Israel: Operation Cast Lead was 'necessary and proportionate' A government report released Thursday insisted that "incessant" Hamas rocket attacks forced Israel to hit Gaza hard earlier this year, countering charges of war crimes but acknowledging that more than a dozen criminal inquiries are underway. The 160-page report was called the first comprehensive Israeli government study of Operation Cast Lead in December and January that killed more than 1,100 Palestinians. It was an attempt to answer charges from Palestinians, the UN and human rights groups that Israeli forces committed war crimes and violated international law during the three-week operation. Charges have included indiscriminate and intentional firing that killed civilians and destroyed property. During the conflict, Israeli warplanes, tanks and artillery obliterated Palestinian government buildings and destroyed or damaged thousands of apartments, houses, businesses and factories. Israeli officials have acknowledged that their soldiers used additional firepower to keep their own casualties down. Ten Israeli soldiers were killed during the conflict, along with three civilians who died in rocket attacks. The scope of the destruction has triggered a flood of scathing reports from human rights groups. Defending Israeli actions, the government report said it was not meant to be an "assertion of infallibility," but rejected the charges one by one, attributing excessive damage and casualties to understandable wartime mistakes. The report said Israel is investigating about 100 complaints and has opened 13 criminal inquiries. A military statement Thursday said criminal cases under investigation now number 15. "Israel had both a right and an obligation to take military action against Hamas in Gaza to stop Hamas' almost incessant rocket and mortar attacks," the report's executive summary stated, noting that 12,000 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel between 2000 and 2008, including nearly 3,000 in 2008 alone. "Under international law, Israel had every right to use military force to defend its civilians," the report said. The report said 1 million Israelis were threatened by Hamas rockets, tens of thousands were traumatized and thousands fled their homes. It called the offensive, which began Dec. 26 and lasted three weeks, a "necessary and proportionate" response. Hamas official Mushair al-Masri rejected the report, repeating the charge that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. "This report is ridiculous and stupid and does not deserve a response," he said Thursday. Western-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has denounced the Hamas rocket fire but charged that Israel's response was excessive. The report analyzes at length the steps Israeli forces took to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, while claiming that some such casualties were inevitable because Hamas fighters took up positions in crowded neighborhoods. It said international law is violated only "when there is an intention to target civilians," and Israel had no such intention - in contrast to Hamas targeting Israeli civilians with its rockets. The report explains damage to UN facilities by blaming Hamas for setting up rocket launchers nearby. In one of the specific case studies, the Israeli report dismissed charges that dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed or wounded by white phosphorous shells, which are used to lay down smoke screens. In a footnote, the report claimed, "There appear to have been no documented deaths in Gaza resulting from exposure to white phosphorus itself." The report acknowledged that shell casings with phosphorus residue could have hurt some people and started fires, but "it does not appear that damage from this use can be regarded as excessive." Amnesty International is among the groups charging Israel with war crimes. In a report this month, the group deplored Israel's use of less-precise artillery shells and white phosphorous in built-up areas. It also accused Israeli forces of using Palestinians as "human shields" and frequently blocking civilians from receiving medical care and humanitarian aid. Internal investigations into the use of white phosphorous have "uncovered no violations of international law," the report said, but noted that some inquiries are still in progress. The report detailed steps aimed at limiting civilian casualties, counting 2.5 million leaflets and 165,000 phone calls to civilians warning them to leave targeted areas. Also, it said, humanitarian aid flowed into Gaza throughout the conflict. In related news, the IDF has decided that in the event of a future conflict it will issue more detailed warnings to Palestinians before air strikes in residential areas. In recent discussions on the results of the operation, senior IDF officers have called to make improvements to procedures and to provide more details in the flyers to ensure that the Palestinians realize that their lives are at risk. Some of the flyers may henceforth include details on routes that the Palestinians can use to flee an area which is scheduled to be invaded.

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US financed illegal W. Bank building The United States admitted this week for the first time that it accidentally helped fund the illegal construction of a Palestinian building in a park located on the edge of the former Shadma military base in the West Bank's Gush Etzion region. In 2007, the nearby Beit Sahour Municipality constructed the park with funding from abroad, in an area which Palestinians call Oush Ghrab (crow's nest). The park, which is used by Beit Sahour residents, hosts a building with a small kiosk for events, a stone terrace, a soccer field, a playground and the largest wooden rock climbing tower in the area. Some $281,000 was provided for the park by the United States Agency for International Development, an independent federal agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance world-wide. A large white sign stating that USAID contributed to the "Peace Park" hangs on the gate at the entryway to the complex. A spokesperson for the US Consulate in east Jerusalem told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that American funding was given to the project in two installments, the first in November 2007 and the second in August 2008. The spokesperson did not know how much of the money went toward the stone building in the park, which was built illegally. When the funds were given, USAID believed that all the necessary permits had been obtained for the structure. It realized its error several months ago and has been working with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to see a solution. The issue was brought to the media's attention by MK Arye Eldad (National Union), who visited Shadma earlier this week in his capacity as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "It is impossible that the US government that protests and demands that Israel will stop what they call illegal building will be involved in funding illegal building," said Eldad. He wrote a letter to the US ambassador to protest the funding. Right wing MKs, activists and settlers have fought for the last three years to keep the Israeli government from ceding to a request from the Palestinian Authority to allow Beit Sahour to use the stone and dirt hilltop that overlooks the new Nokdim and Tekoa road. The Beit Sahour Municipality would like to construct a new hospital at the site. In advance of any resolution as to jurisdiction of the site, the Beit Sahour Municipality constructed the park on the back slope of the hill, away from the Nokdim and Tekoa Road. On Wednesday, as workers heated coals and dusted off a soda bar for a night time party for teens, Johnny Badra of the Beit Sahour Municipality, who runs the park told The Jerusalem Post that the former military base stood on land that had belonged to Beit Sahour before the Six-Day War. He pointed to the nearby apartment buildings: "The only buildings you can see here belong to Beit Sahour." Badra admitted that construction had started on the structure without a permit, but when the civil order came and issued a stop work order, the municipality ceased building, he said. As a result, he said, the parking lot had yet to be paved, the open air theater was still unfinished and there was a section of the building right under the roof, where one could still see the construction beams because there was no wall. Among the organizations which use the facility is an American-based non-governmental group, Paidia International Development, which runs leadership training programs there for Palestinian teens. A spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories told the Post that some sections of the park were legal, while others still needed permits. The Beit Sahour Municipality, he said, was still in the process of obtaining the necessary permits for the park, including for the building. He added that the municipality was also in dialogue with his office over a permit for the hospital. Settlers and right wing activists have objected to any Palestinian development on the site for both security and historical reasons. Activists, including the group Women in Green, hold weekly protest activities at the site on Fridays. "We will fight for every piece of land that belongs to us," said Nadia Matar of Women in Green. But this hilltop, which overlooks the road leading into Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood, had particular strategic significance, she said. In the past settlers have told the Post they feared that if a hospital were built on the site, terrorists would be able to shoot at passing cars. Matar added that Israel should have learned from the 2005 Gaza withdrawal about the dangers of giving away land.

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Obama fails to name anti-Semitism envoy The Obama administration has failed to name an envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism around the world as mandated by US law since the previous ambassador was relieved of his duties at the start of the president's term more than six months ago, officials said Thursday. The failure to name a new envoy for the post raises questions about the importance the new administration attaches to the fight against anti-Semitism, said Rafael Medoff, director of the Washington DC-based David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. "Foot-dragging on the selection sends a message that anti-Semitism is not of great importance to the United States," Medoff wrote in a monograph to be published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs titled "The Politics of the American Response to Global Anti-Semitism." According to Medoff, "At a time when anti-Semitism remains a staple of government propaganda in the Middle East, when violent anti-Semitic incidents are reported almost daily throughout Europe, and when even the streets of Washington are not untouched by anti-Semitism's violent potential, that is the wrong message to send." The State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, which was established by a Congressional initiative in 2004, advocates American policy on anti-Semitism both in the US and internationally. The proposal to establish such an office was initially opposed by the Bush administration, which took 18 months to appoint an envoy to head the office, Medoff said. The envoy, Dr. Gregg Rickman, was removed from his post when the Obama administration took office in January in keeping with standard policy when a president of a different party takes power. "On the one hand, it is understandable that at a time of multiple domestic and foreign crises, the Obama administration does not see this position as a top-tier concern," Medoff wrote. "Yet it is nevertheless surprising how far down anti-Semitism appears to have slid on the new administration's list of priorities, particularly when it was the Democrats themselves who fought so hard to create the position over the vehement opposition of the Bush administration." A White House spokesman referred queries on the issue Thursday to the State Department. A State Department official said Thursday that upon the inauguration of a new president, ambassadors from the previous administration tender their resignations. The official said that as with all Ambassadorial and other senior positions, there is an appointment process, which is ongoing, that includes the president nominating a candidate followed by Senate confirmation.

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Construction to Start on New Jlem Mall

JERUSALEM, Israel - Residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah will be able to shop in a new mall on Saleh a-Din Street.

The building that will house the new mall is owned by the Nusseibeh family, one of the oldest and wealthiest Israeli Arab families in Jerusalem.

Their ownership of the property dates to the Ottoman rule.

Over the years it has been used as a children's home, a school and an infirmary.

Today, the dilapidated building is "home" to street people - the homeless, pimps and junkies.

Prior to the 1967 Six Day War, some family members thought to renovate the building for a hotel, but the project was shelved following the war.

About 10 years ago, another family member wanted to use the building for shops and offices.

Now, the first few floors of the abandoned building will house a state-of-the-art mall, with the rest renovated for offices.

Earlier this week, workers posted signs announcing the new project as they began cleaning the basement of the building. It is the first major commercial project in East Jerusalem in nearly 40 years.

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Many Jews in Israel are starting an annual fast at sundown, Wednesday, to mourn the destruction of their biblical temples in Jerusalem.      Tisha B'Av (the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av) commemorates the destruction of the two temples with a fast.

Thousands of Israelis will gather at the Western Wall -- the last remnant of the ancient temple compound -- and they will read the Old Testament book of Lamentations.

During the fast, no food or drink is consumed from one evening to the next. Participants also refrain from bathing or wearing make-up or leather shoes, as these are considered luxuries.

It is a 25-hour fast that reflects on the destruction of Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and the Romans' destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D.

The fast was first implemented so people could repent of their corrupt ways, which were believed to cause the difficulties in the nation.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a halt to the construction of 900 new apartments in the eastern Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev following his meeting with special US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell on Tuesday. That according to a report on Israel's Channel 10 news on Wednesday night. Pisgat Zeev is a large neighborhood that is already home to tens of thousands of Israeli Jews. But Netanyahu has been under tremendous pressure from Washington to stop building there and in all other Jewish neighborhoods and towns in areas claimed by the Palestinians. Up until now, Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials have responded that they will not halt the natural growth of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, and that they totally rejected any demands that suggested Jerusalem was not entirely under Israel's sovereignty. But recent reports have suggested that Netanyahu may have been setting the stage to compromise on the hardline position if the Obama Administration made significant moves to help prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

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It’s Crunch Time for Israel On Iran Legions of senior American officials have descended on Jerusalem recently, but the most important of them has been Defense Secretary Robert Gates. His central objective was to dissuade Israel from carrying out military strikes against Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. Under the guise of counseling “patience,” Mr. Gates again conveyed President Barack Obama’s emphatic thumbs down on military force. The public outcome of Mr. Gates’s visit appeared polite but inconclusive. Yet Iran’s progress with nuclear weapons and air defenses means Israel’s military option is declining over time. It will have to make a decision soon, and it will be no surprise if Israel strikes by year’s end. Israel’s choice could determine whether Iran obtains nuclear weapons in the foreseeable future. Mr. Obama’s approach to Tehran has been his “open hand,” yet his gesture has not only been ignored by Iran but deemed irrelevant as the country looks inward to resolve the aftermath of its fraudulent election. The hardliner “winner” of that election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was recently forced to fire a deputy who once said something vaguely soothing about Israel. Clearly, negotiations with the White House are not exactly topping the Iranian agenda. Beyond that, Mr. Obama’s negotiation strategy faces insuperable time pressure. French President Nicolas Sarkozy proclaimed that Iran must re-start negotiations with the West by September’s G-20 summit. But this means little when, with each passing day, Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile laboratories, production facilities and military bases are all churning. Israel is focused on these facts, not the illusion of “tough” diplomacy. Israel rejects another feature of Mr. Obama’s diplomatic stance. The Israelis do not believe that progress with the Palestinians will facilitate a deal on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Though Mr. Gates and others have pressed this fanciful analysis, Israel will not be moved. Worse, Mr. Obama has no new strategic thinking on Iran. He vaguely promises to offer the country the carrot of diplomacy—followed by an empty threat of sanctions down the road if Iran does not comply with the U.S.’s requests. This is precisely the European Union’s approach, which has failed for over six years. There’s no reason Iran would suddenly now bow to Mr. Obama’s diplomatic efforts, especially after its embarrassing election in June. So with diplomacy out the door, how will Iran be tamed? Mr. Gates’ mission had extraordinary significance. Israel sees the political and military landscape in a very inauspicious light. It also worries that, once ensnared in negotiations, the Obama administration will find it very hard to extricate itself. The Israelis are probably right. To prove the success of his “open hand,” Mr. Obama will declare victory for “diplomacy” even if it means little to no gains on Iran’s nuclear program. Under the worst-case scenario, Iran will continue improving its nuclear facilities and Mr. Obama will become the first U.S. president to tie the issue of Israel’s nuclear capabilities into negotiations about Iran’s. Israel understands that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent commitment to extend the U.S. “defense umbrella” to Israel is not a guarantee of nuclear retaliation, and that it is wholly insufficient to deter Iran from obliterating Israel if it so decides. In fact, Mrs. Clinton’s comment tacitly concedes that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons, exactly the wrong message. Since Israel, like the U.S., is well aware its missile defense system is imperfect, whatever Mr. Gates said about the “defense umbrella” will be politely ignored. Relations between the U.S. and Israel are more strained now than at any time since the 1956 Suez Canal crisis. Mr. Gates’s message for Israel not to act on Iran, and the U.S. pressure he brought to bear, highlight the weight of Israel’s lonely burden. Striking Iran’s nuclear program will not be precipitous or poorly thought out. Israel’s attack, if it happens, will have followed enormously difficult deliberation over terrible imponderables, and years of patiently waiting on innumerable failed diplomatic efforts. Absent Israeli action, prepare for a nuclear Iran. —Mr. Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of “Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations” (Simon & Schuster, 2007).

Abbas' chosen successor vows to "liberate every grain of Palestine"

July 29, 2009, 8:58 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile disclosed exclusively Monday, July 27, that Abbas wants to crown the Tunis-based veteran advocate of armed resistance to Israel, long-time head of the PLO's armed groups' personnel, 71-year old Maher Abu Ghneim to be his No. 2 and successor as Fatah leader - if he manages to stage the Fatah general conference next Tuesday, Aug. 4 in Bethlehem. The new arrival vowed on his arrival at Allenby Bridge Wednesday, July 29, "to continue the struggle until every grain of Palestinian land is liberated under the Palestinian flag." DEBKAfile: This pledge is represents the substance of Clause 7 of the rival Hamas charter.

Nonetheless, he arrived on the West Bank through Jordan with the permission of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

A backstage drama took place Monday, July 27, around US Middle East envoy George Mitchell's shuttle between Jerusalem, Cairo and Ramallah behind the discussions on the peace process and Israeli settlement construction: It centered on the Abbas' desperate attempt to bring off the first general conference of his Fatah faction in 25 years next Tuesday.

It is still up in the air.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak weighed in by asking Mitchell to make an unscheduled side trip to Cairo Sunday, July 26, in the middle of his meetings with Israeli leaders. Mubarak told the US envoy that it was up to him to persuade Israel to help make the Fatah conference a success. Otherwise, he said, Abbas would be finished and forced to retire, taking with him the Obama administration's hopes for an Israel-Arab peace process taking off before the end of September.

Netanyahu still has to decide the following:

1. Should Israel allow 400 Fatah delegates based in the Gaza Strip to cross through Israel on their way to the Bethlehem conference - that is if the rival Hamas which rules the enclave lets them out? Hamas' price is that the Fatah-ruled West Bank administration release all Hamas detainees and obtain Israel's consent for their passage.

3. Should Israel must also admit Fatah delegations to the conference from Yemen, the Gulf emirates, Algeria, Lebanon and Syria, knowing they are the hard core of the Palestinian terror organizations operating in those countries?

4. The Netanyahu government is informed a priori that the majority of the approximate 1,500 delegates to the Fatah conference are radicals who will object to any move to drop the Palestinian movement's commitment to "armed struggle" against Israel.

Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian leader who is serving 5 life sentences in an Israeli jail for orchestrating lethal terrorist attacks, posted a circular letter Sunday to all delegates telling them they must not renounce violent resistance to Israel, including suicide attacks, even for the sake of aid from the West.

The Israeli government therefore finds itself in the hugely anomalous position of being badgered by the United States, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to help launch a Palestinian conference which is certain to be as radically anti-Israeli as the Islamist Hamas, thereby extending a lifeline to the US-promoted "peace process."

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Israel's window for a military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is narrowing considerably, and Israeli leaders may have to make a decision to strike before the end of 2009, according to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. 

Bolton, writing in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, says Defense Secretary Robert Gates was sent to Israel this week to urge the Israelis not to exercise its military option against Iran.

But Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak bluntly stated while standing next to Gates that Israel believes no option -- including the military option -- should be excluded. 

"This is our policy," Barak said. "We mean it. We recommend to others to take the same position but we cannot dictate it to anyone."

The Obama administration has been shifting tactics in recent weeks, somewhat downplaying the expected results from its longstanding plan to negotiate with Iran's dictators.

Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that a "defense umbrella" could cover U.S. allies in the Middle East to protect against Iranian attacks in the event it succeeds in developing nuclear weapons.  But Bolton believes that because Israeli leaders know that the missile shield would have imperfections, they will "politely ignore" the offer of a defense shield as a substitute for preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons in the first place.

"Under the worst case scenario," Bolton writes, "Iran will continue improving its nuclear facilities and Mr. Obama will become the first U.S. president to tie the issue of Israel's nuclear capabilities into negotiations about Iran's."

Bolton concludes, "Striking Iran's nuclear program will not be precipitous or poorly thought out. Israel's attack, if it happens, will have followed enormously difficult deliberation over terrible imponderables, and years of patiently waiting on innumerable failed diplomatic efforts. Absent Israeli action, prepare for a nuclear Iran."

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Lebanese army on the ready for "any Israeli action"

DEBKAfile Special Report

July 28, 2009, 1:29 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile's military sources report new tensions on the Lebanese Israeli border Tuesday, July 28.

The Lebanese army has placed troops on alert and sent armored forces to the border region to meet any "Israeli action" after Israeli's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazy denied seeing "war clouds in the north." He added that the IDF was keeping watch on the situation.

The army chief was responding to Lebanese media reports of Israeli military movements in the border region, including four Chariot tanks claimed to have moved out of their position in the highlands of Arqoub (Mt. Dov) toward the Kfarshouba military observation post.

On July 17, a crowd of Lebanese led by a Hizballah lawmaker crossed the border, seized this Israeli outpost and hoisted flags there before UN peacekeepers ordered them to leave.

Lebanese sources also reported Israeli Air Force planes hovering over Kfar Shouba, then turning west to fly over Hasbaya, the Western Beqaa Valley, Tufah and Marjayoun in southern Lebanon.

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Israeli and Lebanese armed forces faced off along Israel's northern border near the disputed Har Dov region on Tuesday, according to Lebanese media. The Lebanese army rushed troops to the area after four Israeli tanks reportedly entered a section of Har Dov that was supposed to remain demilitarized. The Lebanese also claimed that Israeli aircraft entered Lebanese airspace in the vicinity numerous times throughout the day. Israeli military officials said they were monitoring the situation, but denied that there was any increase in tension along the border. The incident comes just a week after Israeli officials complained to the UN that its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon were doing little or nothing to prevent Hizballah from reestablishing its power base there. An Israeli government official told Ha'aretz at the weekend that last Tuesday's accidental explosion at a Hizballah rocket depot in southern Lebanon was not an isolated incident, but that UN forces on the ground there are routinely choosing to ignore Lebanese violations of the resolution that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The stockpile of Katyusha rockets in the southern Lebanon village of Hirbet Salim only came to public attention when it blew up and killed a handful of Hizballah fighters. But the Israeli source said that UNIFIL, the UN force tasked with preventing another terrorist assault on Israel from Lebanese territory, knew of its location for many months before that. In fact, UNIFIL knows about a lot of Hizballah locations and activity in southern Lebanon, but is choosing to do nothing about it, in violation of its mandate, the source complained. In light of the explosion in Hirbet Salim, UNIFIL felt compelled to act in some way, so sent a detachment of soldiers to investigate the area on Saturday. But those soldiers were stopped and violently confronted by local Lebanese who refused to let them look into what Hizballah was doing in their village. Instead of forcefully fulfilling their mandate, the UN troops retreated. Israeli officials say it is not uncommon for UNIFIL to abandon monitoring missions when it faces even the most mild resistance. Jerusalem hopes that when UNIFIL's mandate comes up for review in late August, the Security Council will grant it far greater authority to act against those who attempt to hinder its mission.

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US missile defense funding may increase WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives is expected to overwhelmingly approve a defense spending bill Thursday that increases next year's funding of Israeli missile defense programs to $202 million dollars. But the legislation faces a White House veto threat over money slated for the F-22, a program Israel also supports but that the Obama administration wants to end. The new total for 2010 funding of the controversial Arrow-3 program is $50 million, up from the $30 million spent this year, and the $37 million requested by the White House. Altogether, US contributions to joint missile defense projects with Israel would increase $82.8 million above the administration's request and total $25 million more than Israel was given for 2009. It comes after wrangling between US and Israeli authorities over whether to fund the Arrow-3 project at all, with some American officials expressing questions about its feasibility and whether it was better than the American SM-3 missile defense program. "The way ahead has pretty much been resolved," a senior Pentagon official told The Jerusalem Post. "It wasn't a debate about whether we were going to support Israel's missile defense program. It was a debate about which technology met Israel's own stated requirements," he said. The Defense Department official explained that the two countries will check the progress of the Arrow-3 program and keep the SM-3 as a back-up option. "There were some months where we were going back and forth. Now I think we're pretty much on the same page," he said. House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha told The Jerusalem Post the extra money was an indication of Congress's concern for Israel's security needs. "The committee provided $202 million, $82 million over the president's request, for the development of the Arrow-3 Interceptor because we believe that this program is an important partnership between our two nations and vital to the national defense of Israel," he said. The funding increase - and endorsement of continuing with joint Arrow-3 development - is sure to please Israeli officials who have been looking to boost resources for the program. Less positive from the Israeli perspective is US President Barack Obama's threat to veto the entire appropriations bill if funds the House added to extend the life of F-22 production stay in place. "The administration strongly objects to $369 million in unrequested advanced procurement funding provided for 12 F-22 fighter aircraft in FY 2011, rather than ending the production program as requested by the president," the White House wrote Tuesday in an assessment of the legislation. "If the final bill presented to him contains this provision, the president will veto it." Israel has long sought to purchase the highly advanced stealth aircraft, but current US law prohibits its export. Should US funding of production of the planes end, as Obama wants, the likelihood of Israel ever having the opportunity to buy any would decrease dramatically. The Senate isn't expected to weigh in with its version of the funding bill until after the August recess, but it has indicated it might be willing to drop the F-22 allocation.

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'Gazan killed daughter for owning phone' Gaza man is being held on suspicion he bludgeoned his daughter with an iron chain, cracking her skull in a particularly brutal family "honor killing," two human rights groups said Wednesday, citing police and forensics reports. The groups' reports said that the assault was triggered by Jawdat Najjar's discovery that his daughter Fadia - a 27-year-old divorced mother of five - owned a cell phone. He suspected she used it to speak to a man outside the family, according to the groups' reports. Dr. Mohammed Sultan, who examined the victim, told The Associated Press that her head and face were bloodied, her body covered by bruises and that she suffered internal bleeding. On Wednesday, a northern Gaza police officer confirmed that Najjar turned himself in a day after the July 23 killing but did not give details. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media. Three of the woman's brothers were also detained on suspicion that they acted as accomplices, said the rights groups Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), citing police and forensics reports. The groups did not say how they obtained the reports. Fadia Najjar was the 10th victim of a so-called "honor killing" this year in the Palestinian territories and among Arab communities in Israel, according to rights groups. In such killings, a woman's life is taken by male relatives who suspect her of inappropriate conduct. Such killings are still widespread in the Middle East, where a woman's perceived misconduct can hurt the standing of a family and where tradition says the "stain" can only be removed by shedding her blood. Traditionally, assailants have received light sentences, but the killing of Najjar shocked even activists used to detailing such crimes. Mezan and the PCHR said that Najjar's father used an iron chain to beat her, while also kicking and punching her for about 40 minutes until she died of a fatal blow to the head, said Mezan and the PCHR. "It's shocking," said Samir Zakout of Mezan. "But it's not surprising because killers know they won't be punished harshly." In the West Bank and Gaza, "honor killing" assailants serve between six months and three years in prison, said Mona Shawa of PCHR. In Jordan, officials said Wednesday they have set up special tribunals to deal with honor killings, hoping to speed up trials. The New York-based Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday that the Syrian government abolished a law that waived punishment for some honor killings and now allows judges to sentence perpetrators to at least two years jail.

 

Seven charged in US conspiracy planned terror attacks in Israel A father, his two sons and four other men living in North Carolina are accused of military-style training at home and plotting "violent jihad" abroad, including against targets in Israel, federal authorities said Monday. Officials said the men were led by Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, who resided in a small lakeside home in a rural area south of Raleigh, where he and his family walked their dog and operated a drywall business. Court records, however, indicate Boyd was a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan who fought against the Soviet Union. "These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some far away land but can grow and fester right here at home," US Attorney George E.B. Holding said. The seven men made their first court appearances in Raleigh on Monday, charged with providing material support to terrorism. If convicted, they could face life in prison. The indictment said Boyd, a US citizen, trained in Afghanistan and fought there between 1989 and 1992 before returning to the United States. Court documents charged that Boyd, also known as 'Saifullah,' encouraged others to engage in jihad. Boyd's faith was so brash that, this year, he stopped attending worship services in the Raleigh area and instead began meeting for Friday prayers in his home. "This is not an indictment of the entire Muslim community," Holding said. "These people had broken away because their local mosque did not follow their vision of being a good Muslim." In 1991, Boyd and his brother were convicted of bank robbery in Pakistan - accused of carrying identification showing they belonged to the radical Afghan guerrilla group, Hezb-e-Islami, or Party of Islam. They were each sentenced to have a foot and a hand cut off for the robbery, but the sentenced was later overturned. The wives of the men told The Associated Press in an interview at the time they were glad the truth about their husbands had finally become known. The wives said the couples had US roots but the United States was a country of "kafirs" - Arabic for heathens. Jim Stephenson, a neighbor of Patrick Boyd in Willow Spring, said he saw the Boyd family walking their dog in the neighborhood. He said the indictment shocked the residents. "We never saw anything to give any clues that something like that could be going on in their family," Stephenson said. Two of the suspects are Boyd's sons: Zakariya Boyd, 20 and Dylan Boyd, 22. The others are Anes Subasic, 33; Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22; and Ziyad Yaghi, 21. Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a US legal permanent was also charged in the case. He was the only person arrested who was not a US citizen. All were residents of North Carolina. No attorneys for the men were listed in court records. Reached at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland, Boyd's mother said she had not heard of their arrests and knew nothing about the current case. "It certainly sounds weird to me," Pat Saddler said. "That's news to me." Hassan's father declined to comment Monday night while others did not have listed numbers or did not return calls. It's unclear how authorities learned of the activities, although court documents indicate that prosecutors will introduce evidence gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The indictment claims Boyd traveled to Israel in 2007 with several of the defendants, hoping to engage in "violent jihad." The attempt was unsuccessful, though, and the men returned home, officials said. Boyd was also accused of trying to raise money last year to fund others' travel overseas to fight. One of the men, Hysen Sharifi, allegedly went to Kosovo to engage in violent jihad, according to the indictment, but it's unclear if he did any actual fighting. Several of the defendants, including Boyd, were also charged with practicing military tactics on a private property in Caswell County in June and July of this year.

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'US settlement-halt demand unchanged' The US demand for an Israeli settlement freeze remains unchanged, Mideast envoy George Mitchell told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at his Ramallah headquarters on Monday evening, according to Palestinian official Saaeb Erekat, who took part in the talks. "Mitchell told Abbas that contrary to what has been said in the mass media there is no agreement with the Israeli side on anything," Erekat told reporters. Another Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge Mitchell's comments to Palestinian leaders, said the US envoy reported that while there had been some progress in his talks with the Israelis on the issue, gaps remain. Meanwhile, at UN headquarters in New York, Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour told the UN Security Council that the Palestinians had been encouraged in the past few months "by the more active, balanced approach" of President Barack Obama's administration and the US leader's "clear commitment to the two-state solution for peace and justice." Obama's recent speech in Cairo and Mitchell's diplomatic efforts "have renewed hopes in the vast potential of responsible, fair US leadership to positively contribute towards realization of a solution that will make peace and security a reality for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples as well as the Middle East region as a whole," Mansour said. In a statement to reporters after meeting Abbas, Mitchell made no mention of settlements, saying only that in order to move Middle East peace efforts forward all parties "must take steps; some of them difficult, some of them controversial." Abbas did not speak to the media.

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'Say 'No' to US settlement pressure'

  Calling on Israel to simply say "no" to US pressure to freeze settlement activity and to divide the capital, close to a thousand people rallied outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Jerusalem home Monday evening.

Right wingers protest, start building new outposts in response to Mitchell visit

"People tell us that it is impossible to stand up against American pressure; there is no bigger lie," yelled out Dani Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, which helped to organize the event. It was timed to coincide with US envoy George Mitchell's visit to Israel. Netanyahu's government should be concerned with its election promises to support the settlements, rather than with its obligations to the US, Dayan said. This government has an obligation to return Israel to the Zionist path of settling the land, he said. Prior to the rally Dayan told The Jerusalem Post he hoped "Netanyahu will learn lessons from those who preceded him." He added that "David Ben-Gurion founded Israel in spite of American pressure... Menachem Begin destroyed Osirak in spite of American opposition, and Yitzhak Shamir rejected American demands to stop construction." Demonstrators held signs that said, "Yes to Israeli Independence! No to American Demands!" Other signs read, "Israel will not fold."

Right-wing activists rally outside Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, Monday. Photo: Tovah Lazaroff

Holding aloft a banner bearing the legend "Stop Screwing Israel," Zvi November of Ramat Eshkol in Jerusalem told the Post: "All of the land of Israel belongs to Am Yisrael... There are 22 Arab states comprising five and a quarter million square miles of land - they don't need ours." He questioned the "American foreign policy that has given rise to former Fatah terrorists now working as policemen being given AK-47 semi-automatic rifles." MK Uri Ariel (National Union) told the Post: "There's no place in the world where Jews are unable to build themselves a home, but America doesn't want to allow us to build here - we are here to protest the American interference on this matter." MK Arye Eldad (National Union) said, "We are hoping to change the perfect silence characterized by those elected to Netanyahu's government on the supposition that they are faithful to Israel and Israel's best interests. It is clear that Netanyahu is on the verge of total collapse and MKs like [Israel Beiteinu's Uzi] Landau and [the Likud's Gideon] Sa'ar, who were regarded as rebels because they were against the disengagement, are now silent on this issue. "At the best they will voice quiet opposition to American attempts to dictate to Israel, but this is a time when we need to be strong," Eldad told the Post. Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika said Israel was not fighting with the US about outposts or settlement building, but rather about its right to exist. The only place Palestinians wanted to see Israelis was in the sea, said Mesika. Jerusalem city councilman Yakir Segev, who holds the east Jerusalem portfolio in the municipality, told the crowd: "We have to defend Jerusalem with our hearts, with action, with our souls. We must defend it to allow every single Israeli Jew and Arab to walk freely in his land, the State of Israel." Even as settler leaders, politicians and supporters rallied in the capital, other activists spent the day in Judea and Samaria trying to set up new outposts as part of an overall strategy by the Land of Israel Faithful group to expand Jewish holdings in the West Bank. For the past two years the group has held events in which it has laid the groundwork for new outposts in eight sites. On Monday it started a two-day action to strengthen three of those sites and begin eight new ones. At one called Netzer, located between the Elazar and Alon Shvut settlements in Gush Etzion, border policemen dispersed a group of 15 teens who had gathered there and detained three of them. The IDF placed a jeep at either end of the dirt path that leads to the site and declared the area a closed military zone. Two other teens were detained by police at a site called Inbalmin, near the Ma'aleh Michmash settlement in the Binyamin region. At a hilltop outside of the Avnei Hefetz settlement in Samaria, however, former Kedumim mayor Daniella Weiss said that some hundred activists managed to gather near a new outpost site. Activists would return on Tuesday to the three sites as well as to eight others in Judea and Samaria, she said.

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Video

JERUSALEM - Israel's greatest concern is that a Palestinian state on its border will become a launching pad for attacks against the Jewish state.      They point to Gaza, where terrorist organizations are training and carrying out attacks against the population and Israeli military.

Israel's war against terrorism in the Gaza Strip might have slowed down the movement but it hasn't stopped it.

The shelling may be over but attack plans are going strong. It is one of the Palestinians' oldest terror groups. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or DFLP, has ties back to Yasser Arafat.

Its goal is to unite factions to fight Israel and training includes placing land mines, shelling positions, and taking tanks.

Israel is aware that most terror training activities inside Gaza are influenced by terrorists in other countries. Money and guidance comes from Iran and Syria. Hezbollah in Lebanon also helps with battle tactics.

Inside Gaza, Hamas calls the shots, but the DFLP says it has leeway.

Hamas is giving the freedom of movement, and every group will initiate terror in its own way.

"We are defending the religion of Allah and that's why we will succeed," a soldier in the training camp said. "Israelis and supporters of Israel 'Americans or Arabs' won't escape our punishment."

The group recorded on video some of their attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

"We manufacture rockets and roadside bombs and we buy our medium and light weapons from the local markets," another soldier said.

Their Islamic beliefs encourage them to fight Israel.

"My acts will help me when I stand before Allah," a masked soldier in training said. "If I died for him and for Palestine, He will be pleased and I will be happy."

These Islamists have a clear message to the western governments pushing for peace in the region.

"Land can be liberated by the blood of the Martyrs only," a soldier stated.

The U.S. and others have pledged billions of dollars to rebuild the Gaza Strip after Israel's military operation. But many observers say the terror groups will get to the money first, leaving little for needy Palestinians who are tired of war.

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Hamas Rebuilding Gaza's Smuggling Tunnels

JERUSALEM, Israel - Fighting in the Gaza Strip may be over for now, but CBN News has learned that smuggling into the area is still going strong.

Much of it happens through a network of hundreds of tunnels dug under the border between Egypt and Gaza. 

Palestinians see this bustling underground traffic as a lifeline, but to Israel, it's a direct threat to security.  

In the border town of Rafah, greenhouses cover a network of tunnels used not only for smuggling goods to Gaza residents but also to transport weapons, ammunition, explosives and rockets. 

American Aid, Israeli Air Strikes

A television crew, hired by CBN News, filmed the tunnels just meters from the Egyptian border to see firsthand how much the smuggling industry has been affected.

America has pledged millions of dollars and sent U.S. Army engineers to help uncover and shut down the tunnels. 

Israeli air strikes and Egyptian ground actions have also had some degree of success; nonetheless, the tunnels continue to pose a clear security threat to the Jewish state.

"Most of the tunnels around here have been destroyed by Israel and Egypt.  When Israel scores a direct hit on a tunnel, 10 more around it are damaged," one Arab worker told us.

But despite the air force knocking out an estimated 70 percent of the tunnels during the nearly month long operation against Hamas in December and January, work on the tunnels resumed almost immediately after the air strikes stopped.

"The tunnel industry is reviving again. Since they've begun to smuggle regular explosives through , this means a whole new game," Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Avital Liebovich told CBN News.

"Before Hamas came to power [in June 2007], three to four tons of explosives had been smuggled through these tunnels. after Hamas came to power, we are talking hundreds of tons of explosives that are smuggled into Gaza every year," she said.

Hamas Takes Over Tunnels

Shortly after the IDF's military operation ended, Hamas took full control of the tunnel industry.

A few secret tunnels transport weapons and money, and many other underground networks provide Gazans with food and other daily necessities, sometimes transported in plastic containers.

"I am making $12.50 a day," one worker hauling clothing in large plastic bags told us.  "I have 10 kids, and I would rather die than see them without food," he said.

"People here are going crazy. Do they have to steal or throw hand grenades to live?" he asked. "Even the Jews will do much more if they are without food," he said.

But Liebovich said while life may not be easy in Gaza, it's a misrepresentation to say residents are bereft of humanitarian aid.

"There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," she said, noting that at least 100 tractor trailer loads of humanitarian aid enter the Strip daily.

Hamas Supervises Smuggling

Hamas police prevent certain smugglers from importing drugs and weapons over concern that the weapons could fall into the hands of the rival Fatah party.

The Israelis say the Gaza tunnels are just part of a much larger operation funded by Iran.

Under the supervision of Syrian and Lebanese-based Hezbollah operatives, Iran is also helping to smuggle large weapons caches through the expansive desert areas of Africa and the Middle East.  Israel's air strike in Sudan earlier this year stopped one such transport.

The Israeli Army estimates that some 300 smuggling tunnels are operational along Rafah's eight-mile border with Egypt.

With approximately half of Gaza's population under age 50, hundreds of young tunnel diggers are working day and night to re-open damaged tunnels, despite the risk.

'God Saved Me'

"Israeli jets, so what?  My job at the tunnels is death by itself," one worker, who almost lost his life when a tunnel collapsed, said.

"When the tunnel collapsed on us, I had no hope to be alive. I stayed in it for three to four days. I had my oxygen mask on. I had no chance to go back home, but God saved me," he said.

Meanwhile, Palestinians say they won't stop smuggling, especially as long as Israel keeps up its blockade around Gaza. 

But Israelis insist that more tunnel traffic will certainly lead to more violence.

"We are monitoring the situation closely, we are giving our recommendations to the political echelon, and we are ready once again to protect the people of Israel," Liebovich said.