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

ABBAS TO DISBAND PA IF ISRAEL FREES HAMAS LAWMAKERS :
Schalit negotiations resume in Cairo
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared last week that he would disband the Palestinian Authority if Israel releases jailed Hamas parliament members in a potential exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

NETANYAHU CALLS FOR NEW ELECTIONS :
Israeli Opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud called for new elections on Thursday July 31 in the wake of the announcement by Ehud Olmert last night that he will step down once his Kadima party elects his successor in its September primary. “This government has reached an end and it doesn’t matter who heads Kadima. They are all partners in this government’s total failure

OLMERT’S DECISION TO STEP DOWN LEAVES ‘PEACE TALKS’ IN LIMBO :
Bush to work with Olmert until end
The status of US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are in limbo following Wednesday’s (July 30 ) decision by Ehud Olmert to step down as prime minister after the Kadima party primary in September, but the Bush Administration is still anxious to preserve the appearance of forward movement.

ESCALATING CIRSIS IN WEST BANK BETWEEN PA AND HAMAS :
Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank have been placed on their highest alert this week following credible threats from Hamas to senior Fatah officials. Izzadin al-Kassam, the armed wing of Hamas, has been distributing leaflets in the West Bank claiming that the Fatah-dominated PA is “collaborating with Israel” and announcing that they have been targeted for retribution.

US OFFICIAL : IRAQIS TOLD ME ‘WMDs’ SENT TO SYRIA : - Ryan Mauro (WorldNetDaily)
Don Bordenkircher, who served two years as national director of prison and jail operations in Iraq, said that about 40 prisoners he spoke with “boasted of being involved in the transport of WMD warheads to Syria” in the three months prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. He said he was told the WMDs were shipped by truck into Syria, and some ended up in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Prisoners who said they worked at the al-Muthana Chemical Industries site said the cargo included nitrogen mustard gas warheads for Tariq I and II missiles.

US DEFENCE STRATEGY SHIFTS FOCUS TO FIGHTING TERRORISTS : - Josh White
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that even winning the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end the “Long War” against violent extremism and that the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorists should be the nation’s top military priority over coming decades, according to a new National Defense Strategy he approved last month. The strategy document calls for the military to master “irregular” warfare rather than focusing on conventional conflicts against other nations. (Washington Post)

GAZA SUMMER CAMPS TEACH KIDS TO FIRE ROCKETS : - Ali Waked
In the past few weeks, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been holding summer camps, some of them proudly displaying rockets and other weaponry. Hamas alone is conducting 300 summer camps for tens of thousands of children. The focus is on familiarizing kids with the Palestinian towns and cities destroyed in 1948, as well as instilling religious fervor in them. The camps also feature military-type training such as crawling under barbed-wire. At Islamic Jihad summer camps, children learn how to hold a Kassam rocket-launcher. (Ynet News)

ISLAMIC STATES USE THE UN TO STIFLE FREE SPEECH : - Luiza Ch. Savage
The Organization of the Islamic Conference has been leading a remarkably successful campaign through the UN to enshrine in international law prohibitions against “defamation of religions,” particularly Islam. Their aim is to empower governments around the world to punish anyone who commits the “heinous act” of defaming Islam. The trend has rights advocates worried. “Defamation of religions” is not about protecting individual believers from damage caused by false statements - but rather about protecting a religion, or some interpretation of it, or the feelings of the followers. Religions by definition present competing claims on the truth, and one person’s religious truth is easily another’s apostasy. The subjective perception of insult is what matters, and what puts the whole approach on a collision course with the human rights regime.

ISRAEL UPSET OVER GERMAN-IRAN GAS PLANT DEAL :
Move contradicts UN sanctions, Merkel’s Knesset address
Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday July 31 that it plans to confront the highest levels of the German government with its concerns over a reported decision by the German Export Control Office, BAFA, to authorize a $100 million deal for building gas liquefying plants in Iran. But diplomatic sources in Jerusalem said the German government hopes to persuade energy firm Steiner Gastec Prematechnik to cancel a 100 million euro deal with Iran’s national gas carrier.

RABBIS JOIN DRIVE FOR “ONLY JEWISH LABOUR” : by Hillel Fendel
Marking one month since the first bulldozer terror attack, in which three Jews were murdered by an Arab construction worker, rabbis and public figures will call for “Only Jewish Labor” in a memorial ceremony and rally at the site. Twenty-seven leading rabbis have joined the public call for Jewish Labor, under the motto, “Don’t give them guns, don’t give them tractors, don’t give them jobs.”

SYRIA CHOOSES : ASSAD TO VISIT IRAN ; ISRAEL CONTINUES ‘T ALKS’ : by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to visit Iran this weekend, even as Syrian and Israeli negotiators are slated to continue talks in mid-August. Al-Assad’s visit answers the Israeli demand that Syria choose between Iran and peace. Assad’s upcoming visit to Iran may be seen as a direct reply to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s statement this week that Syria must choose between maintaining its relationship with Iran and peaceful international relations. In a statement, al-Assad said that Israel’s ultimatum is “as if Syria asked Israel to break off relations with the United States.”

ABBAS TO OPEN THE DOOR FOR ARRESTED HAMAS TERRORISTS : by Hana Levi Julian
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will free scores of Hamas terrorists and supporters arrested this week by PA security forces. Abbas issued the order late Thursday night July 31`from Tunis, where he held talks with Tunisian officials. According to the announcement, the mass prisoner release will be carried out by Sunday. Fatah forces have arrested approximately 200 Hamas terrorists in Judea and Samaria, more or less matching the number of Fatah loyalists rounded up by Hamas forces in Gaza last week.

22 “NEW” POLISH JEWS REDISCOVER THEIR HERTIAGE : Jerusalem Post)
A group of 22 Polish youth who only recently discovered their Jewish roots arrived in Israel this week for a three-week-long Polish-language seminar in Jerusalem. “We are seeing this incredible phenomenon of the hidden Jews of Poland emerging from the shadows,”

BLOOMING DESERTS TURN ISRAELI WATER INDUSTRY INTO MONEY MAGNET : Tal Barak (Bloomberg)
Today, some 300 Israeli companies make equipment to deliver water or purify it with lasers or diffusion, putting them in a position to profit as climate change, population growth and food shortages strain supplies.

ETHIOPIA : GERMANY FINANCES ISRAELI AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE - Abdullahi Mohamed
A tripartite agreement that helps Ethiopia modernize its agriculture and ensure food security was concluded Monday by Israel, Germany and Ethiopia. The agreement helps farmers residing in rain deficit areas to utilize modern irrigation technology to boost their income.

PA APPEALS TO WORLD BANK FOR CASH TO PAY SALARIES : - Khaled Abu Toameh
PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad has asked the World Bank for emergency funding so that he can pay salaries to PA employees, PA officials in Ramallah said Wednesday July 30. The Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction said this week that the PA had received only $900 million of the $7.7b. promised during the December 2007 Paris Donors’ Conference.

SEAL OF KING ZEDEKIAH’S MIN. FOUND IN JERUSALEM ARCHEOLOGICAL DIG: -Etgar Lefkovits
A seal impression belonging to a minister of the biblical King Zedekiah, which dates back 2,600 years, has been uncovered completely intact during an archeological dig in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David, Israeli archeologist Prof. Eilat Mazar said on Thursday. The 1 cm. in diameter seal impression, or bulla, with the name Gedalyahu ben Pashur, who served as minister to King Zedekiah (597-586 BCE), was found just meters away from a separate seal impression of another of Zedekiah’s ministers, Yehukual ben Shelemyahu, which was uncovered three years ago. Both

THE IMPACT OF OLMERT’S ANNOUNCEMENT : - David Makovsky
Olmert’s resignation seemingly ends the efforts of Secretary of State Rice to bring about an Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough by the end of the year, a goal set at the Annapolis peace conference last November. Olmert’s resignation provides Rice with an excuse to explain why the U.S. administration was unable to produce a successful conclusion.

THE ROOTS OF MUSLIM ANGER : - Salim Mansur
In the Muslim world much sorrow is expressed over how greatly that world has degenerated into a pathetic shadow of its past. The character of Muslim society is exemplified by the mosque culture, whereby the authority of the man on the pulpit is final and public dissent is disallowed. Similarly, inside of homes, most discussions flow in one direction from the patriarchal center of power and influence downwards. Any critical review or independent examination of controversial subjects is frowned upon, if not repressed. Anger in such circumstances is mostly an effect of the pent-up resentment bred of life in a society without any sort of freedom. (National Post-Canada)

PA REFUSES TO ALLOW FLEEING FATAH LOYALISTS INTO JUDEA, SAMARIA :by Hana Levi Julian
Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas has told Defense Minister Ehud Barak the PA is not accepting the more than 180 terrorists who fled from the Hamas terrorist army Saturday night August 2. Israel is being forced to send the Fatah loyalists back to Gaza, except for several terrorists it agreed to send to Israeli hospitals for medical care. Those are also to be sent back to Gaza, after they recover from wounds suffered in the bloody clashes that killed nine Hamas and Fatah terrorists and wounded 88 others.

ISRAEL TRANSFERS FATAH “REFUGEES’ TO JERICHO :
PA fears Israel’s asylum decision could prompt mass exodus from Gaza
Two days after the bloodiest day of Palestinian infighting since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip a year ago, Israel decided on Monday to transfer some 87 Fatah gunmen from Israel - where they were granted temporary asylum on Saturday August 2 - to Jericho.

NEW KNESSET BILL ENABLES JEWS TO DEFEND THEIR FARM PROPERTY : by Elana Eden
A new Knesset bill will allow farmers to defend themselves and their land against thieves after having over 57 million shekels worth of property stolen in 2006. About 40% of agricultural theft cases involve violence against the farmer or the police, or are committed by someone with a record of violence. Due to only minor penalties for the crime, agricultural theft is often more worthwhile for the thief than stealing a car. Anything metal, such as electrical or computer-based equipment, is targeted by the thieves as are the crops.

SYRIAN PRESIDENT’S TOP AIDE ASSASSINATED : by Hana Levi Julian
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s top aide and adviser, General Mohammed Suleiman, was assassinated on Friday August 1, according to Arab news sources. Suleiman, who was also Syria’s liaison officer to the Hizbullah terrorist organization in Lebanon, was shot and killed by an unidentified sniper in the Syrian port city of Tartous. Amid increasing speculation, some Arab media and Syrian dissidents suggested Monday that the reported assassination of a senior Syrian intelligence officer over the weekend may be a case of one man knowing too much about the Syrian political scene for his own good

ABU ZUHRI WARNS OF HAMAS TAKE-OVER IN WEST BANK ;
Threat follows weekend of bitter factional violence in Gaza with more than 11 dead.
A senior Gaza Hamas leader warned Tuesday August 5, that his Islamic terrorist group could overrun the West Bank, just as it took over Gaza, if provoked by its rivals in Fatah according to the Associated Press.

IDF CHIEF : WE KNOW GILAD IS ALIVE & WHERE HE IS BEING HELD :
Israel will not open the Rafah Crossing on the border with the Gaza Strip, and will not permit passage of Palestinians into Egypt until progress is made in securing the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister said Tuesday, according to The Jerusalem Post.

KNESSET : REFERENDUM TO BE NEEDED TO APPROVE ANY DEAL ON THE GOLAN :
Israeli Knesset Members approved a proposal on Sunday August 3, that will require all future “land for peace” deals to be put to the vote in a national referendum. Referring to the ongoing negotiations over the future of the Golan Heights, House Committee chairman David Tal said that the new legislation would greatly impact the state’s ability to hand over territory under Israeli authority.

EGYPT BALKS AT ISRAELI OFFER TO BUILD A HIGH-TEC WALL : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Defense Ministry is offering the Egyptian government help to build a high-technology barrier at Rafah to help stop smuggling, but Cairo has resisted Israeli involvement. The border barrier along the Philadelphi smuggling route can be penetrated because of several gaps that Egypt has not repaired. Egypt has agreed to discuss the Israeli suggestion following pressure by the United States, which has supplied advanced technology to locate smuggling tunnels Defense Minister Ehud Barak told ministry political-security director Amos Gilad to propose help for building a high concrete wall and an electronic fence in addition to using smuggling-tunnel detection equipment.

NATIONAL-RELIGIOUS PARTIES CONSIDERING HISTORIC MERGER: by Hillel Fendel
Once again, voices in the national-religious parties are calling for unity - in time for the possibly upcoming national elections. A historic merger of three or four parties may be on the way

ISRAELI COMPANIES FLEX ECONOMIC MUSCELS TO GOBBLE UP FOREIGN FIRMS : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Last year, Warren Buffet paid more than $4 billion for the IsraCar Metal Tools company in the Galilee, marking yet another buyout of Israeli businesses by foreigners. Israeli firms now have turned the tables and are gobbling up foreign companies as homegrown firms flex their economic muscle. The Israeli-based Ness Technologies has agreed to purchase Logos, a Czech information technology provider, for $68 million, as Israeli firms continue an aggressive purchase of foreign companies. Last month, Teva Pharmaceuticals announced it would pay more than $7 billion for the American-based Barr drug company. The branching out of Israeli firms has helped reverse the trend of the shekel-dollar rate, which has declined significantly over the past three years.

PROOF OF JEREMIAH UNEARTHED IN JERUSALEM : by Hana Levi Julian
Archaeologists have unearthed proof of another Biblical story at Jerusalem’s ancient City of David, this time corroborating the Book of Jeremiah. A completely intact seal impression, or “bula”, bearing the name Gedaliahu ben Pashur was uncovered. The bula is actually a stamped engraving made of mortar. One belonging to Yuchal ben Shlemiyahu was found three years ago, at the entrance to the City of David. In the Book of Jeremiah (38:1-4), both men are mentioned as ministers to King Tzidkiyahu, who reigned from 597-586 BCE. The two, along with another pair, demanded the death penalty for the prophet Jeremiah in response to his plea for the king to surrender the city to the oncoming hordes of the Babylonian conqueror Nebuchadnezzer. (See Jeremiah 38-1/4)

POSSIBLE VP NOMINEE : JERUSALEM IS “GROUND ZERO’ : by Gil Ronen
Virginia Republican Congressman Eric Cantor, whom Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain is considering naming as his vice-presidential running mate, said in a speech last November that Jerusalem is “Ground Zero in the global battle between tyranny and democracy” and is “Israel’s lifeblood.” Speaking during a visit to Israel for the “One Jerusalem” event, which protested the Annapolis summit, Cantor said: “Jerusalem is not merely the capital of Israel but the spiritual capital of Jews and Christians everywhere. It’s the site of the First and Second Temples, which housed the Holy of Holies, and it’s the direction in which we Jews face when we pray. This glorious City of David is bound to the Jewish people by an undeniable 3,000 year historical link.” Jerusalem, Cantor said, “is Israel’s lifeblood. No one understands this better than Israel’s enemies. That is precisely why they still engage in a systematic campaign to erase the historical link of the Jews to this great city. For if Israel were severed from Jerusalem, the Jewish state would lose its sense of legitimacy and its will to fight; only then could Israel be destroyed.”

PEACE TALKS WITH PA PURELY COSMETIC : - Ofir Shelach (Maariv-Hebrew, 1 Aug 08)
According to the IDF General Staff, the IDF is the only force preventing a Hamas takeover in the West Bank. The talks between Israel and the PA are purely cosmetic, since Israel’s negotiating partner does not represent any real political force. Anyone who is counting on Fatah to reform itself in order to serve as a counterweight to Hamas in the West Bank is fooling himself.

AL-QAEDA’S CHIEF POISONER KILLED BY THE AMERICANS : (Economist-UK)
Egyptian chemist Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 55, better known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, is reported by several sources to have been killed in the latest American cross-border missile strike in Pakistan on July 28. The U.S. said al-Masri had “provided hundreds of mujahideen with hands-on training in the use of poisons and explosives.” He also wrote military manuals that include instructions for making chemical and biological weapons.

HIZBULLAH FREE TO DECIDE ON MILITARY ACTION TO DEFEND LEBANON : - Zvi Bar’el
The new Lebanese government is putting Hizbullah on an equal footing with the Lebanese Army in matters pertaining to the defense of the state as well as the liberation of the Shaba Farms and the village of Ghajar. This means that any talk of disarming Hizbullah undermines the defense of Lebanon. Not only is Hizbullah allowed to retain its arms, it can also define what it means to defend Lebanon. Hizbullah leader Nasrallah has already made it clear that defense means taking action against Israeli overflights of Lebanon. (Ha’aretz)

PALESTINIAN REFUGEES FROM WHOM? - Melanie Phillips
Extraordinary developments in Gaza have given a new meaning to the term “‘Palestinian refugees.” The Jerusalem Post reported that 180 Fatah refugees, fleeing from what they called a “war of genocide” by Hamas, fled to Israel, which proceeded to treat 23 of them in Israeli hospitals. (Spectator-UK)

RAFSANJANI : IRAN BEGINNING WORK ON NUCLEAR FISSION : (MEMRI)
Iranian Expediency Council Chairman Rafsanjani has announced that Iran is at the beginning of the first stage of nuclear fusion. He said that the West would again confront Iran for using nuclear fusion, but that “since we are still at the early stage they will not confront us (now).”

FIVE PALESTINIANS KILLED IN TUNNEL COLLAPSE : (AP/Washington Post)
A smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border collapsed on Friday August 1, killing at least five Palestinians and wounding 18, Palestinian officials said Saturday. Since the beginning of the year, 27 Palestinians have been killed in tunnel collapses.

ISRAEL GETS AUSTRALIAN ARMY UAV DEAL : (Reuters)
Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems said on Sunday it won a deal to supply the Australian army with more Skylark I unmanned aerial vehicles, the third such Australian Department of Defense order since 2005. The Skylark I advanced mini-UAV system is designed for day and night observation and data collection “beyond the hill” up to distances of 10-15 km.

IRAN THREATENS TO CLOSE KEY OIKL SHIPPING ROUTE : - Nazila Fathi
Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, warned Monday August 4, that Iran could easily close a critical oil route in the Persian Gulf, and that Iran had a new long-range naval weapon that could sink enemy ships nearly 200 miles away. “Closing the Strait of Hormuz for an unlimited period of time would be very easy,” he said. (New York Times)