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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:
The Danger of the Saudi Aircraft Deal - Rafi Buchnik (Omedia)
Libya Sentences Six to Die in HIV Case - Craig S. Smith (New York Times)
Hussein's Trial Sees Videotapes of Chemical Attacks on Kurds - Marc Santora (New York Times)
Qatari Troops for Lebanon (AFP/Gulf Times-Qatar)
Search Key Links Media Contacts Back Issues Fair Use
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
President Bush acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that the U.S. is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists. U.S. officials said the administration is preparing plans to bolster the nation's permanent active-duty military with as many as 70,000 additional troops. Bush tied his decision to the broader struggle against Islamic extremists around the world rather than to Iraq specifically. "It is an accurate reflection that this ideological war we're in is going to last for a while and that we're going to need a military that's capable of being able to sustain our efforts and to help us achieve peace," he said. (Washington Post) Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Tuesday accused the U.S. of trying to bring down the elected Hamas government. "There was a direct decision to bring down this government and make it collapse, and the Americans are behind this policy," Haniyeh said on Palestinian television. Haniyeh has dismissed Abbas' call for early elections as "unconstitutional." (Guardian-UK) See also Al-Qaeda No. 2 Condemns Abbas' Election Plan - Tim Butcher In a videotaped statement broadcast on al-Jazeera, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's deputy leader, embraced the cause of Hamas in its opposition to early elections. (Telegraph-UK) See also Rice: U.S. to Step Up Support for Abbas - Nicholas Kralev and Joshua Mitnick The U.S. will not wait for Palestinians to agree on a unity government or to hold elections in order to push for a renewed peace effort with Israel and will step up its support for Mahmoud Abbas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday. She said the chief mission of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East in the next two years will be to strengthen the "alignment" of moderate forces so they can take on extremists who have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years. "We are pushing forward on helping [Abbas] with reconstruction and security forces," she said, referring to tens of millions of dollars the Bush administration plans to give his office. (Washington Times) See also Western Powers to Try to Boost Abbas - Adam Entous Western powers and their Arab allies will try to boost Mahmoud Abbas by pumping money into his office and programs that could benefit him politically, diplomats say. The effort dovetails with a U.S.-led push to strengthen forces loyal to Abbas. Western diplomats said in interviews this week that the goal would be to persuade Palestinians, hard hit by Western sanctions against the Hamas-led government, that backing moderate leaders would benefit them. But Palestinian analysts said it could backfire if Hamas succeeded in painting Abbas and his Fatah faction as beholden to U.S. and Israeli interests. (Reuters) See also below Observations: Abbas Needs Help Against Hamas - Editorial (Washington Post) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that possible UN Security Council sanctions would not stop Iran from pursuing its uranium enrichment program. He again warned Britain, France, and Germany that Iran will consider their support for any sanctions as an act of hostility: "These three European countries should know that if they insist on preventing the Iranian nation from its path, the Iranian nation will consider their behavior as enmity and an act of hostility, and will change its behavior towards them accordingly." (AP/International Herald Tribune) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Six Palestinians, including two Hamas members and four affiliated with Fatah, were killed in internal Palestinian fighting in Gaza Tuesday. Palestinian sources said the lifeless bodies of two Fatah members of the Palestinian Intelligence Forces who had been kidnapped by Hamas gunmen were found in Gaza City. (Ynet News) Palestinians in Gaza fired two Kassam rockets that landed near Netiv Ha'asara in the western Negev on Tuesday evening. (Jerusalem Post) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Jordanian King Abdullah in Amman on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the PA. According to the Jordanian news agency Petra, Olmert briefed the king on the steps Israel may take to resume the peace process with the Palestinians. (Ynet News) Three Palestinians in a Hamas cell, who planned to kidnap a Jewish victim in the Jerusalem area, were arrested last month, security officials said Tuesday. The cell members were in the advanced stages of the operation. They had purchased weapons and attempted to recruit other Palestinians, including a resident of Jerusalem, to act as the driver. Large sums of money and a Kalashnikov rifle were discovered in their possession. (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
If Israelis and Palestinians reached peace tomorrow, it would be ludicrous to expect a therapeutic spillover effect in Iraq. The fighting in Iraq is caused by a brutal struggle for power, a proxy war fueled by Iran's growing ambitions in the region and al-Qaeda's ruthless campaign to establish a base of operations to export its totalitarian Islamic revolution. Iraq's Sunni insurgents and Shia militias, provoked by insurgent atrocities, would continue their bloody handiwork regardless of events between Israelis and Palestinians. James Baker, the ISG co-chairman, maintains that Syria can be "flipped" and persuaded to reverse course and drop its longstanding alliance with Iran, and stop stoking terrorism and factional bloodletting in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. This advice represents the triumph of hope over experience. As Secretary of State in 1990-1991, Baker failed to "flip" Syria, despite extensive diplomatic efforts. Secretary of State Colin Powell also failed to "flip" Syria. Syria and Iran should be isolated and punished for their bloody subversion of their neighbors, not rewarded with invitations to participate in an illusory "peace process" that sacrifices the interests of American allies in Israel, Lebanon, and Iraq. The writer is Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs in the Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. (Heritage Foundation) Although presented in religious terms, Ahmadinejad's ambition to restore Iran's position as the dominant regional power has deep roots in Persian nationalism. Ever since it emerged as a state over 25 centuries ago, Iran has always tried to extend its western frontiers and reach the Mediterranean. With the shattering of the balance of power in the Middle East, partly thanks to U.S. intervention that destroyed Iran's enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq, such moves are no longer regarded as a fantasy in Tehran. Iran is already present in Iraq and hopes to dominate the county once the U.S. has abandoned it. Iranian influence is also expanding in Syria, where Iran maintains a major security presence while thousands of Syrians are converting to the Khomeinist brand of Shiism. Iran is also trying to seize control of Lebanon through its Hizballah proxies, who have declared war on Premier Siniora's democratic government. Ahmadinejad has claimed that the U.S. was already defeated in the Middle East. "They are like rubble, and we are like the flood," he said. "That kind of talk can only lead to war," says Sami Faraj, an expert in regional security. "Ahmadinejad feels that, with the U.S. wavering in Iraq, nothing can stop him. The region may have to pay a high price to prove him wrong." (New York Post) On Sunday, officials of Hamas asked supporters to devise new slogans for use in rallies against their Palestinian rivals in the Fatah party. The Palestinians, who long demanded the right to govern themselves, have done little to show they are ready for that responsibility. By their willingness to give power to extremists, they have done terrible harm to their own future. (Chicago Tribune) Observations: Abbas Needs Help Against Hamas - Editorial (Washington Post)
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