Prophecy and End Time Series. - Israel

[Shammu]

Iraq, Mideast conflict top Arab summit agenda

1 hour, 38 minutes ago

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Arab leaders meet in Khartoum for their annual summit Tuesday under pressure to take a more active role in Iraq and find a common stance on dealing with a Hamas-led Palestinian government.

They are also expected to discuss the three-year-old conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, which has killed some 300,000 people -- a potentially awkward situation for host Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir.

Iraq is looking for the two days of meetings to deliver an unreserved condemnation of anti-regime violence, as well as more political backing from Arab countries.

"We want clear support for the political process in Iraq," a high-ranking foreign ministry official said.

Since the US-led invasion of Iraq three years ago, Arab countries have been leery about successive Iraqi governments, suggesting that they are products of an invasion that has been very unpopular in the region.

Iraq will call on its fellow Arab countries, most of whom have kept silent, to strongly condemn "terrorism in all its forms perpetrated by takfiris (Sunni Muslim extremists) and the assassination of foreigners," the official said.

It will also call for increased Arab diplomatic representation in Iraq and for the league itself to finally re-open its mission in Baghdad.

Those are particularly sensitive points, given that Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other armed groups in Iraq have targeted Arab diplomats there, having kidnapping at least three since the invasion.

Moroccan diplomat Mokhtar Lamani, appointed in early March to head the Arab League mission in Baghdad, has still not taken up his post.

The Iraqi official added that the pan-Arab organization also has to renew its efforts to hold an Iraqi national accord conference, which it promised in November 2005.

Originally scheduled for March, the conference has been postponed to an unspecified date in June, pending the formation of a new Iraqi government.

The summit will also focus on the future of the Arab-Israeli conflict in light of the January election victory of radical Islamist Palestinian group Hamas.

Ironically, no one from Hamas will be attending the summit, though Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas will.

Abbas is now considering a cabinet line-up submitted to him by Hamas, in which his own Fatah faction has declined to participate because Hamas has refused to modify its stance on destroying Israel and to acknowledge the Palestine Liberation Organization as supreme in questions of peace-making.

"There will be more talk about financial aid to the Palestinians than about Arab-Israeli peace negotiations because there is nothing credible on that front," one Arab official said.

The summit is widely expected to reiterate the Arab League's longstanding position that "peace is a strategic choice" for the Arab world.

It is also expected to renew an Arab peace plan adopted at the 2002 summit in Beirut, which offers normalisation of relations with the Jewish state in exchange for a return of all Arab lands seized in the 1967 war.

Arab-African relations and ways of handling the Darfur conflict will also be examined, amid stepped up pressure from the
United Nations to cooperate on Darfur.

Earlier this month the African Union agreed in principle to hand over its cash-strapped peacekeeping mission in Darfur to the United Nations but Sudan is resisting the move.

Khartoum argues that the handover risks worsening the conflict between rebels and militias backed by government troops that has killed some 300,000 people and displaced two million others since 2003.

Beshir this week renewed his rejection of foreign intervention in the war-torn western region and said he was determined to clinch lasting peace.

Khartoum's hosting of the African Union summit last month sparked an outcry from rights groups, which argue that it is not fit to host such an event because it stands accused of genocide in Darfur.

Arab foreign ministers will meet in Khartoum Saturday to fine-tune the agenda and draft a final document that will be submitted to the heads of state.

An Arab official said some leaders have suggested a time-limit be imposed on speeches at the opening session "in order to move quickly into action within a closed session".

The summit will also discuss ways to streamline summits and consider veteran Egyptian diplomat Amr Mussa's bid for another four-year term as the 22-member Arab League's secretary general.

Iraq, Mideast conflict top Arab summit agenda

[Shammu]

Iran orders attack on Israelis before elections
Fear of large-scale bombing tightens security in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv
Posted: March 23, 2006
10:42 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – Iran has ordered Palestinian terror groups to carry out a large-scale bombing inside Israel before elections here next week, security officials told WorldNetDaily.

The information has prompted nationwide alerts and tightened security measures in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

"The Tehran regime is looking to disrupt the election process and deteriorate the security situation to distract international attention from the pressure over its nuclear program," a senior security official said.

Officials say Iran has instructed the Islamic Jihad and West Bank cells of the Fatah-linked Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror groups to infiltrate immediately an Israeli city and carry out a mass-casualty attack.

Israel says both Islamic Jihad and the Brigades receive funding from the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. Brigades leaders previously have told WorldNetDaily they coordinate with Hezbollah. Islamic Jihad, whose leaders frequently visit Iran, has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the past 11 months.

Israeli security services are following leads on more than 50 general and 11 specific terror warnings, including information on attacks in Jerusalem.

Yesterday, a suicide bomber was caught trying to infiltrate from Ramallah. On Tuesday, a dramatic high-speed chase on the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway involving police motorcycles and helicopter units ended in the capture of a bomber on his way to blow up a target in central Israel.

"The coming period is a very tense one in which terrorist organizations will come and try to carry out an attack. We are organizing in a very big way in an attempt to prevent an attack," said police chief Gen. Moshe Karadi.

National elections are scheduled for this Tuesday. Suicide bombings ahead of previous Israeli elections have tended to bolster the success of more right-wing parties, which espouse tougher defense policies.

Israeli security officials say Iran prefers a hard-line Jerusalem leadership more willing to start a confrontation with Palestinian groups.

Both the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been placed under tight military closure for at least the next week due to the security concerns. Police presence throughout Jerusalem has been noticeably boosted. Israel has the past few days conducted anti-terror operations in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus in response to specific threats.

Iran long has backed Palestinian terror groups, but Israel has been concerned lately about the increased role Tehran is playing in Palestinian affairs following Hamas' election victory in January.

Iran earlier this month pledged financial support to Hamas to replace an expected halt of European and U.S. aid to the new Palestinian government. Media reports stated Iran would give as much as $250 million to the PA, but Hamas officials said no actual amount had been discussed.

Also this month WorldNetDaily 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 and to help spread Iranian theocracy and rule throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Afterwards, the Al Aqsa Brigades boasted of dedicating a new rocket to be fired at Israeli towns to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "because of his courageous position toward the enemy."

[Shammu]

23:04 23/03/2006            
Hamas says it won't arrest militants who attack Israel
By Reuters

Incoming Palestinian interior minister Said Seyam, chosen by Hamas to oversee three security services, said on Thursday he will not order the arrest of militants carrying out attacks against Israel.

"The day will never come when any Palestinian would be arrested because of his political affiliation or because of resisting the occupation," Seyam told Reuters in an interview. "The file of political detention must be closed."

Hamas, whose charter officially calls for Israel's destruction, swept to victory in a Jan. 25 election and plans to present its cabinet line-up to a Hamas-dominated parliament for a vote next week.

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The militant group has selected Hamas loyalists like Seyam to fill almost all of the 24-member cabinet after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and other moderate parties refused to join a coalition with Hamas.

Hamas's failure to convince rival factions to join the government could make it harder for it to rule and could cement U.S. and Israeli efforts to isolate the group.

As well as vowing not to arrest militants for carrying out attacks against Israel, Seyam said Hamas would try to coordinate militants' operations.

"Talks with the factions in the future will focus on the mechanisms, the shape and the timing (of any attacks)," he said.

"But the right to defend our people and to confront the aggression is granted and is legitimate."

Seyam said he had begun talks with Palestinian security chiefs in the hope of averting fighting within the security services. A majority of the 20,000-plus security personnel, who will answer to Seyam, are Fatah members.

Seyam said maintaining law and order would be a top priority. There were several hundred murders in Gaza and the West Bank last year, according to human rights groups.

Seyam said his ministry would continue to coordinate day-to-day security issues, like the number of permits given to Palestinian workers, with Israeli authorities. But Seyam said he did not plan to meet Israelis himself.

"Regarding daily issues, they will not be changed, except in the way that serves the interest of our people," he said.

Israel and the United States have said they will not have any contact with Hamas members and have urged donors to cut off direct funding to the government unless it renounces violence, abides by interim peace deals and recognises the Jewish state.

"Saeed Seyam did not come to the government to revive any security cooperation or to protect the occupation and their settlers. I came to protect our people and their fighters, to protect their trees, their properties and their capabilities," Seyam said.

Hamas says it won't arrest militants who attack Israel

[Shammu]

 Hamas to shield fighters

Thursday 23 March 2006 3:20 PM GMT

The intended interior minister in Hamas's government has said he will not order the arrest of fighters carrying out attacks against Israel.

Saeed Seyam, who was chosen by Hamas to oversee three security services, told Reuters on Thursday that "the file of political detention must be closed".
   
"The day will never come when any Palestinian would be arrested because of his political affiliation or because of resisting the occupation ...

"But the right to defend our people and to confront the aggression is granted and is legitimate."

Top priorities
   
Seyam said he had begun talks with Palestinian security chiefs in the hope of averting fighting within the security services.

Most of the 20,000-plus security personnel, who will answer to Seyam, are Fatah members.
   
Seyam said maintaining law and order would be a priority.

There were several hundred murders in Gaza and the West Bank last year, according to human rights groups.
   
Seyam said his ministry would continue to co-ordinate day-to-day security issues, such as the number of permits given to Palestinian workers, with Israeli authorities. But Seyam said he did not plan to meet Israelis himself.
   
"Saeed Seyam did not come to the government to revive any security co-operation or to protect the occupation and their settlers," he said. "I came to protect our people and their fighters, to protect their trees, their properties and their capabilities."

Hamas to shield fighters

[Shammu]

 PLO criticises Hamas' programme
The Palestine Liberation Organisation has urged Hamas to reconsider its agenda for government, after its sweeping election victory in January.

The PLO leadership again criticised the Islamic group for refusing to accept the PLO's traditional role as the supreme representative of Palestinians.

Unlike other Palestinian factions, Hamas refuses to join the PLO.

Hamas politicians later said the parliament would meet on Saturday to approve the new cabinet.

Hamas' nominee for foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahhar, said the PLO's statement was irrelevant.

"Nobody can make demands on us at this moment," he said.

Technocrats

The group presented its list of ministers to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas last week.

The proposed team includes technocrats, but is dominated by Hamas members after the militant movement failed to win any coalition partners.

The cabinet is expected to be approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council because the militant group won 74 seats of the 132 contested in the elections.

The spokesman for Hamas' bloc in parliament, Salah al-Bardawi, said the Islamist group's leaders had met Mr Abbas and had agreed that parliament would convene at the weekend.

"We have agreed with President Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] to do it on Saturday," he said.

The date of the session is expected to be formally confirmed after parliamentary Speaker Aziz al-Duwaik meets Mr Abbas.

PLO criticises Hamas' programme

[Shammu]

Libya says it supports Palestinian Hamas: report
Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:24 AM ET15

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi pledged support for Palestinian militant group Hamas, which faces cuts in Western funding over its refusal to denounce violence against Israel, state news agency Jana said on Friday.

The report came after Gaddafi met Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal in Tripoli late on Thursday. Meshaal said this week his group will continue to fight Israel and told the United States its Middle East policy would fuel terrorism.

Meshaal's visit to Libya is part of a tour of Arab states to drum up financial aid and political support for Hamas to head the Palestinian government.

"The brother leader (Gaddafi) told Meshaal that Libya will continue its support for the Palestinian people and its just cause," Jana said.

Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam also voiced his backing for Hamas.

"We informed them of our support and discussed with them all the existing initiatives (toward a solution to the conflict)," Jana quoted him as saying during talks with Meshaal.

The agency gave no more details about Meshaal's stay and did not say whether he had left Tripoli.

Gaddafi says he does not recognize either the Palestinian Authority or the Israeli state. He wants a single state for the two peoples, arguing the land would be too small for two states.

Libya is one of the leading Arab financial backers of the Palestinians.

Libya says it supports Palestinian Hamas

[Shammu]

Abbas proposed secret talks for peace within year
Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:00 AM ET15

 By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose peacemaking policies were rejected by Hamas after it won elections, said he proposed secret peace talks with Israel and believed a deal could still be reached within a year.

In an interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper published on Friday, Abbas said he proposed opening "a back channel of talks" to American officials and former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, who has spearheaded peace efforts in the past.

Hamas's shock election victory appeared to torpedo any hopes of resuming negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Abbas said: "I am convinced that within less than a year, we will be able to sign an agreement."

Israel responded on Friday by casting doubt on Abbas's ability to lead any negotiations.

"Real political power in the Palestinian Authority is no longer in the hands of Mr. Abbas and his colleagues, but has been transferred to Hamas," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "The question that has to be asked is, Does Mr. Abbas have the ability to deliver?"

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has publicly called Abbas irrelevant, and the Jewish state has vowed not to deal with Hamas, which has rebuffed calls to renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by interim peace deals.

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party is expected to win a March 28 general election, is threatening to bypass Abbas with unilateral moves to consolidate settlements and draw a final border with the Palestinians.

Olmert plans to name Livni, a rising political star within Kadima, as deputy prime minister, Israeli media reported.

Peres met earlier this month with Abbas in Amman, Jordan, the first face-to-face talks between the Palestinian president and officials close to Olmert since Hamas won a parliamentary election on January 25.

A Peres spokesman declined to comment on Abbas's proposal for covert negotiations.

"I can promise that you have a partner for this peace. On the day after the (Israeli) elections you will find us ready to sit in negotiations with no prior conditions," Abbas said.

If an agreement is reached, Abbas said he would be the one to sign it. Abbas said he would be prepared to put any peace agreement to a referendum, adding that he was "certain" a majority of Palestinians would support it at the polls.

But Abbas told Haaretz that he feared Israel was not interested in negotiations and was avoiding them under the pretext of having no Palestinian partner after Hamas's victory.

Olmert has proposed unilaterally dismantling isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank while strengthening bigger enclaves.

Abbas said doing so might bring about a 10-year cease-fire, "but it will not bring you peace."

Asked if he would agree to a territorial swap whereby Israel would retain some of its settlements, Abbas said: "I do not rule it out. In the negotiations each side will present its requests. It will all be done according to international law."

Hamas, whose charter officially calls for Israel's destruction, plans to present its cabinet line-up to a Hamas-dominated parliament for a vote next week.

The militant group has selected Hamas loyalists to fill almost all of the 24-member cabinet after Abbas's Fatah faction and other moderate parties refused to join the government.

Hamas has rejected Abbas's call for the new government to respect a commitment to peacemaking with Israel.

Hamas has masterminded nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, but has largely adhered to a truce declared a year ago.

Abbas proposed secret talks for peace within year

[Soldier4Christ]

Israeli leader's party
will divide Jerusalem

Revelation follows fierce denials
of split in 'eternal Jewish capital'

JERUSALEM – Just five days before national elections here, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party revealed yesterday it would divide Jerusalem and allow a Palestinian state to be established in parts of Israel's "eternal capital."

The revelation follows months of denials by top Kadima officials that the party would advocate withdrawing from Jerusalem.

"The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital," said Otniel Schneller, a Kadima member who represented the party at a debate yesterday on dividing Jerusalem.

The neighborhoods Schneller listed are located on Jerusalem's periphery near the city's border with the West Bank.

Schneller said Kadima supports "separation between us and the Palestinians who don't live in the heart of Jerusalem," claiming there would be "no concessions" on sites that are sacred to Jews.

Several Kadima officials and leaders associated with the party's now comatose founder, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, previously made statements about dividing Jerusalem that immediately were denied by the party.

In December, Sharon's senior campaign pollster Kalman Gayer said in an interview with Newsweek the Israeli prime minister would give up parts of Jerusalem in a peace agreement. Immediately following the publication of Gayer's remarks, Sharon appeared on state-run Israeli television and denied his vision for a Palestinian state includes Jerusalem.

Olmert, who served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003, said in a June 2004 interview with the Jerusalem Post that Israel is contemplating turning parts of Jerusalem over to Palestinian control.

"Jerusalem is dear to me, but one must not lose sight of proportions over peripheral areas we do not need," said Olmert, who served as deputy prime minister at the time. He claimed ceding control of eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods to the Palestinians is "needed to maintain a Jewish majority in the Holy City."

Government officials immediately denied Olmert's statements implied a Jerusalem withdrawal.

Kadima's claims yesterday of "only" withdrawing from peripheral sections of Jerusalem worry many here. The Israeli government has denied previous withdrawal plans only to carry them out later, followed by announcements of more withdrawals in larger magnitudes from areas it pledged not to vacate.

Olmert was the first Sharon deputy to go public with Israel's plan to evacuate its Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank communities. That plan was at first denied but later announced by Sharon. Israel withdrew from Gaza and the West Bank towns this past August, claiming there would be no further West Bank withdrawals.

Following the Gaza withdrawal, Olmert made statements about withdrawing from large sections of the West Bank. His statements immediately were denied by Sharon. Olmert in February announced if his Kadima party wins upcoming elections his administration will seek to "change Israel's borders" by withdrawing from the vast majority of the West Bank.

Israel's left-wing Labor and Meretz parties have in the past discussed dividing Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 offered the Palestinians a state in the West Bank, Gaza and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Barak's proposal was rejected by the late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.

Jerusalem first was divided into eastern and western sections when Jordan invaded and occupied Jerusalem and the Old City in 1947, expelling all Jewish inhabitants. Israel built its capital in the western part of the city, while the eastern quarters remained under Jordanian control until Israel captured it, along with the Old City, in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War.

During the 19 years of Arab sovereignty, the ancient Jewish Quarter of the Old City was ravaged, 58 synagogues – some centuries old – were destroyed and slum dwellings were built abutting the Western Wall. Jews were not allowed to visit their holy places and Israeli Christians were subjected to many restrictions, with only limited numbers allowed to visit the Old City and Bethlehem at Christmas and Easter.

[Soldier4Christ]

Website features Palestinian children in combat roles, dress


The website of the newly elected majority in the Palestinian territories – Hamas – promotes terror and violence to children with a new display of photographs showing them in combat roles and dress during a festival.

"The Hamas promotion of terror and violence among Palestinian children continues unabated," PMW said.

One picture shows a girl wearing a sash with the name Reem Riyashi – a female suicide terrorist who killed four Israelis.

Yemen News reported: "A Hamas representative [in Yemen] Jamal Issa … stated that the Palestinian children fight alongside the adults in the resistance."]

PMW said it's "somewhat ironic, that while this terror role-modeling for children is being glorified by Hamas, the actual celebration of terror for children took place in Yemen which, U.S. News and World Report said last week, "has become one of America's most unexpected allies in counter terrorism."

Last week, PMW reported suicide terror for children was being actively promoted on a Hamas children's web site, al-fateh.net. New material posted recently included a short fictional story for children, glorifying a young girl's suicide terror attack.

It describes how she calmly progresses, step by step, planning and executing her death in a suicide terror attack. The girl heroically leads "Zionist soldiers" to their death, all the while knowing she will be killed along with them. In death she is said to be "smiling, lying on the grass, because she died as a ubgone19a (martyr for Allah) for Palestine."

After PMW's report, Hamas denied the website belongs to its Islamic movement. But PMW's Itamar Marcus insisted the site, along with palestine-info.com and palestinegallery.com are official Hamas sites, run by a man by the name of Nizar Hussein runs all of those site in Lebanon from the same server.

Reuven Ehrlich, a former Israeli army general who now directs an organization called the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, told the Jerusalem Post Hussein works in the same office as the leading Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan.

    

WND TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND
Hamas: Kids 'fight in the resistance'
Website features Palestinian children in combat roles, dress
Posted: March 25, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

The website of the newly elected majority in the Palestinian territories – Hamas – promotes terror and violence to children with a new display of photographs showing them in combat roles and dress during a festival.

The pictures of the "Palestinian Children's Festival" held in Yemen were on the website for a week, says the Israel-based monitor Palestinian Media Watch, and can be viewed here.

Hamas website features 'Palestinian Children's Festival'

"The Hamas promotion of terror and violence among Palestinian children continues unabated," PMW said.

One picture shows a girl wearing a sash with the name Reem Riyashi – a female suicide terrorist who killed four Israelis.

Girl's says says 'Reem Riyashi, referring to a female suicide terrorist

Yemen News reported: "A Hamas representative [in Yemen] Jamal Issa … stated that the Palestinian children fight alongside the adults in the resistance."]

PMW said it's "somewhat ironic, that while this terror role-modeling for children is being glorified by Hamas, the actual celebration of terror for children took place in Yemen which, U.S. News and World Report said last week, "has become one of America's most unexpected allies in counter terrorism."

Last week, PMW reported suicide terror for children was being actively promoted on a Hamas children's web site, al-fateh.net. New material posted recently included a short fictional story for children, glorifying a young girl's suicide terror attack.

It describes how she calmly progresses, step by step, planning and executing her death in a suicide terror attack. The girl heroically leads "Zionist soldiers" to their death, all the while knowing she will be killed along with them. In death she is said to be "smiling, lying on the grass, because she died as a ubgone19a (martyr for Allah) for Palestine."

After PMW's report, Hamas denied the website belongs to its Islamic movement. But PMW's Itamar Marcus insisted the site, along with palestine-info.com and palestinegallery.com are official Hamas sites, run by a man by the name of Nizar Hussein runs all of those site in Lebanon from the same server.

Reuven Ehrlich, a former Israeli army general who now directs an organization called the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, told the Jerusalem Post Hussein works in the same office as the leading Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan.

Click to Visit

In 2004, a music video urging children to become suicide bombers returned to official Palestinian television along with the publication of a new school textbook teaching children how to aid terrorists.

The words in the music video are sung by a woman vocalist wearing an army uniform, and the visuals include children in frenzied war dances, interspersed between scenes of children participating in violence in combat zones, reports Palestinian Media Watch.

The lyrics to the song, translated by PMW, glorify suicide bombing – the becoming a ubgone19: "You will not be saved, Oh Zionist, from the volcano of my country's stones, You are the target of my eyes, I will even willingly fall as a ubgone19 [Martyr for Allah]. You are the target of my eyes, I will even willingly fall as a ubgone19. Allah Akbar, Oh the young ones."

In 2003, a Palestinian psychologist claimed that more than half of Palestinian children aged 6 to 11 dream of becoming suicide bombers, according to a video presentation produced by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The documentary said Dr. Shafiq Massalha conducted a study that led him to conclude that "in about 10 years, a very murderous generation will come of age, full of hatred and ready to die in suicide missions," the Israeli National News Service reported.

Massalha, a clinical psychologist in East Jerusalem, was a featured presenter at the United Nations North American NGO [Non-governmental organization] Symposium on the Question of Palestine at U.N. headquarters in New York in 1995.

[Shammu]

 02:54 26/03/2006            
Haniyeh: Hamas government to be ratified on Wednesday
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent, Reuters and The Associated Press

The new Palestinian government under Hamas will be sworn in on Wednesday following its ratification by parliament, Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday.

The Palestinian Legislative Council is to convene on Monday for a confidence vote on the 24-member cabinet. Approval is seen as a certainty given that Hamas has a majority in parliament after a crushing election victory in January.

"On Wednesday at the latest there will be a special session for the government to be sworn in before Abu Mazen," Haniyeh told reporters, referring to Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier Saturday, a senior aide to Abbas hinted that the PA chairman was prepared to bring down Hamas' incoming government if its militant policies harm Palestinian interests.

In a letter to Haniyeh, Abbas said that if the new government, which is to be sworn in Thursday, "adopts positions that would be detrimental to Palestinian interests, then the president will use his authority according to the Basic Law," the aide, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, told reporters.

Abdel Rahim did not elaborate, but the Basic Law, which is the Palestinians' de facto constitution, empowers the president to disband the government.

Abbas plans to warn the incoming government led by Hamas militants that it has no future unless it agrees to recognize Israel, U.K. newspaper, The Guardian, reported Saturday.

Hamas, whose cabinet is to be sworn in on Thursday, rejects Israel's right to exist, and despite Western threats of an aid cutoff, has refused to abandon its violent ideology.

The Guardian newspaper said the letter, which it saw, told Haniyeh that Hamas' policies would damage or reverse "diplomatic achievements," give Israel a pretext not to negotiate, and cost the Palestinian Authority much-needed foreign aid.

Sources close to Abbas said the letter was meant to "draw the battle lines" with Hamas, which has no experience in national politics, but also to warn Israel and the West that threats to sever aid and ties would likely strengthen the Islamist party, the newspaper said.

"Abu Mazen doesn't want Hamas to fail, he wants it to transform, to accept the basic tenets of the political system," the source said.

But a Western aid cutoff could play into Hamas' hands, the source cautioned.

"Under no circumstances will Abu Mazen allow it to be seen that a Hamas government is failing as a result of a foreign conspiracy. This works for Hamas," he said. "To avoid the perception they fail because of a foreign conspiracy we need the world to show that it is still willing to support the moderate line and not just cut us off."

Abbas to retain control of investment fund
A Palestinian investment fund that controls hundreds of millions of dollars will remain under the control of Abbas, Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat said Friday - a move that would deny Hamas militants access to the money after they take power next week.

In another measure to consolidate his power before the Hamas government is installed, Abbas plans to set up a new presidential agency to oversee border crossings between the Palestinians and Israel, according to Erekat, who said he's been designated the agency's chief. The agency's purpose would be to settle border disputes with Israel that might keep the crossings closed, Erekat said.

Abbas' predecessor, Yasser Arafat, set up the investment fund in 2000 to calm an international outcry over a crony's diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Palestinian treasury. Arafat appointed reformist finance minister Salam Fayyad to invest the money on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, but after Fayyad resigned to run for parliament in January, then-Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia took over the fund.

With the new Hamas Cabinet set to be sworn in on Thursday, Abbas intends to keep the fund under his office, a senior aide said on condition of anonymity because no official action has been taken yet.

It is not clear how much money is in the fund. An international audit in early 2005 said investments had brought the $900 million fund to $1.4 billion, but the PA has dipped into it to pay for ongoing expenses.

Abbas' control of the money would make financial matters even worse for the militants as they take over a government that has survived, in part, on international aid for its 12-year existence. The cash flow is expected to get tighter after Hamas takes power, because Western nations have threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in aid unless the group changes its violent ways.

Abbas' plan to set up a border crossings agency would be another power play. The crossings have so far been managed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which will now be run by the incoming Hamas government.

Israel has kept the Gaza Strip's main cargo crossing closed for most of the year, citing security threats. Palestinians claim they are being punished for Hamas' electoral victory, and until recently, rejected Israel's offer of alternate crossings while the Karni passage is closed.

Another main crossing, between Gaza and Egypt, is run by the Palestinians, with EU inspectors, who might prefer to deal with officials close to Abbas, rather than with Hamas. A presidential decree to establish the agency is sitting on Abbas' desk, but he has not yet signed it, said his aide. Abbas is attending an Arab summit in Khartoum, Sudan, and is expected back in the West Bank next week.

Abbas: Peace deal can be reached within one year
A peace deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be achieved within less than a year, Abbas told Haaretz on Wednesday.

Speaking to Haaretz from the Muqata compound in Ramallah, Abbas said he had proposed to the United States to open covert negotiations for a final status settlement. The talks would be spearheaded by President George Bush, after the new Israeli government was set up.

To read the full interview with the Palestinian leader, click here.

Abbas said he had also raised the idea at a meeting with Shimon Peres (Kadima) two weeks ago in Jordan. However, a senior Palestinian source said Bush had not responded to Abbas' suggestion to pressure the new Israeli government to abandon its unilateral policy and resume the peace process.

Abbas said the Hamas government would not stop him from negotiating with Israel. If both sides reached an agreement, he would be the one to sign it and if necessary, would even put it to a referendum, he said. He said he would act to moderate Hamas and that at least one Hamas minister told him he would be ready to talk to Israel on ministerial issues.

Abbas said he feared Israel was not interested in negotiations and was avoiding them under the pretext of having no Palestinian partner.

The solution must be based on the 1967 borders, the PA chairman said, adding that he did not rule out territorial exchanges. He also said any solution to the refugee problem must be accepted by Israel.

Addressing the Israeli voter he said, "These are historic times. I can assure you that you have a peace partner. Perhaps this is the last chance to give both our nations the right to live safely. The future generations would not forgive us if we pass it up."

Hamas government to be ratified on Wednesday

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'Russians' desert Olmert to follow emerging dark horse
By Harvey Morris in Ashdod, Israel
Published: March 25 2006 02:00 | Last updated: March 25 2006 02:00

Avigdor Lieberman, a burly, bearded former Moldovan known by the unlikely sobriquet of "Yvette", is emerging as the dark horse of next week's Israeli election.

With his support growing among the country's million-strong Russian immigrant community, the 48-year-old far-rightist is revelling in the prospect of playing power-broker in coalition negotiations that will follow Tuesday's vote.

Opinion polls show his Yisrael Beitenu - Israel Our Home - party winning around 10 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Members of his overwhelmingly Russian constituency say this could rise to 15, elevating the party to third place ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud.

In the January 2003 election, the more than one in six of the Israeli population who came from the former Soviet Union voted overwhelmingly for Ariel Sharon. But with his departure from political life following a stroke three months ago, the "Russians" are returning to sectarian politics.

"With Sharon out of the picture, people are coming back to their own community - and that means Lieberman," said Larissa Lanina, Yisrael Beitenu's campaign manager in the coastal city of Ashdod where around 40 per cent of the population is Russian.

With a world view that rejected socialism and Palestinians in equal measure, the immigrants embraced Mr Sharon for his tough policies as well as his Russian origins.

"They saw him as a combination of Winston Churchill and Marshal Zhukov," said Marina Solodkin, a Russian-born government minister who is trying to stem the haemorrhage of immigrant votes from the ruling Kadima towards Mr Lieberman's party.

It is a constituency apparently undeterred by Mr Lieberman's past demands for Arabs to be transferred out of Israel or by former relationships with members of the Russian community who have subsequently been involved in crime.

"Lieberman represents the thinking of the Russians," said Mary Bruskin, an Ashdod municipal building commissioner who left Lithuania in 1972. "I liked Sharon, but now we have Ehud Olmert and he doesn't show us a clear path in the future."

According to Ms Solodkin, no Israeli party can aspire to rule without solid Russian immigrant support.

She says Mr Olmert's Kadima can count on 30 per cent of the Russian vote but acknowledges that, under Mr Sharon, it was 50 per cent. "Kadima people are those who have succeeded and who don't want to see a replica of Russian society here."

She said many Russian immigrants had turned their backs on Likud in reaction to the welfare cuts Mr Netanyahu imposed as finance minister, measures that disproportionately hit the Russian sector, with its high number of single mothers.

Few, however, have switched their votes to Labour, whose new leader, Amir Peretz, is ridiculed in the Russian-language press not only as a Moroccan and a socialist but also - with his trademark moustache - as the spitting image of Stalin.

That has left the field open to Mr Lieberman, a former minister and chief-of-staff to Mr Netanyahu, who spent eight years in Likud. Denounced as a racist and a fascist by Israel's liberal elite, he has somewhat tempered his rhetoric in the run-up to the election.

The man who has in the past called for the bombing of Egypt's Aswan dam and the invasion of Palestinian cities has come up with a plan to hand predominantly Arab-populated areas of northern Israel to Palestinian control in return for large swathes of the West Bank.

Although the plan overlooks the possible objections of those living in such areas, it is not fundamentally different from more mainstream proposals for territorial swaps. It is also in tune with a more general desire within the Israeli electorate to see a separation between the Jewish and Palestinian communities that is nowhere stronger than among the Russians.

"I don't want Arabs in Ashdod," said Ms Lanina. "Let them stay in Gaza where they belong."

Mr Lieberman has spoken out against Mr Olmert's plans for further unilateral withdrawals from the West Bank but has left the door open to a coalition partnership with the Kadima leader if the terms are right.

He told the liberal daily Haaretz he would demand the public security portfolio. Despite his own previous run-ins with the country's public order institutions, he has promised to lead them in their fight against Israel's Chicago-style organised crime.

'Russians' desert Olmert to follow emerging dark horse

[Shammu]

Mar. 24, 2006 12:53
Bibi: We can prevent Kadima coalition
By GIL HOFFMAN

The Right could still win enough support to prevent Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from forming a coalition, Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu predicted on Thursday. His remarks came after Olmert limited Kadima's prospective coalition partners to parties that accept his plan to withdraw unilaterally from most of the West Bank.
But Minister-without-Portfolio Tzahi Hanegbi, who is considered Kadima's most rightwing candidate, told The Jerusalem Post that even the Likud would end up joining a government led by Olmert, and that he did not think Olmert had veered from the path Ariel Sharon had intended to follow.

Netanyahu told a crowd in Shfaram that he believed enough voters would shift from Kadima to parties on the Right to convince President Moshe Katsav to allow the Likud to form the next government. He said Olmert helped the Likud by hinting in a Channel 10 interview on Wednesday that he intended to form a government with Labor and Meretz.

"I am optimistic because the polls from yesterday are showing clearly that the Likud is strengthening and Kadima is weakening," Netanyahu said. "The reason for the shift in the polls is that it has become increasingly clear in the last 24 hours that Olmert intends to build a staunchly left-wing government coalition with [Shimon] Peres, [Amir] Peretz and Meretz. Such a government would implement the big surrender plan that only the Likud can prevent."

In a closed-door session with key Likud activists, Netanyahu said there were still enough undecided voters to change the election dramatically. He suggested targeting former Likud voters with an emotional campaign. To that end, the remainder of the Likud's election commercials will feature passionate speeches by former prime minister and Likud leader Menachem Begin.

The polls that Netanyahu referred to included a Smith Research poll sponsored by The Jerusalem Post, which found that Kadima fell three to four seats in the last week to only 34 and the Likud rose from 14 seats in a poll taken on Monday to 15 on Wednesday.

The pattern was clearer in polls broadcast on Army Radio and Israel Radio on Thursday morning. In a Geocartographic Institute poll on Army Radio, Kadima fell from 43 seats a week ago to 34, while the Likud rose from 16 to 18. Israel Radio's Shvakim Panorama poll gave Kadima only 33-34 seats, down from 36 a week ago.

Kadima strategists said that despite the decrease in the polls, they did not believe that Olmert made a mistake when he announced his conditions for joining the coalition. They said he wanted it known to Russian immigrant voters that Israel Beiteinu would not be in the coalition unless party chairman Avigdor Lieberman endorsed Olmert's plan.

"We will gain votes from what Olmert said because Lieberman can no longer get away with lying to voters by telling them in Russian that he will be part of any government," Kadima strategist Lior Horev said. "He is trying to trick the public into thinking that he is a centrist, while he is planning to join with the National Union after the elections and take the opposition leader title from Netanyahu."

Kadima officials said they still believed that Israel Beiteinu, Shas and United Torah Judaism could be part of a Kadima-led government. And Hanegbi said that, despite Netanyahu's denials, the Likud would be there too.

"I think when Likud leaders look at their 15 mandates, they will decide that they are better off joining the government to advance their ideals when the borders of Israel are drafted," he said. "I don't see the Likud having another alternative, unless the polls are wrong and the Right gains enough support to have serious weight in the opposition."

Hanegbi said that since Olmert revealed his convergence plan two weeks ago, he was not aware of a single Kadima activist who had returned to the Likud. He said he did not believe that Kadima had shifted leftward.

"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saw that a diplomatic process was needed, and Olmert is continuing in the same direction," Hanegbi said. "I don't think Olmert has veered from the path Sharon intended. He believes in keeping Ariel and other settlement blocs, which makes him far from Meretz."

At a Kadima rally at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called upon Kadima activists to bring the party enough support to minimize the party's reliance on coalition partners. She hinted that she would like to see Kadima form a narrow coalition so the party could implement its agenda without giving in to coalition partners.

A Likud central committee member from Jerusalem named "Shlomo" said at the event that he had considered voting for Kadima but that since Olmert's plans had been revealed, he was now leaning toward voting Likud. He said he still hoped Kadima would break apart and the Likud would be reunited.

Bibi: We can prevent Kadima coalition

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Changing Mood Motivates Israelis at Polls

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer 43 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Worn down by a bloody five-year Palestinian uprising, Israelis look set for a seismic shift in Tuesday's election, discarding their polarizing dreams of either settling Jews in a Greater Israel of biblical dimensions or trading much of that land for peace with the Palestinians.

The emerging consensus is to unload much of the West Bank, dismantle Jewish settlements and withdraw behind a barrier in exchange for some normalcy, though not a peace deal with the Palestinians.

"There is a change, a maturity, an understanding that we can't go on like this," sums up Haim Yavin, the Israel TV news anchor who has covered 11 elections. The public mood, he said in an interview, is that "enough is enough, let's get on with the business of living."

This far-reaching change of heart, if it translates into votes the way pollsters predict, would remake Israeli politics by propelling the neophyte Kadima Party to power and opening a broad center between Israel's right-wing Likud and left-leaning Labor.

Kadima's leader, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, is tapping into the new consensus with promises to withdraw by 2010 to a final border. In so doing, he has turned the election into a referendum on the fate of land Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

The drama began in November when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon quit his Likud Party to form Kadima with disaffected Likud and Labor heavyweights, creating a party that shot to the top of the polls and has stayed there even after Sharon's devastating stroke on Jan. 4. As for giving up land, Sharon already forged that template in September when he pulled Israel out of the Gaza Strip. So what his successor, Olmert, is proposing hasn't come as a complete surprise to the public.

Throughout the turmoil of the past four months, polls have held surprisingly steady, predicting Kadima will win just under one-third of the 120 seats in parliament, or about double that of Labor and Likud. That would enable Olmert to form a coalition with either of those parties, or both, or some of the smaller ones.

Yet as the election draws near, pollsters are increasingly jittery. Kadima has lost a bit of ground in recent weeks, 10 percent of voters are still undecided, and many of those who said they would vote for Kadima could change their minds at the last minute because the party has no proven track record.

Monumental though the stakes are, this has been one of the dullest campaigns in Israel's 58-year history, largely because Kadima has been seen as the sure winner. And the Palestinians next door also seem largely indifferent.

They feel they can't stop Olmert from imposing his border, which would grab key areas they want for a state, including large West Bank settlement blocs and parts of Jerusalem. And with the Islamic militant Hamas poised to form the next Palestinian government after its January election victory, neither Palestinians nor Israelis expect a resumption of peace talks.

The Palestinians are also caught up in their own dramas, including chaos in the streets and the political wrangling between Hamas and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The three candidates for prime minister — Olmert, ex-union boss Amir Peretz of Labor Party and former Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud — are familiar faces lacking the charisma of a Sharon.

Olmert, 60, has been in politics for more than three decades, including as Cabinet minister and mayor of Jerusalem. He has earned the reputation of being a blunt, somewhat aloof man who can get things done and has a passion for fine cigars and soccer.

He has softened his demeanor since filling in for Sharon, but remains "just mean enough to make a good prime minister," commentator Amnon Abramovitz said on Channel 2 TV.

Netanyahu, 56, who opposes most territorial concessions, is given little chance of reclaiming the top job he held from 1996 to 1999. The diminished party he took over after Sharon quit is running third in the polls.

Labor, the party that ruled Israel for its first 29 years as a state, has been revolutionized by the surprise election of 54-year-old Peretz as its leader, a Moroccan-born Sephardi in a party dominated by European-descended Ashkenazim. But Peretz's agenda of greater economic equality has not taken off, because voters are still preoccupied with the Mideast conflict.

Olmert said last week he would only form coalitions with parties that back his plan of "consolidation" — quickly completing Israel's West Bank separation barrier which will serve as the basis for the new border, dismantling dozens of small West Bank settlements, and evacuating their tens of thousands of inhabitants.

On Sunday, however, he said in an interview with Israel Radio that he would first give a new Hamas-led Palestinian government time to decide whether it wants to moderate its militant ways. Then he would hold intense negotiations with the United States and the international community before carrying out further unilateral West Bank pullouts.

He said a four-year term as prime minister is enough to complete the job. "I believe it's time for us to take our fate into our hands," he told Channel 10 TV last week. "Four years is a lot of time when you want to do something, when you know what you want to do."

Unless there's a dramatic upset, a last-minute Palestinian attack — or the pollsters have wholly misread the changed Israeli political landscape — it appears Olmert could only be denied the premiership if right-wing and religious parties opposed to territorial concessions form a "blocking majority" of 61 seats. For now, they seem short of that threshold.

Driving the Israeli mood is a weariness with the violence that has killed nearly 3,700 Palestinians and nearly 1,100 Israelis. The constant threat of bombings was made vivid last week when police chased down a suspect in a van on the crowded Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, stalling traffic for an hour and sending motorists fleeing from their cars in panic. Police said a 15-pound bomb was found in the van.

Deeper down lies a fear that if Israel continues to rule the 2 million Palestinians of the West Bank, they plus Israel's own 1.4 million Arab citizens will ultimately outnumber them and Israel will cease to be a Jewish state.

Modiin, a town of 60,000 of honey-colored row houses midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, is typical of the change of mind. Here the political landscape has left many voters wavering between parties, but in agreement that the West Bank has become a burden.

In a small neighborhood mall, gift shop owner Nissim Levy said he voted for Sharon's Likud in 2003, but is now considering Kadima or Labor.

Levy, 41, said his longtime allegiance to Likud, the main proponent of settlement expansion, had been largely emotional and anchored in the belief that only hard-liners can make peace.

"Every time they (Likud leaders) said they will bring peace, they tricked me," he said. "They took my (tax) money and transferred it to the ... settlements."

Modiin, built in the past 12 years, is close to the West Bank, but was largely peaceful during the Palestinian uprising. However, sales at Levy's second gift shop, in Tel Aviv's main bus terminal, near the scene of several suicide bombings, dropped by half in the past five years, he said.

Another Modiin voter, technician Ofer Chen, 39, said he's voting Labor, after supporting a smaller secular-rights party in 2003. Yet while Labor chief Peretz hopes to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, Chen said he prefers unilateral Israeli steps for now.

"We saw that land for peace didn't work," he said. "They (the Palestinians) didn't get much territory, and we didn't get any peace."

While Israel's secular majority is rallying around the new consensus, the tribalism that dominated Israeli politics for many years hasn't disappeared. Large subgroups — Russians, Arabs, the ultra-Orthodox — tend to vote for specialty parties. In all, 31 lists are competing, including four catering to Arabs, three to religious voters, one to pensioners and one seeking to legalize marijuana.

One dark horse is Israel Beitenu, which appeals to Russian immigrants and proposes border shifts to detach Arab populations from Israel. Polls predicted it would quadruple its seats to 12.

Palestinians will be watching on election night, whether on Israeli channels — many speak Hebrew from years of work or imprisonment in Israel — or on Arab satellite stations.

Yousef Zada, 60, who owns an electrical appliance store in Gaza City, planned to watch it on Israeli TV.

He was pessimistic about the future, saying most of his goods are imported from Israel and with Hamas in power, Israel will be more inclined to close the borders.

"The picture is very grim, dark black," he said, drawing on a waterpipe.

Changing Mood Motivates Israelis at Polls

[Shammu]

Once Powerful Likud Is Big Loser in Israel

By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer 32 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Leaders of the hawkish Likud said the results of Tuesday's election spell disaster for their party, for three decades Israel's ruling faction but now relegated to the ranks of small parties in the new parliament.

The projections showed Likud gaining only 11 seats in the 120-seat parliament, down from 38 in the outgoing house. Most of its voters followed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to his new party, Kadima, and stayed even after Sharon was felled by a stroke on Jan. 4.

The projections showed Likud receiving even fewer seats than pre-election polls predicted, leaving it as the fifth largest party in the parliament. Likud leaders expected to do much better.

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader, admitted that his party "suffered a hard blow," but he pledged to help it recover.

Others hinted the abrasive Netanyahu, left at the head of a small, fringe party, might pay the price of the failure.

Correspondent Robert Rosenberg of the Haaretz daily wrote that with his crushing defeat, Netanyahu is forced to turn over leadership of Israel's right to Avigdor Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beitenu party outpolled Likud.

But Netanyahu "blamed Sharon, the press, even the public, for not understanding his message. The one person he did not blame for the Likud's failure was himself," Rosenberg wrote.

Netanyahu, the U.S.-educated former diplomat, was Israel's prime minister from 1996-1999, when he was trounced in an election by Labor's Ehud Barak. Netanyahu has been making a steady comeback since then, serving as Sharon's finance minister. But he quit the government two weeks before the summer pullout from Gaza, saying he could not take responsibility for the unilateral withdrawal.

His departure put him at the head of the rebel Likud camp against Sharon, who bolted Likud in November and formed Kadima after despairing of persuading party rebels to accept further territorial pullbacks in the
West Bank.

Once Powerful Likud Is Big Loser in Israel

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Olmert wins Israeli election, building coalition
Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:28 AM ET16

 By Dean Yates

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began building a coalition on Wednesday after winning Israel's election on plans to impose final borders with the Palestinians by uprooting many West Bank settlements.

Appealing to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Olmert said in a post-election speech that Israel favored peace negotiations with the Palestinians to end decades of conflict.

But in the absence of talks -- a remote prospect since Hamas militants won Palestinian elections in January -- Olmert has vowed to set Israel's border by 2010 by removing isolated settlements in the occupied West Bank and expanding bigger ones.

A Hamas-led cabinet was to be sworn in later on Wednesday.

Olmert's centrist Kadima party fared worse than expected in Tuesday's poll, signaling he might struggle to sustain support for his plan. Kadima's showing of 28 seats in the 120-member parliament was among the lowest for an election winner.

But some political analysts said Olmert should be able to stitch together a coalition that would avoid the need to negotiate with right-wing parties opposed to any withdrawal from West Bank land that settlers see as a biblical birthright.

"I think we can run a government with 28 seats. It will be difficult, but possible," elder statesman and senior Kadima politician Shimon Peres said on Army Radio.

Besides Kadima, election results showed center-left Labor with 20 seats, the ultra-Orthodox Shas with 13, ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu with 12 and right-wing Likud with 11. Opinion polls had originally predicted Kadima would win 44 seats.

Kadima, founded just four months ago, was expected to seek a coalition with Labor and small parties, in talks expected to last for weeks. Some religious parties and one representing pensioners could back his West Bank plan.

Maya Jacobs, a Kadima spokeswoman, said unofficial coalition talks with leading parties including Labor had begun.

Palestinians condemn Olmert's West Bank plans as denying them a viable state. The sweeping measures would uproot tens of thousands of Jewish settlers while tracing a border along a fortified barrier Israel is building inside the West Bank.

Arab leaders expressed dismay at the election result, after renewing their own offer of peace-for-land through international mediation. The Arab League's 22 members ended a summit in Sudan with a unanimous rejection of go-it-alone Israeli measures.

ABBAS PLEA

Abbas, who wants a two-state solution but has been weakened by the victory of the Islamic militant group Hamas in elections in January, urged Olmert to drop unilateralism. Israel says Abbas has failed to disarm militants.

"This result will not change (anything) as long as the agenda of Olmert himself does not change and he does not abandon the question of unilateral agreements," Abbas said in Khartoum.

Olmert said Jews had aspired for thousands of years to create a homeland throughout the Land of Israel, biblical territory that includes the West Bank.

"But acknowledging reality and circumstances, we are ready to compromise," Olmert said.

If the Palestinians did not move toward peace, he said, "Israel will take its destiny in hand" and set final borders.

Olmert's unilateral approach appeals to many Israelis worn down by a five-year-old Palestinian uprising and worried by the rise to power of Hamas, which is sworn to destroy Israel.

A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, condemned the proposal.

"The plan will push the region into greater escalation and we will lobby all Palestinians to confront it," Abu Zuhri said.

Olmert has ruled out any dealings with Hamas until it recognizes Israel, disarms and accepts interim peace deals.

Israel's financial markets fell, fearful Olmert will strain the budget with social spending needed to lure small parties to his coalition. Stocks were down 2 percent at 1300 GMT.

TRAUMA

Some 60,000 West Bank settlers could be affected by Olmert's plan, far more than the 8,500 removed from Gaza last year. Some 240,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

The trauma for settlers of any withdrawal could dwarf that of the Gaza evacuation which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had championed in a reversal of policy. Sharon founded Kadima before suffering a stroke in January that sent him into a coma.

The World Court has ruled all 145 settlements Israel has built on occupied territory illegal. Israel disputes this.

President Moshe Katsav is expected to formally assign the task of putting together a government after consultations with parties on Sunday.

Olmert wins Israeli election, building coalition