GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . AUG 28 NO 131
IRANIAN GENERAL CLAIMS ISRAEL TOO AFRAID TO ATTACK:
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said on Wednesday August 27, that Israel would not dare launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear program for fear of the Islamic Republic’s missile arsenal and its proxy militias in the region. “In the event of an attack against Iran, the Israelis know that with the capabilities that the Islamic world and the Shiite world have in the region, they will suffer deadly strikes.”

IAF PURCHASES QUICK FIX FOR BOMBED-OUT RUNWAYS :
According to Israeli defense officials on Tuesday August 26, the Israeli Air Force has bought a special material that can be placed on bombed runaways so fighter jets can quickly depart without delay. The IAF has relied on asphalt companies to repair runways until now, but the new material will help air bases continue takeoffs within minutes. The F-15I fighter jets have also been equipped with a superior avionics program that allows pilots to launch many smart bombs at the same time.

RICE VISIT: PA STATE ‘CLOSER THAN EVER’ : by Hillel Fendel
Negotiations between Israel and PA continue at a “crazy” pace, agreement on dividing Jerusalem is “closer than ever.” Secretary Rice, completing a visit to the region today (Tuesday August 26), has been pressing Israel to sign a document by the end of the year that would divide Jerusalem. Rice says Israel must agree to a Palestinian state capital in Jerusalem - Israel’s own capital - and a full Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

OIL INTERESTS WIN OUT OVER ECOLOGY: by Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel
Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority have approved exploratory oil drilling in a nature reserve, despite opposition from its own science committee and environmentalists. Ginko and Delek Energy Systems were given a green light to drill for oil in the reserve by a general assembly of the Parks Authority. The companies believe that the site has a potential to produce up to 6.5 million barrels of oil, worth $700 million dollars. Some years back an ‘oil expert’ suggested that one day Israel may strike oil and deplete the Saudi reserves.

WOMEN IN GAZA PREPARE TO BECOME SUICIDE BOMBERS : (MEMRI TV)
On August 19, 2008, Al-Jadid/New TV (Lebanon) aired a report on female Palestinian suicide bombers.
“This is the belt we wear around our waists, so that we can detonate ourselves at the push of a button,” explains a young Gaza woman called the “lover of Al-Quds.” “Nothing will stop me from committing martyrdom. I have given up all my dreams and aspirations, in order to become a martyrdom-seeker.”

SYRIA AND IRAN ‘WARM’ TO RUSSIA : - Sam F. Ghattas
“The Russian move into Georgia has begun a tectonic shift in the (Mideast) region,” said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert in the U.S. “It has emboldened Syria, Hizbullah and Iran to push harder against Israel and the U.S.”

UN : LEBANON-SYRIA BORDER STILL WIDE OPEN TO SMUGGLERS; HIZBULLAH BUILDING FORTIFIED BUNKERS: - Barak Ravid and Yoav Stern
Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria is wide open to smugglers, according to a report submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday August 25, by a task force he appointed to study the issue. Israel says Hizbullah has built a network of sophisticated underground bunkers in some 150 villages throughout south Lebanon in recent months. These bunkers can hold up to 15 fighters, plus rockets and rocket launchers.

TIME RUNS OUT FOR BUSH ADMIN. ON MID-EAST PEACE SETTLEMENT : - Danna Harman
Even those who believe that U.S. moves might have once made a difference in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks admit that now - with the Bush administration in its waning days - time has run out. “There is not enough time to do any work now. None of the players are in any shape to formulate policy and no one has energy to work on this peace process.” Danny Ayalon, Israel’s ambassador to Washington until 2006, agrees: “There is absolutely no hope for progress on the peace process at this junction….

GAZA TERRORISTS TRAINING 11 YEAR OLD CHILDREN TO KILL JEWS: by Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel
“I am learning how to fight the Jews and kill Jewish children,” said 11-year-old Muhammad, one of dozens of children who have undergone terrorist training in the last few days in Gaza. The training of child ‘killers’ is part of a larger step-up in military training that various terrorist groups in Gaza claim to be a response to the threat of a wide-scale Israeli operation in the area.

OLMERT: LET FOREIGNERS HELP CHANGE STATUS OF JERUSALEM: by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has proposed to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that the international community participate in helping to determine the status of Jerusalem. Prime Minister Olmert as recently as two years ago stated that Jerusalem is Israel’s “undivided and eternal” capital, and the Shas party has said several times it will leave the coalition and topple the government if the status of Jerusalem is negotiated

ANALYSIS: ROADMAP IS PRELUDE TO TERRORIST STATE IN ‘PALESRTINE’ : by Hillel Fendel
As Israeli and PA negotiators struggle to square the circle and agree on how to implement the U.S. Roadmap, an analyst reminds that PA simply wishes to replace Israel. In an article entitled The Reality of a Palestinian State, Joseph Puder writes in FrontPageMagazine.com that the Arab struggle against Israel is not about land - as evidenced by repeated Arab rejections of territory over the course of decades. Instead, he writes, “it is an armed struggle that aims to replace Israel with an Arab Islamic terrorist state that would undermine American and European interests in the region.”

SAUDI ARABIANS BACK OBAMA : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Saudi Arabians, including expatriates, are backing Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. According to the Arab News, which describes itself as the Arab world’s leading English daily newspaper, the reasons for Saudi support of the rookie senator range from his being black to his middle name being Hussein, which has led many Saudis to believe he is a Muslim. Sen. Obama was born in Kenya to a Muslim father, who had several wives, but the presidential candidate is Christian.

OLMERT REBUKES ABBAS FOR MEETING WITH A MURDERER: by Hillel Fendel
It was publicized that Olmert chided Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, for his meeting with recently-released murderer Samir Kuntar. Kuntar was one of five terrorists freed to Lebanon last month in exchange for the bodies of kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Kuntar murdered three Israelis, including a toddler, and was responsible for the death of a fourth - a baby - in a 1979 terrorist attack in Nahariya. Abu Mazen explained himself by saying that his meeting with Kuntar was unplanned. Olmert said, “So what? If you are a man of peace, you are not supposed to meet with murderers.”

ABBAS TELLS OLMERT : ITS ALL OR NOTHING : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for less than an hour on Sunday August 31 and said, “Either we agree on all issues, or no agreement at all.” PA negotiator Saeb Erakat told AP that the PA will not consider a pact that does not settle the issue of the status of Jerusalem and the Arab demand for the immigration of several million foreign Arabs into Israel, which it refers to as the “right of return.” “We want an agreement to end the (Israeli) occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Erekat said.

ISRAEL CONSIDERS FREEING OVER 70 TERRORISTS: HAMAS: WE WANT 1000: by Hillel Fendel
The relevant ministerial committee is seeking to find ways to up the number of terrorists - currently 70 - it will release in exchange for abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas wants 1,000.

ISRAEL SELLS LAND TO MOSCOW: I by Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel
“We bought land in Israel on which to build a hotel to serve the people of Moscow, around the mud that heals dermatological diseases,” said the mayor of Russia’s capital. The Moscow Municipality has announced the purchase of 10 acres of land in Ein Bokek, on the shore of the Dead Sea. Moscow explains the land, purchased from the State of Israel, will be used for a $100-million resort complex. the Israel Land Authority reports that it has recently received a number of inquiries from various Russian sources regarding the purchase of Israeli land.

ISLAMIC JIHAD CELEBRATES GRADUATION OF TRAINED FIGHTERS : (Maan News-PA)
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, are preparing for a major imminent confrontation with Israel, and graduated a third class of fighters on Friday August 29.. Trainees shouted “death for America and Israel” and displayed fighting skills such as jumping over fire, blowing up an imaginary Israeli settlement, and kidnapping Israeli soldiers.

IRAN PLOTTING TO SABOTAGE GAZA CEASE-FIRE : - Yaakov Lappin (Jerusalem Post)
Iran is mobilizing Islamic Jihad in Gaza in an effort to sabotage the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Friday August 29. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades in Gaza, Abu Anas, warned on Saturday that the truce’s end was nearing.

HAMAS PIPING IN FUEL FROM EGYPT : - Avi Issacharoff
Arab sources report that Hamas recently laid a pipeline for supplying Gaza with fuel from Egypt through a tunnel dug specifically for this purpose.