We will not accept less than” Jerusalem as the capital of a Muslim Palestinian state, Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri told reporters in Gaza. The Clinton and Bush administrations have refused for more than a decade to implement legislation calling for the transfer of America’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They see such a move as a threat to national security.

• HELLO SHALOM, HELLO SALAAM...HELLO PEACE!  (Bridges For Peace) There is a new conversation breaking out between Israelis and Palestinians thanks to a new, toll-free telephone service. Large numbers of Arabs and Jews are picking up the phone and talking to people “on the other side” about reconciliation, tolerance, and peace. Over 48,000 calls were placed in less than three months. Sammy Waed, a Palestinian, never thought he would become friends with an Israeli soldier, especially one who had occupied his hometown of Ramallah. But using the new hotline, the 20-year-old ended up speaking to Arik, a 23-year-old from Tel Aviv. “Arik told me how much he hated his army service, because he was in the middle of a civilian population, policing children and causing harm to innocent people,” Waed told New York Daily News special correspondent, Deborah Blachor. “Before, I thought Israelis didn’t care at all when innocent Palestinians suffer and are killed,” he said. “But now I know they do care and I have hope that there can be peace.” Hello, Peace! (Hello Shalom-Hello Salaam!) was launched in October 2002 by the Parents Circle-Families Forum, a joint group of over 400 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian parents who believe peace is still possible despite having lost a child or loved one in the conflict.

• GARLIC AND ONION CHEMICAL HELPS KILL CANCER CELLS  (Excerpted from an article by Judy Siegel, Jerusalem Post, April 27, 2005) (Bridges For Peace) The active ingredient in garlic and onions has been used together with advanced biotechnology—by a Weizmann Institute of Science research team, led by professor David Mirelman—to improve the targeting of malignant cells. The cancer-killing effectiveness of the technique lies in arming a cancer-targeting antibody with the destructive potential of a dietary molecule called allicin. Allicin is the product of an interaction between an enzyme, allinase, and the small chemical alliin. The latter compound occurs naturally in plants, such as garlic and onion, as a defense mechanism against soil fungi, bacteria, and parasites. “The medicinal value of garlic is no longer an ancient Chinese secret,” said Mirelman. “Years of scientific research led to the identification and understanding of allicin’s mode of activity, and we are currently studying ways to target and deliver its toxic punch.” Although other approaches use a method that directly binds anticancer drug molecules to an antibody, this study applied a method Mirelman refers to as “weaponizing” the antibody, so called because it affords the continuous production and delivery of cancer-killing bullets. The allinase that is bonded to the Rituximaba, a specific antibody, sits on the target cell and continuously reacts with alliin molecules that are injected at intervals, producing a steady supply of allicin to penetrate and kill the cancer. The study was published recently in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. (Excerpted from an article by Judy Siegel, Jerusalem Post, April 27, 2005)

• ISRAEL EXPECTS FULL-SCALE MIDEASTERN WAR IN 2006 - Israel has reportedly expressed its belief to Washington that Iran and several of its Arab allies are preparing for a full-scale war against the Jewish state, possibly following the expected United States withdrawal from Iraq in 2006. Unnamed U.S. officials told Middle East Newsline this week that according to Israeli assessments, the departure of most American forces from the region would lead to increased tensions and provide an atmosphere ripe for an escalation of violence. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “has relayed repeated messages to the administration that Iran and its Arab allies are preparing for war,” one official said.

• MASSIVE ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS STAGED IN INDONESIAN CITIES - On April 17, tens of thousands of Muslim Indonesians held a peaceful anti-Israel protest and rallied outside the United States Embassy in what police said appeared to be the largest demonstration the city has seen in years. Local radio reported that thousands of others held similar marches in several other cities and towns across the archipelago to protest what they called Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people and alleged threats to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, a site considered holy for Muslims as well as Jews. (Naharnet, April 17, 2005) Editor’s Note: This report comes from an Arab news source out of Beirut, Lebanon. The number used in reference to the April 10 incident is exaggerated.

• PALESTINIAN MINISTER: WE DON’T WANT ABANDONED ISRAELI HOUSING - A Palestinian minister has reiterated that the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not want the houses scheduled to be abandoned by more than 8,000 Israelis when they are evicted from the Gaza Strip this summer. When he first announced his plan to pullout from Gaza, Ariel Sharon said the houses would be destroyed, preventing the nightmare scenario of Israelis seeing Palestinians joyously entering houses that had been home to Israelis for generations. He has since reversed his position and has called for turning over the homes intact in return for Palestinian cooperation with the pullout. On April 16, Muhammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian Authority’s Housing and Public Works minister, became the latest official to reject the offer, reiterating what others have said: The Israeli communities featuring individual homes do not meet the Palestinian need for housing with greater density. He did, however, welcome other infrastructure.

• Temple Mount leaders vow Jewish sovereignty - A group that led a Jewish protest at the Temple Mount last weekend in hopes of reclaiming the site from its Islamic custodians told WorldNetDaily this morning it will hold monthly protests ''until Jewish sovereignty is restored,'' while more than 100,000 Indonesian Muslims rallied yesterday for continued Islamic dominance over the Mount.  ''The police blocked most of the people we tried to bring to the Temple Mount last week, so we will continue every month until Jews have a right to pray again at our holiest site,'' said David Ha'ivri, director of Revava, a group with the stated mission of ''restoring self-esteem to the state of Israel by restoring national pride and values.''

• Jews anxiously await new pope - Upon the announcement of the next pope, will Jews say "amen" or "oy vey"? When the election process of the papal conclave gets under way on Monday, 115 cardinals will have to choose from among their ranks one of several leading figures – men of divergent views, some who would appear likely to follow the course of John Paul II's special relationship with the Jewish people, and some who could threaten that relationship. German-born Joseph Ratzinger, perhaps the closest cardinal to John Paul II, was also the pope's doctrinal vanguard and partner in the positions that changed Vatican-Jewish relations.

• US Queries Israel Settlement Plan - Israel said on Monday that it expects work to begin soon on 50 new homes in the northern West Bank town of Elkana. The proposal comes days after President Bush warned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to halt any such building. Mr Sharon has also said he favours delaying until mid-August Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. He wants to avoid the move overlapping with a Jewish mourning period marking the destruction of the biblical temples. The pullout of all 8,000 Israeli settlers had been due to start on 20 July, but now Mr Sharon wants to delay it by three weeks until 16 August. The international community considers all settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as illegal under international law. Israel disagrees. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the US "will be seeking clarification from the government of Israel" over the plan for new homes in Elkana. "Israel should not be expanding settlements," he said. The Israeli authorities invited companies to bid for the contract to build the new houses. An official said construction of the homes could start in eight to 12 weeks. At a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week, President Bush said the expansion of West Bank settlements - particularly in East Jerusalem - violated the "roadmap" peace plan. "I told the prime minister of my concern that Israel not undertake any activity that contravenes roadmap obligations or prejudices final status negotiations," he said. (I can't get over how ridiculous it is that the world is actually forcing Israel to get smaller while Jews from around the world keep moving there because it's the only place they feel safe from anti-Semitism. I understand that there are places they can live and not deal with it, but they are becoming few and far between now-a-days.)

• Dumped Temple Mount Rubble Yields Jewish Artifacts by Teresa Neumann  (Apr 15, 2005) - The first-ever archaeological examination of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has been taking place for the past six months, yielding a wealth of artifacts, according to Arutz Sheva news. In November 1999, an illegal, unsupervised construction project on the Temple Mount caused irreparable damage to the important site in the Kidron Valley. Though the archaeological remains were no longer in their original contexts, they held enormous potential to shed light on the undocumented human history of the Temple Mount, as systematic archaeological excavation or scientific study have never taken place there. The mounds of dirt in the Kidron Valley therefore contained the only available data from the Temple Mount to which modern archaeologists have ever had access. more...

• Israel presents aerial photos of Iran nuclear sites to Bush - Ariel Sharon’s military attaché presented aerial photos of Iranian nuclear installations during the Israeli prime minister’s summit with US President George W. Bush, Israeli public radio reported on Tuesday. more...

• Israel warns U.S. it will retaliate against anticipated fall offensive World Tribune (Apr 7, 2005) - The Israel military has been preparing for a resurgence of the Palestinian war. The military's Central Command has drafted plans for an intense campaign with Palestinian insurgents in the fall of 2005. Military sources said Central Command envisioned the fighting to begin as early as September 2005 when the army withdraws from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, Middle East Newsline reported.
  
  "The message is that once we withdraw from Gaza, everything will be back to where it started, except the Palestinians will be stronger," a military source said. "Right now, the Palestinian groups agree that it's worth keeping quiet for a while to ensure an Israeli withdrawal over the next few months. more...

• Sharon: Israel on Eve of 'Civil War' - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suggested the Jewish state is in crisis and appears to be on the "eve of a civil war" as his government moves to remove 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. In his most ominous comments about the level of tension in his country as it seeks to end Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip later this summer, Sharon said his government's decision is meeting angry resistance. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Sharon – in Crawford, Texas Monday for talks with President Bush – told correspondent David Gregory point-blank he expects settlers to rebel "before and during" the withdrawal. "One should not underestimate the tension here, the atmosphere here. It looks like on the eve of a civil war," Sharon said. more...

• Rabbis: Sharon Has Declared War on God - The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has declared war on God and his Word by relinquishing its birthright in the Gaza Strip and Samaria in return for a false peace, senior Israeli rabbis said Sunday.

• High Alert Amid Warnings of Temple Mount Attack - The Shin Bet security service has raised the level of alert in Jerusalem amid indications that extremist Jews are planning to carry out an attack on the mosques of the Temple Mount, and on the basis of new intelligence has beefed up police and security around the site in the heart of the Old City.

• Does Israel Have a Right to Exist? - "By what right does Israel exist? Why does the world need such a hell-hole of a country, an apartheid-racist-war-mongering-Jewish theocracy?" I suggested that she consider the question as an opening for a conversation about the "right to exist" rather than as a challenge to Israel's character or to its right—or lack thereof—to exist.

• Anti-Semitic Incidents at Highest Level - Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States have reached their highest level in nine years, according to newly released statistics from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

• Iran: Pope was too close to 'evil' Jews - State-run media slams John Paul for being 'compromised' by 'Zionist regime'.

March 2005

• Poll: Israelis Say No 'Gay Pride' in Holy City - But Israeli government stalls religious conference blasting homosexual event. A new poll shows a vast majority of Israelis – secular and religious – oppose an international homosexual event scheduled to take place here this summer, while a press conference planned for yesterday in which chief religious leaders were to express their outrage over the homosexual gathering was delayed at the last minute by Israeli officials, WorldNetDaily has learned.

• Cells of Native Israeli "Resurrection Plant" Reveal Surprising Shape: the Star of David Leora Eren Frucht / Aimee Herd reporting (Mar 21, 2005)

  

  The Israeli Persian Buttercup is native to Israel, and a "survivor" wildflower that thrives under the dry, harsh conditions found in that region of the world. Its existence alone provides an analogy of the surviving nature of the Israeli people, but when one looks closer an amazing image is revealed. The cells of the flower's root, when viewed under a microscope are the very shape of the Israeli "Star of David."

  The discovery was made by Dr. Rina Kamenetsky, a researcher for the Volcani Institute in Israel, when she was studing the survival qualities of the plant. "When my Canadian colleague Professor Larry Peterson saw it, he called me over right away and said: 'Look, Rina: here's something especially for you.' I was truly amazed," said Kamenetsky, "It really is symbolic."

  The flower is known as a "resurrection plant," meaning that it can survive without water then revives when water is available. The information this plant contains on drought-resistance could prove valuable in making other plants hardier, in the future. (I'm not sure God can make any clearer a stamp on who He says gets the land of Israel, also called "Palestine" He built it into the nature that has existed since the beginning of time so that the one symbol of the oldest existing nation would match with a flower that lives without water in the desert and revives again when there is water. Hmm... Sounds pretty clear to me.)

• Putin to Visit Israel - a First for Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Israel at the end of April, the first visit ever by a Russian leader to the Jewish state, Israeli officials said Tuesday.

• Israel bans Temple Mount ascent of 10,000 Jews - Police here decided today to ban a grassroots Jewish organization from bringing 10,000 Jews to the heavily restricted Temple Mount to spark Israeli dialogue about reclaiming the holy site from its Islamic custodians, while the city police department told WorldNetDaily the Israeli government would allow a similar group of Muslims. (How disappointing the Israeli government is in this)

• Israel's New Jerusalem Plan Angers Palestinians - (March 21)Israel plans to build 3,500 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to cement its hold on Jerusalem, government sources said Monday, drawing Palestinian warnings that peace efforts were at risk.

• Americans move in with Israel settlers - By Aaron Klein (Mar. 17, 2005) A group of forty Americans, led by a New York state lawmaker, moved here for three days this week as part of a larger trip that will bring over a thousand U.S. citizens to protest Israel's planned withdrawal this summer from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. "We are here to show solidarity and compassion," the group leader, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, told WND. "These Jews who have moved here over thirty years ago with the assistance of Israel are being kicked out of their homes simply because of their nationality, not by their enemies, but by a Jewish government. It is an unconscionable thing to do, and we must stand with them."

• 'Israel' erased from Canadian passports - (Mar. 15, 2005) Under a new passport policy in Canada, ''Israel" cannot be specified as the country of birth for Canadian citizens born in Jerusalem. Canadian Jews are being told by their government to surrender their passports so the word "Israel" can be removed if it appears next to the name of the Jewish state's declared capital, according to a report by Israel National News. 

• 10,000 Jews to ascend Temple Mount - movement to reclaim Temple Mount - By Aaron Klein (Mar. 16, 2005) A grassroots Jewish organization plans to bring 10,000 Jews to the heavily restricted Temple Mount to spark Israeli dialogue about reclaiming the holy site from its Muslim custodians. "The Temple Mount is the single holiest place in the world for Jews. It's about time the Israeli government restores it to the Jewish people, where it belongs," David Ha'ivri, chairman of Revava, the group orchestrating the gathering, told WND.

• Saying Israelis are 'legitimate targets' not a hate crime - Police have decided not to charge a controversial Muslim leader under Canada's hate-crime laws for suggesting on a television talk show last fall that all adult Israelis are "legitimate targets" for Palestinian terrorists. (This whole love your fellow man line always seems to end up with the little asterisk at the end with the small print *except the Jews)

• "The World Loves Dead Jews" - The grassroots Women in Green organization is planning a protest near Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, where world dignitaries will be gathering tonight to mark the opening of a new museum affiliated with Yad Vashem. Among other representatives of nations around the world, United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan will be in attendance. Women in Green chairwomen, Ruth and Nadia Matar, noted, "These are the same world leaders who immorally push Israel to deport Jews from their homes, and make suicidal concessions to Arafat's successor and loyal follower, the Holocaust denier Abu Mazen." The activist women are planning to hold signs that read: "The World Loves Dead Jews, but hates proud Jews living in the Land of Israel" and "Deportation of Jews: Never Again!"

• Israel Prepares For War With Syria - Israel's military has been preparing for the increasing prospect of a war with Syria in a confrontation expected to include Iran and Hizbullah. The General Staff has discussed an assessment by the military's Northern Command of an emerging threat from Syria and Hizbullah over the next year. Northern Command said a weakened Syria, under pressure from the United States to withdraw from Lebanon, was likely to approve an Iranian-Hizbullah campaign against Israel.

• Palestinians Say Israel to Hand Over West Bank City - Palestinians said on Sunday Israel had agreed to hand over the first of five occupied West Bank cities this week after the resumption of stalled security talks. (It still strikes me the insanity of the whole Israeli situation and how the world just expects them to give up their land so insane killers can inhabit it! The Israelites won 2 wars to get that land after it was given to them by the same people who are now scheming to take it away to appease the terrorists!!!!! Hello??? What other nation has ever had to give back land it won in a war? What other nation in history has had the kind of hatred spewed at it as Israel, the oldest nation of them all? What kind of insanity actually controls the "leaders" of the world? I wish I could trust that my e-mails were actually read, but I know how auto-response letters are generated.)

• Anti-Semitism Raises its Head in Serbia - Serbia’s Jewish community is being increasingly targeted by an array of ultra-nationalist groups.

February 2005

• JORDANIAN DIG CONFIRMS BIBLICAL EDOM - Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post, (February 21, 2005) Just-published evidence from a U.S.-directed archeological dig in Jordan further authenticates the Bible's descriptions of the existence of the ancient nation of Edom during the eras of King David and his son, King Solomon. The full results of the 2002 excavation by a team of international scholars at the site of Khirbet en-Nahas ("ruins of copper" in Arabic) are reported in the current issue of the British journal “Antiquity” published this week. The new study, headed by archeology Prof. Thomas Levy of University of California, San Diego, contradicts much contemporary scholarship claiming – on the basis of no physical evidence – that no Edomite state existed before the 8th century BCE. Until the new discovery, many scholars said the Bible's numerous references to ancient Israel's interactions with Edom could not be valid. While previous investigations in Edom had been carried out in the Jordanian highland zone and put the rise of the Edomite kingdom during the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, the new archeological data from modern-day Jordan presents strong evidence for the involvement of Edom with neighboring ancient Israel as described in the Bible and indicates the existence of the biblical nation of Edom at least as early as the 10th century BCE – when David and Solomon were alive. The archeologists dug up evidence of construction of massive fortifications and industrial-scale metal production activities, as well as over 100 building complexes. Egyptian scarabs of a "walking sphinx" and a hunting scene provide additional evidence of metal-working activities at the site in the period around 1200 to 900 BCE. The researchers note in their journal article that these results "push back the beginnings of Edom 300 years earlier than the current scholarly consensus and show the presence of complex societies, perhaps a kingdom, much earlier than previously assumed."

• Israel fears Jewish terror - Israel's security minister has recommended the arrest of a prominent Jewish extremist and warned of many more possible detentions amid a stream of threats against Ariel Sharon and his ministers by opponents of the government's plan to remove settlers from the Gaza Strip.

• Sanhedrin Discusses Temple Mount Location - Arutz Sheva staff / Aimee Herd reporting  (Feb 11, 2005) Judaism's top legal assembly, the newly re-established Sanhedrin, heard expert testimony this week on just where the exact location lies of the Temple Mount. There has never been any archaeological dig to determine its whereabouts, and some of the area has been compromised by efforts on the part of some to destroy evidence of the Temple's location. Two main opinions arose from the meeting that the Mount is located on the current spot that is the Muslim "Dome of the Rock," or that it is found just North of it.

January 2005

• Archeologist unearths biblical controversy - Prof. Adams of Hamilton's McMaster University says, he and an international team of colleagues fit into place a significant piece of the puzzle of human history in the Middle East -- unearthing information that points to the existence of the Bible's vilified Kingdom of Edom at precisely the time the Bible says it existed, and contradicting widespread academic belief that it did not come into being until 200 years later. (Received from Breaking Christian News)

• Sanhedrin Rabbis Discuss Sublime, Procedural Issues - The 71 rabbis seeking to fulfill the Biblical commandment of renewing the Sanhedrin continue to meet regularly, solidifying their organizational structure and establishing an agenda of topics. (It seems that the push to establish Jewish law and rebuild the temple is getting closer to a reality than ever before. For those prophecy buffs out there, you know what that means! It's time to tell everyone because the time is getting shorter.)

• Israel acts to halt Russian missile deal with Syria - Israel was attempting yesterday to halt a weapons deal under which Russia agreed to supply Syria with advanced anti-aircraft missiles.

December 2004

• Israeli Nano-Lubricant Could Signal No More Oil Changes By Bob Rosenbaum, MFA, (December 27, 2004) - Imagine buying a new car and driving it for 10 years without once taking it for an oil-and-lube job. The engine won't even have a dipstick to check the oil. That's what the future holds if Rehovot-based ApNano Materials succeeds in marketing NanoLub. NanoLub is the world's first synthetic lubricant to be based on spherical inorganic nanoparticles. As with other lubricants, its job is to reduce wear and friction between moving objects (like engine parts), enabling longer operation and higher efficiency. NanoLub dramatically outperforms every known commercial solid lubricant marketed today. As its creator, ApNano Materials has just been selected by the United States investing journal Red Herring as one of the top 100 innovators that will drive global markets in 2005. Red Herring's selection is among the most prestigious awards bestowed today. It follows earlier recognition by the U.S. business research firm Innovation WORLD (ApNano was listed among its Innovation WORLD 21 companies in October). Israel's business daily the Marker has also recently recognized ApNano's achievements, dubbing CEO Menachem Genut as one of Israel's most promising entrepreneurs. The search for a perfect lubricant - that is, one that never requires replacement - is an old one. In the last century, synthetic additives extended the effectiveness of age-old lubricants like oil. ApNano's product is the result of the pioneering research performed by Professor Reshef Tenne, ApNano CEO Genut, and others in the department of materials and interfaces at the Weizmann Institute of Science.