[imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1417 (12 messages)

imra Wed Jun 14 00:35:00 2006 Volume 2 : Issue 1417

In this issue of the imra daily Digest:

Excerpts: Fatah-Hamas egos.
Threat from the poor of wealthy Saudi Arabia 13 June 2006
President Abbas Puts Security Personnel
on High Alert to End Security Looseness
PM drafting alternative to convergence plan
[strip Road Map of requirement for Palestinian compliance?]
[38 Rockets since DM Peretz warning]
AERIAL ATTACK AGAINST TERROR CELL
EN ROUTE TO LAUNCH ROCKETS AT ISRAEL
IMRA Asks Prime Ministers Office
About DM's Authority To Expand IDF Activity
Serious Escalation in Tensions between Fatah
and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank
PCHR report indicates best for civilians
not to gather around rocket teams hit by missiles
Peretz signals end of military restraint
Our World: Facing down our defeatist leaders
Sharabati Wall (cont�d)
PA FM Al-Zahar: Palestinian state to ignite civil war
Syria and Iran to Enhance Defense Relations

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Excerpts: Fatah-Hamas egos.
Threat from the poor of wealthy Saudi Arabia 13 June 2006

Excerpts: Fatah-Hamas egos.Threat from the poor of wealthy Saudi Arabia 13
June 2006

+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 13 June '06"
"EDITORIAL:Fatah and Hamas have no right to endanger their people's
struggle"
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"an opportunity to reasonably argue that it (Israel) has "no partner"
with which to negotiate"
"Hamas and Fatah have decided that their own egos are more important than
anything else"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:
Internecine fighting between the two most powerful forces in the Palestinian
firmament threatens to bring disaster on the very people on behalf of whom
both sides claim to do battle. ... This path leads only to deeper madness.
At worst, it threatens to erupt into full-scale civil war. At best, it
exposes the Palestinian nation - and therefore, by extension, the entire
Arab and Islamic worlds - to the whims of an impatient occupier and the
vagaries of Western politics. ... the likelihood that no outside power will
be willing to go out of its way to help a people whose leaders will not help
themselves. ... now is definitively not the time for the Palestinian
movement to, in effect, self-destruct by offering the Jewish state an
opportunity to reasonably argue that it has "no partner" with which to
negotiate.
The international community is partly to blame for the current crisis, but
its misguided actions and unguided apathy have only helped set the stage for
a Palestinian cast whose performance has been dismal. The bulk of the
responsibility lies with members and leaders of both Hamas and Fatah who
have decided that their own egos are more important than anything else.
As this newspaper has previously warned, Palestinian politicians are
perilously close to undoing the gains won by more than half-a-century of
diplomatic and military struggle. ...To undo the progress ... would be
treason.

+++JORDAN TIMES 13 June '06:"Saudi poor watch volatile stock market from
sidelines" By Andrew Hammond, Reuters"
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"many Saudis ... living on the margin"

"an underclass ... could provide recruits for Al Qaeda"

" unemployment ... 6 to 12 percent.. .most Saudis long for government
jobs and state handouts"

"'Saudization' intended to replace almost six million foreign workers
with
Saudi nationals has failed ... and the government plans to bring
even
more Asian labour"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:
RIYADH - The stock market rose. The stock market fell. ... .While half of
the country's 17 million Saudis have been counting their losses following
the bourse's crash earlier this year after a spectacular rise in 2005,
others only hope for more largesse from a state awash with cash thanks to
record oil prices....many Saudis still find themselves living on the margin
despite promises of reform and a more equitable distribution of wealth. . .
....But there are still no statistics on how many Saudis actually struggle
to make ends meet and the topic remains taboo in a kingdom fabled for its
tremendou wealth. ... the authorities still fear that an underclass who
perceive they are left out of the kingdom's development drive could provide
recruits for Al Qaeda, which launched a violent campaign to topple the
monarchy in 2003.
Last month, the king - whom Forbes magazine says is worth $21 billion -
promised cheap housing. He also cut fuel prices, in a move which drew praise
from the underclass and confirmed the political sway the question of poverty
now carries.. .
Ali Sadek, an economist who used to work with the Arab Monetary Fund in the
United Arab Emirates, said low-income Saudis were a festering problem for
the kingdom with consequences that are hard to predict... the private
sector is failing to provide jobs.
Unemployment is officially put at between 6 to 12 per cent, and most Saudis
long for government jobs and state hand-outs.
A decade-old drive of "Saudisation", intended to replace over six million
foreign workers with Saudi nationals, has failed to produce major results
and the government plans to bring even more Asian labour to fuel its
industrial expansion.. . .

Sue Lerner - Associate - IMRA

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: President Abbas Puts Security Personnel
on High Alert to End Security Looseness

President Abbas Puts Security Personnel on High Alert to End Security
Looseness
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=16473

GAZA, Palestine, June 13,2006 (IPC+ Agencies) -[Official PA website] -The
President Mahmoud Abbas instructed all the Palestinian security personnel to
go on high alert yetsray after the unprecedendent sporadic anarrcahy started
in Rafah city, south Gaz Strip.

Rafah's incidnets resluted in two fatatlities, 15 others wounded, in which
memebrs of Hamas shlled the preventive secutiy buidling in the city and
besieged it. The chaos flamed to the neighboring city of Khanyouins , them
extended to Rammallah and Al Birah in the evening in which militants stormed
the council minister and legislative council buildings in Rammallah and
kidnapping a deputy from Hamas before the presidency guards intervention and
stopped the security looseness and secure the release of the deputy and
offered shield for Hams deputies in Rammallah.

Official sources announced that the President instructed the security
services, Presidency Guards, National security and police to balk at all
forms of armed showing in the Palestinian territories.

The situation is relatively calm and under control after r the deployment of
tens of policemen, security personnel to control security chaos and protect
PNA institutions.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PM drafting alternative to convergence plan
[strip Road Map of requirement for Palestinian compliance?]

[IMRA: The fundamental difference between withdrawal within the framework of
the Road Map and Olmert's proposed retreat is that Israel wants to retreat
while leaving open the question as to what happens in the void the retreat
creates.

It would appear that the "solution" the Olmert team is working on is to
strip the Road Map of any requirement for Palestinian compliance.

This way Israel will retreat and face a sovereign entity filling the void -
with all the Palestinian terror infrastructure intact. ready for the next
round of war.

"Israel would retain security control over the Jordan Valley" is the same
wording that PM Sharon's team first used to describe the original Gaza
retreat plan for controlling the Philadelphi Corridor after the retreat.
Ultimately Israel never held the line. ]

PM drafting alternative to convergence plan
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent 13 June 2006
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/726015.html

In light of the international opposition to further unilateral steps by
Israel, the government has begun to draft an alternative plan that would
essentially convert Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's unilateral convergence plan
into a bilateral move carried out in conjunction with Palestinian Authority
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

According to the plan now being drafted by the Prime Minister's Office and
the Foreign Ministry, Israel would propose to Abbas that they reach an
agreement to establish a Palestinian state with provisional borders in Gaza
plus about 90 percent of the West Bank. The provisional border in the West
Bank would match the route of the separation fence, with one exception:
Israel would retain security control over the Jordan Valley.

In this way, Israel hopes to present the convergence plan as an
implementation of Phase II of the road map peace plan, thereby acceding to
the demands of the United States, Jordan, Egypt and others that Israel
resume negotiations with the PA under the road map.

Under this proposal, the parties would proceed to Phase II without waiting
for the completion of Phase I, which calls for dismantling the terrorist
infrastructure.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni confirmed to Haaretz that she told senior
ministry officials last week that "currently, Abbas is not a partner for a
final-status agreement, but he could be a partner for other arrangements, on
the basis of the road map's phased process."

One participant in this meeting said that Livni spoke explicitly about an
agreement to establish a Palestinian state with provisional borders. Phase
II of the road map presents the "option" of an independent Palestinian state
with provisional borders, "as a way station to a permanent status
settlement."

Prior to Hamas's rise to power in the PA, Abbas rejected the idea of a state
with provisional borders, demanding immediate talks on a final-status
agreement instead.

However, Washington backed Israel's stance in favor of a provisional state,
and Jerusalem expects that the U.S. will pressure Abbas to change his
position.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Amir Peretz has decided to reexamine the route
of the fence, especially around Jerusalem, in order to reduce both damage to
Palestinian property and the project's costs.

European Union envoy Mark Otte has also proposed evacuating isolated
settlements in coordination with the PA, while giving the PA international
guarantees that the border set by Israel will not be the final border. In an
interview with Haaretz, he suggested putting the Jordan-West Bank border
under European supervision, as was done with the Gaza-Egypt border, opening
the Gaza port, and instituting a "safe passage" between Gaza and the West
Bank. Otte said that Israel could bypass Hamas and implement this program in
conjunction with Abbas, thereby bolstering his status.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: [38 Rockets since DM Peretz warning]
AERIAL ATTACK AGAINST TERROR CELL
EN ROUTE TO LAUNCH ROCKETS AT ISRAEL

[IMRA: 24 hours have passed since DM Peretz warned that the IDF would
dramatically increase the scope of its activity if Qassam attacks continue.
Since then 38 rockets have been launched.]

AERIAL ATTACK AGAINST TERROR CELL EN ROUTE TO LAUNCH ROCKETS AT ISRAEL
(Communicated by the IDF Spokesperson)

This morning (Tuesday), 13.6.06, the IDF carried out an aerial attack in the
northern Gaza Strip against a vehicle loaded with rockets and carrying a
terrorist cell en route to launch rockets at Israel.

Thirty-eight rockets have been launched at Israel from the northern Gaza
Strip in the past 24 hours; over 100 rockets have been launched at Israel
since Friday, 9.6.06.

The Palestinian Authority is fully responsible for any attacks emanating
from the Gaza Strip.

Unfortunately, it continues to take no action whatsoever in order to prevent
the daily attacks against Israeli civilians.

The IDF will continue to act with determination and to employ all means at
its disposal to combat terrorists and their infrastructures, in order to
defend the citizens of Israel.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: IMRA Asks Prime Ministers Office
About DM's Authority To Expand IDF Activity

IMRA Asks Prime Ministers Office About DM's Authority To Expand IDF Activity
Dr. Aaron Lerner 13 June 2006

IMRA asked the Ministry of Defense Spokesperson's Office yesterday:

"Can Defense Minister Peretz authorize a major expansion in IDF activity in
the Gaza Strip or is the approval of either the Prime Minister or the
Security Cabinet required?"

Today Talia Somekh, Defense Minister Peretz's Deputy Media Advisor, told
IMRA that no answer would be provided by the Defense Minister to this
question and suggested asking the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister's Office today first declined to answer the question and
then advised that it might answer it if the question is submitted in
writing.

The question now has been submitted in writing.

It should be noted that yesterday PM Olmert told reporters he was not
familiar with plans to expand IDF activity in the Gaza Strip and reporters
suggested that since Olmert will be overseas through most of the week that
he effectively has a "pocket veto" on an expansion of IDF activity during
the interim.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Serious Escalation in Tensions between Fatah
and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Press Release

Ref: 50/2006
Date: 13 June 2006
Time: 12:00 GMT

Serious Escalation in Tensions between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and
West Bank

PCHR strongly condemns the ongoing armed clashes in various areas of the
Gaza Strip involving members of the Interior Ministry Executive Force and
members of Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades against members of the Preventive
Security Apparatus and activists from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. These
clashes are a serious escalation of tensions between Fatah and Hamas, and
have resulted in the deaths of two Palestinians and the injury of seventeen
others over the past day. The Centre condemns the repeated attacks on
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) buildings in Ramallah and Salfit and
the kidnappings that have been taking place on both sides, including the
abduction of a PLC member.

PCHR's preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 13:10 on
Monday, 12 June 2006, armed clashes broke out between members of the
Preventive Security and the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades in Rafah. The
clashes resulted in the injury of Hamas member Hammad Hamed Abu Jazar (21)
with three bullets to the chest, abdomen and foot. He was taken to the
European Hospital in Khan Yunis, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The clashes erupted near the headquarters of the Preventive Security in
Rafah during the funeral procession of a Hamas activist, who had been killed
a few days earlier during clashes between both sides.

After the death of Abu Jazar was announced, a group from the Izzedeen
El-Qassam Brigades and Interior Ministry Executive Force surrounded the
Preventive Security compound in Rafah. Fierce clashes erupted between both
sides. Automatic weapons, hand grenades and rockets were used in the
clashes. A passerby was killed during the clashes and seventeen others,
mostly civilians, were injured. The civilian killed was Suliman Khamis
Zannoun (36), who was deaf. He was killed by a bullet to the chest.

At the same time these clashes were taking place, an armed group fired at
Ayman Mohammad Abu Hatab, a 34-year-old resident of Shaboura refugee camp
and a member of the Preventive Security. He was injured by three bullets to
the pelvis and feet. He was taken to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.
The armed group kidnapped him from the hospital and then released him
shortly afterwards. He was taken to Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis after his
release due to the severity of his injuries.

At approximately 17:30 on the same day, gunmen from the Izzedeen El-Qassam
Brigades intercepted a civilian vehicle near Ma'an School in Khan Yunis.
Two Preventive Security Officers, Fayez Hasan Qweider (46) and Fathi Abdel
Qadir F'seifis (46), were in the car at the time. The gunmen ordered the
officers to get out of the car and surrender their weapons. Relatives of
Qweider intervened in the situation and shots were fired. Three members of
the Qweider clan, including a child, were injured. At around the same time,
gunmen from the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades intercepted another vehicle on
the same street. Five members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed wing
of Fatah), including the brother of the commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades in Khan Yunis, were in the vehicle at the time. The armed group
forced the passengers out of the vehicle and took them to a nearby cemetery.
One of the captives managed to run away. The rest of the captives were
beaten, stripped of their weapons and released half an hour later.

In response to the kidnapping of their colleagues, dozens of Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades members stormed the house and private clinic of Dr. Salah
El-Rantisi at approximately 18:00. El-Rantisi is the brother of the
assassinated Hamas leader Abdel Aziz El-Rantisi. The incident took place in
the Sheikh Naser area of Khan Yunis. One of the assailants was injured by
shrapnel to the foot after firing at the gate. The assailants destroyed a
medical laboratory in the clinic. The laboratory belonged to a physician
from the Al-Astal clan. Then the assailants abducted El-Rantisi and took
him to a nearby house in the El-Qassas area. They destroyed El-Rantisi's
car. At approximately 20:30 on the same day, Rantisi was released after
intervention from local community leaders. Hamas members returned the
weapons they had confiscated from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The clashes extended to the West Bank. Dozens of gunmen from the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades gathered in central Ramallah at approximately 18:00 to
protest the incidents in Gaza. They fired heavily in the air. Then, they
stormed the Palestinian Cabinet building in the El-Maysoun area of Ramallah.
They fired their guns during the attack and set fire to the Palestinian
Cabinet archive on the third floor of the building. In addition, they
destroyed windows. At around the same time, dozens of gunmen from the
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stormed the nearby PLC building. They fired at the
windows and threw stones at the building before storming inside. They set
fire to the southeast section of the ground floor and threw computers out
the windows.

An hour later, gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stormed the offices
of the "Change and Reform" parliamentary bloc, affiliated with Hamas, in
Ramallah. They abducted PLC member Khalil El-Reb'ei, covering his face and
driving off in a car. He was released less than an hour later.

And at approximately 23:30, unknown gunmen set fire to the PLC offices in
Salfit. The building was destroyed completely.

After the attacks on the PLC buildings in Ramallah and Salfit and the
kidnapping of a Hamas lawmaker, Hamas called its supporters to participate
in large demonstrations and protests. The marches took place at around
midnight in locations all over the Gaza Strip.

At approximately 23:30, during a Hamas demonstration in El-Bureij refugee
camp, the demonstrators shouted slogans against the Preventive Security,
calling it a traitorous group. A member of the Preventive Security fired at
the crowd, injuring two demonstrators moderately. They were taken to
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah.

PCHR condemns these clashes, and:
- points with concern to the continued escalation in the use of
arms by Palestinian groups and security services, which is causing a serious
deterioration in the state of security chaos currently plaguing the OPT;
- stresses that these incidents are aggravating the security chaos
in the absence of any serious legal action by the PNA to confront the
situation;
- calls upon the PNA, represented by the Attorney-General to
seriously investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice;
and
- calls upon all Palestinian factions to engage in dialogue and
refrain from using violence and weapons in solving disputes, and to refrain
from targeting civilians.

Public Document
**************************************
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8
2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip.
E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
-----------------------------------
If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to
request@pchrgaza.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PCHR report indicates best for civilians
not to gather around rocket teams hit by missiles

PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Press Release

Ref: 51/2006
Date: 13 June 2006
Time: 13:00 GMT

11 Palestinians, Including a Man, His Two Children and Two paramedics,
Killed and 30 Others Wounded in an IOF Air Strike on a Civilian Car in Gaza

On Tuesday noon, 13 June 2006, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed a
new extra-judicial execution in Gaza City, which killed 11 Palestinians,
including 9 civilian bystanders. A man, his two children and two
paramedics were among the victims. The targeted person in this attack was a
member of the Islamic Jihad. Investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that
IOF aircrafts launched a missile at dozens of civilians, including
paramedics, who gathered near a civilian car shortly after IOF aircrafts
attacked it, targeting a member of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing
of the Islamic Jihad. Thus, the number of extra-judicial executions
committed by IOF in the past 4 days has mounted to 6, which have killed 18
Palestinians and have wounded at least 40 others. This latest attack and
other similar attacks have come as an implementation of a series of
decisions taken by the Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz to escalate
extra-judicial executions against Palestinian militants to stop launching
locally made rockets at Israeli towns. Peretz has been also considering
intensifying military operations in the Gaza Strip, whose victims are often
unarmed civilians.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 11:45 on
Tuesday, 13 June 2006, an IOF aircraft launched one missile at a civilian
vehicle (Voks Wagen) that was traveling near Martyr Mohammed al-Durra
Hospital in al-Tuffah neighborhood in the northeast of Gaza City. Two
members of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad,
were traveling in the car. The missile directly hit the car, killing the
two members of the al-Quds Brigades: Hammouda al-Wadiya; and Shawqi
al-Saiqali. Palestinian civilians living in the area gathered around the
car and two paramedics from the nearby hospital came to provide first
medical aid. Immediately, IOF aircrafts launched another missile at the
car, killing 10 civilians, including a man, his two children and the two
paramedics:

1. Hussam Hamad, a paramedic;
2. 'Adnan Daoud Taleb, 35;
3. Ashraf Farouq al-Mughrabi;
4. Hisham Ashraf al-Mughrabi, 7;
5. Maher Ashraf al-Mughrabi;
6. 'Ali al-'Omari;
7. Ibrahim al-Da'lees;
8. Rafeeq al-Mubayed; and
9. Mousa Nasrallah.

In addition, at least 30 other civilians, including a number of children,
were wounded; the wounds of 12 of them have been described by medical
sources as serious.

PCHR strongly condemns this latest attack. PCHR is gravely concerned over
the Israeli escalation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). PCHR
asserts that such crimes serve to escalate tension in the region and
threaten the lives of Palestinians. PCHR calls upon the international
community to immediately intervene to stop such crimes, and reiterates its
calls for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of
1949 to meet their obligations to ensure protection for Palestinian
civilians in the OPT.

-End-

Public Document
**************************************
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8
2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip.
E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
-----------------------------------
If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to
request@pchrgaza.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Peretz signals end of military restraint

Peretz signals end of military restraint

Shortly after IAF air strike against Qassam cell in Gaza, defense minister
says 'restraint shown after incident on Gaza beach has ended'
Hanan Greenberg YNET 13 June 2006
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3262447,00.html

Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Tuesday signaled the end of Israel's
military restraint after the recent incident in which seven Palestinian
civilians were killed.

"We showed restraint in the face of the international outcry over the
incident on Gaza beach but this has come to an end," he said on a tour in
the north.

Peretz spoke minutes before an air strike in Gaza in which 9 Palestinians
were killed when the air force targeted a van carrying Islamic Jihad
terrorists on their way to fire rockets into Israel.

Peretz spoke during an exercise of the Home Front Command. Peretz also met
with Northern Command chief Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant and Southern Command chief
Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam.

Peretz recently instructed the army to be vigilant while carrying air
strikes in Gaza to avoid harming innocent civilians.

'Civilian casualties cannot be totally avoided'

At least five civilians were killed in Tuesday's strike, less than 12 hours
ahead of the publication of the results of a military probe into the killing
of seven members of the Ralia family on a Gaza beach Friday afternoon.

"No evaluation will alter our commitment to defend the citizens of Israel.
If the probe proves that it is was not an IDF shell we will launch a PR
campaign," said Peretz when asked about the probe.

IAF Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedy said although the Air Force spares no effort to
avoid harming civilians, civilian casualties cannot be totally avoided since
terrorists operate from within populated areas.

(06.13.06, 14:49)

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Our World: Facing down our defeatist leaders

Our World: Facing down our defeatist leaders
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 12, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150035838195&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Sunday Palestinian Hamas Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar was in
Teheran meeting with his boss, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad reportedly devoted the meeting to reminding Zahar that jihad is
the only path for the Palestinians, and demanding that Hamas redouble its
attacks against Israel.

This report tells us little we don't already know about Hamas and Iran.
Since last year, Hamas leaders Zahar and Khaled Mashaal have been traveling
to Iran to meet with Ahmadinejad and commanders of Iranian intelligence and
the Iranian Revolutionary Guards units on a monthly, twice-monthly and even
weekly basis.

This meeting merely served to remind us what has been clear for months,
namely, that Iran today is the leader of the global jihadist axis. More
interesting than the meeting is how Iran and Hamas's chief enemies - the
United States and Israel - have responded to the war the Iranian-led
jihadist axis is waging against them. Two words aptly describe the Bush
administration and the Olmert government's responses to the escalating war.
They are respectively: appeasement and capitulation.
The Bush administration's decision to negotiate directly with Iran over the
genocidal mullocracy's race to achieve nuclear capabilities represents the
White House's clearest renunciation of everything that President George W.
Bush claims to have been fighting against since the September 11 attacks.

The Iranian regime, with its openly stated intention to annihilate Israel;
its active participation in the war against US-led forces in Iraq; its
support and sponsorship of other terror forces fighting US forces in Iraq
and Afghanistan; its active subversion of pro-Western regimes throughout the
Middle East; its support for anti-US regimes and political forces throughout
the world; and its race to acquire intercontinental ballistic missiles
capable of attacking the continental US, represents everything that Bush
pledged to bring down in the aftermath of the attacks on the US five years
ago.

THERE HAVE been many attempts to rationalize, justify and excuse the move.
Some say it is a result of political distress. It is hard to see why Bush
would think that attempting to appease America's worst enemy will placate
his political support base. But more important than the reasons for his
policy reversal are the content and consequences of his new position.
In providing an opening to Teheran, the Bush administration has adopted the
policy that former president Jimmy Carter forced down the throat of the
Clinton administration in its dealings with the North Korean Stalinists in
1994. Twelve years ago, Carter invited himself to North Korea to "defuse"
the crisis the North Koreans had fomented by openly developing nuclear
weapons. Since then-president Bill Clinton had no policy for dealing with
North Korea, he allowed Carter to negotiate the deal that Bush is now
offering Teheran. As then, today in exchange for a "pledge" to stop
enriching uranium, the US is willing to give Teheran nuclear fuel,
airplanes, spare parts, light water reactors, World Trade Organization
membership and US acceptance of the mullocracy as a legitimate regime.

There can be no doubt that Carter's deal effectively caused the US to
facilitate North Korea's development of nuclear weapons. And now, after
refusing for five years to adopt an Iran policy, Bush has been convinced by
the likes of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to follow the Europeans'
lead in appeasing the mullahs.

For all that the nuclearized Pyongyang threatens its neighbors, North Korea
is still less dangerous than Iran. Unlike Pyongyang, Teheran sees itself as
a contender for global supremacy. It has terror cells all over the globe
capable of striking Western targets at a moment's notice. Aside from that,
Iran has already committed itself to using the nuclear bombs it is now
building to destroy Israel and bring America and Europe to their knees.

AFTER RICE announced Washington's adoption of the EU's appeasement policy,
Iran wasted no time repeatedly humiliating America. Last Thursday
Ahmadinejad bragged that the US offer showed America had been defeated. The
IAEA revealed that since the US made the offer, Iran intensified its uranium
enrichment operation. The Sunday Telegraph reported that Iran has yet
another secret nuclear site which is dedicated to military grade uranium
enrichment.

To all this President Bush has responded with more appeasement. He says that
Iran has weeks to decide whether to accept the US offer. The administration
is backing Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar's
refusal to bring an Iran sanctions bill - already passed overwhelmingly in
the House of Representatives and sponsored by 61 senators - to a vote. So
rather than fighting Iran, the administration is fighting its most loyal
supporters while advancing the policy of its most ardent detractors.

THE OLMERT government in Jerusalem similarly refuses to recognize that a war
is being actively waged against Israel. Olmert's refusal to accept the
reality of war is even more unjustifiable than the Bush administration's
because while Americans haven't been attacked where they live since
September 11, every day Israelis are attacked in their homes.

Against the backdrop of the intensification of the Palestinian rocket
attacks on southern Israel, Sderot's Mayor Eli Moyal showed the absurdity of
the government's willful blindness when Sunday he presented Olmert with the
only choice he has. As Moyal put it, Olmert can continue to ignore the war
and so turn the bombarded town of Sderot into a ghost town, or he can fight
the war and turn Beit Hanoun in Gaza - from which the rockets raining down
on Sderot and surrounding communities are being launched - into a ghost
town. That is, it is us or them, as simple as that.

To this the government responded with denial and surrender declarations.
Olmert and his equally inexperienced, weak-kneed, ideologically blinded
Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni claim that
they are sending Hamas a clear signal by doing nothing. And what are they
signaling? That if Hamas doesn't shape up, Israel will give it Judea and
Samaria and parts of Jerusalem.

AS TO Iran, according to a report over the weekend in The Forward, in his
recent meetings with the American Jewish leadership, Olmert urged them to
lower their profile on Iran because his government doesn't want the issue to
be perceived as an Israeli issue. And so, most Jewish groups, including
AIPAC, have not publicly criticized the administration's adoption of
Europe's appeasement policy. As Jess Hordes, the Anti-Defamation Leagues
Washington affairs director, told the Forward, "Looking down the abyss at
the choices, which, in their starkest terms, are either accepting Iran as a
nuclear power or attacking militarily, I think people are looking to see
whether or not a third way can be found to achieve the same purpose."

By the same token, Israeli diplomats in New York and Washington have
admitted that their activities today are largely dedicated to convincing
American Jewish leaders to support the Olmert plan to surrender Judea and
Samaria to Hamas.
In 1943 when the evidence of the destruction of European Jewry became
incontrovertible, some strident Zionists in the US - most notably Peter
Bergson and Ben Hecht - launched a massive campaign to try to force the
Roosevelt administration to do something to save the Jews of Europe. The
organized Jewish leadership, led by Steven Wise, did everything it could to
delegitimize their efforts. According to the copiously documented account of
these events in Rafael Medoff's history, Militant Zionism in America, Wise,
like the leaders of the Labor Zionist movement, didn't want the war to be
seen as a Jewish issue and didn't want to alienate the White House by crying
out too loudly for European Jews.

Today, as Iran moves closer to committing a second Holocaust, how are
American Jewish organizations spending their time? Aside from supporting the
administration and the Olmert government, leading American Jewish
organizations including the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation of
New York and the Joint Distribution Committee have joined forces with the
far-left New Israel Fund and announced their intention to fund Israeli Arab
organizations.

There is no doubt that as the leadership of Israel and the US lose their
collective will to reconcile themselves to the reality of war, it falls on
the shoulders of private citizens to tell them that they are wrong. Iran has
been at war with the US and Israel since 1979 and today it has a leadership
committed to advancing this war by destroying Israel and bringing America to
its knees. In light of this danger, and in view of the clear lessons of the
Holocaust, it is an act of cowardice and immorality for those who recognize
the dangers to take a back seat to leaders who refuse to stand up for their
countries.

As Moyal said, it is time to face the facts. There is no middle way. You
cannot nuance genocidal foes bent on your destruction and defeat.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Sharabati Wall (cont�d)

Sharabati Wall (cont�d)
The Jewish Community of Hebron
P.O. Box 105, Kiryat Arba 90100 Israel
Tel: 972-2-9965333; Fax: 972-2-9965304
office2@hebron.org.il June 13, 2006

Yesterday afternoon Hebron appealed the IDF decision to rebuild the
Sharabati Wall. The appeal was presented to Supreme Court justice Prokatzia,
who is not know for her right-wing leanings. It requested a temporary
injunction preventing rebuilding of the wall.

The appeal contained several points, however it centered around the forced
closing of the Hebron kindergarten, which is illegal. The judge ordered the
government to respond to Hebron's charges, and recessed, waiting for the
response. The government never responded. And the judge went home without
ruling one way or the other.

A few hours later IDF attorneys appeared at the judge's home, begging her to
reject Hebron's appeal. She did so, and signed an order okaying the
rebuilding of the wall. So much for the high court of 'justice,'

This morning, at about 5:30, dozens of police, riot squad, border police,
soldiers and officers appeared at the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. The
quickly realized that community residents were not going to surrender
quietly to the planned wall. A group of over 20 girls had locked themselves
into the community kindergarten, one of the areas declared officially
off-limits, part of the 'closed military zone.' It took the security forces
a couple of hours before they were able to break thru the kindergarten gate
and pull the girls down, some of whom were sitting atop the building's roof.
Fortunately no one was injured but 19 of the girls were arrested. Some were
pushed and shoved, others man-handled, and others, carried away. A few were
released and others were taken to court in Jerusalem, where the prosecutor
is demanding that some be remanded in prison until the conclusion of all
proceedings against them for having 'attacked the police.' The girls are all
minors, between the ages of 12 and 15.

Following the arrests, workers moved in and started the process of
rebuilding the Sharabati wall. The work has continued all day and will
continue tomorrow, when they are expected to finish.

A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement:

We have been inundated with queries, 'why the protest?' It should be clear:
we have no intentions of living behind walls, especially when they are built
to protect Arab terrorists. The IDF knew very well how to expel some 10,000
people from their homes, when the reasons suited them. There is absolutely
no reason in the world why a known terrorist family should be awarded a home
overlooking a Jewish neighborhood in Hebron. Their presence is a constant
danger to the neighborhood's children and other residents. We will continue
to protest the existence of the wall until it is removed from our midst, one
way or another.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PA FM Al-Zahar: Palestinian state to ignite civil war

Al-Zahar: Palestinian state to ignite civil war
14 June 2006 YNET (AP)

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said the establishment of a
Palestinian state alongside Israel would "only ignite an internal
Palestinian conflict," adding that he accepts the referendum on the
prisoners' document, although he is opposed to the document itself.

Al-Zahar made the statement during a meeting with Syrian counterpart Walid
el Moallem.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Syria and Iran to Enhance Defense Relations

Syria and Iran to Enhance Defense Relations
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - 10:00 PM
TEHRAN, (SANA - Syrian News Agency)
www.sana.org/eng/22/2006/06/13/40914.htm

Defense Minister Hasan Turkmani on Tuesday said that the Israeli continued
aggressive policy and the unlimited support extended to Israel stand behind
the continuation of conflict, tension and instability in the Middle East.

Turkmani's comments came during a meeting with Chief of the General
Leadership of the Iranian Armed Forces Sayyed Hasan Fayrouz Abadi where both
sides underlined the importance of exchanging defense delegations between
both sides.

Turkmani, also Deputy Leader of the Army and Armed Forces, stressed the
significance of the standing relations between Syria and Iran, particularly
in the defensive ties.

Abadi, for his part, referred to the distinguished role played by Syria in
resisting the occupation, stressing the necessity of continuing resistance
until the Israeli full withdrawal from the occupied Arab lands.

Mazen

------------------------------

From: imra-owner@imra.org.il
Subject: IMRA Subscription Info

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End of [imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1417 (12 messages)
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