Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: click here In-Depth Issues:
London Bomb Plot May Have Been Much Larger (ABC News)
See also British Arrest Man Wanted in Transit Attacks - Glenn Frankel (Washington Post)
Hamas Uses Radio Station to Instruct Missile Crews - Aaron Klein
(WorldNetDaily)
Top Syrian Officials Conned UN - Niles Lathem (New York Post)
Israeli Appointed Deputy Chair of UN Disarmament Commission - Herb Keinon (Jerusalem Post)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Iran's departing president Mohammad Khatami said Wednesday that the country's senior officials had decided to resume activities at one nuclear site no matter what incentives were in a European proposal expected next week. "We will definitely resume work in Isfahan," the site of a uranium processing plant, Khatami said. (New York Times) See also Iran Achieves Solid Fuel Missile Breakthrough Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said for the first time Wednesday that the Islamic Republic has fully developed solid-fuel technology in producing missiles, a major breakthrough that increases the accuracy of missiles hitting targets. Iranian missiles like the Shahab-3, with a range of 800-1,200 miles, are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East. (AP/FOX News) The newly named U.S. ambassador to Israel, veteran diplomat Richard H. Jones, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that the Bush administration did not approve of PA Chairman Abbas's strategy of "trying to co-opt" violent groups and bring them over to his side instead of challenging them head-on. Jones, who speaks Arabic and has served in four Arab countries, said, "I am not shy about taking on terrorists. When I was ambassador to Lebanon I had no problem in condemning terror, including Hizballah." (AP/San Francisco Chronicle) Hosni Mubarak, 77, Egypt's president for 24 years, will announce his candidacy for a fifth six-year term Thursday. There's a popular joke these days in Cairo. Mubarak's aide asks the president, "Isn't it time you write a farewell speech to the Egyptian people?" The president looks at him, confused. "Where are they going?" he asks. (Washington Post) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Palestinians near Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip fired three Kassam rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot and the western Negev Thursday morning, Army Radio reported. (Ha'aretz) See also Rocket Warning System to be Installed in Ashkelon The “Red Dawn” rocket warning system, currently in operation in Sderot, is being installed in Ashkelon (population 116,000) as well, amid speculations that the threat of Palestinian Kassam rocket fire toward the city would rise following the upcoming pullout from Gaza. (Ynet News) Meeting with Prime Minister Sharon in Paris Wednesday, French President Chirac called Syria a "threat to the stability of the region" and said he had "great concerns about the Syrians. Their psychology cannot be comprehended." However, Chirac disagreed with Sharon's approach to Hizballah, saying it plays "a stabilizing role" in Lebanon today. Chirac also asked that Israel allow France to supply the Palestinian forces with ammunition. Sharon, who had heard the request from U.S. Secretary of State Rice last Friday, responded to Chirac: "On Saturday an Israeli couple was murdered and one of the assailants was a uniformed Palestinian policeman. Why should we give him ammunition? They have ample ammunition." Sharon said that Abbas has 60,000 arms-bearing men, "but most of them are disloyal and do not obey him." (Ha'aretz) PA Prime Minister Qurei said Wednesday while reviewing Palestinian forces in Gaza: "We are telling the entire world, today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem. Today Gaza and tomorrow an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital....A state will not arise without our achieving all the rights of our Palestinian nation and the right of return." (Ynet News) See also Hamas: Israeli Withdrawal "First Step Towards Liberation of the Rest of Palestine" A senior Hamas leader announced Thursday that the upcoming Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank is "a Palestinian national achievement." Isma'el Haneya said the withdrawal came as a result of "the armed resistance," adding that "it is the first step towards the liberation of the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories." (Xinhuanet-China) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Today, this editorial board resolves to sacrifice another word - "insurgent" - on the altar of precise language. No longer will we refer to suicide bombers or anyone else in Iraq who targets and kills children and other innocent civilians as "insurgents." The notion that these murderers in any way are nobly rising up against a sitting government in a principled fight for freedom has become, on its face, absurd. To call them "insurgents" insults every legitimate insurgency in modern history. They are terrorists. Teenagers who strap bombs to their chests and detonate them in an Israeli cafe? Terrorists. (Dallas Morning News) The outburst of Fatah-Hamas violence earlier this month reflected the intensification of the intra-Palestinian power struggle. Both Hamas and Fatah have been preoccupied in recent months with improving their respective positions in advance of the approaching Israeli disengagement, with Hamas aiming to reinforce its claim of having driven Israel out of Gaza by force. Fatah's dilemma stems from the PA's inability to employ its security organs for maximum effect, because vigorous law enforcement measures are likely to further undermine its domestic standing. Even if Hamas does now restrain itself, it has already asserted its decisive role in setting the agenda through the calculated use of violence. (Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies-Tel Aviv University) Hamas, along with other Palestinian factions, hasn't attempted to cooperate with the PA. In refusing to be part of the pre-withdrawal arrangements, by rejecting a national unity government, and by opting for violence, Hamas, in particular, has undermined the PA. Islamic Jihad, for its part, attacked Netanya last week in an operation that harmed, more than helped, the Palestinian cause. The Palestinians need to prove to the world they can run their own show and resolve their own differences. The Palestinian people must have a single authority, one capable of honoring legal and security commitments. The Palestinians must act to discredit those who claim the PA is too weak to assume control of areas evacuated by Israel. Israeli withdrawal represents a chance for the Palestinian leadership and Arab countries to turn Gaza and the northern West Bank into a model of human and economic development. (Al-Ahram-Egypt) On average, 33 Iraqis die every day, executed by Iraqis and foreign jihadis and suicide bombers, not by U.S. or British soldiers. If this is jihad, someone got his religious education completely upside down. Do the cowardly jihadis really think they will force U.S. and British troops out of Iraq by killing hundreds of innocent Iraqis? The only accomplishment of jihadis is that now they have aroused the great "Western Tiger." In this new war, car bombs and suicide bombers here and there will be no match for the arsenal that those Westerners are putting together - an arsenal of laws, intelligence pooling, surveillance by satellites, armies of special forces, and, indeed, allies inside the Arab world who are tired of having their lives disrupted by demented so-called jihadis, those who know little about Islam and nothing about humanity. The writer is a former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times. (Middle East Times-Cyprus) Observations: How Arafat Destroyed Palestine - David Samuels (Atlantic Monthly)
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