Focus On Jerusalem Newsroom

(‘We consider the Israeli people our close friends,’ president says on arrival)

May 14….(MSNBC) President Bush on Wednesday opened a celebratory visit to Israel where he'll make a new push for peace in the long-troubled Middle East. "We consider the Holy Land a very special place, and we consider the Israeli people our close friends," Bush said. The president arrived in Tel Aviv, then flew by helicopter to Jerusalem for events Wednesday and Thursday marking the 60th anniversary of Israel's birth in the wake of the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews. "Our two nations both faced great challenges when they were founded," he said. "And our two nations have both relied on the same principles to help us succeed. We built strong democracies to protect the freedoms given to us by an almighty God. And we built an enduring alliance to confront terrorists and tyrants." Bush is set to speak Wednesday night at a conference in Jerusalem celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary. The conference, convened by Peres, includes international figures like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and an array of Jewish Nobel laureates, including writer and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel. "We are proud to reaffirm the friendship of our peoples," Bush said. Both Peres and Olmert warmly thanked Bush for strengthening ties with the United States, Israel's closest ally.

"Your presence here permits us to do something we really want to do and that is to celebrate a real thanksgiving party for the United States, from the depths of our heart, expressing our thanks to you and the greatest phenomenon in human history, the United States of America," Peres said. Olmert underscored the strength of the U.S.-Israeli relations. "Throughout the years, the strategic alliance with America has become one of the fundamental pillars of our national security. The bond between our people has grown deeper and stronger with time," Olmert said. "America has been there at each and every important crossroad in the life of our young country and stood by us in times of hope and moments of crisis." He said Bush's decision to celebrate Israel's historic milestone was an extraordinary gesture of friendship. "It's further evidence of your unending commitment to the security and well being of our country," he said.

The Palestinians are marking the 60th anniversary of the "nakba," or catastrophe, the word they use to describe Israel's establishment IN 1948. Palestinian leaders are lambasting President Bush for visiting Israel at this particular time, commenting that the visit shows his bias towards Israel at their expense.

(FOJ) Palestinian children hold toy rifles during a rally to mark the "Nakba" in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp May 14, 2008. Palestinians mark "Nakba", or catastrophe, as a day of mourning because of the establishment of Israel in 1948. Hatred runs deep in the PA.

May 14….(YNET) United States President George W. Bush on Wednesday arrived in Israel to participate in celebrations of the country's 60th anniversary. At a visit later in the day at President Shimon Peres' official residence in Jerusalem, Bush vowed that the US would support Israel, "Our strongest friend and ally in the Middle East." Bush also said the existence of a democratic Israel for 60 years in the heart of the Middle East is cause for optimism for democratic reform throughout the region. "What happened here is possible everywhere," he said. Peres, for his part, raised the subject of regional tensions, telling the US president that Hezbollah is destroying Lebanon and that Hamas' behavior in Gaza is preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. Upon the US president's arrival, he addressed the assembled Israeli dignitaries at Ben Gurion international airport, stating: "Our two nations both faced great challenges when they were founded. And our two nations have both relied on the same principles to help us succeed." "We built strong democracies to protect the freedoms given to us by an almighty God," he said at the red-carpet ceremony. The US president concluded: "We consider the Holy Land a very special place and we consider the Israeli people our close friends. Shalom." As an army band played the American and Israeli national anthems, the US president was greeted by Israel's political leadership, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Peres and opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu. Olmert earlier welcomed Bush, praising his visit to Israel as an extraordinary gesture of friendship. In opening remarks, the prime minister declared: "Our strategic alliance with the US is one of Israel`s pillars of security." Peres, who also spoke at the ceremony, told Bush that, "We are grateful to you for gracing this occasion." He then lauded the US president for his "steady dedication to the promotion of peace and security." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, part of Bush's entourage, accompanied the US leader as he walked across the airport runway, as did Bush's wife Laura. Bush is to participate in the "Facing Tomorrow" presidential conference held in Jerusalem during his three-day visit, at which he will deliver a speech on Wednesday evening. He will also speak before the Knesset on Thursday, and will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt later on in this trip.

Despite the festive nature of the visit, Bush was to find his host, Ehud Olmert, in deep trouble as a widening investigation into the prime minister's conduct has raised serious doubt over his political future. Most probably in reference to the investigation, Olmert gave assurances to a senior US official as Bush arrived in Israel. "Holding on, holding on, don't worry," Olmert told Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, at the airport. The remarks were picked up by broadcasters' microphones. On the first day of the presidential conference, Olmert said on Tuesday that he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have reached "understandings and points of agreement" on key issues in US backed peace talks but he gave no details. On Monday, Bush said that the peace process is not dependent on a single individual, indirectly responding to fears that investigation into Olmert could derail Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. At a meeting with Israeli journalists at the White House Monday morning, Bush offered words of support for Olmert, saying he is an "honest guy," easy to talk with and "a strategic thinker," and that relations between the two leaders are "nothing but excellent."

In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a leader of the Islamist group opposed to the US peace efforts, said: "There is no welcome for Bush in the Holy Land. There is no welcome for hypocrite presidents who are defiling our land." Bush, who flew on to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv by helicopter, will not visit the Palestinian territories but planned to meet Abbas in Egypt on Saturday.

(Israel's UN ambassador breaks Israeli silence on Beirut clashes, states 'weapons are being funneled to Hizbullah, while Lebanon is torn and bleeding. The international community must act, for the sake of Lebanon and the entire region')

May 14….(Ha Aretz) Iran has reached Israel's northern border, as well as its southern border, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman said Wednesday, several hours before US President George W. Bush's arrival in the Jewish state. "The situation in Lebanon, between the Syrians and the Iranians, seems very bad. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2^nd Lebanon War, is not being implemented. What is extremely alarming is that Iran is on our northern border, and in a sense on our southern border as well," he said. The ambassador essentially expressed what Israeli government ministers have been thinking, despite their failure to react. Some of them view the recent clashes in Lebanon between the opposition and government supporters as a Hizbullah takeover of the land of cedars. The Israeli stance, however, is to keep quiet in a bid to allow the world to deal with the situation created in the north. Israel will not lead any moves in regards to the incidents in which Hizbullah used its weapons inside Lebanon. However, in a discussion held Sunday at the cabinet meeting following a briefing by Military Intelligence Director Amos Yadlin, many ministers expressed their concern over the situation. The fear is that Hizbullah is positioning itself as the ruling element in Lebanon, after completing its armament and increasing its power since the 2006 war. Olmert and Bush are expected to discuss the developments in Beirut in their upcoming meetings in Israel. According to Gillerman, "Resolution 1701 included important elements, but kidnapped IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were no released, the arms embargo on the militias headed by Hizbullah is not being implemented, and Hizbullah has not been disarmed. "I sincerely hope that following the recent events in Lebanon, the international community will make sure this happens, not only for our sake, but for the entire region's sake," he said. "Weapons are being funneled to Hizbullah, while Lebanon is torn and bleeding. This is the continuation of a 40-year tragedy, of civil wars and takeover attempts by different elements. "The international community should act, for the sake of Lebanon and for the sake of the entire region, in order to stop the dangerous deterioration and turn the clocks back," he added.

May 14….(Israel Today) A grassroots Israeli movement on Wednesday published an open letter to visiting US President George W. Bush explaining why the creation of a Palestinian Arab state on Israel's ancient biblical heartland will represent the single greatest threat to the region. The Mattot Arim organization welcomed Bush in its letter, but urged him to rethink his agenda of pushing the Israelis and Arabs toward the rapid creation of a sovereign Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. The group pointed out that today Israel's northern and southern borders are threatened by terrorist states because of Israel's withdrawals from southern Lebanon and Gaza, but noted that those regions are sparsely populated. If, however, Israel hands over Judea and Samaria and that region becomes as volatile as southern Lebanon or Gaza, several million Israelis will be under direct threat. Bush and the international community are wagering Israel's safety on the notion that once given a state, the Palestinians will halt all efforts to kill Israelis. But the Mattot Arim letter pointed to a number of public opinion polls, including one recently conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, that show an overwhelming percentage of Palestinian Arabs see no problem with continuing anti-Israel terrorism. As such, the assumption must be that a Palestinian state will be a terrorist entity that will put Israel under increasing threat and encourage other regional enemies to escalate their own conflicts with the Jewish state.

May 14….(Stan Goodenough) Twenty current and former world leaders and hundreds of other international dignitaries were making their way to Jerusalem Tuesday and Wednesday for what has been described as an unprecedented gathering in the Israeli capital. Not since the funeral of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin have so many heads of state been in Israel at one time. In the words of the far-left daily newspaper, Ha'aretz, the three-day "Israeli Presidential Conference" will be the "event of the century." Under the banner theme "Facing Tomorrow," the dignitaries will come together "to discuss the future of humanity and Israel's role in the world". Attendees will include the presidents of Albania, Burkina-Faso, Croatia, Georgia, Latvia, Mongolia, Palau, Poland, Rwanda, Slovenia, Uganda, Ukraine, the United States. Other dignitaries will be US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former prime minister of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel, and the former president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid. Among the non-politician VIPs will be Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo president Susan Decker, media magnate Rupert Murdoch, Nobel Prize Laureate Eli Wiesel, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, Ratan Tata, chairman of India's Tata group, US billionaire Sheldon Adelson. On an Internet clip welcoming his distinguished and influential guests, Peres described Jerusalem as "the cradle of the world's greatest religion." But while Israel had to remain "true to our heritage," the Jewish state also had "to adapt to a new age that has many offers, challenges and problems," he said. While subjects under discussion will include science, arts, the media and other issues, “buried” among these will be the Land-for-Peace process of which Peres has been and remains one of Israel’s prime proponents.

The conference attendees would have "to try and imagine what will be the face of the world in the immediate future, what will be the direction of Jewish life in it, what will happen to our own state," the president said, blandly but ominously. More than that, they would have to "try and offer directions." "By devoting our time, not to the history of our lives, but to the future of the destinies of the still unborn," the leftist, pro-globalism veteran Israeli said the conference would provide "a real service to everybody, every nation, every religion, every person." The outcome will be, he was sure, "a real contribution to a new age, to a new future."

In an address at the "Facing Tomorrow" presidential conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger warned that the nuclear threat facing Israel is in fact a global danger, and urged the international community to forge a specific timetable to combat it. Kissinger spoke before an audience of world leaders and dignitaries, saying that one of the major global shifts today is the rise of fundamentalism and radicalism. Compounded by the rise in nuclear weapon development, he said, this shift represents a historic turning point. A nuclear armed Iran threatens not only the existence of Israel but the viability of the international community, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger warned on Wednesday, in an address to the "Facing Tomorrow" conference in Jerusalem. Everyone speaks of unacceptability, but no one speaks out about how to breach it and in what timeframe, Kissinger said, adding, "it will not go away." Kissinger cautioned that if something was not done soon with regards to Iran, there would be multinational proliferation of nuclear weapons with catastrophic potential. The international community has to define what nuclear capability means, Kissinger declared. Once that definition has been reached, he said, it must establish clear criteria, for making decisions. It must set a timetable and it must impose meaningful sanctions. If necessary, he emphasized, it must take dramatic measures. "There is no point talking about unacceptability without defining specific proposals and significant sanctions," Kissinger underscored. "Then nations decide whether other measures can be taken as a last resort." Dennis Ross, of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (which helped to organize the conference) said policy makers have to think very hard about the threat of Iran. "When you use the word 'unacceptable,' it has certain implications, but we don't see policies that reflect that, and Iran has shown no qualms about defying the international community," he said.

Ishmael …“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Genesis 16:12

Perplexity…“…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity…”—Luke 21:25

May 14….(In The Days) The terrorist group, backed by Iran and Syria, has in recent days scored successes in an insurgency that has placed the country’s moderate leadership under effective house arrest. “The international community will not allow the Iranian and Syrian regimes, via their proxies, to return Lebanon to foreign domination and control,” Bush said in a statement Monday. “To ensure the safety and security of the people of Lebanon, the United States will continue its assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces to ensure they are able to defend the Lebanese government and safeguard its institutions.” Hezbollah launched a war against Israel in 2006

May 14….(Newsmax) Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Israel was "dying" and that people in the Middle East would destroy it if given the chance. His remarks coincided with the arrival of US President George W. Bush in the Middle East to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday and try to energise peace efforts complicated by a corruption scandal that could topple Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Opposition to Israel is a fundamental principle in Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which backs Palestinian militants opposed to peace with the Jewish state. "The Zionist regime is dying," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northern city of Gorgan, referring to Israel. "The criminals imagine that by holding celebrations ... they can save the Zionist regime from death." "They should know that regional nations hate this fake and criminal regime and if the smallest and briefest chance is given to regional nations they will destroy (it)," said Ahmadinejad, who often rails against Israel and the United States. A 2005 statement by Ahmadinejad saying that "Israel should be wiped off the map" outraged the international community. Last month, a senior Iranian army commander said Iran will respond to any military attack from Israel by "eliminating" it, in comments condemned by Washington. Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, says it has developed ballistic missiles able to hit Israel and US bases in the region.

(FOJ) Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal gestures during a news conference in Riyadh yesterday. Saudi Arabia said that Iranian-backed Hezbollah's routing of the Western-backed government's supporters in Lebanon would affect the Islamic Republic's ties with Arab world, and the Saudi’s would not let Lebanon be taken over.

(Obama’s Mideast pointman blasted by Israeli leaders as 'hostile' to Jewish state)

May 14….(WND) Jerusalem must be included in any negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, stressed Sen. Barack Obama's Middle East adviser Daniel Kurtzer. "It will be impossible to make progress on serious peace talks without putting the future of Jerusalem on the table," Kurtzer said yesterday at a conference organized by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute or JPPPI. Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, has long been recognized by Israeli leaders, including prime ministers, as biased against Israel and is notorious for urging extreme concessions from the Jewish state. He was appointed as a primary Obama adviser on the Middle East earlier this year. During a discussion panel yesterday, Kurtzer reportedly went on to fault the Bush administration for not doing enough to pressure Israel into dividing Jerusalem. In reaction, JPPPI head Yechezkel Dror said Jerusalem must become the cultural center of the Jewish people. Kurtzer said in response that "before we do that, we must first accept a number of facts and the political reality of Arabs who live in East Jerusalem who do not feel part of the city." Obama's appointment of Kurtzer raised eyebrows among the pro-Israel Jewish community. "We oppose the appointment of Kurtzer because of his long, documented record of hostility to and severe pressure upon Israel," said Zionist Organization of America National Chairman Morton Klein. Kurtzer has been blasted by mainstream Jewish organizations, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He has angered Israeli leaders many times for pushing Israel into what they described as extreme concessions to the Palestinians. "With Jews like Kurtzer, it is impossible to build a healthy relationship between Israel and the United States," Benjamin Nentanyahu was quoted saying in 2001 by Israel's Haaretz newspaper. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Kurtzer "frequently pressured Israel to make one-sided concessions to the Arabs; he constantly blamed Israel for the absence of Mideast peace, and paid little or no attention to the fact that the Palestinians were carrying out terrorist attacks and openly calling for the destruction of Israel." Morris Amitay, former executive director of the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2001: "Kurtzer will use his Jewishness as a protective cover for his anti-Israel views." The ZOA points out Israel's leading daily, Yediot Ahronot, editorialized on Kurtzer's negative influence against Israel: "Possibly more than any other US State Department official, Kurtzer has been instrumental in promoting the goals of the Palestinians and in raising their afflictions to the center of the US policymakers' agenda," the paper stated. Kurtzer first rose to prominence in 1988 when as a State Department adviser he counseled the Reagan administration to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat. The PLO had carried out scores of anti-Western attacks, but in the late '80s Arafat claimed to have renounced violence. In 1988, Kurtzer was noted as the principal author of a major policy speech by then-Secretary of State George Shultz in which the US government first recognized the "legitimate rights" of the Palestinians. Haaretz reported in 2001 that Kurtzer had a "vocal conflict" with an Israeli government official in Philadelphia in the summer of 1990 after Kurtzer "attacked the Israeli government for refusing to include the PLO in the peace process [and] said that this constituted the main obstacle to peace". In Kurtzer's latest book, "Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East," he largely blames Israel for the collapse of US-brokered negotiations at Camp David. Contradicting accounts by President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Ehud Barak, both of whom squarely blamed Arafat for refusing to make peace, Kurtzer argues in his book Israel did not offer enough concessions to the Palestinians. At Camp David, Israel offered Arafat a state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. According to multiple reports, Barak also offered Arafat the upper sections of the Temple Mount.

May 14….(WND) Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama says Israel is a "constant wound" and a "constant sore" that infects "all of our foreign policy." Obama, under fire for attracting praise and support for his presidential run from the terrorist group Hamas, spoke to Atlantic Monthly at length about his views of the Middle East. Asked if he thought Israel represented a drag on America's reputation overseas, Obama said: "No, no, no. But what I think is that this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy. The lack of a resolution to this problem provides an excuse for anti-American militant jihadists to engage in inexcusable actions, and so we have a national-security interest in solving this, and I also believe that Israel has a security interest in solving this because I believe that the status quo is unsustainable. I am absolutely convinced of that, and some of the tensions that might arise between me and some of the more hawkish elements in the Jewish community in the United States might stem from the fact that I’m not going to blindly adhere to whatever the most hawkish position is just because that’s the safest ground politically." "I want to solve the problem, and so my job in being a friend to Israel is partly to hold up a mirror and tell the truth and say if Israel is building settlements without any regard to the effects that this has on the peace process, then we’re going to be stuck in the same status quo that we’ve been stuck in for decades now," he said. The interview was set up by the now famous quote from Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef to WND's Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein, author of Schmoozing with Terrorists and WABC radio host John Batchelor: "We like Mr. Obama and we hope that he will win the election." The controversy unfolded last month when Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef told WND's Aaron Klein, author of "Schmoozing with Terrorists," and WABC radio his group hopes Obama will win the presidential election and change America's foreign policy. Sen. Barack Obama has harshly criticized Sen. John McCain for making an issue of an endorsement by Hamas, but the Democratic candidate said in a new interview he understands why the terrorist group supports his presidential bid. "It's conceivable that there are those in the Arab world who say to themselves, 'This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he's not going to be engaging in the same sort of cowboy diplomacy as George Bush,'" Obama told the Atlantic magazine. Last week, Obama severed ties with a Middle East policy adviser who acknowledged holding private meetings with Hamas. Robert Malley, who had advocated negotiations with Hamas, was sacked after disclosing to the Times of London he had been in regular contact with the group in conjunction with his work for a conflict resolution think tank.

May 14….(YNET) United States President George W. Bush will be back in Israel Wednesday for his second visit in four months. This time, the American leader will be in the country to mark Israel's 60th anniversary and take part in the Presidential Conference organized by Shimon Peres. Bush, who will arrive in Israel with his wife Laura, is scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He is also slated to deliver a speech at the Knesset. Officials in Jerusalem estimate that the American president will not be pressing Israel on sensitive issues such as construction in the Jerusalem-area and settlement blocs or outpost evacuation. However, the US leader is expected to reiterate his desire to see Israel and the Palestinians agree on a framework for a peace deal by the end of the year. During his visit, Bush is expected to meet with Prime Minister Olmert twice. In the talks, the two leaders are planning to discuss the issues that truly bother both Washington and Jerusalem, first and foremost the growing Iranian involvement in provoking regional tensions and Tehran's ongoing pursuit of nuclear capabilities. An official in Jerusalem noted that the visit also comprises "highly important strategic, diplomatic, and security issues." President Bush said Tuesday he was disappointed in "flawed intelligence" before the Iraq war and was concerned that if a Democrat wins the presidency in November and withdrew troops prematurely it could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States." He acknowledged concerns about leaving the unfinished Iraq war to a Democratic successor. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have said they will bring troops home if elected. Bush said his "doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

May 13….(AP) President Bush said Monday that when he meets Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah later this week, he'll bring up the effect that high oil prices are having on the US and global economies. "Of course I'll bring it up to him," Bush said in a CBS News radio interview. However, he added that the capacity of the Saudis to raise production, and thus help lower prices, is limited. "When you analyze the capacity for countries to put oil on the market it's just not like it used to be," Bush said. "The demand for oil is so high relative to supply these days that there's just not a lot of excess capacity." However, Saudi Arabia has considerable additional production capacity. It's pumping a little over 8.5 million barrels a day, compared with about 9.5 million barrels a day two years ago, and has acknowledged the ability to produce as much as 11 million barrels a day. When President Bush last met with the king in January, they also talked about high oil prices. At the time, Bush was hopeful that OPEC would authorize an increase in oil production. The kingdom holds the world's largest oil supplies and is a major voice in decisions by OPEC. Asked what he planned to tell the Saudis this time that he didn't tell them last time, Bush observed that "the price is even higher." Oil prices briefly spiked to a new record above $126 a barrel Monday but ended the day lower as investors cashed in profits and an earthquake in China raised the possibility of a drop in demand. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, rose to another record above $3.70 a gallon. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino also said Bush would raise the topic. "Will he ask the Saudis to consider the drain on the world economy because of high gas prices? Yes, of course. He raises it every time that he can," Perino said. In the interview, Bush also said that most oil imported into the United States "comes from Canada and Mexico," not from Saudi Arabia. Bush also said that, while he was a "big supporter" of energy conservation, he would not issue a specific appeal to the public to ease up on driving and not use as much fuel. "I think they can figure out how to do that," he told CBS. "I mean, the market has a way of convincing people to drive less, depending on their ability to afford."

May 13….(DEBKA) DEBKAfile’s military sources report: After six days of fighting between government loyalists and Hizballah leave close to a 100 dead and 200 wounded, the Lebanese army’s demand that all combatants lay down their arms will go unheeded until the Shiite terrorists decide they have achieved their goals. Hizballah is now focusing on the northern Tripoli region and the central mountains east of Beirut in line with those goals after deciding there is no need at this stage to topple the pro-Western Siniora government:

1. The northern port of Tripoli is important to Hizballah and Syria, both as the largest pro-Syrian Sunni stronghold in Lebanon and as a supply hub for incoming Iranian arms for Tehran’s Shiite proxy. The arms are unloaded from Iran freighters at the Syrian ports of Latakiya and Tartous and trucked to Tripoli.

2. Hizballah has a strategic interest in crushing the Druze militias of the anti-Syrian pro-government Walid Jumblatt, which control the Chouf mountains east of Beirut. Over and above this goal, Hizballah have focused on isolating and disarming the Sunni supporters of the Siniora government.

After a series of fierce clashes, Hizballah slapped down an ultimatum for Jumblatt: Pull your militiamen out of their bases and hand over your heavy weapons i.e. cannon, mortars, heavy machine guns, RPG’s and explosives, to the Lebanese army, or face the consequences. Hizballah then brought in heavy artillery, with Syrian help, and set about pounding Druze mountain positions. It is hard to see them holding out for long before Hizballah seizes control of the hills which command the entire Beirut plateau. After the Druze militias fall, Hizballah may be expected to focus on vanquishing majority leader Saad Hariri’s Sunni forces in Sidon. This would isolate the only armed force left in Lebanon, the Christian Phalangists led by Samir Geagea. In the face of the Iranian surrogate army’s lightning conquest of Lebanon, US president George W. Bush’s statement in Washington, on the even of his Middle East trip, that the United States would not let Syria and Iran undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty comes very much after the fact. His offer to help Siniora by strengthening his armed forces is equally belated. The Lebanese army is by now more an operational arm of Hizballah than an armed force that serves the government.

May 13….(Reuters) President George W. Bush will likely receive little more than a smile and handshake when he asks Saudi Arabia to help lower oil prices during a visit to Riyadh this week to commemorate 75 years of a relationship that has developed fissures in the last decade. (The US built the Saudi oil infrastructure from 1935 onward) Oil prices keep climbing to record highs, threatening to push the US economy into recession, and economic issues are a top concern for American voters during this presidential election year when they will choose a successor to Bush. Bush is scheduled to meet Saudi King Abdullah at his private farm on Friday to mark the 75th anniversary of the formal establishment of US-Saudi relations. His visit to Riyadh will follow a stop in Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state's creation, and precedes a stop in Egypt for talks with Palestinian leaders. Oil, Iraq, Iran and Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking are high on the agenda as Bush and King Abdullah try to smooth US-Saudi relations. Saudi Arabia and the United States both view al Qaeda as a threat. But 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were of Saudi origin, as is al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which tarnished Saudi Arabia's image in the eyes of the American public. The invasion of Iraq over the strong opposition of Saudi Arabia further exacerbated tensions and made the United States unpopular with the Saudi public. "We have an odd disconnect here. We have a recognition on the part of the governments in both countries that this is a very important relationship," said Chas Freeman, president of the Middle East Policy Council. "But in both cases, the public is extremely negative. Saudi Arabia has been successfully vilified in American politics, and the United States is now extraordinarily unpopular in Saudi Arabia," said Freeman, a former US ambassador to Riyadh. But White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the US-Saudi relationship was in "pretty good shape" despite stresses over the Iraq war. The United States wants Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to improve their relation with Iraq. "We would like to see them offering greater diplomatic support for Iraq, embracing Iraq as a part of the Arab family. They have not gone as far as we would like on that score," Hadley said.

The United States and Saudi Arabia both want to keep growing Iranian influence in the region at bay. "Most Saudis believe that that ascendancy in the region has come about as a result of American policy, that is the United States occupies Iraq militarily, but Iran occupies it politically," Freeman said. Iraq has a Shi'ite-led government, and Iran is ruled by the same sect of Islam, while rulers of Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are Sunni. Despite close personal ties among Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, King Abdullah and other Saudi officials, the tear in US-Saudi relations has yet to be fully repaired. But the bond forged decades ago on energy and security issues will continue in the years ahead regardless of who succeeds Bush in January, analysts said. "This is a relationship that dates back to FDR," said Gregory Gause, director of the Middle East studies program at the University of Vermont. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, when oil was first discovered in the Saudi penisula. "It's been an intense relationship since the '73 oil embargo and the first oil revolution. During his last visit to Saudi Arabia in January, Bush called on OPEC to increase production, but the plea fell on deaf ears, and oil prices have since jumped more than $30 to a record $126 a barrel. He is expected to again urge that OPEC increase production. But analysts say the request would be largely symbolic to show the American public that he was trying to do something about high oil prices, rather than based on any expectation that it would lead to action by Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, and OPEC, which is next scheduled to meet to decide oil output policy in September. "I can't see that it will work this time, it didn't work the first time," said Robert Ebel, senior adviser on energy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. What is the president likely to come away with? "Just smiles and a handshake, that's about it," Ebel said.

May 12….(Arutz) The Hizbullah terrorist group celebrated victory over the Lebanese government as the weak US-backed coalition bowed to the Iran and Syria-backed group’s demands. Nonetheless, Hizbullah men continued to clash with US-backed Lebanese government-supporters even after the Lebanese government authorized its army to backtrack on the state’s attempted assertion of sovereignty following a near-coup. Clashes in Lebanon began when the army was instructed to close down the Iran and Syria-backed group’s alternative communications network and depose the Hizbullah-affiliated head of security at Beirut’s airport. The decision was made by pro-independence factions of the ruling government coalition seeking to stem the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon. Hizbullah blocked off access to the airport with bulldozers and Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah got on Hizbullah-run TV and instructed his followers: “We have said before that we will cut the hand that targets the weapons of the resistance. Today is the day to fulfill this promise.” At least 20 people were killed in the ensuing street battles as Hizbullah seized entire neighborhoods and towns, battling Sunni Muslims and Druze, which are both loyal to the government. Government officials’ homes and offices were also surrounded as government-affiliated TV stations were burned. The Lebanese army stood down in fear of an all-out civil war. A withdrawal from Beirut was agreed upon after the Lebanese Army gave in to the group’s demand to keep a Hizbullah loyalist in charge of the airport and continue to operate its own communications network. Though Hizbullah officials promised Saturday that they would withdraw armed men from Beirut, they said they will continue a civil rebellion until the government gives in to the rest of their demands, which include the right to veto any decision made by the government. The announcement came after victory parades of armed men in pickup trucks firing their guns in the air made their way through Beirut.

May 12….(Washington Times) Make no mistake about it, the quick, brutal display of raw military power by Hezbollah in the past six days is a window into the grim future of Lebanon and the broader Middle East: a future in which Iran and Syria are ascendant and have lost much of their fear of the United States and Israel. It sends a message to President Bush, who arrives in Israel Wednesday to commemorate that nation's 60th birthday: that Tehran and Damascus can project power whenever they want in places like Lebanon, and the United States and it's allies can't do anything about it. Hezbollah's dramatic gains in Lebanon last week are just part of a regional process that began last year in the Gaza Strip and will continue in Jordan and Egypt, a Hamas official in the West Bank told The Washington Times. Sheik Yazeeb Khader, a Ramallah-based Hamas political activist and editor, said militant groups across the Middle East are gaining power at the expense of US-backed regimes, just as Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to US-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "What happened in Gaza in 2007 is an achievement; now it is happening in 2008 in Lebanon. It's going to happen in 2009 in Jordan and it's going to happen in 2010 in Egypt," Sheik Khader said in an interview. "We are seeing a redrawing of the map of the Middle East where the forces of resistance and steadfastness are the ones moving the things on the ground." His remarks highlight how a growing alliance linking Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah straddles the Shi'ite-Sunni rift. The notion of new countries falling under Islamist influence reflects a goal of Hamas' parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood, of replacing secular Arab regimes with Islamist governments. In the same way that Hamas' victory over the Palestinian Authority security forces in Gaza fighting last June profoundly disturbed neighboring Arab states, fighting in Lebanon yesterday and last week has sent shock waves throughout the Middle East and spurred an emergency meeting of the Arab League. The Arab League is sending Secretary-General Amr Moussa to mediate among the Lebanese government, Hezbollah and Sunni supporters of the government. In Israel, military and political leaders expressed concern that the Lebanese government, led by U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, yielded to Hezbollah's show of force. "What is going on in Lebanon at this hour is actually the overthrow of Lebanon by Hezbollah. The democratic Lebanese government will become a puppet government — an Iranian dream," said Ze'ev Boim, a lawmaker from Israel's governing Kadima party. "It is particularly awful to see an Iranian battalion on the northern border of Israel." Giora Eiland, Israel's former national security adviser, said the international community failed to insist that the government of Mr. Siniora confront Hezbollah, and is now paying the price. Hezbollah's ascendance in Lebanon is likely to prompt a new round of fighting with Israel, he said.

May 12….(JPOST) While America's secretary of state devotes her time to doomed Israel-Palestinian talks and America goes ga-ga over a candidate whose entire foreign policy strategy is to talk to dictators, yet another crisis is empowering radical Islamists and undercutting Western friends and interests. The Lebanese logjam has broken at last as Hizbullah seized Beirut and inflicted a major defeat on the government. Hizbullah is pulling a more limited version of Hamas's Gaza strategy in Lebanon as the world stands by. Iran and Syria back their friends with weapons and help; the West responds with words backed by nothing. Who can blame Hizbullah and Damascus and Teheran for laughing in contempt? Why should the Lebanese Sunni, Druze, and Christian majority risk their lives when the West doesn't help them? Every Israeli speaking nonsense about Syria making peace, every American claiming Damascus might split from Teheran, and every European preaching appeasement is engaging in confidence-breaking measures. At present, Hizbullah and its sponsors seek not the full conquest of Lebanon but to control the government by violence and intimidation. Unable to gain full victory themselves, they hope to win by the other side's surrender. They want veto power over the government to ensure it does nothing they dislike: no strong relations with the West, no ability to stop war against Israel, no disarming Hizbullah militias or challenging its control over much of the country, and certainly no investigation of Syrian involvement in internal terrorism there. Now they have a new, albeit unwitting, ally: Senator Barack Obama, who does not understand the damage he does. His May 10 statement on Lebanon tried to sound tough, talking of "Hizbullah's power grab in Beirut. This effort to undermine Lebanon's elected government needs to stop, and all those who have influence with Hizbullah must press them to stand down immediately." Obama said he supports the Lebanese government, wants to "strengthen the Lebanese army," and "insists on disarming Hizbullah." How? By "working with the international community and the private sector to rebuild Lebanon and get its economy back on its feet." According to the Obama world view, it's a development problem. But he doesn't understand that bombs trump business. Prime Minister Rafik Hariri followed that economic strategy; the Syrians blew him up. The only way to gain social peace is to appease Hizbullah, Syria and Iran, whose disruption blocks prosperity. The statement continues: "We must support the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions that reinforce Lebanon's sovereignty, especially resolution 1701 banning the provision of arms to Hizbullah, which is violated by Iran and Syria." Great. But 1701 has already failed. Will you fight on this issue? Mobilize the passive "international community" for action? Threaten Iran, Syria, and Hizbullah with credible, tough action? There's no hint of that. As for Lebanon's army, its commander is Syria's presidential candidate, its soldiers are mostly pro-Hizbullah, and its US-supplied equipment stood idle as Hizbullah seized more territory. But here’s the worst part that few in America but all in Lebanon understand: Barack Obama writes: "It's time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new Lebanese consensus that focuses on electoral reform, an end to the current corrupt patronage system, and the development of the economy that provides for a fair distribution of services, opportunities and employment." This is Hizbullah program: a new Lebanese consensus based on 51% of power for itself and its pro-Syrian allies. What's needed isn't consensus (equivalent to getting Fatah-Hamas cooperation or an Iraq coordinated with Iran and Syria) but winning a conflict. Instead, Obama is, whether he knows it or not, backing a Syrian-Iranian and Hizbullah-dominated Lebanon. Such talk makes moderate Arabs despair. When Obama says he'll make Syria and Iran partners in setting Iraq's future, he is signaling every Persian Gulf regime to cut its own deal with Iran. His stances convince Hamas that he's the guy for them, with Iran and Syria concluding they merely need stand defiant and wait a few months until existing pressure vanishes. This is how the US position in the Middle East is being systematically destroyed. This does not mean that Obama is the candidate favored by Arabs in general; he is favored only by the radicals. Egyptians, Jordanians, Gulf Arabs, and the majorities in Lebanon and Iraq are very worried. This is not just an Israel problem. It is one for all non-extremists in the region. If the dictators and terrorists are smiling, it means everyone else is crying. The Syrian and Iranian regimes know that while they may walk through the valley of the shadow of sanctions they need fear nothing, because there are all too many who comfort them. UNIFIL forces in Lebanon are scared into passivity by Hizbullah. Now is the time for energetic action on Lebanon to contain Iran and Syria, buck up Lebanon's government side as well as all those Gulf Arabs and Iraqis who don't want to live in an Islamist caliphate. Its time to back the Lebanese government with real power and aid, covertly or overtly, those battling radical forces in Lebanon.

May 12….(WND) With US approval, Saudi Arabia in recent months provided weaponry to militias associated with anti-Syrian Lebanese opposition leaders to bolster them against the Hezbollah terror organization, informed security officials told WND. The information follows five days of heavy street clashes pitting anti-Syrian gunmen against Hezbollah forces in and around Beirut that has reportedly left 54 dead and much of the country paralyzed. It also follows a public dispute the past few months between Iranian-allied Syria and US-backed Saudi Arabia, both seemingly vying for more control in several Mideast arenas. The Saudi weapons were provided to militias associated with Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, Parliament Leader Saad Hariri, and former president Amin Gemayel, according to security officials. The weapons mostly consisted of assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades, and combat equipment such as military boot, tents and night-vision goggles, the officials said. The weapons may have been put to use during urban warfare battles yesterday between Hezbollah and Jumblatt followers in the town of Aley, east of Beirut. At least two people were killed and four wounded in those clashes. Informed security officials say the Saudi weapons were used by pro-democracy gunmen battling Hezbollah forces since Hezbollah started the violence last week after the Lebanese government decided to dismantle and take legal action against Hezbollah's communications network amid accusations the terror group set up a system to monitor the travels of anti-Syrian Lebanese figures. The Saudi arms report follows a major diplomatic crisis between the Kingdom and Syria. Syria has floated a proposal that if the US helps facilitate billions of dollars in business for Syria and builds up Damascus as the primary American ally in the Arab world in place of Saudi Arabia, the Syrians would be willing to discuss scaling back alliances with Iran and making peace with Israel. A Syrian official said Syria conveyed this message to numerous visiting foreign dignitaries, including US congressmen and Turkish mediators. He said Syria also demanded as a key condition for considering altering its alliances that the US cease opposing Syrian influence in Lebanon. "Syria is the key to the Arab world. We have influence with Hezbollah and Lebanon and hold many cards in the Palestinian and Iraqi arenas. The US needs to rethink the value of the investment it places in Saudi Arabia," said the official, who spoke by phone from Damascus on condition his name be withheld. The main Syrian request was that America uphold Damascus as its main "partner" in the Arab world instead of Saudi Arabia, said the Syrian official. He said in exchange Damascus would discuss severing "many ties" with Iran, but he would not specify which ties and whether Syria is willing to cut off all coordination with the Iranians. "We are ready to significantly and deeply reduce relations with our Iranian brothers if conditions are met," the official said. The request was said to have angered Saudi Arabia, prompting a major crisis between Damascus and the Saudis. The Syrian-Saudi row was highlighted at last months's Arab Summit, a major annual meeting of Arab leaders held this year in Damascus. Saudi Arabia sent only a low-level representative, which was seen as a major snub to Syria, and used the platform to blast Syria. According to knowledgeable Arab diplomatic sources, Saudi Arabia wanted to boycott the event altogether, but sent the low-level delegation to uphold its record of attending every Arab Summit. The US, though, seems to have rejected the Syria overture. Last week, President Bush extended US sanctions against Syria for another year following Israel's strike last September against what the White House said was a Syrian nuclear reactor being built with the assistance of North Korea.

British: China Preparing for Nuclear War

May 12….(WND) Defense analysts for the British intelligence service MI6 believe China is preparing for the "eventuality of a nuclear war." The conclusion follows evidence that Beijing has built secretly a major naval base deep inside caverns which even sophisticated satellites cannot penetrate. In an unusual development, the analysts have provided details to the specialist defense periodical, Jane's Intelligence Review, which published satellite images of the base location which is hidden beneath millions of tons of rock on the South China Sea island of Hainan. The MI6 analysts have confirmed the submarine base hewn out of the rock will contain up to 20 of the latest C94 Jin-Class submarines, each capable of firing anti-satellite missiles and nuclear tipped rockets. Knocking out the satellites would leave Taiwan, Japan and other countries around the Pacific Rim effectively without a key warning system. An attack also would disrupt vital communications between US battle squadrons in the region and Washington. Satellite images studied by GCHQ, Britain's spy in the sky intelligence gathering organization based at Cheltenham that works closely with the US National Security Agency, have confirmed the entrance to the base is through no fewer than 11 separate tunnel openings. A Royal Navy nuclear submarine, one of those in the Typhoon Fleet, now has joined another from the US Pacific Fleet to build up a clear image of what is happening inside the secret base which, as well as China's nuclear subs, could house "a host of aircraft carriers." Naval intelligence officers in London and Washington have confirmed the discovery of the base will present "a significant challenge to US naval dominance and protection to countries ringing the South China Sea." The base is sited at Sanya on the southern tip of Hainan island. The island came to the attention of Western intelligence in April 2001, when a US EP-3 spy plane trying to test the island's electronic defenses was forced to land there by Chinese fighters, one of which crashed in the sea killing the pilot. A Ministry of Defense analyst, who cannot be named for security reasons, believes "this could be the prelude to China preparing for a nuclear response."

'Bush to Offer Israel Powerful Radar FOR Defense'

May 11….(Jerusalem Post) The US may offer Israel a powerful radar system that would greatly strengthen Israeli defenses against ballistic missiles while incorporating it directly into a growing US missile shield, Reuters reported on Saturday. US President George W. Bush is expected to discuss the issue during his visit to Israel on Wednesday and Thursday to mark the 60th anniversary of the state, people familiar with the matter said, according to the report. This is "probably the No. 2 issue" on Bush's agenda for the visit, second only to the Israel-Palestinian peace process, said Illinois Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, who has led calls for tighter US-Israel missile-defense ties, Reuters reported. The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency is developing the multibillion-dollar layered shield. Riki Ellison, a missile defense advocate with close ties to the Pentagon and companies involved in building the hardware, said giving Israel the missile-tracking system was "on the table right now," Reuters reported. The system, known as a "forward-based X-band radar," is transportable by air and uses high-powered pulsed beams to track objects in space such as missiles. The Raytheon Co.-built system can track an object the size of a baseball from 4,700 km. away. It would allow Israel's Arrow missile to engage a Shahab-3 ballistic missile about halfway through what would be a 11-minute flight from Iran, or six times sooner than Israel's "Green Pine" radar can, Kirk told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday. Israel had discussed a range of "parting gifts" from Bush, who leaves office on January 20, including military pacts and technologies, an Israeli defense official said. The Pentagon was planning to have four transportable X-Band radars, including one already set up near Shariki in northern Japan to guard against missiles that could be fired by North Korea, a spokesman for the US Missile Defense Agency said. A second is due to be deployed near Iran, possibly in eastern Turkey or Georgia, assuming permission is granted. In addition, the US is awaiting final approval for a large, fixed-site, tracking radar in the Czech Republic scheduled for deployment by 2013.

Hizballah Has Made Lebanon an Iranian Vassal

May 11….(Israel Today) Just as Gaza has fallen to Iranian proxy rule via Hamas, so too Lebanon is now under the direct influence of Tehran after Beirut's fall to Hizballah at the weekend, declared Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon on Sunday. Lebanon "is controlled by this terror organization and its government has become irrelevant," Ramon was quoted as saying at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "The notion that there is another government apart from Hizbullah is entirely fictitious." Earlier in the day, Hizballah began pulling its forces off the streets of Beirut, but only after the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora made major concessions to the group. Attempting to save face, Siniora issued a tough-worded statement insisting that Lebanon could no longer tolerate an armed Hizballah. However, the group's leadership said that the outcome of its brief confrontation with government forces was a clear victory for Hizballah, and demonstrated its ability to effectively counter Western influences in the country. Hizballah left a small number of its troops in Beirut to patrol allied Muslim neighborhoods in order to deter any possible retribution by government forces. Meanwhile, fierce fighting broke out in other parts of the country between Hizballah and government forces on Sunday. The violence was most severe in the northern coastal city of Tripoli, where at least 12 people were killed and anther 20 were wounded. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that Israel will watch patiently from the sidelines for the time being and not become involved in Lebanon's current troubles, despite the fact that a decisive Hizballah victory would pose a grave threat to the Jewish state. Barak urged the international community to get involved and prevent a total Hizballah takeover.

May 9….(Reuters) Iran is making allies in Latin America to counter Washington's traditional influence in the region and could use them to threaten US security, a top US diplomat said on Wednesday. "We are worried that in the event of a conflict with Iran, that it would attempt to use its presence in the region to conduct such activities against us," Thomas Shannon, the US assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, told Reuters. Left-wing governments in Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia have all become allies of Iran in recent years, and other countries in Latin America have diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic. Shannon said Iran wants to ease its international isolation by showing it is able to win friends in Latin America, which has been historically in the United States' "sphere of influence". Washington accuses Iran of supporting terrorist groups and secretly trying to produce nuclear bombs, and is concerned by its courting of allies in Latin America. Shannon urged the region's governments to respect UN-backed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program and recalled accusations that Iran was involved in attacks on the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community center in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires during the 1990s. "We urge our friends and partners in the region to be vigilant," he said, adding that those attacks show Iran is able "to conduct terrorist operations within the Americas".

May 9….(Hal Lindsay) The United States developed the “Manhattan Project” for the express purpose of creating a weapon that would defeat the Axis Powers and bring the Second World War to a close. It used its super-weapon exactly twice; once over Hiroshima and a second over Nagasaki a few days later. Historians can debate over the details, speculate about Washington’s motives, argue over whether or not the weapon should ever have been developed, but none of that changes the bare facts. The Japanese had already demonstrated their willingness to fight to the last man at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan and Okinawa. The day before the Enola Gay dropped “Fat Man” over Hiroshima, the Japanese Imperial command was planning the defense of the home islands. Millions of Japanese civilians prepared to sacrifice themselves for their Emperor. A week later, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. In 1948, the USSR officially became the world's second nuclear power setting off an arms race appropriately nicknamed the MAD Doctrine, for Mutually Assured Destruction. War equaled global annihilation, and peace prevailed. A cold peace, but it was the longest period of peace between the three world wars of the 20th century. As Osama bin Laden was issuing is declaration of war against America in 1996, Pakistan and North Korea were independently preparing to upset the delicate balance in the MAD Doctrine by developing their own nuclear weapons programs. The ‘Father of the Islamic Bomb’, AQ Khan set up a nuclear proliferation network to assist other Islamic states in developing their own nuclear weapons programs. After seeing the fate of Saddam Hussien, Libya’s Muammar Khadaffi announced his nation was part of the AQ Khan network and asked the UN to please come and dismantle his network, before somebody else got hurt. But the nuclear genie was out of the bottle. When the Iranian nuclear weapons program was uncovered, Moscow denied the evidence and continued to fulfill its multi-billion dollar nuclear contracts in defiance of international pleas. Suddenly, everybody in the neighborhood wanted his own nuclear programs. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey are all on record as seeking their own nuclear programs. Last fall, Israeli Defense Forces conducted a sneak air attack against an unnamed target deep inside eastern Syria along the Euphrates River. Rumors that the target was a Syrian nuclear facility were laughed off the by UN’s atomic energy watchdogs, who said Syria lacked the capacity. Syria initially denied the Israeli air strike, claiming an explosion in an aging underground weapons bunker. On Thursday, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told the House Intelligence agency that Syria not only had a nuclear reactor, but also was only weeks from being functional when Israel destroyed it. The reactor was of North Korean design and believed to be built by the North Koreans in Syria. One has to ask, why the sudden, insatiable hunger for nuclear power among the nations of the Islamic Middle East? The ‘peaceful energy use’ argument doesn’t pass the laugh test, the Middle East is awash with oil. Clearly, the only logical alternative explanation is nuclear weapons. This forces another important question. Why? For self-defense against their Muslim neighbors? This is like arguing in favor of using a sledgehammer when only a flyswatter is needed. Wars in the Middle East are between family members. Muslims aren’t dumb enough to obliterate their neighbors and leave their own neighborhoods uninhabitable for 500 years or so. The number one target is Israel. But they aren’t likely to use them to obliterate Israel, for the same reason that kept America and Russia at bay for half a century, Mutually Assured Destruction, PLUS the risk of destroying the sacred sites of Jerusalem. And any use of nuclear weapons on Israel would have lethal effects on many neighboring Muslim nations. Radioactive fallout plays no favorites. It travels with the winds as they will. In the light of this, I can’t help but wonder if even they know why they want nukes. But nevertheless, they can’t seem to help themselves. The answers come quickly if we consult the ancient Hebrew prophets. They clearly predict that Israel will be attacked by a Russian-Iranian led Islamic alliance in one last suicidal attempt in the last days to obliterate Israel. But the prophet Ezekiel predicts the armies will fall upon the mountains of Israel in a battle he describes this way: “And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.” (Ezekiel 38:23) This is the same battlefield predicted by the prophet Joel. He portrays the scene as “wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.” (Joel 2:30) “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” (Zechariah 14:12) Note that their flesh will be consumed while they are still standing on their feet. Something completely unknown until 25 centuries later with the advent of thermonuclear warheads. Each of these passages describes the effects of nuclear war, as seen from the perspective of humans being shown by God technologies far beyond their wildest dreams. At that time, they had never even heard of gunpowder, let alone a colossal column of smoke that spewed fire, molten elements and giant hailstones. And how would someone in the 6th and 5th century BC describe an entire battlefield formation being vaporized by a battlefield nuke? According to the Bible, the invading Islamic alliance will bring nukes to the party. According to the latest intelligence reports, the Islamic world is actively seeking nukes to defend itself against unseen enemies, for reasons they can’t fully explain even to themselves. And all of this is being pursued headlong despite the costs both to their budgets and their international standing. It would appear that they are preparing for a war they don’t yet know they are going to fight. This is exactly the scenario the Bible prophets spelled out centuries ago. We are indeed living in the very last of the last days. Keep tuned for the sound of the trumpet.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his top lieutenants on Monday are convening the first meeting of the UN’s Task Force on the Global Food Crisis. Ban says it will “study the root causes of the crisis,” and propose solutions for “coordinated global action” at a summit of world leaders in June.

May 9….(Fox News) UN Secretary Ban might want to consider convincing the oil-rich nations of the Middle East to provide more than the near-invisible amount of money they currently give to the World Food Program (WFP), the UN’s food-giving arm, which is charged with alleviating the food crisis. WFP internal documents show that the major oil producing nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gives almost nothing to the food organization, even as skyrocketing oil prices and swollen oil revenues contribute to the very crisis that the UN claims could soon add 100 million more people to the world’s starving masses. The overwhelming bulk of the burden in feeding the world’s starving poor remains with the United States and a small group of other predominately Western nations, a situation that the WFP has done little so far to change, even as it has asked for another $775 million in donations to ease the crisis. Donor listings on WFP’s website show that this year, as in every year since 1999, the US is far and away the biggest aid provider to WFP. Since 2001, US donations to the food agency have averaged more than $1.16 billion annually, or more than five times as much as the next biggest donor, the European Commission. This year, the US had contributed $362.7 million to WFP just through May 4, according to the website. That figure does not include another $250 million above the planned yearly contribution that was promised by President George W. Bush in the wake of WFP’s April warning that a “silent tsunami” of rising food costs would add dramatically to the world population living in hunger. Nor does it include another $770 million in food aid that President Bush has asked Congress to provide as soon as possible. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, with oil revenues last year of $164 billion, does not even appear on the website donor list for 2008. And while Canada, Australia, Western Europe and Japan have hastened to pony up an additional $260 million in aid since WFP’s latest appeal, the world organization told FOX News, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the international oil cartel, tossed in a grand total of $1.5 million in addition to the $50,000 it had previously donated. The OPEC total amounts to roughly one minute and 10 seconds worth of the organization’s estimated $674 billion in annual oil revenues in 2007, revenues that will be vastly exceeded in 2008 with the continuing spiral in world oil prices. The only other major oil exporter who made the WFP list of 2008 donors was the United Arab Emirates, which kicked in $50,000. UAE oil revenues in 2007 were $63 billion. By contrast, the poverty-stricken African republic of Burkina Faso is listed as donating more than $600,000, and Bangladesh, perennial home of many of the world’s hungriest people, is listed as donating nearly $5.8 million.

FOJ Note: It should be noted that Islamic nations are not nearly as charitable as the US. Rarely ever does a Muslim nation send aid to nations that are suffering from calamities. Why?

(Gunmen loyal to Nasrallah took control of the Muslim part of the Lebanese capital and seized outlets owned by governing coalition leader Hariri; Lebanese troops begin taking up positions in some Sunni neighborhoods. Saudi Arabia, calls for emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers over crisis)

May 9….(YNET) Lebanese troops began taking up positions in some Sunni neighborhoods abandoned by the pro-government groups, but remained outside of the clashes, while elsewhere well-equipped Hizbullah fighters marched through Sunni neighborhoods. Security sources said at least 11 people had been killed and 30 wounded in three days of battles between pro-government gunmen and fighters loyal to Hizbullah, a Shiite political movement with a powerful guerrilla army. The fighting, the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war, was triggered this week after the government took decisions targeting Hizbullah's military communications network. Hezbollah cliams the government had declared war on it. In scenes reminiscent of the darkest days of the civil war, young men armed with assault rifles roamed the streets amid smashed cars and smoldering buildings. The sound of exploding grenades and automatic gunfire echoed across a city still rebuilding from the 1975-90 conflict. Saudi Arabia, a strong backer of the governing coalition, called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers over the crisis, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported.

"The party, regardless of its military strength, cannot annul the other," Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Druze minority, told LBC television station from his home in Beirut. Hizbullah gunmen took control of media outlets owned by governing coalition leader Saad al-Hariri, Lebanon's strongest Sunni politician. Hariri's television and radio stations were forced off the air. Hizbullah, a Shiite group also backed by Syria, has been steadily seizing offices of pro-government factions in the predominantly Muslim western half of the city. Backed by the Shiite Amal group, Hizbullah fighters taken over Beirut from the government.

A security source said Hizbullah and its allies were in control all of the mainly Muslim half of Beirut after pro-government gunmen laid down their weapons in their last bastion. The gunmen in Tarek al-Jadeedi, a Sunni area whose residents are loyal to Hariri, had been in contact with Hizbullah to surrender, handing their posts to the Lebanese army. "It certainly leaves the government weaker and the Future movement weaker," said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. "Hizbullah is dominating most of west Beirut." But the group did not want to be seen as "occupiers of Beirut" by keeping its fighters in areas whose residents' political loyalties lie with Hariri or his allies, he said. Handing control to the army appeared the most likely exit. Hizbullah also kept its grip on roads leading to Beirut's international airport, which has been mostly paralyzed since Wednesday. National carrier Middle East Airlines said all of its flights would be postponed until Saturday and Beirut seaport authority shut down the facility. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday the government had declared of war by declaring the communications network illegal. The fighting intensified after he finished speaking. Hizbullah on Thursday rejected a proposal by Hariri to end the crisis. Nasrallah said the government must rescind its decisions and attend talks aimed at ending the political crisis. The UN Security Council called for "calm and restraint", urging all sides to return to peaceful dialogue. The White House urged Hizbullah to stop "disruptive" acts and France, another firm backer of Hariri, called for a peaceful resolution. Hizbullah, backed by Iran and Syria, has led a 17-month-long political campaign against Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's anti-Syrian cabinet. The group was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the civil war to fight Israeli forces occupying the south. Israel withdrew in 2000 and the fate of Hizbullah's weapons is at the heart of the political crisis.

('Iran is responsible for what is happening in Lebanon,' coalition member tells Al-Arabiya TV. Peres: We knew Hizbullah would lead Lebanon to brink of civil war)

May 9….(YNET) Iran is responsible for what is happening in Lebanon. The subject now should be the Iranian attack on Lebanon. They want us to surrender totally without any compensation," Lebanese Sports Minister Ahmed Fatfat said Friday during an interview with the Al-Arabiya television network Friday amid reports that Hizbullah gunmen seized control of large parts of Beirut. "Hizbullah has turned from an opposition party into a militia attempting to impose its control. I think Hizbullah believes that the way to Tel Aviv passes through Beirut," he said. Fatfat said Hizbullah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah had "taken advantage of the government's decision to outlaw the Shiite group's communications network in order to declare war." According to the minister, regardless of whether a "Gaza-like" revolt occurs in Lebanon, "the government will remain legitimate." "We do not want a civil war, and we've decided to confront them politically, not militarily," Fatfat said. "We do not have gunmen like they do." Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres played down Israeli concerns at Hizbullah's move to expand its control in Beirut on Friday but said he hoped the Lebanese people would step back from the brink of civil war. "It's not a total surprise. We knew that Hizbullah is going to divide the country and lead it to the verge of a civil war," Israel's elder statesman told reporters. Knesset Mmeber Silvan Shalom (Likud) said of about the escalating violence in Beirut, "The world must intervene immediately for the good of the moderate people and prevent the Iranian occupation of Lebanon. "An Iranian takeover would create Shiite succession that could threaten the stability of the Middle East and the entire world. The UN Security Council must be convened in order to prevent this irreversible situation," he said. Security sources said at least 11 people had been killed and 30 wounded in three days of battles between pro-government gunmen and fighters loyal to Hizbullah, a Shiite political movement with a powerful guerrilla army. The fighting, the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war, was triggered this week after the government took decisions targeting Hizbullah's military communications network.

Hizbullah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah claimed the Lebanese government had declared war by outlawing its telecommunications network, which it called “the most important part of the weapons of the resistance.” The government deemed the independent Hizbullah land lines and private communications system a threat to national security. After a marathon 11-hour meeting that stretched from Monday night into Tuesday morning, the Cabinet also decided to fire airport security chief Brig.-Gen. Wafiq Shoukair for alleged ties to the terrorist group, further enraging Hizbullah. It also said Hizbullah has been flying weapons from Iran on a routine basis. “The decision is tantamount to a declaration of war, on the resistance and its weapons, in the interest of America and Israel,” Nasrallah said, adding that he himself was “not declaring war,” but was “declaring a decision of self-defense. “Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them. Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off,” warned Nasrallah in a speech broadcast live on TV Thursday by a videolink hookup from a secret hideout. Nasrallah almost never appears in public due to his fears of assassination by Israeli operatives.

The fighting began Wednesday when Hizbullah supporters blocked Beirut streets on Wednesday with burning barricades, paralyzing the capital. Activists claimed they were enforcing a national strike, forcing a showdown in the ongoing government crisis. Rioters torched vehicles, smashed windows and blocked the main road to Beirut International Airport, the nation’s only air link to the outside world. Most main arteries in and out of the capital were cut off and by the end of the day the border with Syria had been shut down as well.

Nasrallah speaks from his hiding place, via a video link, during a press conference live on television in a suburb of Beirut. Hezbollah gunmen seized control of west Beirut.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora was holed up at his office along with several ministers in downtown Beirut, which is heavily protected by troops and police. A Hizbullah protest encampment that has been there for 17 months near his office has not made any move against the complex. "Even if Hizbullah's militia take everything over we remain the constitutional authority," vowed Cabinet member Ahmed Fatfat, who said the prime minister and some ministers were staying at the government compound. "The legitimacy is with the government," he told Al-Arabiya television from the building. Jumblatt, speaking from his residence to LBC television, said he will stay put under the protection of the Lebanese army. He said he was ready for dialogue with the opposition but warned Hizbullah: "no one can take over Beirut unilaterally, No party however militarily powerful can finish off the other one." President Shimon Peres said it was clear that the onsalaught was part of Iran's attempts to take over the Middle East. "It is a tragedy for Lebanese residents," added Peres. "It has no connection whatsoever with Israel. It is internal conflict." "As a human being and as an Israeli I pray that a civil war is avoided," he said, Army Radio reported. Syrian President Bashar Assad said that the crisis unfolding in Lebanon was an internal issue and that Damascus hoped a solution would be found soon. The clashes are the latest turn in a test of wills between the Hizbullah -led opposition and the government of Saniora. The US-backed government has only a slim majority in parliament, and the two sides have been locked in a 17-month power struggle that has kept government at a standstill.

Lebanese Army Chief Betrays Government While Syria Back Hizballah’s Conquest of Beirut

May 9….(DEBKA) At least 11 people were killed Friday, May 9, Day 3 of fierce clashes between Hizballah and pro-government forces, the worst since the 1975-90 civil war. At noon, Syrian Social Nationalist Party’s units entered Beirut to support Hizballah’s advancing occupation of Sunni West Beirut districts. DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report that Thursday night, army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman refused to obey prime minister Fouad Siniora’s order to declare a state of emergency for the crisis created by Hizballah’s declaration of war against the government. The general warned that if the government enacted an emergency, he would order the troops to return to barracks. The SSNP is a Greek Orthodox arm of Syrian military intelligence. Hizballah and fellow Shiite Amal fighters were thus able to seize control of most of pr-government Sunni West Beirut in clashes that have spread to other parts of the Lebanon while the government was left unprotected. The urban warfare shut down Lebanon's port and all but closed the international airport, with burning barricades on major highways in Beirut. The army has only interfered in extreme situations. Friday, soldiers rescued the anti-Syrian majority leader Saad Hariri and allied Druze leader Walid Jumblatt when their mansions were surrounded and attacked by Shiite forces, but they did not make the assailants move out. The Lebanese army, half of whose members are Shiites, thus permitted Hizballah and Amal clinch their control of the Sunni neighborhoods. The Lebanese army also took over the pro-government Future TV station and newspaper owned by Hariri after they were blown up. The army agreed to keep the station off the air. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the United States, France and Israel are watching passively as Lebanon falls to Iran’s surrogate terrorist group Hizballah. Since the 2006 Lebanon war, prime minister Ehud Olmert has insisted improbably that the conflict had left Hizballah seriously weakened. Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Thursday night that the only way to stop the violence was for the “black gang” ruling the government to withdraw its decisions to close his military telecommunications network and restore Hizballah loyalists to key positions at Beirut international airport.

Hezbollah Stirs up Violence in Beirut

(FOJ) Lebanese soldiers patrol a Beirut street in front of a poster of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora during a protest called by Hezbollah. Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition militants blocked roads with burning tires and paralyzed the airport in the capital city of Beirut to enforce a strike against the Western-backed Siniora government. Bible prophecy indicates that the “burden of Damascus” involves prophecies concerning Lebanon.

(FOJ) A Shi'ite opposition gunman fires a rocket at government troops in a street in Beirut. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization tightened its grip on Beirut airport, pilling up political pressure on Lebanon's US-backed government on the second day of a protest campaign that has triggered gun battles in the capital. Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy organization whose agenda is to control Lebanon in order to wage war on Israel to the south.

May 8….(FOJ) Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah accused the US-supported Lebanese government of declaring war on it by targeting its communications network. Hezbollah initiated strikes and fires across the capital city, pushing the country closer to civil war. Iranian-backed Shiite supporters of Hezbollah and Sunnis backing the government clashed in several Beirut neighborhoods with automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenades, security officials and witnesses said. The latest clashes followed a defiant speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in which he said the militant organizations would respond with force to any attacks. It was the second day of clashes that have turned some city neighborhoods into virtual battle fronts. The sectarian confrontations have also spilled over into other parts of the country. There was no immediate word on casualties in the latest Beirut fighting. Hezbollah launched a new street campaign on today, piling pressure on the Siniora government after it declared the network to Iran and Damascus illegal and removed the head of airport security, a figure close to the group, from his post. Supporters of Hezbollah and its allies blocked roads leading to the airport, Lebanon's only air link to the outside world, and other main streets, paralyzing much of the capital. The fiery Nasrallah said, "this decision is a declaration of war and the launching of war by the government against the resistance (Hezbollah terror organization) and its weapons for the benefit of America and Israel." The Iranian sponsored fixed-line network that connects the group's officials, military commanders and positions is a vital part of the military structure of the group, which fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006. Hezbollah has led a political campaign against Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's anti-Syrian cabinet. The crisis has paralyzed much of the government, left Lebanon with no president for five months and led to bouts of violence and assassinations. Hezbollah was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the civil war, to fight Israeli forces south of Lebanon. Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon in 2000 and the fate of Hezbollah's weapons is at the heart of the present political crisis. The UN resolution ending the 2006 war supposedly called for the disarmament of Hezbollah, but the UN has turned a blind eye to Hezbollah’s constant military buildup in Lebanon.

(FOJ) Palestinians paraded giant keys through their cities in a mocking charge that Israel stole their homes. Here a man displays a key in front of a poster reading in Arabic, 'Sixty years of catastrophe'. Palestinians refer to Israel’s rebirth as “al nakba” or the great catastrophe.

(FOJ) Israelis wave their national flag while fireworks kick off the celebration for the 60th anniversary in Jerusalem. Israel celebrated its anniversary with displays of military might as Palestinians marked the day as a day when they lost the land in a war. Albeit the war was launched by neighboring Arab nations to destroy the new state of Israel. However, the rebirth of Israel is an issue of Bible prophecy.

(FOJ) US President George W. Bush flanked by Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Bush will "reaffirm his personal commitment to ace" between Israel and the Palestinians during his strongly symbolic visit next week to the Middle East. Parting the land is a serious sin in God’s eyes. While it appears to be pragmatic, it will haunt/curse the US.

(FOJ) An Israeli police officer prays surrounded by children at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, in the Old City of Jerusalem to mark israel’s 60th Independence Day. A generation is about to pass in Israel’s process of regathering.

(FOJ) A laser light show and fireworks are seen during Independence Day festivities in Jerusalem, May 7, 2008. Israel is marking its 60th Independence Day, which began at sundown Wednesday with a great sense of pride but also uncertainty about its future and doubts about prospects for peace with the Palestinians. The whole world is ill at ease about Israel.


(FOJ) These fireworks over Jerusalem seem to symbolize 2 things. (1) the excitement of Israelis for their homeland infuriates the Palestinians all the more. (2) Bible Prophecy indicates there will fireworks over Jerusalem in the future when the Prince of Peace comes.

May 8….(Reuters) US President George W. Bush, seeking a Middle East peace legacy that eluded his predecessors, said on Tuesday he is still hopeful an Israeli-Palestinian deal can be reached before he leaves office in January. Bush will encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders to move forward when he meets them separately in Israel and Egypt during a May 13-18 trip that includes a visit to Saudi Arabia. Negotiations have bogged down since Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November where both sides pledged to try to reach a peace deal by the end of his term. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after meeting with Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week in Washington, came away disappointed and pessimistic about prospects for a deal this year, according to aides. Bush offered a more optimistic assessment. "I'm still hopeful we'll get an agreement by the end of my presidency," he said at a news conference at the White House. He accused Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, of trying to undermine peace efforts. But he avoided direct criticism of former US President Jimmy Carter, who met the Palestinian group's leadership to try to pull them into peace talks with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Bush made clear he would not have a similar engagement with Hamas, an Islamist group that advocates Israel's destruction and which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization. "They are a significant problem to world peace, or Middle Eastern peace. And that's the reason I'm not talking to them," Bush said. President Bush also accused Syria of helping Hamas and mentioned that Iran was also aiding the group. "So when you want to talk about peace being difficult in the Middle East, it's going to be difficult, but it's even made more difficult by entities like Hamas," he said. Yet, Secretary Rice has urged Israel to make some sacrifices for peace. "Difficult decisions are coming. Difficult decisions will have to be made," Rice told the American Jewish Committee. "Israel can be bold in the pursuit of peace, for America is fully behind her and fully committed to her security." Bush, whose stated goal is the creation of a Palestinian state co-existing peacefully with Israel, said of his talks with Abbas and Olmert that "the attitude is good. People do understand the importance of getting a state defined." President Bush's visit to Israel will be his second this year. His January trip to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank was his first in seven years at the White House, raising skepticism about his commitment to the peace process. As for his stop in Saudi Arabia, Bush is under pressure at home to do something about record-high oil prices that are dragging down the US economy. The White House has said there is no short-term fix to the problem. On his last visit to Saudi Arabia, Bush urged OPEC to boost production because the high price of oil was hurting the economies of its customers, but the oil group ignored the President’s pleas.

May 8…..(Jewish World Review) In the course of a lengthy essay in The Atlantic, writer Jeffrey Goldberg quotes an encounter he had with a Gazan imam named Ibrahim Mudeiris, who had just delivered a sermon in which he had described the Jews as "the sons of apes and pigs." Mudeiris summed up the current standoff between Israel and the Hamas movement which currently runs Gaza by saying, "It does not matter what the Jews do. We will not let them have peace." He went on to describe the futility with which generations of Israelis have sought to deal with the Palestinians succinctly: "They can be nice to us or they can kill us, it doesn't matter. If we have a cease-fire with the Jews, it is only so that we can prepare ourselves for the final battle." What can the Israelis do when faced with such intransigence?

War was inevitable, not because the Zionists were imperfect or wanted of a larger Jewish state than the truncated province offered them in the various partition plans, but because the Arabs never once considered making peace with the Jews on any terms. The 1948 war, from the Arabs' perspective, was a war of religion as much as, if not more than a nationalist war over territory. Put another way, the territory was sacred in its violation by infidels [Jews] was sufficient grounds for launching a holy war and its conquest or reconquest, a divinely ordained necessity. The evidence is abundant and clear that many, if not most, in the Arab world viewed the war against Israel as essentially as a holy war."

As for the tragedy of Palestinian refugees, the refugee problem was created by the war, which the Arabs launched. And lest we forget, there were two sets of refugees created by the war against Israel as nearly as many Jews were forced to flee from Arab countries as Arabs who fled from Israel.

Sixty years after winning a brutal war in which there was plenty of nastiness on both sides, the problem for Israel remains the same. Despite Israel's willingness to make peace and share the land, the Arabs are still refusing to do so under any circumstances. Thus the 1948 war, and its later campaigns has haunted, and still haunts, the Arab world on the deepest levels of the collective identity, ego and pride. The war was a humiliation from which their world has yet to recover. The "jihadi impulse" is, more than ever, the dominant motive in Islamic life and nothing the Israelis can do or say will change that. All they can do is what they did in 1948, win and survive, and hope that their enemies will eventually have a change of heart. But the challenge from Iran and its terrorist allies leaves the whole world threatened by the whole conflict.

May 8….(Newsmax) While Barack Obama has finally distanced himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright after a 20-year relationship, the pastor who is replacing Wright at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ is likely to be just as controversial. New Trinity pastor Otis Moss has called Biblical patriarch Abraham a “pimp” and made other statements many would consider offensive. After Obama called Wright’s comments “divisive and destructive,” a questioner noted that Rev. Moss has defended Wright and asked if Obama would continue attending the church. “Well, the new pastor, the young pastor, Reverend Otis Moss, is a wonderful young pastor,” Obama responded. “And as I said, I still very much value the Trinity community.” Moss, the 37-year-old “hip-hop pastor,” as he’s called by congregants, will become head of Trinity in June, after serving as an assistant pastor there for two years. But a videotape of a sermon he delivered at Wright’s church shows this “wonderful young pastor” referring to “ghetto prophets” and “thug theology,” calling the late rapper Tupac Shakur a “prophet,” and reciting at length lyrics to Shakur’s song “Thugz Mansion.” In his Easter sermon, Moss said Wright was “lynched” by the international media, and compared Wright to Jesus.

(As Turkey works to hold meeting between Israeli, Syrian officials, source in Damascus tells Egyptian newspaper there is no chance for such a session, as real talks can only begin under new US administration)

May 8….(YNET) Turkey is interested in getting senior Israeli and Syrian officials to sign a joint declaration in an upcoming meeting, which may take place in Istanbul, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported Thursday. This declaration is mean to be the first result of the secret mediation, but it appears that it is too early to be optimistic. A Syrian source has told the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram that the negotiations can only move forward when after the Bush administration era. Turkey postponed the meeting after Damascus declared that Israel had agreed to fully withdraw from the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, Ankara continues to insist that the talks, which have been going on for about a year now, be kept in the dark. The sources told al-Hayat that the Turkish officials believe secrecy is the main reason for the talks' success and for the creation of trust between the parties. This is why Turkish officials refrain from discussing the issue and addressing suspicions regarding Turkey's intentions. The sources refused to commit that Syria would cut its ties with Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran should a peace agreement be signed, but estimated that a peace process between Israel and Syria would have to take place in addition to a process between Israel and Lebanon. A Syrian source told al-Ahram that he did not see a real opportunity to hold a meeting between Israeli and Syrian officials, due to the fact that the Bush administration still controls Washington. The source said that real negotiations between the two countries could only begin next year under a new US administration.

(US president announces decision to continue for one year freeze on Syrian assets, ban on export of certain goods to Damascus, following Washington's charge that country had been building nuclear reactor with North Korea's help)

May 8….(YNET) US President George W. Bush said Wednesday he was extending US sanctions against Syria following Washington's charge that Damascus had been building a nuclear reactor with North Korea's help. Bush announced his decision to continue for one year a freeze on Syrian assets and the ban on the export of certain goods to Syria in an executive order and a message to the US Congress. "I took these actions to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by the actions of the Government of Syria," Bush said in the order. He accused Syria of "supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs including the recent revelation of illicit nuclear cooperation with North Korea." The US president also said Syria was "undermining US and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq." Bush initially slapped sanctions on Syria in May 2004, then extended them in April 2006 and widened them in February to target officials engaged in "public corruption," amid charges Damascus was destabilizing Iraq and Lebanon. Last month, US national security officials presented intelligence they said showed Syria had been building a secret nuclear reactor for military ends.

May 8….(DEBKA) Pro-Western Siniora government and Iran-Syria-backed Hizballah forces exchanged fire in the streets of Beirut Wednesday, May 7. DEBKAfile’s sources report both have ordered a general call-up of their adherents. Hizballah fighters clad in national army and police uniforms are infiltrating government party strongholds in the capital to seize control. In the north and the western Beqaa Valley region of Kharoub, government forces are mobilizing. First units have been sighted heading for Beirut. During the day, Hizballah blocked the roads leading to the airport and vowed to keep it under siege until the Siniora government goes back on the decision announced Tuesday, May 6, to shut down the private telecommunications network Iran installed for the group and reinstate the pro-Hizballah airport director Gen. Wafiq Shuqeir. To pile up anti-government pressure, Hizballah called labor unions out on strike. General Shuqeir was removed after Druze Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt accused Hizballah of installing spy cameras at the airport to monitor the movements of Lebanese and foreign leaders. Jumblatt said incoming flights were bringing the Shiite militia supplies of weapons from Iran. On August 9, 2007, DEBKAfile first revealed that Iranian military engineers were installing a secret underground telecommunications system to support Hizballah’s missile unit. The network runs through south Beirut, the Beqaa Valley’s Yohmor region near the Syrian border, where Hizballah and the Palestinian Popular Front-GC keep their training facilities, and connect the southern towns of Tyre on the Mediterranean with Abassieh, seat of Hizballah’s southern headquarters. For the ten months during which this military telecommunications network was being installed, the Beirut government did not dare touch it. Prime minister Fouad Siniora finally decided enough was enough when satellite images provided by Western agencies showed work on connecting Hizballah’s network with the communications and eavesdropping systems set up by the Syrian army along the Lebanese border. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the two networks and their linkage are part of military preparations by Iran, Syria and Hizballah for a possible new war with Israel.

May 8….(Washington Times) Sixty years ago this month, the state of Israel was founded, a nation born with a knife at its throat. Within hours of the United Nations General Assembly's decision to partition British-ruled Palestine into two independent states, one majority Jewish, the other Arab, Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, whereupon seven Arab armies invaded in an unsuccessful attempt to wipe it off the map. It's unpleasant to talk about, but one parallel between May 1948 and May 2008 needs a more open public discussion as President Bush prepares to visit Israel next week to commemorate Israel's birthday: When it comes to legitimate Israeli security concerns, the State Department still seems clueless 60 years later. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in a very weak position domestically; Israel is rife with rumors of his impending political demise as a result of myriad corruption investigations. Yet rather than let the Israeli electorate deal with a potential government crisis, it appears that President Bush and Secretary Rice have decided to ramp up the pressure on Israel to make life-and-death concessions to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a man whose serial incompetence got him run out of Gaza by Hamas, and whose own security record is shaky at best. Miss Rice and other US diplomats pronounce themselves dissatisfied over the pace at which Israel has been taking down anti-terror security roadblocks in the West Bank, and the secretary is dispatching observers to various West Bank locations in order to satisfy herself that Israel is jettisoning them quickly enough. While reducing limitations on Palestinian freedom of movement is a commendable goal, it needs to be balanced against the real danger that doing this could make it easier for terrorists to come and go without detection. These checkpoints are part of a layered system of security that has enabled Israel to dramatically reduce the number of suicide attacks directed at its civilian population, Arab and Jewish, in places like Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa during the past five years. But from conversations we've had with State Department officials, the real-world security implications seem to be overlooked in the Bush administration's bid to obtain a "peacemaking" legacy for itself. Sixty years ago this month, Secretary of State George Marshall was mucking up Middle East policy in his own way. On May 12, 13 and 14, 1948, for example, Gen. Marshall and aides waged a last-gasp bureaucratic battle behind the scenes in an unsuccessful effort to dissuade President Truman from recognizing the coming state of Israel. (Fortunately, President Truman immediately recognized Israel) Fast forward to today, and Miss Rice (this time with presidential approval) seems determined to pound a weak Israeli government into a series of untenable security concessions.

May 7….(Jerusalem Post) With Iran racing forward with its nuclear program, Israel now believes the Islamic Republic will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enri

WEEK OF MAY 11 THROUGH MAY 17

British: China Preparing for Nuclear War

'Bush to Offer Israel Powerful Radar FOR Defense'

Hizballah Has Made Lebanon an Iranian Vassal

Hezbollah Stirs up Violence in Beirut