Prophecy and End Time Series. - Israel

[Shammu]

Israel gives military free rein

Thursday 02 March 2006, 15:08 Makka Time, 12:08 GMT

Israel says it has lifted all restrictions on its military and that it is intensifying its war against alleged terrorists, including al-Qaida.

Ehud Olmert, the acting Israeli prime minister, made the statement on Thursday, saying he would use an "iron fist" against Palestinian resistance fighters and al-Qaida.

"I have issued an order to all the security forces of Israel to use special means to confront the buds of terrorist action," Olmert told a news conference in Jerusalem.

"We are systematically intensifying our war.

"No one who fires off a Qassam rocket will have a moment's rest, because we shall seek him out everywhere, track him everywhere, reach him and make sure he is not able to do it."

Qassam rockets are homemade and rarely cause casualties.

"We will use an iron first against any attempt to renew terror activity anywhere," he said. "There are no restraints on security forces to use any means necessary to stop terror attacks."

A day earlier, at a campaign stop in advance of Israeli elections on 28 March, Olmert said Israel would pursue all opportunities for peace.

Recent incursions

In recent weeks, Israel has stepped up arrest raids in the West Bank and killed a number of Palestinians in Gaza.

But Israel has denied involvement in the car blast on Wednesday that killed Khalid Dahduh, Islamic Jihad's military commander in Gaza.

On Thursday, an Israeli man was stabbed in the neck at an Israeli factory in northern Jerusalem.

Al-Qaida

Olmert said: "There are, of course, attempts by terror elements, including international ones, to extend their reach in areas adjacent to us."

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has also said that al-Qaida has infiltrated the Gaza Strip and West Bank, but has given no further details.

He was quoted by the Arabic-language Al Hayat newspaper as saying: "We have signs of an al-Qaida presence in the West Bank and Gaza.

"The infiltration of al-Qaida can ruin the whole region."

Israel also says al-Qaida is operating in the Gaza Strip, and that it has arrested a Palestinian allegedly working with the group. Abbas says Palestinian security forces have not captured any al-Qaida operatives.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, has cited Israel as a target, and the Palestinian cause as one of the reasons for attacks.

Karni closed

Also on Thursday, Israel continued to keep the main cargo crossing in the Gaza Strip closed.

The Karni passage has been closed since an explosion there on 21 February. Extended closures are seen by Palestinians as a collective punishment.

The crossing has been closed for five weeks this year.

On Wednesday, Palestinian officials said they had been told by Israel that the crossing would open on Thursday.

Later Israel said it would not reopen because Palestinians were firing rockets towards Israeli points.

Salim Abu Safiya, director-general of the Palestinian Border Authority, said: "The continued closure is causing humanitarian and economic harm to the Palestinian people, and threatening a real shortage in food supplies."

Palestinian farmers planned to dump hundreds of tons of produce that had nearly spoiled while waiting at the crossing to be exported to Israel and Europe.

Israel gives military free rein

My note; The farmers, can blame there own country for firing the rockets.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran negotiator announces:
We duped West on nukes
Top Tehran negotiator tells Islamic clerics,
academics talks convinced EU nothing afoot

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, in a speech to the nation's leading Islamic clerics and academics, has admitted what many in U.S. intelligence have been saying all along – namely, Tehran duped the West on its nuclear program by continuing its development while using diplomatic talks to lull the Europeans into inaction.

Hassan Rowhani led talks with the EU3 – Germany, France and the UK – until last year and part of his job, reports the London Telegraph, was to play for time after Iran's nuclear program was exposed by dissidents in 2002.

At the closed meeting of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Rowhani boasted that during talks to forestall Iran's nuclear program, which intelligence sources in the U.S. saw as part of an effort to build nuclear weapons, Tehran completed the installation of equipment needed to convert yellowcake at its Isfahan plant. The Europeans, he said, were convinced nothing was occurring at the plant.

"From the outset, the Americans kept telling the Europeans, 'The Iranians are lying and deceiving you and they have not told you everything.' The Europeans used to respond, 'We trust them'," he said.

Rowhani's frankness, it appears, was motivated by internal criticisms from hardliners that he had negotiated away too much in recent talks with the Europeans. His comments, published in a journal available to the regime's elite, seem designed to defend his performance.

"When we were negotiating with the Europeans in Teheran we were still installing some of the equipment at the Isfahan site," he said. "There was plenty of work to be done to complete the site and finish the work there. In reality, by creating a tame situation, we could finish Isfahan."

Rowhani's diplomatic skills were severely tested in September 2003 when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demanded a "complete picture" of Iran's program.

"The dilemma was if we offered a complete picture, the picture itself could lead us to the U.N. Security Council," he said. "And not providing a complete picture would also be a violation of the resolution and we could have been referred to the Security Council for not implementing the resolution."

He also revealed two occasions where the IAEA learned of secret experiments from academic papers published by Iranian scientists.

Libya's decision to negotiate with the U.S. and Britain to end its own nuclear program brought to light the proliferation network run by Pakistan atomic scientist A.Q. Khan. Khan's role in supplying nuclear-related equipment to Libya, revealed in surrendered documents, also exposed the fact he had supplied advanced centrifuges to Iran.

Revelations of Rowhani's candor come on the eve of tomorrow's IAEA meeting to reassess Iran's banned nuclear operations. According to U.N. protocol, the IAEA review is the final step before Tehran's case is forwarded to the Security Council, where, if the facts dictate, sanctions may be imposed.

Iran has just completed failed talks with Russia, which opposes U.N. sanctions, to find a way around the impasse.

On another matter, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group responsible for many of the revelations about Iran's secret program, has obtained a confidential parliamentary report revealing that Iran's legislators were unaware of the nuclear project and that it was funded off the books.

"Rowhani's remarks show that the mullahs wanted to deceive the international community from the onset of negotiations with EU3," said Mohammad Mohaddessin, the NCRI's foreign affairs chief, "and that the mullahs were fully aware that if they were transparent, the regime's nuclear file would be referred to the U.N. immediately."

[Soldier4Christ]

Nato may help US airstrikes on Iran
Sarah Baxter, Washington and Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv
WHEN Major-General Axel Tüttelmann, the head of Nato’s Airborne Early Warning and Control Force, showed off an Awacs early warning surveillance plane in Israel a fortnight ago, he caused a flurry of concern back at headquarters in Brussels.

It was not his demonstration that raised eyebrows, but what he said about Nato’s possible involvement in any future military strike against Iran. “We would be the first to be called up if the Nato council decided we should be,” he said.

Nato would prefer the emphasis to remain on the “if”, but Tüttelmann’s comments revealed that the military alliance could play a supporting role if America launches airstrikes against Iranian nuclear targets.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will tomorrow confirm Iran’s referral to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iran insists it is developing peaceful nuclear energy, a claim regarded as bogus by America and Britain, France and Germany, which believe it wants to develop nuclear weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks about wiping Israel “off the map” have added to fears.

America and Israel have warned that they will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. If negotiations fail, both countries have plans of last resort for airstrikes against Iran’s widely dispersed nuclear facilities.

Porter Goss, the head of the CIA, visited Recep Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, a Nato country, late last year and asked for political, logistical and intelligence support in the event of airstrikes, according to western intelligence sources quoted in the German media.

The news magazine Der Spiegel noted: “Washington appears to be dispatching high-level officials to prepare its allies for a possible attack.”

Nato would be likely to operate air defences in Turkey, according to Dan Goure, a Pentagon adviser and vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a military think tank.

A former senior Israeli defence official said he believed all Nato members had contingency plans.

John Pike, director of the US military studies group Globalsecurity.org, said America had little to gain from Nato military help. “I think we are attempting to bring the alliance along politically so that when all diplomatic initiatives have been exhausted and we blow up their sites, we can say, ‘Look, we gave it our best shot’.”

A senior British defence official said plans to attack Iran were pure speculation. “I don’t think anybody has got that far yet,” he said. “We’re all too distracted by Iraq.”

Israel’s special forces are said to be operating inside Iran in an urgent attempt to locate the country’s secret uranium enrichment sites. “We found several suspected sites last year but there must be more,” an Israeli intelligence source said. They are operating from a base in northern Iraq, guarded by Israeli soldiers with the approval of the Americans, according to Israeli sources.

The commander of Israel’s nuclear missile submarines warned Iran indirectly in a comment to an Israeli newspaper last week that “we are able to hit strategic targets in a foreign country”.

The Israelis fear Iran may reach the “point of no return” — at which it has the capacity to enrich uranium to bomb-grade purity — in the next few months. The Americans are more interested in the point at which Iran is close to developing an actual bomb, thought to be at least three years away.

Two Iranian opposition groups claimed this weekend that Iran had increased its production of Shahab 3 missiles, which have a range of 1,200 miles, sufficient to reach Israel.

Diplomatic efforts to contain Iran are likely to proceed slowly, given Russian and Chinese opposition to punitive action. A Foreign Office official said although the IAEA would refer Iran to the security council, any sanctions would be a “strictly step-by-step process”.

[Shammu]

Last update - 21:47 04/03/2006            
Despite pressure, Hamas leader says Israel has 'no right to exist'
By News Agencies

MOSCOW - Palestinian election winner Hamas will not recognize Israel despite pressure from Russia to do so during talks in Moscow, a senior leader of the Islamic militant group said on Saturday.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas's deputy political leader, told Reuters in an interview that recognizing Israel would negate all Palestinian rights.

"It means a negation of the Palestinian people and their rights and their property, of Jerusalem and the holy sites, as well as negation of their right of return. Therefore the recognition of Israel is not on the agenda," Abu Marzouk said.

"We believe that Israel has no right to exist", he added later in remarks to an Arab audience. "Hamas will never take such a step."

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a
Hamas delegation during a first day of talks it must recognise Israel's right to exist and abide by interim peace deals.

Russia: Hamas agrees to year-long ceasefire with Israel The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday said Hamas has agreed to a year-long ceasefire with Israel, on condition of it refraining from any use of force during that time.

"Hamas confirmed its willingness not to withdraw from the March 2005 inter-Palestinian agreement on a cease-fire on the understanding that Israel will also refrain from use of force," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The agreement between Palestinian militant factions was struck in Egypt last year following the Sharm al-Sheikh summit where Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed a ceasefire agreement.

On Friday the U.S. described the meeting between Russian diplomats and Hamas leaders as a positive development.

The meeting in Moscow "served the purpose to deliver the message," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. "We think it's important that Hamas get the message loud and clear."

"We have a common front and a united purpose to make clear to Hamas that it has before it a clear and unambiguous choice," Ereli said.

Responding calmly to Hamas' refusal in Moscow to soften its hostility to Israel, Ereli said: "We'll judge Hamas by its actions."

A Hamas leader in Moscow, Ezzat El-Resheq, said the Islamic militant group would look positively on an extension of the ceasefire, but only if Israel "ended its aggression, assassinations and arrests and freed Palestinian prisoners".

"The ball is now in Israel's court," he told Reuters.

Meanwhile, South Africa has joined a growing list of countries inviting Hamas leaders for talks, raising Israeli concerns that the international front against the Islamic militants is crumbling.

Hamas officials arrived in Russia for first talks with a major foreign power on Friday but poured cold water on hopes of a peace breakthrough by saying they were firm in their refusal to recognize Israel.

"The issue of recognition is a done issue. We are not going to recognize Israel," Mohammed Nazzal, a senior official accompanying the group's exiled political leader Khaled Meshal, told reporters after their delegation arrived in Moscow.

Meshal said Friday that Israel must withdraw from territories occupied in 1967 and allow return of Palestinian refugees if it wants peace.

Meshal said that if Israel took these steps, "our movement will have taken a big step toward peace."

He welcomed the outcome of high-level talks with Russian officials - in which Hamas faced pressure to soften its hostility to Israel and abandon violence.

The talks were "good, constructive and open," Meshal said after meeting with Lavrov and other Russian officials.

The Russian foreign minister was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency that Hamas was ready to honor all the agreements the Palestinian administration had undertaken as part of the Middle East peace process if Israel made steps to meet it halfway.

Lavrov also said the Hamas leadership had agreed to allow international officials to monitor their budget funding, according to Interfax and RIA-Novosti.

"They are ready to create a mechanism of international oversight," Lavrov was quoted as saying. No further details were provided.

Lavrov: Hamas must change or will have no future Earlier, speaking to reporters ahead of his talks with the Hamas delegation, Lavrov said the organization will have no future if the Palestinian militant group fails to transform itself into a political structure.

Lavrov said there was a "need for Hamas having been elected to a political body to transform itself into a political party and to be sure that the military wing of Hamas become a legitimate part of the Palestinian security structures."

Lavrov urged patience, saying that "we don't expect that Hamas will do all this and change itself overnight... It will be a process, hopefully not as long as the process in Great Britain regarding Northern Ireland," he added.

He said that Hamas needs "to reassess its new role, for which maybe it wasn't ready when the elections took place."

Putin won't meet Hamas delegates
In an apparent attempt to avoid damaging relations with Israel further, President Vladimir Putin decided against personally meeting the Palestinian delegation, which will only have a sightseeing tour of the Kremlin on Sunday.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Russia-Israeli relations said Israel also expects Moscow to clearly condemn Meshal's refusal on Friday to discuss recognizing Israel.

Russia's invitation, extended by Putin, was the first crack in an international front against the group, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union and United States. Hamas has sent dozens of suicide bombers to Israel and does not accept the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

Despite pressure, Hamas leader says Israel has 'no right to exist'

[Shammu]

Hamas strips Abbas' powers

By Ibrahim Barzak
ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 7, 2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Hamas headed into a full-blown confrontation with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday, voting to strip him of powers that he was awarded hastily by his Fatah party in the last session of the outgoing parliament.
    The Hamas-Fatah conflict has been simmering since Hamas swept Fatah out of office in the Jan. 25 parliamentary elections, ending four decades of unchallenged rule by the party of the late Yasser Arafat.
    Hamas has 74 seats in the new parliament and Fatah has 45. The first order of business for Hamas was to cancel the powers the outgoing parliament gave Mr. Abbas, the Fatah leader, authorizing him to cancel laws passed by the new parliament and appointing Fatah officials to key positions.
    In the West Bank administrative capital of Ramallah, Fatah delegates walked out, accusing Hamas of twisting the rules to weaken Mr. Abbas' authority.
    About 15 Fatah gunmen marched on parliament in Gaza City, firing into the air. The gunmen eventually headed to a Fatah meeting, where they demanded that their party stay out of the government that Hamas is setting up and threatened to kill any Fatah official who joined.
    With its absolute majority, Hamas can set up a government by itself, but Hamas leaders prefer to bring in other parties, partly to deflect international criticism and threatened economic sanctions because of Hamas' record of violence and refusal to recognize Israel.
    Israel, which considers Hamas a terror group, refuses to allow members of the Palestinian parliament to travel from Gaza to the West Bank, so the two buildings were linked by teleconferencing equipment to allow the session to take place.
    In the final session of the previous parliament on Feb. 13, majority Fatah members pushed through an amendment that gave Mr. Abbas power to appoint judges to a constitutional court without seeking legislative approval.
    Yesterday, Hamas easily passed legislation to rescind Mr. Abbas' new powers, but some analysts said Mr. Abbas has the authority to cancel the resolution, perpetuating the standoff.
    Fatah complained that the Hamas action yesterday "undermines the basis of dialogue and partnership in any institution with Hamas." A Fatah legislator said the decisions would be appealed to the Palestinian supreme court.
    Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri ridiculed the Fatah reaction.
    "It is obvious that some people until now have not understood the rules of the democratic game," he said.
    Mr. Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005, and his term has three years remaining, regardless of the makeup of parliament.
    Although Mr. Abbas is seen as a moderate and remains in power, Israel has reacted to the Hamas victory by cutting off transfer of vital tax money to the Palestinian Authority, charging that it now is controlled by terrorists.
    As parliament was wrapping up its session yesterday, the Israeli air force targeted an ice-cream truck in Gaza City, killing two Islamic Jihad militants and three bystanders, two of them children, the military and Palestinian officials said.
    A spokesman for the group who gave his name as Abu Dajana vowed retaliation.
    "God willing, we are going to get revenge for the honorable bloodshed today," he told reporters outside a morgue at the Shifa hospital in Gaza, where angry Palestinians chanted, "Death to Israel."
    Mr. Abbas appealed for international intervention to stop Israeli attacks.
    "These aggressive actions threaten the exerted efforts to maintain the truce," he said. "Achieving security would come only through negotiations, not unilateral action and aggression."
    The "unilateral action" reference came as Israeli security officials outlined plans for Israel to cut itself off further from the Gaza Strip, after the summer withdrawal of soldiers and settlers. The security chiefs are expected to present the plan after Israel's March 28 election.

Hamas strips Abbas' powers

[Shammu]

Visit to Russia Has Broken US-Israeli Blockade — Hamas Leader

Created: 07.03.2006 10:59 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:59 MSK, 9 hours 32 minutes ago

MosNews

Hamas’ leader said his visit to Russia “opened the door to the entire global community,” claiming in an interview published Monday that the international isolation of the militant Palestinian group was coming to an end, AP reported.

Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas political chief whose three-day visit to Moscow ended Sunday, also said that “Russia’s position is completely unlike that of the West” and praised Russian officials for understanding Hamas’ stance.

He was quoted as telling the daily Vremya Novostei that the visit “broke the blockade which Israel and the United States have been trying to impose on us.”

“At the Russian Foreign Ministry we felt that we were being understood,” he said.

Russia’s invitation to Hamas, extended by President Vladimir Putin, was the first crack in an international front against the group, which has sent dozens of suicide bombers to Israel. It provoked anger in Israel and surprise among the other members of the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators — the United States, the European Union and United Nations — which had agreed to withhold international recognition from the radical Islamic movement until it moderated its stance.

Mashaal struck an uncompromising stance right after his arrival in Moscow, saying Hamas would not discuss recognizing Israel. He later said the Jewish state must first withdraw from territories occupied in 1967 and allow the return of Palestinian refugees, among other conditions, if it wants peace.

Russia insisted that it was acting on behalf of the entire Quartet, conveying its demand to Hamas to reject violence and recognize Israel. The Russian Foreign Ministry said after the talks that Hamas promised to maintain a year-old cease-fire if Israel refrains from force.

In interviews with Russian media, Mashaal did not mention a promise to extend the cease-fire, and in a separate interview with Al-Jazeera television, he indicated the group had made no such promise.

“Is it reasonable to pressure the Palestinians to renew the truce? No. Go to Israel, exert pressure on it. It is the reason for the problem,” he told Al-Jazeera.

Visit to Russia Has Broken US-Israeli Blockade — Hamas Leader

[Shammu]

Israel: 'No One Is Immune' From Strikes

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister advised the incoming Palestinian prime minister Tuesday to fear for his life if Hamas militants start attacking Israel again.

Meanwhile, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed that his Kadima Party would shave billions off settlement spending — the first time he has said explicitly he would scale back funding for Israel's 40-year-old settlement enterprise, which has cost tens of billions of dollars.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's warning to Hamas, recently elected to rule the Palestinian Authority, was the first to identify Hamas' prime minister-designate, Ismail Haniyeh, as a potential target for an Israeli pinpoint attack.

"No one is immune," Mofaz told Army Radio, a day after an Israeli airstrike on an ice cream truck killed two Islamic Jihad militants and three bystanders in Gaza City. Two of those killed were aged 8 and 14.

Olmert, in a speech in Tel Aviv, said "billions" in settlement spending would be diverted to Jerusalem and to the Negev Desert and Galilee, underdeveloped areas in southern and northern Israel.

"It's no secret that we won't invest in coming years the same sums we once invested in construction and infrastructure development in areas over the Green Line," Olmert said, referring to Israel's frontier before the 1967 Mideast War.

Olmert took over from Ariel Sharon after he suffered a devastating stroke Jan. 4. Olmert spoke just days after his main security adviser, Avi Dichter, said Kadima plans more unilateral withdrawals in the West Bank and hopes to draw its final border within four years.

Polls show Kadima significantly outstripping rivals in Israel's March 28 elections.

Kadima, formed by Sharon in November to push ahead territorial pullbacks, has been slipping in the polls, and the recent policy disclosures were seen as an attempt to shore up support. Reducing Israel's presence in the West Bank after its summer pullout from the Gaza Strip is the key plank in Kadima's platform, and the party's main appeal to voters.

Settler leaders said Israel should invest more money in the settlements, not less.

"For the state of Israel to survive and exist, it has to deepen its presence and invest more in the settlements," said Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the small Jewish community in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat urged Israel to resume negotiations on a final peace deal immediately after the Israeli election.

"If they withdraw from the West Bank, and if we have the two-state solution, we can devote so many of the resources that now go to war and conflict to reconciliation and peace," Erekat said.

Negotiations broke down years ago and did not receive the hoped-for momentum from the Gaza withdrawal.

Prospects for renewing talks grew even dimmer after Hamas militants sworn to Israel's destruction won January parliamentary elections, reducing the maneuvering power of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected separately last year and favors a negotiated accord.

Hamas, which is in the process of forming a Cabinet, has rejected international calls to renounce its violent, anti-Israel ideology, but has maintained a year-old moratorium on suicide bombings.

On Tuesday, Mofaz warned that Hamas leaders, including Haniyeh, could be targets of pinpointed Israeli killings if the bombings resume.

Israel's policy of targeted killings has proven effective, and will continue, Mofaz said.

"There is no question about its efficacy," he said. "Look what happened to Hamas in the years it conducted an untrammeled suicide bombing war against us. When we started the targeted killings, the situation changed," he said, referring to Hamas' suspension of attacks.

Dozens of militants have died in targeted Israeli airstrikes, including Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Asked if Haniyeh would be a target if Hamas were to resume attacks, Mofaz replied: "If Hamas, a terror organization that doesn't recognize agreements with us and isn't willing to renounce violence, presents us with the challenge of having to confront a terror organization, then no one there will be immune. Not just Ismail Haniyeh. No one will be immune."

Haniyeh brushed aside Mofaz's warnings and accused Israel of trying to disrupt the formation of a Hamas-led government. "The continued escalation aims to shed more Palestinian blood, confuse the situation and hamper ... the formation of the Palestinian government," he told The Associated Press at the Palestinian parliament.

In Israel, air force chief Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shakedi said the number of Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli airstrikes fell in 2005 to one for every 28 militants slain, the military said. A year earlier, one civilian died for every 12 militants killed, Shakedi said.

Hamas headed into a domestic confrontation Monday by voting to strip Abbas of powers his then-ruling
Fatah Party granted him in its last session.

Fatah delegates walked out of parliament in protest, charging that Hamas was twisting the rules. On Tuesday, they boycotted the parliamentary session, and filed suit in the Palestinian Supreme Court to overturn Hamas' action.

The conflict between the two parties has been simmering since Hamas swept Fatah out of office in January.

Israel: 'No One Is Immune' From Strikes

[Shammu]

Hamas Picks a First-Day Fight
Palestinian Parliament Reverses Law Bolstering Fatah Leader

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 7, 2006; Page A14

JERUSALEM, March 6 -- In its first working session, the Hamas-controlled Palestinian legislature swiftly asserted its new political clout Monday by nullifying a law approved by the previous parliament that gave new powers to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah movement.

The law was passed on the final day of the lame-duck legislature dominated by Fatah, the secular-nationalist movement that Hamas trounced in the Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. Fatah lawmakers called the Hamas vote to void the law illegal and stormed out of parliament in protest.

The measure gave Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, power to name members of a constitutional court without parliamentary approval. The panel rules on the legality of legislation, meaning that Hamas's program could have been blocked if Abbas had packed the court with Fatah members.

The incoming Hamas lawmakers had vowed to reverse the law, which they denounced as an illegitimate attempt to strengthen Abbas's power before its new majority took office.

But in fulfilling that pledge Monday, as the parliament met simultaneously in the West Bank city of Ramallah and the Gaza Strip through a video feed, Hamas infuriated Fatah lawmakers whom they are courting to join a coalition cabinet.

"They got beaten in the first round," said Ahmed al-ubgone86 Ali, a Hamas legislator. "This is the first day of the victory of law that has been absent from the Palestinian arena for many, many years."

Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union for its declared war against Israel. The party controls 74 of parliament's 132 seats. But it is seeking to bring Fatah into the cabinet to assuage international concern over its political agenda, which has jeopardized the government's lifeblood foreign aid.

Hamas rejects a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the approach endorsed by Fatah. The new cabinet is due to be installed by March 28, but so far, Fatah leaders have said they would rather see Hamas fail on its own than join the cabinet.

Saeb Erekat, a Fatah legislator, said Hamas's decision to void legislation passed by a previous parliament was "absolutely unconstitutional." After meeting with Abbas on Monday evening, Erekat said Fatah would ask the Palestinian High Court on Tuesday to overturn the vote nullifying the law.

"This is a new day in the parliament, a whole new ballgame," Erekat said. "We have a government, an opposition, and Hamas in the driver's seat. If we can manage this, we will be doing a great job. But the question is how do we manage it."

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike Monday killed five Palestinians and wounded eight others. Israeli military aircraft fired on a car carrying two senior members of the radical Islamic Jihad movement, the group chiefly responsible for the daily rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel.

Three bystanders were also killed, including an 8-year-old boy, identified as Raed al-Batesh, and Ahmed al-Sousi, 17.

Hamas Picks a First-Day Fight

[Soldier4Christ]

PA investigates Iran 'embassy' after WND story
New headquarters promotes apocalyptic world battle of 'good' vs. 'evil'


JERUSALEM – A WorldNetDaily exclusive story revealing Iran has opened an "ideological embassy" in the Palestinian territories to espouse Shia Muslim beliefs – including Islam's waging of a final, apocalyptic battle against "evil" – has prompted an investigation by the Palestinian Authority's security services, according to Palestinian officials.

Iran's new Shia Council in Palestine was also established to help spread Iranian theocracy and rule throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Muhamad Gawanmeh, director of the new headquarters, said in an interview.

"We want the Palestinian people to be exposed to the Iranian heritage and Shia principles. [Our goal is] to reinforce the relations between the Islamic republic of Iran and the Palestinian people. We are part of the Iranian Islamic project in the Middle East," Gawanmeh said.

Gawanmeh is a member of the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terror group and has spent several years in Israeli prisons. He opened the council's headquarters in Ramallah, and said there are plans to expand Iranian offices to several other major Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza with official sanctioning from Tehran.

Palestinian sources said Gawanmeh's quotes are being used in an official investigation into his new Ramallah office by the Fatah-governed Palestinian General Intelligence Agency.

'Council is Iran's gate to Palestinian people'

Iran's new Shia Council, which recently also opened an office in Egypt, claims to already have a membership of several thousand Palestinians.

Gawanmeh said the Council will not be involved in "military operations," but will promote Iranian theocracy to the local population and serve as a conduit for Tehran's interests in the area.

"We want the council to be a gate for the Palestinian people to receive the help of Iran and the Shiate world. We already have large numbers of members and supporters," Gawanmeh said.

He said the council seeks to espouse Shia Muslim ideology in the Sunni-dominated Palestinian territories, including the belief in the return of the Twelfth Imam to lead an apocalyptic world battle against "evil."

Apocalyptic world battle against 'evil'

Shia Muslims believe Muhammad's family – the 12 Imams – were the best sources of knowledge about the Quran and Islam and were the most trusted carriers and protectors of Islamic tradition. They believe in a dynasty of Islamic authorities and promote a hereditary class of spiritual leaders they believe have divine powers.

Sunni Islam in part follows the teachings of Islamic caliphs who proclaimed leadership after Muhammad's passing but were not blood relatives of the prophet. The caliphs interpreted important parts of Muhammad's hadith – or tradition – that Shias reject.

Sunni Muslims make up about 85 percent of Muslims all over the world. The largest sect of the Shias, called The Twelvers, believe there were 12 imams after Muhammad and that the last one, Imam Mahdi, still lives, but he cannot be seen until Allah determines it is time to prepare the faithful for Judgment Day.

The Twelvers count Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among their faithful. They believe Imam Mahdi will return to lead the forces of righteousness against the forces of evil in a final, apocalyptic world battle.

Some Mideast analysts fear Ahmadinejad may be pursuing nuclear weapons in part to precipitate the final, Mahdi-led battle. In a speech in Tehran in November, Ahmadinejad reportedly said his main mission is to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance." His Cabinet has reportedly given $17 million to the Jamkaran mosque, site of a well at which Shia Muslims believe Mahdi disappeared over a thousand years ago.

Official: Iran's new role in Palestinian areas 'dangerous'

The council's Gawanmeh went on to credit Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's recent visit to Tehran with strengthening official Palestinian ties to the Iranian leadership and emboldening Iran to sanction the opening of its new Palestinian office.

"Now that Hamas was adopted by Iran, who announced a huge financial support to Hamas and to the Palestinian people, and now that Hezbollah is facing a Zionist-American conspiracy to disarm, we decided that this is the most suitable moment to declare the foundation of our council in Palestine and to start acting publicly," Gawanmeh said.

Israel says Iran uses the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militia as a conduit to channel funds to Palestinian terror groups, including Islamic Jihad, which took responsibility for every suicide bombing since several Palestinian groups agreed to a truce with Israel last year.

Iran last week pledged financial support to Hamas to replace an expected halt of European and U.S. aid to the new Palestinian government.

Media reports said Iran would give as much as $250 million to the PA, but Hamas officials said no actual amount had been discussed.

Hamas chief Meshaal, in Tehran 11 days ago for a round of talks with Iranian officials, said Iran would have an increased role with the PA.

A senior Palestinian security official told WND: "Iran is playing a very negative role in the PA. Aside from its meetings with Hamas leaders and its financial support, we are worried the new office in Ramallah is Iran's attempt to infiltrate the PA territories through religious organizations that will adopt a very radical Shia Islam."

[Shammu]

 04/03/2006            
Despite pressure, Hamas leader says Israel has 'no right to exist'
By News Agencies

MOSCOW - Palestinian election winner Hamas will not recognize Israel despite pressure from Russia to do so during talks in Moscow, a senior leader of the Islamic militant group said on Saturday.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas's deputy political leader, told Reuters in an interview that recognizing Israel would negate all Palestinian rights.

"It means a negation of the Palestinian people and their rights and their property, of Jerusalem and the holy sites, as well as negation of their right of return. Therefore the recognition of Israel is not on the agenda," Abu Marzouk said.

"We believe that Israel has no right to exist", he added later in remarks to an Arab audience. "Hamas will never take such a step."

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Hamas delegation during a first day of talks it must recognise Israel's right to exist and abide by interim peace deals.

Russia: Hamas agrees to year-long ceasefire with Israel The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday said Hamas has agreed to a year-long ceasefire with Israel, on condition of it refraining from any use of force during that time.

"Hamas confirmed its willingness not to withdraw from the March 2005 inter-Palestinian agreement on a cease-fire on the understanding that Israel will also refrain from use of force," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The agreement between Palestinian militant factions was struck in Egypt last year following the Sharm al-Sheikh summit where Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed a ceasefire agreement.

On Friday the U.S. described the meeting between Russian diplomats and Hamas leaders as a positive development.

The meeting in Moscow "served the purpose to deliver the message," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. "We think it's important that Hamas get the message loud and clear."

"We have a common front and a united purpose to make clear to Hamas that it has before it a clear and unambiguous choice," Ereli said.

Responding calmly to Hamas' refusal in Moscow to soften its hostility to Israel, Ereli said: "We'll judge Hamas by its actions."

A Hamas leader in Moscow, Ezzat El-Resheq, said the Islamic militant group would look positively on an extension of the ceasefire, but only if Israel "ended its aggression, assassinations and arrests and freed Palestinian prisoners".

"The ball is now in Israel's court," he told Reuters.

Meanwhile, South Africa has joined a growing list of countries inviting Hamas leaders for talks, raising Israeli concerns that the international front against the Islamic militants is crumbling.

Hamas officials arrived in Russia for first talks with a major foreign power on Friday but poured cold water on hopes of a peace breakthrough by saying they were firm in their refusal to recognize Israel.

"The issue of recognition is a done issue. We are not going to recognize Israel," Mohammed Nazzal, a senior official accompanying the group's exiled political leader Khaled Meshal, told reporters after their delegation arrived in Moscow.

Meshal said Friday that Israel must withdraw from territories occupied in 1967 and allow return of Palestinian refugees if it wants peace.

Meshal said that if Israel took these steps, "our movement will have taken a big step toward peace."

He welcomed the outcome of high-level talks with Russian officials - in which Hamas faced pressure to soften its hostility to Israel and abandon violence.

The talks were "good, constructive and open," Meshal said after meeting with Lavrov and other Russian officials.

The Russian foreign minister was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency that Hamas was ready to honor all the agreements the Palestinian administration had undertaken as part of the Middle East peace process if Israel made steps to meet it halfway.

Lavrov also said the Hamas leadership had agreed to allow international officials to monitor their budget funding, according to Interfax and RIA-Novosti.

"They are ready to create a mechanism of international oversight," Lavrov was quoted as saying. No further details were provided.

Lavrov: Hamas must change or will have no future Earlier, speaking to reporters ahead of his talks with the Hamas delegation, Lavrov said the organization will have no future if the Palestinian militant group fails to transform itself into a political structure.

Lavrov said there was a "need for Hamas having been elected to a political body to transform itself into a political party and to be sure that the military wing of Hamas become a legitimate part of the Palestinian security structures."

Lavrov urged patience, saying that "we don't expect that Hamas will do all this and change itself overnight... It will be a process, hopefully not as long as the process in Great Britain regarding Northern Ireland," he added.

He said that Hamas needs "to reassess its new role, for which maybe it wasn't ready when the elections took place."

Putin won't meet Hamas delegates In an apparent attempt to avoid damaging relations with Israel further, President Vladimir Putin decided against personally meeting the Palestinian delegation, which will only have a sightseeing tour of the Kremlin on Sunday.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Russia-Israeli relations said Israel also expects Moscow to clearly condemn Meshal's refusal on Friday to discuss recognizing Israel.

Russia's invitation, extended by Putin, was the first crack in an international front against the group, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union and United States. Hamas has sent dozens of suicide bombers to Israel and does not accept the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

Despite pressure, Hamas leader says Israel has 'no right to exist'

[Shammu]

Hamas: Why should we recognize Israel?

Hamas lawmakers dismiss any future peace talks with Israel, calling past negotiations 'a failed experiment'; Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, says 'it is necessary to support Hamas because they are the Palestinian people's choice.' U.S. attempting to prevent escalation, asks that Israel not define Palestinian Authority as enemy country
Ronny Sofer

Two Hamas lawmakers on Sunday dismissed any future peace talks with Israel, calling past negotiations "a failed experiment" and said Arab nations had rejected U.S. pressure to force the militant Palestinian movement to moderate.

Hamas leaders Mahmoud al-Zahar and Saeed Syiam made the comments during a gathering of Arab parliamentarians on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea.

Speaking to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference, Zahar asserted that Hamas' recent upset victory in last month's legislative elections strengthened its hardline stand.

"We don't consider the Israeli enemy a partner. By winning the elections, we defeated Israel," he said.

"Why should we recognize Israel? Pressure is coming from the United States on us, not from Arab countries," he added.

He said negotiations between the previous Palestinian government and Israel "a failed experience that would not be repeated."

Syiam pointed to the refusal by Arab heavyweights, Egypt and Saudi Arabia - key Mideast U.S. allies - to support a U.S. Financial boycott of Hamas as it takes control of the Palestinian parliament.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the failed appeal during her visit to the region last week.

"Rice's visit was provocative, but we found that the Arab position was so firm that she wasn't able to change their views," Syiam told AP.

Moussa: Support for Palestinians doesn’t change

On Saturday, The Washington Post quoted Hamas' prime minister-designate, Ismail Haniyeh, as saying, "if Israel withdraws to the '67 borders, then we will establish a peace in stages" - the first time the group used the word "peace" in conjunction with the Jewish state.

On Sunday, however, Hamas denied the comments attributed to Haniyeh in the interview.

"Hamas has the full interview recorded and there is no connection to what the sheikh said to the headlines in the newspaper," said Hamas party list spokesman Dr. Salah al-Bardaweil.

In the meantime, Hamas has refused to accept Israel's conditions for negotiations: recognize the Jewish state, disarm and accept past agreements with Israel, including interim peace accords.

Syiam said that difficulties faced by exiled Hamas leaders prohibited from entering Jordan, such as Khaled Mashaal, could be solved by talks with the Jordanian authorities.

But al-Zahar added that "no contacts with government officials have yet taken place. We hope that Jordan's doors will be open for our brothers abroad."

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, upon arrival in Amman, told journalists that "it is necessary to support Hamas because they are the choice of the Palestinian people."

Moussa, who is expected to participate in the Arab lawmaker's conference, said Hamas has the right to be given the full opportunity to form a new government and work for national unity because it was democratically elected."

Our support to the Palestinian people doesn't change with a change in government, he added.

Despite the harsh statements made by Hamas leaders, the U.S. is attempting to prevent escalation and is asking that Israel not define the Palestinian Authority as an enemy country while simultaneously working to have PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas act against terror activity, mainly Qassam rocket fire.

During his meeting with U.S. envoy David Welch, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, “there is no artificial separation between Abbas and the Hamas-controlled Authority; this must be stressed and understood.”

Welch, for his part, said that measures such as declaring the PA an enemy state may lead to chaos.

'Israel is not interested in harming Palestinian civilians'

Israeli government officials said in response that Israel has defined the Authority as a terror, not an enemy, state, so as not to reach an irreversible situation.

“However, we expect the international community, headed by the U.S., to act toward the immediate cessation of terror, including the Qassam fire,” one official said.

“The ball is in Palestinian hands, but Washington has a lot of leverage in stopping the escalation.”

Israel realizes that the international community will continue to grant humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, but is asking that the process be supervised by international accountants.

Meanwhile, government ministries, mainly the Defense Ministry, are currently in the process of formulating working procedures ahead of the expected establishment of a Hamas-led government in a few weeks time.

“On the one hand, the situation from a security standpoint is almost impossible, because we are talking about a Hamas-controlled terrorist Authority, but on the other hand we must find ways to coordinate the transfer of goods, food and people, as well as more complex issues such as military activity on both sides of the fence,” a security establishment source said.

A government official added that “it is clear to us that this is an Authority headed by a government that refuses to accept Israel’s conditions for dialogue, including our right to exist in peace and the dismantling of terror groups.”

“Israel is not interested in harming Palestinian civilians, because hunger and chaos will only serve Hamas and terror,” he said, “but the terror continues and only today we heard of a rise in Qassam launchings and terror alerts.

“Our formula as of now is continued talks with our allies in the U.S. and the international community to prevent escalation that would lead to deterioration in the area.”

Hamas: Why should we recognize Israel?

[Soldier4Christ]

Israel will have to act on Iran if UN can't

BERLIN (Reuters) - If the U.N. Security Council is incapable of taking action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel will have no choice but to defend itself, Israel's defense minister said on Wednesday.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was asked whether Israel was ready to use military action if the Security Council proved unable to act against what Israel and the West believe is a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program.

"My answer to this question is that the state of Israel has the right give all the security that is needed to the people in Israel. We have to defend ourselves," Mofaz told Reuters after a meeting with his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung.

Iran denies wanting nuclear weapons and says it is only interested in the peaceful generation of electricity. It has also threatened to retaliate if Israel or the United States were to bomb any of its nuclear facilities.

In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein from getting nuclear weapons. Saddam's covert atom bomb program continued until U.N. inspectors dismantled it after the 1991 Gulf War, but the Israeli strike set progress back many years.

"The Israeli approach is that the U.S. and the European countries should lead the issue of the Iranian nuclear program to the table of the U.N. Security Council, asking for sanctions. And I hope the sanctions will be effective," Mofaz said.

Mofaz, who was born in Iran, added that Israel believed the 15-nation Security Council should grant the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.'s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, sweeping inspection powers so that it can smoke out any secret nuclear arms-related activities in Iran.

"We need to have very deep and large inspections within all the nuclear locations in Iran because Iran has two nuclear programs -- one is a covered one and the second is uncovered," he said.

The Iranian delegation to an IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna issued a statement earlier warning that the United States could feel "harm and pain" if the Security Council took up the issue of Tehran's nuclear fuel research and vowed never to abandon its atomic program.

At a news conference with Mofaz, Jung told reporters Germany was already discussing with the five permanent Security Council members -- Russia, China, the United States, Britain and France -- what the council could do to prevent Tehran getting the bomb.

"Everything must be done to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons," Jung said.

A senior diplomat from one of the "EU3" said earlier that the Security Council would probably begin discussing Iran next week and hoped to issue a "presidential statement" urging Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program and cooperate with the IAEA.

[Shammu]

Islamic Jihad threatens to target Israeli leaders
Wed Mar 8, 2006 7:42 AM ET173

GAZA (Reuters) - Islamic Jihad threatened on Wednesday to target Israeli leaders after a series of Israeli air strikes and raids killed key members of the Palestinian militant group.

"Leaders of the enemy should know that they personally are targets," Islamic Jihad said in a statement faxed to the Reuters office in Gaza.

The statement said the group had ordered all its cells to launch attacks inside Israel. It was unclear from the statement which Israeli leaders might be targeted.

An Israeli air strike on Monday killed two Islamic Jihad militants and three bystanders, including an eight-year-old boy.

Last week, the group's most senior commander in Gaza was killed by an explosion that tore through his car. Islamic Jihad blamed the Israeli army, which denied involvement.

Responsible for several recent suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel, Islamic Jihad has been a frequent target of Israeli air strikes and raids.

Monday's attack came on the eve of formal campaigning for Israel's elections on March 28 and after interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to use an "iron fist" against militants.

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel might target Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas if the Palestinian election winner resumed attacks in the Jewish state.

Hamas is forming a government after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections in January. It called Monday's air strike a "massacre". Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it was a "dangerous escalation" against the Palestinian people.

Hamas has masterminded at least 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since a Palestinian revolt erupted in 2000. But the militant group has largely abided by a truce declared last year.

Islamic Jihad threatens to target Israeli leaders

[Shammu]

Israel will have to act on Iran if UN can't
Wed Mar 8, 2006 9:28 AM ET170

By Louis Charbonneau

BERLIN (Reuters) - If the U.N. Security Council is incapable of taking action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel will have no choice but to defend itself, Israel's defense minister said on Wednesday.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was asked whether Israel was ready to use military action if the Security Council proved unable to act against what Israel and the West believe is a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program.

"My answer to this question is that the state of Israel has the right give all the security that is needed to the people in Israel. We have to defend ourselves," Mofaz told Reuters after a meeting with his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung.

Iran denies wanting nuclear weapons and says it is only interested in the peaceful generation of electricity. It has also threatened to retaliate if Israel or the United States were to bomb any of its nuclear facilities.

In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein from getting nuclear weapons. Saddam's covert atom bomb program continued until U.N. inspectors dismantled it after the 1991 Gulf War, but the Israeli strike set progress back many years.

"The Israeli approach is that the U.S. and the European countries should lead the issue of the Iranian nuclear program to the table of the U.N. Security Council, asking for sanctions. And I hope the sanctions will be effective," Mofaz said.

Mofaz, who was born in Iran, added that Israel believed the 15-nation Security Council should grant the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.'s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, sweeping inspection powers so that it can smoke out any secret nuclear arms-related activities in Iran.

"We need to have very deep and large inspections within all the nuclear locations in Iran because Iran has two nuclear programs -- one is a covered one and the second is uncovered," he said.

The Iranian delegation to an IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna issued a statement earlier warning that the United States could feel "harm and pain" if the Security Council took up the issue of Tehran's nuclear fuel research and vowed never to abandon its atomic program.

At a news conference with Mofaz, Jung told reporters Germany was already discussing with the five permanent Security Council members -- Russia, China, the United States, Britain and France -- what the council could do to prevent Tehran getting the bomb.

"Everything must be done to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons," Jung said.

A senior diplomat from one of the "EU3" said earlier that the Security Council would probably begin discussing Iran next week and hoped to issue a "presidential statement" urging Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program and cooperate with the IAEA.

Israel will have to act on Iran if UN can't

My note; This won't be the first time Israel would have acted. They have already bombed Iran, once before.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iranian ops infiltrated Jewish state?
Elite units reportedly preparing for activation against Israel 'when needed'


JERUSALEM – There have been some indications elite Iranian soldiers infiltrated Israel and established dormant cells in the West Bank to be activated by Iran at a later date, security officials told WND.

Israeli and Palestinian security services have searched in the West Bank for the soldiers, who are thought to be members of the Al-Quds Forces, the extraterritorial operations unit of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, security officials said.

The Iranian agents may have infiltrated as long as three years ago with instructions to set up inactive cells in the West Bank that would become operational later, said the officials, adding they do not suspect the agents are regularly involved in current terror activity or in channeling Iranian funds to Palestinian terror groups.

"Their purpose would be to create an infrastructure for the day they are called to act against Israel," said a senior security official.

The official said information obtained pointed to the Hebron area as a possible location for the alleged Iranian cells, though he said to date no suspected Iranian soldiers have been found.

Although Tehran has long financed Palestinian terror organizations, the infiltration of Iranian soldiers into Israel would mark a significant escalation of Tehran's presence in the Palestinian territories.

Israel and the United States have been working with the international community to isolate Iran, accusing it of attempting to develop an illicit nuclear weapons program.

There have previously been unconfirmed media reports elite Iranian soldiers, reportedly members of the Pasdaran, a Revolutionary Guards rocket unit, took positions at Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon close to Israel's northern border.

Israel says Iran uses the Hezbollah militia as a conduit to channel funds to Palestinian terror groups, including Islamic Jihad, which took responsibility for every suicide bombing since several Palestinian groups agreed to a truce with Israel last year.

This week, WND broke the story a West Bank Islamic Jihad operative opened what he referred to as an "Iranian ideological embassy" in the Palestinian territories to espouse Shia Muslim beliefs – including Islam's waging of a final, apocalyptic battle against "evil" – and to help spread Iranian theocracy and rule throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"We want the Palestinian people to be exposed to the Iranian heritage and Shia principles. [Our goal is] to reinforce the relations between the Islamic republic of Iran and the Palestinian people. We are part of the Iranian Islamic project in the Middle East," Muhamad Gawanmeh, director of Iran's new Shia Council in Palestine, said in an interview.

Gawanmeh opened the council's headquarters in Ramallah, and said there are plans to expand Iranian offices to several other major Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza with official sanctioning from Tehran.

The council, which recently also opened an office in Egypt, claims to already have a membership of several thousand Palestinians.

Gawanmeh said Iran's Shia Council will not be involved in "military operations," but will promote Iranian theocracy to the local population and serve as a conduit for Tehran's interests in the area.

"We want the council to be a gate for the Palestinian people to receive the help of Iran and the Shiate world. We already have large numbers of members and supporters," Gawanmed said.

He said the council seeks to espouse Shia Muslim ideology in the Sunni-dominated Palestinian territories, including the belief in the return of the Twelfth Imam to lead an apocalyptic world battle against "evil."

Shia Muslims believe Muhammad's family – the 12 Imams – were the best sources of knowledge about the Quran and Islam and were the most trusted carriers and protectors of Islamic tradition. They believe in a dynasty of Islamic authorities and promote a hereditary class of spiritual leaders they believe have divine powers.

Sunni Islam in part follows the teachings of Islamic caliphs who proclaimed leadership after Muhammad's passing but were not blood relatives of the prophet. The caliphs interpreted important parts of Muhammad's hadith – or tradition – that Shias reject.

Sunni Muslims make up about 85 percent of Muslims all over the world. The largest sect of the Shias, called The Twelvers, believe there were 12 imams after Muhammad and that the last one, Imam Mahdi, still lives, but he cannot be seen until Allah determines it is time to prepare the faithful for Judgment Day.

The Twelvers count Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among their faithful. They believe Imam Mahdi will return to lead the forces of righteousness against the forces of evil in a final, apocalyptic world battle.

Some Mideast analysts fear Ahmadinejad may be pursuing nuclear weapons in part to precipitate the final, Mahdi-led battle. In a speech in Tehran in November, Ahmadinejad reportedly said his main mission is to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance." His Cabinet has reportedly given $17 million to the Jamkaran mosque, site of a well at which Shia Muslims believe Mahdi disappeared over a thousand years ago.

The council's Gawanmeh went on to credit Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's recent visit to Tehran with strengthening official Palestinian ties to the Iranian leadership and emboldening Iran to sanction the opening of its new Palestinian office.

"Now that Hamas was adopted by Iran, who announced a huge financial support to Hamas and to the Palestinian people, and now that Hezbollah is facing a Zionist-American conspiracy to disarm, we decided that this is the most suitable moment to declare the foundation of our council in Palestine and to start acting publicly," Gawanmeh said.

Iran last week pledged financial support to Hamas to replace an expected halt of European and U.S. aid to the new Palestinian government.

Media reports said Iran would give as much as $250 million to the PA, but Hamas officials said no actual amount had been discussed.

Hamas chief Meshaal, in Tehran two weeks ago for a round of talks with Iranian officials, said Iran would have an increased role with the PA.