Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Hamas: We're Still in Contact With EU and US

LONDON - The leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas said his organization is still in contact with the European Union even though the 25-nation bloc considers it a terrorist group.

Khaled Mashaal also said in a television interview broadcast Monday that the United States had made contact "in past months," but he did not specify how or when.

"The European Union, which put Hamas on a list of terrorist organizations, is still continuing communications and meetings," Mashaal told the British Broadcasting Corp.

"They recognize Hamas' authority and that there is no understanding or stability in Palestine without a dialogue with Hamas," he added.

Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said there were no EU-Hamas meetings.

Egypt trade deal with Israel stirs debate

CAIRO, Egypt -- Egypt's coming trade agreement with Israel and the United States is stirring a debate in Egypt, with business executives saying it could create 250,000 jobs in a year and politicians saying it favors Israel.

As part of an accord scheduled to be signed Tuesday in Cairo, goods produced in certain areas in Egypt with a minimum Israeli content will gain tariff-free access to the United States. The deal is one of several moves that signal hopes of reviving the Mideast peace process after the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last month.

The secretary-general of Egypt's Ready-Made Garment Exporters Association, Magdy Tolba, and the vice chairman of the Chamber of Textile Industries, Mohammed Kassim, said the agreement should give such a boost to clothing manufacturers that they will hire 200,000 to 300,000 workers in the first 12 months after it is implemented early next year.

Many jobs will come from the use of idle capacity, as Egyptian manufacturers have lost American orders to competitors in Jordan and sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, Kassim said. Other jobs will depend on new investment.

The agreement applies to all goods produced within designated areas, and the makers of furniture, electrical and leather products are expected to take advantage.

But clothes and textiles are Egypt's No. 1 export commodity, and 42 percent of the revenue comes from the United States.

French ban Hizbollah TV station Al-Manar; Arabs threaten France in return

PARIS -- France's highest administrative body on Monday ordered the TV station of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group off French airwaves within 48 hours for broadcasting hateful content in some shows and posing risks to public order.

The decision came after a Nov. 23 Al-Manar program quoted someone described as an expert on Zionist affairs warning of 'Zionist attempts' to transmit dangerous diseases like AIDS to Arab countries. Another program the same day glorified attacks against Israel, the administrative body said.

The Council of State ordered Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat to stop broadcasting Al-Manar within two days or pay a fine of $6,600 a day.

The station broadcast some programs that were 'openly contrary' to a French law banning incitement to hate, a situation that poses 'risks to maintaining public order,' the council said in its 11-page ruling.

However, the council left open the possibility that Al-Manar could keep operating if the company that airs the station, the Lebanese Communication Group, shows itself ready to modify its programs to conform with French law.

In Beirut, Al-Manar TV condemned the French ban as 'a dangerous precedent' against the Arab media and blamed Israeli pressure for it.

The decision risks a tit-for-tat move against France. Last Friday, Lebanese media officials warned that any decision to suspend or cancel Al-Manar could force Lebanese officials to take action against French stations.

On Thursday, Lebanese Information Minister Elie Ferzli said his country 'would not remain silent' if French measures are taken against Al-Manar, which is operated by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

The antisemitism at the U.N. is a problem for more than just Israel.

Undiplomatic Imbalance
The antisemitism at the U.N. is a problem for more than just Israel.

There is a curious omission in the 129-page report on United Nations reform recently produced by a 16-person panel "of eminent and experienced people" at the request of Secretary General Kofi Annan. The U.N.'s own website, under "Main Bodies," lists the General Assembly, the Security Council, and directly below, the "Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People." But nowhere does the reform report mention this committee.

The omission goes to the heart of what's really ailing the U.N. For the past four decades the United Nations has become the personal propaganda machine of the nom de guerre of Arab and Islamic states — Palestinians. Their aim is to demonize, debilitate, and destroy the state of Israel — the thriving democratic beachhead in their midst — for a start. The original U.N. mission, to protect the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, has been hijacked and corrupted by nations that neither share the universal values of the U.N.'s Declaration of Human Rights nor have democratic intentions.

Is this a paranoid, introverted, hysterical exaggeration? Consider the evidence.

Every schoolchild or member of the public who walks into U.N. Headquarters today (and the entire month of December) will be greeted by a large display in the front entrance put on by that main U.N. body, the Committee on Palestinian Rights. It includes a series of pictures "Fashion for Army Checkpoints," that conveys the alleged degradation of being searched for a suicide bomb strapped to one's body. Of course, nothing is said about the degradation of being blown up by a suicide bomb strapped to those bodies who manage to avoid such searches.

Is this just a problem for Israelis? Not if one compares the extensive Palestinian exhibit gracing the U.N. lobby with the minimal display they managed to squeeze alongside on the subject of AIDS.

But the public U.N. entrance is just the tip of the iceberg. There is only one entire U.N. Division devoted to a single group of people — the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights (created in 1977). There is only one U.N. website dedicated to the claims of a single people — the enormous UNISPAL, the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine. There is only one refugee agency dedicated to a single refugee situation — UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (in operation since 1950.)

Is this just an Israeli problem? Not if you're a Dalit in India, a farm worker in Zimbabwe, or a Tibetan, and your rights are not on the U.N. agenda.

The list of hijacked U.N. organs goes on. The General Assembly operates through six committees of the whole. One of them, the Fourth Committee, routinely devotes 30 percent of its time to the condemnation of Israel.

Is this just an Israeli problem? Not if you're concerned about another agenda item of the Fourth Committee, the "comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects" which gets less than half the attention paid to Israel.

How about the takeover of the General Assembly emergency-session procedure? These sessions began in 1956, and since then six of the ten emergency sessions ever held have been about Israel. The 10th such session began in 1997 and has been "reconvened" 13 times, most recently this past summer.

Is this just an Israeli problem? Not if you were one of those people who thought a million dead in Rwanda or two million dead in Sudan might have warranted one General Assembly emergency session.

Then there is the U.N.'s primary human-rights body, the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Thirty percent of the resolutions condemning specific states ever adopted over 40 years are directed at Israel. The attention not paid to the rights of a billion people in Communist China — who have never been the subject of a single resolution — is not an Israeli problem.

To appreciate fully the extent to which the U.N. has been taken over, observe November 29th, the annual U.N. Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which is the only U.N. day dedicated to a specific people. The occasion was held in the U.N.'s elaborate Trusteeship Council before hundreds of delegates. At the front of the room sat the secretary general, the president of the General Assembly, and the chair of that main U.N. body, the Committee on Palestinian Rights. In a repeat of previous years' performances, beside them stood a U.N. flag, a Palestinian flag, and in between, a map in Arabic pre-dating the existence of the U.N. member state of Israel. All participants were asked to rise for "a minute of silence...for all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people..." — which would include suicide bombers.

Given that the major client of U.N. largess is the Palestinian surrogate for Arab and Islamic warlords, it is a wonder that the experts on U.N. reform didn't see fit to mention the impact of the bull in their china shop.

On the contrary, they recommended that more bulls be invited in. Reform of the human-rights commission, according to the secretary general's experts, requires not limiting the commission to states committed to democracy and human-rights protection, but expanding the membership from the current 53 to all 191 U.N. member states. Current members and human-rights enthusiasts like Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan will no doubt be delighted to be joined by friends in Iran and Burma.

In an apparent nod to the ransacking of the U.N.'s peace and security foundation by Islamic states — that have blocked the adoption of a comprehensive convention against terrorism for years — the secretary general's panel recommended that the U.N. adopt a definition of terrorism. On the bright side, they finally admitted the U.N. doesn't have such a definition. Until it does, it can hardly be expected to play a serious role in the war against terrorism. But the panel was very careful to recommend that it be a "consensus definition" — U.N. code language for blessing continuing stonewalling by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

As for the panel recommendation to expand the membership of the Security Council, it may improve the egos of various states. But more warm bodies not subject to democratic membership qualifications won't transform a damage-control organ and its veto-protection scheme into an effective instrument for dealing with grave threats like a nuclear Iran.

So let's cut through all of the talk and meetings and discussion groups on U.N. reform to the root cause of U.N. disease. Arab and Islamic states have the U.N. in a chokehold and, so far, no one is prepared to do anything about it.

— Anne Bayefsky is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a visiting professor at Touro and Metropolitan Colleges in New York..

Mortar attacks increase

Since September 2000, 4,885 mortar rounds and Qassam or Al-Batar rockets have been fired at Gush Katif and northern Gaza Strip settlements. Residents update the number daily. The religious newspaper Hatsofeh publishes the figure in a daily box on its front page. The settler-run Web site Katif.net includes a 'mortar counter,' which periodically plays the sound of bursting shells, something that residents still find hard getting used to.
As long as the number of mortar rounds equaled the number of miracles, Gush Katif residents tried to take it in stride, but since the disengagement plan was announced, and especially in recent months, the mortar volleys have intensified, with an average of a dozen shells or rockets landing every day.

The number of direct hits has grown. The number of shock and anxiety victims, hundreds till now, has also grown. Some 100 houses have been hit directly; about 300 indirectly. Dozens have been wounded. Two people have been killed. A lot of property has been damaged - hothouses, roads, sidewalks, trees, electricity poles and lampposts, public structures and private homes.

Eight people were hurt Friday when a mortar shell exploded in a yard, but shells also have hit houses directly and sometimes kill: Tiferet Tratner was killed by mortar fire last Yom Kippur Eve. Other direct hits have miraculously caused no casualties. Rachel Sapirstein from Neveh Dekalim survived the exploding of three Qassams near her car recently. After the Namir family heard a mortar shell penetrate the roof of their Neveh Dekalim home, they found the shell lying unexploded on the floor next to baby Shlomo's crib. The synagogue compound in Neveh Dekalim was shelled more than once. Another shell landed inside the toilet of a private home. A mortar volley landed just a week ago in a yard outside kindergartens in Atzmona. Nearly every Gush Katif resident has a miracle to recount.

Friday's shelling continued undisturbed for 20 minutes, leading previously whispered grumbles to become near-formal statements. 'This abandonment appears to be directed from above,' says Eran Sternberg, spokesman for the Gush Katif Council. Sternberg and quite a few residents suspect that the ease with which Palestinians have been hitting them lately is intended to push them to disengage from their homes. The intensive fire is indeed taking a toll on residents' cohesiveness as they struggle to maintain two fronts - against the disengagement plan and against the mortar shells.

MEMRI:Leading Egyptian Government Daily Columnist: Develop Relations with Israel and Drop the Negative Attitudes Towards Her

Under the title 'Relations with Israel,' columnist Hazem Abd Al-Rahman, in the leading Egyptian Government daily Al-Ahram, calls for developing Egyptian-Israeli relations and dropping the negative attitude towards Israel. The following are excerpts from the article:(1)

'Egyptian-Israeli relations occupy an important place in Egypt's foreign policy and the first serious signs of openness in [Egyptian-Israeli] relations that we are now observing are important.

'Enhancing relations with Israel also increases Egypt's ability to influence Israel's policy towards the Palestinians in the territories in a way that will fulfill the [Palestinians'] national aspirations, [their] right to self-determination, and the establishment of a state for the Palestinian people. It is obvious that under conditions of a 'cold peace,' no such opportunity exists. This is because when relations diminish or stagnate, the ability to take advantage of them in order to influence also diminishes or stagnates.

'In addition, the development of relations with Israel and interest in [these relations] can open a window [of opportunity] that will free Egyptian-Israeli relations from any form of reliance upon [Egypt's] relations with the U.S. It is not natural, necessary, or essential for relations with Israel to be influenced by [Egypt's] relations with the U.S. Namely, we hope that [Egypt's] relations with Israel will be strong, self-sufficient and completely independent from relations with the U.S.

'The same should hold true for relations between Egypt and the Arab countries because we should not allow [Egypt's] relations with the Arab countries to negatively impact relations with Israel. Moreover, the development of Egyptian-Israeli relations could step up the impact of the Arab factor in relations with Israel. This is a very important point because through these [Egyptian-Israeli] relations, the Arabs can achieve positive results.

'Objective analysis on this matter cannot lead to any other conclusion. It is time to drop the negative attitudes towards Israel, and relations with it. The basic value of the peace accord between Egypt and Israel lies in the fact that it expunges the term 'prohibition' or 'taboo,' which was created in the past by Arab policies towards Israel, and which turned relations with Israel into an abomination that could not be allowed.

'Relations with Israel are a privilege and a correct [step] which should be developed in a way that will fulfill the achievable interests.'

Endnote:
(1) Al-Ahram (Egypt), December 8, 2004.

Israeli Conflict No Obstacle to Middle East Reforms, Powell Says

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the countries of the Middle East and North Africa realize they have to move ahead with political and economic reforms regardless of the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Powell made the remarks to reporters December 10 while en route to the Forum for the Future meetings in Rabat, Morocco, on building political and economic reforms in the region.

'We can't keep pointing to the Middle East Peace Process as the reason we don't undertake reform efforts that are needed by these nations and as these nations have identified for themselves,' Powell said.

'The very fact that they are coming tomorrow to talk about these issues and so many nations are moving down a correct path suggests to me that they understand that, as much as we would all like to see progress in the Middle East Peace Plan, they also know that they can't wait for that solution to occur and not move forward,' he said.

Organized in part by the G8 industrialized countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), the forum will look also at civil society and education as part of democratic and economic reforms.

Neither Israel nor Sudan was invited to participate in the forum. Powell said he hoped future meetings of the forum 'will become more and more inclusive of the entire region.'

Powell indicated that the G8 countries would be announcing some sort of spending initiatives, including for entrepreneurship training facilities in Bahrain and Morocco.

70% of Palestinians could be induced to leave

In a scientific survey conducted face-to-face with Palestinians in the West Bank, 71 percent specified one or more material factors that would induce them to emigrate permanently.

The poll, which queried a random sample of 528 people Nov. 15-21, showed about half would consider leaving permanently for life in another land if they had the wherewithal and ability.

The survey asked, "If today you had the wherewithal and ability to leave and live permanently in another country would you?"

A total of 50 percent would consider it, with 33 percent saying "maybe" and 17 percent yes. Forty-one percent said no.

The poll indicated 42 percent have considered leaving permanently.

The Arabic-language survey was conducted by Maagar Mohot Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting Institute in Israel in collaboration with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, reported Independent Media Review and Analysis

The Palestinian center carried out the sampling and interviews while the questionaire design, data input, statistical processing and formulation of the final report were done by the Israeli firm.

Asked what would make you permanently move to another country, the respondents answered [Note: More than one factor allowed; weighted figures presented]:

* 15 percent – Nothing would make me leave

* 16 percent – Guarantee of a good job overseas

* 12 percent – Situation here gets worse

* 10 percent – Generous financial assistance

* 9 percent – Financial guarantee equal to average wages in the West Bank today for life

* 8 percent – Guarantee of good housing

* 6 percent – Guarantee of good education for the children

* 5 percent – On condition that the entire family goes with me

* 2 percent – Supportive community in the new place

* 17 percent – Other.

Asked whether they believe the Palestinian Authority is doing enough today to improve their lives, 53 percent said no, 33 percent yes, and 14 percent "other."

A plurality of 46 percent said they believe the PA is corrupt, while 35 percent said it was not, and 14 percent had another response.

Judge Awards $156M to Terror Victim's Parents from Islamic "Charity"

CHICAGO - Three Islamic charities and an alleged fund-raiser for the Palestinian militant group Hamas were ordered Wednesday to pay $156 million to the parents of an American teenager killed by terrorists outside Jersusalem.

A federal jury deliberated for one day before awarding $52 million in damages to the parents of David Boim, shot down at a bus stop eight years ago. U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys then tripled the damages.

But it is uncertain whether the family can collect much money from the defendants, some of whom have had their assets frozen by the government.

Joyce and Stanley Boim, parents of the slain teenager, showed no emotion as the jurors announced the verdict. Their attorneys smiled broadly.

Before the trial started, the judge had found the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Islamic Association for Palestine and alleged Hamas fund-raiser Mohammed Salah liable in Boim's death.

The jury found that the Quranic Literacy Institute of suburban Oak Lawn, a group that translates Islamic religious texts, was also responsible for the shooting.

The Boims, Americans who moved to Israel in 1985, sued under a U.S. law that allows victims of terrorism abroad to collect damages in American courts from organizations that furnish money to terrorist groups.

The weeklong trial focused on the Quranic Literacy Institute and its relationship with Salah, who claimed to be an employee and served five years in prison in the Mideast in the 1990s after pleading guilty to funneling money to Hamas.

The institute's attorney, John Beal, refused to take any active part in the trial. He said the judge didn't provide enough time to prepare a defense.

Beal repeatedly insisted there was an innocent explanation for each of the allegations.

But he didn't bother to present them to the judge and jury. -EoZ

Bush Rewards Terror

To give money to people who, to this day, support the murder of Jews and Americans is absurd. The "elections" are a sham and have nothing to do with democracy. The leader of Fatah is in fact the leader of the Palestinians and that position is unelected. Whether it happens directly or indirectly, this money will end up towards contributing to the deaths of innocents. - EoZ

Bush Gives Palestinians $20 Million

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Wednesday announced it was giving $20 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority to help it through a financial crisis.

A senior Bush administration official said it hoped the aid would encourage additional donations from other countries 'at a time when the Palestinian Authority is in desperate need of budget support to pay its bills, maintain stability and allow it to focus on the larger question of governing.'

The Palestinian Authority is facing a severe financial crisis due to falling tax revenues during four years of violence which has paralyzed the Palestinian economy.

The $20 million in direct aid was to be announced during an international donors conference for the Palestinians in Oslo.

It is part of a push to help the Palestinians before their Jan. 9 election, at which President Bush hopes the Palestinians will elect a democratic leader willing to negotiate peace with Israel.

'The upcoming Palestinian elections have made a functioning Palestinian Authority more important than ever,' the official said. 'The United States has a national security interest in helping to end the ongoing violence and terror in the Middle East and to make progress toward the president's June 24, 2002, vision of peace.'

The money is to help pay utility services, including the payment of arrears to Israeli utility companies.

The False Dawn of Peace

Now that the old brute’s dead, are his successors any better?

By Steven Stalinsky

With Arafat's death, there has been an unprecedented amount of optimism in the West regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state and the possibility of peace. Yet amongst Palestinian officials there is little talk of such a peace, the continuation of Yasser Arafat's "jihad" against the Jewish state instead being endorsed. (To watch examples of these statements, visit www.memritv.org.)

Some members of the Palestinian establishment close to Arafat are now stating in public that he never really wanted peace, and instead considered the Oslo Accords a strategy to destroy Israel in phases. It was reported on November 21 that Abd Al-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, discussed a meeting he held with Arafat shortly before the latter's return to Gaza from Tunis. When Atwan criticized the Oslo Accords, Arafat reassured him: "The day will come when you will see thousands of Jews fleeing Palestine. I will not live to see this, but you will definitely see it in your lifetime. The Oslo Accords will help bring this about."

The Palestinian ambassador in Iran, Salah Al-Zawawi, explained in an interview on Iranian Al-Alam TV on November 12: "[Arafat] knew that this path is the path of martyrdom and Jihad. He knew that this great cause requires martyrs, not leaders.... He fought the Jihad and we saw him in many battles...if you ask me what will surely be the end of this Zionist entity, I will say to you that this entity will disappear one of these days...It's a matter of time.... Our phased plan, which I already mentioned, is to establish an independent sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital...."

Similiarly, Palestinian analyst Yunis Udeh told London's ANB TV November 11: "When we told him [Arafat] that the road to Oslo would mean the termination of the Palestinian cause, he said, 'I am hammering the first nail in the Zionist coffin.'... I asked him how. He said: 'I will go to Gaza, I will return to Palestine...."

Fatah Supreme Council Member Abu Ali Shahin also hinted in an interview on November 13 on Lebanon's Al-Manar TV that Yasser Arafat considered the Oslo Accords a strategic move to destroy Israel: "Yasser Arafat led a revolution, a revolution of a barrel of gunpowder alongside a barrel of petrol.... But when Yasser Arafat saw that the USSR...collapsed without a single shot being fired.... Arafat understood this great international game. He made a 180-degree turn.... He accepted...Madrid, and after it Oslo...."

Countless Palestinian officials have also spoken about continuing the violent campaign against Israel. Fatah leader Hussein Al-Sheikh told Al-Arabiyya TV on November 11: "The gun Yasser Arafat raised...will be raised by...the Palestinian people, so they continue to believe that the gun is the way to get rid of this occupation, the shortest way to get rid of this occupation. This is Abu Ammar's promise and this is his will, and we will continue to be true to them."

Also on November 11, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader Raid Al-Aidi said on Al-Arabiyya TV, "We call from here to all the heroes...[to] strike this occupier anywhere, with no holds barred. We...will direct our painful blows against this monstrous entity. The Palestinian state will be achieved only by strengthening the resistance.... This occupier understands only the language of gunfire and gunpowder and we will teach this occupier, Allah willing, a lesson as we have taught it in the past, in Tel Aviv, Hadera, and everywhere. We will escalate our blows against this occupier...."

In the same program, Fatah Central Committee member Hani Al-Hassan explained that, "In Fatah we have a rule: the armed struggle sows and the political struggle reaps.... Therefore, when Oslo didn't bring results, the sowing came in the form of the Intifada.... We will see now whether the political situation allows us to reach political results and to bring about a change in our favor. Otherwise, we will go back to sowing."

Quoting former Egyptian president Abd-Al Nasser — "what was taken by force will be restored only by force" — is how the new leader of Fatah, Faruq Al-Qaddumi, described the Palestinian strategy against Israel on Al-Arabiyya TV on November 14. Al-Qaddumi has considerable popularity among the Palestinian street for never accepting Oslo. With his naming as leader of Fatah, Al-Qaddumi is openly challenging Mahmoud Abbas and Ahmad Qureia to be Arafat's successor. As he stated in the interview, "Anyone who thinks that I have abdicated my authority is mistaken."

He explained Fatah's position about Hamas: "The Hamas movement is our friend. It is a...movement of heroes. It is part of the national Palestinian movement. No...Fatah member could possibly harm Hamas." Al-Qaddumi is also close to Hezbollah, and during a meeting with Sheikh Nasrallah on September 4, 2003, they discussed "cohesion between the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance."

At a memorial for Arafat on November 23, Al-Qaddumi explained, "We can not achieve these goals except through continued resistance by all methods and means." He has also called for attacking U.S. interests throughout the world.

The Palestinian leadership is not alone in stating in public that terrorist attacks against Israel must continue. The Arabic and Iranian press have been particularly vocal. In response to an interviewer's question as to whether the Intifada will continue and grow stronger, Lebanese MP Zaher Al-Khatib said on November 13: "It will escalate and develop technologically. The martyrdom operations are no longer the only kind of operations in Palestine. The martyrdom operations have become a strategy. A strategy doesn't mean that we carry out these operations whenever possible; it means [real] military operations.... There is an infrastructure of resistance that wages battles, enters Ashdod, crosses borders, penetrates military zones, conducts operations as in Ashdod, and so on."

American officials intimately involved in the Oslo Accords now publicly state that more attention should have been paid to the issue of Palestinian incitement, and what the Arabs were saying amongst themselves about peace in Arabic. With Yasser Arafat gone, the U.S. should be paying close attention to his heirs to understand their true intentions.

— Steven Stalinsky is executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Ten million dollars for information on Ron Arad

The Born to Freedom Foundation has launched a 10 million dollar campaign to obtain information on missing Israeli Air Force navigator, Captain Ron Arad.

On October 16 1986, Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad bailed out of his plane on a mission in Lebanon and was captured by members of the Iranian-backed Shiite group, Amal. Since then, Ron has been held captive by a various of factions and groups, all of them extremist Shiite groups, backed by Iran.

France praises Israel's 'restraint'

In a radical departure from years of Parisian critical rhetoric, the French ambassador to Israel, Gerard Araud, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that he thought Israel "has tried to show the utmost restraint" in the course of the conflict with the Palestinians since 2000.

The ambassador even evinced a certain understanding of the deaths of Palestinians during the course of Israeli army activity. "It's unavoidable that in some operations...," he said, leaving that sentence uncompleted. "War is dirty, war is always dirty," he went on, and then added: "Occupation is never clean."

France has been at the forefront of repeated EU appeals to Israel to show greater restraint vis- -vis the Palestinians, and leading French politicians have frequently used far tougher language than employed by the EU.

French President Jacques Chirac, for instance, condemned Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March as being contrary to international law. Two years ago, then-French foreign minister Hubert V drine said that no solution to the Middle East crisis could be found by "armored vehicles firing" at Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters. V drine had earlier accused Israel of following a "deliberate" and "fatal" policy in seeking to weaken or eliminate the Palestinian Authority and protested the army's "harassment" of Arafat.
...
The Palestinian issue is "not the central problem" for Arab states, he said, most of whose regimes are "so fragile... They all have more pressing problems... being mostly obsessed with their own survival."

Iran claims Saudis getting nukes from Pakistan

Official Iranian sources are claiming that they have information about Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signing an agreement in 2003 in which Pakistan promised to help Saudi Arabia develop nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.
The reports are coming out as Iran reached an agreement with the three European powers - the United Kingdom, Germany and France - about a cessation of uranium enrichment and the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of directors issues its report on Iran's nuclear activity.

The Iranian reports emphasize that the nuclear cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is at an advanced stage and that for the first time the Saudis have access to nuclear technology.

The international news agency United Press International (UPI) reported that Iranian Prof. Abu Mohammed Asgarkhani claimed in a lecture that Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear arms picked up after it learned about the Pakistani-Saudi deal and the possibility that Saudi Arabia would eventually acquire nuclear weapons.

Israeli and Western sources are not attributing much significance to the Saudi ability to develop, even partially, nuclear weapons.

Pakistan owes Saudi Arabia a great deal because Saudi Arabia essentially financed development of the Pakistani bomb. A Saudi representative may have been the only foreigner invited to visit Pakistan's nuclear facilities. Pakistan was also the middleman between Saudi Arabia and China for the purchase of long-range Chinese missiles. Those missiles, based in Saudi Arabia, have meanwhile become obsolete, and the Saudis want to upgrade them. The Americans told the Chinese that would be a violation of an agreement in which the Chinese promised not to sell missiles. The Chinese say it would not be a missile sale, but an upgrade of an existing missile sold a long time ago, but Washington remains opposed to the deal.

The Iranian reports about nuclear dealings between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is apparently motivated by Iran's interest in pointing out that other countries in the region are involved in military nuclear development and that they are not coming under international criticism because they are friends of the U.S.

Hamas and other terrorists reject truce; story buried

When a Hamas spokesman says to the Western press that Hamas might possibly consider perhaps thinking about a temporary cease fire with Israel, it gets headlines throughout the world. When they reiterate their desire to destroy Israel, even the Israeli press buries it in the last paragraph of a story not related to the topic. - EoZ

In Damascus, Abbas held talks with the leaders of three Palestinian radical groups to discuss the possibility of reaching a cease-fire with Israel and the upcoming presidential election in the PA.

Abbas met with a Hamas delegation led by the movement's leader, Khaled Mashaal. He also held separate talks with Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah.

Abbas also met with Ahmed Jibril, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, another Damascus-based group that is strongly opposed to the Oslo Accords.

The leaders of the three groups refused to comment on the results of their talks with Abbas. Mashaal walked in and out of the meeting at Abbas's hotel without being seen by reporters.

However, Palestinian sources in Damascus said the three urged Abbas to work towards establishing a national unity leadership in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would consist of representatives of all the Palestinian factions.

According to the sources, the groups rejected Abbas's demand for a temporary truce with Israel ahead of the January 9 election, insisting that they would pursue the fight against Israel.