US joins PA, UN in slamming outpost plans

By TOVAH LAZAROFF 02/23/2012 00:55

Civil Administration set to retroactively authorize outpost, Shiloh settlement homes; US says move is unhelpful.

By Marc Israel Sellem

The United States, the Palestinian Authority and the UN on Wednesday condemned Israeli plans to authorize the Shvut Rachel outpost and 180 homes in the Shiloh settlement.

Both adjacent communities are located in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.

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US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said continued settlement activity harmed peace prospects, when quizzed by reporters at the daily press briefing in Washington. He added that he had not known of the Shiloh plans.

“We don’t believe in any way constructive to getting both sides back to the negotiating table,” Toner said.

“We want to see, clearly, a comprehensive settlement that delineates borders and resolves many of these issues,” he added.

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat slammed the Shiloh plans in an interview from Cairo with Voice of Palestine radio.

"Once again the Israeli government has chosen settlement expansion over peace,” Erekat said.

Israel is responsible for dooming the efforts of the international community to advance the peace process, he said.

“We call on the international community and in particular the Quartet to hold Israel accountable ,” Erekat said.

He made his statements after the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria’s Higher Planning Council on Wednesday advanced zoning plans for Shiloh and Shvut Rachel.

The settlement was founded in 1979 and is home to 2,200 people. But according to Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, 180 homes in the settlement are unauthorized.

In addition, Ofran said, there are 93 unauthorized homes in the adjacent Shvut Rachel outpost, which was founded in 1991.

Final approval of a zoning plan for both for the settlement and the outpost would retroactively legalize all existing homes in the two communities.

In 2011, Peace Now filed separate petitions against what it called "illegal" construction in Shiloh and Shvut Rachel.

The petition did not address then-completed structures, but rather foundations that had been laid for 20 new housing units in Shvut Rachel and 28 in Shiloh, according to Ofran.

In the interim, the Shiloh homes have been completed, she said. In November, the state said that it planned to retroactively legalize those homes and the ones in Shvut Rachel through the approval of proper zoning plans.

The Defense Ministry’s settlement adviser, Eitan Broshi, said that the Higher Planning Council’s actions on Wednesday were part of that process.

He clarified that the council’s actions on Wednesday moved the plans to the next level in the bureaucratic process, but that it could still take several months before the plans received final approval.

Broshi took issue with Peace Now’s designation of the construction as illegal, and with the description of Shvut Rachel as an outpost, although it was classified as such in the report which attorney Talia Sasson presented to the government in 2005.

“Shvut Rachel is a neighborhood of the Shiloh settlement,” he said.

The new zoning plan, he said, corrects a technical problem for homes in Shiloh, including in the Shvut Rachel neighborhood, that do not have all the proper paperwork.

All the homes in question were built on state land and should be authorized, Broshi said.

But Peace Now has said that authorization of Shvut Rachel would be tantamount to the creation of a new settlement, breaking a pledge by Israel to the international community.

Peace Now also objects to the zoning plan, which zones the area for an additional 515 new homes in Shiloh and Shvut Rachel.

If these homes are authorized, it would double the size of both communities, Ofran said.

“The government is giving a prize to building violators and continuing the system by which every time the settlers build without permits, the government approves the construction and allows them even more construction,” Peace Now said.

“ Netanyahu is burying the two-state solution and turning an illegal outpost into a settlement with thousands of residents deep in the West Bank,” Peace Now said.

But Broshi said that approval of the zoning plane would not authorize new construction.

Additional Defense Ministry approvals were needed to advance any new construction outlined in the zoning plans, he said.

He stressed that that authorization of the zoning plans affected only those homes that had already been built or for which foundations had already been laid.

The Palestinians oppose all Israeli settlement activity, and insist that they will only engage in direct, formal negotiations with Israel if it halts Jewish building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Israel has called for direct talks without pre-conditions.

But Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said, said that the Shiloh plans were “deplorable and move us further away from the goal of a two-state solution.”

He noted that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon had chastised Israel for such activity during his visit earlier this month.

“The secretary-general reiterated the UN’s well-known position that settlement activity is illegal, contrary to Israel’s obligations under the road map and will not be recognized by the international community.”

Iran Moves Warplanes to Protect Nuclear Sites

Iran moved warplanes to protect its nuclear sites and started a 4-day exercise on the same day IAEA inspectors arrive for talks.

By Gavriel Queenann

First Publish: 2/22/2012, 5:23 PM

A-Jad Goes Nuclear

Reuters

Iran announced Monday it had deployed warplanes and missiles in an ‘exercise' to protect its nuclear sites from attack.

Tehran also warned it could cut oil exports to more European Union nations unless sanctions were lifted. On Sunday, Iran cut oil sales to Britain and France.

French foreign minister Alain Juppe responded by mocking Iran, saying Tehran's threats "made one smile." He added that Iran was "very creative" in its attempts to "provoke" its fellow nations.

The European Union had already voted to halt imports of Iranian crude oil as of 1 July 2001. The EU has also imposed heavy sanctions on Iran's Central Bank.

EU sanctions closely mirror those imposed by the United States and are intended to force Iran to abandon its nuclear program, which is widely suspected of seeking nuclear weapons.

Late last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency published a 13-page report accusing Iran of systemic obstruction of inspectors at its nuclear facilities and seeking nuclear technologies of a military nature.

Iran, as a voluntary signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is banned from seeking nuclear weapons and obligated to allow the world nuclear watchdog access to its nuclear sites.

Tehran has frequently accused the IAEA of enforcing a double-standard citing the widely held belief that Israel has a nuclear arms stockpile. However, Israel is not a signatory to the NPT and has no obligations to the IAEA.

Iran's announcement on Monday marked a hardening of the Islamic Republic's defiance in the standoff and a potential readying for armed conflict as tensions with Jerusalem and Washington rise.

Israeli officials have made it clear they regard an Iranian nuclear weapon as a potentially existential threat due to Tehran's repeated calls for the Jewish state's destruction. Iranian leaders have openly referred to Israel as a "one bomb state."

The moves came the same day as officials from the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency arrived in Tehran for a second round of talks focused on "the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."

Iran's military said Monday that it has launched four days of maneuvers in the south of the country aimed at boosting anti-air defenses to protect nuclear sites. Missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, radars and warplanes were being deployed in the exercise Tehran dubbed "Sarollah".

Senior military officials in Tehran also said Iran would not wait to be attacked if it "felt threatened," indicating potential pre-emptive strikes on Israel or US military forces in the Persian Gulf region.

Iran has also threatened to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, which US military officials say would be an "act of war."

Swiss parliament welcomes Hamas spokesman

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT 02/23/2012 02:24

Israeli ambassador, Swiss Jews slam Mushir al-Masri's visit, call it ‘big mistake.’

By REUTERS

BERLIN – The National Palace (Bundeshaus), which houses the Swiss parliament, hosted Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri, prompting stinging criticism on Wednesday from Israel’s interim ambassador in Bern.

Speaking from Bern with The Jerusalem Post via telephone, Ambassador ad interim (chargé d’affaires) Shalom Cohen said, “We were not happy with this development.

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We shared our view with the local authorities. It was a big mistake to invite a member of Hamas, which calls for destruction of Israel.”

He added that Hamas is a “terrorist organization” and is recognized as such by the Middle East Quartet and the international community.

“It is counterproductive and gave them legitimacy to continue their terrorist activities, to continue to work on their basic ideology: the destruction of Israel,” Cohen said.

Masri’s visit took place late last month but was first reported in the German-language Swiss press this week, according to Cohen.

The Geneva-based Inter- Parliamentary Union invited Masri to the Swiss Parliament, where he presented a pro-Hamas deputy, Geri Müller of the Green Party, with a gift.

In response to a Post query about the Hamas visit, George Farago, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, wrote: “Switzerland is obligated to allow an invited guest of the Inter-Parliamentary Union of human rights because the organization is located in Switzerland. For Switzerland only UN sanctions are binding.”

Though the EU recognizes Hamas as a terrorist group, the Swiss government is not a member of the EU and largely ignores EU sanctions. Critics say the Swiss have overly relaxed policies toward Islamic terrorists and Iran’s government.

When asked if Bern views Hamas as a terrorist group, Farago wrote that “Switzerland does not maintain a comparable EU terror list in which groups are designated as terrorists.”

Questioned if his government finds the Hamas Charter to be anti-Semitic, Farago wrote: “Switzerland condemns all statements that question Israel’s right to exist or call for violence.” He added that it does not agree with many of the formulations and demands in the charter, but that “if one is interested in a solution, one must speak with all involved parties. That includes Hamas.”

The charter calls for the elimination of the State of Israel and is an anti-Semitic document.

Asked why the Swiss authorities allowed a designated terrorist to travel to Europe, Farago stressed that “in a democratic system it is naturally understood that a separation of powers allows a member of parliament to act independently.”

The Swiss Jewish community has criticized Müller over the years for his extreme anti-Israel views and attendance at rallies where Israel is compared to Nazi Germany.

Müller has refused to condemn Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.

In an email to the Post on Wednesday, Dr. Herbert Winter, head of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, wrote that community members are “not surprised” about Müller’s activities. “From Geri Müller it is nothing other than to be expected.”

However, Winter said the Hamas spokesman’s visit was unexpected: “To invite Masri in the Bundeshaus is still out of place.”

Cohen said it is “very problematic for us” that the Swiss are meeting with Hamas here and in the Middle East. “This is not the way to do this.”

He said that before nations talk to Hamas, the radical Islamic group has to first meet international demands, which include stopping all terrorist activities and recognizing Israel’s right to exist.

The international community also demands that Hamas adhere to all previous PLO-Israel agreements.

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Liberal Doctrine: Unemployment Checks Stimulate the Economy

I guess we should thank our lucky stars that "Senior Adviser" Valerie Jarrett is not on Obama's "economic team." (There's video at the link, if you can bear it.)

"Even though we had a terrible economic crisis three years ago, throughout our country many people were suffering before the last three years, particularly in the black community," Jarrett said.

"And so we need to make sure that we continue to support that important safety net. It not only is good for the family, but it's good for the economy. People who receive that unemployment check go out and spend it and help stimulate the economy, so that's healthy as well."

All of which reminds me... Who IS on Obama's economic team?

From McClatchy, last August: Obama's new economics team has few big-name players

"When you ask about the economic team, it's kind of like, 'What economic team?'" said Edward Mills, a financial policy analyst with FBR Capital Markets. "They are very thin at a very critical time."

The administration needs all the firepower it can muster, experts said. Yet the team is missing a key messenger in selling Obama's policies. The post of chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors — an influential position — is vacant and is likely to remain so at least into the fall.

When Obama took office in early 2009, he was counseled by an all-star economic team that included former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, Great Depression scholar Christina D. Romer and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker.

Also on the roster were well-regarded economists such as Budget Director Peter R. Orszag, Jared Bernstein and Austan Goolsbee. All of them have since resigned.

That leaves Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner as the sole remaining top member of the original team. But Geithner is a financial markets expert, not an economist. And some analysts worry that the White House might not have enough economic expertise to fashion new proposals for boosting growth....

Apparently, Obama did fill the void at the head of his Council of Economic Advisors -- with Alan B. Krueger.

 

 

You'll be shocked. Krueger's all about "income inequality."

No word on his opinion of Valerie Jarrett's assessment.

More stoning of Christians on Temple Mount

Mittwoch, 22. Februar 2012 | Ryan Jone

Muslim mobs again hurled stones at Christian tourists and Jewish visitors atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Tuesday following a similar attack earlier in the week.

One police officer who was among those escorting the Christian and Jewish groups was injured, and two Muslim assailants were arrested.

Police were already on high alert for clashes atop the Temple Mount after local Muslim websites posted calls to "protect" the mosques occupying the Temple Mount from Jews who allegedly planned to desecrate them by praying there.

A day earlier, police arrested small group of Jews who they believe did indeed intend to commit the heinous crime of praying atop Judaism's holiest site.

On Sunday, a mob of some 50 Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christians visiting the Temple Mount. Three of the Israeli police officers who acted to protect the Christian group were wounded.

That attack was instigated by the former Muslim mufti of Jerusalem, Ekrama Sabri, who told Palestinian media over the weekend that Jewish groups were planning to break into the mosques that occupy the holy compound and desecrate them.

Muslim religious figures regularly claim that Israel is plotting to destroy the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque to pave the way for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, which the Muslims now insist never previously existed.

Because of the constant threat of Muslim violence, and despite the fact that the Temple Mount is the most holy place on earth to Jews and many Christians, the Israeli police comply with Muslim demands for harsh restrictions on non-Muslim visitors to the site. For instance, Jews and Christians are forbidden to carry Bibles atop the Temple Mount or to utter even silent prayers within its walls. Jews and Christians are regularly detained for violating these conditions. 

Tehran steps into US-Israel Iran row with threat of pre-emptive strike
DEBKAfile Special Report February 21, 2012, 2:58 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Iran nuclear   US-Israel 

Iran General Mohammad Hejazi

Deputy Chief of Iran’s Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Hejazi issued a new threat Tuesday, Feb. 21: “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests… we will act without waiting for their actions.”
debkafile’s military sources report that an Iranian preemptive attack on Israel has been in the air for some weeks. It became realistic because the dragging out of the argument between Washington and Jerusalem over a military strike and the two government’s indecisiveness gave Tehran a golden opportunity to further its interests.
It bestowed on Iran the gift of entering into talks on its nuclear program with the six world powers (P5 plus 1) free of a military threat and therefore in a superior bargaining position. For openers, Tehran has already pocketed the Obama administration’s promise of permission to continue to enrich uranium up to 5 percent in any quantity and will be more than ready to lay down more demands. 
Gen. Hejazi’s threat of a preemptive strike against Israel also serves the Islamic regime in its run-up to a general election on March 3. It aims to show the Iranian voter and Middle East public that Iran has successfully turned US and Israeli aggression against Iran against them and demonstrated they are no more than paper tigers incapable of carrying through on their rhetoric. The military initiative therefore stays in Iran’s hands.
In Tehran, the standard Israeli cliché of “We don’t’ advise anyone to test our resolve” has worn thin.
By letting two Iranian warships bearing arms for Assad pass Israel’s coast on its way to Tartus without interference, Israel encouraged Tehran to assume that, in the last reckoning, it will abstain from a unilateral strike to eradicate Iran’s nuclear facilities without Washington’s blessing.
The Netanyahu government’s resolve is expected to melt away under the bulldozer assault of one American emissary after another touching down at Ben-Gurion airport to corner them into backing down.
Once Israel lets its hands be tied, Tehran calculates, it will become progressively harder to break them loose, so that if Tehran does carry out a limited “preemptive” missile attack on the Jewish state, Jerusalem will again bow to Washington and let itself be coerced into not responding.
Thursday, Feb. 23, US National Director of Intelligence James Clapper arrives in Israel to tackle its military and intelligence chiefs on the question, after US National Defense Director Tom Donilon spent three days in fruitless discussions with government leaders Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff tried his hand at persuasion earlier this month. This cycle of pressure will peak with Netanyahu’s White House talks with President Obama on March 5.
The Iranians felt confident enough to safely deny requests from the team of IAEA inspectors who arrived in Tehran Monday for access suspect nuclear locations and meetings with scientists employed in their nuclear program.
Gen. Hejazi’s words were backed up by a four-day air defense exercise, dubbed Sarallah (God’s Revenge), in the south of the country. The Islamic Republic also took another initiative by cutting off oil exports to Britain and France and so turning the tables on the European Union’s oil embargo on Tehran.

Young Palestinians seek violence, indifferent to 'occupation'

Dienstag, 21. Februar 2012 | Ryan Jones

A poll conducted among young Palestinians aged 18-30 recently had some surprising and unsurprising results that can be seen as the outcome of both reality on the ground and the libelous education to which Palestinian children are subjected.

Despite constant attempts by Israel's critics to paint the "occupation" as the defining element in the lives of most Palestinian Arabs, a mere 5.8 percent of respondents said the presence of Jewish civilians and the Israeli army in Judea and Samaria is of greatest concern to them.

The majority (55.8%) of young Palestinians were far more concerned with finding a job and paying for their education, which they apparently did not attribute as problems stemming from the "occupation."

At the same time, the effects of the rabidly anti-Israel Palestinian school curriculum could also be seen in the poll, with 49.5 percent of young Palestinians saying that if they ever wanted an independent Palestinian state, more violence would need to be employed against the Jews.

Nearly 57 percent said that if a new terrorist uprising, or intifada, were to erupt, they would participate.

The survey was conducted by Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) with offices in Ramallah and Gaza.

IDF Says Ground Invasion in Gaza ‘Matter of Time’

It is only “a matter of time” before the IDF has to re-enter Gaza to control terror, IDF Chief of Benny Gantz warns.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

First Publish: 2/21/2012, 8:58 AM

Operation Cast Lead

Israel news photo: Flash 90

It is only a “matter of time” before the IDF has to re-enter Gaza to control terror, IDF Chief of Benny Gantz warns, three years after the three-week Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign.

The IDF has carried out a consistent policy since several months after Cast Lead to retaliate after almost every terrorist attack on Israelis. Hamas and other terrorist groups, both allies and rivals, have carried out hundreds of rockets, missiles, mortar shells and sniping attacks since the end of Cast Lead in January 2009.

Israel has been operating on the basis of a “Negev roulette” policy, by which the military usually carries out a symbolic response to terrorist attacks that cause no physical injuries or serious property damage.

When damage is more severe, so is the response, even though most of the terrorist attacks are launched without guidance systems that can pinpoint targets. Gaza terrorists basically attack rural areas in the hopes of hitting human targets and know that if they hit a crowded urban center, there is more likelihood of a large-scale retaliation.

Last week, Be’er Sheva was targeted, but there were no physical injuries or major damage. Past experience has shown that Hamas strategically escalates its attacks to achieve a political end or when it thinks is will win media sympathy if it draws the IDF into a ground incursion not Gaza.

The IDF lost most of its ability to directly hit terrorists after the Sharongovernment expelled more than 9,000 Jews and ordered the withdrawal of all military presence from Gaza in the summer of 2005.

The “Disengagement” program ostensibly was aimed at removing any reason for Hamas to attack Israel, but the rocket strikes actually increased and struck deeper into central Israel until Cast Lead.

The military previously has said it is preparing for returning to Gaza, but Israel Defense suggested that next time around it might carry out a strategy of “divide and conquer” by dividing the region into several parts, effectively preventing Hamas from exercising control.

The terrorist organization is in the midst of returning to a unity government with the rival Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas' “peace” with Hamas has weakened his support from the United States and may cost him European Union backing as well. If Hamas and Fatah complete their unity arrangement and rocket attacks on southern Israel continue, the return of the IDF to Gaza could have severe consequences for Abbas as well as Hamas.

'Israel may rule out deals if Egypt changes treaty'

By HERB KEINON02/20/2012 21:27

Deputy PM Meridor says an Egyptian decision to alter agreement would make J'lem question signing future accords.

By David W Cerny / Reuters

If Cairo unilaterally decides to alter the peace treaty with Jerusalem, Israel will ask why sign agreements with other neighbors if these accords are not kept, Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor said Monday.

Meridor, speaking at a press conference organized by The Israel Project, said that “objectively” there is no reason for either Israel or Egypt to change the peace agreement that has served both sides for more than 30 years.

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“If people are rational and act for the good of their country, both Israel and Egypt should keep the agreement,” Meridor said. Meridor added that Israel has had no contact with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the party that won the recent parliamentary elections there.

Regarding Syria, Meridor came out strongly against the killing taking place there, saying the pictures coming out of that country needed to shock the world, and that it was impossible to remain silent in face of the atrocities.

But at the same time, he said, Israel had “no policy” in terms of trying to effect what was happening inside the country.

“We can’t do much to interfere inside Syria,” he said, adding that he had no way of telling who would come after Prime Minister Bashar Assad if he was toppled.

Meridor said Iran and Hezbollah were actively helping Assad try to put down the rebellion there, and that breaking up the Iran-Syrian- Hezbollah alliance would be a “positive” development.

“Can we affect it?” he asked. “No we can’t.”

Regarding the halted low-level talks with the Palestinians in Jordan, Meridor bemoaned the Palestinian Authority’s decision to sign a unity agreement with Hamas in Doha. He called on PA Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to demonstrate the “courage” to accept a demilitarized Palestinian state, and that if he did not, it would be “another missed opportunity that will be bad for us, but worse for them.”

Meridor repeated his position – which is not the government’s policy – that Israel should “harmonize” its settlement policy with the diplomatic process, meaning that it should build in the large settlement blocs that it hopes to retain in any future agreement, but not build everywhere else in Judea and Samaria

Grand Chief of Canadian First Nations Visits Israeli Parliament

The heads of the largest native tribe in Canada, the First Nations, visited Israel’s Knesset and met with Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara.

By Elad Benari & Hezki Ezra

First Publish: 2/22/2012, 5:12 AM

Grand Chief David Harper and Deputy Minister Kara

Israel news photo: Hezki Ezra

video

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/153015?fb_ref=.T0Rtxpjit4s.like&fb_source=timeline

The heads of the largest native tribe in Canada, the First Nations, visited Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday. They were led by Grand Chief David Harper from the province of Manitoba, and the purpose of the group’s visit was to express support for Israel.

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada. There are currently over 630 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The total population of First Nations is nearly 700,000.

Their visit to Israel was organized by a Knesset lobby which strives to promote relations with Christian communities around the world. The natives toured the Knesset and met with the Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee, Ayoob Kara.

“I’m here to say that we support Israel and that we personally invite the Deputy Minister to northern Canada when he comes there, and we’ll show our full support with other chiefs,” Grand Chief Harper told the cameras after the tour.

“I’ve come here before and I’ve been blessed, and I know I’ll be more blessed this time,” Harper added.

Deputy Minister Kara stressed the importance of the relations with Canada’s native population.

“They know how important Israel is for the liberal side of the world,” he said. “Israel is at the front of the fighting against the Islamization led by Iran. It is important that the entire world come to Jerusalem and be part of Israel for a few days. G-d will bless everyone who supports Israel.”

 Obama to try and talk Netanyahu out of Iran strike after his advisers failed
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 20, 2012, 9:14 PM (GMT+02:00)

Natanz nuclear site air defenses

After a high-ranking US delegation headed by White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon failed in three days of tough talks (Feb.18-20) to dissuade Israeli leaders to back off plans for a military strike against Iran’s nuclear sites, the White House invited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for talks with President Barak Obama on March 5. He will try and break the stalemate which ended his advisers’ talks with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.
The defense minister, addressing his Independence Party later Monday praised Israel’s security relations with the US as very good and very important for a strong Israel. The dialogue between the two governments, he said, is marked by openness, mutual respect, understanding and attentiveness. At the same time, Barak hinted at discord by adding, “Both are sovereign nations which are ultimately responsible for their decisions in relation to themselves and their future.”

debkafile reported earlier Monday, Feb. 20:

White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon faced an acrimonious Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in two hours of stormy conversation in Jerusalem Sunday, Feb. 19, according to updates reaching senior US sources in Washington. The main bones of contention were Iran’s continuing enrichment of uranium and its ongoing relocation of production to underground sites.
Israeli officials declined to give out any information on the conversation. Some even refused to confirm it took place.
According to debkafile’s sources, Netanyahu accused the Obama administration of drawing Iran into resuming nuclear negotiations with world powers by an assurance that Tehran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium up to 5 percent in any quantity, provided it promised not to build an Iranian nuclear weapon. The prime minister charged that this permit contravened US administration guarantees to Israel on the nuclear issue and, moreover left Tehran free to upgrade its current 20 percent enrichment level to 90 percent weapons grade. This Israel cannot tolerate, said Netanyahu, so leaving its military option on the ready.
He warned the US National Security Adviser that no evidence whatsoever confirms Washington’s claim that Tehran intends suspending enrichment and other nuclear advances when negotiations begin. Quite the contrary: Even before the date was set, Iran started working at top speed to build up its bargaining chips by laying down major advances in its nuclear program as undisputed facts. 
Tehran now claims to have progressed to self-reliance in the production of 20 percent-enriched uranium, the basis for the weapons grade fuel, in unlimited quantity. Once the talks are underway, Netanyahu maintained, there would be no stopping the Iranians without stalling the negotiating process. Going by past experience, Tehran would use dialogue as an extra fulcrum for its impetus toward weapon production without interruption.
Monday, Donilon and his delegation meet Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
The mission of this high-powered US delegation in Israel takes place to the accompanied of a resumed US media campaign for discouraging Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear installations.
Sunday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, offered this opinion to CNN: “Israel has the capability to strike Iran and delay the Iranians probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach.”
Monday’s New York Times carried an assessment by “American defense officials and military analysts close to the Pentagon” under the caption, “Iran Raid Seen as a Huge Task for Israel Jets.” debkafile’s military sources report the main argument, dredged up from the past and long refuted, is that Israeli Air Force bombers cannot cover the distance to Iran without in-flight refueling.
That array of “analysts” apparently missed the CNN interview and therefore contradicted the assessment of America’s own top general that “Israel has the capability to strike Iran…”
Reality has meanwhile moved on. Four events in the last 24 hours no doubt figured large in the US delegation’s talks with Israeli leaders:
1.  Monday, the IAEA sent to Tehran its second team of monitors this month for another attempt to gain access to nuclear facilities hitherto barred by the Iranians. The inspectors will also demand permission to interview scientists which according to a list drawn up at the agency’s Vienna headquarters hold key positions in their nuclear program.
2. The Russian Chief of Chaff Gen. Nikolai Makarov estimated that the attack on Iran would be “coordinated” by several governments and “a decision would be made by the summer.”
3.  Moscow recalled Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kutznetsov from the Syrian port of Tartus to its home base at Severomorsk on the Kola Peninsula.
4. Turkey is beinding over backward to assure Iran that data collected by the US missile shield radar stationed at its Kurecik air base will not shared with Israel. It is especially anxious not to annoy Tehran after foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced that the resumed nuclear talks with the five Permanent Security Council members and German (P5+1) would be held in Istanbul.
However, the Iranians certainly know exactly what is going on after watching the recent joint US-Israeli radar test which demonstrated that Israel is fully integrated in the missile shield radar network and that the US radar station in the Israeli Negev interfaces with its station in Turkey and Israel’s Arrow missile Green Pine radar.
When he visited Ankara last week, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen assured his Turkish hosts that “Intelligence data collected within the missile defense system will not be shared with third countries. It will be shared with the allies within our alliance.”
His statement was quite accurate – except for the fact that the radar stations collecting the intelligence data are not controlled by NATO but by US military teams, both of which, including the Turkish-based radar, are integrated and coordinated with Israeli radar and missile interceptors.

Netanyahu to Meet Obama on March 5

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington during his March 4-6 AIPAC visit.

By Gavriel Queenann

First Publish: 2/20/2012, 9:49 PM

 

Netanyahu and Obama in NYC

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington on March 5.

According to Obama's National Security Adviser Tom Donilon the two leaders will discuss the "full range of security issues of mutual concern."

Netanyahu will be in Washington to address the annual policy conference of the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which will be held on March 4-6.

Donilon just concluded three days of talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem amid escalating tensions over on Iran's nuclear program. He met with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and others.

The White House described the talks as a reflection of the Obama administration's "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security."

However, officials in Israel and the US have been increasingly at odds on how to deal with Iran, which both - along with other Western nations and Gulf Arab states - say is seeking nuclear weapons.

Israeli officials are said to favor a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities saying the window for decisive action is closing as Iran "enters the immunity zone."

The Obama administration insists sanctions are having the desired effect and need more time.

Previously, Netanyahu publicly backed the White House led sanctions - but is said to have expressed reservations in closed-door sessions of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and defense committee.

However, last week Netanyahu openly said Western sanctions are "not working." The Prime Minister's change in public posture came after a series of terror attacks targeting Israeli diplomats in Asia, which he accused Iran of mounting.

His comments came shortly before Defense Intelligence Agency director Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess told US lawmakers Thursday "we assess that Tehran is not close to agreeing to abandon its nuclear program."

Critics of Obama's sanctions-only policy note that North Korea succeeded in detonating two nuclear weapons in secret tests despite crippling sanctions, and widespread poverty and starvation in the country.

The US has urged Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Observers say recent leaks in the Obama administration appear to have been designed to hamstring an Israeli strike on Iran.

On January 31, Sen. Diane Feinstein leaked that Mossad chief Tamir Pardo was in Washington for secret talks on a possible Iran strike.

Then, just days later, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed Israel's likely timetable for such an attack when he told reporters  "a strong likelihood" that Israel would strike Iran in April, May or June,

US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey on Sunday said an attack on Iran is "not prudent."

Dempsey told CNN that Israel has the capability to strike Iran and delay the Iranians "probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach."

However, proponents of Obama's policy note that the White House continues to say it needs more time, which an Israeli strike would almost certainly provide.

Dempsey also expressed concern that an Israeli attack could spark reprisals against US targets in the Gulf or Afghanistan, where American forces are based.

"That's the question with which we all wrestle. And the reason that we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack Iran," Dempsey said.

However, senior Israeli officials in private conversations have expressed the belief that the White House desperately wants to avoid a spike in oil prices a strike might cause as the presidential elections looms on its political horizon.

The weak US economy has been in a holding pattern and Federal Reserve officials have frozen interest rates saying they do not expect recovery to begin until 2014.

British Foreign Minister William Hague told the BBC that London was convinced diplomacy was the only way to deal with Iran.

"I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran," he said. "I think Israel like everyone else in the world should be giving a real chance to the approach we have adopted on very serious economic sanctions and economic pressure and the readiness to negotiate with Iran."

Israeli analysts, however, say that what is "wise" for Israel may not be what is wise for Europe, stuck in the quagmire of a sovereign debt crisis, or the United States.

While Western capitals are primarily concerned with the economic impact a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities may have, officials in Jerusalem are primarily concerned with the potential impact of not attacking.

Iranian officials have repeatedly called for the Jewish state's destruction and have referred to Israel as a "one bomb state."

In Jerusalem, an Iranian nuclear weapon is an existential risk leaders have said they don't believe Israel can afford. 

Republicans: The Facts Are Clear, Obama 'No Friend of Israel'

The RJC released an ad highlighting discrepancy between President Obama's rhetoric regarding support for Israel's security and his actions.

By Rachel Hirshfeld

First Publish: 2/20/2012, 2:14 AM

 

U.S. President Barack Obama

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) released a web advertisement on February 17, entitled “Security,” highlighting the discrepancy between President Obama’s rhetoric regarding his support for Israel’s security and his actions.

The ad states, “These are dangerous times for Israel… Iran is threatening Israel’s destruction, Hizbullah is arming itself with over 40,000 rockets and missiles to rain down on innocent Israelis.”

“Shockingly, President Obama has dramatically cut proposed critical support for Israel’s defense program -- the same systems Israel needs to protect herself from these threats.”

“President Obama’s rhetoric would have you believe he is doing all he can for Israel’s security. The reality is that he wants to slash American support for Israel’s critical defense."

"The facts are clear," it asserts. "President Obama wants to weaken Israel’s security just when it needs it the most.”

It goes on to urge viewers to call President Obama at 202-456-1111, to implore him “not to slash funding for Israel’s missile defense.”

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, “President Obama proposes slashing funds for military aid specifically for Israel’s missile defense program, a joint U.S.-Israel effort over many years. This dramatic funding cut (18% below his 2011 request) would leave Israel vulnerable at a time when Israel faces serious rocket threats from Hamas in Gaza and from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a growing nuclear threat from Iran. At this dangerous time, no true friend of Israel would talk about cutting funding to our joint missile defense programs with Israel.”

‘Israel Needs 100 Planes to Attack Iran’

Israel needs most of its air force to attack Iran but still lacks planes, analysts tell NY Times. “Only the US strong enough to attack.”

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

First Publish: 2/20/2012, 11:43 AM

IAF F-16 fighter jet (archive)

Israel news photo: IDF

Israel would have to deploy most of its air force to attack Iran and still would lack planes, analysts told The New York Times in an article that may have been timed as part of an American campaign to talk down Israel from considering a military strike.

The bottom line is that despite Israel’s superiority in surgical strikes, such as the attack on Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981 and on a Syrian nuclear facility under construction four years ago, Iran is another story. Israel does not have the capability to fly the distance to Iran nor does it have the arsenal that can damage Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, buried under concrete bunkers in mountainous areas, analysts told correspondent Elisabeth Bumiller.

“There’s only one superpower in the world that can carry this off,” meaning the United States, said former U.S. Air Force intelligence official Lt. Gen David A. Depulta. “Israel’s great on a selective strike here and there,” he added.

The article was published while Tom Donilon, President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, was in Jerusalem, where he spoke with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday. Details of their conversation were not released, but it is assumed his visit carried a message that Israel should back down from its hints that an aerial strike on Iran is imminent.

Donilon’s visit came one day after U.S. Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told CNN that an Israeli strike would be “destabilizing.”

American officials have insisted that economic sanctions on Iran are working, and that it is only a matter of time before Tehran realizes it must change course in its nuclear development or face economic disaster. Israel is afraid that it is only a matter of time before Ahmadinejad will be able to have control of a nuclear warhead that can be launched on Israel.

Previous scenarios of an Israel attack on Iran have indicated that it would take at least month to complete, possibly touching off a regional war and/or a punishing Iranian blockade of the Strait Of Hormuz, the passageway for a sizeable amount of the world’s oil and natural gas needs.

American estimates of Israel’s lack of capability to carry out a successful strike on Iran are limited by the unknown factor of weapons or tactics that Israel may possess.

Nevertheless, analysts’ conclusions, as reported in the Times, are that Israel would need refueling planes to enable its planes to reach Iran and return, a trip of 2,000 miles, and would need permission to use the air space of Jordan, Saudi Arabia or Iraq.

Unless Israel has more re-fueling planes than is known, it does not have enough to support an aerial strike, according to defense consultant Scott Johnson. Since the refueling planes need additional fighter planes to guard them, he told Bumiller, “The numbers you need just skyrocket.”

They would require refueling supertankers to fly at the height of 50,000 feet, and the warplanes would need to knock out Iran’s radar systems to allow the craft to attack without encountering anti-missile fire.

Even if Israel got that far, it still would lack the bombing power to penetrate nuclear facilities, such as the underground Natanz plan and the Fordo uranium enrichment site in the mountains.

Israel has several American-made bunker buster bombs, but they are not thought to be powerful enough to do the job.

Video: Ex-Netanyahu Chief of Staff Tells Fox: Let Israel Attack

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152949?fb_ref=.T0KGtP4HaVM.like&fb_source=timeline

“How can Israel not attack Iran?” asks former Netanyahu aide Bennett on Fox News. Iran is an “octopus of terror.”

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

First Publish: 2/20/2012, 7:24 PM

 

The United States must let Israel attack Iran now, before it is too late to stop “a maniacal radical regime” from acquiring nuclear weapons, Naftali Bennett, former Chief of Staff for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, told Mike Huckabee on his Saturday time slot on Fox News.

Bennett, who also served two years as director of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, says he thinks an Israeli military strike is imminent.  

“Iran is racing towards acquiring a nuclear weapon. We are the very least moment. This will be the first time in world history that a maniacal radical Islamic regime will acquire a nuclear weapon,” Bennett told viewers.

”Iran is an octopus of terror” that spreads its tentacle as far away as Bangkok and Washington, said the former senior government official.

Asked if Israel could sustain a prolonged conflict with the Islamic Republic, he stated, “If necessary, we will. America has more capabilities, but most of Iran’s facilities are still vulnerable. Right now, we could still take them out, but a year from now it is going to be a different ball game.”

Bennett criticized the Obama administration for having “squandered the ability to issue crippling and even paralyzing sanctions on Iran “the past three years. The new sanctions are “too little and too later,” he added.

He reminded Huckabee that the world condemned Israel for its pre-emptive strike on Iraq’s nuclear reactor 30 in 19181, but the world then “blessed” Israel for the action a decade later."

He said Israel cannot afford to wait for 12 months, when “we don’t what we are going to see.”

“There are no guarantees that others will take care of this…. If necessary, we will do this job for the world, but please, please don’t tell us to stand back and just wait and I guess pray for something good to happen,” he continued.

“Everyone in this region does not want Iran to acquire a bomb. We got to do the job. If Obama won’t, please let Israel do the job.”

Republicans: The Facts Are Clear, Obama 'No Friend of Israel'

The RJC released an ad highlighting discrepancy between President Obama's rhetoric regarding support for Israel's security and his actions.

By Rachel Hirshfeld

First Publish: 2/20/2012, 2:14 AM

U.S. President Barack Obama

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) released a web advertisement on February 17, entitled “Security,” highlighting the discrepancy between President Obama’s rhetoric regarding his support for Israel’s security and his actions.

The ad states, “These are dangerous times for Israel… Iran is threatening Israel’s destruction, Hizbullah is arming itself with over 40,000 rockets and missiles to rain down on innocent Israelis.”

“Shockingly, President Obama has dramatically cut proposed critical support for Israel’s defense program -- the same systems Israel needs to protect herself from these threats.”

“President Obama’s rhetoric would have you believe he is doing all he can for Israel’s security. The reality is that he wants to slash American support for Israel’s critical defense."

"The facts are clear," it asserts. "President Obama wants to weaken Israel’s security just when it needs it the most.”

It goes on to urge viewers to call President Obama at 202-456-1111, to implore him “not to slash funding for Israel’s missile defense.”

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, “President Obama proposes slashing funds for military aid specifically for Israel’s missile defense program, a joint U.S.-Israel effort over many years. This dramatic funding cut (18% below his 2011 request) would leave Israel vulnerable at a time when Israel faces serious rocket threats from Hamas in Gaza and from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a growing nuclear threat from Iran. At this dangerous time, no true friend of Israel would talk about cutting funding to our joint missile defense programs with Israel.”

British FM joins appeal to Israel: ‘Don’t hit Iran’

By HERB KEINON02/20/2012 00:40

PM avoids subject in speech to American Jewish leaders in J'lem after meeting with US National Security Adviser Donilon.

By REUTERS/Jeff Overs-BBC/handout

British Foreign Secretary William Hague advised Israel on Sunday not to attack Iran, saying that the international sanctions against Iran should be given a chance to work.

His comments in a BBC interview came as US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem for talks focused on Iran.

Related:

• Iran: Possible 'P5+1' talks would take place in Turkey
• Top White House official arrives for talks on Iran

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the US put out a statement after that two-hour meeting, and Netanyahu said nothing about it – or the Iranian nuclear program – at a speech immediately after the meeting at the opening of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem.

Donilon also met with Maj.- Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, his Israeli counterpart. He is scheduled to meet Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday before returning to Washington.

Donilon’s visit is taking place just two weeks before Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to Washington for AIPAC’s annual policy conference, and for an expected meeting with US President Barack Obama, where Iran is likely to dominate the discussion.

Hague, meanwhile, said he did not think “the wise thing at the moment” would be for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran.

“I think Israel, like everyone else in the world, should be giving a real chance to the approach we adopted: very serious economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and the readiness to negotiate with Iran,” he said.

Hague said that there were two possibilities if Iran went ahead with its nuclear program.

“Either, they will be attacked, and there will be a war, or there would be a cold war, in which Iran for the long term would be subject to very intensive economic sanctions.

They would find that other nations in their region developed nuclear regions, and they would be in permanent standoff with those countries.”

This would be “like the Cold War, but without many of the safeguards againstaccidents and misunderstandings that we had in the Cold War,” he said.

Hague’s comments came the same day that CNN aired an interview with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who said an Israeli attack on Iran would be “destabilizing” and “not prudent.”

Meanwhile, UN nuclear inspectors headed to Iran on Sunday for talks.

“We hope to have a couple of good and constructive days in Tehran,” Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, said at the Vienna airport, as the five-member team prepared to depart.

“The highest priority remains, of course, the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program,” he told reporters, making clear he wanted to see concrete results in the discussions with Iranian officials.

Western diplomats have played down any hopes of a major breakthrough in the February 20-21 meeting, even though it comes just a few days after signs of a possible opening for diplomacy in the long-running nuclear dispute.

“I’m still pessimistic that Iran will demonstrate the substantive cooperation necessary,” one envoy said.

The outcome, after an inconclusive first round of discussions last month, could determine whether the international standoff over Iran’s uranium enrichment program escalates further or tensions reduce.

But the US and EU expressed cautious optimism on Friday over prospects that Iran may be willing to engage major powers in new talks. They stressed that any resumed negotiations must be sustained and focus on the nuclear issue.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Iran’s letter to Ashton last week might mark a step forward.

Iran’s letter to Ashton – who handles contact with Iran on behalf of the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany – proposed resuming the talks and said Tehran would have “new initiatives” to bring to the table.

“In these negotiations, we are looking for a way out of Iran’s current nuclear issue so that both sides win,” Iranian state television quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying on Sunday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

 

IDF factions push for offensive in Gaza

By YAAKOV KATZ02/20/2012 00:34

Senior officer in the Southern Command says "ongoing attacks – by rockets and along the border – are cumulatively more than enough to justify immediate action”; IDF to deploy Iron Dome near Tel Aviv.

By Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

Calls are mounting within the IDF’s Southern Command to launch a large-scale offensive against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip in the face of continued rocket attacks over the weekend.

On Saturday night, the Israel Air Force bombed a number of targets in the Strip in response to the firing of a number of Grad-model Katyusha rockets into Israel. One landed in Beersheba on Saturday. In another attack, an RPG was fired at an IDF patrol along the border with Gaza.

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“There is no need to wait for a provocation to launch an offensive against terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,” a senior officer in the Southern Command explained. “The ongoing attacks – by rockets and along the border – are cumulatively more than enough to justify immediate action.”

Last month, The Jerusalem Post revealed that the IDF General Staff had ordered the Southern Command to speed up preparations for a possible large-scale operation in the Strip within the coming months.

Preparations included finalizing operational plans and distributing them between the various units that would be deployed inside Gaza.

During Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s anti-Hamas operation launched in late 2008, the IDF established brigade-level units that combined armor, infantry and combat engineer forces. A similar model would likely be applied to a future operation in Gaza as well.

The debate within the IDF is whether it needs to wait for a successful attack by Gaza terrorists – be it a rocket attack that causes casualties or a successful cross border attack – or if the sporadic rocket fire is enough of a justification to launch an operation today.

In 2011, 680 rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israel, including 80 long-range Grad-model Katyusha rockets, in comparison with just two Grads in 2010. Since the beginning of 2012, nearly 30 rockets have been fired into Israel.

Ahead of a future conflict, the IDF will this week deploy the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system near Tel Aviv.

IDF sources stressed that the deployment of the missile defense system was done as part of a program – revealed in the Post last April – to place system deployment locations outside all major population centers throughout the country.

While the IDF’s intention to deploy the Iron Dome outside of Tel Aviv was revealed last year, the deployment was delayed until this week.

 

Jewish Drivers Warn IDF: Protect Us, or We'll Protect Ourselves

Judea, Samaria Jews block Arab drivers after attacks on Jewish women motorists. “If the army won’t protect us we’ll do it ourselves.”

By Maayana Miskin

First Publish: 2/19/2012, 7:01 PM

PA traffic blocked

Shmuel Adelman

In recent days several female Jewish drivers have been attacked by Palestinian Authority Arabs while on the roads in Judea and Samaria (Shomron).

At least three Jewish women were the victims of violent carjackings in the last seven days alone. Each of the women was forced off the road when it was blocked by armed PA Arabs, then dragged roughly from her vehicle by the attackers and thrown down on the road, while they made off with her car.

Israeli cars have yellow license plates, making them distinguishable from PA license plates and there are obviously Arabs along the road who let the carjackers know when women pass them while driving alone.

On Sunday, dozens of residents of the Shomron town of Kedumim responded by blocking PA drivers from merging onto Route 55.

“If we can’t travel safely on the highways, they won’t either,” the protesters explained.

Their goal was also to send a message to security forces after the highway attacks, they said. “We expect the army and police to focus on preventing these kind of incidents,” they demanded. 

“If they do not,” protesters added, “we know how to defend ourselves.”

Protesters took the time to hold prayers on the roadside.

Attacks by Arabs on Israeli drivers have been on the rise since last year. Several violent attacks have been reported in recent weeks.

Muslims stone Christians on Temple Mount

Sonntag, 19. Februar 2012 | Ryan Jones

A mob of some 50 Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christian tourists atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Sunday morning. Three of the Israeli police officers who acted to protect the Christian group were wounded by the stone-throwers.

Police arrested 11 Palestinians, several of them minors, for their role in the attack.

The attack is believed to have been instigated by the former Muslim mufti of Jerusalem, Ekrama Sabri, who told Palestinian media over the weekend that Jewish groups were planning to break into the mosques that occupy the holy compound and desecrate them.

Sabri urged all local Muslims to protect the mosques from "the Israeli conspiracy against the city and its holy places."

Muslim religious figures regularly claim that Israel is plotting to destroy the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque to pave the way for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, which the Muslims now insist never previously existed.

Because of the constant threat of Muslim violence, and despite the fact that the Temple Mount is the most holy place on earth to Jews and many Christians, the Israeli police comply with Muslim demands for harsh restrictions on non-Muslim visitors to the site. For instance, Jews and Christians are forbidden to carry Bibles atop the Temple Mount or to utter even silent prayers within its walls. Jews and Christians are regularly detained for violating these conditions.

In other violence, Palestinian terrorists operating out of the Gaza Strip fired a Grad-type missile at the southern Israel city of Beersheva on Saturday. The projectile landed in an open area just outside Beersheva and did not cause any injuries or damage. Two more short-range rockets hit nearby Israeli towns.

Palestinian forces fired at least two rockets at southern Israel - one at the coastal city of Ashkelon - on Friday, again causing no injuries or damage.

Israel's air force responded to the unprovoked missile attacks by launching aerial strikes against terrorist installations in Gaza, including a missile production facility.

 

IDF: Syria could attack Israel soon

Donnerstag, 16. Februar 2012 | Ryan Jones

 

The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday that there is growing concern in the Israeli army that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad could attack the Jewish state as pressure mounts for him to step down.

Assad is currently facing a revolution in his own country that he has sought to quell with brutal military force. Those bloody tactics have resulted in a good portion of the Syrian army joining the opposition, and Syria is nearing the point of full-scale civil war.

The situation has prompted the Arab League and Western powers to consider injecting their own military forces into Syria with the aim of ending Assad's rule. But before that happens, Israeli military officials believe Assad would lash out at Israel, both to divert Arab attention on Syria's internal struggle and to establish a lasting legacy for himself.

What has made this prospect all the more worrying is that recent reports suggest Assad has been using chemical weapons against the Syrian opposition, including civilians. If he attacks Israel, it is believed Assad would have no problem using those same weapons against the Jewish state.

Syria reportedly has the most extensive chemical weapons arsenal in the world.

The Israeli army has been holding drills and formulating plans focused on dealing with a number of possible scenarios springing from the situation in Syria.

Subscribers: Read our interview with Israeli experts concerning the situation in Syria and the possibility that Syrian chemical weapons will be used against Israel, either by Syria or by Assad's allies in Hizballah.

Hamas Threatens Israel, Says it Will 'Pay the Price'

Hamas’ military wing threatens Israel, says the Jewish State will soon "pay the price for its crimes."

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/17/2012, 5:15 AM

 

Hamas in Gaza

Arutz Sheva photo: Flash 90

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, threatened Israel on Thursday and announced that the Jewish State will soon pay the price for its crimes against Gaza, Al-Aqsa and the Arab prisoners.

The terror group clarified in a statement that its members will not stand by without responding to what is happening to Palestinian Authority Arabs.

“The occupation must know that any new aggression against our people will bring it closer to the moment of judgment, during which it will pay a high price for its crimes,” said the group.

The statement added, “The Zionist aggression against our people in Gaza continues despite the quiet and restraint which the Palestinian resistance groups exhibit in order to maintain national interest.” In addition, said the statement, the Israeli leadership ignores the demands of hunger striking prisoners.

One such hunger striking prisoner is Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan, whose lawyer said this week he will appeal his client's administrative detention order to Israel's Supreme Court.

Adnan has been on a hunger strike for 61 days to protest his incarceration by Israeli security officials.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades also claimed that the IDF has recently escalated its aggression in Gaza and hit the “Palestinian resistance sites”, a fact which resulted in the hurting of six innocent civilians on Wednesday night.

The statement was likely referring to the IAF strike on two centers of terrorist activity in northern and central Gaza. The attack came after terrorists from Gaza fired at least four rockets at southern Israel.

Palestinian Authority: We are operating in Jerusalem

Donnerstag, 16. Februar 2012 | Ryan Jones

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, hailed by the West as a "moderate" leader, acknowledged on Wednesday that his government is violating signed agreements with Israel by operating in Jerusalem.

"East Jerusalem is the main part of the occupied Palestinian territories ," Fayyad declared after admitting that the Palestinian Authority is "continuously trying to allocate resources inside the city," as reported by the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency.

"Israel must realize that there won't be any chance of a long lasting peace without East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state," Fayyad continued. "This land is ours."

Demonstrating his disregard for signed agreements, or even for truth, Fayyad stated that Israel's policy of trying to deny the Palestinian Authority's inroads into Jerusalem is contrary to the terms of the peace process.

In fact, the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement ("Oslo 2") states in Article XVII (1a) that the Palestinian Authority will not have jurisdiction over areas "that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotations : Jerusalem, settlements, specified military locations, Palestinian refugees, borders, foreign relations and Israelis."

In other words, the Palestinian Authority is barred by this interim agreement from exercising any kind of authority in Jerusalem. But, Palestinian leaders have never let the letter of the law or historical fact get in their way, and are accustomed to twisting or disregarding those conditions that don't fit their agenda.

It should also be noted that the above article from the Interim Agreement also prohibits the Palestinian Authority from conducting foreign relations at this time. However, the Palestinian Authority today has a foreign minister and operates official embassies and other diplomatic missions in 142 nations

Nasrallah Threatens Senior Israeli Officials

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah says his group will hurt senior Israeli officials, denies Hizbullah involvement in attacks this week.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/17/2012, 2:15 AM

 

Hassan Nasrallah

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The leader of the Hizbullah terror group, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened on Thursday to hurt senior Israeli officials. Nasrallah made the threats during a speech at a ceremony in memory of former Hizbullah leader Abbas Musawi and arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh.

In his speech, Nasrallah denied that Hizbullah was involved in the attacks this week which targeted Israelis in India, Georgia and Thailand.

“Regarding the bombings that occurred this week in India, Georgia and Thailand - I want to say clearly that Hizbullah had nothing to do with it,” said Nasrallah. “I do not know who was behind the explosions and I do not waste my time analyzing it. At this point I want to remind that Imad Mughniyeh's blood will haunt them. We will get revenge on them, but we won’t hurt soldiers or diplomats. It would be shameful for us to avenge the death of our commander by killing simple Israelis.”

He added, “They (Israel) know very well who we are targeting. They are taking precautionary measures and I say to them today - beware. As long as blood flows in our veins, we will continue to operate until the day we get revenge for Imad Mughniyeh. This will be a respectable revenge.”

Mughniyeh was killed in a car-bomb attack in Damascus in February of 2008, reportedly while in the midst of planning major terrorist attacks in moderate Arab countries.

Both Hizbullah and Syria blamed Israel for killing Mughniyeh, and Hizbullah has promised to avenge his death.

In his remarks Nasrallah added, “Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan said that Hizbullah has firepower that is not found in 90 percent of the world's countries. It is not a minister or a journalist who said it, but the head of the Mossad. Whether this is true or not, only Allah knows. It is enough for us that Israelis believe it.”

He promised to keep fighting Israel because it “occupies Palestine and the holy places for Christians and Muslims, works to Judaize Jerusalem and causes suffering among the Palestinians.” He added that the Zionist project is a “danger which is imposed on Middle Eastern countries and the peoples living in it, regardless of their religious affiliation, race and culture of those nations and those countries. We need to locate this danger and bring it down.”

Hizbullah and Iran have been blamed for the terror attacks this week. Iran has denied involvement in the attacks and has suggested that any of Israel’s “many enemies in various parts of the world” could have been behind them.

IDF Retaliates After Rocket Barrage Hits Southern Israel

At least four Qassam rockets fired at Israeli territory. IDF fires at suspicious points in Gaza.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/16/2012, 1:13 AM / Last Update: 2/16/2012, 4:28 AM

Qassam rocket (archive)

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza fired at least four rockets at southern Israel on Wednesday evening, Channel 10 News reported.

Three Qassam rockets were fired at the Ashkelon Coast and Shaar HaNegev Regional Councils, the report said. The rockets exploded in open areas. No physical injuries or damages were reported.

Earlier, a Qassam rocket exploded in an open area near a community in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of physical injuries or damage.

The IDF retaliated for the attacks late on Wednesday night, firing at several suspicious points in Gaza, according to a report on Channel 2 News.

IAF aircraft later attacked two centers of terrorist activity in northern and central Gaza. The IDF Spokesperson said in a statement that direct hits were scored and all Israeli aircraft safely returned to their bases.

Wednesday’s rocket fire comes after a barrage of rockets that were fired at southern Israel last weekend.

On Saturday night, Gaza terrorists fired a short-range Qassam rocket at southern Israel. The missile landed in the Eshkol Regional Council district, in an open area.

No one was physically injured and there were no reports of property damage.

On Friday night, a Grad missile attack blew open a small crater between two homes in the Hof Ashkelon Coastal Region district.

A nearby electric pole was damaged, cutting power to both homes. The shrapnel also penetrated the walls of at least one of the houses as residents were sitting in the living room enjoying the evening. By a miracle, no one was physically injured in the attack.

IAF aircraft later struck three terror tunnels in southern, northern and central Gaza. A weapon manufacturing site in northern Gaza was hit as well.

In 'Palestine,' terror pays

Mittwoch, 15. Februar 2012 | Ryan Jone

There is sadly no shortage of Palestinian Arabs with an ingrained nationalistic motivation to harm and kill Israeli Jews. But for many others, there is another compelling reason to engage in terrorism: a steady salary.

An Israeli court this week charged two Gaza men with terrorist activity after they admitted to plotting to kill Israeli soldiers so they could collect a healthy Palestinian Authority salary while sitting in Israeli jails.

The economy is not healthy anywhere in the world. But with Hamas' mismanagement of Gaza (did anyone expect more from a recognized terror group?) and Israel's need to impose a security blockade, local unemployment rates are through the roof.

Salam Alsufi and Ra'ami Tayima knew that by joining Hamas they would get into the kind of trouble that would land them up in an Israeli jail. And that's just what they wanted, since the Palestinian Authority pays jailed Palestinian terrorists between 3,200 and 10,000 shekels (about $865-$2,700) per month, far more than Palestinian civil servants earn. Additionally, the families of jailed Palestinian terrorists receive tax breaks and free education.

With those kinds of benefits, it is little wonder that Alsufi and Tayima were anxious to get arrested. In fact, media reports suggested the two men became impatient with the orders given to them by Hamas, which included monitoring Israeli troop movement from a hidden position and killing any Israelis that entered Gaza. Instead of waiting, Alsufi and Tayima were caught cutting their way through the Gaza security fence in order to attack soldiers patrolling on the Israeli side of the border line.

The two men are now in jail, and, as they desired, will likely start receiving monthly payments from the Palestinian Authority. Most of that money is being provided by America and the European Union, in violation of anti-terror laws, though the issue has been repeatedly shelved by leaders on both continents.

Republicans slam Obama on Israel missile defense

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, JPOST CORRESPONDENT 02/15/2012 19:48

'Post' obtains letter in which leading House Republicans express concern with "record-low support" for Israeli missile defense.

By NIR ELIAS / Reuters

WASHINGTON – Two leading Republicans chastised US President Barack Obama for cutting missile defense funding to Israel in the 2013 budget, in a letter released on Wednesday.

“We are deeply concerned that at a time of rising threats to our strongest ally in the Middle East, the administration is requesting record-low support for this vital defense cooperation program,” wrote Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Buck McKeon of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Related:

• ‘Congress could increase Israel defense funding’
• Joint US-Israel missile drill delayed

The new White House budget request reduces funding in this area from $106 million for this year to $99m. in 2013. The authors noted that Congress ended up more than doubling the 2012 administration request to $215m.

Democratic Hill sources have told the Post that they anticipate a similar congressional increase in funding for 2013, wiping out any reduction.

The White House did not immediately react to the letter, but referred the Post to a White House website post by Jarrod Bernstein, director of Jewish outreach, in which he wrote, “Informed by our ongoing high-level security dialogue with key Israeli defense and intelligence officials, the president has requested unprecedented support for Israel, even in a challenging fiscal climate.” Obama’s budget includes a record-high $3.1 billion in military assistance to Israel in addition to the missile defense spending.

“The fact is that the president submitted to Congress on Monday the largest White House budget request for foreign military assistance for Israel ever,” said National Jewish Democratic Council President David Harris. “But it’s not just the largest for Israel. It’s the largest foreign military assistance request for any country in history.”

Harris described the White House request and the anticipated congressional boosting for missile defense as consistent with the practice of former president George W. Bush, a Republican.

“I’m aware that there’s a $6m. piece of pain,” Harris said, but added, “This is only the first step in the process and I’m confident that President Obama will ensure that Israel gets every dollar it needs for missile defense.”

PA 'Double Talk': Song Wishes for a World Without Israel

The official TV of the 'moderate' PA Chairman Abbas airs song which longs for Israeli cities such as Jaffa, Haifa and Akko.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/15/2012, 6:16 AM

 

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas

Israel news photo: Flash 90

video

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152775?fb_ref=.TztN7kBn1tg.like&fb_source=profile_oneline

Twice in the past two weeks, official Palestinian Authority TV has broadcast a song which expresses longing for a world without Israel.

The lyrics of the song express a desire for the Israeli cities of Haifa, Jaffa, Akko, Ramle and Nazareth to be part of “my country,” which is Palestine, where all cities would be accessible “with no borders.”

The music video, which aired on January 30 and again on February 9, was translated by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research institute and presented on its website. The official PA TV is run by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, who has often been described as more moderate than the Hamas terror group, whose charter states that Israel must be destroyed

The following is the transcript of the song as translated by the PMW and which includes places such as Nazareth, the Galilee, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Akko, and Haifa, all of which are Israeli cities and places:

“I wish I could enter my country with no borders...
I will go about in Bethlehem and in Al-Aqsa , which is held captive
I will eat lunch in Nazareth and eat dinner in Beit Sahour...
I do not forget Jenin nor Nablus , and the Galilee
I do not forget you, Jaffa, your long sea
I will never forget the olives of the Galilee
Even if our path has grown long, one day we will return:
To Jerusalem, to Gaza, to Acre, to Haifa, oh Lord.
To Jerusalem, to Ramle, to Acre, to Haifa, oh Lord...
I wish I could enter my country with no borders.”

PMW often exposes such instances of “double talk” by the PA’s official media. These incidents occur despite Abbas often telling international media that he is in favor of peace with Israel.

Recently, PMW exposed statements made by the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, against Jews.

At an event marking the 47^th anniversary of the Fatah movement, Hussein said that the killing of Jews by Muslims is a religious Islamic goal.

He cited the Hadith (Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad) saying that “the Hour will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein later requested that a criminal investigation on suspicion of incitement to violence and racism be opened against the Mufti.

The statements were condemned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as well as by President Shimon Peres. The Mufti denied that he called for genocide of Jews, saying that “sentences were cut from my speech” and added that “Islam calls for respect of all human beings. I am amazed that these comments were attributed to me.”

A fatal attack on Israelis abroad could spark war with Iran and Hizballah
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis February 13, 2012, 10:35 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli embassy car in New Delhi after bomb blast

This time, no one was killed although an Talya Yehoshua- KIoren, wife of the Defense Ministry representative in India, and three others were injured by a sticky bomb planted on her Innova SUV in New Delhi Monday, Feb. 13, at almost exactly the same time as a similar device was safely defused in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
In recent weeks, terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets were foiled in Thailand, Azerbaijan and Argentina. However much they deny this, Iran and Hizballah are clearly determined to keep on trying until they achieve their objective of killing targeted Israelis.
debkafile’s military sources say that the odds are on their eventual success, after failing in four out of five tries.
On this assumption, Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz summoned three senior staff officers to a conference as soon as the first reports came in from New Delhi and Tbilisi at around noon Monday. It was attended by Military Intelligence Director Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavy, Air Force commander Ido Nehushtan and Operations Division chief Maj. Gen. Yaakov Ayash. The meeting’s level indicated that it was not limited to discussing the immediate import of the two bombing attacks but focused rather on the broader ramifications of a potential attack with Israeli fatalities and its impact on the prospects of war.
This assumption does not look far-fetched when it is recalled that deadly terrorist attacks in the past plunged Israel into two major wars.
On June 3, 1982, four terrorists gunned down Israeli ambassador Shlomo Argov outside the Dorchester in London. He was in a coma until his death 21 years later. Three days after the attack, Israeli troops invaded Lebanon to fight the Palestinians and Syria.
Twenty-four years later, on July 12, 2006, Hizballah raiders crossed into Israel and attacked an IDF patrol. They killed three of its members and dragged two back into Lebanon to be held as hostages. Before the day ended, Israel was at war, this time with Hizballah.
So the agenda on Gen. Gantz’s urgent discussion with the IDF’s intelligence, air force and operations chiefs
was obviously not about plans to fly Israeli troops to New Delhi or Tbilisi, but for a calculus of the proximity of a full-scale war at some point in the ongoing wave of terror.
For some weeks now, the Middle East has been teetering at the edge of a precipice. A sudden shove could push it over the edge into full-blown armed hostilities without President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or even Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei being in control. The atmosphere is already dangerously charged over the crisis in Syria, reciprocal US and Iranian threats over the Strait of Hormuz, and US and Israeli preparations to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.

But wars may be ignited without notice by a small spark or a terrorist attack far from Middle East shores that would cause enough Israeli fatalities to satisfy its instigators in Tehran and Beirut and provoke an Israeli military response. This was dangerously close to happening in New Delhi Monday.

Israeli Who Was Wounded in 'Critical but Stable' Condition

Wife of Israeli diplomat who was wounded in India terror attack undergoes two surgeries, listed as critical but stable.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/14/2012, 2:15 AM

Mumbai, India

Flash 90

The wife of the Israeli diplomat who was wounded in the terror attack near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, underwent two major surgeries on Monday night and her condition was stated to be “critical but stable.”

Earlier, the woman was identified as Tal Yehoshua-Koren. The India-based television channel CNN-IBN reported that Yehoshua-Koren suffered splinter injuries in the attack and was admitted to the local Primus Hospital.

A spokesperson for the hospital told the channel, “Her surgery is over...she continues to remain critical but stable. She will be under observation for some time because she had undergone two major surgeries.”

The report noted that Yehoshua-Koren was going to pick up her two children from school when a car that was parked near the Israeli embassy exploded.

Security forces in Tbilisi, Georgia, thwarted another attack when they defused a bomb near the Israeli embassy.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blamed Iran for the attacks, saying that “Iran, the largest exporter of terrorism in the world,” along with its client Hizbullah, were behind the attacks.

Iran, however, denied Netanyahu’s accusations and claimed that Israel itself was behind the attacks and that it carried them out “to tarnish Iran’s friendly ties with the host countries.”

Iran Accuses Israel of Attacking Its Own Targets Abroad?

Iran accuses Israel of bombing its own embassies abroad in an effort “to tarnish Iran’s friendly tie with the host countries."

By Rachel Hirshfeld

First Publish: 2/13/2012, 9:35 PM

 

Iranian President Ahmadinejad

Israel news photo: Wikimedia Commons

In response to the attack on Israeli diplomats in India - and the thwarted attack in Georgia on Monday - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran, calling it “the biggest exporter of terror in the world.”

"The Israeli government and her security organizations are continuing to operate together with local security services against these acts of terror," Netanyahu said. "We will continue to act in a strong way, systematically and steadfastly," Neyahyahu said.

However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that Israel was behind the attacks saying it “to tarnish Iran’s friendly tie with the host countries."

The IRNA also quoted Mehmanparast as having “brushed aside the Israeli accusation of Iranian involvement" in the bombing and that Israel "perpetrated the terrorist actions to launch psychological warfare against Iran."

"Iran condemns terrorism in strongest term and Iran has been the victim of terrorism," Mehmanparast said, echoing a previous denial by officials in Tehran,

Yet, just a few days ago, the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proclaimed that, the “Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor” that “will be removed."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks and said, "The United States places a high priority on the safety and security of diplomatic personnel around the world, and we stand ready to assist with any investigation of these cowardly actions," CNN reported

Lieberman: We Know Who Did It

Foreign Minister says Israel knows who carried out attack in Delhi and that Israel will hit back.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 2/13/2012, 4:14 PM

 

Foreign Minister Lieberman (file)

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reacted Monday to the explosion in an Israeli diplomat's car in India, and apparently also to a failed attack in Georgia.

"The citizens and the state of Israel are targets of terror. We know who carried out the terror attacks and who is behind the attacks. We will not go back to business as scheduled."

A diplomat's wife was reported moderately injured in the Delhi attack.

Lieberman rejected the latest demands by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, incuding a call for Israel to declare a new moratorium on construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria.

Regarding construction in Judea and Samaria, Lieberman said: "We will not accept any diktat or precondition in Judea and Samaria, certainly not a freeze. Freezing construction is an attempt to strangle the residents who were sent there."

"There will be no freeze in a government in which we sit."

Regarding the Tal Law that allows most hareidi-religious men of army age to avoid enlistment, Lieberman said that his party will create an alternative to the law. "I have asked MK David Rotem to take care of the matter," he said

Abbas: We Won't Recognize Israel as a Jewish State

PA Chairman Abbas: We won't recognize the Jewish State, because then no "Palestinian" refugees will be able to return.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/12/2012, 11:58 PM

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that the PA will not meet Israel’s demand that it recognize Israel as the Jewish State, Kol Yisrael radio reported.

According to the report, Abbas explained this statement using the reasoning that once that the PA agrees to this requirement, there would be no value to the million and a half PA Arabs living in Israel, and no refugee would be allowed to come back to Israel, in keeping with the PA demand that Israel allow millions of Arab refugees to return to their old homes in Israeli cities as part of a future agreement.

Abbas made the comments during a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, the report said, and added that Israel still refuses to stop building in Judea and Samaria. He said that one day PA Arabs will wake up and find a Jewish settlement in the heart of the PLO’s Muqata headquarters in Ramallah.

He said that the PA leadership intends to send a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and emphasize that it will resume peace talks with Israel only if it stops building Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, accepts the principle of two states along the 1949 armistice lines (the so-called 1967 borders), and release prisoners, especially those who were imprisoned before the second intifada began in 2000. Abbas stressed that the PA will await Netanyahu’s response and added that if its demands are rejected it will once again turn to the UN to pursue a unilateral statehood bid.

Abbas’ comments come less than a week after he signed an agreement with the Hamas terror group in Doha. The reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah faction calls for Abbas to head an interim government, which will be made up of "independent technocrats." The new PA interim government is to be presented on February 18 in Cairo.

Abbas has claimed the agreement does not contradict with the peace process, but at the same time has continued to present Israel with preconditions for peace talks, as he has done for almost three years since Netanyahu took office.

While Fatah is often considered the “moderate” of the two factions, Fatah official Nabil Shaath said last week the new interim PA government "need not recognize Israel."

"It is the PLO, not the PA, that recognizes Israel," Shaath insisted in an interview with the Hamas-affiliated Arabic-language Al Quds, in an attempt to justify forming a unity government with Hamas, which continues to call for Israel's destruction.

Shaath's statements run counter to clear conditions set by the Quartet for Middle East Peace - the European Union, Russia, United Nations, and United States - for Hamas to be included in a PA government.

Quartet officials have said Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist, formally abandon terrorism and violence, and uphold agreements signed by previous PA governments with Israel and any other entity.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office responded to Abbas’ Sunday comments and said that his speech turns away from peace. Instead of negotiating to end conflict, the PMO said, Abbas prefers to join the terrorist group Hamas which embraces Iran.

Poll: Palestinians reject 2-state solution

Sonntag, 12. Februar 2012 | Ryan Jones

Israel is widely portrayed as the primary obstacle to peace in the Middle East, but a new poll reveals that Israelis may have very good reason for not trusting the intentions of their Palestinian peace partners.

Conducted by American pollster Stanley Greenberg and the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, the survey found that 61 percent of Palestinians do not accept the "two states for two peoples" formula that has thus far driven the peace process.

An even larger 66 percent said that while they would accept a "two-state solution" as a first step, they would want to eventually move on to replacing Israel with a single Palestinian state.

A full 92 percent said that even in a two-state solution phase, Jerusalem can be the capital of "Palestine" only, regardless of whether or not Israel retains control over the Jewish-dominated western half of the city.

Their intractable hard-line positions are the result of the fact that an overwhelming 72 percent of Palestinians reject any Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem and the land as a whole.

When your opponent is painted as an occupying invader with no legitimate reason to be in the land, it is easy to support violence against him, which most Palestinians do. Over 62 percent of respondents said Palestinian terror groups should abduct more Israeli soldiers until their demands are met, and 53 percent said they are in favor of teaching songs about hating Jews in Palestinian schools.

Note, that's not songs about hating Israel or the Zionists, but songs about hating the Jewish race of people. In other words, anti-Semitism is taught in Palestinian schools with parental approval and support. It is that kind of education that has kept a healthy 73 percent of Palestinian adults in agreement with the old Islamic teaching that one day every Jew must be hunted down and killed.

For now, the poll showed that an average "only" 30 percent of Palestinians support open warfare against Israel, while 65 percent feel that diplomatic efforts are currently meeting most of their needs.

By contrast, the vast majority of Israelis, even many of those on the right, long ago surrendered to the idea that an independent Palestinian Arab state is needed to end the conflict.

The problem most Israelis have is that while an agreement to a two-state solution may be signed with the current Palestinian leadership today, there is no telling who will be in charge of a Palestinian state tomorrow, especially given that a majority of Palestinians appear ready to vote into power groups like Hamas that have the ultimate goal of removing Israel from the map.

Ahmadinejad Promises Nuclear Surprise

Iranian President promises that Tehran will soon unveil “big new” achievements in its controversial nuclear program.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/12/2012, 3:28 AM

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that Tehran will soon unveil “big new” nuclear achievements, The Associated Press reported.

Speaking at a rally in Tehran marking the 33^rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamic clerics to power, Ahmadinejad did not elaborate on the upcoming announcement but insisted Iran would never give up its uranium enrichment.

“Within the next few days the world will witness the inauguration of several big new achievements in the nuclear field,” Ahmadinejad told the crowd in Tehran’s famous Azadi, or Freedom, square.

At the same time, the Iranian President said that “Iran is ready for talks” with the West about its nuclear program “within the framework of equality and justice.” He warned, however, that Tehran “will never enter talks if enemies behave arrogantly.”

Before Ahmadinejad spoke Saturday, Hamas’ Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh spoke to the crowd and said, “They want us to recognize the Israeli occupation and cease resistance but, as the representative of the Palestinian people and in the name of all the world’s freedom seekers... we will never recognize Israel.”

He added, “The resistance will continue until all Palestinian land, including al-Quds (Jerusalem) has been liberated and all the refugees have returned.”

Haniyeh arrived in Tehran for an official trip on Friday and was welcomed by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi at Tehran's International Airport.

The visit is taking place following an official invitation extended to Haniyeh by Ahmadinejad.

Iran Warns Azerbaijan: Keep Mossad Out

Iran warned the representative of Azerbaijan in Tehran: make sure that Israel does not use your country as a spy base.

By David Lev

First Publish: 2/12/2012, 8:36 PM

Mossad chief Tamir Pardo

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday called in the representative of Azerbaijan to Tehran, to protest Baku's alleged cooperation with Israel's Mossad. Iran's official news agency IRNA said that the Ministry had handed a note to regional Azeri representative Javanshir Akhundov, demanding that his country prevent the Mossad from using Azerbaijan as a base for attacks on Iran.

The meeting was apparently inspired by a weekend report in the London Times that Mossad agents were using Azerbaijan as a “hub” from which to conduct operations and spy on Iran. The report quoted an anonymous alleged agent who called himself “Shimon,” who said that Azerbaijan was “ground zero for Israeli intelligence work. Our presence here is quiet, but substantial. We have increased our presence in the past year, and it gets us very close to Iran. This is a wonderfully porous country.” According to the report, several individuals involved in the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists had escaped to Azerbaijan.

Last month, Russian media reported that a band of terrorists that had been arrested in Azerbaijan had been planning to attack Israeli personnel in the country, especially Israeli ambassador Michael Lotam.

At least two of the detainees were Azeris working on behalf of Iran, the reports said. The reports added that the gang had received its instructions from an Iranian mobster who was living in Azerbaijan. Weapons, including guns and bombs, had been smuggled into Azerbaijan from Iran in preparation for the attack, which police were able to prevent at the last minute.

MK Dichter: America Must Act Against Iran, Not Israel

Former Shin Bet chief MK Avi Dichter announces candidacy for Kadima leadership and declares: I'll join Netanyahu's coalition.

By Elad Benari & Yoni Kempinski

First Publish: 2/13/2012, 3:13 AM

MK Avi Dichter

video

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152678?fb_ref=.Tzij30JJIhc.like&fb_source=profile_oneline

MK Avi Dichter (Kadima), formerly the director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), officially announced on Sunday that he will run for the leadership of the Kadima party on March 27.

Dichter, who also ran for the party’s leadership in 2008, will once again face off against current party leader MK Tzipi Livni and MK Shaul Mofaz. In the 2008 primaries, Dichter only achieved 6.5 percent of the vote and came in fourth, behind Livni, Mofaz and MK Meir Sheetrit.

While Livni has rejected the notion of Kadima joining Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition, Dichter is claiming that he is in favor of this idea and has promised that if elected, he will have Kadima enter the coalition.

“Israel is in one of its most difficult hours and faces new threats, the likes of which we have not know since its inception,” he said on Sunday as he announced his candidacy. “The continued presence of the largest Zionist party in the Knesset in the opposition is cynically dangerous and is a lack of national responsibility. Kadima has been completely absent from the decision making process because of the strategic mistake of its leader who chose not to join the government and spent three precious years with no significant contribution to the country.”

Kadima is currently the largest party in the Knesset but its support has been crumbling in recent months, especially since journalist Yair Lapid announced his entry into politics. Polls immediately afterwards showed his gaining anywhere from seven to more than 15 Knesset seats, most of them at the expense of Kadima. Other polls taken after Mofaz announced his candidacy for leader showed that he would achieve even fewer seats than Kadima would achieve under Livni’s leadership.

“The whole area around us, for the past year, has been undergoing an earthquake which I would rate as 9 on the ‘Dichter scale’,” Dichter told Arutz Sheva shortly after announcing he is entering the leadership race.

“It started in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, now it’s Syria,” Dichter added, referring to the Arab Spring. “Nobody knows what countries are next, and therefore I think we, the Israeli government, cannot continue without recruiting all the forces and the Israeli politicians.”

“I think that the Kadima party,” he said, “which is a centrist party with almost a quarter of the seats in parliament, cannot be outside the coalition in such a challenging time.”

Regarding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent threats against Israel, the former ISA chief said that “three good statements don’t mean one good action, and what we need is one good action.”

Dichter said he expects the United States to make a clear statement that Iran will not be able to achieve nuclear weapons and that any means will be taken to stop its nuclear program. He added that he thinks Israel should wait for such a statement.

“I think that Israel is not a superpower,” he said. “We cannot lead the world offensive against Iran. We have to participate, we have to give all kinds of information and intelligence that we have. We need to prepare, just in case nobody plans to do anything, but to lead it will be a total mistake by the State of Israel.

UNESCO: Rachel’s Tomb Also Belongs to Christians

UNESCO claims Rachel’s Tomb and the Patriarchs’ Cave are not exclusively Jewish sites and also belong to Christians and Muslims.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

First Publish: 2/12/2012, 10:42 AM

Tomb of Rachel

srael news photo: Yoni Kempinski

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), which has accepted the Palestinian Authority as a state, claims Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs [Me'arat Hamachpela, the Patriarch's Cave] are not exclusively Jewish sites and also belong to Christians and Muslims. 

Israel has announced that the two holy places, dating back thousands of years, are being included in the country’s national heritage sites.

Rachel's Tomb is located immediately south of Jerusalem, "on the road to Efrata" near Bethlehem, where the Bible records (Genesis 35:19) that the matriarch was buried.

The other matriarchs – Sarah, Rebecca (Rivka) and Leah – and the forefathers Avraham, Isaac (Yitzchak) and Yaakov (Jacob) are buried at the Patriarchs’ Cave in Hevron, which the Bible records was bought by Avraham for an enormous sum of money.

However, UNESCO director Irina Bokova has accepted the view of UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, who warned that Israel’s inclusion of the two Biblical Jewish sites could harm the moribund peace process. UNESCO admitted the PA as a member four months ago despite the fact that PA chariman Mahmound Abbas failed to gain recognition in the international organization's General Assembly.

In a statement by the Paris-based agency, she did not explain the supposed Christian and Muslim connection with Rachel's Tomb. Palestinian Authority Muslim clerics have suddenly claimed in the past two years that Rachel’s Tomb actually was a Muslim site thousands of years ago, even though Islam was only founded 1,500 years ago.

Christians and Muslims built over Jewish structures at the Patriarchs’ Cave during the Crusades and the Muslim conquest.Jews were ony allowed to ascend seven of the many steps to the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

During the Jordanian occupation of Hevron from 1948 to 1967, Jews were not allowed to visit Jewish sites in Hevron, the Old City of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the region, and Christians also were prohibited from visiting their holy places.

Israel opened up all holy sites to the three religions after the Six-Day War in 1967.

In her statement, Bokova stated, “UNESCO has been mandated by its member States to provide assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the fields of education and culture. It has been working with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian civil society to protect and preserve the cultural heritage sites in the West Bank and is committed to continue doing so.”

The Palestinian Authority has increased efforts to claim several locations in Judea and Samaria as being under their sovereignty, including the Dead Sea and the Qumran Caves, where the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls, containing the books of the Jewish Bible, were discovered in 1947.