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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:
White House: Al-Qaeda Expected to Intensify Efforts to Infiltrate U.S. (Reuters/MSNBC)
Second Israeli Bank Cuts Ties to Hamas-Run Gaza (Reuters)
Cairo Film Festival Rejects Israeli Entry (AFP)
Islamists Damage Giant Ancient Buddha - Ben Quinn (Telegraph-UK)
New York Knicks Play Maccabi Tel Aviv Thursday in the Garden (Israel-Times)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Arab countries will need guarantees and a timetable for talks over a final solution to their conflict with Israel as a condition to their participation in an international peace conference to be sponsored by the U.S., Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa said Wednesday. Nothing has been offered so far, hence Arab reluctance to sit at the negotiation table with Israel, Musa said. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) See also Abbas Demands Full Israeli Withdrawal to Pre-1967 Borders PA Chairman Abbas on Wednesday called for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. "We have 6,205 square kilometers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," Abbas told Palestine TV. "We want it as it is." According to Palestinian negotiating documents, the Palestinian demands include all of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, east Jerusalem and small areas along the West Bank frontier that were considered no-man's land before the Six-Day War. At the same time, Palestinian officials confirmed that Abbas would be willing to adjust his claims, as long as they end up with the same amount of land. (AP/Ha'aretz) In a gesture to Mahmoud Abbas, Israel will grant residency permits to 3,500 Palestinians who have been living illegally in the West Bank, Israeli officials said Wednesday. Many are the spouses or relatives of Palestinians who entered on travel visas. (New York Times) The U.S. Treasury Department has taken action against three Saudi Arabian nationals suspected of raising money for terrorists. Abdul Rahim al-Talhi, Muhammad Abdallah Salih Sughayr and Fahd Muhammad Abd al-Aziz al-Khashiban are accused of providing support to the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group, responsible for a string of bombings and kidnappings in Southeast Asia. Wednesday's action freezes assets belonging to the men and forbids U.S. citizens from doing business with them. (VOA News) Five men charged with terrorist training offenses went on trial in London on Wednesday and the court was told a sixth man, their leader, had already admitted soliciting murder. Atilla Ahmet, 43, the so-called emir of the group, pleaded guilty to encouraging others to commit murder in a separate hearing last month. Prosecutor David Farrell told Woolwich Crown Court that Mohammed Hamid, along with Ahmet, had recruited, groomed and corrupted young Muslims. Hamid, 50, is accused of preparing Muslim men for jihad, or holy war, by organizing terrorism training disguised as camping or paintballing trips in rural England. Hamid provided training in weapons and military tactics. (Reuters/Washington Post) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
According to a recent assessment by Military Intelligence, the Palestinians will fail to carry out their commitments regarding countering terrorist activities. Abbas and his aides are not showing any signs of initiative and boldness in security matters, nor any practical ability to assume additional responsibility. In addition, according to intelligence analysts, Abbas will not be able to assert his control over the West Bank cities if security responsibility is passed on to his forces. MI also expressed concerns about the pressure the PA is applying on the U.S. to push Israel for more goodwill gestures, warning against "a bottomless barrel" of Israeli gestures for which the PA will not respond in kind. (Ha'aretz) Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have fired 1,000 mortar rounds and rockets toward Israel since Hamas took power four months ago, Israeli security officials said Wednesday. The IDF estimates that 350 Kassam rockets and 650 mortar rounds have been launched at Israel since June 14. Around 160 mortar rounds and 80 Kassam rockets land in Israel each month. These numbers only represent launches that have been identified and recorded, so the actual number of attacks is likely to be much higher. (Ynet News) Israel's political-security cabinet approved Wednesday the development of new anti-missile technology meant to shield Israeli passenger planes from missile attacks. Israel is the first country in the world to fortify its civilian aircraft against such attacks. (Ynet News) See also Israel Switching to Lasers to Defend Civilian Jets - Dan Williams Israel will replace the flare-firing systems it has installed on some of its passenger planes to defend against missile attacks with non-pyrotechnic lasers deemed safer abroad, officials said on Wednesday. The current Flight Guard system detects heat-seeking missiles and diverts them with flares. The new Israeli system, developed by El-Op, will use a laser to "blind" the heat-seekers in shoulder-fired missiles. A security source said the El-Op system's broad-array laser can "take on 1,000 threats at once." (Reuters) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Over the last year, Secretary of State Rice has transformed U.S. policy from (a) support for a Palestinian state conditioned on compliance with Phase I and II of the Roadmap, to (b) support for Phase III final status negotiations to establish a Palestinian state "as soon as possible," even though the Palestinians have not complied with either Phase I or II. Under the Roadmap, final status negotiations were to occur only after a sustained and effective effort by the PA to dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure - Phase I. The PA has yet to dismantle a single terrorist organization, or arrest a terrorist leader, in the four years since the Palestinians accepted the Roadmap. In the same period, Israel dismantled 25 settlements, withdrew from Gaza, and released hundreds of prisoners. (New York Sun) Hizbullah is an immovable obstacle to Lebanese national reconciliation. It is heavily armed, more powerful than Lebanon's army, refuses to surrender its weapons, protects a semi-autonomous Shia Muslim mini-state amid Lebanese society, and pursues a foreign agenda separate from that of Beirut, particularly with Iran, Syria, and Palestinian militants. Voice of Hizbullah: The Statements of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, edited by Nicholas Noe, offers two decades of statements by the party's secretary-general. In 1992, after taking control of Hizbullah, Nasrallah defined its long-term strategy as "fighting against Israel and liberating Jerusalem, as well as Imam Khomeini's proposal - namely ending Israel as a state." (Times-UK) The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in the midst of one of its largest crackdowns against public dissent in a decade. Seven journalists have been given prison sentences in recent weeks; more than a thousand activists of the Muslim Brotherhood languish in jail; and labor organizers involved in a wave of strikes at government-owned factories have been detained. As the government cracks down hard, it is increasingly being charged with the use of torture on detainees. (Christian Science Monitor) Observations: Al-Qaeda: The Next Goal Is to Liberate Spain from the Infidels - Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi (Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
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