Prophecy and End Time Series. - Israel

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Palestinian Militants Reportedly Fire Russian-made Rocket at Israel on Election Day

Created: 29.03.2006 12:18 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:18 MSK, 10 hours 1 minute ago

MosNews

A Palestinian militant group said it launched a Russian-made rocket at Israel during elections on Tuesday, causing no casualties, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday.

The Islamic Jihad faction said it fired a “Grad” rocket from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. Palestinian militants generally use makeshift missiles, rather than military grade rockets, for such cross-border barrages.

Islamic Jihad, sworn to destroying Israel, said it was sending a message to Israeli leaders “that their war against the Palestinians will not make them secure.”

Exit polls showed the centrist Kadima Party of interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert winning most seats in Tuesday’s election.

An Israeli military source confirmed that the rocket was at least partly factory-produced, and therefore originated abroad. But the source played down the significance of the strike.

“We don’t know where the rocket was made. It was a hybrid. Its body was standard-issue but other components were jerry-rigged,” the source said.

“We don’t think they have many more rockets because if they had, they would have fired more.”

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have long smuggled in arms from neighboring Egypt.

Palestinian Militants Reportedly Fire Russian-made Rocket at Israel on Election Day

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March 29, 2006

Hamas threatens war over Israel's separation plan
From Ian MacKinnon in Jerusalem
ISRAEL’S new government-in-waiting last night came under immediate attack from Hamas.

Hours after the Islamist group was itself confirmed as the new Palestinian government, a spokesman said that the Israeli electorate’s choice of Ehud Olmert as the new Prime Minister could escalate the conflict.

The hardline Hamas government is due to be sworn in within 48 hours after the Palestinian parliament yesterday voted 71-36 to approve Ismail Haniya’s 25-member Cabinet and Islamist programme.

Sami Abu Zohri, a Hamas spokesman, said: “The initial results show that the Israelis voted for Olmert’s plan, which is a declaration of war on the Palestinians and the liquidation of Palestinian rights. The occupation is pushing the area towards greater escalation.”

Mark Regev, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “I hope the sort of remarks we heard today help to dissolve any possible illusion that might exist as to the true character of this new Palestinian leadership.”

There was a warmer welcome from Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian President, whose spokesman urged Mr Olmert to deal with him through the Palestine Liberation Organisation, to which Hamas does not belong. “We hope to see an Israeli government ready to implement the road map and ready to work toward peace,” the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said. “If the Israeli government is ready, the PLO is ready.”

Under Mr Olmert’s disengagement strategy, Israel would unilaterally turn its $2 billion razor-wire and concrete West Bank separation barrier into a political border, withdrawing from small settlements outside it in return for securing its hold on the large settlements within.

The plan helped Kadima to emerge as the biggest party in the 120-seat Knesset. With votes from 55 per cent of the votes counted, Kadima had 28 seats, the Labour Party had 20 seats and Likud 12.

Mr Olmert was still short of the 61 seats needed for a majority, but his likely coalition partners were projected to capture about 65 seats altogether.

His likely partners include Labour, the left-wing Meretz party, which is predicted to win five seats, the Pensioners’ Party, which is expected to win eight seats, and one of the religious parties, such as Shas, which was predicted to win thirteen seats.

Labour’s unexpectedly good performance will give it unrivalled influence over Kadima’s programme. Michael Melchior, a Labour MP, said: “We will now be able to influence the issue of borders for the State of Israel — the Jewish people haven’t had borders for 2,000 years — and to influence what happens inside those borders with social issues, education and so on.”

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader and former Prime Minister, said that his party had “suffered a hard blow” but pledged to help it to recover. Gideon Saar, the Likud Knesset chairman, said: “This is the most serious blow suffered by Likud since its establishment.”

THE MAIN PLAYERS

Kadima

The new party formed by the stricken Ariel Sharon, who lies in a coma. The key plank of its platform is to withdraw 70,000 Jewish settlers from 90 per cent of the West Bank, pulling Israel back behind its security barrier and establishing permanent borders by 2010. Led by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

Labour

Amir Peretz’s rejuvenated party favours a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians and is willing to cede most of the West Bank, along with Arab areas of East Jerusalem to secure a deal. It has focused on economic and social issues of concern to the poorest Israelis, who have been hit by the former Likud government’s economic policies

Likud

With former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the helm, the right-wing party appears set to slump to third place. Mr Netanyahu has been blamed for the party infighting, and the ruinous economic policies he instituted while in Mr Sharon’s last Likud administration. It opposes giving up any territory to a Palestinian state

Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel, Our Home)

Avigdor Lieberman’s hard-right party may be a coalition kingmaker. Mr Lieberman appeals to the 900,000 voters from the former Soviet Union with his policy of redrawing Israel’s northern border to place 500,000 Arab-Israelis on the Palestinian side while demanding loyalty to Zionism from the remainder

Hamas threatens war over Israel's separation plan

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A Palestinian official said on Sundaythat schools of sharks stormed shores of the southern Gaza Strip. Fouad al-Aamoudi, chief of the Palestinian FishermenAssociation in Gaza told reporters that flocks of sharks stormedthe shores of the southernGaza Strip, mainly in the towns ofRafah and Khan Younis.

    "Dozens of sharks which stormed the shores of Rafah and KhanYounis were seen today (Sunday)," said al-Aamoudi, adding that itwas the first time that such kinds of fish appeared on Gaza shores.He warned residents to avoid swimming or using small boats infishing in those areas.

    "Some fishermen managed to catch some of those sharks right atthe beach. Some of the sharks are weighing 120 kilograms," said al-Aamoudi.

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Elad Takes Over 2 Buildings in E.Jerusalem

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 3, 6:44 AM ET

JERUSALEM - A private Jewish group has taken over two buildings in largely Arab east Jerusalem, provoking clashes with Palestinian neighbors.

Elad, a nonprofit organization that buys Arab properties in east Jerusalem for Jewish settlers, purchased the two buildings "more than a few months ago," said Adi Mintz, a member of the group's board of directors.

Several Jewish families moved in last week after the Arab sellers moved out, Mintz said.

Jewish organizations, often funded by wealthy American Jews, have bought up dozens of properties in Arab areas of Jerusalem, touching off riots and generating animosity among the Palestinian residents of the disputed city.

Israel says all of Jerusalem is its capital, while Palestinians claim the eastern half for the capital of a future state. The fate of the city and of its holy shrines has been one of the major obstacles in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

The two buildings Elad bought are on the Mount of Olives, about 100 yards from an ancient Jewish cemetery. Israeli security guards armed with assault rifles and walkie-talkies guard the three-story buildings, which are fronted by metal gates shut with a heavy padlock and chains.

Jewish men in skullcaps who sat chatting Monday on a balcony refused to speak to the media.

Mintz said the new Jewish residents of the neighborhood, which overlooks an Old City shrine at the epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, believe they are reviving biblical Jerusalem, which has been largely empty of Jews for hundreds of years.

"This is the area of historic Jerusalem," Mintz said. Elad, he said, seeks to settle what he called the "sacred basin" of the city — areas surrounding the Old City and the biblical City of David.

Ali Abulhawa, 47, lives next door to the new Israeli residents. At 2 a.m. last Wednesday, a group of Jews came to the neighborhood with a suitcase full of dollars, he said. They offered the money to a Palestinian who owns a ground-floor apartment, but he refused to sell them his home, Abulhawa sai

But his relative, 30-year-old Meison Abulhawa, peeks out of her apartment in the same building, adjusting her headscarf as she looks fearfully at the guns guarding the house next door. She said her son has refused to leave the house since the Jews moved in.

"I want them to go to their home," she said. "Let them go, so the Arab families can come back."

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose Kadima Party won last week's parliamentary elections, has said he would be prepared to give up some east Jerusalem neighborhoods under his plan to draw Israel's final borders.

On Monday, Kadima lawmaker Otniel Schneller emphasized that Israel would retain neighborhoods that are part of "historic Jerusalem" — such as the Mount of Olives and the City of David.

Settling in those areas, as the Elad group has done, is acceptable, Schneller added.

Elad Takes Over 2 Buildings in E.Jerusalem

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Apr. 3, 2006 23:22
Russian Jewish leader decries Israelis' attitudes
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER


The attitude of Israelis toward Russian Jews is worse than in the rest of the world, Russian Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor said while on a recent visit here.

He said that 100 people on the executive committee of his organization are businessmen, artists and scientists who are "very nice, respected and honored people everywhere in the world. And we expect that finally, the Israeli community will join this opinion."

In speaking to The Jerusalem Post, he also lashed out at Western European Jewry's disposition toward their Eastern European brethren: "Eastern European Jewry doesn't want to be in the shadow or under the patronage of some Western European communities. They want to be listened to and respected."

Kantor attributed the patronizing attitude of European Jews to the greater economic, political and religious rights they historically enjoyed. But now, he said, French, British and German Jews want first of all to be accepted first "as European citizens."

"If we see now where are the most powerful Jewish communities, economically, we see America and Russia," he said.

That economic power has had negative reverberations within Israel. Kantor took particular issue with Israelis' attitudes toward Russian "oligarchs" - a term Kantor, himself a chemicals magnate, dislikes. He explained that unfavorable perception as stemming from Jews' ingrained suspicions about the outside world.

While Kantor said that was natural, he added, "We should not be stupid. How we can make an extrapolation on two or three examples for a community of 1 million people?"

At the same time, he said holding onto suspicions about outsiders was essential to maintaining Jewishness. In that vein, he said it was understandable that Jews would be worried about anti-Semitic attacks in Russia, which he estimated have been increasing by 10 percent a year. But still, he said, "up until this moment, I have no exact reason to be more worried than usual."

A known backer of President Vladimir Putin, Kantor praised him for taking a firm line against anti-Semitism after the stabbing of eight Jews at a Moscow synagogue. Putin's stance against xenophobia, according to Kantor, comes from the post-World War II values he was raised with.

Kantor also said it was Putin's Russian values that led his administration to host Hamas following its win in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. Kantor described the approach as "being close with your enemies, not only with your friends; controlling your enemies."

Kantor met with President Moshe Katsav, in part to promote the massive commemoration of the Babi Yar massacre he is planning for September.

"The Holocaust is still the fundamental instrument in politics to protect globally and strategically our interests" as the Jewish people, he said, pointing to the genocide as the only force which can gather so many heads of state in one room to discuss a Jewish issue.

"Let's use these tools," he said, "for the betterment of humankind, for the betterment of world Jewry."

Russian Jewish leader decries Israelis' attitudes

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'I dream of a map without Israel'

PA Foreign Minister promises support for terrorism

Newly installed Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar on Sunday reiterated Hamas's desire to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Islamic state. Zahar's remarks, in an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua, dispel hopes that Hamas's rise to the political stage would have a moderating effect on its leaders. His statements also stand in sharp contrast with Hamas's attempt to project a conciliatory and pragmatic image following the movement's landslide victory in last January's parliamentary election.

"I dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it," Zahar said in the interview. "I hope that our dream of having an independent state on the entire territory of historical Palestine will be realized one day, and I am sure that there is no room for the State of Israel on this land," he added. Al-Zahar continued on to say that Hamas would not disarm its military wing and would continue supporting armed organizations in attacking Israeli targets.

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Hamas cabinet meets after 'two-state solution' UN letter
Apr 05 8:07 AM US/Eastern
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The new Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet was holding its first regular meeting after its foreign minister made an unprecedented Middle East peace overture in a letter to UN chief Kofi Annan.

The letter by Mahmud al-Zahar, which referred to a "two-state solution", was expected to dominate discussions in Gaza City among the new ministers, many of whom participated via videolink as a result of an Israeli-imposed travel ban.

Zahar refused to comment to reporters as he entered the meeting. His fellow ministers also remained tight-lipped.

Alvaro de Soto, the UN's special envoy for the Middle East, confirmed Annan had received a letter from Zahar.

"We only received the letter at headquarters yesterday and we are still studying it so I have no comment," he told reporters in Jerusalem.

In his letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, Zahar said the new Islamist government was "looking for freedom and independence side-by-side with our neighbours".

"We look forward to living in peace and security, as all countries in the world, and that our people enjoy freedom and independence side-by-side with all our neighbours in this holy place," the text added.

The language was similar to an internationally-backed roadmap peace plan which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

Hamas, behind dozens of anti-Israeli suicide bombings in the course of a five-year uprising, is committed in its charter to the destruction of Israel.

Zahar's letter stopped short of formally endorsing a two-state solution but for the first time appeared to implicitly recognise Israel's right to exist.

"Israeli procedures in the occupied territories will put an end to all hopes to reach a final settlement based on the two-state solution," it said.

The foreign ministry issued a statement to the local media confirming that Zahar sent a letter to Annan but making no mention of the phrase the "two-state solution" nor the term "side-by-side with our neighbours."

Initial reaction from the Israeli government was cool.

"In this letter, the Palestinian foreign minister talks about cooperation and peace in the region, but unfortunately he talks of the region without Israel," foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP. "In no part of this letter does he mention the existence of Israel."

The letter also appeared to have caught the wider Palestinian leadership off its guard.

Although Hamas now leads the government in the West Bank and Gaza, peace negotiations are meant to be the remit of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chaired by the moderate Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas.

Chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP that he was unaware of the letter and unable to comment.

Hamas's victory in January's Palestinian election over Abbas's formerly dominant Fatah faction and subsequent entry into government last week has led to a complete freezing in contacts with Israel.

Israel has said that it will not deal with an organisation which rejects its right to exist and continues to advocate violence.

The European Union and United States have threatened to slash aid to the already cash-strapped Palestinian Authority unless there is a radical change in the platform of Hamas, which is considered by both as a terrorist organisation.

Although Hamas has insisted it will not be "blackmailed" by the West, efforts to draw alternative funding have so far failed to bear fruit.

Last week's summit in Sudan of the Arab League -- which counts some of the world's richest countries among its members -- did not accede to Palestinian requests for a funding boost.

Israel has also frozen its payments of customs duties that it traditionally collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

Its acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is planning to fix the Jewish state's permanent borders on a unilateral basis in the continued absence of what he regards as a partner in the peace process.

Olmert's Kadima party won an election last week and is stitching together a new coalition.

Former Israeli premier Shimon Peres, a leading member of Kadima, reiterated that Israel wanted a negotiated settlement but without much hope.

"It will be difficult to conduct peace talks with Hamas, a religious organisation which does not appreciate international realities," he said.

Hamas cabinet meets after 'two-state solution' UN letter

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Ten Al-Qaida operatives infiltrated Gaza Strip recently
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Around 10 terror operatives affiliated with Al-Qaida and other global jihad factions have infiltrated the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

Palestinian Authority sources said their security agencies suspect that the operatives, who arrived in Gaza from Egypt - some through the Rafah terminal - are staying in the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah and are involved in smuggling materiel on a large scale.

According to various reports, some of which could not be fully verified by Israelis, the operatives belong to several factions, mainly radical Islamic movements in Egypt, that are affiliated with Al-Qaida. Beside Palestinians, there are citizens of Egypt, Sudan and Yemen.

Citing Jordanian security officials, the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Tuesday "a definite presence" of Al-Qaida operatives in Gaza who intend to carry out attacks on "sensitive" targets. The reference apparently was to attacks on crossings into Israel and perhaps also the foreign observers at the Rafah terminal.

The observers left the terminal in the past - during the wave of abductions in Gaza on the day the Israel Defense Forces raided the Palestinian jail in Jericho. The PA went to great lengths to mollify them. Through these attempts, it sent several delegations of Gaza children to the terminal to express Palestinian support for the observers.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas confirmed several weeks ago that Al-Qaida operatives had entered Gaza. The IDF admits that Gaza is wide open to weapons smuggling and the entry of terrorists - both through the Rafah terminal and through recently reactivated tunnels beneath the Philadelphi route in Rafah. Among the terrorists who entered were specialists affiliated with Al-Qaida, people who underwent training in sophisticated explosive devices and mass attacks at camps in Lebanon and even in Iran and Afghanistan.

A senior source on the IDF General Staff told Haaretz, "The focus of global Islamic terror on our region has already become a distinct phenomenon. We're not talking about gut feelings: The Katyushas fired on Shlomi and before that the Katyusha fire from Aqaba that hit the airport in Eilat were carried out by organizations affiliated with Al-Qaida and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's people in Iraq. The operational direction of these organizations is clear. They will try in the future to hit more Israeli targets."

MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), chair of the outgoing Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Tuesday that terror organizations in Gaza now have unfettered access to expert assistance and materiel through the Egyptian border.

"More sophisticated materiel is getting into Gaza, as are global jihad operatives who didn't used to get there. A weapons industry is developing there; it's still in an initial phase, but it is worrisome," Steinitz warned.

He claimed that Egypt is not living up to the agreement it reached with Israel before the disengagement, in which it pledged to combat these phenomena.

General Staff sources disagreed with Steinitz, saying there has actually been improvement in Egypt's activity to counter smuggling. With the entry of terror operatives and weapons smugglers from Sinai to the southern Negev, changes were made in the military deployment along the Egyptian border. There are now more than double the number of troops along the border than before the disengagement. In addition, cooperation among Israeli intelligence agencies has been increased to foil potential air and sea attacks by global jihadists.

Ten Al-Qaida operatives infiltrated Gaza Strip recently

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Olmert gets official nod to form Israeli government
Thu Apr 6, 2006 7:55 AM ET15

 By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert received the formal nod on Thursday to form a government, which he pledged would set Israel's permanent borders within four years with or without Palestinian agreement.

"I have the honor to announce that I have decided to ask member of parliament Ehud Olmert to form the government," President Moshe Katsav said at a ceremony with the Kadima party leader.

Olmert, whose centrist party came first in last week's election with 29 seats in the 120-member parliament, will have up to 42 days to put together a governing coalition.

"I hope to form a government, which will have the broadest possible support, as quickly as possible," Olmert said, accepting the nomination.

The center-left Labor Party led by former trade union chief Amir Peretz has already agreed to a political partnership with Kadima. Kadima will now try to woo a smattering of smaller parties and set government guidelines.

Olmert has proposed removing Jewish settlers from swathes of the occupied West Bank in the continued absence of peace talks with the Palestinians. At the ceremony, Olmert promised to make "a serious and genuine attempt" to revive peacemaking.

But he reiterated he wanted to reach "an understanding" with the United States and other countries on working "toward the fixing of the permanent border lines even without an agreement".

Under Olmert's "convergence plan", Israel would keep major settlement blocs and trace its final frontier by 2010 along a barrier it is building in the West Bank, where 240,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians.

Palestinians condemn such a move, saying it would annex land and deny the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

With a new Palestinian government led by the Islamic militant group in Hamas in place, the prospect that peacemaking could be resumed soon seems unlikely.

DETENTION
In a sign of Israel's tough stance toward Hamas, which advocates its destruction, Israeli security forces detained Palestinian cabinet minister Khaled Abu Araf at a roadblock in the occupied West Bank. He was released five hours later.

"The Hamas minister was detained at about 9 a.m. (0600 GMT). He was not questioned at any point and was released at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT)," an army spokesman said. "He was held because he is not allowed to enter these areas."

Security officials quoted by the Haaretz Web site said Araf, an independent, was taken into custody because as the holder of an Israeli identity card, he is banned by Israel from areas administered by the Palestinian Authority.

Abu Araf can carry an Israeli ID because he lives in Arab East Jerusalem, which Israel captured and annexed in the 1967 Middle East war in a move that is not recognized internationally.

Hamas held its first cabinet meeting on Wednesday following its victory in the January 25 Palestinian election.

Israel says it cannot consider dealing with Hamas until the group recognizes the Jewish state, renounces violence and accepts prior interim Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

"The Occupation is continuing the escalation to undermine the work of the new government," Palestinian cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad said in Gaza, using Hamas's term for Israel.

"The arrest of a cabinet minister proves the falseness of Israel's arguments that it seeks peace," Hamad said.

Olmert gets official nod to form Israeli government

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Israel arrests, frees Palestinian minister in East Jerusalem
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies

The Shin Bet security service on Thursday released Khaled Abu Arafa, the Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, a few hours after they detained him as he made his way from Jerusalem to Azzariyeh, close to the eastern part of the city.

Border Policemen in jeeps appeared to have been waiting for Abu Arafa, Hamas officials said, and stopped his car as it headed toward Azzariyeh.

Abu Arafa, an independent in the Hamas-led government, was apparently en route to the office of his Fatah predecessor Ziad Abu Ziad for a handover ceremony. His bodyguard was also detained.

"They stopped the car and asked the minister to get out and when he refused they forced him by pointing the rifle in his face," a Hamas source said.

Israeli security sources confirmed the arrest, saying Abu Arafa, a resident of the East Jerusalem village of Abu Dis, was detained for trying to enter the Palestinian territories with his Israeli ID card. He was released a few hours later.

Israelis are banned from entering the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Ahmed Jalajel, a photographer for the Arabic Al-Quds daily, was in the car with the minister when he was taken into custody.

"They asked us for ID, they said 'get out.' He [Abu Arafa] said 'I am not getting out.' They opened the car and pushed him out," Jalajel told The Associated Press.

"They asked him to sit down on the ground, and then they checked the IDs. They asked him to get into their jeep. He refused, then they pushed him into the jeep," Jalajel said, adding that he tried to take a picture but the security forces broke his camera.

This is the first time Israel has arrested a minister in the Hamas-led government, sworn in last week after winning a landslide victory in January's parliamentary elections.

Abu Arafa, a Jerusalem resident born in 1961, has been arrested by Israel several times in the past.

Israel arrests, frees Palestinian minister in East Jerusalem

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IDF: PA Hamas leaders now fair target
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST    Apr. 6, 2006

A refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist and the Palestinian Authority's continued support of terror activity has granted the IDF the legal right to target and strike the Hamas Palestinian leadership, a member of the IDF General Staff told The Jerusalem Post this week.

"This new reality, in which the PA supports terror, does not prevent terror and does not recognize Israel's right to exist can legally allow for diplomatic and operational decisions that were not made in the past," the officer said.
Hamas's refusal to recognize previous agreements, including the Oslo Accords, signed by Israel and the PA, the officer said, constituted a "severe breach of contract" and placed the Palestinian leadership on the same footing as a terror group.

"If we used to make a distinction between the PA and terror groups," the officer explained, "today we can make a legal distinction between the civilian population on the one hand, and the PA including the terror groups on the other."

The officer said that there was also no reason for Israel to declare war on the Palestinian Authority since international law worked on a de facto basis and once "the PA does not stop terror, it is infected with terror… and becomes a side to the conflict just like terror groups are sides to the conflict." Israel, he added, would be legally allowed to strike and kill Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh if there was evidence that he engaged in and supported anti-Israel terror activity.

If Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert adopted this legal thinking the officer said, Israel would theoretically be allowed to cut off all ties with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and would be exempt from responsibility for the humanitarian developments there.

"We don't have to legally take care of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip," he said. In contrast, the officer added, the military control over the West Bank obligated Israel to care for the Palestinian population.

Meanwhile Wednesday, an IDF officer was lightly wounded during an arrest operation in Nablus. He was flown to Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer for medical treatment. During the raid, an IDF unit arrested two terror suspects who were reportedly in the midst of planning suicide attacks. In total, IDF troops arrested 12 Palestinian terror suspects in sweeps throughout the West Bank.

Also Wednesday, eight Kassam rockets landed in the western Negev without causing injuries. The IDF responded by firing artillery barrages at the launch sites.

PA Hamas leaders now fair target

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Al-Zahar wants 'Palestine from river to sea'

Palestinian foreign minister, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar tells officials ministry's policy should be to establish Palestinian state in place of Israel, says Jewish State must not be recognized

Israel must not be recognized and the Palestinian Foreign Ministry should aim to establish a Palestinian State from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, in place of the Jewish State, PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said according to Palestinian media reports.

Al-Zahar made the remarks during his first meeting with Foreign Ministry officials and ahead of the first session to be held by the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Fatah officials, who are closely monitoring the situation, said in recent hours that prospects for the continued existence of the Hamas government appear slim. Such government would not be able to last as long as Hamas refrains from modifying its positions, which only serve to isolate the cabinet, the Fatah sources said.

The Hamas-led government's first session was Wednesday in Ramallah and Gaza and headed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The session was held via satellite, with more than half of the government ministers staying in Ramallah.

During the session, Haniyeh announced "Palestinian coffers are empty", and added that his government inherited problems left behind by the previous Fatah-led government.

No diplomatic declarations were expected during the meeting, which was mostly dedicated to internal Palestinian affairs, and particularly efforts to battle the financial crisis faced by the PA through a three-month emergency plan.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian street is closely monitoring the new government's conduct and its chances of survival, while Hamas works to end the growing isolation faced by the government.

Elsewhere, London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported that Fatah is considering the establishment of a shadow cabinet that would operate along the Hamas government and be ready to take its place should the official government collapse.

Efforts to pay PA officials

Ahead of Wednesday's session, several Hamas ministers met Tuesday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to discuss ways for the government and PA leader to work together.

Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdel-Razek said that the government continues to engage in fundraising efforts in order to pay the salaries of Palestinian officials. Starting this month, the Hamas government's mission will be first and foremost to guarantee the payment of salaries to approximately 150,000 Palestinian clerks and security personnel.

PA sources estimated that the delays in salary payments would in fact mark the beginning of the government's countdown toward collapse, but Hamas officials said that the movement plans on undertaken all efforts in order to prolong the government's life "for the sake of the Palestinian people."

In the meantime, the Hamas faction announced that it was making amendments in the distribution of roles in the faction. Following the appointment of Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar as the Palestinian government's foreign minister, Dr. Khalil al-Haya will be appointed the faction chairman. In addition, the faction decided on changes in the posts of the faction chairman's deputies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Al-Zahar wants 'Palestine from river to sea'

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Report: Hamas Proposes Broad Cease-Fire

56 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Hamas has offered Israel a proposal for a broad, extended cease-fire in exchange for guarantees that the Israeli army won't attack militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday.

The Haaretz daily said the new Hamas-led government would pledge not to carry out attacks against Israel and would prevent other Palestinian groups from doing so. The proposal has been relayed to Israel through Egyptian mediators and other third parties, the paper said.

The paper quoted Israeli political and defense officials as dismissing the offer as a "trick." Israel refuses to deal with the new government, saying Hamas must first renounce violence and recognize the Jewish state. Despite heavy international pressure, Hamas has refused to halt its calls for Israel's destruction.

Israel and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas reached an informal cease-fire in February 2005. Hamas has largely honored the truce.

Report: Hamas Proposes Broad Cease-Fire

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Palestinian PM Refuses to Recognize Israel

By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 41 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas declined to recognize Israel, appealed for understanding from the United States and insisted that his Cabinet, not Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, will have control over security forces.

But as Haniyeh was talking Thursday in his Gaza City office, Abbas took his latest step to clip his wings, naming a longtime Fatah ally to supervise the security forces.

Abbas' actions appeared aimed at convincing the international community that he, not Hamas, is in charge. Western donors have threatened to cut off desperately needed aid if Hamas does not renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist, conditions the group has rejected.

Abbas and Haniyeh were to meet in Gaza on Friday night.

Sitting beneath a picture of Abbas and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Haniyeh said he rejected any attempts to undercut Hamas, which won Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. His Cabinet was sworn in last week.

"There are attempts to create parallel frameworks to some ministries in the Palestinian government," Haniyeh said in the interview with the AP at his Gaza City headquarters. "But I don't think (Abbas) can keep up this pressure and take away power from this government."

Haniyeh said Abbas had assured him the security forces would remain under the control of the Hamas-led Cabinet, which, he said, came to power not "on the back of a tank" but in "transparent and fair elections."

But hours later, Abbas appointed a longtime ally, Rashid Abu Shbak, to head the three security services that fall under new Interior Minister Said Siyam, in addition to agencies already under the president's aegis. Though Siyam would technically be Abu Shbak's boss, any dispute between the two would be resolved in the Abbas-headed National Security Council.

Abu Shbak said he was authorized to hire and fire officers in the three security branches. "Any recruitment of directors or deputy directors for any of the three services will be made through me," he said. His appointment reduced Hamas' authority over the security apparatus to cutting checks for its 58,000 officers.

Abbas has said he wants to resume peace talks with Israel, which has shunned the Hamas government, and Haniyeh said he would not stand in the way of such efforts.

Abbas "can move on political fronts and negotiate with whomever he wants. What is important is what will be offered to the Palestinian people," Haniyeh said.

When asked if he was a pragmatic man and would recognize Israel, he switched to English: "That is a big question."

He said there was no change in Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and respect all past accords signed by the Palestinian Authority — the three conditions Israel and the West have imposed for dealing with Hamas, which is listed as a terror group by the U.S. and European Union.

At the same time, he struck a conciliatory tone when speaking about the United States, saying, "we don't want feelings of animosity to remain in the region, not toward the U.S. administration and not toward the West."

He also denied reports that al-Qaida militants had infiltrated Palestinian territories.

Also Thursday, the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads, ordered the Hamas-led Foreign Ministry to coordinate with it before making major pronouncements on diplomatic policy. The PLO is technically in charge of the Palestinians' foreign affairs.

Abbas is likely to continue amassing power to end Western sanctions, said Khalil Shahin, a political analyst with the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper.

"I predict that he will keep stripping Hamas of more of its authorities, particularly on the financial ministries and other bodies responsible for infrastructure and the security," he said. "(Abbas) is trying with these measures to spare the Palestinian people more suffering and more sanctions."

Palestinian PM Refuses to Recognize Israel

[Shammu]

Modern Hebrew Bible translation reaches out to Israeli youth
By David Roach
Apr 7, 2006

RISHON LETSION, Israel (BP)--The Old Testament was written originally in Hebrew. So you might think that the millions of Hebrew-speaking youth in Israel would be able to read and understand it.

But HaGefen Publishing, a Christian publisher in Israel, has taken note of vast differences between the biblical Hebrew of the Old Testament and the modern Hebrew of today that make it very difficult for Israeli youth to understand the Bible. HaGefen is attempting to remedy the problem by publishing the first-ever translation of the Old Testament in modern Hebrew.

The new translation is part of a modern-Hebrew translation of the entire Bible called “The Testimony” (“Ha’Edut” in Hebrew). The first volume, containing the first five books of the Old Testament, was published in 2001; volume two, containing the historical books, was published in early 2004. Volume three contains the prophetic books and is scheduled for release in late 2006. The entire project began in 1994 and is slated for completion by 2010.

All volumes are translated into simple, modern Hebrew vocabulary by Shoshan Danielson and edited by Baruch Maoz. Experts in Hebrew and the Bible are among those involved in the project, along with a control group of children. The finished product will feature more than 1,000 illustrations, including diagrams of genealogies.

Maoz told Baptist Press that Israeli youth need The Testimony because biblical Hebrew is like a foreign language to those who read modern Hebrew.

“Biblical Hebrew is 4,000-2,500 years old,” Maoz said in an interview. “Who can read a text written in English even a mere 1,000 years ago? There are differences of vocabulary, syntax and the meaning of words, sometimes radically so.”

Yitzhak Laor, an Israeli novelist, emphasized the vast difference between biblical and modern Hebrew in a recent article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

“In my opinion, one of the difficulties of teaching the Bible [to Israeli youth] lies not in the clash of religion and secularism, but in the inability to recognize the fact that the Bible is written in a foreign language,” Laor writes. “The Israeli high-school graduate does not have the ability to approach a chapter that was not previously studied at school without a book of biblical commentary within easy reach, without a dictionary of biblical Hebrew.”

The Testimony is part of HaGefen’s larger mission to share the Gospel with Jewish men and women. HaGefen is the Israeli branch of Christian Witness to Israel, a UK-based interdenominational evangelistic society committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus with the Jewish people.

In addition to The Testimony, HaGefen has published in modern Hebrew classic Christian books such as “Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan, “The Mystery of Providence” by Puritan John Flavel, “Knowing God” by J.I. Packer and “The Sovereignty of God” by A.W. Pink.

A statement on HaGefen’s website notes, “Like the apostle Paul, we reason from the Hebrew Scriptures to demonstrate and prove that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead and that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour of the world promised through the ancient Jewish prophets. We believe that to preach the Good News of Jesus to everyone but the Jews is an act of spiritual anti-Semitism. We are completely open and honest about our beliefs and aims and we deplore deceptive and manipulative techniques.”

According to HaGefen, The Testimony will meet needs among Israeli’s that have been ignored for far too long. “HaGefen Publishing has embarked onto an ambitious program of illustrating all the books of the Bible in a manner that will respond to the needs barely met until now by all other illustrators,” the website states.

Maoz, who also serves as pastor of Grace and Truth Christian Congregation in Israel, said it is uncertain what impact The Testimony may have for the Gospel. But certain Rabbis fear the translation’s impact and have raised opposition, he said.

“There is strong opposition to the translation’s distribution,” Maoz said. “Shops refuse to carry it.”

One major challenge facing HaGefen is funding to complete the project and to start future translation projects, Maoz said.

“We would also like to produce a metric version of the Psalms, with music, for singing in our congregations,” he noted.

Modern Hebrew Bible translation reaches out to Israeli youth