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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:
Report: Iran to Offer Missiles to Lebanon Government (Naharnet-Lebanon)
See also Israel Concerned U.S. Will Sell Tanks to Lebanon - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Iran Receives Al-Qaeda Praise for Role in Terrorist Attacks - Con Coughlin
(Telegraph-UK)
British Terror Mastermind Killed in U.S. Missile Strike in Pakistan - Candace Rondeaux (Washington Post)
London Concert to Feature Anti-Israel Christmas Carols - Jonathan Petre (Daily Mail-UK)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the U.S. and Europe should put aside differences with China and Russia over human-rights and missile-defense issues to focus on working together to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. "The triad of nuclear proliferation, radical Muslim terror, and rogue states, epitomized in the Iran case, can be defeated only through a paradigm shift in international relationships," Barak said in an interview. "The time for sanctions is still there, but it is short,'' he said. "The way I see to make it effective is to cut through the psychological obstacles about cooperating with Russia and China and open a new discourse." Barak noted that Israel faces threats not only from Iran, but also from its proxies in south Lebanon and Gaza. More than 140 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at Israel from Gaza over the past two weeks. (Bloomberg) Syria said on Friday a UN watchdog report failed to show anything suggesting a Syrian complex bombed by Israel was a covert nuclear reactor and no further inspector visits would be permitted. The IAEA said its findings, based on satellite pictures and soil and water samples, warranted further checks at the site and three others as well as full Syrian transparency. "Collecting three particles from the desert is not enough to say there was a reactor there at all," said Syrian nuclear energy chief Ibrahim Othman. "In our opinion this file should be closed" and "we will not allow another visit." (Reuters) Ali Ashtari, 45, who was arrested in 2006 on charges of spying for Israel and confessed during his trial in June, was executed by hanging on Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Saturday. Ashtari had been the manager of a company selling communication and security equipment to the Iranian government. An Israeli official said that Israel had no knowledge of his case. (New York Times) Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal, speaking in Damascus Sunday, said, "I call upon the Arabs not to be too hasty in proposing new initiatives" on peace with Israel. "It is up to Obama to present something to the Arabs," he said. Meshaal also said the return of Palestinian refugees was "a natural right guaranteed under international law." "Anyone who compromises on the right of return is party to a great crime," he said. The number of UNRWA-registered Palestinian refugees is currently around 4.6 million. (AFP) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Gen. James Jones, who is expected to become Obama's national security adviser, supports the deployment of an international force in the West Bank instead of the Israel Defense Forces. He also opposes Israel's demand to retain extensive security control over the territories even after a Palestinian state is established. Jones served as Secretary of State Rice's special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian security issues over the past year, tasked with formulating security arrangements between Israel and the future Palestinian state. Israel has proposed security arrangements which recognize that its major population centers are vulnerable to rocket and suicide attacks from the West Bank, and that security control of the Jordan Valley is essential to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the West Bank. Israel also demands complete demilitarization of the future Palestinian state, Israeli control of border crossings, and Israeli early warning stations in the mountains. (Ha'aretz) See also Report: Gen. Jones Drafted Report Critical of Israel - Hilary Leila Krieger Gen. Jones was reported to have drafted a report critical of some aspects of Israel's security stance toward the Palestinians, but the report was never published. (Jerusalem Post) See also Gen. Jones' Main Tasks - Steve Coll There are three unglamorous tasks that Obama's national-security team absolutely must deliver on: They must keep al-Qaeda on its heels and off our soil; they must prevent Iraq from blowing up; and they must prevent Afghanistan from blowing up. These are projects Jones understands and for which he has considerable pragmatic experience. (New Yorker) Hizbullah troops conducted a series of military maneuvers in southern Lebanon on Saturday, the Al-Arabiya television network reported. The exercises were carried out in defiance of UN Resolution 1701, which determined that the region south of the Litani River would be demilitarized. (Ynet News) Palestinians fired three Kassam rockets at Israel on Saturday from the area in Gaza where the Jewish settlement of Dugit was once located. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The IAEA report on Syria's nuclear program issued on Nov. 19 confirmed that the water pumping capacity at the destroyed installation was sufficient for removing 25 megawatts of energy. An energy source of this magnitude would need to burn either fossil or nuclear fuel, or it would have to consume electrical energy imported to the site. Since the Syrians confirmed "the unreliable and insufficient electricity supplies in the area," the last option is not viable. No one claimed that it was a fossil fuel electricity producing station. Any fossil fuel plant would have been constructed near the Euphrates River for efficiency reasons and not hidden inland, out of sight. (Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University) Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, average real per capita income has declined and income distribution has deteriorated. There is a new super class of rich mullahs and cronies who have amassed fortunes through corruption and government policies. The regime has not created wealth, but has distributed oil revenues to make the chosen very rich while keeping a lid on domestic dissension. Things did improve slightly over the last four years because of record high oil prices, but the regime squandered that windfall and is now faced with the prospect of lower oil revenues, lower financial reserves, potentially smarter sanctions imposed by a more thoughtful new U.S. administration, and rising domestic dissatisfaction. The mullahs in Tehran care little for ideology. They have no commitment to spreading the revolution. Theirs is no religious mission. They barely think about justice for the Palestinians. Their goal is not nuclear enrichment or nuclear weapons. It is survival, pure and simple. The writer is professor of business and international affairs at George Washington University. (International Herald Tribune) As Iran edges closer to possessing a nuclear weapon, Iran's economy has suffered from declining oil prices, economic sanctions, waning foreign investment, and the downturn in the global economy. The frailty of Iran's economy and its growing international isolation present a unique opportunity for the diplomatic resolution of Iran's nuclear ambitions. We urge President Bush, and President-elect Obama to work with our allies and others to re-focus diplomatic effort, and to increase economic, political and social pressure on Iran. (American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran) Observations: Palestinian Internal Divisions Make Peace Agreement Impossible for Now - Aaron David Miller (Jerusalem Post)
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