Israel news from within Israel

[Shammu]

Most Israelis Agree: Jerusalem is Being Secretly Discussed
14 Nissan 5768, April 19, '08
by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Nearly 60% of Israelis say the Israeli government is secretly negotiating the division of Jerusalem with the Palestinian Authority - despite government attempts to blur the existence of such talks.

This and other findings were the results of a survey carried out by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Bar Ilan University.  The official numbers will be presented this Tuesday at a special seminar at Bar Ilan.  The Guest of Honor will be Trade Minister Eli Yishai, the head of the government coalition member Shas Party.  Yishai has stated frequently that the moment it becomes clear that Jerusalem is being negotiated, his party will quit the coalition.

Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, Jerusalem mayoral candidate Nir Barkat and others will be in attendance as well.

PA is Sure to Make More Demands
The respondents were asked their forecast of the situation in the event that an Israeli-PA peace agreement would include an Israeli giveaway of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, Old City and Temple Mount to the PA.  Nearly 70% said there is no or little chance that such an agreement would bring about an end to terrorism, and 56% feel there is a high or very high likelihood that the areas would be used for terrorist bases.

Some 61% said there is no or little chance that this would mark the end of PA demands regarding Jerusalem.

The survey further shows that 71% object to giving away parts of Jerusalem even in the framework of a comprehensive peace agreement. Only about a third of these - less than a quarter of the public - say they would actively demonstrate against a plan to divide Jerusalem.  Approximately 7% of the public say they would even participate in violent protests.

Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of the Begin-Sadat Center, says that the public is essentially against giving away parts of Jerusalem - but that when the government gives in, this erodes the public opposition.

"There is great opposition to concessions in Jerusalem in general, and regarding the Temple Mount in particular," Inbar said. "Before Ehud Barak presented his plan to give away the Temple Mount in 2000, 85% of the public objected to this - but Barak's plan broke the taboo."

Asked if they think the PA would preserve and maintain the Jewish and Christian holy sites, 50% said no.

Most Israelis Agree: Jerusalem is Being Secretly Discussed

[Soldier4Christ]

 The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Agrees to give the Golan Heights up to Syria for a peace agreement

Reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was using a third party to communicate to Syria that Israel would give up the Golan Heights for a peace deal surfaced first on a Damascus based internet site but now has been confirmed by Syrian President Bashar Assad.

It has been learned from President Assad that the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had informed the Syrian president of Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's agreement to cede the Golan Heights for a peace agreement.

This diplomatic activity coming at the same time that there had been rumors of Syria massing it's military might for a possible war with Israel and in light of warnings from Iranian President Ahmadinejad for Syria not to give in to the enemies of Islam, who will soon face total destruction.

As Syria and Israel talk peace and the evacuation of the Golan Heights, one must remember that Bible prophecy reveals Syria as the first of the nations that will try and destroy the Jewish state in the last days.

Reports of diplomatic activity between Syria and Israel have recently surfaced; however, the truth be known, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert has been working through a third party for over a year to bring the two Middle East nations to the negotiating table.

That third party, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan told Syrian President Bashar Assad that Olmert was ready to give up the Golan Heights for a peace deal. That announcement made public has the Israeli Knesset scrambling to pass a law calling for a national referendum to approve such a move, and the latest polls indicate that 80% of the body politic of Israel is opposed to giving up the Golan Heights.

That said, let me remind you of the prophetic scenario that is found in Bible prophecy on this matter. The ancient Jewish prophet Daniel wrote 2500 years ago that Syria, the King of the North in Daniel 11:40, would be the first Middle East nation to attack the Jewish state with a mindset to destroy Israel.

Daniel 11:40-44 lists the other Middle East states that will join Israel in this military mission and it includes the nation of Iran. Diplomatic talks aside, Bible prophecy will indeed be fulfilled.

[Shammu]

That said, let me remind you of the prophetic scenario that is found in Bible prophecy on this matter. The ancient Jewish prophet Daniel wrote 2500 years ago that Syria, the King of the North in Daniel 11:40, would be the first Middle East nation to attack the Jewish state with a mindset to destroy Israel.

Daniel 11:40-44 lists the other Middle East states that will join Israel in this military mission and it includes the nation of Iran. Diplomatic talks aside, Bible prophecy will indeed be fulfilled.

AMEN!! Bible prophecy will be fulfilled!!

[Soldier4Christ]

Prison break shocks U.S. security coordinators
American-trained guards possibly infiltrated by Hamas terrorist group

A prison break yesterday from a Palestinian compound in the West Bank surprised American security coordinators here amid information U.S.-trained security forces manning the prison may have been infiltrated by the Hamas terrorist organization.

Three terrorists yesterday escaped from the Palestinian Authority prison in the West Bank city of Jericho where they were being held for planning a series of terror attacks against Israel. All three were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization.

The Brigades, listed by the U.S. State Department as a terror group, took responsibility along with the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization for every suicide bombing in Israel since 2005 and also for hundreds of shootings and rocket attacks against Jewish civilian population centers.

The terrorists who escaped yesterday included Hani Halaweh, who was one of the most senior Al Aqsa Brigades terrorists in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. He was on a list of gunmen granted amnesty last year by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a gesture to bolster Abbas against Hamas.

Halaweh repeatedly violated his amnesty agreement by planning attacks against Israel and even shot at PA forces who arrested him. Halaweh was transferred to Jericho for detention last month.

The two other escaped terrorists were Brigades members Nidal Malash from the Idai refugee camp near Bethlehem and Mahmoud Sabeih from the city of Jenin.

The jail in Jericho is located within a PA security area utilized by the U.S. and EU to train Palestinian security forces. It is largely manned by U.S.-trained Palestinian civil police officers. Jericho is considered the safest PA-patrolled area and is thought to be free of Hamas and other groups at odds with Fatah.

The U.S. has been training PA police forces since the 1990s. It has been conducting enhanced training of elite PA police forces the past three months.

Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator to the Palestinian territories, personally oversees PA security training at the U.S.-operated bases in Jericho, where he maintains a residence. Dayton's office has been monitoring closely the police force deployment and activities.

According to a top source in the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization speaking to WND, Halaweh and the other two imprisoned Brigades terrorists earlier this year were recruited by the Committees to join their terror group.

The source claimed the Committees and Hamas orchestrated yesterday's prison break by bribing the U.S.-backed guards and by infiltrating the area surrounding the Jericho prison.

Speaking on background, a spokesman for the EU team that works with the U.S. to train PA police forces told WND the Jericho prison "is not the most secure compound."

He said the prison the past two years has been housed in a temporary building after Israel in 2006 raided Jericho's main prison and destroyed some of the compound. Israel's raid came after the PA announced it would free five terrorists accused by the Jewish state of assassinating Israeli Tourism Minister Rechavum Zeevi.

But Israeli security sources familiar with yesterday's prison break said it was a "major blow to the Dayton plan. Something like this is not supposed to happen in Jericho, which is the home base of U.S. training and which is thought to be entirely controlled by forces loyal to the PA and Dayton."

U.S.-trained anti-terror units 'failing miserably'

Last week, WND reported an elite, U.S.-trained security unit billed as the most professional Palestinian police force ever assembled has failed basic tests and has been incapable of fighting terrorism.

The U.S.-backed Palestinian force is being built up to assume security control of the West Bank following the planned creation of a Palestinian state and an expected Israeli evacuation from the territory.

As a trial balloon, a unit of 500 members of the elite Palestinian force deployed in February to assume security control in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a major stronghold of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist organization.

Israel allowed the deployment, which was coordinated with the PA.

Dayton's office has been monitoring closely the police force deployment and activities.

The Nablus police were to be responsible for public security and for fighting crime and terrorism.

But security officials closely monitoring the unit's progress told WND last week the units are largely failing.

"They cannot fight terrorism," said a security official. "The Israel Defense Forces must do most of the work for them in that regard. When it comes to public security, they can block off streets and create a perimeter and carry out other basic duties, but beyond that, fighting crime isn't going well."

One recent example was the force's inability to stop an assassination attempt against Nablus' Palestinian mayor.

Another major episode evidencing the unit's failure to fight terrorism began playing out this month when 13 senior leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist organization who had been pardoned recently by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert publicly took up arms and vowed terror attacks against Israel.

The Brigades is the declared military wing of PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization. Olmert last June pardoned 175 Brigades terrorists as a gesture to bolster Abbas against Hamas. He pardoned dozens more earlier this year.

The terrorists were given amnesty on condition they disarm, refrain from attacks and spend three months in PA detention facilities and another three months confined to Nablus, the northern West Bank city in which they reside.

But in a challenge to the new Nablus police force, the 13 senior Brigades terrorist leaders earlier this month rejected the amnesty agreement, departed the PA detention facilities, publicly took up arms and created a stronghold in the Old City of Nablus.

Calling themselves the Night Warriors of Al Aqsa, the new cell vowed attacks against the Jewish state.

According to informed security sources, among the Brigades leaders rejecting the agreement are Hanni Caabe, Mahdi Abu Jazaleh, and brothers Omar and Amer Haqube – all of whom are high-ranking Brigades terrorists.

The U.S.-backed police unit, under Dayton's watch, was called upon to eject the Al Aqsa terrorist rebels from Nablus' Old City. The operation was to be seen as a major test of the force's capabilities.

A large force attempted to raid the terrorists' stronghold several times, but according to security officials, the forces repeatedly failed.

"We are talking about six attempts so far, five of the attempts utilized more than 300 policemen against the 13 terrorists and all attempts failed miserably," said a security official.

"They couldn't even get near the stronghold without being heavily fired upon and then retreating," the security official said.

Finally, the IDF raided the Brigades stronghold last weekend, killing Brigades terrorist leader Caabe during a shootout and sending at least five other rebel Brigades terrorists into hiding.

"Israel had to come in and do the work for the Palestinian force," said a security official. "I don't know how they can handle security without Israel backing them up."

Meanwhile U.S. training of elite PA security forces continues. A new course began last month at U.S.-controlled bases in the Jordanian village of Giftlik, according to Israeli security officials. More than 600 elite PA soldiers are enrolled in the current course, which includes training in the use of weapons, conducting ambushes, fighting street crime, fighting terrorism and dealing with hostage situations, among other things.

After the unit is finished training in Jordan, they will continue with more advanced training courses at a U.S.-run base in the West Bank city of Jericho.

Security officials said Dayton rented an apartment in Jericho and is overseeing "every aspect of the new unit's training."

"The PA police force is his baby. It's entirely a creation of the U.S.," a security official said.

[Soldier4Christ]

 The UN, EU, US and Russia tell Israel to stop building Jewish settlements

At a meeting in London the Quartet, which is the UN, US, the EU and Russia have told Israel to stop building more Jewish settlements because it is causing the Middle East peace process to collapse, a statement that is confirmed by the PA negotiators who say the biggest hindrance to a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians is the Jewish settlement issue.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon reading from a joint statement said the Quartet expressed its deep concern at Israel's continued settlement building in Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, and called for all outposts built since March 2001 to be dismantled. The Quartet's special Middle East envoy, Tony Blair said that intense efforts are ongoing behind the scenes and may bear fruit later this year.

A call by the Quartet to stop all building in the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria is a precursor to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy for the End Times.

At the most recent meeting of the Quartet, which is made up of the UN, the US, EU and Russia, which took place in London, a joint statement, the most harsh to this time, called for the Jewish settlements to be dismantled and no more building on these settlements has a tone that even the Israeli government seems to be rejecting. The Jewish settlers who have built these communities in Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, say no foreign nations or organization of nations has a right seem to tell them where they can or cannot live in the land that God has given to them in these days.

Bible prophecy actually confirms the statements by the Jewish settlers. Ezekiel 34 reveals that 18 times God said to the Jewish people He would gather them from the four corners of the Earth and give them the land that is in question. Ezekiel 36 says they will prosper in this land and the Lord gave them this land in Judea and Samaria for His holy namesake. He swore by His name that He would give the Jews this land in the Last Days, Ezekiel 36:22.

The Quartet's demand for Israel to dismantle Jewish settlements is indeed a precursor to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

[nChrist]

Jerusalem Diary: Monday 5 May

By Tim Franks
BBC News, Jerusalem

An editorial in the London Jewish Chronicle in 1896 anticipates little hope for the scheme to create a Jewish State


THE DREAM OF A JEWISH STATE

On page 15 of the 17 January 1896 edition of the London Jewish Chronicle, the editorial is buried, modestly, beneath advertisements: "Herbert Hanks, Decorator, Upholsterer, Panelling - Highly Recommended by Many Hebrew Families… Lamplough's Pyretic Saline - Worth its Weight in Gold."

The editorial is entitled The Dream of a Jewish State.

It follows the publication, elsewhere in the newspaper, of extracts of Theodor Herzl's new book, Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State).

The paper reflects on the gravity of Austrian anti-Semitism: "Dr Herzl's scheme, for what practically amounts to the re-establishment of the Jewish state, is a scheme hastened, if not dictated, by panic."

The editorial heaps praise on the seriousness and standing of Theodor Herzl, "a distinguished journalist and litterateur of the first rank in Vienna, no dreamer of dreams but a practical man of the world".

However, the Jewish Chronicle concludes of Herzl's prophesies of the "coming storms":

"We find it ourselves hard to accept these gloomy prognostications. We hardly anticipate a great future for a scheme which is the outcome of despair."

ISRAELI ON ISRAEL

It will be at the Herzl museum in Jerusalem, on Wednesday 7 May, that Israel's main 60th anniversary pageant will be held.

All the bigwigs will be present. Shimon Peres, the president, was in his 20s when the State of Israel was declared, in May 1948.

According to Friday's edition of The Jerusalem Post, in an as yet unpublished interview, Mr Peres "is greatly concerned about the demoralisation of the nation".

"Here, everyone begrudges everyone else," he is quoted as saying.

So what do Israelis make of their compatriots, and their state?

Israel is no monolith. This week, the Today programme, one of the BBC's leading domestic radio news programmes, will hear from five of the tribes of Israel.

The five we have chosen are secular, settler, ultra-orthodox, Palestinian (the man in question rejects the label "Israeli Arab"), and non-Jewish Russian immigrant.

The one thing the five share is that they all hold Israeli citizenship.

It is an exercise that invites failure. Why these tribes? What about the division between Ashkenazim (the Jews from European families) and the Sephardim (from Arab countries)?

Where are the Ethiopians, the Druze?

What about the divisions within settlers - between those who have moved across the green line for ideological or for economic reasons?

What about the ranges within orthodoxy and ultra-orthodoxy?

What about the vastly differing politics of the secular?

What of the Palestinians without Israeli citizenship, those who also see themselves as victims of the nakba (catastrophe)?

And what of the fact that our 20- or 30-minute interviews have been hacked to less than three minutes, to fit the demands of news?

The answer is that this is no more than a splash of colour from the most loved, most hated, most bewildering small country in the world.

What remains is the question whether the pieces of the mosaic fit, or whether Israel is increasingly fractured and fractious.

With apologies to the interviewees, here is a very partial taster:

# Yuli, the secular trainee teacher from Jerusalem: "The moment that people will prefer to deal with their own stuff, and dream their own dreams, rather than the dreams of the big Jewish nation, maybe the situation will get better."

# Shoshana, the settler from Qedumim: "This is the Middle East: another language, another code. It's not Europe; it's not America… My father, who built this state, always told us that we have to pay a tax, a price, for living here. We have an obligation to pay, as we don't have any other place to go."

# Mohammed, the Palestinian from a village near Nazareth: "The way Israel deals with its Arab minority is the indication of how the world should deal with the Jewish minority. If Israel continues to discriminate against the Arab minority in Israel, it has no moral right to speak against discrimination against Jews around the world."

# Jonathan, the Haredi (ultra-orthodox man) from Jerusalem: "Israel was meant to create a New Jew - the idea that the term Jew was not enough, and we had to create something new, something that was a rejection in many respects of the Jew of the exile. But that New Jew has turned out to be a chimera."

# Mila, the non-Jewish Russian immigrant, now living in Gedera: "I am not a Jew, no. But when I sing songs in class about love for the land of Israel, it's just like in Russia when we would have moments of love for our homeland. Then when I hear the songs and spoke with older Arabs, my heart hurts and I start to cry."

EYES WIDE OPEN

The closing quote, on Israel's 60th anniversary, goes to a young woman, who appears in Paula Weiman-Kelman's documentary, Eyes Wide Open.

For a year, Ms Weiman-Kelman followed American Jews as they visited Israel. Towards the end of the film, a young, articulate woman comes out with this sweet solipsism: "I would love to be non-conflicted about this place." Quite.
________________________________

[Shammu]

Sanhedrin Calls to Reject ‘Messianic’ Sects

(IsraelNN.com) The Sanhedrin organization called Thursday to reject groups and individuals calling themselves Jewish who promote Christian belief as a part of Jewish identity.  Individuals professing a belief in Christian theology have left the Jewish faith and become apostates, even if they continue to identify as Jewish, the group said.

Such individuals should not be allowed to enlist in the IDF or participate in activities on behalf of the Jewish people or the Jewish state, they said, because their goal is usually to convince other Jews to accept the Christian faith.  Members of the Sanhedrin said non-Jews, including Christians who identify themselves as Christian and not Jewish, should be allowed to act on behalf of the Jews or the Jewish state if they so wish, because they are not falsely representing themselves or attempting to convert Jews away from their faith.

The ruling came as part of the controversy over this year’s annual Bible quiz.  One of the teens who participated in the competition belongs to a family of “Messianic Jews”—Jews who accept Christian beliefs but insist that such beliefs are actually Jewish.

Sanhedrin Calls to Reject ‘Messianic’ Sects

[Shammu]

Not one thing has changed in 2000 years!!  What did God call them right from the beginning "a stiff-necked people."  Well one day soon, they will see for themselves the truth.

[Shammu]

Israel will not tolerate nuclear Iran: Olmert

Sat May 10, 6:09 AM ET

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated his warning that the Jewish state will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, but expressed hope the international community would be successful in checking Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"Yes, Israel will not tolerate a nuclear weapon in the hands of people who say openly, explicitly and publicly that they want to wipe Israel off the map. Why should we?" Olmert asked in an interview with The Washington Post.

The newspaper plans to publish the interview in its Sunday issue, but it posted the text on its website late Friday.

At the same time, the prime minister held out hope that diplomatic efforts by the United States, the European Union and Russia aimed at ensuring the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program would bear fruit.

"I hope they will be successful," Olmert said.

However, he sharply disagreed with findings contained in last year's US National Intelligence Estimate, which argued that Iran's military nuclear program had been halted in 2003.

"Based on the information we have, the military program continues and has never been stopped," Olmert insisted.

"If this program continues, at some point they will be in possession of a nuclear weapon," he warned.

Israel will not tolerate nuclear Iran: Olmert

[Soldier4Christ]

 Ultra-Orthodox Jews are expanding the population of the West Bank by large numbers

The Jewish settler population in Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, is growing twice as fast as the rest of the population in other areas in Israel and the Ultra-Orthodox community is responsible for the major portion of the annual growth in these disputed territories.

In the areas where the Ultra-Orthodox move in to establish their young families, the annual growth rate is five to six times more than Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv's growth respectively and twice as much as the growth of many other Jewish settlements.

The Ultra-Orthodox rabbis sanctioned living in these settlements assuming that these territories would be annexed to Israel sometime in the near future.

The expanding population of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea and Samaria is in essence a page out of Bible prophecy for these religious Jews and the land of their forefathers.

Since the end of the Six Day War in June of 1967, Jews both religious and secular have been moving into the area of Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, building their homes and raising their families. These disputed territories have increased in population over the years to nearly 500,000 people in two hundred Jewish settlements.

Now, the Israeli government is reporting that the fastest growth of population in any area of Israel is this area referred to as the West Bank, but known Biblically as Judea and Samaria.

As I mentioned, this report is a page out of the prophetic passages in God's Word. The Ancient Jewish prophet Ezekiel wrote 2,500 years ago that in the Last Days God would give the land of the forefathers of the Jewish people to the Jews of today, Ezekiel 36.

Ezekiel the prophet was actually told to preach to the land that would bring forth man and animal and multiply them on the land, Ezekiel 36:11. Ezekiel 36:6-22 reveals what God would do with the land for the Jews and in verse 22 tells us that would be done for His holy namesake.

[Shammu]

Israel expects upgraded EU ties
Jun. 12, 2008
Tovah Lazaroff
THE JERUSALEM POST

The Foreign Ministry expects the European Union to boost its ties with Israel at a joint meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, despite Palestinian efforts to stymie the move.

"We expect the EU to approve Israel's request for an upgrade in the relationship," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aryeh Mekel told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

The tighter bonds are likely to be finalized when the ministerial-level EU-Israel Association Council convenes on the margins of the EU Council meeting, later on Monday. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to head to Luxembourg for the talks.

To try to thwart the deepening relationship between Israel and the EU, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad sent a letter to EU ministers and heads of state asking that Israel's request be denied based on its treatment of the Palestinians.

The EU Parliamentary Working Group on the Middle East has also spoken out against upgrading ties with Israel.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the EU was likely to reject a wide-range upgrade at this time.

Mekel denied the report. "It's not true," he told the Post. "We are already involved in a wide array of activities with the EU and these benefit both sides."

The upgrade is so far along that the 27 member states are discussing the wording of the document that would codify it, he said. "When there are 27 countries it is not easy for them to reach a common text."

Europe is Israel's largest trading partner, and the EU's cooperation level with Israel is the highest with any non-EU member state.

Still, Israel seeks a closer union. It has asked for significant involvement in finance, education, environment, youth, development, law enforcement, security cooperation and scientific research. Israel and the EU have also looked at holding a joint summit of heads of state and government.

According to the EU Embassy in Israel and the European Commission in Brussels, the process to upgrade ties is pushing forward.

European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said "it was a little bit premature" for Reuters to report that the EU planned to deny Israel's request. There is a debate now among member states on this issue, he said.

The EU member states are reviewing the union's relationship with Israel, not only in the bilateral context but also within the wider contest of what is happening in the Middle East, he added.

At the end of the process, Altafaj said, "It is mainly the members states" who would decide whether to boost ties with Israel.

Israel expects upgraded EU ties

[HisDaughter]

Hamas suspected of pressuring Arab employees of Israel security forces

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/me_hamas0297_07_03.asp


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel has become concerned that its large Palestinian work force is being infiltrated by Hamas.

Officials said authorities have determined that Hamas and Islamic Jihad were identifying and contacting Palestinians and Israeli Arabs who work for the Israeli government or security forces. They said the Palestinian insurgency groups were trying to pressure these workers to exploit their access to facilitate plans for mass-casualty strikes.

"Hamas has a very large presence in Jerusalem as well as in several Israeli cities and they conduct intelligence operations regarding where Arabs work and their potential for damage," an official said.

On Wednesday, at least three Israelis were killed and 40 others were injured when a Palestinian contractor for the state's light rail project commandeered a huge bulldozer and plowed into cars and buses in downtown Jerusalem. The Palestinian, a 30-year-old from Jerusalem with a criminal record, was killed by an off-duty Israeli soldier.

"To our regret the attackers do not cease coming up with new ways to strike at the heart of the Jewish people here in Jerusalem," Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski said.

Officials said they were uncertain whether the Palestinian, a convicted rapist and drug dealer, was recruited by Hamas to conduct the attack. Hamas did not claim responsibility, but praised the killing of Israeli civilians.

"We consider it as a natural reaction to the daily aggression and crimes committed against our people in the West Bank and all over the occupied lands," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

The Fatah militia, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was among three Palestinian groups that claimed responsibility. Al Aqsa has been formally under the leadership of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

"It looks as if it was a spontaneous act," Israeli police chief Dudi Cohen said.

But officials said the Palestinian bulldozer driver, who appeared to have been headed for the crowded Mahane Yehuda market, carefully planned his attack. They said the driver was probably under pressure from Hamas regarding debts or accusations that he had collaborated with Israel.

"The way these things start is that Arab employees of the government, particularly if they are Palestinians, come under pressure to prove that they are not working for the Israeli security services," the official said. "This can sometimes lead to a terrorist act."

[Shammu]

Hezbollah movement triples number of rockets - report
   
19:09    |    09/ 07/ 2008
   
TEL AVIV, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - Israel's state-controlled radio claimed Wednesday that Islamic Hezbollah has increased its rocket arsenal threefold since the start of an armed conflict with Israel two years ago.

Kol Israel radio made the claims citing Israel intelligence sources and said that Hezbollah now has 40,000 rockets capable of reaching Israel.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a cabinet meeting Wednesday that the increase in weapons by Shiite Hezbollah was in violation of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 34-day war in 2006.

The UN resolution called for the disarming of all militias and the prevention of gun-running and smuggling operations in Lebanon.

Over the past few days, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has raised the issue with foreign ministers from France, Germany and Italy.

According to Kol Israel, he indicated that Israel would not tolerate violations of peace agreements, which could damage "the fragile balance on the Israeli border."

Hezbollah movement triples number of rockets

[Shammu]

'Lebanon got a plump prisoner, we got bones in plastic bags'

Voices critical of Hizbullah respond to prisoner swap deal, including Kuwaiti columnist who says, 'Lebanon should thank God that Israel is its neighbor, rather than Saddam's Iraq'

Roee Nahmias
Published:    07.27.08, 12:45 / Israel News

A week has gone by since the implementation of the prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hizbullah, but the winds have not yet died down in Lebanon and the Middle East. Most of the Lebanese reactions commend Hassan Nasrallah and his organization, but a select few have uttered criticisms without reprieve.

One of those critical voices comes from Kuwait, a country that has despised Hizbullah ever since one of the organization's leaders, Imad Mugniyah, was involved in the abduction of a Kuwaiti plane in 1986, which killed two passengers.

Fouad al-Hashem, a columnist for the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan, wrote that Lebanon should consider itself lucky to be blessed with a neighbor such as Israel, rather than Iraq, for example. "Samir Kuntar lived in Israeli prisons for 29 years," al-Hashem wrote.

"No one cut off his ears, tore out his fingernails, or raped him. He ate three meals a day, watched television, and read newspapers. He was even allowed to study at one of Israel's open universities, where he received an academic degree."

The columnist continued, "Pictures published following his release testify to his health. Now he can begin his new life by going to a restaurant, eating humus with pine nuts and meat, and smoking a hookah. He can even sip a glass of arrack and say, 'thank you, Israel' for being more humane than Saddam Hussein and his party of terror. 

"Hizbullah and Kuntar's family should thank their maker for making Israel their neighbors rather than Hussein's Iraq. Otherwise, Kuntar would not have come back to his homeland on his feet, at a healthy weight of 90 kg, but rather in a little plastic bag containing a few bones, as our Kuwaiti prisoners returned to us."

Al-Hashem went on to say that despite the fact that the Kuwaiti prisoners were innocent, they were fed "pieces of bread as hard as rock" and "polluted water", and finally "led into the desert together, where they were murdered Nazi-style, and buried in mass graves without trial, law, attorneys, or involvement of the media."

Al-Hashem was not the only one critical of Nasrallah's accomplishment. Voices from within Lebanon also rose to the occasion. Al-Mustaqbal, a paper known for rivaling Hizbullah, challenged the organization's leader to answer for the 200 Lebanese prisoners that remained lost to Syria.

"I want to recall the issue of the Lebanese prisoners, detainees, and missing persons located in Syrian prisons since the mid '70s," columnist Abdullah al-Hadlak wrote. "Can the defeated terrorist leader of Hizbullah end the suffering of the families of these Lebanese prisoners and cause Damascus to bring an end to this subject, which has become the scarlet letter on its forehead?"

Referring to Nasrallah, he continued, "If he claims he won, I invite him to act with courage and fire one missile, or one shell towards the north of Israel. Maybe even to be brave and kidnap one Israeli soldier. If he does this, the gates of hell will open before him."

'Lebanon itself has become captive'

Other Lebanese criticism came from the Mufti of Mount Lebanon Sheikh Mohammed Ali al-Jouzoum, who has spoken out against Hizbullah in many instances. In a statement he published recently, the mufti claimed that the release of the five Lebanese prisoners has made Lebanon itself a captive.

"The Lebanese people rejoiced in welcoming the senior prisoner, Samir Kuntar, and his friends, but Hizbullah's hyperbolic propaganda had a political agenda beyond the release of the prisoners," al-Jouzoum wrote. "The release of prisoners is a grand thing, but in releasing a few prisoners from Israel the homeland itself has been taken captive by Hizbullah and Iran."

According to the mufti, Lebanon will now be unable to make a move that does not suit the organization. "If (the homeland) moves a little towards its own national interests in a way that does not suit Hizbullah… it will pay a hefty price as it did in July of 2006 and May of 2008," he said, referring to the Second Lebanon War and the Beirut riots, respectively.

He added that he did not despise Hizbullah's weapons when they were aimed towards the enemy. "When those weapons were aimed towards Israel I was proud, but now I feel that these weapons are aimed at the foundations of the country that has submitted to them," he concluded.

Lebanon should thank God that Israel is its neighbor

[Shammu]

New Israeli regulations could cripple Christian ministries
July 27, 2008

Israel’s Ministry of Interior has decided to reinstate an old regulation that is threatening to cripple, if not shut down, several Christian ministries by limiting the time volunteers can spend serving in Israel to 27 months.

The ruling was as sudden as it was drastic. The effects began to be felt earlier this month when three volunteers from Christian Friends of Israel, assuming their visas would be renewed at the Interior Ministry under the previous five-year agreement, were instead told they had two weeks to pack up and leave the country.

Since then, several more volunteers who have been in the country at least two years have been denied visa renewals and are planning hasty departures. Many others have been left with a heavy sense of uncertainty as their own visas come due in the following months.

Several Christian organizations, which were founded to bless Israel, are bolstered by volunteer staff who until now served for up to five years in various capacities. The sudden change in policy has suddenly cut some staffs by 50 percent or more.

The regulation does not specifically target Christian volunteers, but is having the greatest effect on Christians and Christian organizations, which have a heavy presence in the land.

And while some of the larger Christian organizations are granted long-term staff visas and will perhaps be able to cope better with sudden losses, the smaller organizations - subject to the new turnover even at the managerial and founding levels - could end up shutting down or, at best, severely minimizing their outreach in the land.

The decision has left the community reeling and scrambling to make last-minute arrangements both for those leaving and others filling their voids. Volunteers who did not want to publicly criticize the government’s decision spoke to Israel Today on background. One manager said it is a critical time to lose people after investing in them for two years. Another pointed out that their own date of impending departure didn’t allow enough time to pass on their responsibilities.

Yuval Yerushalmi, attorney for four Christian organizations in Jerusalem, said while the enforcement affects all volunteers, “all this is definitely making our lives more difficult.”

Yerushalmi stressed that the new regulations cannot be painted as "anti-Christian activity," but acknowledged that they will leave Christian organizations hard-pressed to function on the same scale as they once did.

Even if, as many say, the Messianic Jewish body in Israel is forced out of the closet and picks up the humanitarian slack, one reason the Christians were here was to mend centuries-old rifts between Jews and Christians. That mission will undoubtedly be negatively impacted by the new regulations.

Those volunteers asked to leave will be allowed back into Israel on another volunteer visa of 27 months after a year out of the country. However, they must return with a visa approved and issued by the Israeli embassy in their country of origin, a difficult and cumbersome task.

New Israeli regulations could cripple Christian ministries