DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

Iran Launched "Secret" Rocket Test (Australian)
    Iran secretly tested a new surface-to-surface missile on January 17, seeking to establish the measurements needed for long-range missiles, the German daily Die Welt reported.
    The test was conducted by the Revolutionary Guard led by Yahya Rahim Safavi.
    On January 28, Safavi said that Iran would use its ballistic missiles if it was attacked and that "Iran has a ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers."

Shin Bet: Israel in Midst of "New Wave of Terror" - Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
    Shin Bet security service head Yuval Diskin told the cabinet Sunday that Israel is at the peak of a new wave of terror by Islamic Jihad and Hizballah.
    Diskin said that over the weekend the IDF and the Shin Bet had thwarted at least two suicide bombings planned by Islamic Jihad cells in Nablus, and that in the past ten days "12 potential suicide bombers" had been arrested.
    Security sources said the Islamic Jihad and Hizballah headquarters in Damascus and Beirut were streaming large sums of money into the territories to spur terror cells to carry out attacks.

Hamas to Boost Ties with Iran, Syria - Ze'ev Schiff (Ha'aretz)
    Hamas is expected to grow much closer to Iran and Syria.
    Ties with Iran will center on financing, operational know-how, and political support.
    Israel believes agreements were already reached on the eve of the elections at a meeting in Damascus with visiting Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who promised Hamas financial and political support and closer military ties.

Corrupt Officials Stole $700 Million from PA (Daily Star-Lebanon)
    About $700 million has been pilfered from the PA coffers, PA Attorney General Ahmad al-Moghani said Sunday. "Some of these millions were transferred into personal accounts here and abroad."
    See also PA Tries to Stop Officials from Fleeing - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
    Several top PA officials have fled the West Bank and Gaza since Hamas' election victory, PA security sources revealed Sunday.
    The officials, suspected of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds, include Sami Ramlawi, former director-general of the PA Finance Ministry, who is believed to be in Jordan.
    Harbi Sarsour, head of the PA's Petroleum Authority, was arrested recently by the PA.
    A close associate of Arafat, Sarsour established, together with senior PA officials, a monopoly over gasoline in the West Bank and Gaza.
    Sarsour is threatening to implicate many top officials if the PA does not release him.

Terrorist Alert After Yemen Jail Breakout - Francis Harris (Telegraph-UK)
    Interpol issued an "urgent global security alert" Sunday after Jamal al-Badawi, an al-Qaeda terrorist who helped mastermind the attack on the USS Cole and was sentenced to death two years ago, escaped from a Yemeni prison during a mass break-out by convicted Islamist radicals.
    Twenty-three men broke out after digging a 150-yard tunnel from the jail in the capital, San'a.

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Rice to Hamas: "In Order to Receive International Assistance You Have to Be Committed to Nonviolence" (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)

U.S. Secretary of State Rice told Asharq Al-Awsat in London on Thursday:

• "I think what you are hearing from the international community is that in order to receive international assistance you have to be committed to nonviolence, you have to be committed to the obligations that have been there for a very long time concerning the peace process and how to move the peace process forward. In order to expect the Israelis to deal with the issues of freedom of movement or to deal with issues - the kind of intertwined economies that exist between the Palestinian territories and Israel, a government of the Palestinian Authority would have to recognize the right of Israel to exist. There are just certain practical realities and I would hope that now having received this mandate from the Palestinian people that Hamas will think hard about its obligations and how it can discharge them in a way that does not harm Palestinian interests."
• "Hamas is a terrorist organization and I don't see that we have much to talk about until it is clear that Hamas is prepared to live up to these very important obligations that have been taken on behalf of Palestinians for more than a decade. And, you know, there is not much to talk about if Hamas doesn't recognize the right of Israel to exist. It is not a matter of political recognition even; it is a matter of recognizing the right of Israel to exist. There is not much to talk about if there is a commitment to violence, particularly for a country like the United States that believes the war on terrorism is indivisible, that terrorism and violence are indistinguishable wherever you find them."
• "I don't think anybody is prepared to tolerate a nuclear Iran, and it means that we and the Europeans, and I think the Russians also agree with this....There should not a nuclear Iran. The Chinese agree that there should not be a nuclear-armed Iran. That we have to mobilize all of our diplomatic skill and efforts and means to make sure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon....I think you will see more and more tools available to the international system to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon."
• "When Ahmadinejad went to Damascus, that was quite a gathering. The leadership of Palestinian rejectionists, the leadership of Hizballah, the Iranians, and the Syrians. That says something about the Middle East that Syria and Iran see and it is 180 degrees from the Middle East that everybody else is trying to build, and so I think it's worth paying attention to."