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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:
Report: Hamas Rejects Egyptian Plan for Truce with Israel (Reuters/Ha'aretz)
Poll: Palestinians' Backing for Terror Rises - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Poll: Israelis Say West Bank Is "Liberated," Not "Occupied" - Michael Freund (Jerusalem Post)
Germany and France at Loggerheads over Arms Deal with Libya (Der Spiegel-Germany)
Record Surge in U.S. Tourists to Israel - Matthew Kalman (New York Daily News)
Concentration Camp Hit by Scrap Metal Thieves (Der Spiegel-Germany)
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Palestinian suicide bombers from Gaza drove three explosives-laden vehicles into the Kerem Shalom goods crossing on the border with Israel early on Saturday, detonating two of them. Three bombers were killed in the blasts and 13 Israeli soldiers were wounded, the Israeli military said. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, the fifth along the border with Israel in the last ten days. The vehicles entered the Palestinian side of the crossing at about 6 a.m. under cover of heavy mortar fire and the early morning mist. They included two jeeps painted to resemble army vehicles and an armored personnel carrier. Israeli forces came to confront them as they headed toward the Israeli side. The soldiers escaped more serious injury because they were in a fortified space. Another armored personnel carrier was spotted half an hour later by soldiers at a border position north of Kerem Shalom. That vehicle was blown up by Israeli fire before it could reach the border fence. The armored personnel carriers used to belong to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority. (New York Times) See also IDF: Worst Attack Since Gaza Pullout - Hanan Greenberg "This is the worst attack we've seen since the disengagement," said IDF Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant Saturday after the terror attack at the Kerem Shalom goods crossing. "It was an attempt to abduct and kill as many soldiers as possible," said Galant. "Hamas is using Israel's generosity and goes after the crossings used to make sure vital Palestinian needs are met." (Ynet News) Senior IDF officers said the latest attack was "a very clear declaration on the part of Hamas. This was not a 'slip.' This [attack] had been planned for months." (Ha'aretz) Former President Jimmy Carter held a controversial meeting Friday with Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, the Islamist movement whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel. (Times-UK) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Hamas' failed attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Passover eve shows that it is trying to abduct more soldiers. According to the Israel Defense Forces, Hamas operatives believed they had identified a breach in Israel's defenses: the crossing where 200 trucks cross to meet humanitarian needs each week. It was preceded by the Nahal Oz fuel terminal attack on April 9, where two Israeli civilians were killed. The Hamas leadership understands that Israel does not want to embark on a major operation in the coming month - between Passover, Independence Day and another visit by President Bush. IDF success depends greatly on the quick judgment of the commander in the field. Saturday it was the Bedouin Desert Battalion deputy commander, Major Wahid, who correctly foresaw the impending explosion of a booby-trapped vehicle and ordered his men into protected vehicles, certainly limiting casualties. Despite a leg injury from the second explosion, Wahid continued to command the forces that surrounded and killed the driver of the armored vehicle. Almost two years ago, at almost exactly that spot, soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted. The attack also shows a misconception: The armored vehicles Israel plans to transfer to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank have been described as useless weapons, easily targeted by the Israel Air Force. But they served Hamas in its abduction plan. (Ha'aretz) See also IDF Braces for More Attacks on Gaza-Israel Border - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post) At 6 a.m. Saturday, residents of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom woke up to the sounds of mortar shells. The men were dispatched to the emergency squad, while the women remained in fortified rooms with their children. Kibbutz resident Sharon Caspi said, "The shells landed across the entire kibbutz and I simply felt that we were at war." "I feel anger because this is our home, and they, the Palestinians, don't want us to be here. But this is our land, and...we will not escape and will not be driven away from our home so easily." (Ynet News) Palestinians in Gaza fired seven Kassam rockets that landed in Israel on Sunday. (Ynet News) See also Palestinian Rockets Target Ashkelon Monday Two Kassam rockets landed south of Ashkelon Monday morning. (Ynet News) Israel agreed Friday to allow the PA to reopen 20 police stations in the West Bank's Area B, as part of a security drive aimed at bolstering peace negotiations. The stations would be staffed by 500 new police personnel, said Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry's civil affairs wing. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The IDF identified Hamas preparations for the attack on Kerem Shalom on Saturday and were ready to thwart it. The attack seems to have been an initiative by the commanders of the military wing of Hamas in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari and Mohammed Def. But such an attack could not take place without the knowledge and consent of Gaza's political leadership, Mahmoud al-Zahar and Ismail Haniyeh, as well as the Damascus leadership. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's mission to see Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is placed in a particularly ludicrous light when, farther down in the organization, Hamas operatives set out to take more Israeli soldiers hostage. (Ha'aretz) See also Carter's Unhelpful Freelancing - Editorial Jimmy Carter sets a bad precedent by conducting his own foreign policy. How would he have reacted if his predecessors made similar gestures while he was toasting the Shah of Iran on New Year's Eve 1977 as "an island of stability," or when he had the Pentagon tell Iranian generals to allow Ayatollah Khomeini to return to Iran? Carter may have good intentions, but he should know better than anyone that there can be only one chief of state at a time. (Boston Globe) All three American presidential candidates uniformly agree that the U.S. should neither reach out to Hamas - considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel, and the EU - nor pressure Israel to do so. While some have continued to press Israel to end its boycott of Hamas, as if the lack of peace in the region is the result of an Israeli allergy to peaceful negotiations, this is the antithesis of the prevailing situation: It is Hamas who refuses to negotiate peace with Israel because its stated goal is the elimination of the Jewish state, a position repeated frequently by its leaders and adherents. Were Hamas willing to end its boycott of Israel, end its call for genocide, recognize Israel's right to exist in peace with its Arab neighbors, and renounce violence, it would find a ready and able peace partner in Jerusalem. (Harvard Crimson) Observations: The False Hope of Embracing Hamas - Robert Satloff (Los Angeles Times)
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