DE UPDATES VAN GPL HET MIDDEN-OOSTEN VAN. 7 AUGUSTUS NR 127

SHARANSKY RUGGEN McCAIN, VRAAG OBAMA A „Risico“ VOOR Israël: door Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
De vroegere Gevangene van Zion Natan Sharansky heeft Democratische presidentiële kandidaat Senator Barack Obama een „risico“ voor Israël genoemd als hij voorzitter wordt verkozen. De vroegere minister in de overheid Sharon, die ook een persoonlijke vriend van Amerikaanse President George W. is Bush, vertelde TV Shalom dat hij Republikeinse presidentiële kandidaat Senator John McCain verkiest. Krijgend aan Obama, is er geen verslag. Het kan goed gebeuren te zijn. Het kan zeer slecht gebeuren te zijn. Het is een risico.

TWEE NEERSTEKEN VAN DE TERRORIST TEGENGEWERKT IN ÉÉN OCHTEND: door Hillel Fendel
In het eerste incident, kwam een 26 éénjarigenvrouw van Bethlehem bij het zuiden van Rachel Crossing van Jeruzalem aan. Zij mocht niet de stad ingaan, en probeerde toen om één van de wachten neer te steken. De wacht werd niet gekwetst, en de aanvaller werd snel overwonnen en werd genomen voor het vragen. Binnenkort daarna, werd een 20 éénjarigen Arabisch mannetje gearresteerd bij de ingang aan het Hol Machpelah in Hevron. Hij wekte de militairen' verdenkingen, en een snelle lichaam-controle produceerde een 30 centimeter (12-duim) mes op zijn persoon. De verdachte bekende dat hij van plan was geweest om Israëlische Guardsman van de Grens neer te steken. De Israëlische veiligheidskrachten arresteerden vier verschrikkingsverdachten in de loop van de nacht. werd gevangen in het vijandige dorp van Yata, zuiden van Hevron, en vier m-16 geweren en veel munitie werden gevonden in zijn huis. Drie anderen werden gearresteerd in Kalkilye, het oosten van Raanana. PA Arabieren wierpen een cocktail Molotov bij het Israëlisch autonoorden van Dolev, in westelijke Binyamin, tijdens de nacht. In Jenin, in noordelijke Samaria, kwam een kracht IDF onder Arabische brand. Niemand werd gekwetst en geen schade werd veroorzaakt in één van beide incident.

LIBANESE REGERING' T KEURT WAPENS HIZBULLAH GOED: door Nissan ratzlav-Katz
Ondanks een duidelijke V.N.- resolutie en een 19 éénjarigen nationale overeenkomst die de ontwapening van alle niet-gouvernementele milities verzoeken, stemde het kabinet van Libanon over Maandag 4 Augustus om de Hizbullah terroristenorganisatie toe te staan om zijn wapensarsenaal te houden. Het overheidsbesluit keurt specifiek activiteiten Hizbullah goed die in Israël worden gericht

HIZBULLAH van SLAGEN Unifil- PLAN AAN de LOODSEN van de REDDING IAF door Hana Levi Julian
The Hizbullah terrorist group slammed the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Tuesday night August 5, for its intention to rescue any Israel Air Force pilot whose aircraft is shot down over Lebanon.According to a report published by the Lebanese daily newspaper al-Akhbar, UN forces Commander Claudio Graziano distributed to his troops a contingency plan in which UNIFIL soldiers would aim to reach the pilot before the terrorists could get to him. Failing that, if the pilot is captured by guerrilla forces, Plan B is an attempt to rescue him from Hizbullah’s hands. However, if the pilot is being held by the Lebanese Army, according to the plan, UNIFIL would do nothing.

ISRAEL CAN SHOOT DOWN DOZENS OF MISSILE SIMULTANEOUSLY : - Yuval Azoulay (Ha’aretz)
On Tuesday August 5, the Israel Air Force unveiled Sniper, a system developed by three Israeli companies that identifies a target, whether missile or plane, while it is still hundreds of kilometers from Israel, enabling it to be struck with missiles. The IAF stressed that this system is currently reserved for Israel’s exclusive use; U.S. Patriot batteries elsewhere in the world are not equipped with Sniper. A senior officer said the first Sniper units were deployed about a month ago, and more will be deployed in the future. He added that Israel now has the ability to bring down dozens of missiles simultaneously, and to select which missiles to target based on each missile’s projected landing site. The system includes two cameras with night-vision capability that allows one to identify and track aircraft-or a missile-flying at top speeds hundreds of kilometers away.

ARROW THREE UPDATED : IRON DOME AND DAVID’S SLING ON THE WAY :
An upgraded version of the Arrow system, the Arrow-3, is currently in development; the system would stop missiles at a high altitude, and at a distance far from the civilian population. It is expected to make its debut sometime in the next six or seven years. The new system, in its initial development stages, should be able to intercept missiles at heights of more than 100 km., reducing the danger of having the warhead land in Israel after interception. (Ynet News) Also on Tuesday, the IAF unveiled prototypes of the missiles that will be used in two anti-missile systems that are expected to start operating by 2010 - the Iron Dome and David’s Sling. The Iron Dome, being developed by Rafael Military Industries Ltd., has successfully passed its repeated tests over the past several months, with all systems deemed “Go.” The IDF is currently in the process of determining who will staff the Iron Dome batteries, designed to intercept short-range rockets, when operational. By 2012-2013, David’s Sling is expected to join the Iron Dome in protecting Israel’s skies. The system is designed to intercept medium-range rockets, like the Katyushas that struck the port city of Ashkelon earlier this year.

IDF TRAINS FOR SIMULTANEOUS HIZBULLAH, IRAN, SYRIA MISSILE STRIKES : - (Channel 10/Ha’aretz)
The Israel Air Force’s anti-aircraft division on Tuesday August 5, carried out a large exercise testing its response to simultaneous missile strikes by Syria, Hizbullah and Iran.

ISRAEL FREEZES DEFENSE SALES TO GEORGIA : (AP/International Herald Tribune)
Israel has decided to halt all sales of military equipment to Georgia because of objections from Russia, which is locked in a feud with Georgia, Israeli defense officials said Tuesday August 5. The officials said the freeze was also intended to give Israel leverage with Moscow in its attempts to persuade Russia not to ship arms and equipment to Iran.

HAMAS AND JORDAN RESTORING TIES : - Yoav Stern (Ha’aretz)
Meetings between Jordanian and Hamas officials have opened the door to restoring relations that have been strained for two years, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Tuesday. Mohammed Nazzal, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, met with Mohammed Dahabi, who heads Jordan’s General Intelligence Department, in the last few days. The renewed ties with Hamas angered Fatah-affiliated Jordanian officials who oppose the move.

LIBYAN LEADER SAYS ‘ IRAN SHOWS VANITY ‘ :
Iran risks the same fate as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in its confrontation with the West over its nuclear program, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, said Tuesday August 5. “What Iran is doing is pure vanity,” Qaddafi said during a visit to Tunisia. “If a decision is taken against Iran, it will suffer the same fate as Iraq. Iran is no stronger than Iraq and will be unable to resist.”

HIZBULLAH THREATENS ISRAELI FLIGHTS OVER LEBANON : - Amos Harel
Israeli overflights of Lebanon now threaten to become the main point of Israel-Hizbullah friction. Israel deems the overflights essential for intelligence purposes. It was these flights that enabled Israel to learn the positions of the long-range missiles that it destroyed on the first day of the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Israel has warned Syria that it would not accept the establishment of an advanced anti-aircraft system in Lebanon; should it be set up, Israel will not hesitate to act against it. (Ynet News)

POLITICAL SUICIDE, PALESTINIAN STYLE : - Rami G. Khouri
As Fatah and Hamas battle it out like a bunch of armed neighborhood gangs, it will not be surprising to see some friends of Palestine quietly walk away, mumbling that if the Palestinians wish to kill each other and destroy their own society, they are free to do so. This is the latest and most troubling example of how a once grand and noble Palestinian national liberation movement has allowed itself to degenerate into ineptitude. The sight of clan-based political groups in Gaza killing each other is familiar in many parts of the Middle East, sadly. It is a sign that national dysfunctionality expressed in internecine political violence is a regional Arab ailment, not a peculiarly Palestinian one. (Daily Star-Lebanon)

POST DISENGAGEMENT : GUIDED MISSILES, 10 MILLION BULLETS : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Three years after the Disengagement program that ended the Jewish presence in Gaza, Hamas has amassed an arsenal of guided missiles and 10 million bullets. Hamas has equipped its new army with a massive amount of weapons since the government carried out its Disengagement program, forcing Jews out of the Gaza region and withdrawing all Israeli soldiers from the area. In the past year alone, 175 tons of explosives, precision guided missiles and, thousands of machine guns and 10 million rounds of ammunition have reached Hamas, according to intelligence estimates reported by Der Spiegel.

ISRAEL FREES GAOLED HAMAS LEADERS : by Hana Levi Julian
Israel has begun to free Hamas leaders who were rounded up by security forces following the abduction of IDF Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit two years ago. On Thursday August 7, Jerusalem freed the mayor of Shechem, who has been held in administrative detention for two years.

BARAK : DEMOLISH HOME OF MERKAZ HaRav MURDERER : by Hana Levi Julian
Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave instructions Wednesday August 6 to begin the process of demolishing the home of Ala Abu Dheim, the lone gunman who slaughtered eight young students at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem earlier this year.

RUSSIA ASKS THAT IRAN BE GIVEN MORE TIME ” - Colum Lynch
Russia said Wednesday August 6, that Iran should be granted more time to respond to a package of incentives that the U.S. and five other powerful nations have offered Tehran to freeze its uranium enrichment efforts, a stance that may slow U.S. and European efforts to impose UN sanctions on Tehran.

RICE DENIES US VETO OVER ISRAELI STRIKE ON IRAN :
Barak: IDF preparing for all options, “uncompromising” victory
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave the strongest indication yet, Thursday, that the Bush administration will not stand in the way of an Israeli preemptive strike against Iran’s renegade nuclear program.

IDF : ABLE TO COUNTER ALL KNOWN MISSILE THREATS :
Following Iran’s latest long-range missile tests last month, Israeli Air Force Commander Daniel Milo confirmed on Tuesday August 5, that the IDF is in a position to counter all known ballistic missile threats in the Middle East following an extensive nationwide missile defense drill earlier in the day. But Milo added that although Iran’s latest missile drills are not believed to have demonstrated any major technological breakthroughs, “we are in a period during which the enemy is accelerating the ballistic missile threat in all the various fronts,” he cautioned.

GAZA TERRORISTS WARN TRUCE MAY END IN THREE WEEKS : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in Gaza warned Thursday August 7, that the temporary ceasefire may end in three weeks, when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. The month is frequently marked by an increase in terrorism.

SECULARS WANT TEMPLE, AS FAST OF AV BEGINS SATURDAY NIGHT AUGUST 9: by Hillel Fendel
The fast of Tisha B’Av, the “saddest” day in the Jewish calendar, began on Saturday night August 9 as the Sabbath ends, and ended Sunday evening at sundown. Its name literally means “the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av,” the date of some of the gravest tragedies to have befallen the Jewish People. Most notably, both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on Tisha B’Av

KILLED SYRIAN AIDE GAVE ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES TO HIZBULLAH : by Hana Levi Julian
Top Syrian presidential aide Brigadier-General Mohammed Suleiman, assassinated at the beginning of this month, (August) reportedly supplied Hizbullah terrorists with the advanced SA-8 anti-aircraft missile system, according to The Times of London. That all ended when he was quietly killed at dawn on August 2 by a single bullet to the head as he sat in the garden of his summer home near the port city of Tartus in the north. Writing in The Sunday Times, journalist Uzi Mahnaimi noted, “Nobody heard the shot, which appears to have been fired from a speedboat by a sniper, possibly equipped with a silencer. The expertise required to execute such a long-distance sniper murder has led suspicion to fall upon the Israelis.”

GEORGIAN JEWS FLEE FROM RUSSIAN BORDER AHEAD OF RUSSIAN INVASION : by Gil Ronen
Most Jews living near the Georgia-Russia border have fled a Russian invasion , in which at least 1500 people were killed initially. Most of the Jewish community in Gori, an area near the conflict zone, have left for the capital Tbilisi. There are said to be some 200 Jews in Gori. The Jews there are one of the oldest communities in Georgia, tracing their migration into the country during the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE. The fighting began when Georgian forces tried to retake the capital of the South Ossetia, a pro-Russian region that won de facto autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s. The fighting began when Georgian forces tried to retake the capital of the South Ossetia, a pro-Russian region that won de facto autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s. Israel has about $1 (bill) invested in Georgia.