|
Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
| ||||||
|
To contact the Presidents Conference: click here In-Depth Issues:
Libya Stalls on Vow to Destroy Uranium Stock - Katherine Griffiths (Telegraph-UK)
UK Blocks Israel Arms Deals - George Conger (Jerusalem Post)
The Strategic Alliance Between Iran and Syria - Y. Mansharof and O. Winter (MEMRI)
PA Pays Prisoners in Israeli Jails (Maan News-PA)
Jordan Scholar Imprisoned for E-mails - Borzou Daragahi (Los Angeles Times)
Jerusalem Dentist, Aged 97, Still Practicing - Etgar Lefkovits (Jerusalem Post)
Search Key Links Media Contacts Back Issues Fair Use
|
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Hamas militiamen beat protesters with clubs and rifle butts to try to stop a demonstration by political opponents in Gaza on Monday, but hundreds chanting "We want freedom" defied the ban. Hamas men arrested several demonstrators and confiscated equipment from news photographers and cameramen seeking to cover the arrests. Hamas has banned "all demonstrations and public gatherings" that do not have special permission. (AP/Washington Post) See also As Dissent Grows in Gaza, Hamas Tightens Its Grip - Isabel Kershner The secular opposition in Gaza, led by Fatah, has been showing signs of an awakening after the initial shock of Hamas' takeover. "It seems that after two months, people in Gaza feel obliged to stand up against the decisions of the [Hamas] Executive Force," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Al Azhar University in Gaza, which is affiliated with Fatah. (New York Times) "Gaza E.R.," a documentary by Olly Lambert to be broadcast Tuesday on PBS, looks at the goings-on inside Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, where heavily armed thugs try to bully doctors in the hallways and gun battles are regular occurrences. The film, which picks up a few months after Hamas came to power in early 2006, captures such episodes and more, as various factions and families carry their disputes inside the hospital when their wounded are brought in for treatment. The hospital becomes a battleground even as it is running out of medicine and supplies, Hamas seeming not up to the task of governing. (New York Times) In mostly Shiite southern Beirut, a ruined district subjected to Israeli airstrikes in last summer's war, Hizbullah has opened a museum called the House of the Spider to celebrate its "divine victory" and demonize Israel. It includes the re-creation of a Hizbullah guerrilla base, with mannequins in camouflage uniforms looking at maps of northern Israel and punching Israeli grid coordinates into laptop computers. Visitors navigate past the wreckage of Israeli tanks, captured Israeli walkie-talkies, a downed helicopter and bloodied boots. A television screen loops a video game in which a Hizbullah fighter hunts down enemy armor. Footage of exploding Israeli tanks plays inside a darkened theater. (Los Angeles Times) See also Hizbullah Exhibit Celebrates War "Heroes" - Ferry Biedermann Relatively little space at the exhibition is devoted to the impact of the war on the Lebanese population. Instead, the emphasis lies squarely on what Hizbullah portrays as the heroism of its fighters and the vulnerability of the Israeli soldiers. There is no trace of the operation that kicked off the war: Hizbullah's cross-border raid in which two Israeli soldiers were captured and three others killed. (Financial Times-UK) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA), the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, sent a letter to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad demanding an explanation for his government's transfer of salary payments to Hamas. "Without further explanation from you, I will feel compelled, upon returning to Washington, to forewarn my colleagues in the Congress that any visits with your government offer little value," said Cantor. "Furthermore, I will help lead opposition in Congress to any proposed call for additional U.S. taxpayer dollars being sent to the Palestinian Authority." (Jerusalem Post) Fatah strongman Mohammad Dahlan, who was in charge of coordinating Israel's disengagement, promised to turn the Gaza Strip into the "Singapore of the Middle East." Two years later, the situation in Gaza is a far cry from Dahlan's dream. 70% of the greenhouses left intact by Israel are almost completely destroyed. The plastic covers and steel arcs that once formed the greenhouses have been stolen and sold by looters. Roads and other infrastructure networks are unrecognizable. Palestinian armed groups set up training camps and military bases on lands evacuated by Israel. Many Palestinians believe that al-Qaeda's fundamental Islamic ideology is spreading in Gaza. (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Unfortunately, the probability that in the foreseeable future Iran's economic problems will cause the regime to moderate its policies or bring regime opponents to power in Iran's parliament is not high. Moreover, Ahmadinejad has responded to his economic failures by further strengthening his control over the economy. Sunday the Iranian media announced that Ahmadinejad had sacked the country's oil and industry ministers. Both men had worked to prevent Ahmadinejad from completing his takeover of the economy. With the two powerful ministries now under his full control, there is little doubt that he will intensify both his consolidation of power and his repression of his critics. While it is possible that Ahmadinejad's economic mismanagement may at the end of the day capsize his regime by bankrupting the country, there is no reason to believe that this will occur before Iran acquires nuclear weapons. Today Iran is enriching uranium in some 3,000 centrifuges at its nuclear installation in Natanz. Last month, an Iranian official stated that this is sufficient to make a nuclear bomb. (Jerusalem Post) In the mid-1980s, I had an eight-hour session with Colonel Muammar Gadhafi that began at midnight. It essentially consisted of an uninterrupted monologue about his theories on human evolution, relations between males and females, and his belief that Shakespeare was an Arab Bedouin whose original name was Sheik Zubair. (No kidding.) A few years ago, Colonel Gadhafi's daughter famously declared that she was quitting the Sorbonne in Paris because she said political science was a fake Western invention to exploit the world. His sons, who hold the right of life and death over Libya's population, barely completed middle school. The great leader himself is so heavily medicated that his conversations are fittingly out of this world. Libya ranks as an ongoing nut case. It was let out of a straightjacket of sanctions a few years ago in return for turning over its security files on the wide variety of terror groups it supported. If anything, the Bulgarian hostage situation demonstrates that a family of unstable thugs has hijacked Libya. Treating Libya as if it were a real country, meriting two visits in the past few weeks from Britain's former prime minister, Tony Blair, and President Sarkozy of France, is simply absurd. (New York Sun) Is there a window of opportunity for Israel-Palestinian peace right now? True, Abbas is less extreme than Arafat, but he is far weaker. He himself has reportedly admitted that his regime cannot stop terrorist attacks on Israel from the territory it supposedly controls. Fatah is so fossilized, factionalized and corrupt that it is incapable of changing course. Nor does most of the leadership want it to. They would prefer to steal aid money rather than use it effectively. And they don't want to be considered traitors to the cause by pursuing moderation. Thus, there is no chance of their agreeing to a peace accord ending the conflict. Politicians should not making fools of themselves by racing around to create peace blueprints, conferences and financial give-aways which will fail in a humiliating manner, and they should not pretend that Abbas is a great man of peace or that Fatah is a collection of moderates. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: One Year Since the End of the Second Lebanon War (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)
Unsubscribe from Daily Alert |
|||||