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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:
Germany to Deport Islamic Extremists (AP/Jerusalem Post)
See also Imams Facing More Scrutiny in Europe - Jamey Keaten (AP/Washington Post)
Female Suicide Bomber a Palestinian Heroine - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Wiretaps: Florida Professor Al-Arian Tried Raid on Account - Meg Laughlin (St. Petersburg Times)
Useful Reference:
How Yasir Arafat Destroyed Palestine - David Samuels (Atlantic Monthly) Search
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
14 U.S. marines were killed Wednesday in Iraq when their troop carrier was blown up by a huge roadside bomb in the western town of Haditha. Haditha is one of a string of cities along the Euphrates River that American commanders believe forms the network that shuttles insurgents traveling through Syria into Iraq. (New York Times) See also Insurgents Using Bigger, More Lethal Bombs - David S. Cloud In recent months the roadside bombs favored by insurgents in Iraq have grown significantly in size and sophistication, American military officers say, adding to their deadliness and defeating efforts to increase troops' safety by adding armor to vehicles. The explosion in Haditha was powerful enough to flip a 25-ton amphibious assault vehicle. (New York Times) American journalist and author Steven Vincent was found shot dead in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, a few days after an opinion piece he wrote criticizing the rise of Shi'ite Islamist fundamentalism in Basra was published in the New York Times. (Reuters) See also Switched Off in Basra - Steven Vincent An Iraqi police lieutenant confirmed the widespread rumors that a few police officers are perpetrating many of the hundreds of assassinations that take place in Basra each month. There is even a sort of "death car" that glides through the city streets, carrying off-duty police officers in the pay of extremist religious groups to their next assignment. (New York Times) Ibrahim Muktar Said and Hassan Omar, who are being held in connection with the July 21 London bombing attempts, attended the Finsbury Park mosque, taking in the fiery sermons last year of Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical cleric who has openly called for jihad, or ''holy war," against infidels. The two were also seen at the mosque this March, handing out leaflets opposing leaders of the moderate Muslims who had reclaimed the mosque from Masri and other radicals. British counterterrorism officials say the mosque became a ''gateway" where young Muslims are recruited to more radical causes. There are at least a dozen such mosques in Britain, investigators say, as well as similar mosques in Madrid, Amsterdam, Milan, and other European cities, where it is taught that Muslims are suffering at the hands of the ''Zionist-Crusader alliance." (Boston Globe) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Official Islamic Jihad sources on Wednesday denied news reports claiming that the group had agreed to stop Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli targets until after the completion of the disengagement. (Ha'aretz) Israel has for months said it needed to retain a presence at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza to ensure that heavy weaponry is not smuggled into Gaza. According to senior diplomatic sources, however, the defense ministry is now leaning toward leaving the crossing altogether and relying on the PA, the Egyptians, and an international observer force to police the crossing. One diplomatic official declared that this would mean that Israel would forfeit its demand to maintain a security presence at Gaza's airport and seaport after they become operable. The idea, according to diplomatic officials, was to create the type of deterrence that exists in Lebanon, where Hizballah - which has Katyusha rockets - has been wary about using them since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, out of fear of Israel's reaction. "If the agreement is violated, Israel will be able to take whatever action is necessary to remedy the situation," an official said. (Jerusalem Post) Thirty Egyptian security officers arrived in Gaza on Wednesday to assist in the training of Palestinian police. Egypt is keen to see calm established in Gaza to prevent a security vacuum after Israel withdraws. (Reuters/Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
At a time when there are Muslim fanatics on the loose who want to blow up men, women, and children of all races on buses and trains, British politicians are obsessed with the question of whether or not the police should be concentrating their searches on members of ethnic minorities. What a ludicrous debate. Everybody with an ounce of common sense must see that the police are duty-bound to focus in particular on those who look most likely to be carrying bombs. In this emergency, we are all being betrayed by politicians of all parties who put political correctness before protecting the public. (Telegraph-UK) According to the new official biographies of King Abdullah and his designated successor, Crown Prince Sultan, both men are lying about their ages - and age (of senior princes) is the key to understanding Saudi Arabia over the next few years. In the Saudi system, age brings seniority, a key qualification for succession. But old age also suggests infirmity, a possible disqualifying factor. When I wrote a book - After King Fahd: Succession in Saudi Arabia - in 1994, I spent months checking the years of birth of the sons of King Abdul Aziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. Fahd was born in 1921, Abdullah in 1923, and Sultan in 1924. On Monday, the Saudi Press Agency said Fahd was born in 1923, Abdullah in 1924, and Sultan in 1930. Saudi Arabia is facing a future of kings with short reigns. They will probably be dubbed "Saudi Brezhnevs," after the increasingly decrepit leadership in the final years of the Soviet Union. The writer is a senior fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. (Wall Street Journal) See also After Fahd, Abdullah. But Then? (Economist-UK) The unreliability of Palestinian sources has long undermined the integrity of Mideast media coverage. Last month, AP and Reuters reported Palestinian prisoners' claims that Israeli guards tore up copies of the Koran, while a Palestinian prisoner later admitted to doing the ripping. On July 20, Reuters, relying on unnamed Palestinian witnesses, reported that "Jewish settlers stabbed a Palestinian boy to death," though Palestinian police soon after arrested a Palestinian suspect in the murder. As Joshua Muravchik notes in his book, Covering the Intifada: How the Media Reported the Palestinian Uprising, "Journalists seem to follow a canon that says when two sides are fighting, it is their obligation to report equally and with equal credence what is said by each. But...the Palestinians repeatedly lie." (HonestReporting) Yisrael Harel says what's at stake in the removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip is the very heart of Israel: the Zionist enterprise that brought Jews back to their homeland after centuries of exile. "In the Israeli ethos, the Zionist ethos, settlements are of the essence. That's why we came back," said Harel. Uprooting them, he said, would spell "the utmost negation of Zionism." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is having none of that. "I am not prepared to listen to absurd claims that the disengagement from Gaza is the end of Zionism," he countered. On the contrary, he said, pulling out from territory of "negligible" security importance is a "process that will strengthen Zionism." The decision to abandon Gaza has called into question long-held beliefs about the meaning of Zionism, the founding ideology that led to Israel's creation as a Jewish state on the land of the ancient Hebrew patriarchs. (Los Angeles Times) Observations: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan Seen Doing Little to Weed Out Radical Islam (AFP/Middle East Times-Cyprus)
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