Prophecy and End Time Series. - Israel

[Shammu]

No Israel on U.N. map

U.S. envoy complains to Annan, says map could suggest U.N. backs abolition of Israel
Reuters

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton has complained to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan about an annual U.N. event where a map of pre-1948 Palestine, an area that now comprises the state of Israel, is displayed.

"It was entirely inappropriate for this map to be used. It can be misconstrued to suggest that the United Nations tacitly supports the abolition of the state of Israel," Bolton said.

"Given that we now have a world leader pursuing nuclear weapons who is calling for the state of Israel to be 'wiped off the map,' the issue has even greater salience," he said in a January 3 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Friday. The letter was first reported in the New York Sun.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said in October the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map," has denied pursuing nuclear arms.

Annan at the time expressed dismay about the Iranian leader's comment and later canceled a planned trip to Tehran.

'Very unfortunate impression'

Bolton's letter complained about the symbolism of Annan attending the latest International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, held last November 29, along with General Assembly President Jan Eliasson and Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov, the Security Council president for November.

He questioned whether the United Nations could promote the event when U.S. law prohibits funding such events. Washington's dues cover about a quarter of the regular U.N. budget.

Annan's office was preparing a response to the letter, U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

He said the secretary-general was grateful that Bolton and others had brought the matter to his attention and had raised the matter of the map with the General Assembly's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which stages the annual event.

It was not Annan but the committee that decided in 1981 to display the pre-1948 map at the annual event, he said.

"This gives a very unfortunate impression that the United Nations favors replacing Israel by a single Palestinian state, which is not the case," he said, stressing that Annan regularly describes Israel as a full U.N. member and strongly disapproved of the Iranian president's comments.

The United Nations is a member of the quartet of international mediators pursuing a road map to Middle East peace along with the United States, European Union and Russia.

No Israel on U.N. map

My note; I have said quite a few times, the UN, and EU are not to be trusted, with Israel.

[Shammu]

Iran to Hold Conference on the Holocaust

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer 59 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran said Sunday it would sponsor a conference to examine the scientific evidence supporting the Holocaust, an apparent next step in hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign against
Israel and a move likely to deepen Tehran's international isolation.

Ahmadinejad already had called the Nazis' World War II slaughter of 6 million European Jews a myth and said the Jewish state should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.

Those remarks prompted a global outpouring of condemnation, and Tehran further raised international concern last week when it resumed what it called "research" at its uranium enrichment facility.

The
International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. organization that monitors nuclear proliferation, said Iran was resuming small-scale nuclear enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for atomic bombs.

That, in turn, prompted Washington and its allies to renew their push to take Iran before the
U.N. Security Council for the possible imposition of sanctions.

The United States, its European allies and Japan believe Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the charge and says its nuclear program is only for electricity generation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi did not disclose where or when the Holocaust conference would be held, nor would he say who would attend or what had prompted Tehran to sponsor it.

On Saturday, however, Ahmadinejad urged the West to be sufficiently open-minded to allow a free international debate on the Holocaust. Asefi adopted that theme.

"It is a strange world. It is possible to discuss everything except the Holocaust. The Foreign Ministry plans to hold a conference on the scientific aspect of the issue to discuss and review its repercussions," Asefi told reporters.

Earlier this month, the Association of Muslim Journalists, a hard-line group, proposed holding a similar conference, but Asefi said he was not aware of the association's wishes. He said the conference he announced was planned and supported by the ministry.

Rep. Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., a holocaust survivor who was born in Budapest, Hungary, has said he understood Iran was considering a conference that would call into question evidence that the Nazis conducted a mass murder of European Jews during World War II.

Israel and Iran had good relations until the 1979 Islamic revolution led by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Israel had backed the shah, apparently prompting Khomeini to term it the "Little Satan."

Ahmadinejad has adopted rhetoric reminiscent of Khomeini, seemingly trying to breathe life back into the waning revolutionary spirit in the country, whose residents are not traditionally anti-Jewish.

Before the revolution about 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, but three-fourths fled during the upheaval.

Ahmadinejad, who took office in August, caused an international outcry in October by calling Israel a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."

Leaders around the world also condemned him after he called the Nazi slaughter of Jews during World War II a "myth." He later said that if the Holocaust did happen, then Israel should be moved to Germany or North America, rather than making Palestinians suffer by losing their land to atone for crimes committed by Europeans.

Since the Islamic revolution, Israel has considered Iran a primary and existential threat. As Tehran's nuclear program has moved forward, the Israelis — who have nuclear weapons but do not to admit possessing such an arsenal — have refused to rule out using military force to destroy the Iranian program.

Iran to Hold Conference on the Holocaust

[Shammu]

Russian Expert Says Israel Likely to Bomb Iran in Spring

Created: 15.01.2006 12:58 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:58 MSK, 8 hours 35 minutes ago

MosNews

Click Here!

Israel could launch a missile attack on Iran in the upcoming spring, Director of the Russian Political Research Institute Sergei Markov was quoted by Interfax as saying Saturday.

“Israel is in the state of a bitter cold war with Iran and might become the first victim of a nuclear weapon attack: therefore, I deem it very likely that the Israeli Air Force could launch missile strikes on military, nuclear targets in Iran as early as this spring,” Markov told Interfax.

This move, however, would create serious problems for Israel, Markov said. “This would lead to a significant destabilization of the situation in the Middle East, including a dramatic increase in [terrorist] attacks by Islamists on Israel,” he said.

At the same time, the international community will be increasing pressure on Iran, Markov said. In particular, Iran might be subjected to economic sanctions, “which would at first be mild but would then grow tougher and tougher, up to an embargo on purchasing Iranian oil,” he said.

Russian Expert Says Israel Likely to Bomb Iran in Spring

[Shammu]

UN Security Council powers meet on Iran atom crisis

By Mark Heinrich Sun Jan 15, 6:12 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and
European Union hope to enlist Russian and Chinese support for robust diplomatic steps against
Iran over its contentious nuclear program when the
U.N. Security Council powers meet on Monday.

Iran's resumption of research that could be used for either civilian atomic energy or bombs has sparked a flurry of Western diplomacy in pursuit of a vote by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to refer Iran to the Council for possible sanctions.

Moscow, with a $1 billion stake building Iran's first atomic reactor, and Beijing, reliant on Iranian oil for its burgeoning economy, have so far blocked a consensus for referral within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors.

But Russia warned Iran after it restarted fuel research last week that it could lose Moscow's support unless it suspended the work. China, however, said resorting to the Security Council might "complicate the issue," citing Iran's threat to hit back by halting snap U.N. inspections of its atomic plants.

Russian and Chinese receptiveness to an IAEA vote against Iran is crucial as both are veto-wielding permanent members of the Council, along with the United States, Britain and France.

Diplomats said the London meeting of permanent Council members and Germany was aimed at reaching a consensus before an emergency IAEA board meeting the West wants next month.

"There's some confidence that Russia is increasingly leaning toward the EU3-U.S. position and will not block referral," said a diplomat with the EU trio of Germany, France and Britain that last week called off dragging dialogue with Iran.

But he said China still looked more difficult to persuade.

If the Western powers found Russia and China ready to back referral, the talks could yield a date for an IAEA board meeting well ahead of its next scheduled session on March 6.

SUSPICION

Iran says its nuclear research and development project is meant solely to feed an electricity-needy economy. Years of IAEA investigations have found no firm evidence to the contrary.

But Iran's concealment of nuclear activities for almost 20 years until it was disclosed by dissident exiles in 2002, a spotty record of cooperation with the IAEA since, and calls for wiping out Israel have fired Western resolve to rein in Tehran.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei was quoted as saying in a Newsweek magazine interview he could not exclude the possibility Iran might be harboring a secret nuclear arms program distinct from activities known to his agency.

"If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponization program along the way, they are really not very far -- a few months -- from a weapon," he said.

"We still need to assure ourselves through access to documents, individuals locations that we have seen all that we ought to see and that there is nothing fishy, if you like, about the program," ElBaradei added.

Asked if Iran was buying time to build a bomb, he replied: "That's why I said we are coming to the litmus test in the next few weeks."

Western officials say Iran stepped over the "red line" last week by stripping IAEA seals from equipment that purifies uranium, a key component in nuclear power or, if enriched to a higher level, in weaponry.

OIL THREAT

A German government official told reporters ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's trip to Moscow on Monday that the EU3 was amenable to reviving its talks with Iran -- but only if it once again suspended its fuel development program.

An EU3 diplomat in Berlin said Merkel hoped to get an assurance from Russian President
Vladimir Putin that Moscow would not obstruct Security Council referral and would form a common front with the EU and United States in handling Iran.

But OPEC giant Iran zeroed in on the weakness of Western tough talk by saying any crackdown could drive up world oil prices, which would batter industrialized economies.

Iran is the world's fourth largest exporter of crude oil.

Tehran also said only diplomacy, not threats of Council referral, could defuse its standoff with the West.

U.S. Republican and Democratic senators said Washington may ultimately have to undertake a military strike to deter Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week using force against Iran was not an option "at this point."

UN Security Council powers meet on Iran atom crisis

[Shammu]

Iran Notches Up Anti-Israel Campaign

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 15, 4:17 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran announced plans Sunday for a conference to examine evidence for the Holocaust, a new step in hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign against Israel — one that was likely to deepen Tehran's international isolation.

Ahmadinejad already called the Nazis' World War II slaughter of European Jews a "myth" and said the Jewish state should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.

Those remarks prompted a global outpouring of condemnation, and it wasn't clear who would be willing to attend an Iranian-sponsored Holocaust conference.

Late last year, however, the leader of Egypt's main Islamic opposition group joined Ahmadinejad in characterizing the Holocaust as a "myth" and lambasted Western governments for criticizing those who dispute the Jewish genocide happened.

"Western democracies have slammed all those who don't see eye to eye with the Zionists regarding the myth of the Holocaust," Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohammed Mahdi Akef wrote on the group's Web site.

Tehran already had further raised international concern about its nuclear program last week when it resumed what it called "research" at its uranium enrichment facility.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. organization that monitors nuclear proliferation, said Iran was resuming small-scale nuclear enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for atomic bombs.

That, in turn, prompted Washington and its allies to renew their push to take Iran before the U.N. Security Council for the possible sanctions.

The United States, its European allies and Japan believe Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the charge and says its nuclear program is only for electricity generation.

In calling for penalties against Iran's "irresponsible" behavior, Republican Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record) pointed to Tehran's plans for the Holocaust conference.

"At the minimum, we should go to the U.N. Security Council and we should impose economic sanctions unless there is some dramatic change in the Iranian position," he said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Rep. Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who was born in Budapest, Hungary, also has said he understood Iran was considering a conference that would call into question evidence that the Nazis conducted a mass murder of European Jews during World War II.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi did not disclose where or when the Holocaust conference would be held, nor would he say who would attend or what had prompted Tehran to sponsor it.

On Saturday, however, Ahmadinejad urged the West to be sufficiently open-minded to allow a free international debate on the Holocaust. Asefi adopted that theme.

"It is a strange world. It is possible to discuss everything except the Holocaust. The Foreign Ministry plans to hold a conference on the scientific aspect of the issue to discuss and review its repercussions," Asefi told reporters.

Earlier this month, the Association of Muslim Journalists, a hard-line group, proposed holding a similar conference, but Asefi said he was not aware of the association's wishes. He said the conference he announced was planned and supported by the ministry.

Israel and Iran had good relations until the 1979 Islamic revolution, lead by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Israel had backed the shah, apparently prompting Khomeini to term it the "Little Satan."

Ahmadinejad has adopted rhetoric reminiscent of Khomeini, seemingly trying to breath life back into the waning revolutionary spirit in the country, whose residents are not traditionally anti-Jewish.

Before the revolution about 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, but three-fourths fled during the upheaval.

Ahmadinejad, who took office in August, caused an international outcry in October by calling Israel a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."

Leaders around the world also condemned him after he called the Nazi slaughter of Jews during World War II a "myth." He later said that if the Holocaust did happen, then Israel should be moved to Germany or North America, rather than making Palestinians suffer by losing their land to atone for crimes committed by Europeans.

Since the Islamic revolution, Israel has considered Iran a primary and existential threat. As Tehran's nuclear program has moved forward, the Israelis — who have nuclear weapons but do not to admit possessing such an arsenal — have refused to rule out using military force to destroy the Iranian program.

Iran Notches Up Anti-Israel Campaign

[Soldier4Christ]

Every time I hear the name President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or see his picture all I can think of is Satan himself. I am not saying this is he but he sure is his advocate.

[Shammu]

Every time I hear the name President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or see his picture all I can think of is Satan himself. I am not saying this is he but he sure is his advocate.

AMEN P.R.

[Shammu]

Jan. 15, 2006 6:50
Bush: Israel threatened by Iran
By NATHAN GUTTMAN

US President George Bush warned Friday that if Iran goes forward with its nuclear program, it might pose a "grave threat to the security of the world." After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House, Bush voiced his concern over Iran's decision to pursue uranium enrichment and used the same language he used before launching the American attack against Iraq.

The US president stressed that Israel was in most danger from Iran's nuclear developments. When referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call to "wipe Israel off the map," Bush said that "the development of a nuclear weapon, it seems to me, would make them a step closer to achieving that objective."

Merkel, in her first visit to the US since elected to lead Germany, agreed with the tough line presented by the US concerning Iran, and joined the call for referring the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council.

The US has already gained the support of the EU for the referral, and Russia has tended to support this move as well. US diplomacy is focused now on China, who is a permanent member of the Security Council and holds the right to veto any decision brought to the forum. Iran supplies China with over 300,000 barrels of oil a day, making it a valuable contributor to the Chinese economy.

In his public appearance Friday, Bush was careful not to specify what moves he expected the Security Council to take against Iran, leaving that decision to the members themselves. "I'm not going to prejudge what the United Nations Security Council should do," Bush said, "but I recognize that it's logical that a country which has rejected diplomatic entreaties be sent to the United Nations Security Council."

Over the past week the US has been conducting intense diplomatic negotiations with its European allies, mapping out the possible scenarios for a Security Council discussion on Iran. It is clear to the US that the initial stage will include a call to resume inspections, but will probably fall short of mentioning sanctions. These may only be introduced in a second round, after Iran is given time to respond to the demands it was presented.

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad on Saturday shrugged off threats of UN sanctions from Washington and its European allies, saying he would not be bullied because there was no legal basis to forbid Teheran from conducting nuclear research.

In a ringing defense of Iran's resumption Tuesday of research at its nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, Ahmadinejad said Teheran had not violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which he said allowed signatories to produce nuclear fuel. The move drew fierce international condemnation and threats to seek UN sanctions.

"The time of using language of bullying and coercion... is over," Ahmadinejad told a packed news conference in the capital. "There is no evidence to prove Iran's diversion (toward nuclear weapons)."

What's more, Ahmadinejad said, Iran has no use for nuclear weapons. "You can use nuclear technology in several ways, and we want to do so peacefully," he said, claiming that such weaponry violated the tenets of Islam.

Iran insists its program is intended only for electricity generation; the US and other countries fear the explanation is a cover for building a nuclear bomb.

The news conference marked the second day of a tough public relations offensive by Teheran. On Friday, Iran threatened to end surprise inspections by and cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, if it is referred to the Security Council for possible imposition of sanctions.

"The world public opinion knows that Iran has not violated the Nonproliferation Treaty," Ahmadinejad said. "There are no restrictions for nuclear research activities under the NPT protocol, and Iran has not accepted any obligation (not to carry out research). How is it possible to prevent the scientific development of a nation?"

Ahmadinejad said there was no reason Iran should not develop its nuclear technology and charged that the threats of sanctions and Security Council action were the true dangers to world stability, not Iran's nuclear program.

"We don't trust their (Western countries) sincerity at all. It's certain for us that they don't want the Iranian nation to achieve scientific progress. They openly say 'we are opposed to (Iran's nuclear) research,'" Ahmadinejad said. "On what basis do you say this? Isn't this a medieval mentality?

"I'm recommending these countries not isolate themselves more among the people of the world. Resorting to the language of coercion is over."

Ahmadinejad said Iran was the victim of "propaganda" and that the presence of IAEA surveillance equipment was proof Iran had nothing to hide.

Bush: Israel threatened by Iran

[Shammu]

We'll aim to set final borders
09:25 , 01.14.06

In a Tel Aviv speech, Peres says Kadima will attempt to reach final-status peace agreement, adds Israel needs a strong political Center to make tough decisions
Moran Zelikovich

The next government will attempt to strike a final-status peace deal with the Palestinians in order to set Israel's permanent borders and put an end to terror, Knesset Member Shimon Peres said in a business convention in Tel Aviv Friday.

"I spoke now with Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and we agreed on one major thing, to try and set final borders in the upcoming term, a situation that would put an end to the double conflict with the Palestinians on the one hand and with terrorism on the other hand," Peres said.

"The Middle East is approaching a fork in the road – either becoming fanatical-Shiite-terrorist or modern and sane," Peres said. "Arik (Prime Minister Ariel Sharon) surprised me in a positive way, he said 'we're both no longer little kids and four years is plenty of time.' With Ehud (Olmert) I found an even bigger drive to reach a peace deal."

Referring to the prime minister's decision to establish Kadima, Peres said "Sharon's departure from the Likud is no less important than Israel's exit from Gaza. That's why I also took that step. As you know, before I made my decision I held thorough talks with Arik, who I wish a complete recovery."

Peres also spoke about Israel's political arena and said only a strong Center could bring peace.

"We must have a political spine that will allow for the implementation of decisions," he said. "If the political situation would have remained the way it is now, we would be going nowhere."

"In recent years a situation emerged where radical rightist, radical leftist and anti-religious parties became powerful," Peres added. "We need a renewed political Center so we can take decisions…today there's an opportunity to create a political Center not in accordance with marginal whims."

'No need to divide Jerusalem'

Turning his attention to the possibility Hamas will win the upcoming Palestinian elections, Peres repeated Israel's position rejecting talks with the Islamic terror group.

"If Hamas is elected it would be a Palestinian problem, not our problem," he said. "We won't sit down to the negotiating table with an organization that will come with bombs and the call to exterminate the people of Israel. I don't see anyone in the world assisting the Palestinians under such circumstances."

"If Hamas is elected chaos will ensue and then the Palestinians will have to think harder," he said.

Regarding talk about dividing Jerusalem as part of a future peace deal, Peres said "the controversy over Jerusalem can be resolved even without dividing it."

"I'm not at all convinced Jerusalem should be divided," he said. "In my view, any situation can be resolved through creative ideas."

Peres: We'll aim to set final borders

[twobombs]

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48348

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Israel withdrawal
from West Bank?
Many regard planned eviction of Jews as start of massive future evacuation
Posted: January 16, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

HEBRON, Israel – In what some here are calling the beginning of a possible large-scale withdrawal from the West Bank, Israeli forces are currently preparing to evict Jews from their homes in select area neighborhoods including the biblical city of Hebron, considered the oldest Jewish community in the world.

Clashes broke out here yesterday between Jewish protesters and hundreds of policemen and Israeli Defense Forces soldiers deployed in Hebron ahead of the announced eviction of eleven families from a marketplace near the entrance to the city.

The skirmishes began after a protest organized by community leaders was at the last minute declared illegal by Israel's Police Authority. Rioters reportedly threw eggs and paint at security forces and yelled anti-withdrawal slogans. There were some reports of soldiers using excessive force against the protesters.

Protest leaders last week had obtained the necessary permits to hold the rally, but yesterday afternoon, after hundreds of Israelis had already amassed, police told the crowd the gathering had to be called off.

"People came to express their rights and protest," said Mikey Rosenfeld, a Jerusalem resident who attended the gathering. "It was irresponsible of the authorities to call off the rally right as it was beginning. They knew the atmosphere was explosive, and they basically ignited it themselves with the last minute declaration."

Israel earlier this month issued eviction notices to the resident's of Hebron's Mitspe Shalhevet, a marketplace built in 1929 after Arab riots temporarily forced Jews from the area. For a period of over 30 years, a sign was posted on the market boasting in Arabic the structure was built on stolen Jewish property.

Arab families had moved into the market but were asked to leave by the IDF after a series of clashes broke out in the mid-1990s. Then in 2001, Jewish families took up occupancy in the market to strengthen Jewish ties to the area after a Palestinian sniper murdered a Jewish infant nearby.

Even though the original owners of the property recently signed over the market to Hebron's Jewish community, Israel considers the structure, in which eleven families currently reside, an illegal outpost.

Jews lived in Hebron – home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, believed to be the resting place of biblical patriarchs and matriarchs – almost continuously for over 2,500 years. There are accounts of the trials of the city's Jewish community throughout the Byzantine, Arab, Mameluke and Ottoman periods.

In 1929, as a result of an Arab pogrom in which 67 Jews were murdered, the entire Jewish community fled the city, with Hebron becoming temporarily devoid of Jews.

The Jews re-established their presence in Hebron after the West Bank was recaptured in the 1967 Six Day War, with some prime ministers allowing Jewish construction in the city, and others calling it off.

Hebron residents believe evacuation of the marketplace is imminent. The 11 families had until yesterday to leave on their own accord or they may be forcibly removed, according to the eviction notices obtained by WND, which were worded similarly to eviction documents distributed to Jews living in the Gaza Strip just before their withdrawal from the area.

Hebron is not the only Jewish city facing evacuations. In what some commentators here are calling the start of a larger withdrawal from the West Bank, Israel has announced several other area communities now face evacuation, including nine homes in the Binyamin community of Amona, a home in the large Gush Etzion block, and three hilltop outposts in northern Samaria.

Also, Israel is now debating closing off the main Jewish highway in the West Bank to Jewish traffic, rerouting the major commuter artery for the area's roughly 200,000 Jews to a series of roads that run dozens of miles away from West Bank Jewish communities. The highway was constructed in the early 1990s to ease traffic for Arab and Jewish commuters, and to make it safer for Jews to travel throughout the West Bank by bypassing major Arab cities from which snipers had fired on Jewish vehicles.

Moshe Jacobs, a West Bank doctor who commutes during the week to his office in Jerusalem, told WND, "Now I am going to have to drive over 15 miles out of the way closer to major Arab cities to get to work. There is no reason in the world for this road to close. The only thing it will accomplish is make our lives uncomfortable and more dangerous."

Sara Frankel, a resident of the West Bank town of Eli, said, "Before Israel evacuated Gaza, it took steps just like this to make life harder and conditions unsafe for the Gaza Jews by closing roads and taking away protection. If they close the highway it would be a clear step in the direction of a future forced evacuation."

Indeed, just prior to the Gaza withdrawal, the Israeli army rerouted Jewish traffic, closed several roads and began removing army outposts from Jewish communities.

Click Here!

Several years before the withdrawal, residents of an entire Gaza Jewish community, Nitzarim, were banned from driving their vehicles on the only access road that led to their town. Instead, Nitzarim residents had to take hourly shuttles into their community provided by the IDF.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced he is leaving the ruling Likud Party he helped found to start his own "centrist" party, Kadima, prompting new elections that will be held in March. The new party was widely regarded as a bid to carry out further Israeli withdrawals after Sharon drew the ire of senior Likud figures for his decision to evacuate Jews from Gaza.

Multiple Kadima members have stated the new party is looking to change Israel's borders. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is filling in for Sharon as head-of-state following the Israeli leader's massive stroke two weeks ago, has expressed approval of West Bank withdrawals and has made statements to reporters about the possibility of vacating some parts of Jerusalem.

Olmert, currently leading in a series of national polls for the figure most likely to win in the upcoming elections, was the first Sharon deputy to go public with the Gaza-withdrawal plan.

The West Bank is considered landlocked territory not officially recognized as part of any country. Israel calls the land "disputed." The United Nations claims the West Bank is "occupied" by Israel, which maintains overall control of most of the area while the Palestinian Authority has jurisdiction in about 40 percent. The Palestinians claim a population of roughly 2.4 million, but new demographic studies show the numbers are likely inflated. The actual Palestinian population could be up to 1 million less.

The territory remained under Jordanian rule from 1948 until Israel captured the West Bank in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War. Most countries rejected Jordan's initial claim on the area, which it formally renounced in 1988.

The West Bank borders most of Israel's major cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Military strategists have long estimated Israel must maintain the West Bank to defend its borders from any ground invasion.

Many villages in the West Bank, which Israelis commonly reefer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Old Testament.

The Book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He was later buried in Hebron.

The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory.

And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shilo, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.

Related offer:

Definitive work on Mideast – available only here!

[Shammu]

Political `big Bang' Is Shaking Israel

By MARCUS ELIASON, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 15, 2:39 PM ET

JERUSALEM -
Ariel Sharon is still in a coma. So how do Israelis feel about it? An opinion poll in Yediot Ahronot, Israel's largest newspaper, is instructive.

"Indifference" — 19 percent; "fear and foreboding" — 18 percent; "sorrow" — 63 percent.

The mood of resignation, seemingly deepened by the icy winds and rain-sodden skies of the Mediterranean winter, reflects an overwhelming conviction that Sharon's condition — "critical but stable" after a tracheotomy Sunday to ease his breathing — means he won't be back as prime minister.

Life is getting back to normal. Sort of.

In the 11 days since Sharon was struck down, Israel's institutions and democracy have smoothly weathered their worst crisis since the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. But on the political front, the country has witnessed a string of stunning upheavals.

What Israelis call "the big bang" started even before Sharon's stroke Jan. 4, when the opposition Labor Party voted out its veteran leader, Shimon Peres, and replaced him with Amir Peretz, a trade union boss with no experience in government.

Twelve days later, on Nov. 21, Sharon made his big move, bolting the Likud Party to form a new one at the center of the political spectrum. He called it Kadima (Forward).

The turmoil he unleashed deepened dramatically when he suffered his massive stroke. The speculation was that Kadima would collapse without him. Yet Friday's poll of 501 people by the Dahaf agency indicated Kadima could win 42 seats in March elections for the 120-member parliament. Likud and Labor were given 17 and 13 seats, respectively.

If that breakdown holds up until the real vote, it would mean that for the first time, Israel's government was not headed by either dovish Labor or hawkish Likud.

But because no party has ever won an outright majority — and neither will Kadima, according to the polls — Israel has always had coalition governments, which is why the smaller political bangs of recent days matter.

In Israel's system of proportional representation, a party offers a list of candidates. The more votes it gets, the more candidates enter the Knesset, or parliament, and the better its chances become of joining the coalition.

Shinui, a secular middle-class party whose impressive 15 seats in the 2003 election catapulted it into Sharon's government, has plummeted in the polls, and last week was thoroughly scrambled by a vote to set its election list. Shinui's 167-member council dumped party founder Avraham Poraz from the No. 2 slot, and he and four other Shinui lawmakers, including party leader Joseph Lapid, walked out.

Likud, the National Religious Party and Hadash, an Arab-Jewish communist party, also spurned some big names for new faces.

Jerusalem Post analyst Anshel Pfeffer wrote that it "was taking things too far, even for a democracy." But it could also be taken as a generational shift, from the old guard represented by Peres and Sharon to younger men.

Jews at prayer on the weekend might have felt echoes of the present in the reading from the Old Testament — the last two chapters of Genesis, in which the dying Jewish patriarch, Jacob, divides the land of Israel among his sons who will come to lead the Twelve Tribes.

Sharon has never indicated any preference for a successor, and his temporary replacement, Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has been careful not to claim the top job, even refraining from moving into Sharon's office. But the idea of putting the comatose Sharon's name on the top of Kadima's list was quickly and widely dismissed as being in bad taste.

On Sunday, Olmert presided over the Cabinet's first major decision since Sharon's illness: to allow Arabs in Jerusalem to vote in the Jan. 25 Palestinian election. Israel had resisted at first, fearing candidates of Hamas, the Islamic group sworn to destroy Israel, would bring their election campaign to Arab areas of the city.

Meanwhile, a debate blew up over whether the Israeli media's treatment of the Sharon story was at times overly sentimental, even mawkish.

Not so, Amnon Dankner, editor in chief of the mass circulation Maariv, said Sunday.

The story of a storied soldier and leader who in his old age upended his life's work, giving up the
Gaza Strip, uprooting its Jewish settlers and accepting the idea of Palestinian statehood, "gives it dimensions of Shakespearean tragedy," Dankner wrote.

Political `big Bang' Is Shaking Israel

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Iran Notches Up Anti-Israel Campaign

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 15, 4:17 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran announced plans Sunday for a conference to examine evidence for the Holocaust, a new step in hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign against Israel — one that was likely to deepen Tehran's international isolation.

Ahmadinejad already called the Nazis' World War II slaughter of European Jews a "myth" and said the Jewish state should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.

Those remarks prompted a global outpouring of condemnation, and it wasn't clear who would be willing to attend an Iranian-sponsored Holocaust conference.

Late last year, however, the leader of Egypt's main Islamic opposition group joined Ahmadinejad in characterizing the Holocaust as a "myth" and lambasted Western governments for criticizing those who dispute the Jewish genocide happened.

"Western democracies have slammed all those who don't see eye to eye with the Zionists regarding the myth of the Holocaust," Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohammed Mahdi Akef wrote on the group's Web site.

Tehran already had further raised international concern about its nuclear program last week when it resumed what it called "research" at its uranium enrichment facility.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. organization that monitors nuclear proliferation, said Iran was resuming small-scale nuclear enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for atomic bombs.

That, in turn, prompted Washington and its allies to renew their push to take Iran before the U.N. Security Council for the possible sanctions.

The United States, its European allies and Japan believe Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the charge and says its nuclear program is only for electricity generation.

In calling for penalties against Iran's "irresponsible" behavior, Republican Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record) pointed to Tehran's plans for the Holocaust conference.

"At the minimum, we should go to the U.N. Security Council and we should impose economic sanctions unless there is some dramatic change in the Iranian position," he said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Rep. Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who was born in Budapest, Hungary, also has said he understood Iran was considering a conference that would call into question evidence that the Nazis conducted a mass murder of European Jews during World War II.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi did not disclose where or when the Holocaust conference would be held, nor would he say who would attend or what had prompted Tehran to sponsor it.

On Saturday, however, Ahmadinejad urged the West to be sufficiently open-minded to allow a free international debate on the Holocaust. Asefi adopted that theme.

"It is a strange world. It is possible to discuss everything except the Holocaust. The Foreign Ministry plans to hold a conference on the scientific aspect of the issue to discuss and review its repercussions," Asefi told reporters.

Earlier this month, the Association of Muslim Journalists, a hard-line group, proposed holding a similar conference, but Asefi said he was not aware of the association's wishes. He said the conference he announced was planned and supported by the ministry.

Israel and Iran had good relations until the 1979 Islamic revolution, lead by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Israel had backed the shah, apparently prompting Khomeini to term it the "Little Satan."

Ahmadinejad has adopted rhetoric reminiscent of Khomeini, seemingly trying to breath life back into the waning revolutionary spirit in the country, whose residents are not traditionally anti-Jewish.

Before the revolution about 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, but three-fourths fled during the upheaval.

Ahmadinejad, who took office in August, caused an international outcry in October by calling Israel a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."

Leaders around the world also condemned him after he called the Nazi slaughter of Jews during World War II a "myth." He later said that if the Holocaust did happen, then Israel should be moved to Germany or North America, rather than making Palestinians suffer by losing their land to atone for crimes committed by Europeans.

Since the Islamic revolution, Israel has considered Iran a primary and existential threat. As Tehran's nuclear program has moved forward, the Israelis — who have nuclear weapons but do not to admit possessing such an arsenal — have refused to rule out using military force to destroy the Iranian program.

Iran Notches Up Anti-Israel Campaign

[Shammu]

Mideast Adjusts Without Arafat, Sharon

By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 16, 4:03 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Both Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon did the unthinkable: Arafat recognized Israel's existence and Sharon gave up the Gaza Strip. With Arafat dead and Sharon felled by a stroke, Palestinians and Israelis are having to adjust to life without larger-than-life leaders.

"Israel, like the Palestinians, is witnessing no more icons ... no more warriors," said Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, the director of Passia, a Palestinian think tank.

For the Palestinians, the loss of their longtime leader just over a year ago has coincided with an alarming slide into chaos, though some argue it is giving Palestinian society more democracy.

For Israel, Sharon's likely incapacitation could endanger his unfinished mission of drawing Israel's final borders, especially if his political heirs lack the strength to uproot Jewish settlers from the
West Bank.

Born a year apart, both Arafat and Sharon changed history in ways that many people see as irreversible: Arafat by recognizing Israel in 1993, laying the groundwork for eventual Palestinian statehood. Sharon by withdrawing from Gaza and building a barrier in the West Bank, effectively killing the dream of a Greater Israel incorporating captured Arab lands.

To be sure, Arafat and Sharon despised each other, and they had little in common during their intertwined three decades on the Middle Eastern stage. Some have argued that Arafat squandered a great historical opportunity, while Sharon was in the process of seizing one.

Arafat died on Nov. 11, 2004, at a low point — hamstrung by cronyism and under siege by Israel, which accused him of being behind a wave of suicide bombings.

Sharon's stroke came at the 77-year-old's political peak, having successfully pulled off the Gaza withdrawal and founded a new centrist party that looks poised to win elections March 28.

It was a big turnaround for Sharon, who had been the godfather of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. It also offset his ouster as defense minister after his 1982 invasion of Lebanon ended in disgrace, with Sharon accused of failing to prevent massacres at Palestinian refugee camps.

Sharon also had a shining hour as a general in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, when he was widely credited with turning the fight in Israel's favor, and he won praise for his steadfast toughness in dealing with the Palestinians.

On the other side, Arafat was almost impossible to separate from the Palestinian national cause, his face framed by a trademark checkered headdress shaped to resemble the map of Palestine.

He was condemned for airliner hijackings and the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics. But he also shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for signing the peace deal recognizing Israel.

Some Israelis and Palestinians wince at the idea of drawing any comparison between Sharon and Arafat. Each is widely hated by the other side as a terrorist or a war criminal. But no one can deny the drama each brought to the scene and the adoring following they attracted.

Arafat's funeral provoked a huge outpouring of grief, and Sharon's stroke has plunged Israelis into a somber mood, with many scarcely able to imagine life without him.

"Each hour we are sitting with the radio and we are praying," said Yehuda Halili, standing outside Sharon's hospital with his wife, three daughters and a homemade get well sign. "From the beginning, he has represented the Jewish people."

Some argue the great symbolism attached to Arafat, the revolutionary, and Sharon, the warrior, made Mideast peacemaking harder.

"A strong argument can be made that if you remove these people with emotional baggage that they carry for the other side, the chances of a resolution becomes easier," said Daoud Kuttab, director of the Institute of Modern Media at Jerusalem's Al-Quds University.

Nonsense, says Hirsh Goodman, an Israeli political analyst and veteran journalist.

The chaos enveloping the West Bank and Gaza — with gangs of gunmen shooting up public buildings, kidnapping foreigners and firing rockets into Israel — precludes a return to peace talks "because there's nobody on the Palestinian side that the Israelis feel can deliver any cogent agreement," Goodman said.

Many Palestinians still hope Arafat's businesslike successor, Mahmoud Abbas, can reverse the decline, but wonder if he has the clout and charisma to do that. His Fatah Party is struggling to hold back the militant group Hamas in Palestinian parliamentary elections Jan. 25.

When Sharon appeared in public, Israelis often greeted him with chants of "Arik, King of Israel," affectionately calling out his nickname. Former Israeli peace negotiator Amos Guiora doubts Sharon's political successors will ever be embraced as warmly.

But that may not be such a bad thing for democracy, he said, because ordinary leaders have to bring in more people to make decisions.

Still, he said, "We are a people who need a father. Now we are a little bit fatherless."

Mideast Adjusts Without Arafat, Sharon

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Last update - 06:19 17/01/2006            
Egypt on Iran: We will not accept a new nuclear power
By Yossi Melman and Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters

Egypt on Monday said it supported using nuclear technology for peaceful purposes but rejected the emergence of a nuclear military power in the region, in its first official reaction to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

"All countries should adhere to their commitments in a way to allow the international community to be sure of the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program, as we do not accept the emergence of a nuclear military power," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a statement.

Aboul Gheit said Egypt was "closely watching" the development of the Iranian nuclear issue "out of its absolute keenness to support all the efforts aimed at consolidating the nuclear nonproliferation (policy) not only at the regional level but all over the world."

He said Egypt believes dialogue is the best way to solve the crisis.

UN Security Council members meet
Key members of the UN Security Council agreed Monday that Iran must fully suspend its nuclear program, but came to no agreement on whether to refer the dispute for action by the council. Russian President Vladimir Putin held out hope for a compromise that could avoid such action, and Iran's envoy to Moscow welcomed his proposal.

At a seven-hour meeting in London, China, Russia, France, Germany, America and Britain expressed "serious concerns" about Iran's decision last week to resume research on nuclear fuel and break the UN seals at its main uranium enrichment plant, Britain's Foreign Office said.

"There was agreement on the importance of Iran returning to the full suspension and negotiating process," a Foreign Office spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy.

Britain, France, Germany and America have been pushing for a referral since the Europeans declared last week that talks with Tehran had reached a dead end. Russia, which is deeply involved in building Iranian reactors for power generation, and China - heavily dependent on Iranian oil to power its booming economy - have been wary of the idea.

China has suggested that bringing Iran before the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, would worsen tensions. Iran says it will cease cooperating with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog if it is referred to the council.

Putin suggested there might still be hope of avoiding that path.

He said after meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow that Iran has not ruled out conducting its uranium enrichment in Russia, which would allow for close oversight. The proposal, also floated last year, would guarantee uranium would be enriched enough to power nuclear energy plants, but not enough to build weapons.

"We have heard various opinions from our Iranian partners on that issue. One of them has come from the Foreign Ministry - our partners told us they did not exclude the implementation of our proposal," Putin said. "In any case, it's necessary to work carefully and avoid any erroneous moves."

Iran's ambassador to Moscow praised the idea.

"We consider it constructive and are carefully studying it. This is a good initiative to resolve the situation. We believe that Iran and Russia should find a way out of this jointly," Gholamreza Ansari said in comments translated into Russian and shown on state Channel One television.

Speaking while the London meeting was still under way, Putin said his proposal didn't mean Russia's strategy differed from the one the Western powers are pursuing.

"Russia, Germany, our European partners and the United States have very close positions on the Iranian problem," Putin said.

China made no immediate comment after the meeting.

Earlier, Monday, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing took a cautious tone.

"China believes that under the current situation, all relevant sides should remain restrained and stick to solving the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations," the ministry said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was not at the meeting, said after it ended that London also wanted Iran to return to talks.

"What we hope is that as a result of this and other diplomatic pressure is that the Iranians will come back to the negotiating table ... and will recognize the good intent of the European three," he told Channel 4 news, referring to Britain, France and Germany, which negotiated with Tehran for 2 1/2 tense years.

However, diplomats from the three countries informed the others at the meeting that they plan to call for an emergency board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Feb. 2-3 to discuss what action to take against Tehran, the Foreign Office said.

That could be a step towards referral to the Security Council.

The United States and its European allies fear Iran intends to build an atomic bomb, and Iran's new hard-line president's sharp anti-Israeli comments have only fueled their anxiety.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, traveling in Africa, said America wants a vote as soon as possible on whether to refer Iran to the Security Council, arguing that Tehran would take advantage of any delay.

"We've got to finally demonstrate to Iran that it can't with impunity just cast aside the just demands of the international community," she said.

Straw said the "onus is on Iran" to prove its program is peaceful. He said the international community's confidence had been "sorely undermined by a history of concealment and deception" by the clerical regime.

Tehran insists its intentions are peaceful and says it only wants to produce electricity. Iranian state radio reported Monday that the country had allocated the equivalent of $215 for the construction of what would be its second and third nuclear power plants.

Egypt on Iran: We will not accept a new nuclear power

[Shammu]

Israel, Hamas Rewrite Rules of Engagement

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 17, 7:46 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel and Hamas, sworn enemies with a bloody history, have rewritten their rules of engagement for the Palestinian election campaign in Jerusalem, epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli police briefly detained three Hamas candidates and the militants spouted a little anti-Israeli rhetoric, an expression of the conflicting claims to Jerusalem. Yet both sides have avoided a head-on clash to ensure the Palestinian parliament election takes place Jan. 25 as planned — Hamas because it expects to make a strong showing, and Israel because it doesn't want to upset the Bush administration.

On Sunday, Israel's Cabinet voted to allow Palestinians to cast absentee ballots in Jerusalem, but barred Hamas from campaigning in the city because the Islamic militants are pledged to Israel's destruction.

Later in the day, police picked up three Hamas candidates for questioning, tore down campaign banners and raided a charity they suspected was a Hamas front. On Monday, the candidates were released.

At home after his release, Mohammed Abu Teir, 55, said his brief detention had helped his campaign.

"It gave us the opportunity to give the people the picture of what is happening in Jerusalem, without even talking to our people," said Abu Teir, who spent 25 years in Israeli prisons.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the ultimate goal is to see the Palestinian election take place, suggesting Israel would find a way to settle any disputes over voting procedures or Hamas' role.

"In light of the Palestinian Authority's explicit commitment to disband Hamas and its terror infrastructure after and as a result of the elections, Israel will not provide the Palestinian Authority any excuse for postponement of the elections and evading this commitment," Regev said.

Palestinian voting in Jerusalem is largely symbolic, since only about 5,000 of the city's 230,000 Arab residents are eligible to cast ballots — a quota set when Israel and the Palestinians first negotiated the voting arrangements in the city in 1996. The compromise allowed 5,000 voters to mail absentee ballots from five post offices in the city, while the other eligible voters had to travel to nearby
West Bank polling stations.

The arrangement was meant to allow both sides to keep their conflicting claims to east Jerusalem, the sector Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War. Israel says it will never relinquish sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, while the Palestinians want to establish their future capital in the eastern sector.

Recent polls indicate that Hamas is gaining ground against Abbas' ruling Fatah Party. A survey last week said Hamas would win 31 percent of the overall vote, compared to 35 percent for Fatah, with 22 percent undecided. That's a 10-point gain for Hamas from a month ago.

On Jerusalem's streets, there was no sign of Hamas, with the exception of a few boys handing out fliers near the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, out of the eyesight of Israeli police.

Abu Teir said his group has other ways of getting the message out. "Most of us preach in mosques, and we have university professors, doctors, students bodies, and we ... go from house to house," he said. "We are very well-organized, and not just confrontational."

In its Jerusalem campaign, Hamas focuses on the city's West Bank suburbs, which are part of the Jerusalem district on the Palestinian electoral map. Some 50,000 of the suburbs' 160,000 residents are eligible voters.

During a recent stop in the West Bank community of Anata, cut off from Jerusalem by Israel's separation barrier, Abu Teir addressed some 200 residents, many wearing the Islamic green basketball caps Hamas hands out as campaign gifts. "God is great," the crowd chanted.

Hamas campaigners focus on corruption by the Palestinian Authority, playing down the violent conflict with Israel. Hamas has carried out scores of suicide attacks in Israel since its founding in 1987, killing hundreds of Israelis. But it has largely observed a truce during the past year, acknowledging that the Palestinians are worn out from hardships brought on by five years of fighting.

The U.S. and Europe consider Hamas a terrorist organization and have warned they may cut aid to the Palestinians if Hamas joins the Palestinian Authority after the election. However, Washington and the European Union have said Hamas should be allowed to compete in the election, at the same time urging the militants to disarm.

Hamas has said it won't give up its weapons until Israel withdraws from all occupied land. However, with militant activity apparently on hold, at least until the election, Hamas is moving toward becoming a political party.

The Hamas campaign manager in Jerusalem, who would give only his nom de guerre, Abu Youssef, for fear of arrest, said the elections are key to cleaning up the group's image.

"We need international legitimacy which we will get through the parliament," Abu Youssef said.

Israel, Hamas Rewrite Rules of Engagement