Prophecy and End Time Series. - Israel

[Shammu]

Israeli Strikes Kill 8 Militants in Gaza

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 35 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Two Israeli air strikes killed eight Palestinian militants Saturday in the latest signs that
Israel has stepped up its retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza since the Islamic militant group Hamas assumed power last week.

Six Palestinian militants were killed and five wounded when Israeli aircraft fired missiles after nightfall at a training camp in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

The Israeli military confirmed it carried out an attack against a Fatah camp that it said was used for weapons training and planning attacks against Israel.

Palestinians said the target was a camp used by the Abu Rish Brigades, an ad-hoc grouping of breakaways from several militant groups, including Fatah and Hamas.

Earlier Saturday, two members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of the Fatah Party, were killed and a third was seriously wounded in an Israeli missile strike on their car in Gaza. The militants had just fired a rocket toward Israel and returned to their car when they were hit, the Israeli military said.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a Palestinian Authority spokesman, said the air strikes were a "new escalation" and that the Palestinians would appeal to the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution against the attacks.

In recent days, the military has also intensified artillery attacks on Gaza, for the first time firing at rocket launch sites even if they are in populated areas, rather than aiming only at open fields. Over a four-day period, two Palestinians have been killed and 25 wounded by direct artillery hits on houses, Palestinian officials said. Israeli security officials said troops have fired 750 artillery shells since Thursday.

The change in tactics comes at a time when Israel is revisiting its policy toward the new Hamas-led government. In an initial response to the Islamic militant group's election victory in January, Israel suspended monthly transfers of tax payments it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and imposed travel bans on Hamas leaders.

Israel's Cabinet was to devise a more detailed policy in its weekly meeting Sunday.

Israel's designated prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said in an interview published on Newsweek's Web site Saturday that he would not try to negotiate a peace deal with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas because he lost authority after Hamas' rise to power.

It marked the first time Olmert stated clearly that he will not negotiate with Abbas as long as Hamas does not recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing peace accords.

Hamas has said repeatedly it would not revise its positions, though some leaders in the group have hinted at a readiness to moderate.

If Hamas refuses to change, Olmert is expected to move ahead with his unilateral plan for the West Bank, including pulling out of large parts of the territory, but annexing large Jewish settlement blocs.

Asked how long he is prepared to wait before launching his West Bank plan, Olmert said: "If we reach the conclusion that the Palestinians are not prepared to meet the requirements that lead to negotiations, we will then move forward without a negotiating process. We are ready to change. We are not prepared to wait forever."

Olmert said peace talks would have to be conducted with the Palestinian Authority, now led by Hamas, and not with Abbas.

"Abu Mazen (Abbas) has deprived himself of all the practical authorities of government," he said.

Abbas meanwhile said in an interview to be published Sunday that Hamas has begun to realize after just a few days in power that it cannot govern without the world's recognition. But Hamas is still grappling with the international community's demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence.

The European Union and the United States said Friday they are halting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, called the decisions "blackmail," and said Saturday his government would not change its positions.

On Friday, a missile strike killed five Hamas-linked militants and a 7-year-old boy in an attack on a militants' training camp in southern Gaza. Fourteen people were wounded.

Israeli military commentator Alon Ben-David said the army was following a policy of "intentional escalation," in part because of frustration over being unable to halt rocket fire from Gaza.

Israeli Strikes Kill 8 Militants in Gaza

[Shammu]

Ezra extends police high alert until Passover due to warnings
By Arnon Regular, Amos Harel and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, and Reuters

Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra on Sunday ordered police to continue its operational activity according to alert level C, which is the second-highest alert level, Israel Radio reported.

As of Sunday afternoon, security forces had received 74 active warnings of planned terrorist attacks, 13 of them "focused," Army Radio reported.

Earlier on Sunday security forces went on alert amid threats to avenge the deaths of the Palestinians, nearly all of them members of armed groups hit in Israel Air Force air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

   Advertisement

One of the casualties, the son of a senior commander and bomb maker of the Popular Resistance Committese, was a five-year-old boy.

The IDF was preparing to step up arrest operations and tighten closures over the territorities in the coming days, with the approach of Passover Eve Wednesday night, Army Radio reported.

Islamic Jihad, however, said on Sunday it was suspending rocket fire from northern Gaza into Israel for one week to try to halt Israel Defense Forces artillery barrages which have sometimes hit civilian areas.

The group told Reuters the launching of makeshift rockets would resume if Israel did not stop air strikes and artillery attacks on the Strip. Israel has said it was responding to the militant rocket fire.

Artillery shelling leaves one Palestinian dead
A Palestinian man was killed and seven other people were wounded - two of them seriously - when IDF artillery pounded the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, Palestinian security officials said.

Hassan Abu Jarad, a taxi driver transporting PA security officers to their positions, was killed when an IDF shell hit the village of Beit Hanun.

The IDF shelled a number of PA positions in northern Gaza on Sunday morning. The position hit in Beit Hanun was manned by the PA's national security forces.

The IDF said the shelling came in response to Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza into Israel over the weekend. It also said it had warned Palestinian security officers posted near launching sites that they could be in danger from Israeli retaliation.

Farmers evacuated their cows because of nearby shelling. Shells hit several farms and two cows were seen bleeding. Students also evacuated a school near the border with Israel and an ambulance waited in the street in case of an emergency.

"If the Israelis thought this policy would work with the Palestinians, they are mistaken, because violence and escalation will bring more violence and will not lead to calm," said Osama Inesu, a 39-year-old police officer.

Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siyam on Sunday called on militants to leave their training bases in order to avoid being hit by IDF fire.

16 Palestinians killed by IDF on weekend
The Islamic Jihad move came after 16 Palestinians were killed by the IDF over the past 48 hours, 15 in the Gaza Strip and another in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Five of the fatalities, including the 5-year-old, were killed on Friday in an IAF strike on a terrorist training camp in the Gaza Strip; two Palestinian militants were killed Saturday morning in the Strip after attempting to launch Qassam rockets at Israeli territory; at least six Abu Rish Brigades militants were killed in an air force strike late Saturday night; and in Nablus, a Palestinian man, who may have been armed, was killed during an arrest raid there on Friday.

Twenty-five Palestinians were wounded in the weekend air strikes, part of the IDF's intensified effort to combat Qassam launches, and three IDF soldiers were lightly hurt in arrest raids in the West Bank city of Nablus.

The Saturday night strike targeted an Abu Rish Brigades' training camp in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said. IDF sources said the camp was used for training for weapons use and planning terror attacks against Israel.

The Abu Rish Brigades are an ad-hoc grouping of breakaways from several militant organizations, including Fatah and Hamas.

Saturday morning IAF jets targeted three members of Fatah's military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, killing two who had just attempted to fire a rocket in the direction of Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The third man was seriously wounded.

The militants targeted in the Friday attack were members of the Popular Resistance Committees, a Fatah offshoot believed responsible for some of the recent rocket fire from the Strip.

IAF jets fired missiles at a position on the base and a vehicle with several passengers. Most of the fatalities, so it appears, were either in the car or nearby.

Witnesses named the senior commander as Eyad Abu Al-Ein of the PRC. Abu Al-Ein, who is also a bomb maker, had brought his daughter and son to watch training exercises at the base.

Medics said his son, 5, was killed and his wife was seriously injured. They had earlier said his daughter had been killed, but later the family identified the dismembered body as the son, medics added.

IDF officials said they regretted the loss of civilian life, but stressed that the operation had targeted a terror organization.

Haniyeh holds emergency session
On Sunday, Hamas' military wing, Iz al-Din al-Qassam, threatened to avenge the deaths of those killed by IDF fire.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has called an emergency session of the Hamas-led cabinet on Sunday to discuss the escalated IDF attacks, his office said.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a Palestinian Authority spokesman, said the weekend air strikes were a "new escalation" and that the Palestinians would appeal to the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution against the Israeli attacks.

"This Israeli escalation aims to bring the Palestinian people on their knees and to blackmail the government in order to win over political concessions," Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza. "We will remain loyal to the rights of our people and we will not give anything that may harm these rights."

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government, denounced the strikes as "crimes against our people."

Despite the IAF strikes, Qassam launches continued over the weekend, with at least five rockets landing in the northern and western Negev. No damage nor injuries was reported.

Ezra extends police high alert until Passover due to warnings

[Shammu]

 Israel declares PA 'hostile entity'
by
Sunday 09 April 2006 3:23 PM GMT

The Israeli army shelled northern Gaza on Sunday

The Israeli government says it has severed all ties with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, declaring it a "hostile entity".

However, the government will maintain contacts with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, although it has ruled out full peace talks with the leader of the Fatah faction.

The decision was announced following a security cabinet meeting on Sunday.

In a statement issued after the meeting Ehud Olmert, the acting Israeli prime minister, also said that his government would shun foreign diplomats who meet members of the Hamas administration.

The move came as the military wing of Hamas said it would avenge the deaths of 15 Palestinians killed during Israeli air attacks on Gaza over the weekend.

Boycott

"Israel will have no contact with the Palestinian Authority, which is a hostile authority, and will work towards preventing any entrenchment of the Hamas government's rule," the statement said.

"But at the same time, there will be no personal disqualification of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority."

"The Zionist enemy will pay a high price and will drink from the same cup from which our people drink day and night"

Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades
The boycott of foreign diplomats is similar to one imposed on those who met the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

Then diplomats were only able to meet with Israeli officials after leaving the region and returning at a later date.

Israel says it will have no contact with Hamas unless it renounces violence and agrees to recognise the Jewish state.

Revenge

Olmert also said Israel would continue its military operations as long as Palestinian fighters carried on launching rocket attacks on Israel.

"There is no restriction on the security services regarding the carrying out of these actions wherever they identify the danger of terrorist activity," he said.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, issued a statement vowing revenge on Israel.

"The Zionist enemy will pay a high price and will drink from the same cup from which our people drink day and night," it said.

On Sunday, the Israeli army fired artillery shells at a Palestinian security post in the northern Gaza Strip, killing one person and wounding at least six others.

On Saturday, eight Palestinian fighters were killed in two separate air strikes.

The Israeli army also killed five fighters and a five-year-old boy in a strike on a car in southern Gaza on Friday.

Israel says the strikes are in response to rocket attacks coming from the area.

Israel declares PA 'hostile entity'

[Shammu]

Israel to Declare Sharon 'Incapacitated'

1 hour, 51 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for three months, will be declared permanently incapacitated Tuesday, a decision that signals the official end of his reign, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.

Sharon, 78, was declared temporarily incapacitated after he lapsed into a coma following a stroke Jan. 4. Ehud Olmert stepped in for him immediately as acting prime minister, but under Israeli law he can only serve in that capacity for up to 100 days before an official replacement for Sharon has to be named.

That deadline expires Friday, but because the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday begins Wednesday, the declaration of permanent incapacitation has been moved up to Tuesday — with the proviso that it not take effect if Sharon's condition improves before the deadline, Justice Ministry spokesman Jacob Galanti said.

Olmert, who won March 28 elections, is expected to be named Sharon's official replacement as he continues negotiating with smaller parties to form a governing coalition.

Officials at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where Sharon is being treated, said Sunday that discussions were still under way on whether to move him to a long-term care facility. Experts say his chances of recovery are extremely slim, given the gravity of his stroke and his persistent coma.

Hospital spokesman Ron Krumer defined Sharon's condition as "serious, but stable," a reflection that his life is not in immediate danger.

Last week, Sharon underwent surgery to restore a part of his skull removed in previous operations after his stroke.

Israel to Declare Sharon 'Incapacitated'

[Shammu]

Israel to Rule Out Negotiations With Abbas

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 9, 11:53 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel's Cabinet is set to cut all ties with the Palestinian Authority, ruling out the possibility that Israel will hold peace talks with the moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to bypass the new Hamas-led government, an official said Sunday.

Israel's security Cabinet, a small group of top government officials, made the recommendations to the full Cabinet, which is expected to discuss and approve the measures at its meeting next Sunday, said Asaf Shariv, the government spokesman.

Israel already cut most ties with the Palestinian Authority after the Hamas-dominated parliament was inaugurated in February. It also has halted the transfer of $55 million in monthly tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians, dealing a debilitating blow to the cash-strapped Palestinian government.

Next week's Cabinet vote would be a symbolic stamp of approval to the steps Israel implemented after Hamas' January election victory.

The Cabinet measures will include boycotting any foreign diplomats who meet with Hamas officials and cutting all ties with the Palestinian Authority, which is a "hostile entity," Shariv said.

The recommendations, published on the prime minister's Web site, state that "the Palestinian Authority is one authority that does not have two heads."

Shariv said that acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could still talk to Abbas, but there will be no "Hamas bypass." Peace talks will not be held with Abbas so long as Hamas does not recognize Israel, accept past peace deals and renounce violence, he said.

In a similar statement, Olmert was quoted in an interview with The Washington Post published Sunday as saying he would not hold peace talks with Abbas so long as Hamas does not accept Israel's demands, which are backed by the United States and the international community. Hamas has rejected the demands.

Israel's tough stance against Hamas has received international backing, with many countries cutting off ties with the Palestinian Authority and halting much of the aid that had flowed into the poverty-stricken West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel's army has also escalated its retaliation against militant rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel, putting pressure on Hamas, which refuses to stop the fire.

On Sunday, Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with artillery fire, killing a Palestinian police officer and wounding at least 16 people. It has conducted 10 air strikes and launched 900 artillery shells at northern Gaza since late Thursday, and for the first time began firing at rocket-launching sites in populated areas.

Fifteen Palestinians, including 13 militants and the child of one of the radicals, have died in Israeli attacks since Friday. No Israelis were wounded by the 10 rockets launched from Gaza into southern Israel over the weekend.

Olmert said the military has a free hand to act against militants. "There are no restrictions on security forces in the event they identify danger," he said during the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh convened an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss the intensified attacks.

Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad called on the international community to push Israel to halt its attacks.

"We are astonished by the silence of the United States and the European Union regarding the ongoing aggression," he said, though he refused to condemn the rocket attacks. "Our people have a right to resist," he said.

Hamas' military wing condemned the "dangerous escalation" and vowed revenge.

The police officer killed Sunday, Yasser Abu Jarad, 28, was trying to evacuate colleagues from a makeshift military post when a shell hit his car in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun and killed him, Palestinian security officials said. At least 16 people were wounded in the shelling in northern Gaza.

The army said it had warned Palestinian security officers posted near launching sites that they could be in danger from Israeli retaliation.

"If the Israelis thought this policy would work with the Palestinians, they are mistaken, because violence and escalation will bring more violence and will not lead to calm," said Osama Inesu, a 39-year-old police officer.

While Israel has been pressuring Hamas with military strikes, the U.S. and European Union cut off of tens of millions of dollars in desperately needed aid to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. and EU classify Hamas as a terror group.

In interviews published Sunday, Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek said the government's financial crisis was worse than he thought, and he did not know when he would be able to pay salaries to 140,000 public workers, who support one-third of the 3.9 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Abdel Razek had said last week that he expected to pay the salaries by mid-April, but on Sunday, newspapers quoted him as saying that at the time, "I did not have a full picture of the magnitude of the problem."

Israel to Rule Out Negotiations With Abbas

[Shammu]

Olmert: Israel Should Not Be on the Forefront of a War Against Iran

In an exclusive interview with TIME, the Israeli prime minister warns about the threat from Iran, praises President Bush and vows to press ahead with West Bank withdrawals
By ROMESH RATNESAR


Posted Sunday, Apr. 09, 2006
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with TIME World Editor Romesh Ratnesar for a two-hour interview at Olmert�s home in Jerusalem. Here are excerpts from their discussion.

TIME: Would Israel take military action to stop Iran's nuclear program?

Olmert: As the one who has to take the decision, I can tell you that I genuinely don't think Israel should be on the forefront of this war. I don't know why people think this is first and foremost a war for Israel. It's a problem for every civilized country. Iran is a major threat to the well-being of Europe and America just as much as it is for the state of Israel. I don't think America can tolerate the idea of a leader of nation of 30 million people who can openly speak of the liquidation of another country. And therefore it is incumbent upon America and Europeans to form a strategy and implement it to remove this danger of unconventional weapons in Iran. To assume that Israel would be the first to go into a military confrontation with Iran represents a misunderstanding of this issue.

TIME: How often do you speak to President Bush?

Olmert: I've spoken to him maybe three times since I became Prime Minister. There is a very strong emotional bond between the two of us, every time we speak we both feel it deeply. I know how he feels and he (knows) how I feel. I think it grew out of his first trip to Israel, when I hosted him in Jerusalem. He knows that I like him. I very much depend on the understanding and cooperation of President Bush. The reason I think (disengagement) can be done is because of the trust and understanding we have for each other. In my opinion President Bush will emerge in history as the person who had more courage to change the Middle East than any person before him. I know the war in Iraq is controversial in the States, but for us in the Middle East it has made a great and significant impact. The decision of the President made an enormous impact on the lives of Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians—every country who was the potential target of the aggression of Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The sense of mission that Bush feels about war on terror is of enormous significant. When I think from the perspective of an Israeli and who is the partner, the natural partner who I speak with about fighting terror, it's President Bush

TIME:You've said that you intend to begin a unilateral withdrawal from some settlements in the West Bank, which goes further than even what Sharon said he would do. Why are you pushing to do this now?

Olmert: I'm not certain that all those who are trying to be the authentic interpreters of Sharon's legacy can say with great accuracy what he would have done. When Arik collapsed, Hamas was not in power and the prospect of possible negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was entirely different. This has changed as a result of Hamas coming to power. To continue the same old rhetoric only because I have to think what would Sharon have done is a mistake. I have to think about what is best to do under present circumstances—what can be done, what ought to be done. If there's one thing Sharon represented it's not so much the old thing than the desire not to sit and do nothing. I'm sure that he would also have changed the way he thinks if he witnessed these developments.

TIME: There's a lot of opposition to the plan from the settler community and their supporters. Are you worried that your plan will split Israel?

Olmert:I believe that inside the population of settlers there is a significant group that understand that the time has come for us to redraw the lines. If we handle it with sufficient sensitivity, I believe that we can avoid unnecessary eruptions of emotional reactions. And the plan is not just about dismantling settlements—it's also aimed at focusing and moving forward to augment the three major blocs of settlements in the West Bank.

TIME: Will the lines in place at the end of it be the political borders of Israel?

Olmert: At least for a period of time. They will be very very close to what may be the final borderlines. The idea is that we will be separated from the overwhelming majority of Palestinians. The whole idea is to separate Israelis from the Palestinians and to allow territorial contiguity for the Palestinians from which they can take the necessary steps to build and develop and independent Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel. I guess if at some point afterward there will be negotiations to finalize everything and in order to reach a comprehensive peace then maybe some adjustments. But the lines I want to draw are very close to the lines that I believe will become the political borders.

TIME: Would you consider going back to negotiations rather than continue with the unilateral strategy? Do you see any prospect for negotiations with Hamas if they moderate their rhetoric?

Olmert: They can't just change their rhetoric They need to change their entire way of life, they need to change entirely their state of mind about Israel's existence. It's so much deeper than rhetoric. To just believe that if Ismail Haniyeh tomorrow starts using different words, that will make the difference? No way. This is a typical fundamentalist, extremist religious movement that does not think in political terms the way we're accustomed to. Therefore I'm not very optimistic they can change overnight. They can change their rhetoric but they can't change substance.

Their inability to accept the existence of two states and their total dedication to an Islamic religious fundamentalist state all across the Middle East to Africa to Asia is still their most dominant driving force. Don't get it wrong, some of them are very sophisticated, well educated people. But they have a different concept of life.

TIME: Hamas says that if the international community—including the U.S. and Israel—continues to restrict aid, there is a real possibility of a humanitarian crisis in the territories. Doesn't Israel have an interest in preventing a collapse of Palestinian society?

Olmert: We're not going to wait for a collapse. We're going to prevent it from the outset without any hesitation. I'm concerned about it independently of the issue of whether it would harm Israeli interests or not. It's enough that it should do something bad for innocent human beings that I will want to prevent it. That doesn't mean I have to cooperate with the Palestinian government. We have to find a way how to help the people without helping a government that can easily use these funds that will be transferred to them for different purposes altogether without any sense of regret or responsibility for the human needs of the population. We promise we will do everything we can to help meet the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people without any hesitation whatsoever.

TIME: How?

Olmert: There are many non-governmental organizations that can be of assistance, and money can be transferred directly to them. It doesn't always have to go across the administration of the PA in order to become meaningful. We're thinking about it. I'm having a discussion with my top advisers to see what we can do.

Cont'd next post

[Shammu]

TIME: Will you release the $50 million in tax duties that you've withheld from the Palestinians?

Olmert: Don't expect us to release the money to the Palestinian government. This is a terrorist government and there's no way I can be sure that the money I release will go to the needs you want them for. They might go for financing terror—to Bin Laden, to Hezbollah—I have no idea. If we release the money it will not go through the Palestinian administration.

TIME: Do you visit Sharon in the hospital?

Olmert: Not at all. I have not been. I can't talk to him. He's unconscious. I talk to his doctors twice a week, so I know exactly what his situation is and I talk to his sons. For me Arik Sharon—I remember his courage and inspiration. I want to remember him the way he really was—not as an aging 80 year old man living in bed helpless and unconscious.

The last meeting I had with him was on the day of his collapse. He was to have an operation the next day. I was supposed to be acting Prime Minister for three hours while he had the operation. He asked me to meet with him. I remember joking with him and saying, �I'm not going to make any decision tomorrow except changing all your staff.� At the end of the meeting I stood up and said �Arik, this country needs you. Stay well. Come back. I am looking forward to hearing your voice on the phone tomorrow saying �Ehud I relieve you of your responsibilities. I'm back in town.'� Then I hugged him and he hugged me, and I said goodbye. I want to remember that.

TIME: Do you feel lucky to have been handed the opportunity?

Olmert: I've been working 33 years to reach this minute. I've been doing what I thought was right for the state of Israel. I was never hiding my opinions. I always was at the forefront in all the political battles over the last three decades. I am where I'm supposed to be. I don't believe it was the only possible development that I would be Prime Minister. But I was among the 5 or 6 people in the room who everyone with political understanding would think could get the job.

So what happened was a natural outcome of a process of which I was a major part. There are things that can prepare you for doing this job—your wisdom or lack of it, your experience or lack of it, your personality, your frame of mind. But nothing totally prepares you for it because you've never been there before—you've never been in the place where as President Truman said, �The buck stops here.� It's your decision that will count. I hope that I'm as ready as I can get. I hope that I'm as capable as I think I am to assume responsibility. But I'm not afraid, I'm not intimidated by anything. All my life I did everything to be ready now.

TIME: Do people treat you differently now that you're Prime Minister?

Olmert: It takes getting used to. I received one of my friends at home the other day. I was in shorts and a T-shirt, which was fine. Then he had to leave, I saw him out the main door, and when I was outside, he said go back in the house. I said why, I thought he was worried about security, because the security doesn't let me go outside. He said, ��Look how you're dressed! You're the Prime Minister!'� I thought, What the heck? This is how I dress. But life has changed, that's for sure. I can't go to the soccer game anymore, or I can't go to the market. You have to measure the joy it gives you against the inconvenience to the average person.

TIME: Still, you became Prime Minister in pretty extraordinary circumstances, after Ariel Sharon's stroke. Did you feel prepared for the job?

Olmert: A friend of mine who's known me for 25 years told me, that perhaps the most striking effect for him was the fact I look so well-prepared for the job that's unbelievable, as if I've prepared all my life. In a way he's right. I know the professional experts of Israeli politics had other forecasts. But I knew one day I would be PM. I've felt for a long time that I knew what needs to be done and that I knew inside me that I had the emotional powers to be able to carry the burden that comes with it. It's not something that was guiding me in everything I did every morning,. I'm not that kind of person, it's just that I knew that one day I had to be ready to assume responsibility a the highest level, and that I had to think in this manner. There's nothing that's happened to me in the last few months that struck me as entirely different than anything else that I ever did in my entire life. From the Apr. 17, 2006 issue of TIME magazine

Olmert: Israel Should Not Be on the Forefront of a War Against Iran

[Shammu]

Israel suspends security ties with Palestinians
Mon Apr 10, 2006 7:39 AM ET

 By Adel Abu Nimeh

JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel suspended formal security ties with the Palestinians on Monday in a bid to further isolate the new Hamas government one day after declaring it a hostile entity.

Thousands of Palestinians poured into Gaza streets to protest both aid cuts by Western powers and a sharp increase in military action by Israel.

Avi Dichter, a top adviser to interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, told Israel radio that a ground assault of Gaza could not be ruled out.

"We have done it in the past and can do so in the present," said Dichter, who may be appointed to a senior security post in Olmert's new cabinet.

Israel has stepped up strikes in Gaza since election victor Hamas took control of the Palestinian Authority in late March.

A shell landed near a house in north Gaza on Monday, wounding two Palestinians, witnesses said. Israel says the shelling is meant to combat rocket attacks by militants.

Having ruled out contacts with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, the army moved on Monday to suspend remaining security coordination.

At a joint coordination office near the West Bank city of Jericho, Palestinian Colonel Khaled Ziyar and his men piled their belongings on to a pick-up truck and turned keys to the facility over to the Israelis.

The Palestinian officers took down posters of President Mahmoud Abbas and a Palestinian flag, marking a formal break in relations.

The Jericho district coordination office, located on the outskirts of Jericho, was the last security facility to be manned by both Israelis and Palestinians.

In other parts of the West Bank, cooperation was done by telephone.

Hamas officials said Israel's decision, and newly announced cuts in direct Western financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, amounted to collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

"This is an injustice, and we call on the European countries to reconsider their decision," Ahmed Bahar, deputy speaker of the Hamas-led Palestinian parliament, told protesters in Gaza ahead of a meeting at which EU foreign ministers were expected to endorse the aid cuts.

'POLICY OF BLACKMAIL'

"We tell the whole world, the United Nations, the Quartet, that the policy of blackmail through stopping aid will not break the will of our people," Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad political leader, said.

Earlier on Monday, Palestinian children threw eggs at UN offices in Gaza to protest the aid cuts.

While the Israeli army has suspended security ties with the Palestinians, coordination over civil matters can continue through the office of Abbas, whose Fatah faction was crushed by Hamas in January elections.

Hamas is sworn to destroy Israel but has largely abided by a year-old cease-fire that other militant groups have ignored.

Israel has vowed not to negotiate with Hamas unless it recognizes the Jewish state's right to exist, renounces violence and accepts interim peace deals. Hamas says talks with Israel would be futile.

Israel has halted the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, but it said it would allow the frozen funds to be used to pay the authority's debts to Israeli utility companies.

Israel suspends security ties with Palestinians

[Shammu]

Rabbi: Jews should know New Testament

Reform rabbi says time has come to break 'self-imposed ignorance' about Christian bible; conservative and orthodox movements: matter so simple
Associated Press

A major work with Jewish roots is usually missing from everyone's list: the New Testament.

Most Jews shun Christian Scripture. As a result, they can't answer Christians who ask why Jews don't accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Now, Reform Rabbi Michael J. Cook says this "self-imposed ignorance" is dangerous.

At a time when many Christians are embracing the Jewish origins of their faith, holding Pesach seder dinners before Easter, Cook says he has taken on the "Herculean task" of convincing Jews they must learn how the Gospels molded Christian attitudes toward Judaism.

"The New Testament is the greatest single external determinant of Jewish history, and deleteriously so in its causing Jews grievous problems," said Cook, who holds the unusual job of New Testament professor at the Reform movement's rabbinical school, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.

In a book he plans to publish next year, "Modern Jews Engage the New Testament," he will present an education plan for how Jews can learn enough to answer "why they process it differently from Christians."

Many benefits

Many scholars agree that Jews would benefit from studying the Christian texts.

They say it could improve interfaith relations, especially on the local level where rabbis are expected to work with fellow clergy from other denominations. It also would help when public debates arise - like the controversy about how Jews were depicted in the Mel Gibson movie, "The Passion of the Christ."

Many outsiders viewed Jewish objections to the film as an affront to Christianity, damaging relations between the two faiths. Cook said most Jews had no idea how to explain their concerns about the script - even to their own children.

However, the scholars also say there are too many other pressing issues in Jewish education - including the increasing assimilation of Jews - to make New Testament learning a priority.

Conservative approach

Burt Visostsky, a longtime professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship institution for Conservative Judaism, said many rabbinical students enroll at the seminary without strong backgrounds in their own religion - let alone Christianity and other faiths.

"In an ideal world, of course we'd train our students to know something about Christianity and also Islam," said Visostsky, who teaches Midrash and inter-religious studies. "But where is it on the triage list? I'm afraid not very high."

Jewish aversion to the New Testament is rooted in both religious law and historical experience.

Some passages in early rabbinic literature bar Jews from reading the Gospels, Cook said. The Talmud, the 2,000-year-old compilation of Jewish law, reinforces this point by prohibiting Jews from saving the Gospels from a fire even though the name of God is written in them, said Jacob Neusner, a Bard College professor and expert on Judaism and Christianity.

Jewish resentment

Jewish resentment grew over the centuries as Christians used the New Testament to try to convert Jews - either through evangelism or by force during the Crusades and other violent periods. The belief, derived from the New Testament, that Jews are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus has now been rejected by the Roman Catholic Church and some other denominations, but the idea persists among many Christians to this day.

"The New Testament historically has been a book that has been thrown in the face of Jews," said Rabbi James Rudin, the inter-religious adviser for the American Jewish Committee, who agrees that Jews need to study the Gospels.

"As the years have gone by, it has been seen as the Scripture of the `other' and the other has always been perceived, until recently, as a hostile group trying to subvert or replace Jews and Judaism."

Completely absent

Presently, the text is almost completely absent from coursework for rabbinical candidates, students at American Jewish colleges and the many young people enrolled in Jewish high schools.

Rabbinical students who study the Hellenistic period learn some history of the New Testament. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Pennsylvania requires a course in Christian history that includes reading the Gospels.

Still, Cook says he is the only full professor of New Testament at an American Jewish seminary, and Hebrew Union College is the only seminary requiring technical study of the Gospels for ordination.

Orthodox resistance

The idea of New Testament study faces the greatest resistance in Orthodox schools, which strive to provide a liberal arts education within the bounds of a strict reading of Jewish law.

Rabbi Shalom Carmy, an expert on biblical thought at Yeshiva University in New York, said the New Testament is part of an undergraduate course in medieval and modern literature, but some students are uncomfortable learning about the Christian text and skip the lectures.

"The highest priority for a believing Jew is the study of Torah and the fulfillment of the mitzvot," he said. "The study of other religions and cultures may be a source of psychological insight and may help us better to understand others. But these goals are ancillary."

Cook says he understands these arguments, but ultimately rejects them, contending it is illogical for Jews who so heavily emphasize education to ignore such an important text. He called lack of knowledge about the New Testament the Jewish "Achilles' heel."

"Once Jews catch on to this, most will recognize how valuable this venture can be," Cook said, "and how ... damaging has been their self-imposed taboo."

Rabbi: Jews should know New Testament

[Shammu]

ISRAEL CAN'T DESTROY IRAN'S NUKES

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Israel's military was said to be unable to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities.

A former leading U.S. intelligence chief said Israel does not have sufficient assets or support for a major attack required to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program. The intelligence chief cited the absence of Israeli aircraft carriers and the need for warplanes to enter the air space of Arab rivals.

"The United States is the only country in the world that has capability of carrying out the estimated thousand strike sorties needed to destroy the Iran's nuclear program," [Ret.] Col. Patrick Lang, director of the Middle East section of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said. "The objective has to be not to destroy the program, but to set it back a desired number of years."

Lang told a March 23 seminar at the Washington-based Nixon Center that Israel's military could not sustain an air campaign against Iran. He cited the more than 1,500 kilometers from Israel to Iran as well as a shortage of Israeli combat aircraft.

ISRAEL CAN'T DESTROY IRAN'S NUKES

[Shammu]

Solana: EU should consider sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans
By The Associated Press

LUXEMBOURG - European foreign ministers will review options on Monday for possible restrictive measures against Iran, including eventual financial sanctions, if Tehran continues to defy calls to halt sensitive nuclear activity.

But European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who drafted a confidential options paper for the 25 ministers, and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted it was just a contingency planning exercise and sanctions were not imminent.

Solana told reporters the plan was not for an immediate imposition of sanctions.

"No, what we are doing today is a reflection on what may happen if at the end of the day what is going (on) now in the (UN) Security Council does fail," Solana said.

"Then there would have to be some decision taken. Today is a day of reflection, not a day of action," he said. "We have plenty of time but we have to be prepared just in case they fail."

Asked whether a visa ban on Iranian officials was among the possibilities, he replied: "There are many things, (a) visa ban is a classical type of measure."

"It's a comprehensive paper for discussion today. It sets out a range of options but makes no recommendations. We don't expect any decision today," an EU official said before the start of Monday's talks in Luxembourg, on condition of anonymity.

Among possible measures envisaged in the paper, first reported by Britain's Financial Times, are travel bans on Iranian officials, an end to export credit guarantees for European companies doing business with Tehran and restrictions on young Iranians studying sensitive technologies in Europe.

"Out of the table"
Britain's Straw told reporters on arrival: "We're looking at the issue, but entirely on a contingency basis."

"The Security Council's presidential statement has given Iran 30 days to reconsider its position and we hope very much this matter can be resolved both by diplomatic means and also without the need for sanctions," he said.

Solana dismissed a report in the New Yorker magazine that the U.S. administration was stepping up plans for a possible air strike on Iran.

"I think it has nothing to do with reality," he said. "Any military action is absolutely out of the table for us."

The White House, without denying the report, reiterated that it was pursuing a diplomatic solution to the nuclear row.

The EU ministers are due to adopt a statement on Iran on Monday, again calling on the country to cooperate with the United Nations nuclear agency and suspend uranium enrichment activities and criticising Iran's human rights record.

The statement will also reiterate the European Union's preference for a negotiated solution and would not mention possible restrictive measures, diplomats said.

The document drawn up by Solana was circulated to ministers at their request after their regular meeting in March.

The EU official stressed it had nothing to do with media reports of the United States contemplating military action.

The idea was to anticipate what might happen if Iran did not comply with calls from the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency to halt enrichment activities, the official said.

On Sunday, Straw said a military strike against Iran was not on the agenda and the United States was committed to a negotiated solution.

He told BBC television the idea that Washington could launch a nuclear strike against Iran was "completely nuts".

Solana: EU should consider sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans

[Shammu]

Solana: EU should consider sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans
By The Associated Press

LUXEMBOURG - European foreign ministers will review options on Monday for possible restrictive measures against Iran, including eventual financial sanctions, if Tehran continues to defy calls to halt sensitive nuclear activity.

But European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who drafted a confidential options paper for the 25 ministers, and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted it was just a contingency planning exercise and sanctions were not imminent.

Solana told reporters the plan was not for an immediate imposition of sanctions.

"No, what we are doing today is a reflection on what may happen if at the end of the day what is going (on) now in the (UN) Security Council does fail," Solana said.

"Then there would have to be some decision taken. Today is a day of reflection, not a day of action," he said. "We have plenty of time but we have to be prepared just in case they fail."

Asked whether a visa ban on Iranian officials was among the possibilities, he replied: "There are many things, (a) visa ban is a classical type of measure."

"It's a comprehensive paper for discussion today. It sets out a range of options but makes no recommendations. We don't expect any decision today," an EU official said before the start of Monday's talks in Luxembourg, on condition of anonymity.

Among possible measures envisaged in the paper, first reported by Britain's Financial Times, are travel bans on Iranian officials, an end to export credit guarantees for European companies doing business with Tehran and restrictions on young Iranians studying sensitive technologies in Europe.

"Out of the table"
Britain's Straw told reporters on arrival: "We're looking at the issue, but entirely on a contingency basis."

"The Security Council's presidential statement has given Iran 30 days to reconsider its position and we hope very much this matter can be resolved both by diplomatic means and also without the need for sanctions," he said.

Solana dismissed a report in the New Yorker magazine that the U.S. administration was stepping up plans for a possible air strike on Iran.

"I think it has nothing to do with reality," he said. "Any military action is absolutely out of the table for us."

The White House, without denying the report, reiterated that it was pursuing a diplomatic solution to the nuclear row.

The EU ministers are due to adopt a statement on Iran on Monday, again calling on the country to cooperate with the United Nations nuclear agency and suspend uranium enrichment activities and criticising Iran's human rights record.

The statement will also reiterate the European Union's preference for a negotiated solution and would not mention possible restrictive measures, diplomats said.

The document drawn up by Solana was circulated to ministers at their request after their regular meeting in March.

The EU official stressed it had nothing to do with media reports of the United States contemplating military action.

The idea was to anticipate what might happen if Iran did not comply with calls from the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency to halt enrichment activities, the official said.

On Sunday, Straw said a military strike against Iran was not on the agenda and the United States was committed to a negotiated solution.

He told BBC television the idea that Washington could launch a nuclear strike against Iran was "completely nuts".

Solana: EU should consider sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans

[Shammu]

Israel Looks to Complete Pullout by 2008

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 22 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will complete his plan to withdraw from much of the West Bank and draw the country's final borders before the next U.S. presidential election in 2008, a senior Olmert aide said in a published report Monday.

Olmert, whose Kadima Party won last month's parliamentary election, had previously said he aimed to complete his plan by the end of his term in 2010. But Yoram Turbowicz, who is slated to be Olmert's chief of staff, said it needed to be finished while President Bush remained in office, according to the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian official confirmed that the Palestinians' new Hamas-led government is seeking to gain control over the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel — which has led to a fresh cycle of violence, including Israeli artillery fire on Monday.

An 8-year-old girl was killed Monday when two Israeli artillery shells hit her house in northern Gaza, witnesses and hospital officials said. The military did not immediately comment on that incident but confirmed that Israel has been shelling populated areas where militants fire rockets at Israel.

Thirteen others in the house were wounded, ranging in age from 1 to 17, doctors said. A relative, Samir Ghraben, 29, said children were hit as they played in the house and called it a "cold-blooded massacre" by Israel.

Olmert has said he wants international legitimacy for the borders he plans to draw, and his allies believe that Bush, who has indicated Israel will likely keep large settlement blocs under any final peace deal, would be amenable to his program.

"We have a very tight timetable, because we seek the support of the U.S. administration and President Bush. It has to be done by November 2008," Turbowicz was quoted as saying.

Turbowicz, who spoke during talks with Kadima's potential coalition partners Sunday, said Israel would not hold a referendum on the plan, according to Yediot.

Eyal Arad, a senior Olmert adviser, denied there was a new timeframe for the plan but said Israel and the U.S. would have to agree on the borders several years before it was finalized.

"Reaching an understanding with the U.S. on the details is very likely to be done by '07, very roughly. But it is not a deadline," Arad said.

Olmert says the withdrawal will improve security and help ensure a Jewish majority in areas under Israeli control.

Olmert has said he preferred to carry out his plan through peace talks with the Palestinians, but would take unilateral action if necessary. The election of the militant Hamas group in January Palestinian parliamentary elections made renewed negotiations on peace unlikely.

On Sunday, Israel's Security Cabinet, a small group of top ministers, declared the Hamas-led Palestinian government a "hostile entity" and ruled out contacts with it.

In the wake of the government decision, the Israeli military on Monday ejected Palestinian security officials from the District Coordination Office in the West Bank town of Jericho, which the two sides used for security coordination.

The office's other civil functions, including coordinating Israeli work permits for Palestinians, would not be affected, the army said.

Israel has refused to deal with Hamas, demanding that the militant group halt violence and recognize Israel. Israel also has suspended the monthly transfer of $55 million in tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians, dealing a tough blow to the cash-strapped Palestinian government.

The U.S., EU and Norway have already suspended aid to the Palestinian Authority. EU officials on Monday were meeting to decide what further action to take.

The aid and tax cutoffs have already crippled the Palestinian treasury just two weeks after the Hamas-led Cabinet took office and Palestinian officials said they did not know when they would be able to pay the monthly salaries of the government's 140,000 employees. Paychecks were due on April 1.

About 3,000 Hamas supporters marched through Gaza City on Monday to protest the aid cuts.

"This is an unfair and unjust decision. These countries are playing the symphony of democracy day and night and they have forgotten that democracy brought this government to power," said Ahmad Bahar, deputy speaker of parliament and a Hamas leader. "Their decision is collective punishment for Palestinians."

Violence between Israel and the Palestinians has also escalated in recent days with militants in northern Gaza launching homemade rockets into Israel and the army responding by pounding suspected launch sites with artillery.

Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government, said the group, which was not participating in the rocket firing, would try to get control over the attacks by negotiating with other militant factions.

"We want resistance to be arranged and organized," he said, adding that it will take time to bring the situation under control.

An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the topic, confirmed Hamas was trying to regulate the rocket firing because the uncontrolled violence is against its interest.

Islamic Jihad, which has fired many of the rockets, said it remained committed to the attacks.

"It is time to be united against the occupation aggression and not to talk about a new period of calm," Mohammed al-Hindi, an Islamic Jihad leader, told the local Sawat Al Quds radio station.

Israel Looks to Complete Pullout by 2008

[Shammu]

Abbas vows to battle Israeli isolation moves

31 minutes ago

RAMALLAH (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas urged Israel to abandon its efforts to isolate his Hamas-run government as financial pressure on the beleaguered Islamist regime intensified.

As European Union foreign ministers approved a decision to suspend aid to the Palestinian Authority, Abbas called on the international community to end its "unfair" treatment of his people and instead help them realise their dream of independence.

His office revealed that Abbas would embark this month on a tour of Europe and North Africa in a bid to counter Israel's own diplomatic offensive which has seen acting premier Ehud Olmert institute a boycott of any foreign officials who make contacts with Hamas ministers.

"We call on the Israeli government to stop these measures which are only intended to isolate the Palestinian Authority," said Abbas in a speech at his Ramallah headquarters on the West Bank.

"We will not accept this, we will not allow this to become a reality. We will emerge from this isolation whatever the cost."

Olmert on Sunday said that all contacts would be frozen with what he called a "hostile authority", referring to Hamas's refusal to renounce the use of violence nor recognise the Jewish state's right to exist.

"We say to the the Israeli government that we are a peaceful nation but we want our rights," said Abbas, whose own
Fatah faction was defeated by Hamas in a January parliamentary election.

He said that the Palestinian people wanted what had already been promised to them, mainly a viable state.

"Is this too much to ask? Is this too much for the world to handle?"

Hamas's prime minister Ismail Haniya has accused the European Union and Washington, which both regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation, of trying to "blackmail" his government by cutting funds to a democratically elected government.

Washington and Brussels, however, insist that the Islamists, who have held off attacks for the past year, must unequivocally renounce the use of violence and recognise Israel if they want to be brought in from the cold.

Hundreds of Palestinian youths took part in a protest in Gaza City on Monday against the EU move, hurling eggs at the
United Nations headquarters from where local EU staff are currently working.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw however defended the funding freeze.

"Hamas has got to recognise that being elected as a government, democratically, they have responsibilities as democrats to do what everybody else has to do as a democrats, which is is to eschew violence," he said at the meeting in Luxembourg.

The precarious state of the Palestinian economy was underlined when finance minister Omar Abdelrazek told AFP he had a 120-million-dollar monthly budget shortfall despite receiving 35 million dollars from the Algerian government.

Algeria will be one of the stops on Abbas's tour of North Africa and Europe that will also take him to France and Turkey.

Later Monday, Abdelrazek announced that Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had pledged 80 million dollars in aid. "We have received pledges from the Arab world that will help us operate for several months," he said.

Making good on Olmert's pledge to cut all contacts with the Hamas-led administration, Israel ordered the symbolic closure Monday of the only security liaison office which had been operating in the West Bank.

The Palestinian officers who had been working alongside Israeli counterparts in the office at the entrance to Jericho were told to pack their bags, in the latest sign of the total breakdown in relations between the two sides.

Olmert has consistently said that he would have no contact with a Hamas-led government but the move to cut contacts at such a low-level indicates a new determination to make life as difficult as possible for Hamas to govern.

The acting premier has also ordered the Israeli army to continue its bombardments of northern Gaza in a bid to put a halt to cross-border rocket attacks.

After the deaths of 15 Palestinians in strikes over the weekend, Palestinian medical sources said an eight-year-old girl was killed Monday when a shell landed on a house in the Beit Lahiya region. Twelve others were wounded.

Abbas vows to battle Israeli isolation moves

[Shammu]

Iran Remains Insolent in the Face of Mounting International Pressure
16:40 Apr 09, '06 / 11 Nisan 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Iranian officials have once again announced that the international community cannot dictate what Tehran does regarding ongoing nuclear enrichment efforts. Officials added that America and the West are “badly mistaken” if they believe the UN Security Council can compel Iran to comply with its demands.

According to a Washington Post report, despite American intelligence community reports that Tehran is about a decade away from building an atom bomb, Israel has recently sent warnings to the White House that the “point of no return” is very rapidly approaching, only months away, calling for American intervention.

The New Yorker Magazine reports America is planning to use bunker-busting bombs against nuclear facilities throughout Iran.

Iran Remains Insolent in the Face of Mounting International Pressure