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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:
PA TV Resumes Encouraging Children to Become Martyrs - Editorial (Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Gunmen Shoot at Israeli Cars in West Bank (Jerusalem Post)
Gazans Continue to Support Suicide Bombings (Jerusalem Media & Communications Center-PA)
Al-Qaeda Cameraman Delivers - Kathy Gannon (AP/Washington Times)
U.S. Jury Convicts Saudi Man of Imprisoning Indonesian Housekeeper (VOA News)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The armed Palestinian groups holding captured IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, including the military wing of the governing Hamas movement, demanded Monday that Israel release a thousand prisoners by Tuesday morning or "bear full responsibility for the consequences." The Israeli government rejected the ultimatum. Israeli military officials have indicated they intend to use Shalit's capture to take care of unfinished business, namely weakening the Hamas-led government and taking out the Palestinian rocket launchers that have plagued southern Israeli cities. (Washington Post) See also Israel Keeps Up Pressure on Gaza - Ibrahim Barzak After Israel ignored a deadline to begin releasing Palestinian prisoners, diplomatic efforts continued and militants said they would not kill the soldier. "We are dealing with more than one Middle Eastern government to see if the release of our serviceman can be secured. The fundamental principle is that his release must be unconditional," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, Osama Hamdan, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, ruled out a compromise and threatened to abduct more Israelis. (AP/Washington Post) Egypt last year coaxed a unilateral halt to attacks on Israel from Palestinian factions. But difficulties persuading captors to give up the Israeli soldier seized over a week ago could reflect its waning influence over militants. Egyptian mediators have proposed that the captors let the soldier go in exchange for Israeli releases of Palestinian prisoners down the line. Militants holding the soldier want the immediate release of Palestinian prisoners. But Israel says it will not yield to "extortion." Syria was backing the demand for a simultaneous exchange of prisoners. "The Egyptians are talking to senior Syrian officials whose message was to insist on a prisoners' swap," a senior Palestinian official said. Syria says it will not pressure Hamas leaders to help free the soldier. "The Syrians are up to what they've always been up to - spoiling any chance for a peaceful settlement of issues by supporting the more extreme elements, in this case Hamas," Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher said. (Reuters) See also Syria's Assad Steps Up Support for Palestinians Amid Kidnapping Crisis (AFP/Yahoo) When Israel left Gaza last year, Palestinian businessmen dreamed of new investments and an economic revival. Instead, conditions deteriorated so sharply that dozens of factories are closing or relocating to Egypt and other Arab states. Since the beginning of the year, 48 of the 60 factories in an industrial park near the Karni crossing have shut, at least temporarily. Some businessmen acknowledge that the election victory in January by Hamas and internal feuding have prompted their decisions to seek out a more stable place to do business. "The Gaza Strip is full of thugs these days," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al Azhar University. (New York Times) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
IDF soldiers surrounded a Palestinian Authority police station in the West Bank city of Ramallah early Tuesday where several wanted terrorists, including three suspected of killing Eliyahu Asheri last week, had taken refuge. The three - Bassam Ktia, Hamze Taktouk, and Hisham Kamangji - surrendered to IDF troops after a three-hour standoff. Asheri, 18, had been abducted while hitchhiking. (Ha'aretz) Fatah officials on Monday expressed support for Hamas' demand to release Palestinian prisoners held in Israel in return for kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday accompanied Hamas' Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on a visit to the ruins of the prime minister's office, which was destroyed in an Israeli air raid. The PA security forces, which consist largely of Fatah members, are also supportive of the kidnappers' demands, which explains why these forces have made no serious effort to track down the whereabouts of the soldier. Fatah leader Muhammad Dahlan has also come out in public in support of the kidnappers' demands. (Jerusalem Post) Palestinians in Gaza fired three Kassam rockets at Israel on Tuesday morning that landed in the western Negev. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
There is no doubt that Hamas is behind Cpl. Gilad Shalit's abduction. The fact that a Hamas cabinet minister is reporting on Shalit's medical condition proves that Hamas officials know where the soldier is and can return him in the blink of an eye. They believe Israel will cave in to wholesale extortion. This time, however, they found Israel not trembling but stubborn, an Israel that settles scores and is in no hurry to give in. (Ha'aretz) The return of the IDF to Gaza marks the rediscovery that as long as the Palestinian war continues, there is no substitute for an Israeli military presence on the ground. The innovative arrangements that accompanied the withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza in August 2005 have all collapsed. The transfer of responsibility for preventing the smuggling of weapons and terrorists to Egyptian and European border monitors was a complete failure. The warheads of the Kassams and the anti-tank missiles fired in the recent attack were brought in under their noses - or perhaps their feet. Following detailed negotiations, Israel agreed to allow Egypt to bring in additional forces and weapons (beyond those specified in the 1979 peace treaty) so that they could block the illicit activity. But even if the kidnapped soldier is released, Israeli forces cannot simply turn around and leave, waiting for the next round in the war. Reoccupying the poor and hate-filled cities would be a mistake, but the days when Palestinian terror cells could simply go from Egypt into Gaza with their weapons are over. Israel now has no choice but to resume direct control over Gaza's borders. The lessons of the Gaza disengagement must also be applied to the West Bank, where Israel will need to maintain tight control over the Jordan Valley. Perhaps the next time Israel agrees to transfer border responsibility, it will be after the Palestinians have finally accepted the need to prevent attacks from being launched from their side of the border. (Jerusalem Post) According to a new narrative, al-Qaeda as an organization is severely impaired, but has been replaced by a broader ideological movement made up of self-starting, homegrown terrorists who have embraced al-Qaeda's doctrine of destruction, yet had no ties to the terrorist group. However, according to five veteran U.S. counterterrorism officials, al-Qaeda the organization remains a real threat. So while the rapid spread of al-Qaeda's ideology in the past two years should be of considerable concern, it would be quite wrong to conclude that al-Qaeda the organization is down for the count. Almost five years after 9/11, al-Qaeda not only remains in business in its traditional stronghold on the Afghan-Pakistan border, but continues to project its ideology and terrorism abroad. The writer is a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation. (Washington Post) Observations: The Palestinians' True Agenda - Charles Krauthammer (TIME)
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