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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:
Iran to Take Center Stage at UN Assembly - Allison Hoffman (Jerusalem Post)
Iran-Trained Shiites Launch Bombings in Iraq (AFP)
Germany Arrests Two in Islamist Terror Plot - Craig Whitlock (Washington Post)
Palestinian Gunmen Fire on Home of West Bank Court Official (Maan News-PA)
Iranian General Killed in Clashes with Rebels (Fars-Iran)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert handed in his resignation to President Shimon Peres on Sunday. Olmert will remain Israel's interim prime minister until a successor assumes power either by forming a coalition in the current Knesset or through general elections. Peres is likely to ask Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - who won the Kadima party primary election last week - to form a coalition. (CNN) Israel believes Russia passes intelligence it gathers about the Jewish state to Syria and indirectly to Hizbullah, IDF Col. Ram Dor, chief of information security, told Yediot Ahronot on Friday. Describing Russian spy ships that dock in Syria and Russian personnel who man electronic eavesdropping stations in the Golan Heights, he said, "My assessment is that their facilities cover most of the State of Israel's territory." "The Syrians share the intelligence that they gather with Hizbullah, and the other way around. This we know, because we know how to build a mirror-image that shows us what enemy intelligence knows about us," Dor said. "So if the Russians help the Syrians get information, and the Syrians constantly pass it on to Hizbullah, it is a reasonable supposition that the information gathered by the Russians also reaches Hizbullah's hands." (Reuters) See also Russia Rejects New Measures Against Iran - Conor Humphries At a meeting Friday with diplomats from the U.S., China, Britain, France and Germany, Russia "said it was against the development at this stage of additional measures [against Iran] in the UN Security Council," the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday. France has echoed the U.S. call for sanctions, but China said such a move would not resolve the stalemate. (AFP) Iran's highest authority lashed out against Israel on Friday with some of his harshest comments in recent memory about the Jewish state. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is Iran's top political and military figure, said his country's hostility to Israel extended beyond the government to the Israeli people as well, brushing aside recent overtures by top Iranian officials to the Israeli public. Khamenei said Iran and Israel were on a "collision course," and that "It is incorrect, irrational, pointless and nonsense to say that we are friends of the Israeli people." (Los Angeles Times) Pakistani officials said Sunday that 21 foreigners, including two Americans stationed at the U.S. Embassy, were among the victims of a massive suicide truck bombing Saturday that destroyed the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. Officials put the death toll at 53, with at least 266 injured. The hotel is a center of social and political life in the Pakistani capital and a frequent choice of foreign visitors. The ambassador from the Czech Republic was among the dead. (Washington Post) See also Hotel Bomb Shows Al-Qaeda's Deadly New Reach - Zahid Hussain (Times-UK) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Head of the Military Intelligence Research Division, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, told the Israeli Cabinet Sunday that Iran is well on the way to building a nuclear bomb. Baidatz said the international community is not putting enough pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment program. "Iran is focusing its efforts on enriching uranium and improving the operational capabilities of its centrifuges. It is mastering the necessary technology and now has one-third of what it needs to create a bomb. In view of the UN Security Council's inability to enforce a fourth round of sanctions, Iran's confidence is increasing and they now believe there is nothing the international community can do to stop them. Time is on Iran's side," he warned. (Ynet News) The Israel Defense Forces has vehemently rejected a charge that Border Police officers caused the death of a 60-year-old Palestinian woman during a raid in the West Bank town of Abu Dis on Sunday. The IDF confirmed that troops were carrying out searches in the woman's home, but stated there was no contact between the woman and the police. Family members indicated that the woman had had a heart condition for years. (Ha'aretz) Palestinians in Gaza fired two mortars into Israel on Sunday. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The Bush administration's attempt to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal has quietly expired after Secretary of State Rice's 16 trips to the region over the past 21 months and last year's Annapolis peace conference. Nor is it likely to revive anytime soon. With Wall Street's meltdown, the failing Afghan war, the growing U.S. military engagement in Pakistan and Russia's neo-imperialist eruption - not to mention the nuclear threats of Iran and North Korea - the perpetual headache of the West Bank and Gaza, where violence is at a relative low point, can barely be felt in Washington. This isn't an argument for the next administration to write off Middle East diplomacy, but to try a different approach, one that focuses on building a foundation for peace from the ground up, rather than pushing fickle and fragile leaders to dictate a settlement from above. The timeline for success would be measured in years and the goal would be the construction of a healthy and vibrant Palestinian civil society - that is, independent media, courts, political parties and nongovernmental organizations that could stand behind a settlement with Israel. Natan Sharansky has been proposing this course for years. (Washington Post) European allies appear ready to reward Syria's belligerent regime with an "Association Agreement" that would provide Assad's regime with eagerly sought political legitimacy and material assistance. Yet Syria continues to sponsor such Islamist terrorist organizations as Hizbullah and Hamas, which undermine the stability and security of many countries in the Middle East. In 2005, Syria agreed to abide by the provisions of the Euro-Mediterranean Code of Conduct on Countering Terrorism, which committed it to actively prevent terrorists from acquiring money and weapons, disrupt their networks, and deny them asylum or safe haven. Instead, the Syrian regime's provisions of arms, funding, and safe haven to Islamist terrorist organizations remain uninterrupted. As a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Syria has pledged to never acquire nuclear weapons. However, the evidence clearly shows that Syria was nearing completion of a nuclear reactor built with assistance from North Korea when Israel conducted its strike in September 2007. The writer is the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: Everyone Needs to Worry About Iran - Richard Holbrooke, R. James Woolsey, Dennis B. Ross, and Mark D. Wallace (Wall Street Journal)
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