GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . OCT 21 NO … 139

PERES GIVES LIVNI TWO MORE WEEKS TO FORM A GOVERNMENT :
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday October 20 granted Kadima leader Tzipi Livni a two-week extension to put together a new coalition government, the Jerusalem Post reports. According to the Israeli law the Prime Minister-elect is given four weeks to form a government. If none is reached, the law requires an additional two weeks be given. But by October 22 she was running into new difficulties in her efforts to conclude coalition deals with potential government partners before the end of the new two-week deadline granted to her

MIDDLE EAST ARMS RACE REACHES NEW HIGHS :
Iranian threat triggers record Mid East defense spending
For the first time in years and in the face of Iran’s nuclear drive, Israel surpassed Saudi Arabia in arms purchases in 2008, reaching just over $20 billion according to The Jerusalem Post. “This is the year with the greatest defense spending in the history of the Middle East,” Yiftah Shapir, an Israeli national security expert said Sunday. “

TWO 20 KG BOMBS FOUND IN WEST BANK :
A raid by Israeli security forces on the Palestinian town of Kabatiya last week led to the arrest of four suspected terrorists and the discovery of two bombs weighing 20 kilograms (approx. 45 lbs) each, an IDF spokesperson confirmed Thursday. October 18. The four men apprehended were thought to be members of the Islamic Jihad terror group.

HAMAS HARDENS GRIP ON GAZA : - Karin Laub (AP/Washington Post)
Hamas’ control of Gaza is now virtually complete. Since the summer, the Islamic militants have silenced and disarmed their remaining opponents, and filled the bureaucracy with their supporters. Hamas now controls every aspect of daily life, from screening visitors at a new border checkpoint to running what the International Crisis Group described as a network of paid and volunteer informers.

ISRAEL TO BEGIN DRILLING FOR NATURAL GAS OFFSHORE : (Reuters)
A consortium of Israeli companies and Noble Energy of the U.S. said on Sunday October 19, they will soon begin drilling for natural gas off Israel’s Mediterranean coast at a cost of $144.5 million. The Tamar 1 drilling site is located 90 km. west of Haifa. Noble estimates there is a 35% chance of finding natural gas, in the amount of 1 billion cubic meters.

“RELIGIOUS CLEANSING” IN THE MUSLIM MIDDLE EAST : - Editorial
The religious cleansing of Christians in Iraq is part of a larger pattern in which a faith with origins in the Middle East is being driven out of its native region. From Iraq to Lebanon, which once claimed a Christian majority, to Bethlehem, the West Bank town revered as the birthplace of Jesus, intra-Muslim violence and the Arab-Israeli struggle have combined to persuade (and in some cases force) Christians to relocate to Europe or North America.

IRAN’S ECONOMY RUNS OUT OF STEAM : - Michael Rubin (Forbes)
Ahmadinejad has run Iran’s economy into the ground as the Islamic Republic reverts to a Soviet-style command economy. On Oct. 11, the Central Bank reported inflation above 30%. Non-oil sector production is stagnant. Purchasing power has plummeted. Factories may remain open but many do not pay workers.

OLMERT SEEKS TO PART WITH THE GOLAN : by Hillel Fendel
In light of reports that outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is trying to reach an agreement with Syria before he leaves office, a party colleague, MK David Tal, says: “Hands off the Golan.”

SECURITY FOR ISRAEL OFF THE AGENDA! : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United States and European Union (EU) have blamed Israel for the lack of progress in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and insist on more “goodwill” measures while omitting concerns about terrorist attacks. Previous statements always have included the condition of security for Israel which has been directed to make more concessions to the PA, such as removing checkpoints intended to stop terrorists before they can attack. However, the latest statement by European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering ignores the issue of security and lays the blame squarely on Israel for failure to conclude negotiations.

VATICAN HALTS ‘SAINT PIUS’ IDEA : by Hana Levi Julian
A spokesman for Pope Benedict XVI announced over the weekend that the Catholic leader had stopped the beatification of Pope Pius XII, an issue that has heightened tensions between the Vatican and Israel. Pope Pius, who served during World War II, has been criticized by Jews the world over for his silence in the face of the Nazi genocide during the Holocaust.

EGYPT TO FATAH AND HAMAS….MAKE UP ! : by Gil Ronen
Egypt delivered invitations Sunday October 19, to a summit meeting of all factions in the Palestinian Authority (PA) territories, along with a draft plan for ending the prolonged crisis between Hamas and Fatah, high-ranking sources told Arab news organization Ma’an, which is based in Bethlehem. The “comprehensive national dialogue” meeting is set for November 9 in Cairo.

JEWS BANISHED FROM TEMPLE MOUNT : by Hillel Fendel
A mob of dozens of Arabs threatened and nearly surrounded a group of Jewish worshipers who visited the Temple Mount over the Simchat Torah holiday on Tuesday October 21. The police told the Jews to leave. The Arabs, who were preparing for a demonstration, approached the Jewish group and chanted “Allahu Akbar” - a phrase ostensibly praising G-d, but often used to herald an imminent terrorist attack. The police then intervened, told the Jews they should cut their visit short, and arrested two Arabs suspected of inciting the mob. No one was hurt

IRANIAN ‘DIRTY BOMB’ WAS HIJACKED : by Hana Levi Julian
Web blogs all over the Internet are continuing to buzz about an Iranian ship that was hijacked last August by Somali pirates and which Russian sources warned contained a dirty bomb intended for Israel. The hijacking passed largely unnoticed in the mainstream media, save a brief mention in the news on August 22 that reported that three vessels - Iranian, Japanese and German - and their 57 crew members were hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia. Several pirates died after they forced open part of the cargo.

28 TH KASSAM ATTACK : by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The 28th Kassam attack since the “virtual ceasefire” that began on June 19 broke weeks of quiet near Ashkelon Tuesday night. No damage or injuries were reported. In response, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered that the Gaza crossings be closed on Wednesday, the same retaliation he has ordered after previous Arab violations of the tenuous ceasefire.

NASRALLAH REPORTEDLY SURVIVES POISONING ATTEMPT :
An Iraqi Web site on Wednesday quoted diplomatic sources in Beirut as saying Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah was poisoned last week and that his life was saved by Iranian doctors rushed to Lebanon to treat him. The sources claimed that a particularly poisonous chemical substance was used against the Shi’ite militia’s leader. The web site Almalaf claimed that the sources believed it was highly likely that the poisoning was an Israeli assassination attempt.

TERRORIST ATTACK IN JERUSALEM: by Hana Levi Julian
An Arab terrorist from the P A stabbed to death a passerby and wounded an Israeli police officer before he was stopped by an eyewitness in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo Thursday morning October 23.. The civilian, an 86-year-old Jewish man, was rushed in critical condition with stab wounds in the chest to Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center, but was pronounced dead on arrival. The wounded police officer was in
serious condition, but despite his wounds, he managed to shoot the terrorist, who fled and then was caught by an eyewitness.

PERES AND MUBARAK MEET ON SHALIT AND PEACE PROPOSAL : by Hana Levi Julian
President Shimon Peres was greeted at the airport by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday October 23 ahead of their meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm e-Sheikh. The two leaders were set to discuss the Arab League’s peace proposal as well as the negotiations for the release of kidnapped IDF St. Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza since June 25, 2006

ON AL-QAEDA WEBSITES, JOY OVER U.S. CRISIS : (Washington Post)
Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market’s downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy of crippling America’s economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamist insurgents. A new posting credited al-Qaeda with having lured Washington into a trap that had “exhausted its resources and bankrupted its economy.”

USA IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON IRANIAN BANK : Jeannine Aversa
The Bush administration on Wednesday October 22 imposed financial sanctions on the state-owned Export Development Bank of Iran. The bank provided financial services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, which controls Iran’s ballistic missile research, development and production activities.

U.S. TRANSFERS $150 (MILLION) TO PALESTINIANS :
The U.S. has transferred $150 million to the Palestinians, exceeding its original pledge, in order to help with the Palestinian budget. American aid to the Palestinians in 2008 now totals over $700 million and exceeds the amount the U.S. pledged at a donors conference in December 2007. (AP/International Herald Tribune)

PALESTINIAN CAUGHT WITH BOMBS AT WEST BANK CHECKPOINT :
A 17-year-old Palestinian was detained On October 22, when IDF soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus discovered he was carrying a firebomb and a pipe bomb. (Ynet News)

LIVNI COULD DECIDE TO CALL NEW ELECTIONS :
Kadima divided over forming narrow center-left coalition without Shas
With only ten days left on the clock, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has encountered opposition from within her own Kadima party to forming a narrow center-left government coalition without Shas and thus will soon decide on whether to opt instead for new elections.

ABBAS DISMISSES PA SECURITY CHIEF AS HAMAS DEMANDED :
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Gen. Tawfik Tirawi into a meeting late Tuesday night to inform him of his dismissal as the commander of the PA’s General Intelligence Service. In order to restart reconciliation talks with Fatah, Hamas had demanded that Abbas remove Tirawi and several other security commanders who have been overseeing a recent crack down on Hamas in the West Bank. Abbas’ partial compliance with the Hamas request indicates he may be serious about reconciling the two rival Palestinian factions.

LIKUD WELCOMES SHAS MOVE : by Hillel Fendel
With national elections closer than ever now that Shas has turned down the Kadima Party, Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz welcomes Shas back into the nationalist camp. Friday morning October 24, Shteinitz spoke with Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine. “The Shas leadership has returned to its senses,” Shteinitz said, “and understood that Jerusalem cannot be sold for a pot of lentils of coalition-promise monies.”

HIZBULLAH REBUILDING SOUTH OF THE LITANI : - Jonathan Spyer (Jerusalem Post)
On June 27, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued his latest report on the implementation of Resolution 1701, adopted after the 2006 war with Hizbullah. The report noted Israeli claims that Hizbullah was in the process of rebuilding its military capacity in the south, but found “no evidence of new military infrastructure in the area of operations.” A possible explanation is to be found by observing UNIFIL’s patterns of deployment. A visitor to southern Lebanon will be immediately struck by the absence of international and Lebanese army forces in populated areas. UNIFIL carries out patrols exclusively along recognized patrol paths and in rural areas. Given the physical absence of UN forces from any of the areas where evidence of Hizbullah infrastructure-building has emerged, it is not surprising that UNIFIL reports “no evidence” that such activity is taking place. In general, the two sides appear to do their best to stay out of each other’s way. The infrastructure for the next war is currently being built, woven into the fabric of civilian life, a few miles north of Israel’s border..

EGYPTIAN AND ISRAEL PRESIDENTS MEET : - Lin Liyu
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks on Thursday October 23 with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The two leaders discussed means of advancing peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS ON IRAN GOING NOWHERE, ISRAELIS SAY : - Oakland Ross
Diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons are going nowhere, say several top Israeli security experts. “No serious action is being taken,” said Emily Landau, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies. “It’s difficult to avoid the disturbing conclusion that Iran will not be deterred by the international community.”

HAMAS LAW MAKERS CALL FOR EXECUTING PA SECURITY CHIEFS : - Sun Yunlong
Hamas lawmakers in Gaza on Thursday October 23 called for executing PA security chiefs for their security liaison with Israel in West Bank. They considered security liaison as “high treason that requires the death penalty.” agrees Hamas Islamic lawmaker Mohammed Shehab.

ELECTION LIMBO, EXIT ISRAEL : - Aluf Benn
The U.S. presidential election is taking place against the backdrop of an ongoing decline in the importance of Israel and the Israeli-Arab conflict for American foreign policy. The paramount task of the newly elected president will be to rescue the American and global economy. Next on the agenda will be the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Iranian nuclear program. The next administration will not force Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, and thereby expose Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to rocket fire and suicide bombings. (Ha’aretz)

DIRECTORY OF JEWISH RESIDENTS IN GERMANY 1933-45 GIVEN TO ISRAEL’S HOLOCAUST CENTRE : - Aron Heller
The German government on Thursday October 23 handed Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, the personal details of 600,000 Jewish residents of Nazi Germany. The new directory includes the names and addresses of the Jewish residents and classifies them into those who survived, those who perished and those whose fate remains unknown. The list includes details on emigration, detention and deportation, as well as where and when people died.