 |
 |
Newsletter : 7fax0309.txt
Directory | Previous file | Next file
Strategic Agreement Between Hamas, Venezuela
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Hamas leader and arch-terrorist Khaled Mashaal met with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro recently in Teheran. Mashaal and Maduro agreed that Venezuela and the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority would open direct diplomatic ties. Maduro said that the Palestinian Authority would be allowed to open an embassy in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. Venezuela is one of the first countries to accept Hamas, which most governments recognize as a terrorist group, as a legitimate governing body.
Hamas Builds Up War Machine in Gaza
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Kassam missiles fired "uneventfully" at Ashkelon over the past few days are actually reported to be test-firings of much more advanced rockets.
The IDF Southern Command Chief, speaking with foreign diplomats and reporters in Jerusalem painted a grim picture of the war threats from Gaza, saying the IDF is making plans for a possible offensive.
Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant said that more than 2,000 Kassam rockets have been launched at Israel in the 18 months since Israel withdrew from Gaza - and that Hamas has much more up its sleeve. "Since the Disengagement, 2,053 Kassams have been launched at Israel," he said. "296 explosive charges have been detonated, 143 attacks were carried out against tanks that were outside the security fence - not inside Gaza - and there were 260 incidents of gunfire at IDF forces outside the fence."
Referring to a ceasefire announced by Hamas in November but all but non-existent since then, Galant said, "At present, we are giving the ceasefire a chance, but at the same time, we are preparing for a military offensive in Gaza." He then proceeded to make a strong case why an Israeli offensive would be needed.
"The terror organizations are making a great effort to infiltrate into Israel and carry out suicide attacks - currently without success. They try to infiltrate through the fence, through the sea, and through the Egyptian border. Hamas always has plans on standby for attacks, and can carry them out on short notice...
"It's not just a few terrorists or a small terrorist group, but an entire [army] network, with four brigades, each of which has divisions, companies and battalions. It is supported by Iran, apparently, but also by Syria and Hizbullah. The goal is to establish a military force in Gaza, with delegations going for training in Iran and Iranians coming to train the fighters in Gaza. They have the motivation - hatred for Israel - while the knowledge and military experience comes from the outside."
Foreign sources report that the situation is even worse than that described by Gen. Galant. Kassam missiles fired "uneventfully" at Ashkelon over the past few days are actually reported to be test-firings of advanced rockets. Kassams until now have had a range of approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles), but the Ashkelon launchings show that they can now consistently hit 19 kilometers (nearly 12 miles) away.
This multiplies exponentially the number of Israel citizens and locations in Kassam danger. In addition, foreign sources such as Tehran, Damascus and Hizbullah supply arms and weapons, as do Hamas and Islamic Jihad smugglers, thus strengthening and building up the war machine against Israel.
Islamic Jihad: 'Israel will be Astonished'
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have manufactured improved rockets that can travel deeper into the Jewish state, placing hundreds of thousands more Israelis within firing range, a leader and spokesman of the Islamic Jihad terror group claimed to WND.
Israeli security officials said the improved rocket capabilities of Palestinians in Gaza came about with the aid of Iran, which provided technology and training to the terror groups.
Abu Muhammad, a Gaza-based terrorist and spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, said his organization manufactured rockets that can travel up to 14.3 miles (23 kilometers) into Israel from Gaza. He said the new projectiles afford Palestinian groups the ability to reach further into Israel and to launch the rockets from anywhere within the Strip.
Since Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip in August 2005, Islamic Jihad has been responsible for firing hundreds of rockets from the territory aimed at nearby Jewish cities.
Until now, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have mostly been firing Kassam rockets from the northern Gaza Strip. Kassams are improvised steel rockets, about four feet in length, filled with explosives and fuel. They can travel between one and four miles, depending on the sophistication of the particular rocket. Last summer, Islamic Jihad fired a Katyusha rocket at Israel with a large payload and a range of about 12 miles.
The Kassams have been almost daily bombarding Israeli towns, including Sderot, a city of 25,000 some three miles from the Gaza border, and Ashkelon, a port city that is home to important strategic industrial plants and one of Israel's largest electricity generators.
The new claim suggests a dozen more Israeli cities would be within range of the rockets, bringing to about 250,000 the total Israeli population that could live under rocket threat from Gaza.
Abu Muhammad vowed to continue launching rockets deeper into Israel. "In the coming period, the strategy of Islamic Jihad and other organizations is to turn Ashkelon into the next Sderot and keep bombarding towns regularly until reaching deeper and deeper," said the terrorist.
Sderot has been the town most regularly hit by rockets from Gaza, prompting reports of some residents evacuating the city. Abu Muhammad claimed Israel would be "very surprised and astonished soon by our rocket capacities. We will not abide by any cease fire."
In November, Israel agreed a truce with Gaza terrorists in which the Jewish state vowed to suspend anti-terror operations in Gaza in exchange for quiet. Since then, more than 160 rockets have been fired from Gaza but the Israeli Defense Forces has been restrained from operating in the territory.
Abu Muhammad would not confirm if Iran assisted his group in developing its new purported rocket capabilities. "It is not the business of anyone where we receive rockets or training," he said.
Wednesday, Chief of the Gaza Command for the Israel Defense Forces Yoav Galant told reporters Iran has been helping Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups upgrade its military capabilities by providing technology, funding, and direct military training.
He said hundreds of militants have been traveling to Iranian bases in Iran, Syria and Lebanon and said "people from Iran" also visit Gaza to inspect the area. Galand would not elaborate on whether Iranian Revolutionary Guard units were operating in the Gaza Strip.
Officials from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party last month claimed they captured seven Iranian military trainers – including a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards – inside a Hamas-affiliated college which they said was being utilized as a Hamas military training ground.
Carter: "Apartheid" Is Apt For West Bank
By CBS News
Former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday defended using the term "apartheid" in his latest book and disputed that he had ever been asked to debate a Harvard professor who has been critical of the book's premises.
Speaking at George Washington University, Carter addressed the controversy that has erupted over "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid." Many Jewish-Americans and Israel sympathizers have argued that the book is wrongfully biased against Israel and have taken issue with the invocation of apartheid, a term for state-sponsored segregation, to describe the relationship between Israel and Palestine.
Following the book's publication, 14 advisers to the Carter Center, a human rights organization, resigned over what they considered factual errors in the book. All were Jewish-Americans.
When asked whether using "apartheid" helped his cause, Carter did not equivocate. "Yes, I do," he said. The term refers to the "forced segregation of one people inside the land of another," he explained. "That's exactly what's happening in the West Bank."
Describing how Palestinians have been forced from their homes and placed on subsidized Israeli settlements, Carter lamented that Palestinians' lives there have become "almost intolerable." The oppression and persecution that Palestinians have endured in these lands comes at the hand of only a "minority of Israelis who desire to confiscate and colonize Arab land," Carter said.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who has been especially vocal in disputing Carter's apartheid analogy and historical inaccuracies he believes pervade the book, also came up in Carter's remarks.
Carter reportedly had turned down an invitation from Brandeis University to debate Dershowitz about his book, and Dershowitz has been chomping at the bit for Carter to oblige. However, the former President said no such invitation was ever extended.
Never referring to Dershowitz by name, Carter said he had "never received any invitation to debate, contrary to what a Harvard professor has said." During the question-and-answer session, Carter added that Dershowitz "knows very little, if anything, about the present circumstances in the West Bank."
When asked by an undergraduate student if peace was even still possible between Israel and Palestine, Carter took an indirect swipe at the Bush administration for neglecting to engage dialogue in that regard. "Since (Bill) Clinton left office, over the last six years, not one single day [has been devoted to] overtures to peace agreements," Carter said. "The current policy is leading to an immoral outcome."
Eurovision Boss Unhappy with Israeli Band's Nuclear Message
By PR-Inside.com
A Eurovision Song Contest official is attempting to block Israel's entry to this year's competition - because he feels the song is inappropriate.
Israeli pop band Teapacks recorded "Push the Button" in Hebrew, English and French, and hoped to wow Eurovision panelists in May. But one of the contest's Finnish organizers, Kjell Ekholm, fears the song will be interpreted as a jab at Iran's hard-line president and his nuclear ambitions - and the official feels that sentiment isn't one Eurovision bosses will want to embrace.
In the song, Teapacks poke fun at "crazy rulers" who "hide and try to fool us with demonic technological willingness to harm." Ekholm said, "It's absolutely clear that this kind of message is not appropriate for the competition."
It isn't the first time that Israel's Eurovision entry has sparked controversy - the country was represented by transsexual pop star Dana International in 1998. The singer won that year's competition with Diva.
Masada in Danger of Collapse
By YnetNews.com
Masada and other ancient fortresses may collapse if additional funds are not allocated toward their preservation, experts said.
Masada's condition began to deteriorate four years ago due to torrential rains, as the accumulated water seeped into the 1,400 meters (4,593 feet) of walls surrounding the site. A few hundred meters of the walls were reinforced, but the remaining parts remain in danger of collapse. Structures inside the fortress have also eroded due to rain and wind.
Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, is located in an area that is prone to earthquakes, which experts said might destroy the site entirely.
In addition, vandals recently detached a large part of a fresco from one of Masada's walls, causing large stones to fall to the ground. "We have preserved the parts that may endanger human lives, but the rest of the fortress may collapse," Israel Nature and Parks Authority official Ze'ev Margalit said.
King Herod's fortress in the Judean desert and the Apollonia Crusader fortress, located just north of Herzliya, as well as many other historical sites across the country are also in bad shape. "To bring tourists to these locations we must preserve them so that they do not deteriorate," Margalit said.
The Nature and Parks Authority said an additional $18 million is needed over the next five years for the conservation efforts. "If we don't preserve these sites, Israel will have to explain to the world what happened to our cultural assets," Parks Authority Director-General Eli Amitai said.
