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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:
The Collapse of Mahmoud Abbas - Ben Caspit (Maariv-Hebrew)
Foiled Islamic Jihad Bombers Had Planned Double Hannukah Attack - Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
Fatwa: Don't Vote in PA Elections - Ali Waked (Ynet News)
Christians Are Leaving the Middle East - Zlatica Hoke (VOA News)
Search Key Links Media Contacts Back Issues Fair Use
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The European Union has suspended 35 million euros ($42 million) in aid to the Palestinians, citing their lack of budgetary discipline, EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Tuesday. "We have not paid because the benchmarks have not been fulfilled," she said. "There has to be a credible finance minister, but there also has to be a budget and the budget should also remain within the limits of what the budget has foreseen," she said. (Reuters) The Islamist movement Hamas is almost certain to be the second largest party in the Palestinian parliament, and to win outright in the Gaza Strip. "Our aim is not to cooperate with the Israelis....They are the enemy," said Mahmoud al-Zahar, one of the most prominent Hamas leaders in the territories. Zahar said that if Hamas were to win the election, the aim would not be to fight Israel but to ignore it. "We have to run very effective self-defense and take responsibility economically, politically, and socially through cooperation with the Arabs, not with the Israelis," he said. "We are ready to establish an independent state on one square meter, but at the same time we will not renounce one square meter. Our first priority is not Israel but Palestine." "Nobody among our sons and grandsons will accept Israel as a legal state." (Guardian-UK) Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Tuesday in an interview that Iran was heading down the same path as Iraq before the 2003 invasion and could not be trusted to tell the truth about its nuclear program. He said he believed Iran posed a serious threat to the rest of the world in the same way as Iraq, and he refused to apologize for the action the U.S. took against Saddam Hussein's regime. Powell said it was clear that negotiations with Iran had come to a dead end and efforts now had to concentrate on preventing it taking the same path as Iraq. "Iraq actually had nuclear weapons capability that they were within a couple of years of bringing to weapons status. The UN found that after the war," he said. (Scotsman-UK) See also below Observations: The Iran Charade, Part II - Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post) The provincial government in Peshawar, Pakistan, said Tuesday that in addition to 18 civilians, four or five foreign militants were killed by the American airstrikes on Damadola on Friday, but that their bodies were removed from the scene by companions. "It is highly regrettable that this attack led to the killing of 18 innocent local people," said Fahim Wazir, the political administrator of the Bajaur region, "but this is also an undeniable fact, that at least 10 to 12 foreign miscreants were invited to a dinner in this village on that night." An American counterterrorism official said Tuesday that the attack had been based on good intelligence about the location of al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. (New York Times) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in his first diplomatic comments Tuesday, said he hoped after the elections in the PA and Israel that he could enter negotiations with PA Chairman Abbas, "depending on their fulfilling their commitments, and we can reach a final status agreement." Olmert said it would be a mistake "not to demand that [Abbas] fight terrorism and disarm the [terrorist] organizations." When asked whether there would be another unilateral disengagement, he said he was committed to the road map. (Jerusalem Post) See also Israel Ready for Peace Talks If Palestinians Disarm Hamas - Greg Myre (New York Times) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shalom Harari, an expert on Palestinian affairs, warned Tuesday that after the Palestinian elections, "all the energy that was contained [during the cease-fire] may explode." In such an event, Harari predicted a third, "ballistic" intifada characterized by more rocket fire and fewer suicide bombers due to the separation fence and better intelligence. Harari characterized Hamas's rise in popularity as a carefully orchestrated strategy of the Muslim Brotherhood across the region over the last two decades. "Hamas knows most Palestinians do not want more fighting," he said. But the organization is not "ready to give up weapons and disarm its military wing." (Jerusalem Post) See also Towards Palestinian Elections: The Democracy of the Rifles - Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shalom Harari (ICA/JCPA) See also Palestinian Rocket Fire Continues - Shmulik Hadad Palestinians fired two Kassam rockets at Israel Tuesday night, the IDF said. One rocket landed in the western Negev and the other landed north of Gaza. (Ynet News) This year there will be as many Jews living in Israel as in the U.S., according to statistics presented at a Jewish Policy Planning Institute conference on Sunday by Hebrew University Prof. Sergio Della Pergola. The number of Jews in the diaspora shrunk by about a quarter in the past 35 years, from slightly more than 10 million to 7.75 million. Overall, the Jewish population as a percentage of the world population has decreased by about a third since 1970, to 0.21% percent, down from 0.35%. There were nearly 13 million Jews in 2005. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Our investigations show that Israeli Yuval Aviv, who teamed up with Canadian George Jonas to write Vengeance, the bestseller on which Spielberg's "Munich" is based, never served in the Mossad or any Israeli intelligence organization. His nearest approximation to spy work was as a lowly gate guard for the airline El Al in New York in the early '70s. The tale he had woven was apparently nothing more than a Walter Mitty fabrication. Yossi Melman specializes in intelligence affairs with the Israeli daily Ha'aretz; Steven Hartov is editor-in-chief of the U.S. quarterly Special Operations Report. (Guardian-UK) On Christmas eve, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez drifted into anti-Semitism. "A minority, the descendents of the same ones that crucified Christ...has taken possession of all of the wealth of the world." Chavez has established an alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has long been the leading state sponsor of terrorism internationally and against Israel. When then Iranian President Mohammed Khatami visited Caracas in March 2005, Chavez voiced his support for Iran's nuclear program. (Weekly Standard) See also The Tehran-Caracas Axis - Mary Anastasia O'Grady (Wall Street Journal) Germany's intelligence service helped the U.S. identify bombing targets in Baghdad during the opening days of the Iraq war, even though Germany had objected to the U.S.-led invasion. Officials of the intelligence service and other ministries confirmed that the government of former chancellor Gerhard Schroder authorized exchanges of intelligence information with the U.S. about installations in Baghdad. The officials insisted that German agents in Baghdad only provided the U.S. with information intended to prevent accidental attacks against civilian installations, such as precise coordinates for schools, hospitals, and diplomatic compounds. But a German newspaper and public television, quoting an unidentified ''Pentagon official," reported this week that intelligence agents in Baghdad also helped the U.S. identify bombing targets. Public television reported that one of the German agents received a medal from the U.S. for his service in the war. (Boston Globe) Observations: The Iran Charade, Part II - Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post)
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