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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with the Fairness Project by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Arms from Iraq Caused Blast at Hizballah Base - Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
Lebanese sources reported on a strong blast at a Hizballah training base near the town of Jinta in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Monday.
PA Officials Stealing Aid - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Authority officials and institutions in the Gaza Strip have been stealing basic food supplies and medicine provided by UNRWA and Arab countries and selling them on the black market since 1996, according to documents seized by the IDF during a recent raid on the Protective Security Service headquarters in Gaza City.
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News Resources - North America and Europe:
Israel will soon conduct new tests on its Arrow missile interceptor system, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said in comments published Thursday. Until now, Arrow tests involved the firing of only single prototypes, but upcoming trials will consist of multiple launches. Israel has conducted nine tests on the jointly developed U.S.-Israeli missile, eight of which were described as successful. Israel believes Saddam Hussein has 20-60 medium-range Scud missiles and about six mobile launchers. (AP/Newsday) Germany began a two-year term as an elected member of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, amid fresh signs that the government may be softening its opposition to a war against Iraq. On Tuesday, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder said: "We Germans know from experience that sometimes only violence can stop dictators." Senior German officials have recently hinted that Germany would not use its seat to campaign against a war or necessarily reject military intervention should it come to a vote. (Financial Times/New York Times)
News Resources - Israel, the Mideast, and Asia:
Belying the notion that Hamas is about to accept a cease-fire, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yasin told a crowd of 50,000 at a Gaza rally on Dec. 27, 2002, authorized by the PA, that the suicide bombings against Israel will continue. Yasin emphasized: "The jihad and suicide bombings will continue - the Zionist entity will reach its end in the first quarter of the current century. It is therefore up to you [Muslim holy fighters] to be patient - the Hamas takes upon itself the liberation of all Palestinian land from the sea to the river in Rafah [in the south] and until Rosh Hanikra [in the north]." The rally was fully covered in the PA daily Al-Ayyam on Dec. 28. (IDF) See also Fatah Holds Military Parade in Gaza - Khaled Abu Toameh In the biggest show of force ever held by Fatah in the Gaza Strip, an estimated 70,000 people attended a military parade on Tuesday. Several hundred children brandishing Kalashnikov assault rifles took part, while others had their bodies wrapped with fake explosive belts in glorification of Palestinian suicide bombers. (Jerusalem Post) An Israeli couple fought off an armed Palestinian terrorist who had entered their home Wednesday evening, They managed to escape when the terrorist's weapon jammed after firing one shot. The terrorist, who was armed with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, was killed by the Border Police's anti-terror unit. The attack occurred on Moshav Maor, several kilometers from Kibbutz Metzer where five Israelis were murdered in a terrorist infiltration two months ago. (Ha'aretz) One of the six senior al Qaeda leaders, now based in Beirut, is actively enlisting Palestinians as part of terror cells, a senior IDF officer said Wednesday. The recruitment is taking place primarily in the Gaza Strip, and the new cell members are to receive training in al Qaeda bases overseas before returning to Israel. The officer also said that al Qaeda had shifted its policy and was now focusing more on Israeli and Jewish targets. In the past year, Syria has begun to produce long-range missiles, which it is supplying to Hizballah, a senior IDF officer said Wednesday. The missiles are being produced in line with the wishes of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is seeking to further cement relations with both Hizballah and Iran. (Ha'aretz) Israel has suspended all contacts on the export of arms and security equipment to China, in response to a U.S. request. The American position stems from a concern that China may in the future use advanced military technology against Taiwan in order to weaken and eventually annex it. However, one senior Israeli official contended that the real American aim was to remove Israeli firms from the Chinese market in preparation for a possible policy shift toward Beijing that would enable American companies to start exporting arms to China. (Ha'aretz)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis
(Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Reza F. Safa, author of Inside Islam, estimated that since 1973, the Saudi government has spent some $87 billion to promote Wahhabism in the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 30,000 children attend Saudi-funded Wahhabi day schools, such as the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Northern Virginia, where students are not required to study U.S. history or government. Former CIA Director James Woolsey told Congress: "Wahhabi Islamist extremism today is the soil in which al Qaeda and its sister terrorist organizations are growing." Much of that soil is spread across the United States. (FrontPageMagazine) Jihad means the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims at the expense of territories ruled by non-Muslims. The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power. Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe. (New York Post) I have heard American Jews enjoined to visit Israel as an obligation to visit the sick. A more meticulous analogue, I propose, is a reunion with a first, most passionate love. Israel is the corporate body of the Jewish people, the in-dwelling of the collective spirit. As for Jews who repudiate Israel: To hate the land is to despise yourself and the gift of being alive. (New York Jewish Week) The recent Turkish elections were more a protest vote against economic difficulties and corruption, not a wish to embrace Islamic radicalism. The great majority of Turkey's Islamists are nationalists, trying to further Turkish national interests, rather than pan-Islamists. Both Turkey and Israel see themselves as living in a violent and unstable Middle East, maintaining an adversary relationship with Syria, and having growing concerns about the security risks emanating from Iraq and Iran, particularly in relation to weapons of mass destruction. (Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Israel Signs Pact with PA on Future Fund Transfers - Aluf Benn (Ha'aretz)
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