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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:
Rebel Iraqi Shiite Cleric Visits Syria - Robert F. Worth (New York Times)
New Hamas Video:
Gaza Leads to Haifa - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (Palestinian Media Watch)
Gaza Shopkeeper Stocks Up on Danish Flags to Burn - Nidal al-Mughrabi (Reuters)
60% of Palestinians Voted Against Hamas - Amir Taheri (New York Post)
British Troops May Face Al-Qaeda Fighters Sent from Iraq to Afghanistan - Tom Coghlan (Telegraph-UK)
Search Key Links Media Contacts Back Issues Fair Use
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Israel will continue to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority so long as Hamas is not represented there, the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said Monday. "As long as it doesn't contain a Hamas government, we will speak and cooperate" with the PA "with the intention of strengthening those who acknowledge the right of Israel to live without terror and within safe borders," Olmert said. (New York Times) Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al's address at the Al-Murabit Mosque in Damascus on Feb. 3 was aired on Al-Jazeera TV: "We say to this West...you will be defeated in Palestine, and your defeat there has already begun....Israel will be defeated, and so will whoever supported or supports it....The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Palestine. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Iraq, and it will be victorious in all Arab and Muslim lands....I say to the [European countries]: Hurry up and apologize to our nation, because if you do not, you will regret it." (MEMRI) Iran, the world's only Shiite Islamic government, is hoping to unite Arab Muslims, the vast majority of whom are Sunni, beneath an overarching banner of Islam to fight common enemies in Israel and the West. It is a difficult sell, though, after centuries of distrust between the two sects. Moreover, a wide gap separates the Arab and Persian cultures, and a general sense of distrust lingers among Arab leaders who saw post-revolutionary Iran try to instigate unrest within their own borders. (New York Times) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Security services in January arrested members of a Hamas terror cell in Hebron responsible for a series of deadly shooting attacks in 2005 that killed six Israelis and injured eight more, it was revealed Monday. On June 24, 2005, the cell murdered Aviad Mantsur, 16, and Avichai Levy, 17, at the Beit Haggai junction. On October 26, Matat Rosenfeld-Adler, 21, Kineret Mendel, 23, and Oz Yisrael Ben-Meir were murdered at the Gush Etzion junction. On December 16, the terrorists killed Yossi Shok on route 60. (Ynet News) Hassan Asfour, the head of a Palestinian Kassam rocket cell, and Rami Hanouna, who was also involved in firing rockets into Israel, were killed Monday by Israeli aircraft over Gaza as they were on their way to launch more rockets. (Jerusalem Post) Palestinians angry over the publication of cartoons of Mohammad have been harassing members of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) over the past few days. Danish TIPH members have left Hebron at the directive of their government, while Sweden has ordered its observers to reduce their operations. Several demonstrations were held opposite the TIPH office, where rocks and firebombs were thrown. Fatah members called on the international observers to leave Hebron. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The Palestinians have now voted to remake the Palestinian Authority by electing Hamas, a group that rejects the very concept of peace with the Israelis - or even a negotiated divorce from the Israelis, which is what disengagement is really all about. Hamas will want to have it both ways: having relations with the greater world while preserving its fundamental doctrine of rejection of Israel and support for violence. Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, reject violence, and be obliged to stop all acts of terrorism. (Washington Post) It wasn't a pretty choice that the Palestinians were presented with: the secular autocracy of plunder and pretense represented by Arafat's inheritors on the one side and the cruel utopia of the Hamas hard-liners on the other. This was where Palestinian history led. The Palestinians had never been given the gift of political truth. Zionism had built a whole new world west of the Jordan River, but Palestinian nationalism had insisted that all this could be undone. What exactly was the difference between the masked men of Hamas and the masked men of Fatah's Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade? Two convicted terrorists, Marwan Barghouti and Abu Ali Yatta, headed the Fatah list. And all in all, the Palestinian electorate voted for 14 members of parliament now in prison. The Palestinians claimed that they were ready for a great compromise with Israel, yet voted for men and women steeped in historical denial. (Wall Street Journal) How is Hamas going to displace Fatah without setting off a civil war? Every PA government ministry, the media, and the PA-controlled monopolies are full of people who are there to collect salaries in exchange for supporting Fatah. The PA is an internationally funded welfare state (Palestinians pay no general taxes) based on government employment. Generally, those receiving a salary do nothing much to earn it. Thus money is funneled into political patronage rather than economic development. If Hamas pushes out tens of thousands of Fatah, or at least nationalist, employees and replaces them with an equal number of Hamas, or at least Islamist, ones, those who are laid off will pick up guns and start shooting. (Jerusalem Post) Non-Muslims might have more sympathy with Muslims who find the Danish cartoons of Mohammad offensive, if it weren't for the astonishing double standards and hypocrisy of the Muslim world when it comes to accepting and applauding truly vicious slanders against Jews, and to a lesser extent Christians. The cartoons published in Denmark are mild when compared to cartoons routinely produced about Jews in the countries where some of the worst anti-Danish protests are now being staged. When it comes to newspaper cartoons, Muslim countries are world leaders in stirring up hate, without a peep of protest elsewhere, let alone the torching of buildings, threats to behead European tourists, and the burning of the Danish flag (which incidentally bears a Christian symbol, the cross). At the same time, whereas editors from both the Guardian and Independent in London have appeared on the BBC saying they wouldn't dream of publishing cartoons that Muslims find offensive, these papers have not hesitated to publish cartoons offensive to Jews (Arab blood being smeared on the Western Wall in the Guardian, the flesh of Palestinian babies being eaten by Ariel Sharon in the Independent. (Jerusalem Post) Many people have pointed out that the Arab and Muslim press is replete with anti-Jewish caricature, often of the most lurid and hateful kind. These foul items mostly appear in countries where the state decides what is published or broadcast. Islam makes very large claims for itself. In its art, there is a prejudice against representing the human form at all. The prohibition on picturing the prophet - who was only another male mammal - is apparently absolute. So is the prohibition on pork or alcohol or, in some Muslim societies, music or dancing. Very well then, let a good Muslim abstain rigorously from all these. But if he claims the right to make me abstain as well, he offers the clearest possible warning and proof of an aggressive intent. (Slate) Observations: Inside the Hamas Strategy - Ehud Yaari (New Republic)
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