News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Petroglyph may have recorded Supernova

Tue Jun 6, 8:12 PM ET

PHOENIX - A petroglyph near Phoenix may by the only record in the Western Hemisphere of a supernova that appeared in 1006 — the brightest supernova visible from earth for more than 5,000 years.

John Barentine, who works at the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, N.M., presented his theory Monday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary, Alberta.

The supernova appeared in the constellation Lupus, a little below and west of the well-known constellation of Scorpius, the scorpion.

"What particularly got my attention about that rock and the glyphs on it was the representation of what is pretty obviously a star, and a bright star at that. And the figure of a scorpion. Scorpions appear in rock in the Southwest but are not a very common motif," Barentine said.

The petroglyph panel in the White Tank Mountains west of Phoenix consists of several figures pecked into the dark desert varnish, a patina of iron and manganese oxides that often coats rock in arid environments.

The most prominent figures are an eight-point star and an irregular circle, from which several rays, or arms, protrude.

According to Barentine, the star represents the great supernova of 1006 and the irregular circle, with arms and perhaps eyes, is the constellation Scorpius. Other figures on the rock may represent nearby star patterns.

Todd Bostwick, archaeologist for Phoenix and an expert on Hohokam culture and archaeoastronomy, said it is difficult to correlate a specific celestial event to a single piece of rock art.

"There are many images out there that could be interpreted as star bursts or suns or planets, so you have to be very cautious about (Barentine's theory)" he said.

A supernova is the cataclysmic explosion that marks the end of a star's life. From Earth, it appears as if a new star suddenly appears in the sky and then, over the course of a few weeks, or months, fades away.

Astronomers say the supernova of 1006 was brighter than any visible from Earth for at least 5,000 years.

Although it is impossible to date specific petroglyphs with an accuracy of more than a few hundred years, archaeologists know that the Hohokams lived in the area at the time of the supernova. Like all subsistence farmers, they observed the night sky to track the seasons.

"They saw something, they knew it was significant and they were moved to record it," Barentine said. "In an age before science, they were scientists."

Petroglyph may have recorded Supernova

[Shammu]

Dark carnival of Satanists meet in Hollywood
Jun 07 1:40 AM US/Eastern
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Satanists from around the world gathered in Hollywood for a mass to mark June 6, 2006, or "6-6-6," and to mock fears over the date known by dark believers as the number of the beast.

The sold-out evening high mass also commemorates the anniversary of the organizing group, the Church of Satan, founded by Anton Szandar La Vey in 1966 who was dubbed "the black pope" by the press.

"Satanists from around the globe are converging on that city-of-the-damned known in common parlance as Los Angeles," the group said on its website.

The mass, an original three-act dramatic ritual, will be celebrated in a theatre with a telephone prefix of 666 by Bryan Moore and Heather Saenz, married suburbanite Satanic priests and parents.

But Satanists say they actually have no regard for the number. "For Satanists, numbers are just numbers, and June 6, 2006 is a day like any other," says Satanic High Priest Peter Gilmore.

Some believers though have tried to time childbirth with the date, and some of the superstitious have attempted to delay deliveries to avoid it, according to Gilmore's comments posted on the church website.

La Vey appeared in the Roman Polanski film "Rosemary's Baby" as Satan himself, but maintained up until his death in 1997 that church members were just "iconoclasts and pranksters," and called Satanism a "cosmic joy buzzer."

His "Satanic Bible" has been in continuous print since 1969 and cites German philospher Friedrich Nietzsche and Italian Niccolo Machiavelli as influences. The dark church has been conspicuously absent from the mainstream since La Vey's death, and has withheld its numbers since it counted 7,000 members, but hopeful Satanists believe the mass may lead to more congregants and greater organization.

But Satanists do not actively recruit, instead they rely on selective breeding, otherwise known as eugenics, to grow the flock. "Satanists are born, not made, and we are interested in preserving and improving our genetic integrity," La Vey wrote in The Cloven Hoof, a Satanic magazine, in 1988.

La Vey also advocated the design of "humanoids", artificial human companions, as birth control. "Unfortunately, many humans sole contribution to the world is to produce another human being," he wrote.

Representatives of the church, which was founded in San Francisco, but has since moved to New York's Hell's Kitchen area, could not immediately be reached for comment on the event that is closed to the press and public.

The church's website said that Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield, who died in 1967, and crooner Sammy Davis Junior had at one time been among the ranks of its faithful.

This year's 6-6-6 date has prompted some US schools to beef up security after murky rumors of possible threats emerged, while Hollywood has jumped on the date as a perfect marketing tool.

Tuesday marks the launch of a remake of the 1976 horror classic "The Omen," a movie event preceded by a months-long advertising campaign built around the ominous 06-06-06 launch date.

The Twentieth Century Fox movie is about a child born with the mark of the beast -- the "666" based on the Bible's book of Revelation who goes on to wreak terrifying havoc.

Dark carnival of Satanists meet in Hollywood

[Soldier4Christ]

Israel braces for new terror war
Army issues warning as terror leaders detail to WND '3rd intifada'

JERUSALEM – The Jewish state is headed toward a major, violent confrontation with the Palestinians while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria will "not help" to decrease the terrorism, according to an Israeli army assessment.

The prognosis will be released in an official Israeli Defense Forces report to be published next month. It follows a series of WorldNetDaily exclusive interviews in which the leaders of every major Palestinian terror organization said recent events here are leading them to launch what they call a third intifada – or violent confrontation against Israel. The terrorists warned of suicide bombings, rocket attacks against Jewish communities and "a few new surprises in our arsenal."

"The new intifada is only a question of time and this will be the hardest and the most dangerous one. It's just about timing until the order to blow up a new wave of attacks will be given," Abu Nasser, a senior Al Aqsa Brigades leader from the Balata refugee camp in northern Samaria told WorldNetDaily in an interview.

Army: Violence to escalate with evacuation

The IDF report outlines the army's plan for the next five years. It states that in order to prepare for the expected upcoming conflict with the Palestinians, IDF resources should be shifted more toward counter-terrorism units and away from traditional forms of warfare, such as armor, artillery and the engineering corps.

The Associated Press quoted Israeli intelligence officials familiar with the report stating the document contends Olmert's plan to evacuate Judea and Samaria will not do anything to decrease the scope of violence in the region. Security officials told WND the withdrawal will result in a major increase in terrorism.

Judea and Samaria also is commonly referred to as the West Bank.

The trend of violence here already has been increasing weekly. Israeli security organizations say they have more than 60 general warnings of planned suicide attacks, most targeting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In the past seven days, three suicide bombings were thwarted.

Security officials point to an increase in violent attacks against Israelis, such as stabbings, shootings and lobbing of Molotov cocktails.

Rocket attacks against Jewish communities near Gaza have been carried out so frequently, some Israeli defense officials and government ministers recently have recommended reoccupying parts of the territory, which was vacated by Israel last August. Israeli defense officials say there is information terrorists in northern Samaria are developing rockets for a future onslaught against Jewish communities there.

The defense officials also say Hamas, which agreed to a long-term cease-fire with Israel, has been amassing large stocks of weapons so its operatives will be ready to launch attacks immediately should its leadership decide to end the "lull" in fighting.

They say Iran and Syria, currently under mounting international pressure, are streaming large sums of money to Palestinian terror groups to prompt local cells to carry out attacks in hopes of starting regional violence.

Some officials tie the expected increase in violence to Olmert's Judea and Samaria evacuation plan.

After Israel announced it would withdraw from Gaza, terror organizations, mostly led by Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees umbrella group, increased attacks in the area, at one point firing an average of seven rockets per day at Gaza's Jewish communities. Security officials told WND they fear terror groups similarly will increase attacks to claim credit for any Israeli pullout from Judea and Samaria.

The Palestinians launched their first intifada in 1987, which developed into a well-organized violent rebellion orchestrated by Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization from its headquarters in Tunis. The so-called second intifada was initiated in 2000 after Arafat rejected at Camp David an Israeli offer of a Palestinian state on most of Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip and sections of eastern Jerusalem. Some 993 Israelis and 3,781 Palestinians have been killed so far. Many say the second intifada still is being waged.

The terror groups themselves say they are planning a new wave of violence against Israelis, which some terror leaders are calling a "third intifada." They detailed for WorldNetDaily how they will carry it out.

Al Aqsa Brigades: 'We'll kill Israelis to revolt against Hamas'

The Al Aqsa Brigades was formed in 2000 by then-PLO leader Arafat as a military offshoot of the Fatah party. PA President Mahmoud Abbas signed a cease-fire with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last February, to which the Brigades was party – but the terror group continued carrying out attacks.

Al Aqsa's Abu Nasser claims Israel put Hamas in power and says his group is preparing a new terror onslaught as a result. Hamas won last January's Palestinian parliamentary elections by a large margin. Hamas and Fatah have been violently clashing on the streets in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

"For [many] months we respected a cease-fire, expecting to see changes in the lives of the Palestinian people, but we received from the Israeli side more assassinations ... and above all we received the Hamas victory, which seems to be the result of an Israeli and international conspiracy," Abu Nasser told WND. "They believe that Hamas will give up easier our lands and rights. I think that they are right, but we will not allow this to happen. We will fight and we will blow up the new intifada."

Sources close to Al Aqsa say Abu Nasser was involved in preparing the last five suicide bombings in Israel, including the attack in April at a Tel Aviv restaurant that killed 10 Israelis and American teenager Daniel Wulz.

Abu Nasser told WND the Brigades will not respect any cease-fire agreed to by Hamas and will not halt attacks at Hamas' request.

"I am sure Hamas will start arresting us, but it will not be that easy [for them]," said Abu Nasser. "We are preparing ourselves for the worst scenario."

Asked if Al Aqsa's new terror war will be launched less out of aggression toward Israel and more to revolt against Hamas, Abu Nasser replied, "This is partially true. When we were in power, we were obliged to be more sensitive and more obedient to the instructions and policies of our leadership. Now that we lost the elections, why should we obey the leaders and just who do we obey? The Hamas?

Abu Nasser warned the so-called third intifada will be a combination of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Jewish towns.

"The Al Aqsa Brigades recently unified most of our cells and groups and we will wait for the most suitable moment to launch our resistance acts," he said. "As for the acts, there will be suicide attacks but there will be a massive use of rockets. These rockets will be launched against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but also if needed against Israeli cities inside the green line."

Rocket war against Israel

Since Israel's evacuation of the Gaza Strip, over 400 rockets have been fired at nearby Jewish communities. Last week, a series of missiles landed hundreds of feet from the home near Gaza of Israel's defense minister, Amir Peretz. The rocket volley followed an anti-missile operation conducted deep inside Gaza – reportedly the first such operation since Israel evacuated the territory nine months ago. Defense officials said more ground operations in Gaza likely will follow.

The officials have been warning that the Palestinian terror groups transferred their rocket capabilities to Judea and Samaria, which is within firing range of Israel's international airport and many major Israeli cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Israel has confirmed that at least two rockets have been fired so far from the northern Samaria town of Jenin. There is information terror groups in Judea and Samaria, particularly the Al Aqsa Brigades and Islamic Jihad, will step up attacks against the area's Jewish communities ahead of any Israeli withdrawal from the area.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

WorldNetDaily caught up with Abu Oudai, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader responsible for coordinating the organization's rocket network in Judea and Samaria. He warned that his organization is preparing a rocket war against Israel:

"We have launched [several] times and with the help of Allah we will launch these rockets regularly. There will be no calm, no cease-fire until the occupation leaves our land. I don't need to tell you that the aerial distance from Jenin to Netanya, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities is not big without telling you what are all our plans concerning other parts of the West Bank."

Oudai said his organization and other terror groups have stockpiled Palestinian rockets, including Qassams, which can travel about 4 miles, more primitive Jenin-1 and Jenin-2s, and Arafat-1 and Arafat-2 rockets, some of which can reportedly travel up to 3 miles. He claimed his group is developing a new rocket that will put all of Israel's major cities within firing range.

"The very near future will prove their capacity to kill and destroy and to beat the Israelis in [Judea and Samaria] exactly like we did with these rockets in the Gaza Strip," Oudai said.

Oudai pocked fun at Israel's Judea and Samaria security barrier, which has been credited with making it more difficult for Palestinian groups to carry out suicide bombings.

"[The Israelis] have built a huge wall on which [it] spent billions of dollars but still we are hitting Israel with our rockets and reaching every target we want. This wall will not defend [Israel] from our rockets which have defeated the wall and all the security measures taken to prevent our attacks," Oudai boasted.

Israeli military leaders previously warned that the Jewish state will launch an "unprecedented" military campaign against any rocket-firing from Judea and Samaria. But the IDF did not initiate any large-scale anti-rocket operation in response to the rockets launched from Jenin. It has been largely unable to stop the rockets regularly fired from Gaza.

Said Oudai: "Israel already has used all its tools. Tanks, aircrafts, assassinations and everything it could use. But we are still here and still fighting. We do not get excited from the Israeli threats. What can be this unprecedented reaction? They have already tried everything."

In Gaza, the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella organization consisting of several Palestinian terror groups, has taken credit for many of the rockets launched from the area since 2000.

Abu Abir, spokesman for the Committees, boasted his group transported missiles to Judea and Samaria.

"If there is need, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and everywhere in Israel can become our target," Abu Abir told WorldNetDaily. "Israelis must also know that we have already transferred the knowledge and the technology of producing rockets to [Judea and Samaria]."

Abu Abir said his group has "improved [our] capacities in shooting these rockets. Even the Israeli officers agreed that the improvement is at all levels, [including] the distance that these rockets can reach, the capacity of explosives and their accuracy. In the last five years, there is no doubt that our abilities have improved."

Islamic Jihad: 'The Israelis should wait for our surprises'

Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for every suicide bombing against Israel since last February's cease-fire, including bombings in a Tel Aviv disco and restaurant and a Netanya shopping mall. Al Aqsa leaders told WorldNetDaily they aided the recent bombings. Islamic Jihad also says it fired most of the rockets launched from the Gaza Strip since Israel's August withdrawal.

Israel says Islamic Jihad is backed directly by Iran and Syria. Jihad chief Ramadan Shallah operates openly from Damascus and regularly visits Tehran.

Security sources say Hezbollah headquarters in Damascus and Beirut have ordered Islamic Jihad to carry out attacks in hopes of drawing Israel into a protracted military conflict. They say Iran and Syria are looking to use Islamic Jihad in part to distract mounting international pressure against their respective countries.

Iran is under fire for its alleged nuclear ambitions, and the international community led by the United States has threatened to bring Syria to the United Nations Security Council for allegedly interfering in the investigation into the assassination last year of former Lebanese Prime Minister Raqif Hariri, for which Syria has been widely blamed.

WorldNetDaily spoke with Islamic Jihad's northern Samaria leader Abu Khalil, who warned his terror group is planning a terror onslaught to chase Israel from the West Bank and eventually from Jerusalem.

"We will launch very soon very painful attacks that will shake the enemy," Abu Khalil said. "In fact, this is more the continuation of the (second) intifada because we never said that the intifada has ended. We will never give calm and security to the enemy. This will happen only when Israel will run away from Jerusalem and [Judea and Samaria] like it did in Gaza."

Abu Khalil, like leaders from the Al Aqsa Brigades, said his group will not respect a Hamas request to halt attacks against Israel.

"I don't believe the brothers in Hamas will ask us to stop. In any case, our only commitment is towards Allah and the blood of our people and brothers and towards our political leadership," Abu Khalil told WND.

"Therefore we will not give up the right to defend ourselves and to launch all kinds of attacks against Israel everywhere there is an Israeli soldier or any Israeli goal in 1948 occupied Palestine (the entire state of Israel)."

Asked which weapons will be emphasized during Islamic Jihad's next wave of terror attacks, Abu Khalil replied, "I should not answer this question for operational reasons. But we proved that we use everything Allah enables us to achieve and to use – suicide attacks, rockets and more surprises. The Israelis should wait for interesting surprises."

Hamas developing guided rockets, bomb-laden planes

Leaders of Hamas, responsible for more than 60 suicide bombings, claim they will focus on rebuilding Palestinian society and have stated they will continue respecting a cease fire with Israel. The group has been clashing regularly with Fatah.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas chief in Gaza, told WorldNetDaily his group will "rebuild the Palestinian life shattered by corruption in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This is our goal now. To make a better life for the Palestinians."

In a widely circulated interview, al-Zahar even recently claimed to WorldNetDaily that Hamas might negotiate with Israel using a third party.

He said his group likely will agree to a long-term cease-fire with the Jewish state but said it will not recognize Israel or renounce its charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel by "assaulting and killing."

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said his group will not stop other Palestinian organizations from carrying out attacks against Israel.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

WorldNetDaily spoke last week with Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas' declared "resistance" department. He said his terror group is acquiring new weapons and is preparing for the possibility of resuming attacks should a long-term truce it claims to uphold fall apart.

Abdullah said Hamas is developing a new, electronically guided missile that will place most major Israeli population centers within firing range, claiming the rocket will be able to reach "every target in 1948 occupied Palestine (Israel) and that from Gaza we will be able to hit the center of Israel."

He also detailed a plan to attack Israel using small airplanes laden with explosives to be flown 9-11-style into important targets, possibly Tel Aviv skyscrapers.

Asked if the Hamas' political leadership sanctions the acquiring of aircraft for attacks, Abdullah replied, "The acquiring of any weapon is a decision of the military wing, and it depends on a number of conditions related to financial facilities and to the situation on the ground. The Hamas political leadership starts to play a role only when it comes to the question of time – when to come back to the military operations because, as you know, we are respecting the cease-fire."

Israel says Hamas continues to direct attacks using other terror groups, particularly the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees. The Shin Bet Security Services recently announced Hamas senior member Ahmed Randor was responsible for a thwarted major bombing by the Committees at the Karni crossing, the main checkpoint between Israel and Gaza.

'Terror forced Israel out of Gaza, will get us rest of Jewish state'

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has carried out recent Judea and Samaria shooting attacks and rocket firings from the Gaza Strip. The group's leader, Ahmad Saadat, is accused by Israel of planning the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavaam Zeevi in October 2001.

Israeli security officials say the PFLP has scaled back its participation in attacks the past few months, but Abu Hani, a leader of the PLFP's "armed wing," the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, told WorldNetDaily his group used the time earned from last year's cease-fire to build its arsenal in preparation for a third intifada.

"The last months were used for a rest in order to rehabilitate forces," Abu Hani said. "The Palestinian people preserves its right to fight against Israel."

He told WorldNetDaily the PFLP is "being forced" to launch a new terror war.

"It is not that we prepare an intifada," Abu Hani said. "It is the reality on the ground that dictates a new intifada. There is the fence, there is the building in the Jewish settlements, the daily Israeli penetration into Palestinian cities, villages and camps and of course the killing of our comrades and brothers."

Israel routinely conducts anti-terror military raids in Judea and Samaria when it receives intelligence warning of new attacks. The Israeli Air Force fires at targets in Gaza in attempts to halt Palestinian groups from launching rockets at nearby Jewish communities.

Abu Hani warned, "The current situation does not leave to the Palestinians many choices but to fight with all the tools we have or can have. The Gaza withdrawal proves unfortunately that force, attacks and rockets is the only language and attitude that the Israelis understand. They do not withdraw unless they are hit by the Palestinian resistance. So if there is a way that has already obliged the Israelis to withdraw, why not to use it again?"

[Shammu]

Russia warns of 'colossal' impact if NATO takes in Ukraine, Georgia
Jun 07 5:30 AM US/Eastern
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Russia warned against NATO taking in the ex-Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia, saying such a colossal geopolitical shift would threaten relations.

"Membership in NATO for countries like Ukraine or Georgia would mean a colossal geopolitical shift," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during questioning in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.

"We evaluate all possible consequences first and foremost from the point of view of the national interest of Russia, interests in the area of security, our economic interests and interests in relations with countries which relate to Russia in one way or another," Lavrov said.

Russia warns of 'colossal' impact if NATO takes in Ukraine, Georgia

[Shammu]

Over One-Third of Russians See U.S. as Enemy — 2006 Poll

Created: 07.06.2006 14:08 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:33 MSK, 13 hours 34 minutes ago

Russians Name Their Friends and Foes

On Tuesday the Yuri Levada polling center released the results of their yearly opinion poll, in which Russians were asked which countries they consider to be friends or enemies. According to Komsomol’skaya Pravda, in this year’s poll, Russians warmed up a bit to China and Kazakhstan, but strongly grew cold towards the U.S., Ukraine, Moldova and Poland.

Incidentally, Russians were inclined to consider Ukraine as both a friend and an enemy. That is to say, either it is yet to be determined what the Russian attitude is to their closest neighbor, or, perhaps it is Ukraine’s unpredictable politics that are affecting Russians’ attitudes.

Russia’s Friends for 2006:

Belarus — 47% (46%)
Kazakhstan — 33% (20%)
China — 24% (12%)
Germany — 22% (23%)
India — 15% (16%)
Armenia — 14% (9%)
Bulgaria — 10% (11%)
Ukraine — 10% (17%)
France — 8% (13%)
Italy — 7% (on the list of friends Italy fell, forcing out the US, which 11% of Russians found as friendly)

Russia’s Enemies —2006:

Latvia — 46% (49%)
Georgia — 44% (38%)
Lithuania — 42% (42%)
U.S. — 37% (23%)
Estonia — 28% (32%)
Ukraine — 27% (13%)
Afghanistan — 12% (12%)
Iraq — 9% (10%)
Moldova — 9% (4%)
Poland — 7% (4%)

(Data from the 2005 poll is shown in parentheses.)

Over One-Third of Russians See U.S. as Enemy

[Shammu]

King Abdullah: I oppose unilateral pullout

Jordanian king says prisoners' document is way for Palestinians to enter negotiations as Amman watches West Bank nervously
Smadar Peri

Jordan's King Abdullah is concerned over Israel's plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, the leader told Yedioth Ahronoth in an exclusive interview. Ahead of his anticipated meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Abdullah said that any unilateral move on Israel's part might deprive the Palestinians of their legitimate and internationally recognized right for an independent state.

Such a unilateral step would foster insecurity and doubts not only in the Palestinian Authority, but among the rest of the peace partners in the region, he added.

The king warned that an Israeli pullout may jeopardize relations between Israel and Jordan. The peace we aspire for needs to be the kind of peace people on all sides would want to support, he stated.

Abdullah said he is looking forward to his meeting with Olmert and that he hopes the Israeli PM would present to him his ideas on how to restart the peace process. The Jordanian leader said he has a few proposals of his own on how to create a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

When asked who can be a partner for peace on the Palestinian side, considering both Israel and Jordan are united in a boycott of the Hamas government, the king said that most of the Palestinians aspire for peace and support a peace settlement, despite politics.

Abdullah stressed that several conditions need to be met before progress in negotiations can take place. First of all, he said, the humanitarian
crisis in the PA must be resolved; secondly, the international community and Israel need to strengthen PA President Mahmoud Abbas both politically and financially, so that the president can maintain the Palestinian unity; thirdly, unilateral plans must be avoided; in addition, Hamas must respect and recognize previous Arab peace initiatives; and finally, Israel and the Palestinians must renew their commitment to the Road Map peace plan.

'I am partner for peace'

King Abdullah said that he met Prime Minister Olmert a few times in recent years, and that they spoke during many opportunities. He invited Olmert to visit Jordan last week so to advance the peace process. When Olmert talks about peace, Abdullah said, he should know that he has many partners in the area. Abdullah added that like himself, Olmert has many hopes to bring a workable peace and that he hopes he would carry out steps in this direction in the near future.

On the eve of his first public meeting with Olmert, the Jordanian king is worried by the failure of efforts to make the Hamas government adopt the prisoners' document. The signs of strain can be seen in every corner of Amman: Police officers are everywhere, as are security checks. If riots break out in the West Bank, they could spread into the kingdom. When someone sneezes in the West Bank, they say here, Jordan can catch the flu.

Commenting on the attempts to adopt the prisoner's documents in the PA, which calls on a Palestinian state to be formed on the '67 borders, Abdullah said that the Palestinians are now looking for a breakthrough, and a way to sit at the negotiations table with Israel, and therefore, in his view, a national referendum is an appropriate opportunity to reach a consensus there.

Abdullah added that Mahmoud Abbas is the partner on the Palestinian side. A national referendum will give him the opportunity to each unity. The Palestinian people are victims of the situation, he added, and said he believed that at a certain stage they will say, "enough." It's important to give them an opportunity to go from being victims to interlocutor, Abdullah said.

Responding to the argument that Jordan could as act as a replacement Palestinian state, Abdullah said that Palestinians have only one homeland, in Palestine. He added that Jordan is Jordan, and Palestine is Palestine.

King Abdullah: I oppose unilateral pullout

[Shammu]

Iran Hoarding Gold

    Kenneth R. Timmerman
    Wednesday, June 7, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Iranians are going for the gold - at least until someone else cuts them off.

To forestall an effort by the West to seize Iranian assets in Europe, the Iranian leadership decided last fall to begin a massive, secret repatriation of its international currency reserves, according to Central Bank of Iran documents.

The documents were obtained by an Iranian opposition group and shared with Newsmax.

The documents detail eight shipments in chartered jumbo jets from Zurich's Kloten airport. The shipments, from October through late November, brought 250 tons of gold bullion from the vaults of Swiss banks to Tehran.

The gold was purchased by Bank Markazi (the Central Bank of Iran) from Credit Suisse in Zurich, the documents showed.

Three of the eight flights attracted the attention of amateur aircraft spotters, because the planes were painted in the distinctive livery of Iran Air, which rarely flies into Zurich.

The spotters noted a 747-200 at the airport on Oct. 24, 2005, and an Airbus A-300 that made two rotations, on Nov. 14 and Nov. 23. They provided that information to Jetstream, a glossy, German-language monthly published in Zurich.

Other chartered aircraft handled five additional rotations, before word of the shipments leaked out. Each plane transported between 28-35 tons of gold, although the 747-200, initially designed as a freighter, could have taken as much as 100 tons of cargo, according to Boeing.

Iran's leadership wanted to purchase 700 tons of gold, according to the Organization of the People's Fedaii Guerillas of Iran (OPFGI), a communist opposition group that obtained the Central Bank documents.

However, their secret effort to convert Iran's foreign currency holdings into gold appears to have stopped when word leaked out earlier this year.

The gold is now being held in the vaults of the Bank Markazi in Tehran, the group said.

A Credit Suisse spokesman, Andres Luther, told Newsmax by phone from Zurich that it was bank policy not to comment on its clients. However, if the bank had shipped gold to Iran last autumn, "I can assure you that we fulfilled all the reporting requirements the state demands of us."

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second largest bank, announced on Jan. 23 that it would no longer accept new business in Iran or Syria. Mr. Luther said the bank's decision was not in response to U.S. pressure, as previously reported.

"We made this decision on our own after looking at developments in the region and assessing the increased economic risks for our bank and for our clients of doing business in Iran," he said.

The asset repatriation plan was set into motion just weeks after former Revolutionary Guards officer Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took over as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran last August.

The decision was made during a strategic planning session of top regime leaders in Tehran, who were examining Iran's options in the nuclear face-off with the West.

The meeting was chaired by Supreme Leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and included top intelligence officials, strategists and former president Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the so-called "moderate" that Ahmadinejad beat in the presidential run-off election in the summer.

According to minutes of the meeting, obtained by the OPFGI, the regime leaders concluded that the Bush administration had been weakened by the war in Iraq, and needed Iran's help if it wanted to withdraw from Iraq.

They also concluded that the decision of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to leave the Likud party and create a new center-left coalition had weakened Israel.

Iran's leaders surveyed their own allies around the world – in particular, terrorist groups – and felt confident in their ability to inflict severe pain on the United States and Israel, if necessary.

"The minutes mentioned, by name, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as Ansar al Islam, Jeish Mohammad, Jeish al Mehdi, and the Sepah al-Badr as Islamic Republic allies," an OPFGI spokesman told Newsmax.

U.S. news accounts refer to "Jeish al Mehdi" as the "Mehdi Army," the milita controlled by renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Badr Army (or Badr Brigade)is controlled by the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Both militias receive extensive support from Iran.

The minutes also mentioned as Iranian allies Saudi Shiite organizations, and Muslim radicals in Afghanistan and Thailand, the OPFGI said.

After making this world tour, the Iranian leadership determined that it had little to gain from continuing a dialog with the European Union over its disputed nuclear programs.

"They felt that Europe was less important than before, and that the Europeans would be unable to impose any real pain" on Iran should the regime break off dialog, an OPFGI spokesman told Newsmax by phone from Europe.

Shortly afterwards, in early September, the International Atomic Energy Agency found new evidence that Iran had received uranium enrichment equipment from the black market of Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan, and the confrontation between Iran and the international community over its nuclear program began in earnest.

As a backstop, the leaders decided they should begin to disperse and repatriate the liquid assets they held overseas, in the unlikely event the international community decided to impose economic sanctions on Iran for its nuclear intransigence.

In addition to giving the orders to convert foreign currency holdings to gold and to repatriate them from Switzerland, the leaders also gave orders to Iran's central bankers to move cash accounts from Europe into Arab and Russian banks, which they felt would be more immune to Western pressure, according to the minutes.

The asset relocation plan became public on Jan. 20, just one day after French President Jacques Chirac threatened to use French nuclear weapons against Iran should Tehran launch a major terrorist attack.

Central Bank governor Ebrahim Sheibani announced on Jan. 21 that his government had started to shift Iran's overseas holdings from Europe to countries in southeast Asia.

Commenting on Sheibani's announcement, a State Department spokesman said the Iranian move was "a sign of Tehran's growing isolation" over its nuclear program, and was an attempt to protect its assets should the United Nations impose sanctions on Iran.

Jeffrey Christian, managing director of CPM Group, which tracks the flow and pricing of gold, told Newsmax that the reports of 250 tons of gold repatriated to Iran late last year "makes sense."

"There has been a tremendous amount of gold going into Iran over the past eight months," he said. "Some of it belongs to the Central Bank, but part is to satisfy private investment demand."

Since the first quarter of 2003, he added, "we've seen a broad range of Middle Easterners buying gold for storage outside the Middle East, the United States, Europe, or Japan. More people have bought gold over the past five years than in the entire history of mankind."

The main repositories of these new gold findings, Christian said, were Australian, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

The Fedaii organization also alleged that in a separate scheme, pro-Iranian Shiites in Iraq looted the Iraqi Central Bank and one of Saddam Hussein's palaces in the immediate aftermath of the 2003 war, and made off with 200 tons of Swiss-stamped gold bullion.

The Iraqi gold was re-melted in Iran, cast into automobile bumpers, and covered with chrome. Iranian agents drove the cars with the gold bumpers into Pakistan and Azerbaijan, where they sold the gold to brokers at a 15 percent discount, the group said.

"Sales of this gold are ongoing," sources at the OPFGI said.

Iran Hoarding Gold Iran Hoarding Gold

[Shammu]

Muslims could take 'law into own hands' over terror raid: MCB

by Lachlan Carmichael Tue Jun 6, 5:46 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - The police were under pressure to clear up the confusion over last week's massive anti-terror raid or risk seeing angry Muslims "take the law into their own hands," a Muslim community leader has warned.

The Muslim Council of Britain's new leader Muhammed Abdul Bari said "trust could break down" if the police failed to explain why they launched last Friday's raid, which has turned up nothing of a reported chemical weapons plot.

Relaying the sentiment that he heard during a visit late Monday to the east London neighborhood which was raided, Abdul Bari said "the message is the confusion, it's the frustration and to some extent anger."

Police arrested Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and his brother Abul Koyair, 20, during the raid on their home at dawn by 250 officers. Abdul Kahar, who was shot and wounded, and Koyair have vehemently denied involvement in terrorism.

"People want to know what exactly happened and about the intelligence -- is it genuine information, is it flawed -- these are the questions police have to answer as soon as possible," Abdul Bari said Tuesday.

"Trust could break down if things are not clarified," said Abdul Bari, the secretary general of Britain's largest Muslim organization.

"Angry people can do anything, angry people can even feel that they should take the law into their own hands, so anger has to be directed into positive action," he warned.

The Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner Andy Hayman said police had "no choice" but to launch the raid as they worried about public safety after receiving specific intelligence of a terrorist plot.

But Hayman, who declined to comment on reports by security sources that they were looking for chemical or biological weapons, admitted that "we have not found what we went in there to look for."

He said that the police have removed documents and computers from the home and that they were still conducting a live investigation.

The admission by Hayman is fueling doubts about the London police.

Police have already endured almost a year of harsh criticism, including accusations of a cover-up, since armed officers shot dead an unarmed Brazilian man on a subway train in the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber.

The Independent said the high-profile swoop had led to fears among local people about being branded extremists and many Muslim families were now considering leaving Britain.

The Times ran a letter from a Yusuf Patel who said he lived in the Forest Gate area where the raid happened.

"Most people I have spoken to believe that these raids are designed to create fear within the Muslim community. If that is the case, it is working," he said, warning of the risk of alienating local Muslims.

The Daily Mail said the "backlash" could play into the hands of extremist groups keen to capitalize on the perception that the Muslim community was being unfairly targeted in anti-terrorism operations.

The raid is being investigated by watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which also conducted probes into the fatal shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

Sir Paul Lever, the former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which advises the government on national security issues, said not following up suspicions could be "potentially horrendous".

Muslims could take 'law into own hands' over terror raid: MCB

[Shammu]

Fear and mistrust as people of Darfur turn against peacekeepers

African Union mission ill-equipped to guarantee protection against rebels

Xan Rice in Birkatulli, south Darfur
Wednesday June 7, 2006
The Guardian

The dust and complaints swirled around Major Nafidi Herman in equal measure. His troops wrote reports but never took action, one man said. They offered no protection to civilians, added another, to murmurs of approval from the men who had gathered when Team 2 Bravo rumbled into their village recently.

The major, a burly Namibian wearing dark glasses and a sheen of sweat, nodded sympathetically, taking notes in a battered exercise book.

But when the village spokesman warned that he would tell his people to head for refugee camps if their safety could not be guaranteed by African Union peacekeepers, Maj Herman's patience snapped. "We cannot afford to have even one soldier guarding this village," he said.

It is a month since a peace deal was signed between Sudan's government and the main rebel group. Yet the frustration among the people of Darfur, and among the 7,300 peacekeepers from 25 African countries they look to for protection, is growing each day.

Insecurity remains rife and the peacekeepers can do little to improve the situation.

"Monitoring this agreement with only the troops we have now will be a failure," said Lieutenant Colonel John Asabre, in charge of intelligence and security at the African Union Mission to Sudan (Amis) headquarters.

Most analysts say the Darfur force should be doubled in size, with the power to protect returning refugees and to disarm militia. Yet the western nations that sponsor Amis have made an increase all but impossible by holding back funding. Some soldiers have not been paid for three months.

Hands tied, the AU has agreed to hand over the mission to the United Nations at the end of September. But there are serious doubts that this will take place by then, if at all.

While Sudan's government has finally agreed to let a UN assessment mission into Darfur later this week, the president, Omar el-Bashir, remains strongly opposed to a "blue helmet" takeover.

A UN security council delegation arrived in Khartoum on Monday to try to twist his arm. But even if it is successful, analysts say Mr Bashir is likely to insist that the mission's scale and mandate remain largely unchanged. And if not, Amis will continue to limp along.

A week on the road with the peacekeepers showed just how unsatisfactory either outcome would be.

Darfur is the size of Iraq, fiercely hot and prone to blinding dust storms. A force of 7,300 means one soldier for every 28 square miles. Liberia, where a UN peacekeeping mission was successful, is a quarter of the size of Darfur, yet the blue helmet force was 15,000 strong.

There are two tarmac roads here; the rest are little more than donkey tracks. When it rains, they become impassable. Yet Amis has just three fixed-wing aircraft and 25 transport helicopters, which were donated by the Canadian government with the caveat that they fly no more than 1,100 hours a month - less than 90 minutes each a day.

Equipped with light weapons, Amis soldiers are vastly outgunned by the rebels, the Janjaweed militia and their Sudanese military allies. Communication equipment is badly lacking, as are translators.

The peacekeepers are also hugely constrained by their weak mandate. Amis's main function is to monitor a ceasefire agreement signed in April 2004 by Khartoum and two rebel groups - and subsequently ignored by all the other parties. A ceasefire commission, which contains representatives of all the factions and is meant to investigate violations, last met in October 2005.

Amis can only protect civilians "under imminent threat and in the immediate vicinity, within resources and capability". Preventing attacks has rarely been an option.

"We need a mandate that allows our troops to do proper peacekeeping duties: air missions, patrolling demilitarised zones and setting up road blocks," said Colonel Wisdom Bleboo, 46, a Ghanaian with UN peacekeeping experience in Cambodia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda.

Without that, and a major increase in the number of troops, the job was "impossible", he said.

   
Fear and mistrust as people of Darfur turn against peacekeepers

[Shammu]

French state and SNCF guilty of collusion in deporting Jews

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Wednesday June 7, 2006
The Guardian

In a historic judgment, the French state and the state railway company SNCF were found guilty yesterday of colluding in the deportation of Jews during the second world war and ordered to pay compensation to the family of two victims.

The Green MEP Alain Lipietz and his sister, Hélène, brought the case on behalf of their father, who was transported from Toulouse to the Drancy wartime transit camp outside Paris. It is the latest embarrassment for France, which for decades refused to face up to accusations of collaboration in the Holocaust during the Nazi occupation.

Article continues
The tribunal in Toulouse ordered the state and the SNCF to pay a total of €62,000 (£43,000) to the family for their deceased father, and to their uncle in recognition of the transportation of the brothers alongside their parents to the Drancy camp in 1944. The camp, which became known as the "antechamber of death" was a transit prison from which around 67,000 Jews were sent to the Nazi death camps.

In their ruling, the judges recognised the prejudice suffered by the victims and their confinement at the camp. They said their transportation amounted to an "act of negligence of the state's responsibilities" because the state could not "obviously" ignore the fact that transportation to Drancy would normally mean subsequent removal to a Nazi death camp.

The judges found that the SNCF railway company never voiced "any objection" about transporting such prisoners. The journeys were classified as "third class tariffs" despite prisoners being transported in cattle trucks and SNCF continued to ask for payment of the bills after France was liberated from the Nazis. But the judges did not uphold the plaintiffs' charge that the actions of the French state and SNCF amounted to crimes against humanity.

Mr Lipietz described the tribunal's decision as "historic". "It's the first time in history that the state and the SNCF have, as such, been condemned," he told Agence France Presse.

His father, Georges Lipietz, was 21 when German soldiers arrested him, his 15-year-old half brother and their parents in the town of Pau, east of Toulouse, on suspicion of being Jewish. The family, of Polish origin, had been given French nationality a few years before.

At Toulouse they were put on an SNCF train to Paris, where they were transported in a cattle truck which held 52 people, with no sanitation and only one opening for air.

In a journey that lasted more than 30 hours, they were only given water once - by the Red Cross during a stop. They were held at the Drancy camp for three months and survived.

Addressing the tribunal this month, Mr Lipietz said his father had been unable to speak to him about the journey. But he said his father, "with tears moistening his wrinkled cheeks", had described how French gendarmes guarding the camp had pointed their guns at children who went too near the fence. He said he had taken the case because his father wanted the French state and the SNCF to stand up and condemn what happened.

Mr Lipietz added after yesterday's ruling: "The tribunal has recognised that the state and the SNCF did more than that what was demanded of them by the Germans" concerning the deportation "not only of Jews but also of Gypsies or homosexuals".

The lawyer for the SNCF said yesterday that the company would appeal against the ruling. He said the railway could not be held responsible for the transportation because it had been forced to cooperate with German occupying forces.

A similar suit in 2003 failed when a Paris court ruled it could not establish that the SNCF was responsible for transporting Jews during the Nazi occupation.

French state and SNCF guilty of collusion in deporting Jews

[Shammu]

Panel edits Ten Commandments

Committee rewords religious phrases

By MARSHA SHULER
Capitol News Bureau
Published: Jun 7, 2006

Story originally published in The Advocate

     

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A House panel decided Tuesday to do a little editing on the Ten Commandments.

Lawmakers made the alterations as they debated which version of the ancient biblical law — Protestant, Catholic or Jewish — should be embodied in a proposed state law.

The House and Governmental Affairs Committee then advanced Senate Bill 476 to the full House.

The bill would allow the display of the Ten Commandments, along with other documents of religious historical significance, in government buildings.

The wording of the bill is designed to comply with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the separation of government and religion.

The committee didn’t settle on the version to include but did amend the more Protestant-oriented version in the bill after a civil-rights lobbyist noted some disparities.

“It says ‘murder’ rather than ‘kill,’” said Michael Malec, noting the Sixth Commandment, which commonly reads “Thou shalt not kill.”

“We can change that,” replied Rep. Peppi Bruneau, R-New Orleans, who handled the bill for its absent author, Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek.

While the committee was at it, Bruneau said it might as well change the spelling of “honor” in the Fifth Commandment — “Honor thy father and thy mother” — which in the bill was spelled “honour.”

Malec, lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said Catholics and Jews might be upset with the King James-type version included in the legislation by Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek.

“It supports a particular version when there are other versions,” Malec said.

“That’s a legitimate objection,” said Bruneau, who handled the bill for Sen. Cain.

Malec said Cain’s version also includes “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven idol.” He said those words are not in the Catholic commandments.

“We are not adding any commandments, are we?” quipped Rep. Billy Montgomery, D-Haughton, as the panel finished its editing.
No one besides Malec testified for or against the measure.

Contacted after the meeting, Jewish Rabbi Stan Zamek of Beth Shalom Synagogue said choosing what version of the Ten Commandments to place in a government building points up the deficiency of the idea.

“I think there’s a problem displaying any version in a government building. I think it’s a dangerous intrusion of government into people’s religious liberties in any case,” Zamek said.

“You are inevitably choosing one religion over another,” he said.

The Roman Catholic Church has not taken a position on Cain’s legislation, said Danny Loar, executive director of the Louisiana Catholic Conference of Bishops.

Cain’s aide, lawyer Carla Roberts, said she did not know what version of the Ten Commandments was reproduced in the legislation. She said it is patterned after a Texas law.

“It’s kind of a distinction without a difference,” said Roberts after being told about the committee discussion over the varying words.

Roberts said the Ten Commandments in the bill should be considered an example that does not exclude other versions. She said she will work on changes to make that clear.

First Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Bob Downing, who at one time displayed the Ten Commandments in his office, said the version should be left up to the group installing the display.

“Generally, people don’t have a clue what the difference is between the Protestant and Catholic versions,” said Downing. “Go to different people and ask them what’s the difference.”

The bill includes a version of the Ten Commandments as an example of items that could be included in displays of documents recognizing the religious heritage of the state and nation.

The legislation is designed to meet the standard imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court when it considered constitutional challenges to the displays. The U.S. Constitution demands separation of religion and government.

Last year, the Supreme Court handed down 5-4 decisions in cases involving displays of the Ten Commandments. The high court ruled that a display at the Texas state Capitol that was part of an exhibit was OK, but others at two Kentucky courthouses were not.

The swing vote in each case — U.S. Justice Stephen Breyer — said the Texas display served “a mixed but primarily non-religious purpose” while the Kentucky displays were part of a governmental effort to promote religion.

[Shammu]

A Clash of Culture, Faith
Latinas Balance Catholic Upbringing, Adoption of Islam

By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 5, 2006; Page B01

Every morning, Jackie Avelar wakes up to a predicament. On one side of her bed is a clock that sounds the Islamic call to prayer five times a day. On the other side is a statue of Mary. As a Muslim, she wants to remove it. As a Latina, she can't.

Her father, who is a Catholic from El Salvador, wants the statue to stay.

"I have to respect him," Avelar said.

So she has found a comfortable balance: She covers the statue with a photo of her family.

Avelar, 31, constantly struggles to find balance within her family, within the outside world, within herself. Growing up, she was a beach-going, tank top-wearing, salsa-dancing girl. Now, she's a devout Muslim who favors Islamic garments and avoids socializing with men.

She is the first Muslim in a family that has never known any religion but Catholicism.

Across the nation, thousands of Latino immigrants are redefining themselves through Islam, including a few hundred in the Washington region, according to national Islamic groups and community leaders. Precise numbers are not available, but estimates range from 40,000 to 70,000.

The conversions speak to a larger evolution of immigrant identity, as a new generation ingests a cultural smorgasbord of ideas they were rarely exposed to in their homelands. Today, it's easier than ever to learn about Islam from Spanish translations of the Koran, Islamic magazines and Web sites.

But as they embrace a new faith, Latinos face struggles, ranging from guilt to discrimination, as Muslims in a post-Sept. 11 America.

"Sometimes you feel like you are betraying who you are, that you are abandoning your family," said Avelar, who is small and round-faced with a soft voice.

The converts hail from throughout Latin America. In Islam, some say they see a devoutness and simplicity they find lacking in Catholicism. Like the tightknit Latino culture, Islam places emphasis on family, which can make it easier for converts to adjust.

Yet some are as motivated by feelings of alienation in a nation that is divided over immigration. Latino women find what most westerners rarely see -- a respect for women, unlike, some converts say, the machismo culture in which they were raised.

On the Friday before Easter, a day that no longer holds religious significance for Avelar, she took part in the juma , the weekly group prayer all practicing Muslims attend. She drove to a small Annandale mosque in a silver Honda, with a license plate holder that reads "Don't drive faster than your angels can fly."

Dressed in a pink hijab , or headscarf, and a black shoulder-to-ankle garment, she melted into the tide of immigrants.

The men entered the front door. Avelar glided to a side entrance with the other women and vanished inside.

A Clash of Culture, Faith

[Shammu]

Haniyeh: Battle against Israel will be long, cruel

Palestinian prime minister tells journalists in Gaza ‘Palestinians will not fight one another, and there will not be a civil war,’ calls on international community to ‘pressure Israel into halting aerial attacks on Gaza and end aggression against Palestinians’
Ali Waked

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday that “the Palestinian people, especially those active on the ground, must take care of themselves – of their blood and of their people – as the battle against the occupation will be long and cruel.”

Speaking to journalists during a tour of Palestinian matriculation exam centers, Haniyeh warned Palestinians of the pitfalls of internal
fighting , adding that “the Palestinians will not fight one another, and there will not be a civil war.”

As to the Israeli Air Force attack on a Gaza armory early Wednesday, the Palestinian Prime Minister called on the international community to pressure Israel into halting the aerial attacks on the Strip and end the ‘aggression against the Palestinians, especially at a time when Palestinian high school students are taking their matriculation exams.”

Meanwhile, Fatah and Hamas representatives met Wednesday to discuss the recent violent confrontations between the factions; the meeting, which was held under the mediation of the Egyptian security delegation to Gaza, was aimed at reaching an understanding on a ceasefire that would mark the end of the internal fighting that has claimed the lives of numerous Palestinians from both sides.

Prior to the meeting, two members of Hamas’ special security force were injured when gunmen, apparently from Fatah, opened fire at them in Jabalya.

Palestinians also reported of a botched attempt to set off a bomb near the home of the Jabalya Police commander. It was also reported that a severed finger was found earlier by Palestinian police officers, who believe it belonged to a Hamas activist who set off a bomb in Beit Lahiya.

Haniyeh: Battle against Israel will be long, cruel