 | | Sharon Advisor Says PM Will Partition Jerusalem
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior campaign pollster Kalman Gayer has let the cat out of the bag: Sharon plans to divide Israel's capital, Jerusalem, should he win the elections.
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More Details |  | | Editor: Hillel Fendel
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
13 Kislev 5766
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| | Note: Due to technical difficulties our internet server is undergoing, this report has been sent several hours later than usual. We apologize for the inconvenience. | 1. Sharon Advisor Says PM Will Partition Jerusalem
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior campaign pollster Kalman Gayer has let the cat out of the bag: Sharon plans to divide Israel's capital, Jerusalem, should he win the elections.
| Gayer made the statements speaking with Newsweek about the extent of the withdrawals Sharon is willing to make in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
The relevant passage in the Newsweek article states as follows:
"In theory, Gayer says, Sharon would accept a Palestinian state in Gaza and 90 percent of the West Bank, and a compromise on Jerusalem, in exchange for peace. But the Israeli leader does not believe Palestinians will be able to deliver peace or make other compromises—like forgoing the right of refugees to return to their old homes in Israel—in his lifetime (Sharon is 78). In the meantime, Sharon wants to "lay the contours of an agreement with the Palestinians," according to Gayer, by creating a Palestinian state in half the West Bank and implementing confidence-building measures."
Sharon appeared on state-run television almost immediately, denying the accuracy of the claims. "The remarks attributed to Kalman Gayer absolutely contradict my positions and my views," Sharon said. "If those remarks were indeed made, they were made by Kalman Gayer alone and they are complete nonsense. United Jerusalem will remain Israel’s capital forever." Sharon then reiterated his commitment to the Road Map plan.
The Road Map uses the term "East Jerusalem" as a separate entity from Jerusalem and calls for the opening of Palestinian Authority institutions in the area. There are currently close to 250,000 Jews living in areas of the capital considered East Jerusalem by the Road Map.
Prior to Sharon's announcement of the Disengagement Plan, the Gaza withdrawal plan was floated in the media by now-Finance Minister Ehud Olmert, and immediately denied by Sharon. Political commentators say such trial-balloons are a favorite method of Sharon's advisors, in order to gauge and diffuse public opposition to withdrawals.
MK Uzi Landau, who recently bowed out of the Likud leadership race and endorsed Binyamin Netanyahu, said, "We know from past experience that whenever the prime minister rushed to deny something – it is certainly true."
Labor MK Yitzchak Herzog said the whole story was just another manufactured story from the Kadima Party's public relations team, aimed at distracting the public from its lack of a social program.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) said, "It is painful to realize that the one who always accused others of planning to divide Jerusalem has been revealed in all his shame as intending to do so himself."
NRP Chairman Zevulun Orlev said that Sharon intends to once again lie to voters about his true intentions, like when he compared the retention of Netzarim to that of Tel Aviv prior to the previous elections. "Kalman Gayer says out loud what Sharon says in private," Orlev said. "It is now clear that in Sharon's mind, the 'fate of Jerusalem is like the fate of Netzarim.’"
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| | 2. Shteinitz: No "Point of No Return," But Iranian Bomb Closing In
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Defense Committee Chairman says there's no such thing as “the point of no return” when referring to Iran's atom bomb production capabilities - but says the threat is more immediate than believed.
| IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Iran will have reached “the point of no return” in its atom bomb building capabilities by this coming March.
Halutz emphasized, however, that despite its technological capability, Iran will not pose an immediate nuclear threat to Israel. He estimated that Iran's bomb could be ready sometime between 2007 and 2015.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) did not like what he heard. "For one thing," he explained to Arutz-7 today, "the term 'point of no return' is not correct. This is an ongoing process that can be stopped at any stage, and therefore there's no point in using a term that is misleading and confusing."
Arutz-7 asked, "Isn't there a point after which the facilities can no longer be bombed because of the danger that the released radioactivity would harm the nearby civilian population?"
Shteinitz said, "No. That is true only for reactors. But Iran is using a different system, of centrifugal force, and in several different facilities in different places, and therefore this danger does not exist."
"It could be," he added, "that some people use this term - 'point of no return' - to refer to the point at which Iran will no longer require international help in developing its nuclear program. But I think they have passed this stage already. Iran is a large country, and just like the U.S. built a bomb without help in 1945, Iran can do the same in 2006."
Shteinitz patiently explained that enriching uranium is a two-step process of conversion and enrichment. "Iran has already completed the first stage," he said, "thus that they are more than half-way there. In the past half-year, Iran has converted 40 tons of natural uranium into UF6. But this is not enough. It must then be enriched, centrifugally, for many cycles, until it reaches a 90% enrichment state. That is the point at which it becomes fissile, that is, capable of being split and releasing the desired tremendous amounts of energy. This is the enriched uranium that is required for a bomb."
"Don't misunderstand me," said Shteinitz, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy. "The Iranians are well on their way to developing nuclear weapons. Time is running out. For Halutz to say that they will be ready anywhere between two and ten years from now - that's like saying nothing. In my opinion, from the time they begin the enrichment stage, they can have the bomb within 1-3 years. If they accept upon themselves the international restrictions, of course, it will take longer."
Shteinitz said that Halutz had accepted the criticism, and would no longer use the term "point of no return" in reference to Iran's nuclear program.
Mohammed El Baradei, chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said earlier this month that once Iran resumes the enrichment of uranium, it will be only “a few months” away from manufacturing an atomic bomb. He went so far as to estimate that Iran would resume uranium enrichment over the next few days.
It was reported, however, that Iran's atomic chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said that Iran will not enrich uranium for as long as it is negotiating the issue with the international community. He reiterated, however, that Iran would never give up nuclear fuel production.
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Click Here! | | 3. Four Terrorists Dead in Targeted Air Attack in Gaza
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi and Hillel Fendel
The afternoon attack occurred shortly after security officials attributed the recent drop in terrorism to targeted killings of this nature & Arafat's death. The partition fence was not mentioned.
| The army reported this afternoon that it had bombed a car in Gaza City carrying four terrorists on their way to perpetrate a large attack against Israelis. The car was reportedly carrying a significant amount of explosives on its way to the intended attack site at the Karni Crossing between Gaza and Israel. Four passersby were wounded when the car was hit by the helicopter-launched rockets.
One of the killed terrorists, according to PA sources, was the general commander of Islamic Jihad's Gaza region Al Quds brigades.
It was announced earlier that terrorist attacks against Israel had dropped over the past year. The total number of terror-caused fatalities since the beginning of the year was 52 Israelis – nine of them members of the security forces, and the rest civilians. This is 30% less than the number murdered in attacks during the same period last year.
The number of wounded, 637, is almost a third lower than the number of those hurt during the same period last year – 917. Five suicide bombings were not prevented this year, as opposed to 14 in 2004.
"There are a number of reasons for the decline in the number of casualties in the last year," a senior IDF official said at a briefing for journalists. "The most critical of them is the pre-emptive targeted actions of the General Security Service and the IDF."
The official added that the death of Arafat had a major affect on the terror infrastructure as well. "In the security establishment," he said, "Arafat's death is viewed as being directly connected to the decline in the scope of terrorist activity."
Notably absent from the assessment was attribution of the drop in successful attacks to the separation fence, which was recently characterized by Justice Minister Tzippy Livni (Kadima) as defining Israel's future border.
The IDF officer said in the briefing that although attacks from PA Arabs have decreased, there has been a sharp increase in attacks along the northern border. The number of attacks along the Lebanese border rose to 31, compared to 18 attacks last year.
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| | 4. Five-Year-Old Terror Victim Recovers After Two Years
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi and Hillel Fendel
Hadar Bahat, the three-year-old boy critically wounded in the bombing of Haifa's Maxim restaurant two years ago, was released to his home Tuesday after spending all this time in the hospital.
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{Pictured above: Hadar Bahat with Prof. Yaakov Hart at his good-bye party}
Hadar was wounded seriously in his head by shrapnel in the Maxim attack carried out by a female terrorist in October 2003. Hadar’s father Tzvika, and 19 other Israelis, including five members of each of two different families, were murdered in the bombing.
Hadar was released from Levenstein Hospital Tuesday after a lengthy rehabilitation.
Tova Bahat, Hadar's mother, feared her son would not survive his extensive wounds. She was shown on television immediately following the attack, emotionally and tearfully requesting, "He is simply fighting for his life. Therefore, the first thing I ask from everyone who hears me, is to send a prayer, everyone in his own way, that he should have the strength to overcome. He is a strong boy, and beautiful - so much like his father, and I just have to have him remain alive... I so much request from everyone to do whatever he can to request and give him the strength. This is really the most important thing now."
After a series of operations and difficult treatments, Hadar's condition improved and he was moved to the Levenstein Rehabilitation Hospital. His injury resulted in the loss of his ability to speak, but her mother refused to give up hope. "I believed in Hadar and in the strength of his will," she said. "I knew that he must continue to move forward and that we had to continue to help him with all our energy, without despair and with a lot of hope."
Slowly, after more than a year of treatment, Hadar's ability to speak began to return. It started with vague noises. "Then one day he simply said Ima (Mother) – the word I waited so long to hear him say," Tova said. Slowly Hadar regained his speech completely.
Tova spent entire days at Hadar's side, taking him to physical therapy sessions where he painstakingly learned to walk again, occupational therapy, and special classes at Levenstein. Throughout this period, his older sister Inbar, now almost 9, spent many hours without her mother.
Finally, Hadar was released from the hospital. The hospital staff held a good-bye party for him, where Tova, with a trembling voice, thanked the staff for "bringing light back into our lives after the darkness that fell upon us... To Inbar, the best sister in the world, and to Hadar with his great joy of life and his stubbornness, I am sure that your father is proud of you from above." Not an eye in the audience remained dry.
Prof. Hart said, "I am moved to be at this parting ceremony from Hadar. He arrived here in such a difficult state, without being able to walk and talk. Today, after two years of dedicated treatment by the staff of the Children's Ward at Levenstein, Hadar is going home on his own two feet, able to talk, play, learn and return to normal life. I am proud of our staff..."
(Photo: Lee Lieber)
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Click Here! | | 5. Feiglin:"Throwing Out Candidates You Don´t Like is Democratic?"
|  | | By Hillel Fendel
Two Likudniks have submitted a party court petition, demanding that Moshe Feiglin be barred from running for leader. Currently running third in the 4-man race, Feiglin says the move is undemocratic.
| The two Likud members, Moshe Ifregan and Eli Hazan, say that Feiglin represents an undemocratic outlook and vision that does not correspond to the Likud Party platform.
Their petition states that Feiglin encouraged refusal of army orders during the Disengagement - an alleged negation of the Likud platform's mention of the supremacy of the rule of law. They also quote Feiglin's recent interview with the Yediot Acharonot weekly supplement "Seven Days." Feiglin reportedly said there that his vision is one of a State that encourages the emigration of Arabs from the country, and the construction of the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple).
The petition also accuses Feiglin of "promoting non-service in the IDF," quoting an article in which he wrote, "Should we continue sending our sons to this body [the IDF]? Or should we start directing our youth to other avenues of fulfillment, even if they do not match perfectly our Zionist ethos? If we desire life - we had better clarify for ourselves, without whitewashing the matter, our mutual relationship with the IDF."
Feiglin answered charges that he was an anti-democratic force in the Likud, saying, "I believe I work in the most exemplary democratic manner. What, if you don't like a candidate or if he begins to pass you in the polls, you threaten to throw him out of the party? That's democratic? But I don't want to get into this; this kind of fighting violates the clean-campaign charter that we all signed is not good for the Likud."
Feiglin denied that his stance is too extremist for the Likud: "The Likud platform states clearly that the State of Israel should assume sovereignty over all parts of the Land that are under our control. In addition, we found that 90% of the Likud members want a mandatory weekly school hour in Jewish topics and tradition. If this point is placed prominently on the Likud's agenda, then I'm sure that we will win big.
"The problem is," he said, "that the Likud keeps on going leftward, towards the center, losing its own Jewish identity - and then people ask what the difference is between the Likud and Kadima. My platform brings the Likud back to itself, and that's what the Likudniks want."
In a press conference today, Feiglin responded to the Newsweek report that Ariel Sharon intends to divide Jerusalem and give part of it to the Palestinian Authority. "It doesn't matter what Sharon intends or doesn't intend," Feiglin said. "What's important is the direction in which he is being led by the left-wing."
Click "play" below to view A7tv report from Feiglin press conference
click here if video does not appear
The latest surveys show that Binyamin Netanyahu continues to lead in the race for party leader, followed, in order, by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Moshe Feiglin and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz. Netanyahu hopes to win at least 40% of the party membership's vote this coming Monday, or else the top two contenders will be forced into a run-off on Dec. 26.
MK Uzi Landau, who recently dropped out of the race for party leader and now supports Netanyahu, said today he does not favor petitions against individual candidates. However, he did make a call for all other candidates to drop out of the race and rally behind Netanyahu.
Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, who abruptly quit the race for party leader on Sunday and jumped to the Kadima Party, explained himself by citing the rise in party support for Feiglin. "This is not my way," he said - and promptly quit. Feiglin and Mofaz were running neck-and-neck in polls published just before Mofaz quit.
The newest Likud MK, cosmetics queen Pnina Rosenblum, was sworn in today, replacing Tzachi HaNegbi. HaNegbi magnanimously resigned the Knesset last week after his switch to Kadima; he said the Knesset mandate belonged not to him personally, but to the Likud. However, Rosenblum is not taking the same approach. Though she reached the Knesset due to her spot on the Likud list, she says she has not yet made up her mind whether or not to remain in the Likud.
"I will choose my party based on where I have the best chances of being elected to the Knesset," she said today. This was a clear allusion to Kadima, which is doing much better in the polls than the Likud. Regarding the diplomatic differences between the parties, she says she has not yet made up her mind on these issues.
In her maiden speech in the Knesset today, Rosenblum said she supported the Disengagement, supports a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, and will work to promote women's issues and "help all Israelis grow old with dignity."
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| | 6. Kassam Rockets Launched From Gush Katif
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
The Palestinian Authority, instead of housing citizens in the Gaza communities abandoned by Israel, has turned them into training camps for armed factions. N'vei Dekalim is used to launch rockets.
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Many of the 21 communities emptied of their Jewish residents last summer have now been turned into full-fledged military training camps of the ruling Fatah group and of other Islamic terror groups. According to the groups, the communities also act as recruitment centers for the “people's army” being funded by Fatah.
Two Kassam rockets were fired from Gaza, mid-day Tuesday, toward Israeli towns in the western Negev. A Hamas official told the World Tribune that the rockets were fired from former Jewish towns that have been converted into launching sites for the war against the Jewish State.
Last month, the PA official in charge of interior affairs, Nassar Yusouf, toured the training camp erected on the remains of the community of N'vei Dekalim – which was the largest of the Jewish towns in Gush Katif. Yusouf planned to declare the area a closed military zone, but soon realized that armed hordes from his own Fatah faction had set up a military infrastructure in the place.
In other security news, IDF soldiers shot and wounded an Arab terrorist from Atzira a-Samaliya, near Shechem, Tuesday night. The suspect was wounded in the leg as he attempted to hurl a firebomb at the soldiers, who were uninjured.
Two Arabs were arrested overnight as they snuck past the southern Gaza border fence. A weapons dealer in Hevron, Abdullah Abu-Turqi, was arrested overnight, as well.
Tuesday evening, an Israeli motorist was targeted in a firebomb attack in the Ramallah region north of Jerusalem. No injuries were reported.
An Arab female was arrested when she tried to stab an IDF soldier at the Beit Iba checkpoint, near Shechem. Soldiers manning the Hawara Checkpoint, south of Shechem, arrested three PA Arabs found carrying bullets and four firebombs.
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| 7. First-Time Visits to Israel Way Up
|  | | By Ezra HaLevi
There has been a 73% jump in the number of people visiting Israel for their first time this year.
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According to the Israeli Inbound Tourism Survey, which was published Tuesday, 328,000 people visited Israel for the first time in their lives during the first six months of 2005 - compared to 190,000 in the same period last year.
The number of those arriving in the country specifically for touring and sightseeing purposes has also more than doubled since 2004 – up to 156,000 from 75,000. Revenues from foreign tourism rose 23% during the period, to $1.1 billion.
"We are in the midst of an economic revolution," said Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson. "Tourism is one of the main engines of growth."
The survey consisted of interviews of 11,000 tourists, examining their expenses, length of stay, purpose of visit and choice of accommodations.
One factor contributing to increased tourism is the rise in Aliyah (immigration to Israel) from North America, which has brought with it frequent visits from family and friends of the new immigrants to the country.
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| | 8. Hamas Election Video: Armed Struggle Until Israel is Destroyed
|  | | By Scott Shiloh
In a new Hamas election video, the terror organization responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Jews declares again that it will not give up its armed struggle until Israel is destroyed.
| The Hamas, a major terror organization operating mainly out of the Palestinian Authority, is running a list of candidates in PA parliamentary elections scheduled for this January.
The Hamas video, available for viewing below (or on the web site of Palestinian Media Watch), carries a message celebrating its love of death as superior to Israel’s love of life. It also expresses support for Arabs citizens of Israel who wish to destroy the country “from within.”
The video shows that Hamas looks forward to a day when its flag will fly over not only Jerusalem, but over all Israeli cities, including Acre and Haifa.
The release of the new video on the Hamas website coincides with two polls this week showing Hamas turning into a major political force in the PA, with between 32% - 45% of PA Arabs saying they will vote for Hamas in January’s parliamentary elections.
It is currently unclear what would be the implications for peace in the event that such a large component of the Palestinian Authority’s parliament is made up of people who openly support Israel’s destruction.
Presently the US State Department has made clear that while it continues to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars of American money to the PA, it will make no demands on it to prevent the Hamas from participating in the upcoming elections. The European Union and United Nations have also agreed that Hamas can participate in the elections.
Ironically, Hamas’ ideology is very close to that of Al Qeada or Hizbullah. The group espouses a vehemently anti-American and anti-Western political agenda. A number of American citizens have been killed by Hamas operations and suicide bombers in Israel.
The following quotes are taken from the new Hamas video:
"We succeeded, with Allah's grace, to raise an ideological generation that loves death like our enemies love life. We will not abandon the way of Jihad and Shahada [Martyrdom] as long as one inch of our holy land is in the hands of the Jews.
"Congratulations to our people of 1948 [Israeli Arabs] on the liberation of Gaza. You wish to destroy them [the Israelis] from their interior. We will never forget you, and never leave you. A day will come when our flag will fly above all the quarters of our land. Our flag will fly on the minarets of Jerusalem, and the walls of Acre, and the quarters of Haifa."
[Hamas website, December 12, 2005]
WATCH THE VIDEO
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| | Today on IsraelNN.com: |  |  | FM Silvan Shalom Speaks to INN
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While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to carry out a major retreat in Judea and Samaria after the elections certainly appeal to the elements in the Left now supporting his Kadima party, the Israeli public overwhelmingly rejects his scheme.
|  | | | The Real Blot on Israeli Democracy
It has long been plain to me that Arik Carmon's understanding of democracy is one that serves only the extreme Left of Israeli politics.
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The worst thing we could do now would be to get into a debate about who is to blame: the individual or society, affluence or secularization. What we need is imagination, not recrimination; optimism, not pessimism. It is here that the Jewish mystical tradition has something beautiful and vital to say.
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