Middle East Update

The West Talks to Syria - Graham Bacon

During most of 2008 attempts have been made to establish better relationships with Syria, firstly by Israel using Turkey as intermediary, and then by France through a state visit to France by Syria’s president and his wife. Israel is interested in preventing a Syrian takeover of Lebanon and restricting Hizb’Allah activities in southwest Syria which threaten Israel. Syria hopes to regain the Golan Heights.

France is interested in bringing some influence to bear on Iran and its nuclear developments through Syria’s close connections with Iran. Syria is a popular diplomatic destination that the west is hoping to make a halfway house.

Syria’s orientation has always been Islamic by religion, pro-Russian militarily, anti-Israel and anti-western in world affairs. The Bible shows that this will only change, as it will, by catastrophic events after the return of Jesus Christ. The present diplomatic niceties are only in pursuit of short term self-interested aims by the west, by Syria and by Israel.

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . AUG 22 NO 130

PERES CELEBRATES 85 TH BIRTHDAY WITH VISIT TO THE NEGEV :
Israeli President Shimon Peres celebrated his 85th birthday on Thursday August 21, with a solidarity visit to the Negev town of Dimona, in keeping with his lifelong efforts to spur development in the sparsely-populated desert region. Peres was warmly greeted by well-wishers and serenaded by several musical groups during his 10-hour tour of the development town, which also houses Israel’s main nuclear reactor.

MEDVEDEV ASSURES OLMERT OF CLOSE TIES WHILE HOSTING ASSAD :
Syria confident Moscow will provide new weapons
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev phoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday August 20, to assure that his nation’s ties with Israel remained steady despite recent tensions created by the IDF’s training and equipping of the Georgian army. Yet Medvedev also welcomed Syrian President Bashar Assad to his Black Sea dachau on Thursday August 21, to discuss advanced arms sales to Damascus and even an appeal to place Russian missile batteries on Syrian soil.

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . AUG 17 NO 129
EIGHT STRANDED GAZA TERRORISTS USE IDF CHECKPOINT AS SAFE HAVEN : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas has left eight Fatah-aligned Hilles clan terrorists stranded in Gaza, where they fear death at the hands of Hamas. They are remaining close to the IDF’s Erez Crossing checkpoint, at the northern edge of Gaza, where Hamas is more reluctant to fire at them and incur the danger of encountering return fire from the IDF.

THE KING OF BAHRAIN WANTS THE JEWS BACK : by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
The king of Bahrain, King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, called this week for the Jews who emigrated from the Gulf nation to return. “This king loves Jews; therefore, he asked the Jews living in Bahrain to request Jews living in Israel to return. There are two reasons for it, one is lip service or to emphasize his love to the Jews there,” Israeli immigration activist Natan Aloof commented in response to King Al-Khalifa’s invitation.

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . AUG 12 NO 128

RUSSIAN INVASION OF GEORGIA HAS CAUGHT ISRAEL IN THE MIDDLE :
Jerusalem pulling our Jews, cutting off arms sales
The outbreak of war between Russia and Georgia in recent days has placed Israel in a difficult position of sympathizing with a fellow small democracy against a much larger power, but Jerusalem has decided to stay on the sidelines for now and end all arms sales to Tblisi.

PRC DEMANDS GAZA CROSSINGS BE REOPENED OR TRUCE OVER :
The Gazan branch of the Popular Resistance Committee terror alliance threatened Israel last Thursday August 7 that the ceasefire launched on June 19 between Israel and Hamas could end within three weeks if no advancements are made on the issues of opening the Gaza border crossings and the release of Palestinian prisoners. “The Zionist occupation (Israel) has not yet agreed to the demand to release our prisoners so our fighters are preparing for the next round in which we will try to abduct more Israeli soldiers to swap them for our hero prisoners,”

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . AUG 7 NO 127

SHARANSKY BACKS McCAIN, CALLS OBAMA A “RISk” TO Israel : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky has termed Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama a “risk” to Israel if he is elected president. The former minister in the Sharon government, who also is a personal friend of American President George W. Bush, told Shalom TV that he prefers Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain. Getting to Obama, there is no record. It can happen to be good. It can happen to be very bad. It’s a risk.

TWO TERRORIST STABBINGS THWARTED IN ONE MORNING : by Hillel Fendel
In the first incident, a 26-year-old woman from Bethlehem arrived at the Rachel Crossing south of Jerusalem. She was not allowed to enter the city, and then tried to stab one of the guards. The guard was not hurt, and the attacker was quickly overcome and taken for questioning. Shortly afterwards, a 20-year-old Arab male was arrested at the entrance to the Machpelah Cave in Hevron. He aroused the soldiers’ suspicions, and a quick body-check produced a 30-centimeter (12-inch) knife on his person. The suspect confessed that he had planned to stab an Israeli Border Guardsman. Israeli security forces arrested four terror suspects over the course of the night. One was captured in the hostile village of Yata, south of Hevron, and four M-16 rifles and much ammunition were found in his home. Three others were arrested in Kalkilye, east of Raanana. PA Arabs threw a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli car north of Dolev, in western Binyamin, during the night. In Jenin, in northern Samaria, an IDF force came under Arab fire. No one was hurt and no damage was caused in either incident.

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . AUG 1 NO 126

OLMERT COMMITS TO STEPPING DOWN :
Complains of having to ‘repel vicious attacks from day one’
In a dramatic televised announcement on Wednesday evening, July 30, embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he will not run in the upcoming Kadima primary and will resign from office once his successor has been elected, to allow them room to form a new coalition government.

PM OLMERT WILL CEDE GOLAN FOR DIRECT TALKS:
Ahmadinejad vows to strengthen Iran’s ties with Syria
According to right-wing Israeli sources cited on Army Radio on Wednesday July 30 , Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accepted Syria’s demand that Israel agree to cede the Golan before direct negotiations between the two sides begin over what Israel will get in return

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . JULY 26 NO 125

OLMERT MAY QUIT AND NAME MOFAZ AS PM TO WEAKEN LIVNI : : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering suspending himself and naming Transportation and Road Safety Minister Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) to replace him, Israeli media reported Saturday night July 26. Taking the action before Kadima’s September leadership primaries would diminish the chances of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in her bid to become the next Prime Minister

LAEST PA LIBEL EXPOSED :”ISRAEL DESPATCHES ANTI-ARAB RATS”: by Hillel Fendel
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports that two Arab newspapers in the Palestinian Authority are accusing Israelis of unleashing bands of rats against Jerusalem’s Arab population. According to the PA papers, the Israeli-Jerusalem rat is: 1. Immune to rat poison 2. Aggressive and larger than usual 3. Unafraid of cats and able to scare them away 4. Highly fertile, with females giving birth to 140 young rats a year, four times the normal average 5. Highly selective, as Jewish residents of Jerusalem apparently are not affected by these rats. “Creating libels against Israel,” PMW reports, “is a pivotal aspect of the Palestinian Authority’s incitement to hatred against Israel and Jews.”

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . JULY 22 NO 124

WEST GIVES IRAN TWO WEEKS TO FREEZE NUCLEAR PROGRAM :
Rice warns more sanctions await if Iran continues enrichment
Iranian officials claimed that “progress’ was made in this weekend’s showdown in Geneva over Tehran’s renegade nuclear program, but Western leaders presented a different picture, insisting new sanctions await unless Iran agrees to halt its uranium enrichment activities within two weeks

BROWN TELLS KNESSET UK WILL STAND BY ISRAEL ON IRAN :
British PM also blasts Israeli settlement construction
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown assured Israeli leaders in a speech to the Knesset on Monday July 21 that the UK is ready to impose new sanctions against Iran that will further its isolation if Tehran does not halt its nuclear program and stop threatening the Jewish state.

Read the rest

Rockets on Israel, fired by Hamas from Gaza or fired by Hizb’Allah from Lebanon, are great constraining factor on Israel’s civilian life. For the moment Israel has to live with the daily arrival of rocket-borne explosives on two of its towns, Sderot and Ashkelon, a situation that would not be tolerated in any other sizable western country. The main bombardment comes from inside Gaza and the establishment of a rocket free zone in the southwest inside Gaza is quite within the capabilities of the Israeli armed forces if it weren’t for the certainty of Hizb’Allah opening a furious barrage on the northern Lebanon/Syria front. Israel would find itself fighting on two fronts simultaneously with an expanded general war a certainty. Israel is not ready for this and hence puts up with rockets on her towns.

Read the rest

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATES FROM . JULY 17 NO 123

LEBANON JUBILANT OVER RETURN OF VICIOUS ISLAMIC CHILD MURDERER KUNTAR :
Abbas, Palestinians join celebrations of Hizbullah ‘victory’
Lebanese leaders declared a national holiday on Wednesday to celebrate the “liberation” of PLO terrorist Samir Kuntar and four Hizbullah guerillas from Israeli jail in a lopsided prisoner swap

US DIPLOMAT TO HOLD FIRST MEETING WITH IRANIAN NEGOTIATOR :
Burns’ presence to signal US backing of incentives package
For the first time under the Bush Administration, a senior US diplomat will hold a meeting with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, as Ambassador William Burns plans to sit in on a meeting in Switzerland on Saturday July 19 with Tebran’s envoy Saeed Jalili.

Read the rest