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.

MK SHEETRIT PROPOSES NEW ARAB TOWN IN GALILEE :
The Israeli cabinet gave its initial approval on Sunday July 20, to a proposal by Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit to establish a new Arab town in the Galilee that will help provide affordable, modern housing for the country’s increasing Arab population. The town will cost NIS 1 million in its beginning stages

MIDDLE EAST DEAL ‘DOABLE’, SAYS BRITAIN’S PM :
After talks in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted Sunday July 20, that the gap between Israel and the Palestinians can be bridged and that a Middle East peace deal is achievable. !!!

JERUSALEM ARAB STAGES SECOND BULLDOZER RAMPAGE :
Two dozen wounded, terrorist shot dead in bizarre replay
In a shocking replay of a fatal terror attack in Jerusalem earlier this month that left three dead, an Arab resident of east Jerusalem, who is related to a Hamas man currently in goal, drove a heavy front-end loader from a construction site into heavy traffic on King David Street, crashing into cars and buses and leaving up to 24 wounded. Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski visited the scene of the bulldozer terror rampage on King David Street on Tuesday July 22, and suggested it was time to reconsider allowing east Jerusalem Arabs to work in Jewish areas of the capital. This week’s second bulldozer rampage in Jerusalem was followed by an upsurge in ‘nationalistic’ violence across Israel and the territories on Thursday July 24, as Israelis reacted violently to Arab attacks ,

KADIMA COUNCIL APPROVES PRIMARY TO REPLACE OLMERT :
PM calls party rival Livni ‘backstabbing liar’
It took twelve days of voting before a required majority of Kadima’s ruling council approved on Monday July 21, amendments to the party’s constitute

ABBAS PAYS ‘HISTORIC VISIT’ TO ISRAELI PRESIDENTIAL HOME :
Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas met on Tuesday July 22 with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Beit Hanassi, the first time senior Israeli and Palestinian leaders held a meeting at the President’s official residence in Jerusalem. Some Israeli media termed the meeting “historic,” and Abbas was welcomed in a formal ceremony with Palestinian flags flying outside the presidential home. “Israelis have a burning desire to reach peace with the Palestinians,” Peres told the PA leader. One international commentator has called Peres a fool for daring to think peace is possible with ‘people trying to murder you’.

ISRAEL REPORTEDLY WILLING TO RELEASE BARGHOUTI FOR SCHALIT :
According to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, an Eygptian source said that Israel is prepared to free Fatah terror militia leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences for his role in killing Israelis, in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

HAMAS BOOBY-TRAPPING GAZA STRIP :
Hamas has taken advantage of the recent cease-fire with Israel to plant mines across widespread areas of the Gaza Strip, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Yuval Diskin, told a key Knesset committee on Tuesday July 22

TALANSKY’S RIDDLED TESTIMONY WEAKENING CASE AGAINST OLMERT :
After several days of cross-examination by lawyers for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the credibilty of the state’s main witness Morris Talansky has taken a beating, according to most local media accounts. A new video has surfaced on the Internet in which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praises Morris Talansky as a close and respected friend, a portrayal that runs counter to the recent assault on his character and credibility by Olmert’s legal defense team in the “envelopes affair.”

HAREDI YOUTH ATTACK ARABS AFTER BULLDOZER RAMPAGE :
Jewish man also stabbed defending Arabs from mob
Only hours after Jerusalem’s second bulldozer terror attack on Tuesday July 22, a mob of ultra-Orthodox Jewish youths attacked two Arabs from east Jerusalem.

ABBAS THREATENS TO PULL PA FORCES FROM THE WEST BANK CITIES :
Unless Israel halts its military operations inside West Bank cities, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas threatened on Tuesday July 22, to withdraw his security forces from these areas. “If the incursions and the aggression and the insults to the Palestinian police continue, we will withdraw these forces,” warned Abbas,

IRANIAN ARMS CONVOY TO HIZBULLAH ATTACKED BY SABOTEURS :
Last week’s mysterious blast heard all across Tehran
An Iranian military convoy attacked in a mysterious explosion near Tehran last week was delivering a load of military equipment to the Hizbullah militant group at the time of the blast, Western officials told the London Daily Telegraph in a report published on Friday July 25.

IRAN HALTS CO-OPERATION WITH THE IAEA :
Probe into nuclear arms development at dead end
Iranian Vice President Gholam Aghazadeh announced Thursday July 24, that Tehran will cease to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency investigation launched a year ago to explore allegations that Iran has been concealing its attempts to develop nuclear arms.

KUNTAR: ‘ALLAH WILLING, I’LL KILL MORE ISRAELIS’ :
During Arab TV interviews conducted just days after his release from Israeli prison, Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar said that he will get his master’s degree in ‘military resistance’ and pledged his loyalty to the cause of killing Israelis as part of the ranks of Hizbullah. Speaking to Lebanon’s Future TV, Kuntar emphasized that he was “proud” of murdering Israelis and “Allah willing, I will get the chance to kill more Israelis.”

HIZBULLAH RECRUITS ‘RESISTANCE BATTALIONS’ AMONG LEBANESE SUNNIS :
Hizbullah is reportedly recruiting Lebanese from Sunni Muslim villages near the disputed Shaba Farms area in an attempt by the Shi’ite group to establish its control in the border region, a Beirut-based Western journalist told The Jerusalem Post this week.

IRAN TO GET ADVANCED RUSSIAN ANTI-AIRCRAFT SYSTEM BY YEAR’S END :
Iran is set to receive an advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft system by the end of the year that could help fend off strikes against its nuclear facilities, senior Israeli defense sources said on Wednesday July 23 First delivery of the S-300 missile batteries was expected as soon as early September, one source said, though it could take six to 12 months for them to be deployed and operable, Reuters reported. The best S-300 can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes 120 km (75 miles) away. Israeli warplanes have been training for long-range missions, and Jerusalem has joined Washington in warning that the military option was still open in halting Iran’s renegade nuclear program.

GILLERMAN : UNIFIL FAILURE WILL LEAD TO NEW ISRAEL-HIZBULLAH CLASHES :
Israel’s retiring UN ambassador Danny Gillerman insists that UNIFIL soldiers deployed to maintain the UN cease-fire that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006 have failed to achieve their mandate and may instead be laying the foundation for future violence between Israel and Hizbullah.

BEING A PART OF IT : ALIYAH 2008 : by Hillel Fendel
Some 210 Jews from North America made Aliyah on Tuesday July 22, , and were welcomed in a gala ceremony in Ben Gurion International Airport. They arrived on the second Summer 2008 flight of Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that has been facilitating mass aliyah from North America for the past seven years.

FESTIVE WELCOME FOR A GROUP OF SOUTH AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS: by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
A special ceremony was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon July 22, in Jerusalem’s Old City to welcome 100 Jews who arrived on the first-ever charter flight for new immigrants from South Africa. The Jewish community of South Africa numbers approximately 65,000 people, 45,000 of them in Johannesburg and 15,000 in Cape Town. Since 1948, according to Jewish Agency figures, 21,000 South African Jews have moved to Israel. Israel is now the second most popular destination for Jews leaving South Africa, after Australia.

KADIMA DECIDES : PRIMARIES IN 8 WEEKS : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Kadima party council, after 12 days, gathered a majority of 91 to vote to amend the party’s by-laws and set leadership primaries in September. The decision gives Prime Minister Ehud Olmert eight more weeks to lead the government before being replaced - unless he decides to take on his challengers.

GILLERMAN IN FINAL SPEECH : WHATEVER HAPPENS, ISRAEL WILL SURVIVE : by Gil Ronen
Israel’s outgoing Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Gillerman, gave his last speech Tuesday July 22 , to the U.N. Security Council. Referring to Jerusalem’s second tractor terror attack in three weeks, which occurred just hours before his speech, he said that when the first tractor attack occurred, people said the driver was “a madman.” It now is clear, he added, that the problem was not a solitary madman but rather “a phenomenon.” He emphasized that “whatever happens, whatever you discuss, whatever transpires - ISRAEL WILL PREVAIL ” “Most of the horror, most of the bloodshed, most of the killings, and most of the violence… is sadly and tragically within Islam,” he said. Not only are the majority of terrorists Muslim, he noted, but also the majority of terror victims around the world.

JEWISH GROUPS CHALLENGE OBAMA : SHOW SUPPORT FOR UNITED JERUSALEM: by Hana Levi Julian
The Coalition for a United Jerusalem held a news conference in the capital Tuesday night July 22, to demand that US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama express unequivocal support for the unification of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama wound up his two-day visit to Israel Thursday morning with a pre-dawn visit to the Western Wall (Kotel), where he and his wife quietly read Psalm 122. The Psalm is a prayer for peace for the city, where the Temple Mount site behind the Western Wall is the holiest place for Jews around the world.

KNESSET CONSIDERS LAW TO CHANGE ISRAELI SABBATH OBSERVANCE : by Hana Levi Julian
The Knesset is considering a law that would change the way the Sabbath is officially observed in the State of Israel. The new measure would allow public transportation to run and permit many recreation and entertainment-oriented businesses to open. Government agencies and services would still remain closed. The proposal, which states “the freedom of movement must not be harmed on Shabbat,” was initiated by Likud MK Gilad Erdan and Kadima MK Elchanan Glazer. If passed, it will require buses that operate on the Sabbath to avoid neighborhoods populated primarily by observant Jews.

HAMAS GUNMAN KILLED, TWO INJURED BY PALESTINIAN BOMB IN GAZA: (Imra)
On Tuesday July 22, Khalil Ibrahim Jundiya, 30, a member of the armed wing of Hamas, was killed and 14-year-old Hamza Ahmed Jundiya, 14, and an unidentified adult were injured when a bomb they were handling
exploded in the Sajaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City

EXTREME ISLAMIST IDEAS PENETRATING TERRITORIES : - Jonathan Spyer (Jerusalem Post)
There is a growing presence in eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza of preachers, organizations and individuals committed to the extreme Sunni Islamist current known as “Salafiyya,” the ideology associated with al-Qaeda. In the West Bank, the removal of Hamas-affiliated imams in over 1,000 mosques has paradoxically opened the door for the rising prominence of Salafi-oriented preachers.

ARAB MEDIA CARTOONS DEPICT “JEWISH CONTROL” OF U.S. PRESIDENTIAL
CANDIDATES :
Editorial cartoonists in the Arab world are using direct or borderline anti-Semitism in their portrayal of the presumptive U.S. presidential candidates as lackeys of the Jews and Israel, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued Wednesday. The report cites numerous examples of hate-filled characterizations of Jews and overt racist stereotypes

PALESTINIAN CAR BOMB DISCOVERED IN JENIN : - Yaakov Katz
During a Border Police operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday July 22, a large explosive device was discovered in a car that was likely on its way to explode in an Israeli city. The 12-kg. device was connected to several gas balloons and pipe bombs. (Jerusalem Post)

TERROR VICTIM’S FAMILIES SUE P.A. & BARGHOUTI FOR NIS 450 (MILL) (Ha’aretz)
Relatives of terror victims Thursday July 24, filed a NIS 450 million class-action lawsuit in Jerusalem District Court against the Palestinian Authority, the PLO, and jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who was convicted for a series of terrorist acts against Israeli civilians as head of the Tanzim militia in the West Bank.

A MEASURE OF THE DISTANCE TO PEACE : - Barry Rubin
Many people who are trying to understand the Middle East refuse to believe folks here think differently from themselves. There are Arab moderates, some very smart and brave people. The problem is none are in positions of power and all must shut up or face repression, defined as enemies of their people. For the Arabic-speaking world, the true heroes are still the terrorists. What horrified me most are not radicals cheering terrorist Samir Kuntar but that most relative To avoid being discredited, relative moderates must affirm that anyone who murders Israeli children is a hero. That’s the measure of how far the region is from Arab-Israeli peace. While the West concludes that trying to defeat enemies by isolating and vilifying them has failed, the other side concludes that its policy of trying to defeat its enemies by violence, vilification, and intransigence is working. That means many decades more of the same. The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center. (Jerusalem Post)

THE THIRD LEBANON WAR : - Giora Eiland (Ynet News
The only way to prevent another war is to make it clear that should one break out, Lebanon may be razed to the ground. Hizbullah will be deterred if it realizes that aggression on its part would result in destruction that would outrage the Lebanese population and turn it against Hizbullah. Israel must first and foremost make this truth clear to its allies, that Israel cannot defeat Hizbullah as long as it is being supported by the Lebanese state. Therefore, if there is again aggression on the part of Lebanon, Israel would have no choice but to fight against the state that is encouraging aggression in practice. Those who had any doubt about the position of the Lebanese state should be reminded of the warm reception for murderer Samir Kuntar on the part of the Lebanese president and government ministers.