DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

IDF: Hamas May Have Advanced Anti-Tank Missiles - Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
    The IDF is concerned that Hamas in Gaza now possesses Sagger anti-tank missiles, used by Hizbullah in Lebanon last summer.
    It appears that Hamas has smuggled an especially large number of these missiles into Gaza from Sinai.
    The Sagger is a significant advance that poses a serious threat to the IDF - not only to armored jeeps, but also to armored personnel carriers and to certain tanks.
    The Sagger is a Soviet-made anti-tank missile that can hit a target at distances between 500 meters and three kilometers, and penetrate 400mm of armor.
    Since the war in Lebanon, the Palestinians are busy learning the lessons of the conflict and they are using data and experts from Hizbullah.

Remember Al-Qaeda? They're Baaack - Bruce Hoffman (Los Angeles Times)
    Although al-Qaeda is often spoken of as if it is in retreat, the truth is that it is not on the run but on the march.
    It has regrouped and reorganized and is marshaling its forces to continue the epic struggle begun more than 10 years ago.
    Ongoing investigations increasingly suggest that recent terrorist threats and attacks were all coordinated in some way by al-Qaeda and not by homegrown terror groups.
    The writer is a professor at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center.

Three American Women Kidnapped in PA Freed - Ali Waked (Ynet News)
    Three American women, apparently human rights activists, were taken hostage while taking pictures on the outskirts of Nablus on Tuesday, Palestinian security officials said.
    PA officials identified the kidnapper as Hadi Saud, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who demanded a job in the Palestinian security forces in exchange for releasing the hostages - who were eventually freed.

The "Crime" of Blogging in Egypt - Raja M. Kamal and Tom G. Palmer (Washington Post)
    A former Al-Azhar University student, Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, 22, is sitting in an Egyptian prison, awaiting sentencing.
    His "crime"? Criticizing the university's rigid curriculum and faulting religious extremism on a blog, using his real name.

Useful Reference:

The State of Israel on My Space (Ynet News)
    The Israeli Consulate in New York has recently opened a "space" for the State of Israel on the My Space website.
    The address is www.myspace.com/ state_of_israel.
    Israel's space includes links to contemporary Israeli music and pictures of Israelis.

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

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

Observations:

Negotiations Will Not Stop Iran's Nuclear Program - Michael Rubin and Danielle Pletka (Wall Street Journal)

• Earlier this month Sir Richard Dalton, until recently Britain's ambassador in Tehran, called for direct talks between U.S. and Iranian officials and suggested the West modify demands that the Islamic Republic suspend uranium enrichment. Unfortunately, his eagerness for dialogue is being echoed and amplified elsewhere. The logic of engagement sounds good. But experience shows that engagement means something different in Iran than in the West.
• In May 1992, for example, then German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel launched a "critical dialogue" with Tehran and sought to use trade and incentives to encourage Iran to alter its behavior. And, indeed, it did. On Sept. 17, 1992, Iranian hit-men assassinated three Iranian dissidents and their translator in a Berlin restaurant. The subsequent German investigation determined that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ali Rafsanjani, and Foreign Minister Ali Velayati ordered the murders. What about the dialogue? "We don't give a damn about your ending the critical dialogue," said Supreme Leader Khamenei upon hearing the German court ruling. "We never sought such a dialogue."
• Iran's exploitation of engagement to advance its agenda is the rule rather than the exception. In December 2001, in the midst of what many cite as the heyday of Iran-U.S. cooperation in Afghanistan, Iranian forces dispatched 50 tons of weaponry to Palestinian militiamen to derail a U.S.- and European-brokered ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian forces.
• Dialogue and the attendant relaxation of UN sanctions will strengthen and validate the Ahmadinejad regime. Proposals for renewed engagement may be well-intentioned, but they are naive and dangerous, and indeed will undercut any possibility of a diplomatic solution.
• Washington has already offered and delivered inducements to the regime - a clear path to World Trade Organization accession and spare aircraft parts - in exchange for behavior modification. In response, Tehran has offered no confidence-building measures. To change course now would signal the impotence of international institutions and multilateral diplomacy. History shows that when the supreme leader believes Western resolve is faltering, Iran will be more defiant and dangerous.
• Now is not the time to talk. If Washington and Europe truly believe in the primacy of multilateralism and diplomacy, now is the time to ratchet up the pressure.

  Ms. Pletka and Mr. Rubin are, respectively, vice president for foreign policy and defense studies and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.