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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:
110 Terrorists Killed in Gaza Since Disengagement (Jerusalem Post) Israel HighWay - May 31, 2006 Issue of the Week: Travel to Israel
Bloggers Held Under Egypt's Emergency Laws - Daniel Williams (Washington Post)
Hamas, Fatah Gunmen Clash in Gaza (Reuters)
Palestinian Gunmen Kill Couple Accused of Aiding Israel - Ali Waked (Ynet News)
Gaza Businessmen Look to Egypt as Embargo Bites - Nidal al-Mughrabi (Reuters)
Israel to Join Summer NATO Naval Exercise - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Iran's Bahai Religious Minority Says It Faces Raids and Arrests - Laurie Goodstein (New York Times)
Israeli Scientists Discover Eight New Species in Prehistoric Cave - Tamara Traubman (Ha'aretz) Singapore's SciGen to Set Up $30 Million Facility in Israel - Hadas Manor (Globes) State Bank of India Set to Open Israel Branch - Jeanette Goldman (Diamonds.net)
Israel No. 20 in World Competitiveness Rankings - Hadas Manor (Globes)
Tourism to Israel Jumps 30% in January-April 2006 (Ministry of Tourism/IMRA)
Search Key Links Media Contacts Back Issues Fair Use
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Secretary of State Rice said Wednesday that the U.S. would join Europeans in talks with Iran over its nuclear program, but only if Tehran first suspended its uranium activities, which are thought to be a cover for developing nuclear arms. But Iran has long said it would not agree to preconditions, and the administration's offer appeared to be aimed as much at placating American allies as at wooing Iran. (New York Times) Following the January electoral victory of Hamas, designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, American officials in the region have been in the midst of a comprehensive reduction of all contacts with the PA. Relations with every Palestinian government ministry are now forbidden. Only offices under the helm of Mr. Abbas, the leading Fatah official, are open to U.S. officials for dialogue. Since 1993, the U.S. has given $1.7 billion in assistance to the Palestinians. Every aid project to the Palestinians is under review, to examine, grant by grant, where the money is going and whether it might end up with Hamas. (Christian Science Monitor) Lebanese politicians have vowed to disarm the Palestinian militias in that country, mostly rogue groups like Fatah Intifada and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, both based in Syria. They are estimated to have fewer than 500 men between them, but Lebanese officials note that in recent confrontations with the Lebanese Army their ranks have swelled. Officials accuse Syria of resupplying them with weaponry. "These are Syrian groups, not Palestinian groups," said Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, a main leader of the anti-Syrian majority in Parliament. (New York Times) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Differences of opinion have emerged in Europe over the parameters of the "funding mechanism" the European Commission has been asked to develop to transfer funds to the PA, European officials said Wednesday. Disagreements revolve around whether the funds should be limited to emergency uses, or whether they should be channeled to support PA health and educational systems. Deputy U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Scott Carpenter said neither Washington nor the EU were interested in paying salaries of tens of thousands of Palestinian government workers. (Jerusalem Post) Israel doesn't intend to keep Egypt and Jordan from transferring weapons to Mahmoud Abbas' presidential guard because he appointed leading fugitive Mahmoud Damra to head it, a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday. The official said, however, that Israel would not hesitate to arrest Damra if he tried to enter Israel. (Jerusalem Post) Two IDF soldiers were wounded Wednesday night after an explosive device was hurled at the jeep in which they were riding in the West Bank town of Jenin. Three wanted Islamic Jihad terrorists were arrested during the operation. (Ynet News) Bashar Assad's regime, like that of his father's, is riddled with anti-Semitism. This is reflected in public statements, anti-Semitic articles frequently published in the Syrian media, anti-Semitic television movies such as "The Diaspora" and "The Garden of Death," and the publication of extensive anti-Semitic literature including the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In Syria, the media, literature, and arts are closely monitored by the Syrian regime, and the anti-Semitic materials are published with the regime's approval and encouragement. (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly released a long, insulting letter seeking direct talks with the U.S. last month, President Bush dismissed it as unworthy of reply. But Wednesday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered the real U.S. answer: Yes. In a surprising policy reversal, Rice offered to negotiate directly with Iran's mullahs if they first suspend all uranium enrichment and cooperate with UN arms inspectors. The Secretary of State seems to have convinced Bush - over the doubts of Vice President Cheney and others - that this was the only way to prevent the U.S. from being isolated as our European allies ran for cover and Russia resisted any UN sanctions. Iran was already pocketing the direct talks and demanding that any negotiation be "without pre-conditions." This was entirely predictable, and you can bet this new Iranian demand will soon be echoed in Paris, Moscow, and all too many precincts in Washington. Iran's relentless drive for a nuclear weapon is a difficult problem, and perhaps Rice is right that direct diplomacy is essential to expose Iran's real purposes. But given Iran's track record, we'd say the Secretary has walked her President out on a limb where the pressure will soon build on him to make even more concessions. If this gambit fails, she'll have succeeded mainly in giving the mullahs more time to become a terrorist nuclear power. (Wall Street Journal) See also Nuclear Weapons Buy Leverage - Glenn Kessler The Bush administration's decision to consider sitting down with the Iranian government underscores a central truth of diplomacy today: Nuclear weapons buy leverage. (Washington Post) So a boycott of Israeli universities has been proclaimed in Great Britain. Will Israeli academic institutions and academics suffer much? The comparison is actually pathetic from the Brit perspective, the intellectual life of Israel being so much more vibrant. So let the members of the teachers' union decline to send their papers to academic journals published in Israel. No one will notice. All of this actually smacks of a grotesque inquisition. (New Republic) See also NATFHE's Hate-Filled Boycott - Michael Harris To single out Israel for condemnation, as Natfhe has done, bears no other plausible explanation than anti-Semitism. Let us hear a clear explanation from the supporters of the boycott, the self-appointed moral policemen of the academic world, as to why disgraceful human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and elsewhere are ignored while Israel alone is censured for shortcomings resulting from an existential threat. (Guardian-UK) See also Academic Anti-Semitism in Britain - Phyllis Chesler (National Review) We've given up trying to analyze what would lead otherwise intelligent-seeming people to spurn the one free democracy in the Middle East while insisting on subsidizing the chaotic quasi-entity next door that, of late, is governed by a terrorist faction. As Israel's economy and culture flourishes and innovates while Europe, Canada, and Saudi Arabia slump into stagnation, sooner or later the boycotters may come to realize it is their loss. (New York Sun) Imagine someone saying that he seeks the destruction of Italy because he regards Italian national identity as racist. Further, imagine that this person constantly denies being anti-Italian, because he does not hate all Italians, only Italy and all those who believe Italy should exist. Now substitute "Jewish" for "Italian" and "Israel" for "Italy" and you understand the absurdity of the argument that one can be anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish. The belief that Jews belong in Zion (the biblical term for Jerusalem) is as old as the Jewish people. Starting in 586 BCE, with the destruction of the first Jewish state, Jews were already Zionists in that they fervently prayed to return to Zion. While the movement known by the specific name "Zionism" is modern, the movement of Jews returning to Zion is more than 2,500 years old. (Townhall.com) The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act made it "the official policy of the United States" that Jerusalem be recognized as Israel's capital and accordingly America's embassy be moved there. But the act also gave the president a six-month waiver if he deemed it necessary for national security. President Clinton repeatedly used the six-month waiver, as has President Bush. The excuses given for the use of the waiver are that moving the embassy will destabilize peace negotiations and anger the Arab states. What's the worst that could happen if the embassy is moved? Hamas will reiterate for the hundred and first time that they want to wipe out the Jewish state? Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Syria will still refuse to recognize Israel? More importantly, why should other states, and undemocratic states at that, determine where America places its embassy in one of its closest allies? Not moving the embassy is actually a barrier to peace, leaving the Palestinians Arabs with the hope that one day, as Hamas promises, Jerusalem will be theirs. (National Review) Weekend Features
If the veiled woman has become the symbol of the culture clash between East and West, Queen Rania is her nemesis. Jordan's young queen is on a charm offensive to present a new kind of Arab woman to the world. Rania, 35, born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents, the privileged daughter of a pediatrician and educated in international schools, has never worn the veil, nor will she. "In Jordan we believe there should be no coercion under Islam," she says. Before her marriage to the Sandhurst-educated Prince Abdullah, Rania was an investment banker with the American Citibank and in marketing for Apple. She did not expect to become queen - King Hussein changed the succession from his brother to his son on his deathbed. (Sunday Times-UK) Dr. Ido Katz is one of 25 IDF veteran amputees whose mechanical, prosthetic legs were replaced with computerized models. "It is simply a world apart," says Katz, the deputy director of Assaf Harofeh Hospital. The computerized knee allows users to descend stairs and hills smoothly. The microprocessor tailors the device to the unique walking style of its user. (Ha'aretz) Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, one of Israel's best-known academic policy centers, will be folded into the new Institute for National Strategy and Policy established by Australian billionaire Frank Lowy, TAU President Itamar Rabinovich announced on Monday. (Jerusalem Post) See also Frank Lowy: From Hagana to $3.8 Billion Magnate - Herb Keinon Frank Lowy, the Australian shopping mall magnate, is behind the establishment of the new Tel Aviv University-affiliated Institute for National Strategy and Policy. The Czech-born Lowy left France for Mandatory Palestine in 1946 on board the illegal immigrant ship Yagur, which was caught en route by the British and its 750 passengers sent to Cyprus. In 1952 Lowy left Israel and joined his family, who had left Europe for Australia. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: IDF Chief of Staff: Islamists Are Rising - David Horovitz and Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post) An interview with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz:
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