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Giant ice shelf drifting south

A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Ellesmere Island, about 800 km south of the North Pole in the Canadian Arctic, leaving a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake.

Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, travelled to the ice island and couldn't believe what he saw. "It was extraordinary," he said yesterday, adding that in 10 years of working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss of sea ice.

"This is a piece of Canadian geography that no longer exists."

The collapse was so powerful that earthquake monitors 250 km away picked up tremors. Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor.

ONE OF SIX REMAINING

"We think this incident is consistent with global climate change," Vincent said, adding that the remaining ice shelves are 90% smaller than when they were first discovered in 1906.

The Ayles Ice Shelf, roughly 66 sq. km, was one of six major ice shelves remaining in Canada's Arctic. They are packed with ice that dates back over 3,000 years, and scientists like Vincent treat their loss as a sign the global climate is crossing an unprecedented threshold.

"We're seeing the tragic loss of unique features of the Canadian landscape," he said. "There are microscopic organisms and entire ecosystems associated with this ice, so we're losing a part of Canada's natural richness."

Meanwhile, the spring thaw may bring another concern as warming temperatures could release the broken ice shelf from the grip of Arctic ice. Prevailing winds could then send the ice island southwards, deep into the Beaufort Sea.

Giant ice shelf drifting south (http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/12/29/3059350-sun.html)

In Japan, new nationalism takes hold

By Robert Marquand, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Thu Dec 28, 3:00 AM ET

TOKYO - On a pleasant November morning, some 300 Japanese executives paid $150 each to hear a lanky math professor named Masahiko Fujiwara give a secular sermon on restoring Japan's greatness. Mr. Fujiwara spoke quietly, without notes, for 80 minutes. His message, a sort of spiritual nationalism, rang loudly, though: Japan has lost its "glorious purity," its samurai spirit, its traditional sense of beauty, because of habits instilled by the United States after the war. "We are slaves to the Americans," he said.

Fujiwara's remedy is for Japan to recover its emotional strength. He says that Japan "can help save the world" - but its youths are lost in a fog of laxity and don't love Japan enough.

Fujiwara represents the milder side of an assertive discourse rising gradually but powerfully here. What direction it will take in this vibrant and complex society remains unclear. But as a new generation seeks to shed the remnants of what is commonly called the "American occupation" legacy, a range of speech and ideas previously frowned on or ignored, is showing up sharply in mainstream culture.

"We came because Fujiwara is one of few who speaks the truth to our politicians," says Hirofumi Kato, vice president of a family business who attended the talk. Those not there can buy Fujiwara's "Dignity of a Nation," a bestseller at more than 2 million copies this year, that describes how Western concepts like freedom and equality are inappropriate for Japan and don't really work in the US.

Cartoons, magazines fuel message
The new nationalist sentiment is seen in popular magazines that use provocative language to advocate a more militaristic Japan, question the legitimacy of the Tokyo war-crimes trials, and often cast racist aspersions on China and Korea. Magazines include "Voice," "Bungei-shunju," "Shokun," "Seiron," and "Sapio," among others that are widely available. Sapio issues this fall have detailed how China will soon invade Japan and advocate nuclear weapons for Taiwan and Japan. The Dec. 27 issue details which members of the US Congress "love and hate Japan," including those described by political scientist Takahiko Soejima as helping "US companies take over Japanese banks at cheap prices."

Popular manga cartoons, another example, are a vivid entry point for school children and young adult males who read them on the trains. In recent years, manga have begun to include stronger and more-open ethnic hate messages. "The 100 Crimes of China," for example, is one in a recent series put out by publisher Yushinsha, with a kicker noting that China is the "world's most evil country." One recent manga is titled, "Why We Should Hate South Korea." Drawings are graphic and depict non-Japanese in unflattering ethnic stereotypes.

New programs are emerging, like the weekly Asahi talk show hosted by Beat Takeshi, that have thrown staid political expression into satire for Japanese viewers. There's a higher profile set of "conspiracy theories" that get repeated on TV, including those by writer Hideyuki Sekioka, author of "The Japan That Cannot Say 'No.' " Mr. Sekioka says the US manipulates Japan into adopting weak policies and has a "master plan" to control Japanese business. TV Asahi broadcasts programs detailing various US manipulations, including the idea that the CIA sent the Beatles to Japan in 1966 to dissipate an anti-US mood and "emasculate" Japanese youths.

The rise of this rhetoric is often denied here. Yet by last summer, Yoshinori Katori, then-Foreign Ministry spokesman, acknowledged that nationalism, most often on the right, had become a "new phenomenon."

The Japan of 2006 has quietly adopted a tone very different from the milder pacifism of it postwar identity. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe engineered two historic changes - transforming the postwar Defense Agency into a full-scale Defense Ministry, and ushering in a law requiring patriotic education in schools. The new law requires teachers to evaluate student levels of patriotism and eagerness to learn traditions. The Asahi Shimbun warns that this may "force students to vie to be patriotic in the classroom."

"A nationalistic reawakening from Japan's old pacifist identity, is leading to a domestic restructuring of Japan," says Alexander Mansourov, Asia specialist at the Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. "Along with a new defense ministry, a new national security council, and new intelligence agency, there's debate over whether to go nuclear, a debate on pre-emptive strikes on
North Korea."

Pacifist sensibility still strong The new nationalism is not coming as an especially fire-breathing exercise. Japan remains quite cosmopolitan; mildness and politeness are valued. Many Japanese don't notice the stronger messages, or are not interested in politics.

The majority retain a pacifist sensibility. There's little hint of a mass emotional patriotism seen in Japan under Emperor Hirohito. The trend may get redirected as part of a healthy rediscovery of pride.

"I see a Japan that, after the 1990s, is becoming more confident," says one American corporate headhunter who has lived here for two decades.

Still, the extent of change in Japan's discourse can be measured by the number of moderates who say that they have little ground to stand on today. Former Koizumi presidential adviser Yukio Okamoto, a moderate conservative, argues that the "middle or moderate ground" is disappearing. Mr. Okamoto says that on many subjects - membership in the UN Security Council, culpability in World War II - he finds himself without a voice. "Every time I open my mouth to say something, I am bashed by either the left or the right," he says. Recent TV appearances by the granddaughter of Hideki Tojo, a World War II leader who was later executed for war crimes, describing him as a fine fellow, also concern Okamoto, who says that, though not an exact parallel, it would be inconceivable to imagine a granddaughter of Hitler going on German TV.

Most of the current domination of media is by the harder right. Former finance minister Eisuke Sakakibara says, "The sense of nationalism is rising here. I feel threatened ... any liberal does. We worry about a loss of freedom of speech. [In the US,] the right has not taken complete control in the media, but we are not the US."

The new tone is coupled with the rise of China, fears associated with North Korea, perennial questions of identity - and comes as America, Japan's main ally and security guarantor, is bogged down in
Iraq. It was given some license by the repeated visits to the Yasukuni war-memorial shrine by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Those angered much of Asia, where they were seen as implicit support of a view that Japan's 20th-century war was justified.

Prime Minister Abe has eased that anger by not visiting the shrine, instead visiting Beijing to promote common points, like trade. But many experts see that decision as tactical.

Radical media, too, are thriving. The magazine "Will," for example, ran a discussion between the ultranationalist governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, and Fujiwara, the author. Mr. Ishihara, who won 80 percent of the Tokyo vote in 2005, calls World War II "a splendid war." Fujiwara says Japan must replace its logic-based culture with an emotion-based culture; he pushes to eliminate the teaching of English in schools. Photos in "Will" this year depicted fascist author Yukio Mishima standing atop the high command in 1970 in a military uniform, minutes before he jumped to his death. Mr. Mishima's private army had just failed to take control of the building.

It's the "mainstreaming" of such material that raises some eyebrows. Yoshinori Kobayashi, a popular far-right cartoonist, now appears regularly on mainstream talk shows. Ishihara recently interviewed Sekioka in "Bungeishunju," a literary magazine akin to the Atlantic Monthly. Ishihara wonders why Japan lacks the spiritual strength to stand up to the Americans.

Behind such views is a shared vision: a return to pure virtues found in medieval Japan. The Tom Cruise film "The Last Samurai" captures some of this. "What we need is a return to the inherent religion and culture of Japan ... of our ancestors in the middle ages," argues Sekioka.

Japan's education bill is designed to teach such virtues. Prime Minister Abe's new book, "Toward a Beautiful Country," hearkens to the ideas of love of homeland.

The idealized samurai code was given best expression by a Japanese Christian named Inazo Nitobe. His book, "Bushido: The Soul of Japan," was written in English and translated back into Japanese after World War II. It prizes sympathy for the weak and hatred of cowardice - and has been a gold mine for present-day nationalists.

Critics say Japan must confront its wartime past. Much of its pacifist identity emerges from the view that it was a war victim, as epitomized by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That story, reinforced by textbooks that downplay or deny Japan's role in invading Korea and Manchuria, rang loudly in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, and ignored as the economy boomed in the late 1980s. But it has received a boost from tales of Japanese abducted by North Korea. Prime Minister Abe, who has been instrumental in promoting the abductee issue, has of late been trying to mediate between extreme nationalism while still advocating more patriotism.

In Japan, new nationalism takes hold (http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20061228/wl_csm/onationalism)

MWL Wants Lawsuits for Abuse of Islam and the Prophet
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
 

JEDDAH, 28 December 2006 — A two-day conference organized by the Makkah-based Muslim World League yesterday called for a consultative commission in order to take legal action against those who abuse Islam and its Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Islamic sanctities, at local and international courts of justice, the Saudi Press Agency said.

The conference titled “In Defense of the Prophet” called upon Islamic countries and governments to stand united to defend the Islamic faith and its Prophet. It denounced the smear campaigns to tarnish the image of the Prophet and urged Muslims to make all-out efforts to project the true picture of Islam and the great divine teachings of the Prophet.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, who presided over the conference, called upon Muslims to follow the Prophet’s teachings.

“Our enemies are exploiting Muslims’ weak adherence to the Prophet’s Sunnah,” said Al-Asheikh. “We should not be ashamed of implementing his Sunnah. On the other hand, all Muslims must observe his teachings in all walks of their life.”

MWL Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Turki said the attack on the Prophet was an expression of enmity toward Islam.

“The whole Muslim Ummah, including its leadership, scholars and ordinary people was outraged by such attacks and this again shows the lofty position the Prophet has in their hearts,” he said in reference to the Muslim response to cartoons depicting the Prophet.

MWL plans to launch an international program to introduce the Prophet and the conference called for setting up a fund to support the program. “The anti-Islam campaign also intends to trigger a cultural conflict between the Islamic world and the West and create a situation of clash and conflict in place of dialogue and peaceful coexistence,” the MWL chief said.

Al-Turki called upon Western countries to protect human rights of Muslim communities and take action against those who create unnecessary fear about Islam by linking it with terrorism and violence.

“The creation of such fears will lead to violating human rights of Muslims and threats to their freedom and security,” he said. “It will also have other long-term negative impacts.”

Jamal Badawi, a Canadian-Muslim expert on Islam, spoke about the Prophet’s outstanding influence on human history.

“There is no other personality who has made such a positive impact on history,” he told the conference.

MWL Wants Lawsuits for Abuse of Islam and the Prophet (http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=77639&d=28&m=12&y=2006)

Uncle Sam wants US Muslims to serve

By Richard Whittle, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor Wed Dec 27, 3:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON - As US troops battle Islamic extremists abroad, the Pentagon and the armed forces are reaching out to Muslims at home.

An underlying goal is to interest more Muslims in the military, which needs officers and troops who can speak Arabic and other relevant languages and understand the culture of places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The effort is also part of a larger outreach. Pentagon officials say they are striving for mutual understanding with Muslims at home and abroad and to win their support for US war aims. Among the efforts to attract and retain Muslim cadets:

*West Point and the other service academies have opened Muslim prayer rooms, as have military installations.

*Imams serve full- and part-time as chaplains at the academies and some bases.

*Top non-Muslim officers and Pentagon officials have taken to celebrating religious events with Muslims overseas and here in the US.

"There is a message here, and that is that Muslims and the Islamic religion are totally compatible with Western values," says Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England in an interview.

For the past two years, Mr. England has hosted an iftar, the feast that ends the daytime fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va. His guests have included ambassadors, leaders of the Muslim-American community, and Muslims who serve in the US armed forces.

President Bush also hosted an iftar at the White House in October, as he has done for several years. Gen. Robert Magnus, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, held one the same month at the Marine Corps Barracks in Washington for defense attachés from predominantly Muslim nations.

The US armed services don't recruit by religion, but the Pentagon estimates at least 3,386 Muslims were serving in the US military as of September. No precise figures are available because, while US service members are surveyed on their religion, they aren't required to disclose it. Advocacy groups put the number at 15,000, saying many are reluctant to reveal their religion. African-Americans represent the largest share of Muslims in uniform, they add.

However uncertain the progress, the military is intensifying its outreach.

On June 6 - the anniversary of D-Day, he notes - Mr. England helped dedicate a new Islamic prayer center at the Quantico Marine Corps Base near Washington, whose 6,100 marines include about 24 Muslims, according to Lt. Cmdr. Abuhena Saifulislam, a Navy chaplain who serves as their imam.

The Marines also have allowed Muslims in their ranks at Quantico some dispensations to make it easier to practice their religion, says Lieutenant Commander Saifulislam, a US citizen born and raised in Bangladesh. During Ramadan, "they're allowed to have some time off to prepare for their fasting break and not to go to physical training" while fasting, he says.

Muslim troops say misunderstandings and friction with non-Muslims in uniform arise sometimes, but practicing Islam in a military at war with extremists who profess the same faith isn't a burden, they add.

Petty Officer Third Class Nicholas Burgos, a Sunni Muslim training to be a Navy SEAL, or commando, says instructors sometimes goad him by calling him "Osama bin Burgos" or asking if he's training to help the Taliban. But "it's all in good fun," he insists.

"It's all about how much mental stress you can deal with while you're in training," Petty Officer Burgos says. "I just laugh or have a smirk on my face."

His father, Asadullah Burgos, is the part-time imam at the US Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., whose roughly 4,000 cadets include 32 Muslims, 12 of whom are foreign students.

"There's been some insults and some taunting, but it's been handled at the cadet level," Imam Burgos says. "Usually that's due to ignorance."

Col. John Cook, the senior chaplain at West Point, says that after media reports about the academy's new Muslim prayer room, he got a call from a self-described "concerned citizen" who fretted that "the Muslims are taking over the world."

"I told him, 'I'm a Christian chaplain, but I have the responsibility to provide for other faith groups,' " Colonel Cook says. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish cadets all have their own chapels at West Point, he notes.

Marine Sgt. Jamil Alkattan, a Sunni Muslim of Syrian heritage from South Bend, Ind., says his religion, his knowledge of Arabic, and his familiarity with Arab culture were major assets during two tours in Iraq.

Not only was he able to teach fellow marines key Arabic phrases and explain that all Muslims aren't extremists, he says, but he also was able to befriend locals, who brought him vital intelligence. "They would come to me and say, 'I know where bombs are,' and this and that," Sergeant Alkattan says. "I never got to sleep. They would come at night time and tell me, 'Hey, I think these guys [insurgents] are trying to set you guys up,' or, 'I've seen these guys with an IED [improvised bomb].' I think it stopped a lot of things that could have happened."

Under a new Middle East Cultural Outreach Program created by the Marine Corps, Sergeant Alkattan is one of six Arab-American marines selected to be stationed in major American cities as liaisons to the Arab-American community and advisers to recruiters.

The program was conceived by Gunnery Sgt. Jamal Baadani, a Muslim born in Cairo who emigrated to Michigan when he was 10.

"It is not a direct recruiting program," says Sergeant Baadani, but its goal is to educate recruiters to avoid cultural no-nos and foster good relations with Arab-American communities. The "overall objective ... is to develop solid relationships with the Arab and Muslim communities for the 21st and 22nd centuries. This isn't something that's just a Band-Aid treatment."

Uncle Sam wants muslims to serve (http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20061227/ts_csm/amuslimtroop)

Israel's population grew 1.8 percent in 2006, to 7.1 million
By Moti Bassok, Haaretz Correspondent

As the clock chimes out 2006, Israel's population stands at 7.1 million, of which 76 percent is Jewish and 20 percent Arab, according to figures published Thursday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The data showed population growth of 1.8 percent this year, similar to the rate reported in the past three years. This low growth rate is similar to that reported in the 1980s, before the arrival of the huge wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union.

Most of the 120,000 new Israelis - 88 percent - came from natural increase, while 12 percent were immigrants. In the 1990s, immigration accounted for 56 percent of population growth.

In 2006, 19,900 immigrants arrived in Israel, similar to the number reported in the preceding two years. Almost half of the new immigrants came from former Soviet countries. Some 146,300 births were recorded.

Israel's population is relatively young for the Western world, with 28 percent of the population being under age 14. In most Western countries, children constitute just 17 percent of the population. On the other end of the scale, the elderly constitute just 10 percent of Israel's population, compared to an average of 15 percent in developed countries.

Israel's population is largely urban, as is common in the West. More than 91 percent of the population lives in urban areas, with 28 percent in the major cities - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Letzion and Ashdod.

Israel's population grew 1.8 percent in 2006, to 7.1 million (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807107.html)

New Intifada coming

Daily humiliation on roads will lead to another Palestinian uprising

Yehuda Litani
Published:    12.29.06, 09:39

In the last days of 2006, an Arab friend who is an Israeli citizen offered that I join him on a drive from Jerusalem to Ramallah and back. "I want to drive one of my employees who lives in Ramallah to her home – come with us so you can see with your own eyes what happens on those roads," the friend said. After all, most Israelis are unaware of what's happening there. We passed through the neighborhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina quickly, yet when we reached the Dahiat al-Barid neighborhood on the outskirts of Ramallah, the story started to unfold.

At the heart of the neighborhood (still within the boundaries of greater Jerusalem) near the separation fence (wall), a roadblock was positioned on the main road to Ramallah along with three Border Guard police officers who prevented cars from passing through (including our car, which bore Israeli license plates.)

The Ramallah resident we were driving (an Arab Israeli married to a resident of the West Bank) recommended that the driver turn right to a dirt road that bypasses the fence. We droved over stones and potholes for about 20 minutes until we again reached the main road, all the way to the Kalandiya refugee camp and from there to Ramallah. Not even one police officer or soldier stopped us on the way there, which took about an hour and a half. Before the separation fence was erected, this drive would take 15 minutes at most.

Our passenger told us that the drives to Jerusalem and back take three hours or more in total. Now the real story begins, she said, as the drive to Jerusalem is much more difficult than the drive to Ramallah. Indeed, we spent almost three hours on the road in an annoying wait amidst hundreds of cars belonging to Palestinian West Bank residents and Israeli settlers, until the long-awaited-for arrival at the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood roadblock, where a grim-faced female soldier was checking IDs.

If this slow wait was meant to advance security needs, then there were countless chances for terrorists to take over settler vehicles if they wanted to.

My friend the driver, the Arab citizen of Israel, told me that because of his work he drives to Ramallah at least twice a week, and every time the humiliating driving experience repeats. Look at the Palestinian faces, he told me. It's as if they're indifferent, yet in every such ride another 10 young men join terror groups. Nothing happened here during our ride, nobody was hurt or killed, he said, yet the humiliation is too difficult to bear. Ninety nine percent of the people here are traveling to work and back, and every day their hatred to you grows. I have no doubt, he added, that the explosion will happen soon and that 2007 will be the year of the Intifada's renewal, as the Palestinians feel that they can no longer bear the suffering.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised in his last meeting with Mahmoud Abbas to remove roadblocks within the West Back, but IDF officials oppose this for fear of terrorist infiltration. I hereby advise all the objectors to drive, even once, from Jerusalem to Ramallah or from Ramallah to Nablus, in order to sense the population's suffering and see that the terrorists can reach anywhere if they only wanted to.

So if in a few weeks or months, when we are told that the Intifada is being renewed, we won't be surprised at all.

New Intifada coming (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3345986,00.html)

Israel signs treaty oppressing nuclear terror

Published:    12.28.06, 19:52

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Gillerman has signed an international treaty on oppressing acts of nuclear terror. This treaty is part of the war on terror and Israel has adopted the treaty's principals in April 2005, which forbid the maintenance or usage of illegal nuclear materials by sources that are not countries.

The treaty further states that the countries signing it should develope suitable legislation against this kind of terror and should cooperate via information sharing and extradition of prisoners.

Israel signs treaty oppressing nuclear terror (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3345877,00.html)

Fatah arms transfer bolsters forces of peace
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service, and Agencies

Amos Gilad, head of political military policy at the Defense Ministry, told Israel Radio on Thursday that the assistance provided to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Presidential Guard is aimed at reinforcing the forces of peace in the area.

"The assistance is aimed at reinforcing the forces of peace in the face of the forces of darkness that are threatening the future of the Middle East," Gilad said, commenting on the news of an arms transfer from Egypt to Palestinian security forces, first published in Haaretz Thursday morning.

Gilad added that the assistance to the Presidential Guard comes from the Arab world and that Israel is not dealing with the matter directly.

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Egypt transfered a large quantity of arms and ammunition to PA security organizations in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with Israel's approval.

The Palestinian security forces are largely allied with Abbas, and draw their numbers from his Fatah movement.

The move was carried out in an effort to bolster Fatah affiliated groups, following recent clashes with paramilitary organizations belonging to the ruling Hamas movement.

Saeb Erekat, a spokesman for Abbas, declined comment, as did Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin and the Israeli Defense Ministry. Egyptian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Salim Abu Sufiya, head of the Palestinian border control, on Thursday refused to confirm or deny the report.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh on Thursday denied that the transfer had occurred. "The talk about the president's security services receiving
arms is unfounded and not true at all," he said.

However, a decision on the matter had apparently been made in a Saturday meeting between Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The shipment included 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 20,000 magazines and two million rounds of ammunition. The arms and ammunition were transfered from Egypt to Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing, in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces and with the government's authorization.

The four trucks carrying the weapons were accompanied by IDF Military Police to the Karni crossing, where they entered the Gaza Strip and were received by PA security personnel.

Senior members of various Fatah affiliated groups in the Gaza Strip have complained of their inferior firepower when confronted by Hamas forces.

Despite recent violence, Haniyeh on Thursday said he had not yet given up on the idea of forming a national unity government with Fatah.

"Efforts are still being made to form it, because that is the only possible solution," he said.

One of the main reasons they point to for their inability to counter Hamas is the fact that the radical Islamic organization controls most of the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip through tunnels running from Sinai to Rafah in the South.

The issue of reinforcing the Fatah forces was the subject of discussions among Israeli, Egyptian and American officials.

During the meeting, Abbas also promised to deploy men from his Presidential Guard along the Philadelphi Route to prevent smuggling, and also in the northern Gaza Strip, to prevent the targetting of Israeli towns with Qassam rockets.

Abbas traveled to Egypt Wednesday for a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak. At the end of their meeting, Abbas said that Israel has not rejected the possibility of establishing a "back channel" - closed to the media, but not secret - through which negotiations could be held toward a permanent settlement.

Abbas said that this matter was raised in his meeting with Olmert and that the Israeli leader had promised to consider his proposal.

The Palestinian leader added that the Americans have also not rejected this option.

The proposal for a back channel involves the participation of Quartet representatives in the talks, and Abbas said that the visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region in January will "be the right time to manifest this idea and discuss it seriously."

Palestinian sources told Haaretz on Wednesday that Abbas is trying to revive the idea of negotiations for a permanent settlement, because he is wary of an initiative to set up a Palestinian state with interim borders.

The same sources said that the Palestinian leadership is closely following the proposal put forth by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, which is backed by the U.S. and which Hamas may be willing to accept in return for a complete cease-fire for a five-year period.

Fatah arms transfer bolsters forces of peace (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=806603&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1)