Birth Pangs of Matthew 24, Jan. 23-26, 2007

[Shammu]

Russian caught selling nuclear material, U.S. says

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON

Republic of Georgia authorities, aided by the CIA, set up a sting operation last summer that led to the arrest of Russian man who tried to sell a small amount of nuclear-bomb grade uranium in a plastic bag in his jacket pocket, U.S. and Georgian officials said.

The operation, which neither government has publicized, represents one of the most serious cases of smuggling of nuclear material in recent years, according to analysts and officials.

Details of the investigation, which also involved the FBI and Energy Department, were provided to The Associated Press by U.S. officials and Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili.

Authorities say they do not know how the man acquired the material or if his claims of access to larger quantities were true.

Russian caught selling nuclear material, U.S. says

[Shammu]

 Russian influence worrying US: Putin

AP
 
Moscow: President Vladimir Putin hit out at Western criticism of the Kremlin, saying it was aimed at countering Russia's growing influence in the world.

At a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi after talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin suggested, without naming it directly, that the United States saw Russia as a threat to its unchallenged superpower status.

"Russia's economic, political and military potential is clearly growing and a competitor that had already been written off is emerging in the world," Putin said in comments shown on state television.

"This is the main reason [for criticism], the unwillingness to take into account Russia's legitimate interests and a desire to put it in a position where someone has decided it should be," he added.

Already facing criticism that he has stifled democratic freedoms since coming to power in 2000, Putin's reputation in the West has been severely tarnished by accusations that he has been misusing Russia's oil and gas wealth to bully ex-Soviet neighbours and Western energy companies.

Unreliable partner

Disruptions of Russian gas and oil supplies to Europe in the past year have stoked fears in European capitals that Moscow is an unreliable partner.

A dispute between Russia and Belarus interrupted part of Russia's oil deliveries to the EU earlier this month, a year after a similar cutoff of gas to Ukraine also affected Europe, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its oil and over two-fifths of its natural gas.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met with Putin in his residence in Sochi on Sunday, stressed Russia's importance as an energy provider to Europe and called for "irritations" in supplies to be avoided.

Meanwhile, foreign-controlled energy projects have also come under increasing pressure from the Kremlin in recent months as it pursues a drive to secure majority state control in major oil and gas fields.

In December, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and its Japanese partners sold a majority stake in the giant Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project off Russia's far east to state gas monopoly OAO Gazprom amid intense regulatory pressure.

An Arctic oil and gas development controlled by France's Total SA and the giant Kovykta gas field in eastern Siberia that its owned by the Russian division of BP PLC are seen as the next targets. Putin shrugged off concerns that Russia is throwing its weight around.

Russian influence worrying US: Putin

[Shammu]

 US says its has proof Iran is interfering in Iraq

Thursday, 25 January 2007

Agence France  Presse - The United States Wednesday said it had proof of Iran's interference in Iraq, promising soon to publish details of Iranian networks in its strife-torn neighboring country.

"There is solid evidence that Iranian agents are involved in these networks and that they are working with individuals and groups in Iraq and that they are being sent there by the Iranian government," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"And I would expect that ... in the near future, we are going to try to talk a little bit more in public -- to the extent that we can because, again, you're dealing with intelligence information -- about what we know of Iranian support for these networks," he added.
 
The United States, which accuses Iran of funding and equipping Shiite militias in Iraq, arrested five Iranians at an office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on January 11, accusing them of being agents for Tehran, arming militias and inciting anti-US attacks in Iraq.

The arrests triggered a diplomatic row, with Tehran accusing US forces in Iraq of violating international diplomatic regulations, but Washington and the US military in Iraq maintain that those arrested had no diplomatic status.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has said that the five Iranians had been working in Arbil with official sanction, but that their "liaison office" had not yet become a full consulate.

McCormack rejected the idea the detainees were working at a "liaison office."

"One thing we can tell you is they're not diplomats," he said, adding that the detainees were "still in the custody of multinational forces."

The spokesman refused to say whether the US had evidence linking Iran to any of the explosives or bombs that have been set off in Iraq.

However, he said his government was sure of it.

"You don't necessarily have to construct something in Iran in order for it to be a threat to the US or British troops from the Iranian regime," he said.

"There are a lot of different ways you can do that. You can bring the know-how. You can train other people in Iraq to do that. So there are a lot of different ways to do it.

"I would suspect that they're probably trying to hide their tracks somewhat, so you're not going to have a "made in Iran" stamp on all of these items. But certainly the technology and the know-how originates in Iran," said McCormack.

US says its has proof Iran is interfering in Iraq

[Shammu]

MI5 warns UK labs of threat from al Qaeda (GERM)
Last updated at 10:22am on 25th January 2007

MI5 officials are warning British laboratories that Islamist terrorists may try to steal deadly viruses.

Scientists and lab staff handling biological agents such as samples of polio, rabies, tuberculosis and avian flu, have been told their security measures will be vetted by police.

The crackdown comes after M15 told the Foreign Office that al Qaeda operatives are training in germ warfare.

The terror network is said to be trying to recruit university students with access to laboratories.

Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's second-in-command, warned Western states in a video on the internet: "You are facing the Islamic rage... what awaits you, should you press on [with current policies], is far worse than anything you have seen."

Tony McNulty, the Home Office minister in charge of policing, said: "The terror threat is always changing and we must adapt. As terrorists look for new ways to endanger life we have to take action to be one step ahead.

"That is why we are extending the list of controlled substances to prevent terrorist groups using chemical or biological materials as terrorist weapons."

MI5 warns UK labs of threat from al Qaeda

[Shammu]

Birdcage bomb kills 15 pet lovers in Baghdad
Stephen Farrell in Baghdad

A bomb disguised as a birdcage killed 15 animal lovers in a Baghdad pet market today, in the latest attack apparently designed to disrupt a city-wide security crackdown.

Police said insurgents concealed the explosives inside a cardboard box punched with holes to make it appear a container for pigeons, parrots or other birds which are prime attractions at the market.

The blast, which also wounded 55, hit the Ghazel market on the eastern banks of the Tigris just before the weekly curfew intended to protect crowds attending mosques during noon prayers on the Islamic day of prayer.

Raad Hassan, a regular buyer at the market, said one man arrived with an egg carton containing pigeons for sale then walked off - apparently to get a drink - leaving it to explode as potential buyers gathered around to examine the contents.

"I was about 60 meters from the blast," he said. "My friends and I rushed to the scene where we saw burned dead bodies, pieces of flesh and several dead expensive puppies and birds."

He said dead animals were scattered around and snakes, monkeys and birds escaped from their cages as emergency vehicles converged on the scene, their sirens mixed with the chirping of birds around the city centre market.

Next to the 13th century Sunni Ulama Mosque the former textile industry industrial area has served as an animal market for decades. However, many sellers have left Iraq since the violence began, and set up business in neighbouring countries such as Jordan.

The open soukh is a popular attraction for Sunnis and Shias alike, farmers and pet store owners are drawn by the reptiles, tropical fish and other exotic animals in a city where open air attractions are rare.

However, some extremist Islamist groups in Iraq have issued edicts denouncing the ownership of pets as 'haraam' - prohibited under Islamic law. This is not the first attack on the market - it was also hit eight weeks ago.

Today, police confirmed that 30 people were killed in a suicide car bombing in the central neighbourhood of Karada yesterday, and 61 wounded.

The latest attack came just 24 hours after Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's Prime Minister, warned during an address to parliament that gunmen and bombers would not be able to hide anywhere during the forthcoming US-Iraqi operation, to be codenamed Operation Imposing Law.

"There will be no safe place in Iraq for terrorists," he warned.

"We have no other choice but to use force and any place where we receive fire will not be safe even if it is a school, a mosque, a political party office or home." Hours later bombers hit Karada, and mortars struck the heavily-protected Green Zone which houses the Iraqi government, US and British embassies.

Many predict an upsurge in violence ahead of the Shia religious mourning festival of Ashura, which culminates on Monday.

Hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims will converge on the holy city of Karbala from around the country, to mark the slaying of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, presenting an easy target that Sunni insurgents have used to wreak carnage in recent years.

Birdcage bomb kills 15 pet lovers in Baghdad

[Shammu]

Jordan restores Temple Mount pulpit
Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 25, 2007

An ornate wooden pulpit on Jerusalem's Temple Mount that was destroyed nearly four decades ago by a deranged Christian tourist has been completely restored, Israeli and Jordanian officials said Thursday.

The pulpit, which was demolished in a 1969 fire set by the Christian tourist on the Temple Mount, has been remade and transported to its original location next to the Aksa mosque this week, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The new pulpit, which towers six meters high, four meters long and one meter wide and includes 18 steps, was made of Turkish hard wood and Sudanese ivory, Dr. Raief Najim, the vice president of the Jordanian Construction Committee who has been involved in several recent Temple Mount projects, said in a telephone interview from Amman.

He added that the pulpit, which weighs several tons, took Jordanian craftsmen three years to design, and four years to manufacture.

The pulpit arrived in Jerusalem this week from Amman in 25 packages spread out on six trucks, and was brought up to the Temple Mount late Tuesday night in a move coordinated with Israeli officials.

Wakf officials said that it will take a couple of weeks to install the pulpit at the site.

The original 800-year-old inlaid cedar wood pulpit had been donated to the mosque by Salah al-Din in 1178 CE.

It was destroyed on August 21, 1969, when Michael Dennis Rohan, a tourist from Australia and a member of the "Church of God," a Protestant sect, set fire to the mosque in an attempt to hasten the coming of the Messiah. He was judged insane and deported by Israel.

The Foreign Ministry said that the new pulpit was brought to its former location as a gesture to Jordanian King Abdullah II, who initiated the restoration project, due to the close cooperation between the Jewish state and the Hashemite Kingdom.

According to decades-old regulations in place at the Temple Mount, Israel maintains overall security control at Judaism's holiest site, while the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, is charged with day-to-day administration of the ancient compound, which is also Islam's third-holiest site.

Over the last six years of Palestinian violence, Israel has been keen to involve the Jordanians in the ongoing repair work on the Temple Mount, with the Jordanians considered to be more moderate compared to the Palestinian heads of the Wakf appointed by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on his return to the West Bank last decade.

Meanwhile, the Jordanians are pressing ahead with plans to construct a fifth minaret on the Temple Mount, Najim said, with officials currently working on its design.

The planned minaret, which will be constructed on the eastern wall of the Temple Mount near the historic Golden Gate, will tower 42 meters high and will be the highest of the four previous minarets erected at the Jerusalem holy site and the first since Ottoman times.

Israeli authorities have not objected to the plan to date, although it has been condemned by leading Israeli archeologists as a blatant violation of the status quo at the site.

Separately, the Israel Antiquities Authority has started a salvage excavation in an archeological garden adjacent to the Temple Mount ahead of the planned construction of a new bridge leading up to the Mughrabi Gate.

The planned construction of the bridge has set off a new archeological dispute in Israel, with dozens of leading archeologists slamming the current proposal which would see the bridge constructed through one of the most significant archeological parks in Israel and the world.

The current controversy over the bridge has served to temporarily overshadow the Jordanian plans to build the minaret on the Temple Mount.

Jordan restores Temple Mount pulpit

[Shammu]

 Resolution urges U.S. to withdraw from a North American union 
NATHAN JOHNSON - Daily Herald   

A House committee unanimously passed a joint resolution Tuesday that urges the president and Congress to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, now moves to the House floor for a vote.

The SPP, while not an institution, is harshly criticized by some Utah groups. Resolution supporters told the committee Tuesday that the purpose of the SPP is to remove sovereignty from the United States and give it to a North American union, similar to the European Union. The SPP involves the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Wally McCormick, of the Utah Constitution Coalition and Utah Minuteman Project, said that the SPP will allow for "a 5-square-mile area, that is supposedly going to be owned by Mexico, within our own country, run by their officers, run by their soldiers."

McCormick called the SPP a scam. Referencing previous testimony, McCormick said that "The federal income tax is the second biggest scam perpetrated on the American people. I extend that further in saying that this scam about the SPP and what it is going to do to America may be the first biggest scam upon the American people."

According to the SPP Web site, it isn't a treaty or agreement. It is "a dialogue to increase security and enhance prosperity among the three countries."

"The SPP builds upon, but is separate from, our long-standing trade and economic relationships," says a statement on the SPP Web site.

The White House released a statement in September of last year highlighting achievements of the SPP. Among them was that "the SPP constitutes a 'comprehensive agenda for cooperation' while 'respecting the sovereignty and unique cultural and legal heritage' of each country."

The SPP also states one of its main goals as recognizing that "our security and our economic prosperity being mutually reinforcing."

The joint resolution addresses concerns of the SPP lacking congressional oversight and a highway planned for north-south travel from Texas.

The bill also expresses the concern of legislators that, "state and local governments throughout the United States would be negatively impacted by the SPP and North American Union process, such as the "open borders" vision of the SPP."

HJR 7, Resolution Urging United States Withdrawal from Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem. This resolution of the Legislature urges the United States to withdraw from the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and any other activity which seeks to create a North American Union.

Resolution urges U.S. to withdraw from a North American union

[Shammu]

SYMPHONY TO MARK 'ATOMIC FESTIVAL'
   
Tehran, 25 Jan. (AKI) - Tehran's symphonic orchestra will perform for the first time on 11 February the 'nuclear symphony' commissioned by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to celebrate Iran's nuclear programme. The concert will mark celebrations for the anniversary of the Iranian revolution in 1979. The event - hailed by Ahmadinejad as the 'nuclear celebrations' - will be held at the Azadi square, the largest in Tehran, and will be attended by Iran's top authorities as well as foreign guests whose identity had yet to be revealed.

On 23 December, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, which the world body fears is aimed at building nuclear weapons. The Security Council's resolution granted Iran three months to suspend sensitive nuclear work. The UN ultimatum expires on 21 February

Tehran claims its programme is solely for civilian use and has repeatedly rejected international calls that it halt uranium enrichment work, which can be used to make atomic weapons.

SYMPHONY TO MARK 'ATOMIC FESTIVAL'

[Shammu]

Attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be catastrophic, IAEA chief warns

George Jahn, Associated Press
Published: Thursday, January 25, 2007

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The head of the UN atomic watchdog agency, in an indirect warning to the United States and Israel, said Thursday a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would have “catastrophic” consequences and only strengthen Tehran’s resolve to make atomic arms.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also cited western intelligence assessments that Iran may be only four years away from having the capacity to produce such weapons. But he stressed that his agency’s inspectors had turned up no firm evidence of such intentions.

Still, he indicated there are some in Tehran who favoured developing such arms.

“A preventive strike would be catastrophic,” ElBaradei said at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum, adding it would only “strengthen the hand of those who say ’let us develop a weapon.”

While ElBaradei did not name any country, his comments were clearly directed at Israel and the United States, which have both suggested a strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities was not off the table unless the Islamic republic ended its nuclear defiance.

In a clear warning of such possible intentions, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday his country, believed now to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, will respond to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions “with all the means at our disposal.”

It also came as the United States beefed up its naval presence in the Gulf, sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier group there to signal Iran it will not tolerate any attempts to dominate the region.

The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran last month for defying demands to freeze uranium enrichment. Tehran says it wants to perfect the process to generate electricity, but its other use — creating the fissile core of nuclear weapons — has fed international concerns about Iran’s true intentions.

Instead of compromise, Iran has ramped up the rhetoric and its nuclear activity.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Washington was incapable of inflicting “serious damage” on his country. And UN officials told the Associated Press last week that Iran was ready to start assembling thousands of centrifuges to enrich uranium after finishing work on an underground facility housing such machines.

Even if Tehran proves successful in installing 3,000 centrifuges, in the first stage of what it says will be a network of more than 50,000 such machines, experts estimate it would take several years for all of them to be running smoothly. Once that happens, Tehran could produce two bombs a year.

“They have the knowledge, sure they have the knowledge,” said ElBaradei of Iran’s nuclear program, which has been under IAEA investigation for more than four years. “Are you going to bomb the knowledge?”

ElBaradei indicated he was not against UN-sanctioned force against world renegades as a last option. But “in the case of Iran, we are absolutely far away from it.”

Talks, first between Tehran and European powers Britain, France and Germany and then the five Security Council permanent members and Germany have failed over more than two years to persuade the Islamic republic to shelve enrichment plans and led to the UN sanctions.

But ElBaradei said new negotiations, this time involving not only the great powers but all countries in the region, were the best way to reach compromise. And the “U.S. has to be engaged,” he said, in indirect criticism of the United States’ refusal up to now to hold one-on-one talks with Iran.

Attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be catastrophic, IAEA chief warns

[Shammu]

Lawmaker kills her bill on chip implants

Mary Hodge said she still believes her bill is needed.

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
January 24, 2007
A lawmaker on Tuesday killed her bill to ban forced microchip implantation in humans after it became the butt of jokes and editorial criticism.

"I haven't done the background work to get people prepared for the concept," Rep. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, said, after withdrawing House Bill 1081.

Hodge's legislation left some pols laughing. "Is this a problem? Do we have gangs of post-apocalyptic Terminator-style cyborgs roaming the streets of Colorado implanting citizens with microchips?" Rob Fairbank, a former representative turned political consultant, wisecracked in an e-mail to political pals.

The Rocky also editorialized against the bill, saying that oppressive chip-implantation "is not yet a real issue in Colorado."

But Hodge, who carried the legislation at the request of the Adams County library director, who feared forced microchipping could be used in the federal government's war on terror, said she still believes the legislation is warranted.

Her bill would have made it a misdemeanor if, for example, an employer required workers to have the tiny glass capsules implanted under the skin so their movements could tracked by security door scanners at work.

But it would have allowed the encoded gadgets to be voluntarily implanted in patients with Alzheimer's and other medical conditions.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first "radio frequency identification" - or RFID - device for human use in 2004, so if a patient is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate in a medical emergency, doctors can quickly retrieve vital health information with a hand-held scanner.

Last May, Wisconsin became the first state to ban forced implantation of the chips on humans, and at least 17 other states have introduced or are considering RFID bills.

While the devices have been used for years to help people track down wayward pets, the gizmos are catching on with two-legged creatures for less urgent or perhaps sinister reasons.

European nightclubs allow patrons to use the under-the-skin devices to pay their tab. And a Washington state techy had chips implanted in his finger and thumb so he could open the doors to his car and home or log onto his computer with a wave of his hand.

"I saw pets getting these things for years," Amal Graafstra told the Seattle Times. "I wanted to use that technology so I don't have to carry any keys."

Lawmaker kills her bill on chip implants

[Shammu]

 Olmert: We Can Thwart the Nuclear Threat
05:31 Jan 25, '07 / 6 Shevat 5767

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel is capable of stopping the Iranian nuclear threat. Olmert, in a speech given at the Herzliya Conference, said that the threat Iran poses to the region is universally recognized, and Israel has made important steps towards neutralizing that threat. Nevertheless, he said, Israel must realize that the most important goal is yet to be achieved.

Olmert praised the recent sanctions against Iran, saying that Iran, despite an outwardly tough stance, is sensitive to international pressure. He also referred to a “secret front” in Iran’s attempts to gain influence in the Middle East: in addition to their public activities, he said, Iran funds both the Hizbullah and Hamas terrorist groups.

Olmert: We Can Thwart the Nuclear Threat

[Shammu]

Russia tracking IDF movements
, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 25, 2007

Russia maintains listening posts along the Syrian border with Israel which it uses to follow IDF movements in the Golan Heights, it was revealed Thursday night.

According to a report on Channel 2, the posts are manned by Russian military officers who pass on information to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Israel, The Jerusalem Post learned, has known about the posts for over a decade since they were established.

Russia's involvement in the Iranian nuclear program, as well as various state-of-the-art arms sales it has periodically made to both Syria and Iran, has caused some friction over the last few years in Russian-Israeli ties.

Diplomatic officials said that the while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed with the Russians during his visit to Moscow in October the advanced Russian arms that were found in Hizbullah's possession during the summer's war in Lebanon, the issue of the listening posts was not brought up.

Russia most recently drew Israeli ire after completing a sale of advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran earlier this month.

Russia tracking IDF movements

[Shammu]

Palestinian children encouraged to go to jail

Increasing financial hardships lead some poor parents in the territories to encourage underage sons to harass IDF soldiers, get arrested; boys get shelter, families receive benefits from PA government

Ali Waked
Published:    01.26.07, 16:49

Exactly a year after Hamas' January election to the Palestinian government, the wild optimism of early 2005 is noticeably absent. Ongoing inter-faction violence and rising poverty are providing Palestinians with little to be optimistic about.

At this time, both internal and international efforts to advance a Palestinian unity government appear to be at a stand-still.

In a recent bout of infighting Thursday night, two Palestinians – one operative from Hamas and one from Fatah - were killed.  Friday afternoon, a Hamas security official, injured earlier during exchanges of fire in Beit Lahiya, died of his wounds.

As if the violence were not enough, the Palestinian Authority has also recently logged an increased number of homeless children. For this problem, however, some Palestinian families seem to have found a unique, if tragic, solution.

Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Issa Qaraqe told Ynet of an increasing phenomenon of Palestinian minors deliberately provoking IDF soldiers at checkpoints in order to be arrested, and thus receive shelter in Israeli prisons.

"Prison time provides these lads with shelter, and also provides their families with prisoners' benefits," Qaraqe explained.

"We were actually amazed to find that some families encourage such a phenomenon in order to reduce expenses, and primarily to receive the weekly benefits given by the Palestinian government to the family of every prisoner," he added.

Qaraqe recounted a recent visit to a family whose underage son had been arrested: "I started to comfort the father and was amazed to hear him say that it's actually not so bad, because now the family will receive a government benefit.  It will be their only income."

According to Qaraqe, such sentiments by parents illustrate the financial and emotional hardships suffered by Palestinian families over the past year.

"How can one explain a parent who not only isn't sad that his son is in jail, but rather, encourages him to go there?" Qaraqe queried. "These people are sick, and it indicates the severe deterioration of Palestinian society over the past year."

Palestinian children encouraged to go to jail

[Shammu]

 Jewish Withdrawal from Judea and Samaria Back on the Table
22:33 Jan 24, '07 / 5 Shevat 5767
by Hana Levi Julian

      The government has agreed in principle to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria ("Yesha"), in secret talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. So reports WorldNetDaily.


Egypt and the European Union (EU) have been mediating the negotiations, according to the World Net Daily (WND) news website. WND quoted high-level Egyptian diplomatic and intelligence officials, and an aide to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, as saying they have been directly involved in the talks.

Negotiations have been quietly proceeding apace for the past two or three weeks, according to sources quoted by WND reporter Aaron Klein, after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas suggested to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert late last month that the two men switch to “back channel talks” in order to avoid media coverage.

According to Egyptian and EU sources, one of the plans currently under consideration involves handing over control of central and southern Yesha to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces. In northern Yesha, the transfer of responsibility to Abbas’ security forces over the area would be monitored by Jordan and EU observers.

No word about the fate, under this plan, of the many tens of thousands of Jews living in these areas has been received.

Hamas’s role in the plan remains unclear. The terrorist organization has repeatedly vowed never to formally recognize the State of Israel, renounce terrorism or uphold agreements with Israel signed by the previous, Fatah-led, PA government. That stance is not accepted by the international community.

Talks toward a unity coalition between PA Prime Minister and Hamas chairman Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah faction, are all but dead, leaving Hamas in control of the PA.

The streets of Gaza have become a battlefield as Hamas and Fatah struggle for control of the PA government, with bloody clashes that have resulted in the deaths of both terrorists and innocent PA residents alike in what has become a militia war.

The situation may intensify further and eventually lead to escalated attacks against the Jewish State as well, in the wake of an announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week that the Bush administration has agreed to finance, arm and train Abbas’ security force.

The force will reportedly include the Fatah-controlled Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, one of the most vicious groups engaged in the terrorist war against Israel. Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades has shared responsibility with the Islamic Jihad terror group for the suicide bombings in Israel over the past two years.

Rice said during her visit to the region last week that the U.S. will send Abbas $86.4 million to beef up his personal security guard, Force 17, which also polices PA areas in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The Bush administration is hoping to strengthen Fatah – which it perceives as a moderate group – in its bid to wrest control of the PA government from Hamas.

The last time the U.S. transferred arms to Fatah in order to strengthen its ability to police the PA, the weapons were ultimately pointed at Israel by a myriad of terrorist factions. When asked about that experience, Rice claimed that this time would be different.

“It was envisioned [then] that the Palestinian Authority would have security forces,” she said. “The problem is those security forces broke into essentially personal militias under [former PLO chairman Yasser] Arafat. They broke into too many that were often warring with each other.”

The current plan, she added, would be carried out in a way that would “move over time,” with the idea being that the U.S. would maintain control over what is being done with the weapons.

“This plan is not just to equip [Abbas’ security forces] and train them, [but] it is also to professionalize them, to unify them [and] to put them under a single command,” she said.

Now these newly-armed forces, trained and “professionalized” by the U.S. government would be given control over most of Judea and Samaria, placing them within rocket fire range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Ben Gurion International Airport. They would also be within range of Arad in the Negev, and other cities and smaller communities located near the pre-1967 borders.

Diplomatic sources said talks are moving rapidly as the PA wrestles with Israel over the precise location of the new borders. Solana’s aide told WND that diplomats are expected to see a “historic political evolution and movement in negotiations in the next few weeks and few months, unseen since the Camp David peace talks in 2000.”

In 2000, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to give Arafat an official PA state in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Arafat turned down the offer, insisting the entire Israeli capital be transferred to the PA.

Jewish Withdrawal from Judea and Samaria Back on the Table

[Shammu]

 Olmert to IDF: Israel Won War But Must Correct Failures
11:00 Jan 26, '07 / 7 Shevat 5767
by Hana Levi Julian

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told top IDF staff Thursday that Israel did not lose the war with Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon last summer – and in some important ways, Israel actually won.

Olmert made his remarks Thursday night as former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Shomron presented the findings of his investigation into the army’s management of last summer’s war in Lebanon, including the actions of the General Staff.

The five hour meeting of the IDF General Staff was also attended by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, as well as outgoing IDF Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz.

“If someone had told me the day before the war in Lebanon started that within half a year the border with Lebanon would be quiet and instead of armed Hizbullah fighters there would be 15,000 Lebanese army troops supported by an international force, I would have told him he’s crazy – but that’s the situation today,’ said Olmert.

Olmert tempered his positive spin on the IDF’s performance during the war with a warning that Israel must work to prevent a repeat of the failures that did occur.

“We must utilize the lessons of the war to invest in the human and economic resources of the army so that the failures experienced in Lebanon are not repeated,” he said.

One of those lessons was the clear loss of Israel's deterrence capabilities, according to a number of military experts, as well as politicians and grassroots organizations that called for a state commission of inquiry into the mismanagement of the war. A state commission of inquiry is appointed by the President of the High Court of Justice, not by the government. Testimony gathered at such hearings may be used in later court action and the commission has the right to dismiss high public officials, including the prime minister, if they are found culpable in the probe.

Meanwhile, the Olmert-appointed Winograd Commission continues its own investigation into the war and its failures. Former Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya’alon made a second appearance before the commission on Thursday, responding to questions raised by his first appearance. Ya'alon was asked about relations between the military and political echelons, as well as the development of the ground forces. Outgoing Chief of Staff Dan Halutz is scheduled to address the commission on Sunday.

The commission also heard testimony Thursday from the defense minister and is expected to question the prime minister as its final witness in February. An interim report on the commission’s findings is set to be released sometime in early March.

Even as Israel examines its performance during the war with Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon, information has come to light that Russia may have been involved in supporting Hizbullah during the war.

For the past ten years, Russia has been tracking IDF movements in the Golan Heights from listening posts it established in Syria.

According to a report from Israel’s Channel 2, Russia has passed information on to Hizbullah. Russia has also sold advanced weapons to Syria and Iran, who then forwarded the arms to Hizbullah.

Russia has also sold anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, as well as provided nuclear technology to the Islamic Republic and is building at least one nuclear reactor in the country.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly threatened to “wipe Israel off the map,” and vowed to continue his nation’s uranium enrichment program, while insisting that Iran’s nuclear development activities are geared to peaceful domestic use.

Olmert to IDF: Israel Won War But Must Correct Failures