DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

International Donors Deny Extra Funds to PA - Hilary Leila Krieger (Jerusalem Post)
    The PA was denied extra funds at Wednesday's donor conference in London because it failed to adhere to spending limitations, according to Israeli and international sources at the meeting.
    The PA had hoped to use the meeting to secure additional money, but the donors expressed concern that the Palestinians had exceeded their budget on payroll and weren't inclined to provide more funds.
    A World Bank study reported that the PA has been running a monthly deficit of $57 million, accumulating a total deficit of $542 million through September.

Terror Attacks Down in 2005 - Hanan Greenberg (Ynet News)
    In 2005, 52 Israelis were murdered in terrorist attacks, compared to 118 in 2004, IDF statistics show.
    Five suicide bombings were carried out this year, compared to 14 the previous year. Islamic Jihad is responsible for almost half of the terrorist attacks.
    In 2005, there were 164 incidents of Palestinian mortar and rocket fire into Israel, compared to 288 in 2004.
    However, there was an increase in attacks along the northern border, with 31 incidents in 2005 compared to 18 attacks in 2004.

CIA Director Reportedly Warned Turkey of Iranian Threat (Turkish Press)
    During his recent visit to Ankara, CIA Director Porter Goss is said to have asked for Turkey's support for Washington's policy against Iran's nuclear activities, charging that Tehran had supported terrorism and taken part in activities against Turkey.
    Goss also asked Ankara to be ready for a possible U.S. air operation against Iran and Syria.
    The CIA argued that Iran was supporting terrorism, the PKK, and al-Qaeda, and that Tehran sees Turkey as an enemy and would try to "export its regime."

Israel Aircraft and Boeing Australia Win $100m Australian UAV Contract - Hadas Manor (Globes)
    Israel Aircraft Industries and Boeing Australia have won a $100 million Australian Defense Force (ADF) tender for unmanned aerial vehicles.
    Boeing Australia managing director David Gray said, "The I-View system that Boeing Australia and our partner, IAI, will deliver is among the most advanced tactical unmanned aerial vehicles in the world today."

Iran to Upset Egypt with "34 Bullets for Pharoah" (AFP/Yahoo)
    An extremist Iranian Islamist group is working on a film about the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat entitled "34 Bullets for the Pharoah."
    Produced by the Committee for the Glorification of Martyrs for the World Islamic Movement, "the documentary will feature raw images of the assassination of Sadat, the trial of the martyr Khaled Islamboli and his companions...and their motivation for executing the signatory of the first peace treaty between an Arab country and Israel," said a statement by the group.

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Observations:

Zarqawi and Israel: Is There a New Jihadi Threat Destabilizing the Eastern Front? - Dore Gold and Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi
(Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

• For the first time, Israeli defense experts are noting that groups identifying with al-Qaeda - or the global jihad - are determined to acquire operational footholds close to Israel's borders. The most dramatic sign was the November 9, 2005, suicide bombing of three Jordanian hotels in Amman by "al-Qaeda Mesopotamia" - the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Militant Islamic websites immediately announced: "After the attack in the heart of Jordan, it will soon be possible to reach Jewish targets in Israel."
• Al-Qaeda operations around Israel are becoming more prominent. In August 2005, an al-Qaeda rocket strike at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba also reached the Israeli resort town of Eilat. To Israel's south, a growing al-Qaeda presence in Sinai led to attacks on Israeli tourists in Taba and other coastal resorts in October 2004, followed by a major bombing at a hotel in Sharm al-Sheikh in July 2005. Sinai has also served as a rear base for the beginning of an al-Qaeda presence in the Gaza Strip. Zarqawi's terrorist network formally joined al-Qaeda in October 2004.
• Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy head of al-Qaeda, has encouraged Zarqawi to extend his jihad in Iraq to neighboring states (i.e., Jordan and Syria), where there are already increasing signs of jihadi activity. In the next stage, Zawahiri envisions "the clash with Israel." The head of Israeli military intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Aharon Zeevi (Farkash), concluded recently: "We are not a high priority [for al-Qaeda], but our prioritization for them is increasing."
• Many Western sources are convinced that Zarqawi was training his recruits in the use of toxins, including poisons and chemical weapons, at the Herat training camp in Afghanistan. In 2004, a Zarqawi associate named Azmi al-Jailusi confessed to trying to set off a chemical explosion in central Amman, near the headquarters of Jordanian intelligence, which had the potential to kill 80,000 people. In April 2005, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that recurrent U.S. intelligence reports indicated that Zarqawi was seeking to obtain a "radiological explosive."
• It would be a cardinal error for Israel to conclude that after the U.S. war in Iraq, the region to Israel's east is moving in the direction of greater stability and, therefore, Israel can take the risk of conceding its strategic assets in the West Bank. Zarqawi now wants to destabilize Jordan, but clearly seeks to target Israel as well. Dismissing the value of Israel's security fence, Zarqawi's organization has declared: "the separation wall...will feel the might of the mujahideen," hinting that Israel could face the same waves of insurgent volunteers that have entered Iraq.