Zahar says the Strip-based group is "committed to the calm" experienced since Cast Lead; tells supporters that the quiet allows the group to rearm.
A Kassam rocket was shot into Israeli territory early Friday evening.
The rocket exploded in an open field near Ashkelon. No injuries or damage was reported.
Christine Logan disappeared on Saturday, when she and a Jerusalem-area friend were stabbed by assailants while hiking at an archaeological site; her friend, Susan Kaye Wilson, was hospitalized in moderate condition.
Mortars hit open areas in western Negev, south of Ashkelon day after IDF kills five terrorists in Gaza
The Air Force bombed a cell of rocket launchers in the central Gaza Strip Saturday night, killing five men preparing to fire rockets at Israel. The IDF says direct hits were identified.
The five men were apparently members of Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees.
The strike followed a relatively violent month in the south. Two weeks ago the Air Force bombed three Hamas targets in Gaza, in response to mortar shell fire at Israel.
One Israeli man, the security officer at a community belonging to Eshkol Regional Council, was injured in an attack. No injuries were reported on the Palestinian side.
Town's 2,750 hotel rooms are booked solid for Christmas week and expected turnout for Christmas week up strongly from 70,000 last year.
Continue reading at the Jerusalem Post...
IDF tank fire kills two Palestinians approaching security fence; soldier seriously wounded when shots fired at army force combing area inside Strip. Earlier, Qassam rocket fired from Gaza towards Negev; no injuries or damage reported
Al Quds al-Arabi reports that PLO, Fatah plan to push for a unilateral abrogation of all Oslo and Road Map commitments, including fighting terror, in response to failed peace talks.
Ban Ki-moon and Catherine Ashton criticize Netanyahu gov't for not "heeding the call of the int'l community" to extend settlement freeze; Barak calls resumption of talks an "urgent necessity."
Fatah: "Great Intifadeh" is Legitimate Right of Palestinians
Ramallah – PNN - A statement released by the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) said that the option of organized popular resistance was the legitimate right of the Palestinian people and that the lessons learned from last “great intifadeh” will guide people against the Israeli occupation and settlements.
The statement commemorated the 23rd anniversary of the beginning of the First Intifadeh in 1987 and the building of national institutions to protect Palestinian national rights. Fatah considers the First Intifadeh a success in bringing the Palestinian issue to the forefront of international concern.
Palestinians should be credited, according to the statement, with bringing the word “intifadeh” into the “the lexicon of humanity.”
The announcement comes on the heels of international recognition by Brazil and Argentina of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
A Qassam rocket exploded Monday evening in an open field near Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported.
A siren was sounded throughout the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council followed by explosive sounds.
Two weeks ago, a false alarm stirred panic in Ashkelon, following months of calm. At first the IDF Spokesperson's Office reported that Palestinians fired a rocket toward Israel, but later it turned out to be a false alarm.
The last genuine alarm in Ashkelon was heard in mid-September, when a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip and exploded in an industrial area in the city's south.
Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen said that the two arson suspects arrested earlier in the day are not linked to the main fire on the Carmel Mountain, at a press conference Friday evening.
Cohen said that investigators have determined that the large fire, which is raging in the Carmel, spread from a single ignition point. He added that the cause of the fire, either arson or negligence, would probably be determined by Saturday.
The police inspector-general said that there were, however, a number of suspected arson attacks in the North, but that the cause of the large Carmel fire was still unknown.
Police have said that additional fires in Kiryat Bialik and Tivon were both caused by arson.
A separate wildfire was reported Friday afternoon in a field near Route 70, in the southern Carmel mountains near Bat Shlomo (south of Haifa). Route 70 was closed to traffic in both directions.
Earlier on Friday, police found a bike, a bag, and a wig inside near a fire center in Tzur Shalom, leading them to believe that the fire was caused by an arsonist or arsonists.
Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Post that there are 3 fire centers - Tzur Shalom, the Atlit - Tirat Hacarmel area, and the Carmel hillsides. In one, Tzur Shalom, north of Haifa, "we located suspicious items pointing to arson. As for the other two major fires, it is too early and the incidents are to large in scale to know their causes at this stage." The death toll in the fires rose to 42 on Friday, according to Army Radio.
Forty people were kiled on Thursday as a huge brushfire continued to rage across the Carmel Mountains in northern Israel, killing and injuring dozens, among them prison guards and firemen.
Some 13,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the north and Israel called for international aid as the fire blazed out of control, fanned by easterly winds following a month of near record temperatures for the time of year.
Students at Princeton University voted on Monday in a referendum organized by a pro-Arab student group. The subject: none other than what brand of hummus should be offered on campus.
The group, Princeton Committee for Palestine, has called for university-run stores to offer alternative brands of hummus, because they claim that the only brand currently available is linked to human rights violations.
The brand is Sabra, which the group claims serves “the occupation” since the company that owns it, Strauss (who co-owns Sabra along with PepsiCo), supports and cares for soldiers from the Golani Brigade. The student group decided to hold the referendum since they think it is ironic that hummus, traditionally an Arab dish, is being marketed by a company which they say is “affiliated with a state allegedly violating Palestinians’ rights.”
Ilya Welfeld, a spokeswoman for Sabra, which has headquarters in New York and Virginia, told AP that Sabra only makes donations in North America and pointed out that none of them are political.
The Princeton Committee for Palestine made the referendum happen by collecting 200 signatures. If their effort is successful and a majority of students vote in favor of expanding the varieties of hummus offered in the school, the student government would have to make a formal request to the school's administration to provide additional brands.
Meanwhile, the Center for the Jewish Life at Princeton sent an e-mail on Monday to Princeton students titled “Warning: Israel impacted by USG referendum.” The e-mail, some of which was quoted by The Daily Princetonian, expressed concern that students may not fully understand the political motivations behind the referendum and encouraged students to “make an informed choice, understanding that the passage of the referendum would allow the referendum’s sponsors to make a strong political statement about Israel.”
The results of the vote are expected on Friday. The referendum was originally scheduled for last week but was rescheduled after the wording inadvertently called for Sabra hummus not to be offered at university stores rather than for additional products to be sold as well.
Fatah rejected control of Gaza even if Israel defeated Hamas http://bit.ly/f4CrmK
The term “peace process” is one I have come to despise. (I hate it even more than “exit strategy”.) This idea that American can find, or impose, some sort of peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians is a fantasy.
Jennifer Rubin says,
If there has been a less competent Middle East negotiating team, I can’t recall it.They aren’t showering themselves in glory, that’s for sure. But I have to ask a deeper question: Why are we Americans even involved in this?
If both the Israelis and Palestinians truly want peace with each other, then they can negotiate an agreement without our help. And if they don’t both want peace, there isn’t anything we can do about the situation. That’s what the last 35 years of futile efforts on our part have shown. So why are we wasting our time like this?
President after president has sent negotiating teams to the two sides, and what have they accomplished? Not a thing. There has been change, but no fundamental improvement, and no peace.
The problem is the Palestinians. Deep down, the only peace they’ll accept is victory, where peace is attained through the destruction of Israel. As long as they continue to feel that way, peace isn’t attainable any other way. (And there’s no reason to believe that the Palestinians will ever gain the military capability to win against Israel.)
The way you’ll know that the Palestinians have finally gotten serious is when they abandon their demand for the “right of return”. As long as that’s one of their requirements for a peace treaty, there will be no peace treaty. It is the one concession Israel can and will never make, for it amounts to voluntary extinction for Israel as it exists now.
Until the Palestinians abandon that demand, negotiation is a waste of time, and American involvement in those negotiations is a fool’s quest.
But, alas, The One has been engaging in a lot of fool’s quests lately.
The Western Wall belongs to Muslims and is an integral part of Al-Aksa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif (the Islamic term for the Temple Mount complex, meaning the Noble Sanctuary), according to an official paper published on Monday by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information in Ramallah.
The paper, which has been presented as a “study,” was prepared by Al-Mutawakel Taha, a senior official with the ministry, to “refute” Jews’ claims to the Western Wall.
In the past, PA leaders and officials have also denied Jewish rights to the Wall, insisting that the Temple Mount never stood in the area.
The new document claims that the Western Wall, or Al- Buraq Wall, as it is known to Muslims, constitutes Waqf property owned by an Algerian- Moroccan Muslim family.
It claims there isn’t one stone in the wall that belongs to the era of King Solomon.
The “study” also contends that the path next to the Western Wall was never a public road, but was established only for the use of Muslims living in the area or making their way toward the mosques on the Temple Mount.
“The Zionist occupation falsely and unjustly claims that it owns this wall, which it calls the Western Wall or Kotel,” Taha, who is also a renowned Palestinian poet and writer, wrote in his project.
“Al-Buraq Wall is in fact the western wall of Al-Aksa Mosque.”
He added that the Jews had never used the site for worship until the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
“This wall was never part of the so-called Temple Mount, but Muslim tolerance allowed the Jews to stand in front of it and weep over its destruction,” he wrote. “During the British mandate in Palestine, the number of Jews who visited the wall increased to a point where the Muslims felt threatened, and then there was the Al-Buraq Revolution on August 23, 1929, where dozens of Muslims were martyred and a large number of Jews were killed.”
Taha was referring to an Arab uprising throughout Palestine over access to the Western Wall during which 133 Jews and 116 Arabs were killed over a few weeks.
The author, who is affiliated with PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, emphasizes that over the past few decades, Jews have failed to prove that the wall has any connection to their religion.
“Many studies published by Jewish experts have affirmed that there is no archeological evidence that the Temple Mount was built during the period of King Solomon,” the paper added. “One can only conclude that Al-Buraq Wall is a Muslim wall and an integral part of the Aksa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif. No one has the right to claim ownership over it or change its features or original character. Also, no one has the right to agree with the occupation state’s racist and oppressive measures against history and holy sites.”
The PA ministry’s study also warned that “no Muslim or Arab or Palestinian had the right to give up one stone of Al-Buraq Wall or other religious sites.”
Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer criticized Saturday a recent U.S. offer to provide Israel with a package of incentives in exchange for an additional 90-day freeze on West Bank settlement construction.
In an article published in the Washington Post, Kurtzer called the proposed deal a reward for Israel's bad behavior and said it was "a very bad idea."
"Washington will almost certainly come to regret bribing Israel, Israel may regret receiving such a bribe even more," Kurtzer wrote.
The proposed U.S. incentives package offered to Israel includes a U.S. undertaking not to request a further extension of the freeze following its expiration, and to veto any attempt by the Palestinians to win recognition by the United Nations of their state unilaterally.
The Obama administration would also ask Congress to approve the sale of 20 F-35 warplanes to Israel and, should there be a peace deal with the Palestinians, guarantee its wider security needs. These would supplement the 20 F-35 warplanes Israel already plans to buy using money from annual grants it receives from Washington.
"Previously, U.S. opposition to settlements resulted in penalties, not rewards, for continued construction. Washington deducted from its loan guarantees to Israel an amount equivalent, dollar for dollar, to the money that Israel spent in the occupied territories," said Kurtzer.
Kurtzer added that if the deal went through, it would create a dangerous precedent in U.S. foreign relations.
"It is not clear that Washington has thought through the implications. Will the United States similarly reward Palestinians for stopping their own bad behavior?"
Moreover, said Kurtzer, the agreement is problematic for Israel as well, and "by subjecting Israel's defense needs to the political demands of an American administration, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has done something quite dangerous for Israel - he has made those needs contingent, negotiable, optional."
"Israel's security requirements are now merely a bargaining chip with which to negotiate what Jerusalem will or will not do to advance the peace process."
Witnesses report three Palestinians injured as Air Force bombs targets in Strip in response to four phosphorous shells, three mortars fired at Negev. Army of Islam members go into hiding. PRC: Rocket fire a response to 'Israel's crimes'
Palestinian sources reported that the Air Force bombed two targets in the Gaza Strip Friday afternoon, after four phosphorous bombs were launched into Israel along with three mortar shells.
The IDF remarked later that warplanes had bombed three targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the fire on Israel, and that direct hits had been identified. "The IDF sees the Hamas terror organization as solely responsible for all that occurs in Gaza and for keeping the peace there," the army said in a statement.
Three of the shells hit open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council, and the other four - fired an hour later - landed in open areas in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
A US government report released Wednesday said that China "hijacked" and routed through their own servers, highly sensitive government and military websites earlier this year, AFP reported.
According to the report, the Asian giant hijacked 15 percent of the world's Internet traffic for 18 minutes this past April.
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ghailani was found not guilty of all but one charge Wednesday by a federal jury in New York.
Ghailani was acquitted on 224 murder charges in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was found guilty for only one charge of conspiracy to destroy government buildings.
Ghailani faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and a possible life sentence. He will remain in custody and sentencing will take place at a future date.
The acquittal is seen as a major blow to the U.S. government, as Ghailani was the first former Gitmo detainee to be tried in a civilian courtroom.
The judge had earlier decided that a star witness would not be allowed to testify because of coercive techniques that were used to get the witness' name from Ghailani. It is unknown what effect this witness would have had on the case.
Defense attorneys claimed Ghailani is an innocent “dupe,” who had no idea he was assisting Al Qaeda operatives in their deadly plot.
A senior intelligence official warned Sunday that Hamas in the Gaza Strip have rockets that can travel 80 kilometers (50 miles) — a longer range than previously reported, which would put Tel Aviv within range of its launchers.
The official blamed Egypt, saying it was not doing enough to stem smuggling through a network of tunnels along the relatively short border between its Sinai desert and the Palestinian territory. An Egyptian security official reached for comment maintained that Egypt was combating the smuggling successfully.
The United States has offered Israel a package of incentives to reinstate a freeze on West Bank settlement construction.
The package of incentives includes American commitments to fight against efforts to delegitimize Israel.
The security cabinet met Saturday night in Jerusalem to be updated on Netanyahu's talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Thursday in New York.
According to "The Cable" blog, White House Middle East adviser Dan Shapiro told a group of American Jewish leaders on Friday that the incentives package includes commitments to oppose anti-Israel diplomatic efforts in the international arena.
The U.S. incentives package would include: curbing actions by the United Nations on the Goldstone Report; blocking anti-Israel UN resolutions concerning the Gaza flotilla raid; defeating international resolutions aimed at exposing Israel's nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency; and strengthening pressure on Iran and Syria in regards to their nuclear and proliferation activities.
U.S.-sponsored direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority broke down on September 26 when a 10-month Israeli freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank expired. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would not restart negotiations with Israel while settlement construction continues.
The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday criticized as “completely inappropriate and offensive” remarks by Glenn Beck on his radio and television programs, in which he drew a link between the behavior of US Jewish billionaire investor George Soros as a young boy and the actions of others in sending Jews to death camps during the Holocaust.
On his October 10 radio show, Beck described how Soros, who was born in Hungary to Orthodox Jewish parents, “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.”
ADL national director Abe Foxman released a statement slamming the Fox News commentator's criticism of Soros.
"Glenn Beck’s description of George Soros’s actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top. For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say – inaccurately – that there’s a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, that’s horrific," said Foxman.
Foxman, a holocaust survivor, added that while he too sometimes disagrees with Soros, known for his support of left-wing causes and occasional criticism of Israel, Beck's comments were unacceptable.
"To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant. The Holocaust was a horrific time, and many people had to make excruciating choices to ensure their survival. George Soros has been forthright about his childhood experiences and his family’s history, and there the matter should rest," added Foxman.
U.S. President Barack Obama cautioned Tuesday that Israel's plan to construct 1,300 new homes in East Jerusalem could obstruct the pursuit of peace in the Middle East.
"This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations," said Obama, adding that he was concerned Israel and Palestinian were not making enough of an effort to advance peace negotiations.
"Jerusalem is not a settlement, it is the capitol of Israel," the office of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday in a sharp response to international criticism to advance plans for 1,345 homes in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.
The government never agreed to place any restrictions on construction in Jerusalem, which has 800,000 residents, the prime minister's office said in a statement it issued while Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was in New York.
In speech against anti-Semitism, Canadian PM Harper suggests his country did not secure seat at UN Security Council due to its failure to 'go along with this anti-Israel rhetoric'
IAF aircraft struck two targets in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, according to a statement released by IDF spokesperson.
The airstrike came in response to Kassam rockets fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, according to the statement.
The statement added that the IDF holds Hamas responsible for the rocket fire from Gaza.
Former IDF deputy chief of staff Dan Harel told Channel 2 in an interview on Saturday that the manner in which Israel undertook the disengagement from Gaza was a mistake.
Harel justified Israel's territorial withdrawal from the Strip during the interview saying, "I'm not surprised that the Hamas's power increased after disengagement." He continued, "In the past, I called [Gaza] Hamastan, today I say it is the epitome of Iran. There are 1.5 million Arabs in the Strip, and the question is do we want to be there or not - I, as a citizen, think we don't need to be there."
However, Harel acknowledged that the manner in which the Israeli government undertook the disengagement did not bring the desired results.
"Based on past experience, unilateral steps like [the Gaza Disengagement] are mistakes," he added.
A senior Hamas official reported a military buildup in the Gaza Strip despite the assessment that war with the Jewish state was not imminent.
"I am convinced that we will prevail in this war," Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad said.
This marked the second warning of a Hamas war against Israel within a week. In late October, Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar also reported preparations for a conflict.
In a Nov. 1 interview with the Saudi-owned Al Hayat daily, Hamad, regarded as the second most powerful man in the Hamas regime, said Israel was not likely to attack the Gaza Strip in the near term. He said Israel was fearful of an international backlash.
"We are not afraid of war and expect that the war will come, but the international situation is not suitable for war right now," Hamad said.
In January 2009, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in a failed effort to stop Hamas rocket fire. Hamad, in the first such admission, said at least 400 Hamas fighters were killed in the 23-day war, 150 of them classified as police and security personnel.
"On the first day of the war, Israel targeted police stations and 250 people were martyred," Hamad said. "This was in addition to about 200 to 300 others from the [Hamas military wing] Izzedin Kassam Brigades."
Hamas was said to have been focusing on developing and training on new missiles and rockets. In late October, Nigeria seized an Iranian mortar and rocket shipment said to have been destined for the Gaza Strip.
"What concerns us is how to use weapons and develop security and support," Hamad said.
U.S. Consul-General in Jerusalem, Daniel Rubinstein, met Monday with a delegation of hi-tech businessmen from Hamas-controlled Gaza. The businessmen told a Palestinian Authority news agency after the meeting that they discussed ways of exporting hi-tech products to the United States.
Such exports would circumvent the Israeli closure on Gaza, which includes a ban on most exports as a way to weaken the Hamas government. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told Israel National News that the "export of flowers and some other items" is allowed and that decisions on allowing other goods have not been made.
The meeting itself and the discussion of exports to the United States, if the subject was indeed discussed, could be seen as messages of appeasement toward the Gaza regime, which would have had to approve the meeting.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague will on Wednesday meet with a group of Palestinian campaigners against Israel's West Bank barrier as part of a tour of Jerusalem.
Hague, a rightwing Conservative minister in the United Kingdom's coalition government, was scheduled to arrive in Israel late Tuesday for a trip for secret roundtable discussions on the Iranian nuclear program with a long list top Israeli officials.
But the former Conservative party leader will also take time to meet Palestinian in East Jerusalem with activists who take part in regular protests at Bil'in, the site of weekly demonstrations against the barrier, which have often turned violent.
He will also meet other Palestinian activists in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, a regular flashpoint in confrontations between local Arab residents and Jewish settlers.
Foreign ministry sources said Hague's schedule had raised eyebrows among Israel's diplomats, but that they a decision had been made to refrain from any public criticism.
Hague's tour is the latest in a series of British diplomatic gestures that signal the U.K.'s opposition to the barrier. Two weeks ago the British embassy in Tel Aviv lodged an official protest with the government over the sentencing to a year in jail of Abdullah, Abu Rahma, a leader of the Bil'in protests, and British diplomats attended all of Rahma's court appearances.
The foreign secretary's visit comes at a time when Israel seems increasingly unable to count on the support of the U.K., a traditional ally.
An aide to Vice President Biden says the VP was *not* urging Democrats to sit out the election by saying they may as well vote Republican when he was on a Cleveland radio station Tuesday, but only was saying if Republicans take control of Congress it would mean a return to policies of the Bush administration.
In a radio interview Tuesday afternoon, Biden reportedly told a WENZ in Cleveland, OH "Don't vote, or vote Republican" but Biden's aide says the VP did not mean for people to stay home on election day. Both Biden and President Obama have done a number of radio interviews in the past few days, urging people to get out and vote Tuesday.
Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/02/biden-says-don-t-vote-or-vote-republican-radio-interview-white-house-clarifies#ixzz14BCQGXgi
For the first time, Israel will offer the Merkava Mark 4 tank and the Tiger APC for sale. Both will be sold only to friendly countries, and under strict supervision.
In addition, all sales will be coordinated with the United States. The U.S. funds some components of the tank, as well as other Israeli defense projects.
Ministry of Defense Director-General Udi Shani said the decision to offer the tanks for sale to allies was “a strategic decision” driven by the need for income to cover military costs. Experts believe sales could bring in $400 million annually.
In the past, Israel has sold Merkava technologies for use with other types of tanks.
The Merkava Mark 4 was unveiled for the first time in an defense conference in Paris several months ago. Many details about the tank remain classified, including its cost and the number of units produced.
Details of the Tiger's build are secret as well. The Tiger uses a Merkava hull, but acts as a personnel carrier. Many of its components were designed after the Second Lebanon War, and reflect the lessons learned in battle with Hizbullah.
Reporting from Baghdad —
Militants unleashed a wave of deadly attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 110 people in Shiite neighborhoods, authorities said, in an apparent bid to provoke a new sectarian war in the country.
At least 17 car bombs and other blasts shook the city at sunset in one of the bloodiest days this year. The coordinated attacks, which bore the hallmarks of the Sunni Arab militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq, came just 48 hours after 58 people died when armed men seized a Baghdad church.
"The new Qaeda has started its work again in Iraq," a senior Iraqi security commander warned, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The situation is very bad."
Each deadly incident, whether a fatal shooting or a major explosion, fuels foreboding that Iraq could once more fall apart as the American military presence dwindles and the nation stands without a new government eight months after national elections. The senior commander cautioned that Iraq's political deadlock was tempting disaster.
Military expects reformed Palestinian Authority legal system to charge Hamas operatives, suspected of perpetrating shooting attack on two Israelis, with attempted murder.
In what some view as a test of the Palestinian Authority’s newly reformed legal system, the IDF is waiting to see what charges the PA brings against the alleged perpetrators of a recent shooting in the West Bank.
Rabbi Moshe and Shira Moreno were wounded on September 8 as they drove near the Rimonim junction, halfway between Ramallah and Jericho and about 15 minutes north of the capital.
The attack came a day after four Israelis were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Beit Hagai settlement in the South Hebron Hills.
Several days after the Morenos were shot, Palestinian security forces claimed to have arrested two suspects, both Hamas operatives, from Silwad, a Hamas stronghold about 9 km. northwest of the Rimonim junction and the birthplace of the terrorist group’s Damascus-based leader, Khaled Mashaal.
The arrests were carried out by the PA, The Jerusalem Post has learned, after the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) hit a dead end in their investigation.
“The question now is how the PA will charge the shooters,” one defense official said on Monday. “We would like to see them charged with attempted murder, and this will be a real test of the PA and its reformed legal system.”
Crates of weapons including rocket launchers and mortars seized in Nigeria this week were loaded in Iran by a local trader, the company which shipped the containers said on Saturday.
French-based shipping group CMA CGM said it had been the victim of a false cargo declaration and that the weapons and ammunitions were in sealed containers which had been declared as "packages of glass wool and pallets of stone".
Nigeria's secret service intercepted the 13 containers in the country's main port of Lagos - one of Africa's busiest - this week and said it found rocket launchers, grenades and other explosives and ammunition.
"The shipment in question was booked as a 'shipper's owned container' and supplied loaded and sealed by the shipper, an Iranian trader who does not appear on any 'forbidden persons' listing," CMA CGM said in a statement.
"The containers were loaded in Bandar Abbas and discharged in Lagos in July," it said, adding it was cooperating fully with local and international agencies investigating the shipment.
Israeli media reports, citing Israeli defence officials, have suggested the weapons may have been destined for Hamas Islamists in Gaza and that a new smuggling route was being tested. Israel's foreign ministry has declined to comment.
Israel says its arch-foe Iran bankrolls attempts to ship weapons to the Gaza Strip by sea or land routes. Iran says its support for Hamas is diplomatic only.
The Iranian embassy in Nigeria said it may issue a statement on the arms seizure in the coming days.
Five mortar shells were fired from northern Gaza at southern Israel Monday.
Two shells landed in open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council, while three others exploded in Palestinian territory. No injuries or damage were reported.
Several mortar shells have been fired at the western Negev. Sunday saw three mortars hit Eshkol Regional Council, luckily causing no harm.
Mortar shells were also fired at Israel over the weekend, causing no harm.
For centuries, practitioners of the Druze religion took care not to reveal any information about the nature of their beliefs, rituals, and traditions. Under penalty of communal ostracism, or worse, members of Druze communities have refrained from telling any outsider more than basic details about their religion.
But now, the secret is out. Druze MK Ayoub Kara (Likud) says members of the Druze communities believe in many of the same things that Jews do. And that's not surprising, he adds, since the Druze are actually descended from the Jewish people - and he says he can bring genetic evidence to prove it.
According to Kara, who is politically allied with the Jewish nationalist camp, there are many aspects of Druze beliefs that mesh with Judaism: “All our prophets are Jewish ones – Moses, Judah, Jethro, and Zevulun, the son of Jacob.” In fact, he says, the Druze are likely one of the lost tribes of the Jewish people – probably Zevulun, considering his special status among them.
According to Kara, there are no vestigial Jewish practices among the Druze – as there are, surprisingly, among some Arabs in the Land of Israel – but one symbol has stuck with the Druze throughout the centuries. “Only among Druze do you find a red Star of David, in homes, cemeteries, and places of worship,” Kara says. “This is one sign that has been open and visible for centuries, unlike most of the other ones, yet few have noticed.”
If the Druze dropped most, if not all, Jewish ritual, it's because they feared the sword of Islam. “Unlike Jews and Christians, who have the status of “people of the Book” among Muslims, and are therefore are given some basic rights, Druze are simply heretics to Islam, and such heretics must be either converted or eliminated,” Kara explains. In fact, Druze were massacred by Muslims on several occasions, and “it would have been much worse if they had identified themselves as Jews.” As a result, the Druze initially converted to Christianity and subsequently took on a Muslim identity – but through it all, they never forgot their Jewish identity.
Those roots explain, at least in part, the fierce loyalty the Druze in Israel have to the state. “However, Druze here are too fearful to loudly proclaim their sympathies with Israel, or to convert to Judaism, although some do – because of the fear of what might happen to their brethren in Syria and Lebanon,” Kara said. Druze soldiers have given their lives for Israel and have risen high in IDF ranks. However, Druze tradition is to be loyal to whatever country rules the area they live in, so that Druze in Syria are loyal to Syria.
And then there is the genetic study, which shows that Druze display genetic attributes quite similar to those of Jews (see the study for the technical details). “A major genetic test from last year, the first extensive test done of the Druze, proves my contention clearly,” says Kara.
Not all experts are convinced – at least not yet. Tsvi MiSinai, an Israeli author who has conducted extensive investigations into the cultural and genetic background of the Arabs living west of the Jordan River, and who has concluded that the vast majority of them are descended from the Jewish nation, believes that more study is necessary. “According to the study, the genetic cluster of Druze coincides closely with those of the Samaritans, and is very close to the genetic clusters of Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Jews from the Caucasus,” says MiSinai, author of an ambitious study on “Jewish nationhood” called “Brother Shall Not Lift Sword Against Brother.”
While the evidence so far is persuasive, MiSinai wants to see more. “We know from history that there were definitely Jewish villages that became part of the Druze community, mostly to avoid being forced to convert to Islam, such as the residents of the villages of Abu Snein and Yarcha. If the genetic samples were taken from there, it doesn't say much about the rest of the Druze. I would want to see more of an in-depth study,” MiSinai says.
Kara says that his evidence stands on its own merits. “For thousands of years the Druze suffered,” he said, “so it's understandable that they would be a little hesitant to come forward after only 60 years of Israel's existence. But when you check our beliefs – and our veneration of the great Jewish prophets – the matter should become clear.”
Israel's aerial freedom has been compromised by new weaponry in Gaza, presumably smuggled through tunnels connected to Egypt, PM tells Likud members for the first time.
Ramallah: The lack of an extension on a moratorium on colony construction by Israel has helped improve the relationship between Fatah and Hamas, given that the Palestinian National Authority is now looking for alternatives to the peace talks to move forward.
One option is to unite Palestinian political views in opposition to the Israeli government, to give it a stronger position in any future negotiations.
And reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah look likely to continue in spite of the ongoing uncertainty about the peace process. This was made clear in statements released by Hamas earlier this week.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told former minister Yossi Beilin on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar Assad recognizes Israel and is willing to try and influence Hamas in this regard.
During their meeting in Stockholm, Bildt quoted Assad as saying that Syria "officially recognizes Israel, and this acknowledgment is part of the negotiations between the two countries."
According to the Swedish FM, the Syrian leader said he intends to convince Hamas to follow suit. Assad also said he believes the fact that Hamas' politburo is based in Damascus will help.
According to Bildt, Assad reiterated his desire to resume peace talks with Israel under Turkey's mediation. The Swedish FM told Beilin that Assad appears sincere in his intention to reach an agreement.
The European Jewish Congress (EJC) claimed that certain European Jewish communities are in serious danger after a recent wave of anti-Semitism, according to a statement released by the organization Thursday.
The statement gave a recent example of a respected and government-funded Catholic school in Antwerp that hosted a ‘Palestine Day’, which was replete with anti-Semitic references and activities for youngsters.
One stall at the event was titled “Throw the soldiers into the sea” where children were invited to throw replicas of Jewish and Israeli soldiers into two large tanks, the organization highlighted.
The EJC, which is the democratically elected representative umbrella organization of European Jewry, is calling on European governments and the European Union to launch a campaign against intolerance and anti-Semitism, so to remind European citizens that the new Europe was established after the Second World War on the concept of “Never Again.”
A number of examples of anti-Semitsm in Europe were highlighted by the EJC in an attempt to bring the issue to the attention of decison makers in Europe.
Another one of the examples highlighted by the organization involved anti-Semitism experienced in the Malmo Jewish community. An event organized for children of the Jewish community was disrupted after gang of thugs shouted “Heil Hitler” and “Jewish pigs.”
Newly elected mayor of the Swedish city, Ilmar Reepalu, considered the rise in anti-Semitsm an understandable consequence of the Israel-Palestine conflict and claimed “we accept neither Zionism nor anti-Semitism,” equating Jewish national self-determination with hate and racism.
In response to the rise in anti-Semitsm Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the EJC said “small Jewish communities are facing a situation where they are being physically, verbally and psychologically threatened by fundamentalist elements and their extreme left-wing cohorts on one side and the far-right neo-Nazis on the other.”
“If they can’t receive protection or respite from mainstream officials then we are entering a very dark period for the Jews in Europe,” Kantor continued.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran arrived here Wednesday morning to an ecstatic welcome by supporters of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement that is backed by Iran. Thousands of cheering supporters thronged the road that leads from Beirut’s airport to the city, waving Iranian flags and chanting greetings in Farsi as Mr. Ahmadinejad’s convoy slowly passed.
The Iranian president’s first state visit here since he was elected in 2005 came at a time of rising tension in Lebanon. Hezbollah and its allies have been waging a campaign against the international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of the former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, which is expected to indict several of the group’s members. Hezbollah and its allies have warned of disastrous consequences if that happens, and have pressured their political rivals to publicly disavow the tribunal.
American officials voiced their disapproval last week of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s visit, which underscores Tehran’s powerful role in Lebanon. After his arrival, Mr. Ahmadinejad appeared at a news conference with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to announce a number of bilateral agreements on energy, trade and other issues. Iran, which has long provided arms and training to Hezbollah, has also offered to help equip the Lebanese Army, which has in recent years received support and training from the United States.
Mr. Ahmadinejad was to appear later on Wednesday at a rally organized by Hezbollah, and to visit Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Lebanon on Thursday to highlight Iranian support for the group’s armed struggle with Israel.
Have American Jews given up on US President Barack Obama? Senior members of the US Jewish community have spoken up against Obama's foreign policy regarding Israel, and in what is considered a rarity, have said that should he continue on his current path, they will stop their contributions to the Democratic Party.
Since taking office, it seems as if Obama has lost ground across every sector in the United States, but throughout, he has always enjoyed wide-scale support from US Jews.
Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the Huffington Post that although the US president enjoyed a 78% support rate among American Jews at the time of his election, he has now lost about a third.
According to the report, the Obama administration has annoyed Jewish leaders to the point where they are thinking of sitting out the 2010 election. Federal Election Commission records show contributions to Democratic candidates from the financial sector, where Jews hold important positions, are down 65% from two years ago.
"I started breaking with Obama ten months ago," Martin Peretz, editor in chief of The New Republic, told the Huffington Post, "And I know that a lot of West Coast Jews are also having buyer's remorse."
Hollywood billionaire Haim Saban echoed the sentiment: "The assumption on the part of the Obama administration is that because Jews are liberals, they simply will not vote for Republicans.
"Obama can invite the ten most prolific Jewish campaign bundlers to the White House for a discussion, and give a wonderful speech, and he'll think that this may resolve all his problems with American Jews. And it may – or it may not."
Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, has voiced his policy concerns to Obama directly. Foxman later said that when the two met, he told the US president that while he agreed with his overall Middle East agenda, the perception was that he was lashing out solely at Israel and exempting the Arabs.
While Obama refuted Foxman's premise, the latter said he still left the meeting feeling that the White House's new strategy was "dangerous."
The Obama administration, said Foxman, believes that if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, the wolf and the lamb shall dwell together and all will be well. To that end, all of his advisors are telling him that he should break away from his predecessors' policies and prove to the Arabs and the Muslims that he is different, that he can distance himself from Israel.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salem Fayyad responded harshly to the IDF's killing of two Hamas terrorists on Friday.
"The path to peace does not come by way of killing our citizens, harming them, establishing settlements or the terror of settlers," said Fayyad.
Earlier on Friday, Hamas's military-wing threatened revenge for the IDF's attack in Hebron that killed a senior Hamas operative an another Hamas activist in the city responsible for a recent deadly terror attack against Israelis.
Gaza eyewitnesses say vehicle hit by one missile launched from Israeli aircraft; strike comes hours after IAF hit Hamas targets in the coastal enclave.
Israeli aircraft struck a car traveling south of Gaza City late Thursday afternoon, wounding three people, Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said.
According to Palestinian witnesses, the Golf car was hit by one missile. Medical officials confirmed the three people injured in the strike were taken to a hospital in the centre of the Gaza Strip.
The report was not confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces.
The reported strike came hours after Israeli aircraft hit targets belonging to Hamas in an overnight raid on the enclave.
The Israeli raids were in retaliation for rocket attacks that had been launched from the salient on southern Israel, causing no injuries.
According to the Israeli military spokesman's office, a total of 165 rockets and mortars have been launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel so far this year.
Palestinian terrorists in northern Gaza fired two Qassams towards Israeli territory Wednesday afternoon. There were no reports of injury or damage.
One of the rockets landed in an open area in the Negev's Eshkol Regional Council, while the other landed near the security fence separating Israel and Gaza. The "Color Red" siren was not heard before either explosion.
Eshkol Regional Council head Haim Yalin linked the attacks to the recently launched peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. "It is obvious that if the peace talks continue and Hamas finds itself with its back against the wall, the attacks will intensify."
"The[y (sic)] only speak the language of rockets," he added.
On Friday a Qassam landed in an open area in the western Negev, causing no injuries or damage.
Israel, one of the world's leading makers of unmanned aircraft, unveiled today a new, small drone that can hover like a helicopter and fly like an airplane.
Israel Aerospace Industries debuted its Panther unmanned aerial vehicle in Israel, touting its ability to take off without a runway and then fly for up to six hours. "An intriguing option is the Panther's ability to hover or land quietly in enemy territory, conduct surveillance like a ground sensor and then take off again," industry magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology reported.
Like the American V-22 Osprey, the Panther is a tilt-rotor, meaning it has rotors mounted on the end of its wings that can rotate and allow the aircraft to transition between hovering and fixed-wing flight. This gives the aircraft the ability to take off like a helicopter without the need for a runway, but then fly like fixed-wing aircraft.
As an unmanned aircraft, however, the Panther is much smaller than the V-22 Osprey, which is designed for transporting troops. The Panther weighs in at just over 140 pounds and is designed for spying rather than transporting.
Israel Aerospace Industries is expected to display the aircraft later this month at a U.S. Army trade show to be held in Washington. The company says that special forces in other countries are interested in buying the vehicle, according to Flight International.
Last Wednesday, the same day the Center for Security Policy called for the firing of counterterrorism czar John Brennan for gross ignorance and incompetence for failing to understand the threat from Islamic jihadis, the FBI’s Headquarters (FBIHQ) and the FBI’s Chicago Field Office were caught between revealing their complete incompetence, and engaging in what one government official called “an act of treason” by defending a senior Hamas operative.
Two days prior to this, investigative reporter and expert on the Islamic movement Patrick Poole first detailed how the FBI invited and allowed Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, a known Hamas operative, to attend the FBI’s Citizen’s Academy, a six-week program giving Americans an insight into the FBI and the U.S. government.
As a part of this program, Mustapha was given a tour of FBI Headquarters, the FBI training academy in Quantico, Va., the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and other government spaces. Poole followed that article up with detailed accounts of Musatapha and the FBI’s reaction to this story.
Mustapha is an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history (U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation), where Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and its leadership were proven to be Hamas. Mustapha was previously a top official at HLF.
A senior government official told Poole that Mustapha’s name and details of his Hamas affiliation are in FBI and NCTC systems (watch-lists), raising the obvious question: How could this happen?
Hamas, by the way, is a terrorist organization, created out of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood.
FBI officials at FBIHQ and the Chicago Field Office called the allegations that Mustapha was even present at NCTC “fabricated” despite a photograph of him taken with the NCTC logo in the background. Numerous calls to the FBI by citizens and reporters last week revealed the FBI was scrambling to get their story straight. By the end of Wednesday, the FBI’s press office in Chicago was not only admitting the veracity of the report, it was defending Kifah Mustapha as an upstanding citizen with whom they worked closely.
The FBI confirmed Mustapha attended the Citizen’s Academy and was given access to numerous government facilities that included FBIHQ, NCTC, and the FBI Training Academy in Quantico. The media representative at the FBI Chicago office vigorously defended supporting Mustapha by saying he had never been convicted of a crime, thus he warrants access to sensitive government spaces. Former chief for counterterrorism investigations at the New York U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote on this incident, as did Bill Gertz of the Washington Times.
Former British lawmaker George Galloway has vowed to sue the Canadian government over invasion of privacy.
Speaking Sunday at a Toronto church to several hundred supporters, Galloway claimed his privacy was violated last year after he was banned by Canada's pro-Israel government because officials in Ottawa alerted British newspapers in March 2009 that he would be denied entry because he supports the terrorist Palestinian organization Hamas.
Canada's Federal Court ruled last week that the approach was improper.
Branding Galloway a Hamas supporter because he once delivered an aid convoy and cash to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip was unfairly motivated by "antipathy to his political views," the court said, and showed "a flawed and overreaching interpretation of the standards under Canadian law for labeling someone as engaging in terrorism or being a member of a terrorist organization."
The court said Ottawa acted against Galloway despite a recommendation from Canada's spy agency that he did not constitute a threat.
Following a lengthy interview by immigration officials over the weekend, Galloway was permitted to enter Canada.
At the Toronto church, Galloway repeated his oft-aired views that Jerusalem is being "ethnically cleansed" of Christian Arabs and Muslims, and that Palestinians see their former homes being "enjoyed by foreigners."
Canada, he said, is now seen as "no more than an embassy for [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu," and "a trumpet for the most extreme Israeli politicians."
Galloway also called for a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem.
Another harsh critic of Israel, Norman Finkelstein, is planning several cross-country speaking engagements in Canada later this month.
Norwegian paper 'Aftenposten' claims 1992 rescue operation could have jeopardized Norway's role in UN if had been discovered at time.
Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten published a report on Monday claiming that Norwegian UN soldiers helped to rescue two Lebanese prisoners who escaped from the Khiam prison in southern Lebanon in 1992.
The Aftenposten report claimed that the prison was Mossad-controlled.
The rescue operation could have jeopardized Norway's role in the UN if it had been discovered at the time, the report suggested.
According to the Norwegian report, author Odd Karsten Tveit describes the rescue operation of the two prisoners in his new book and says that it all happened in the deepest of secrecy.
The prisoners, who found themselves in Norwegian custody in southern Lebanon, could have been taken prisoner, tortured and possibly killed, the Aftenposten report claimed.
The report described how the rescue operation was carried out, claiming that the Lebanese prisoners dressed up in the Norwegian uniform jackets and UN helmets.
During the operation the prisoners were placed in a Norwegian armored vehicles which raced past Israeli soldiers and Lebanese militiamen who were searching for the men, Aftenposten put forward in its report.
Despite the sensitivity of the issue, the report suggests that UNIFIL, the UN force in Lebanon, was not informed of the operation.
Givati infantrymen found guilty of overstepping authority by ordering Palestinian boy to open suspicious bag during Operation Cast Lead.
Two Givati Brigade infantrymen on Sunday were convicted of overstepping authority to the point of endangering human life and inappropriate behavior during Operation Cast Lead in 2009.
The Sourthern Command Military Prosecutor’s Office decided that the soldiers acted inappropriately when they ordered a Palestinian boy to open bags suspected of containing bombs during the Gaza operation last year.
Last night, I wrote about President Obama's desperate attempt to induce Israel to extend by just two more months its building moratorium. Based on the information available to me then, I said that, in exchange for this short extension, Obama offered Israel the following assurances: (1) that Washington will not ask for a moratorium extension beyond 60 days, (2) that the United States will veto any U.N. Security Council initiative -- Arab or otherwise -- relating to Arab-Israeli peace during the agreed one-year negotiating period, and (3) that Washington will accept the legitimacy of existing Israeli security needs and not seek to redefine them.
I argued that assurances (1) and (2) didn't amount to much and that assurance (3) amounts to something only because Obama views Israel's security needs as negotiable. That view shows that he is is not a legitimate intermediary.
It has since been reported that Washington offered Israel additional incentives to extend the moratorium. They include support for Israel's demand that any Israeli-Palestinian deal include a long-term Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley; additional military aid and advanced weaponry; and stringent measures to halt arms smuggling.
These are genuine goodies and, in the abstract, seemingly are worth a two month extension. But as Evelyn Gordon points out, Obama's past actions show that he "views presidential promises to Israel as made to be broken." When Israel left Gaza, it received an oral promise from President Bush that the U.S. would not oppose continued building in the settlement blocs. But when Obama took office, he denied the oral pledge's existence. He has also failed to take seriously some of the written promises Bush made, such as demanding an end to PA incitement.
As to the latest "assurances," Israel might well believe that, because peace talks are destined to go nowhere, Obama's promises about what a peace deal must include are meaningless. And Israel is well advised to believe that, when the talks fail to progress, Obama will feel no compunction about reneging on his promises with respect to advanced weapons sales, measures to halt arms smuggling, etc.
Obama's chickens seem to be coming home to roost.
Thus, it is quite sensible for Israel to reject Obama's desperate offer and undertake much needed construction without further delay.
