News for April 17, 2006

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West Bank withdrawal ‘disastrous’ for terror war (April 14, 2006) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s plan to withdraw from most of the West Bank is against the interests of America’s war on terrorism, will prompt a rocket war against major Israeli cities, and will result in Christians and Jews being barred from key West Bank holy sites, warned popular radio host Rusty Humphries. Humphries just returned from a week-long trip to Israel where he met with terror leaders from Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and toured several West Bank Jewish communities slated for evacuation. “I thought the civilized world learned its lesson about appeasement from Hitler, but clearly we haven’t,” said Humphries, speaking to WND from his home in Florida outside Disney World. “The terrorists attacked. Israel retreated and gave them the Gaza Strip. Now Hamas has been propelled to power promising to get the Palestinians the West Bank. Rockets are being launched almost daily from Gaza, which has become a terror sanctuary for even America’s enemies, including al-Qaida, according to many reports. Attacks are being stepped up in the West Bank, and in response Israel is planning to retreat next from there.” Continued Humphries: “The message being sent loud and clear is that terrorism works. I’ve talked with the terrorists. They tell me they won’t stop until they get Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and all of Israel. And you know what? I believe them. Why should they stop when Israel responds by giving them more territory?” Olmert’s Kadima Party won last month’s parliamentary elections here. The new prime minister has announced he aims to complete his West Bank withdrawal plan before President Bush leaves office in 2009. more...

Iran deploys ballistic missiles within range of U.S. bases in Iraq (April 17, 2006) - Iran has quietly deployed its Shihab-2 medium-range ballistic missiles within striking distance of major U.S. military bases in Iraq. The Shihab-2s, with a range of about 700 kilometers, were moved west from bases near Teheran toward the border with Iraq earlier this year. Western intelligence sources said Teheran would use the Shihab-2 in case of any U.S. air strike on Iran.

Messianic Fervor Grows Among Iran’s Shiites (April 15, 2006) - Each Tuesday, thousands of people arrive here at dusk by car and bus. Beneath the twinkling lights of the blue-tiled mosque, they sit on carpets, following prayers broadcast over loudspeakers: families, pilgrims from distant provinces, young men frantic with expectation, women hoping for cures. The devout make their way to the back of the shrine. There, they write their hopes, dreams and prayers onto slips of paper that they drop into two wells — one for the men, one for the women. They pray, eyes squeezed shut, until moved along politely by mosque workers. For many devout Shiite Muslims, this is a place of miracles — the place of the Mahdi, the messiah. From lowly carpet weavers to Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, devotion to the Mahdi and anticipation of his return appears to be crescendoing in Iran. Particularly on Tuesdays, the day most associated with the Mahdi’s blessings, the night here is filled with fervent prayers, a reflection of the ardent faith that gave rise to the Islamic Revolution, and which conservative supporters of Ahmadinejad hope will sustain the nation in any confrontation with the West over Iran’s nuclear program. more...

Report: Hamas Will Recognize Israel By staff reporters, Jerusalem Post (April 13, 2006) - According to a Thursday [April 13] report on Al-Jazeera, the Hamas government will recognize Israel if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders. Hamas officials close to Palestinian Authority [PA] Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh expect Haniyeh to announce the change in the organization’s platform in the next few days, Army Radio reported. The international community has pressured Hamas since the group assumed power to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. The United States and the European Community have even frozen aid to the PA, with the exception of humanitarian assistance.

Iran priming Hezbollah for war with U.S., Israel (April 11, 2006) - Iran is attempting to draw Lebanon into a conflict with the U.S. and Israel and is priming the Hezbollah militia to assault the Jewish state in the event of an attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said in an interview. “Lebanon is being used by the Iranians as a front which could be used if the Americans retaliate against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Lebanon is now entangled in a greater axis. It is no longer independent,” said Jumblatt, speaking to WND’s Aaron Klein and ABC Radio’s John Batchelor on Batchelor’s national radio program for which Klein serves as a co-host. [Listen to Jumblatt interview.] Jumblatt is the head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party and is largely considered the most prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese politician. He said Syria and Iran have formed an alliance against the U.S. and have the past year tightened their collective grip on Lebanon. more...

City “Amazed” by Little Girl’s Forgiveness for Man Who Paralyzed Her (April 17, 2006) - Five-year old Kai Leigh of Roxbury, Mass. was paralyzed at the age of three by a stray bullet shot by Anthony Warren. On April 13, the young girl -- in an “emotionally wrenching” victim-impact statement -- and four members of her family reportedly told a Suffolk Superior Court judge that the shooting had changed their lives forever, but had also shown them the value of forgiveness. Many spectators in the court broke down in tears as Kai forgave Warren. In the days following Kai’s courtroom appearance, countless people are still amazed at the little girl’s unexpected gesture. As reported in the Boston Globe, hair stylist Cathleen Foster is one. She was “floored, by the little girl’s words, her composure, and her tears.” more...

Researchers Regenerate Tendons, Ligaments with Stem Cells By Arutz Sheva (April 5, 2006) - Adult stem cells are being used by an Israeli research team to create a new orthopedic solution to a difficult and common problem: how to heal torn ligaments and tendons. The research team, led by Professor Dan Gazit, is working to change this by using stem cells taken from bone marrow and genetically engineering them to become different cells altogether. “With this in mind, we can genetically engineer new skeletal tissue–ligaments, cartilage, and tendons,” explained Dr. Gadi Peled, a senior scientist at the lab. The stem cells were injected with two proteins, called Smad8 and BMP2, and were then injected into the torn Achilles tendons of rats at the Skeletal Biotechnology Laboratory at Hebrew University’s Faculty of Dental Medicine. The cells were drawn to the site of the injury and were able to repair the tendon, said Peled. “There was complete healing in seven weeks, which is very quick,” he told Israel21c.

Iran Donates $50 Million to Hamas-led Government (April 17, 2006) - The donation will help make up the shortfall left by the aid cut-off by the United States and the European Union and Israel’s freezing of the transfer of about $50 million a month in tax and customs receipts to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government. “I am honored to announce that Iran has donated $50 million to help the Palestinian nation,” Mottaki said in a televised speech to a conference in Tehran on the Palestinian issue. Mottaki said the gift was Iran’s duty as a friend of the Palestinians, but did not say how or when it would reach them. A Hamas official, who asked not to be identified, later told Reuters in Dubai that Iran was donating $100 million to the Palestinian Authority. There was no immediate confirmation from Iranian officials. Iran has been at odds with the United States since its 1979 Islamic revolution, and has refused to recognize Israel. Washington and the European Union froze aid to the Hamas-led government because the Islamist group did not comply with their demand that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace agreements. The Palestinian economy has been crippled during years of fighting with Israel, and Palestinians are dependent on foreign aid totaling more than $1 billion a year. Mottaki called on Muslims around the world to support the Palestinians. “The Islamic world should help the new Palestinian government to overcome its current problems,” he said. more...

Russia Pledges Aid to Hamas-led Palestine (April 16, 2006) - Russia said on Saturday it had promised emergency aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority which warns it faces economic collapse after direct funding was cut off by the United States and the European Union, the Reuters news agency reported. A foreign ministry statement said the offer came in a phone conversation on Friday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “Mahmoud Abbas highly appreciated the intention of Russia, confirmed by Lavrov, to grant the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority urgent financial aid in the nearest time,” it said. Lavrov has previously said that halting aid was a mistake though he has urged Hamas to meet the demands of international mediators. The United States and the European Union halted direct aid to the Palestinian Authority and Israel has frozen the transfer of tax and customs receipts. They are demanding that Hamas recognize Israel, end violence and accept peace accords. Abbas this week warned that the Palestinian Authority faced economic collapse unless it received aid soon.

New U.S. Embassy in Iraq cloaked in mystery (April 15, 2006) - The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq’s turbulent future. The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome. “We can’t talk about it. Security reasons,” Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project. A British tabloid even told readers the location was being kept secret — news that would surprise Baghdadis who for months have watched the forest of construction cranes at work across the winding Tigris, at the very center of their city and within easy mortar range of anti-U.S. forces in the capital, though fewer explode there these days. The embassy complex — 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report — is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified “Green Zone,” just east of al-Samoud, a former palace of Saddam Hussein’s, and across the road from the building where the ex-dictator is now on trial. more...

Iran Leader: Israel Will Be Annihilated (April 14, 2006) - The president of Iran again lashed out at Israel on Friday and said it was “heading toward annihilation,” just days after Tehran raised fears about its nuclear activities by saying it successfully enriched uranium for the first time. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a “permanent threat” to the Middle East that will “soon” be liberated. He also appeared to again question whether the Holocaust really happened. “Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation,” Ahmadinejad said at the opening of a conference in support of the Palestinians. “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.” Ahmadinejad provoked a world outcry in October when he said Israel should be “wiped off the map.” On Friday, he repeated his previous line on the Holocaust, saying: “If such a disaster is true, why should the people of this region pay the price? Why does the Palestinian nation have to be suppressed and have its land occupied?” The land of Palestine, he said, referring to the British mandated territory that includes all of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, “will be freed soon.” He did not say how this would be achieved, but insisted to the audience of at least 900 people: “Believe that Palestine will be freed soon.” more...

US to deploy RPG-busting ‘force field’ Israel 21c (April 15, 2006) - Classified Israeli tech bound for Iraq - The US is to field test an innovative Israeli set-up designed to act as a “force field” around armoured vehicles, protecting them from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and anti-tank missiles, according to a Fox News report. The system, dubbed “Trophy”, uses radar to track incoming threats and then destroys them when they’re in range by attacking the warheads with an “invisible force”, according to Fox. Quite how it does this is, unsurprisingly, classified, but Defense Update understands Trophy is “designed to form a ‘beam’ of fragments, which will intercept any incoming HEAT threat, including RPG rockets at a range of 10 metres to 30 meters from the protected platform”. The countermeasure is, then, actually physical - a fact confirmed by Defense Update, which explains the system has “an automatic reload mechanism to handle multiple attacks”, although that’s about as specific as it gets. The sceptical among you should note that Trophy has allegedly completed “hundreds of live tests with the Israel Defense Forces and demonstrated effective neutralisation of anti-tank rockets and guided missiles, high safety levels, insignificant residual penetration, and minimal collateral damage”. more...

Lockheed X-22A Anti-Gravity Fighter Disc AboveTopSecret (April 15, 2006) - Information has come into the public’s attention which suggests that Lockheed has been working in the “black” on a discoid-shaped aircraft. Not only does this aircraft utilise anti-gravitic propulsion, but the discs are believed to be equipped with highly advanced particle beam weaponry. Lockheed does hold the patents on disc-shaped passenger aicraft, so it is not unreasonable to assume they have also (successfully) investigated the possibility of creating such craft as military platforms. Evidence for the existence of the X-22A first came to light during Operation Desert Storm when American soldiers (and most likely Iraqi soldiers as well) made sightings of disc-shaped craft in the desert hovering near to U.S. officers. People also made claims of seeing these craft fire intense beams of light that removed any trace of what previously sat at the location, apart from a circular charcoal-like burn mark on the ground. A Desert Storm soldier stated the following: “In the first days film footage and especially Video-cams which a large number of G.I.s had were impounded so they wouldn`t capture any sensitive material.” more...

Iran’s Ahmadinejad: West Will Burn in Nations’ Fury (April 14, 2006) - Iran’s radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a fiery sermon demanded that “Iran’s enemies”, or the West, bow down before Iran and apologize for having held back Tehran’s nuclear program for three years. He also warned the West that it would “burn” in the “fire of the nations’ fury”. “Those who insulted the Iranian nation and set back Iran’s movement for progress for several years must apologise”, Ahmadinejad said at a rally in the eastern town of Rashtkhar. His comments were aired on state television and carried by the official news agency. “You must bow down to the greatness of the Iranian nation”, he said, addressing the West. He added that if the United States continued to seek to use “bullying” tactics then “every nation of the world” would chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”. “If you do not return to monotheism and worshipping god and refuse to accept justice then you will burn in the fire of the nations’ fury”, Ahmadinejad said. He once again accused the West of launching a “psychological war” against Iran. On Tuesday, Ahmadinejad declared that Iran had joined the Nuclear Club. “I officially announce that Iran has joined the world’s nuclear countries”, Ahmadinejad said in a speech that was broadcast on state television. The UN Security Council adopted a “Presidential Statement” unanimously on March 29 giving Iran 30 days to suspend all of its uranium enrichment activities and resume its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Volcano-Like Tremors Detected Near San Andreas (April 14, 2006) - Tremors within the Earth are usually--but not always--related to the activity of a volcano. Now, such vibrations have been recorded nowhere near a volcano, but at a geologic observatory at the San Andreas Fault. Scientists believe the fault tremors may be related to activity at a subduction zone--a place where one of Earth’s constantly moving tectonic plates slips beneath another. To determine whether the San Andreas Fault is moving with the tremors, scientists with the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) are installing instruments to measure the tremors’ activity. Located near Parkfield, Calif., SAFOD is part of the EarthScope Project, an effort to study the North American continent’s geology. more...