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I hope that it will lead to a positive conclusion," Peres said. Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi warned that the media reports on progress in the talks "could harm the efforts" to release Schalit. "We have a deep commitment to release Gilad and this is a joint effort by everyone, but it needs to stay behind the scenes," he said. "This is what will contribute to his returning home quickly." Despite his words, the Israeli, international and Arab media churned out headlines throughout the day on an imminent agreement. Fox News reported that a deal had taken "another important step" forward and that Israel has approved a Hamas list of 70 additional names that met its criteria for release. Israel originally had reservations about 70 names on a Hamas list of 450 security prisoners it demanded in exchange for Schalit, 22, who has been held by Hamas in Gaza since June 2006. According to Al-Arabiya satellite news, senior Hamas officials arrive in Cairo today (Monday) for talks with Egyptian officials and Gaza-based Hamas officials. Usama Mazeini, a Hamas official involved in the German-brokered negotiations over Schalit, told Hamas newsletter Al-Risala on Saturday that the remaining "obstacles" were close to being resolved. He gave no further details, but the publthe release of hundreds of prisoners will boost its popularity and help it win the next PA elections. On Sunday night, 10 IDF reservists who have worked for Schalit's release met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in his Tel Aviv office for an hour and a half. It was a "positive, serious and open conversation," St.-Sgt. (res.) Tzachi Leon told The Jerusalem Post, adding that he understood that serious and difficult negotiations were under way. The group left with the feeling that Barak is determined to advance the negotiations and that releasing Schalit is important to him, Leon said. He did not want to say more for fear of prejudicing the negotiations. But even as Schalit supporters expressed cautious optimism that a breakthrough might be imminent, opponents of a prisoner swap quickly mobilized to prevent it. The Almagor Terror Victims Association plans to set up a protest tent in front of the Prime Minister's Residence on Monday and to hold a rally there on Wednesday. On Tuesday, it will lobby legislators in the Knesset. The group has long said that those released in such deals are likely to carry more more deadly attacks against Israelis. It has also said that such deals encourage groups such as Hamas to kidnap more soldiers. Lt.-Col. (res.) Dan Zion said that a prisoner release was "immoral" and could lead to a third intifada. The same government that believes it can stop Iran's nuclear program, can most certainly figure out how to rescue one soldier from Gaza without releasing prisoners who are likely to kill more Israelis, Zion said. He added that while he wants to see Schalit released, it should not be done at "any price." As someone who had led a squadron in the air force and had flown missions over enemy territory, he never expected the government to release terrorists to free him if he were captured, he said. But supporters of a swap have argued that the principle of returning soldiers to Israel is one of the cornerstones of IDF service, and failure to adhere to it would create a crisis in morale that would deter future soldiers from serving in the army. Leon said that should a deal be announced, Schalit supporters would immediately work to mobilize support for its implementation. "We will do all we can do," he said. Leon did not like the idea of releasing terrorists, but "there is no other choice," he said. Barak Ravid, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz, report: There are telling signs out there: Al-Arabiya reports that Hamas sources say a deal on kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit will be reached in a few days. Fox, the American network, says that Hamas has presented a new list of prisoners it is asking to be released in exchange for Shalit. President Shimon Peres mentioned "significant progress" in negotiations, and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi warned that any media reports on the talks may endanger then. The activists calling for Shalit's release have been asked to "tone down" their activity. Much of Peres' meeting with Egyptian Oresident Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday was devoted to Shalit, and the two updated each other on contacts with the German mediator. They also discussed the diplomatic impasse in talks with the Palestinian Authority. Before leaving for Cairo on Sunday morning, Peres met with Netanyahu for two hours at the President's Residence. Peres told Mubarak about steps Netanyahu would be willing to take if talks with the Palestinians were renewed, steps regarding a freeze in construction in the settlements and the dismantling of illegal outposts. National Security Adviser Uzi Arad, who joined Peres on his trip to Cairo, met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman but did not take part in the Peres-Mubarak meeting. The two presidents were alone for most of the meeting, except for 15 minutes at the end, during which Peres adviser Avi Gil took part. Arad was present at the luncheon Mubarak hosted for the Israeli delegation, and spoke mainly with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Ayman Taha, a senior Hamas figure, confirmed on Sunday that a delegation in Cairo will meet with Egyptian intelligence officials and probably the German mediator, too. In response to a question by Haaretz as to whether the deal can be concluded by Id al-Adha on Friday, Taha was careful: "God willing ... things are moving." Notwithstanding the caution, this is the most optimism Hamas leaders have ever expressed when it comes to reports that a deal is near. Moreover, the fact that the Egyptians are now letting Hamas leaders enter the countryafter barring them following their refusal to sign the reconciliation agreement with Fatah that Cairo had preparedis in and of itself a positive development. Another positive development is Saturday's announcement by Fathi Hamad, Hamas' interior minister, that rocket fire on Israel would end, following a deal among the various Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip. It is doubtful that the timing of the announcement is coincidental. Hamas needs quiet, because it does not want a local incident to torpedo a deal. In Israel, the theory is that because the government is more right-wing, it will be more difficult for the prime minister to gain approval for freeing prisoners. This is not necessarily the case. If a deal is brought before the cabinet for approval, it means Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is backing it. Support from Defense Minister Ehud Barak is guaranteed, and has been since his days in the government of Ehud Olmert. Shas will follow its spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, who backs concessions for prisoner releases. Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Shin Bet boss Yuval Diskin probably will oppose the move, but Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi probably will back it. What is unusual in this instance is the role of military censorship: Compared to previous times, there is a near absolute blackout. The censor, Colonel Sima Vaknin-Gil, says that preventing detailed reporting is not directed at public opinion, and is merely to allow the negotiations to continue unhindered. Editorial: What price Schalit? Jerusalem Post Arab press reports, echoed in Israel, claim that Gilad Schalit's long ordeal in Hamas captivity may be nearing its end, perhaps even this weekend to coincide with Id al-Adha, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the Haj. There are other hints something is afoot. Shimon Peres was in Cairo yesterday [Sunday] to see President Hosni Mubarak. Guido Westerwelle, the new German foreign minister, is here today to meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The Germans are acting as brokers between Hamas and Israel. Lastly, perhaps to stabilize conditions pending a prisoner exchange, Hamas said it had reached agreements with the other Gaza terror groups not to attack Israel without coordination. That news came after Kassams slammed into Sderot on Saturday. But the IAF's retaliation against weapons factories and a smuggling tunnel in Gaza prompted Hamas's own military wing to threaten further attacks. And Islamic Jihad denied it was party to any arrangement in the first place. Since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead in January, 270 rockets and mortars have been lobbed at Israel from the Strip. When it comes to Schalit, it's hard to know where the spin ends and the news begins. According to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, Israel is poised to free hundreds upon hundreds of Palestinians in exchange for our young soldier. From the time he was taken in June 2006, Hamas has been holding firm to its demands that it will free Schalit only in exchange for 1,000 of its operatives held by Israel. The present haggling, Arab reports imply, is partly over whether, once at large, the masterminds of the Sbarro, Moment Cafe and Dolphinarium bloodbaths, and of the Netanya Pessah Seder massacre, will be required to seek asylum outside Gaza and the West Bank. Some reports have Israel refusing to release these men or east Jerusalem prisoners sought by Hamas. If true, that probably means no deal. Plainly, Netanyahu is loath to have his government approve a lop-sided prisoner exchange that requires setting free some of the most dangerous terrorists Israel has ever encountered. Yet he may be telling himself that any such deal would be the absolutely, positively, honest-to-goodness, very last time Israel capitulates to Hamas or Hizbullah. Hamas begs to differ. It's already offering a $1 million bounty to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts another Israeli soldier. An ill-considered prisoner deal could also bring down Mahmoud Abbas's already tottering Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. That would set the stage for Hamas to fill the political vacuum. As it is, with Hamas breathing down his neck, Abbas is being more obstinate than ever, even hinting that he might pursue popular resistance instead of negotiations. Fatah "redeemer" Marwan Barghouti, incarcerated for orchestrating numerous murders, has put out the word that any future negotiations with Israel ought to be accompanied by terrorism. If Israel yields to Hamas, as an offset, Barghouti could be released to "help Abu Mazen." Too bad Israelis can't look to Egypt to play a constructive role. For the sake of expediency Cairo is ready to disregard the principles set down by the Quartet as a prerequisite for Hamas participation in a Palestinian unity government. Mubarak's regime is once again turning a blind eye to Palestinian arms smuggling beneath the Philadelphi Corridor which has now reached pre-Operation Cast Lead levels. Mubarak is also doing everything possible to harden Abbas's heart, telling the Egyptian parliament Saturday that Israel alone was to blame for the paralysis in the peace talks. He insultingly called on Israel to stop "Judaizing" Jerusalem and demanded it reconcile itself to the Arabs' refusal to recognize its right to exist as a Jewish state. With a straight face, Mubarak demanded that Israel end its blockade of the Stripas if Cairo did not maintain an identical (surface) embargo between the Sinai and Gaza. As much as we Israelis ache to see Gilad Schalit home with his family, the emotional blackmail of campaigners who say the country should do "anything" to achieve his release could unleash on our home front the very same sociopathic killers Israel's security forces worked so hard to capture in the first place. We urge the premier to leave no stone unturned in trying to bring Gilad home, while placing the national interest above all. Islamic Jihad, PFLP against holding fire by KHALED ABU TOAMEH, Jerusalem Post Hamas won't remain idle "in the face of a Zionist escalation" in the Gaza Strip. "We will defend, with our utmost force, any new Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip," the group said in a statement on Sunday announcing that it had reached agreement with other Palestinian groups to stop firing rockets and missiles at Israel, "to preserve the internal front." Hamas's interior minister, Fathi Hamad, had told reporters Saturday that the agreement to stop attacks from Gaza had been made to avoid IDF reactions. Hamad added, however, that if Israel sent soldiers into the Strip, the armed groups would be given "free rein to respond." In response, an official in the Prime Minister's Office said Hamas would "be judged by its actions, not its words." Under the agreement, rockets will only be fired in retaliation for Israeli aggression, Hamad said. The Hamas official also told reporters that the aim of the agreement was to "enable people to rebuild" after Operation Cast Lead last winter. Nevertheless, as if to validate Israel's pessimism regarding the reported deal, the Islamic Jihad denied such an agreement had been reached, saying Sunday that it reserved the right to continue its "legitimate resistance." The armed wing of Hamas, Izzadin Kassam, said that the decision to suspend tocket firing "was not taken out of weakness, but out of a keenness to preserve the internal front and national interests of the Palestinians." The Hamas interior minister, Fathi Hammad, said his government would not take any measures to stop the attacks on Israel unless all the Palestinian groups reached an agreement to declare a cease-fire. He said that the Palestinian groups, including Hamas, maintained the right to respond if and when Israel invades the Gaza Strip again. Sources close to Hamas said that the latest decision to stop the attacks on Israel was apparently linked to reports about significant progress in secret negotiations to secure the release of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit. The Hamas minister would neither confirm nor deny the reports. However, he said that Hamas has instructed all its spokesmen and representatives to refrain from making public statements about the negotiations. The IAF bombed targets belonging to the Islamist organization overnight Saturday in response to a Kassam attack over the weekend. Two weapons-manufacturing facilities in the northern and central Gaza Strip, and one smuggling tunnel in the Rafah area near Sinai, were hit in the IAF raids, the army said. Palestinian sources said six people were wounded in the strikes. According to the IDF Spokesman's Office, the attack came in response to a Kassam fired at an Israeli civilian area earlier on Saturday. The rocket hit the Sha'ar Hanegev region, causing no casualties or damage. The IDF said it would not tolerate any attacks by terrorist organizations against Israel and its citizens, adding that nearly 270 rockets and mortar shells had been fired at the South since the end of Operation Cast Lead on January 18, in comparison to the more than 3,300 rockets and shells fired in the year before the offensive. The last month had seen approximately 15 rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel from Gaza, said the army. Despite Hamas's announcement that Palestinian groups have agreed to halt the attacks on Israel, three factions in the Gaza Strip said they were not aware of any agreement in this regard. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine strongly denied that its members were part of a cease-fire agreement. The group's armed wing, the Abu Ali Mutapha Brigades, said it remained committed to the "option of confrontation and resistance against the occupation in all forms." Islamic Jihad also denied that it had agreed to stop attacks on Israel. A spokesman for the organization in the Gaza Strip said he did not know of any Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement. The spokesman said that it was inconceivable that the Palestinians would agree to stop the "resistance" while Israel was continuing its "aggression" against the Palestinians. "We stick to our right to confront the occupiers for as long as they are on our Palestinian lands," he said. "We won't accept the principle of security for security. The enemy will leave only through resistance." Mubarak: Jerusalem a 'pan-Arab' issue by HERB KEINON, Jerusalem Post Jerusalem is not a Palestinian "problem" but a pan-Arab one, and Israel will suffer if a "just solution" is not found there, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Sunday in Cairo, after meeting President Shimon Peres. Israel will anger all Muslims if it does not resolve Jerusalem's disputed status. Mubarak, according to a translation of his remarks put out by Peres's office, said there was no choice but to deal seriously with this issue, an apparent reference to the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee's decision to approve the building of 900 housing units in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. "I expressed my concern to President Peres that peace talks have not progressed since our last meeting in July and that Egypt is looking forward to an Israeli response, such as halting the building of settlements in east Jerusalem," he said. Peres, in reply, said that Jerusalem was under Israeli sovereignty, and any change to that status would necessitate Knesset approval. At the same time, referring to the recent riots in Jerusalem sparked by rumors that Israel was making a move on the Temple Mount, Peres said, "I want to send a clear message to the Arab world: we have no intention of building on the Temple Mount. We respect the Muslims, and I am sorry for the frequent rumors and lies. We should not create fabricated crises." Peres said that just as Israel respects the Muslims, he expected the Muslims to respect the Jews and "guard the synagogues and churches in their lands to the same degree that we demonstrate toward the Muslims in Israel." The comments came at a press conference that followed a one-on-one meeting between the two men that lasted for 90 minutes, and which Peres's office characterized as "warm and positive." They then had a working lunch, and were joined by Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Peres arrived in Cairo a day after Mubarak issued a withering attack of Israel in the Egyptian parliament, accusing Israel of having plans to "Judaize" Jerusalem, and saying its demand for recognition as a Jewish state and refusal to include Jerusalem in negotiations on a comprehensive agreement were "undermining" peace efforts." Regarding the settlement issue, Peres said at the press conference that this would be dealt with once negotiations resumed. Peres termed the settlement construction a "marginal issue" that became a central issue for the wrong reasons, and that this could be solved through negotiations and agreement. "The sooner we start to negotiate, the issue of settlements will disappear, because once we have agreed borders, there won't be any problems, and we have to reach that by agreement," he said. "The minute we shall start to negotiate, there won't be new settlements, and there won't be confiscation of land." In addition, he said, "There will be no financial investment in new settlements. There will be a dismantling of the settlements that were established without authorization." Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said for months that Israel would not build any new settlements or expropriate any new land for settlement use. Mubarak, who has been extremely critical of Israel's settlement policy, said any construction by Israel on land beyond the 1967 borders would put a damper on "final-status negotiations" and further augment the stagnation of the peace process. Referring to various plans that have been floated in recent weeks about the establishment of Palestinian state within provisional borders, Mubarak said that the time had passed for talk on temporary solutions and borderswhich have long been seen as a stepping stone to a solving the crisisand instead a just and lasting peace should be concluded. "We want an end to settlement in occupied lands, including east Jerusalem," he was quoted by Reuters as saying, later calling on Israel to exhibit awareness "of the regional situation [and] the dangers of losing the opportunity for peace." Pereswho was reported to be backing the provisional state ideaseemed to back away from it, proposing not "coming every morning with new suggestions. We agreed to [UN Security Council Resolution] 242, all of us, we agreed to the road map, all of us, let's start there. "If everyone will come every morning with new suggestions, we shall have to start everything again. Why?" Abbas to postpone PA elections by KHALED ABU TOAMEH, Jerusalem Post Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is set formally to announce the postponement of the presidential and parliamentary elections that he called for January 24, a PA official in Ramallah said on Sunday. Abbas decided to cancel the vote following a recommendation from the Palestinian Central Elections Committee, whose members told him that they would not be able to prepare for the elections in the Gaza Strip because of Hamas's decision to ban the vote there. "The president has reached the conclusion that it's impossible to hold elections without the Gaza Strip," the official told The Jerusalem Post. "We're also not sure that Israel would allow Palestinians in Jerusalem to participate in the elections." The official said that Abbas was not planning to set another date for elections after postponing the January vote. "It's premature to decide on a new date," he said. "A lot depends on whether the Egyptians and other Arab parties succeed in achieving reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah." Asked about Abbas's recent announcement that he has "no desire" to run in another election, the PA official said, "I think the president will stay in power until new elections are held. At this stage he has no plans to step down." In a recent interview with BBC's Arabic Channel, Abbas confirmed that he was unable to pursue his plan to hold elections on time, due to ongoing power struggle between Hamas and Fatah. Abbas's move is seen by his rivals as an admission of failureone that is likely to further undermine his credibility among Palestinians. "It's now obvious that Abbas's threat not to run in a new election was nothing but a bluff," said a Palestinian political analyst in Ramallah. "He knew in the first place that he would never be able to hold elections without Hamas's consent." According to the analyst, Abbas's threat to drop out of the race was understood by many Palestinians to be directed against the US administration. "Abbas was telling the Americans: Please hold me back," he explained. "If he was really serious about quitting, who's stopping him?" Although it is widely believed that Abbas has no real intention of abandoning his post, at least not in the foreseeable future, Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official closely associated with the PA president, expressed fear that Abbas's departure from public life would "plunge the Palestinian leadership and people into a crisis." "If the president does not backtrack [on his decision not to seek reelection], this would lead to the total collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and not only its dismantlement," Ahmed told the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper. He attributed Abbas's desire not to seek reelection to the "change" in the US administration's policy toward settlement construction. The Fatah official said that Abbas had made a "painful concession" when he agreed to the resumption of peace negotiations if Israel halted settlement construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem for six months. "The US failed to carry out its pledge to exert pressure on Israel to agree to a freeze in settlement construction and that's why we are very disappointed," he added. Ahmed said that he did not rule out the possibility that Abbas would announce his decision to "retire from political life" during a meeting of the PLO Central Council in Ramallah on December 15. Asked whether Fatah was looking for other candidates when and if Abbas makes a final decision to quit, he said: "I don't believe there's a candidate to succeed President Abbas. We hope that the PLO Central Council would be able to persuade him to stay in power to avoid a constitutional vacuum." The Fatah official lashed out at the US, describing it as a "repressive and tyrant" force that was trying to destroy the will of the Palestinians and other people. But, he continued, the US won't stay strong forever. "Where's the Soviet Union?" he asked. "It was a superpower that collapsed quite quickly." Iran can 'annihilate' Israeli warplanes by Agence France Presse A commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards says air defence forces will "annihilate" Israeli warplanes if they attack the Islamic republic, as the forces began five days of war games. The manoeuvres are aimed at practising responses to simulated attacks on the country's nuclear facilities. "Their (Israeli) F-15 and F-16 fighters will be trapped by our air defence forces and will be annihilated," Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Guards' air force wing, told the Fars news agency on Sunday. "Even if their planes escape and land at the bases from which they took off, their bases will be struck by our destructive surface-to-surface missiles." An aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday if Iran was attacked, it would retaliate against the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv. "If the enemy attacks Iran, our missiles will strike Tel Aviv," the official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei's representative in the Guards, Mojhtaba Zolnoor, as saying. The war games were announced on Saturday by Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani, head of army air defence, who said the main aim was to thwart aerial threats against Iran's nuclear facilitiesfrom reconnaissance to actual assaultposed by an imaginary enemy. "Due to the threats against our nuclear facilities, it is our duty to defend our nation's vital facilities and so these manoeuvres cover Bushehr, Fars, Isfahan, Tehran and western provinces," Mighani said. "Our unit will be in charge of the manoeuvres but there will be units from the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij (militia)," he added. Iran's still non-operational nuclear power plant is in southern Bushehr province, while its uranium enrichment plants are in Isfahan and near Tehran. Western governments suspect Iran's nuclear program is cover for a weapons drive but Iran denies any such ambition. The United States and Israel have never ruled out a resort to military action to prevent Iran acquiring a bomb. Iran has repeatedly held war games and boasted advances in its military capabilities in a bid to show its readiness to counter any threats over its nuclear program. 'Zero tolerance' for soldiers who refuse orders by Amos Harel and Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said on Sunday that the army has a zero tolerance policy for soldiers who refuse orders during their service. "We have no tolerance for this type of insubordination, no matter which side of the political spectrum the soldiers are on," Ashkenazi declared at a welcoming ceremony for new recruits in the elite Golani Brigade. The IDF chief made his comments in return to a recent spate of events involving combat soldiers from various units within the Kfir Brigade who announced that they would not evacuate unauthorized West Bank outposts. "It is possible that during your service the army will need you for several of our missions, and those who will make the difference are the soldiers on the front line," added the IDF chief. During his visit to the Tel Hashomer Induction Center along with members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC), Ashkenazi alluded to the apparent influence of rabbis on soldiers to refuse orders. "This is my message to the religious leadership: soldiers answer to one authority only, and that is their commanding officers," he said as he addressed a crowd of new recruits. Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday reiterated his own pledge to crack down on IDF soldiers who refuse to carry out orders, saying Israel should not hesitate to act forcefully to crush the phenomenon. "A country that wishes to live must put an end to refusal by the right and left with an iron fist," said Barak in a closed meeting. According to a statement his bureau released, the defense minister is expected to hold a number of meetings in the coming days with law enforcement and intelligence officials. During the talks, he will decide on how to treat those who incite and encourage refusal among soldiers, the statement said. Barak's comments echoed remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who warned last Tuesday that such refusal would contribute to the collapse of the State of Israel. Last week, six soldiers from the Kfri Brigade's Nachshon Battalion hung a sign at their West Bank base proclaiming that their unit would refuse to evacuate settlements. Their protest followed the demolition of two illegal houses near the Negohot settlement south of Hebron. Two of the soldiers were sentenced to 30 days in military prison, dismissed from their unit and demoted as a result of the protest. A military court ruled that another soldier was to spend 20 days in jail, and a fourth was sentenced to 14 days. The other two soldiers are to remain confined to their base for 28 days. Last month soldiers from the Shimshon Battalion held banners with the same message during their graduation ceremony in Jerusalem. Two soldiers were expelled from their brigade and given 20 days in military prison. The Shimshon and Nachshon Battalions are both part of the Kfir Brigade, set up to battle Palestinian guerrillas in the West Bank. Such duties have diminished amid a law-and-order drive by Abbas's US-backed administration, which wants to project power in the face of the rival Hamas Islamists now ruling Gaza. Kfir has been under military investigation for several high-profile cases where Palestinian civilians complained of abuse by the brigade. Its former commander was reprimanded for sanctioning use of force during questioning of suspect Rabbis: Soldiers refusing to remove settlers are heroes by Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Dozens of religious Zionist rabbis held a secret meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday to discuss ways of bolstering the hesder yeshivas, the halachic argument for refusing to obey military orders to evacuate settlements, and the campaign against having the army evacuate Jews from their homes. The rabbis in attendance included Zalman Baruch Melamed, rabbi of Beit El and head of the yeshiva there; Shmuel Eliyahu, rabbi of Safed; and Yaakov Yosef, son of Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef. The original plan had been to broaden the group of rabbis who provide halachic guidance for the National Union party. However, the rabbis decided to address more pressing issues affecting religious Zionism instead. "The fate of a single hesder yeshiva is the fate of them all. There are various views at all the yeshivas, but one cannot be harmed as the rest stand by," Melamed reportedly said. "The IDF sends solders to be educated at Tel Aviv University, where lecturers openly call for refusing orders. The demand [of not encouraging refusal of orders] cannot be imposed only on rabbis when the IDF funds refuseniks.," Rabbi Dov Lior, rabbi of Kiryat Arba, reportedly said, "We educate our soldiers to serve and not to refuse. But we can not present them with such a clash [of ideals]." The rabbis also said that even if different hesder yeshivas espouse different views, this is not something that can be imposed on them. The rabbis said ordering soldiers to evacuate settlements in the Land of Israel was like forcing a person to do something contrary to his faith, which is prohibited. "A policeman can resign, but the soldiers cannot," they said. The rabbis concluded that the campaign must gain momentum, because the soldiers must not be left on their own, and that their parents and the general public must be conscripted into the effort. One of the rabbis said moral support must be given to the parents who do not want their children to evacuate Jews. The rabbis also expressed support for the Shimshon and Nachshon Battalion soldiers who raised banners stating they refused to evacuate settlements, and called them "heroes." More enlist in IDF combat units by Jerusalem Post Noting a six-percent increase in motivation among youth to enlist in combat units and a continued drop in overall draft numbers, the IDF began its November draft on Sunday as hundreds of youths arrived at the Tel Hashomer Induction Center to enlist in the Golani Brigade. Sunday's draft welcomed hundreds of highly motivated youths to the decorated Golani Brigade, among them 270 olim. All of the youths were drafted into one of the three units that they requested in application forms sent to them last year. According to the IDF, 73.7% of November recruits eligible for combat service expressed their wish to serve in fighting unitsthe highest percentage in decades. Youths "recognize the security challenges" Israel faces, remarked OC Human Resources Maj.-Gen. Avi Zamir later on Sunday. Speaking on Army Radio, Zamir said that last winter's Operation Cast Lead and improvements in the IDF's image since the Second Lebanon War had contributed to the rise in motivation among recruits. The number of draft dodgers, however, was said to have increased in recent years. Zamir stated that at present, 25% of Israeli 18-year-olds do not serve in the IDF, 13% of them due to religious exemption. He also stressed that in light of recent cases of insubordination, "the IDF must be expunged from political debate." IDF arrest suspected drug traffickers by Jerusalem Post IDF troops on Sunday evening arrested several people illegally crossing Israel's southern border with Egypt. The soldiers opened fire on the suspects after calls to stop were ignored. Two suspects were wounded during the ensuing arrests. A search revealed bags of drugs in the suspects' possession, and the detainees were transferred for interrogation. IDF troops detained two Palestinian fugitives in the West Bank overnight Sunday. One man was captured near Kalkilya and another was caught near Bethlehem. The detainees were transferred to security forces for interrogation. Brazil: Jewish students protest Ahmadinejad visit by Jerusalem Post Hundreds of people protested on a Rio de Janeiro beach on Sunday afternoon against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Brazil this week, Army Radio reported. The demonstration was organized by the Hillel student union, which stated, "Anyone who denies the Holocaust also denies Brazilian Jewry." Some of the demonstrators had visited Israel on Taglit programs in recent years, the Army Radio report added. Jordanian prisoners on hunger strike by Jerusalem Post Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails have launched a hunger strike in an effort to press Amman to work for their release, their families reported Sunday. The Israel Prisons Service had no comment on the strike, which reportedly began Saturday. Spanish tourists fend off Tel Aviv muggers by BEN HARTMAN, Jerusalem Post A group of Spanish tourists beat back two would-be muggers on a Tel Aviv street early on Sunday morning. Around 5 a.m. police received a report of a brawl on the city's Allenby Street. The tourists told officers that two assailants, one male and one female, had attacked them and tried to steal a cellphone. The Spaniards refused to give them the phone and a fracas ensued in which the tourists managed to send the thieves fleeing on foot. Police found them nearby shortly thereafter. One suspect was an 18-year-old man from Nahaf, near Karmiel, and the second a 20-year-old woman from Tel Aviv. Both suspects have criminal records. They are being brought before a Tel Aviv court on Monday. Police said when they attempted to arrest the female suspect she bit one of the arresting officers on the leg. The officer was not injured and the assailant was quickly subdued. A police representative said the area is not particularly dangerous or known for attacks on tourists, other than a few isolated cases. No living witnesses left for John Demjanjuk trial by Deutsche PresseAgentur BERLINThe trial of alleged war criminal John Demjanjuk, 89, will likely proceed without any prosecution eyewitnesses, the news magazine Focus reported yesterday. Due to start on November 30, the trial of Demjanjuk, who was extradited from the United States in May and accused of being an accessory to the murder of 27,900 people at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, is likely to be the last major war-crimes trial from the World War II period. Focus reported that 23 witnesses named in Ukraine-born Demjanjuk's indictment, some of whom had given evidence against him to Soviet authorities as long as 30 years ago, had since died. Demjanjuk had been prosecuted by Israeli authorities in the 1980s on the charge that he had been "Ivan the Terrible," a death-camp guard at Treblinka, but his conviction was later overturned on the basis of reasonable doubt as to that identification. Guenther Maull, defense lawyer for Demjanjuk, told the magazine: "The men were questioned 30 years ago. It is questionable whether their statements now have any value." In October, Germany's Constitutional Court cleared the way for the ailing former auto-worker to stand trial, after his lawyer had claimed that Germany had no legal authority to try Demjanjuk and that his client had already spent more than seven years in prison in Israel. Demjanjuk, who is stateless, is being kept at Stadelheim prison in Munich. Germany says it has jurisdiction in the case because some of the Jews killed at Sobibor were German citizens. Region: Lessons not learned by BARRY RUBIN, Jerusalem Post The Obama administration keeps making big mistakes that have a devastating effect on its own goals and interests. What is most amazing is how the implications of its actions are just not understood. Already, the current US policy has destroyed any chance not only of progress on the Israel-Palestinian front but of even holding talks at all. Let's review the situation. Israel announced in 1993, at the time of the Oslo Accords with the PLO, that it viewed construction on existing settlements as completely in line with the agreement. The Palestinians, during the ensuing 16 years, never made this a big issue. The US government, while it can say it opposed this, was pretty quiet about it and never did anything. Then President Barack Obama came to office and made the construction issue the centerpiece of his Middle East policy; sometimes it has appeared to be the keystone of his whole foreign policy. It may look like an exaggeration but often it seems like the administration believes that if Israel only stopped building 3000 apartments, all the region's problems would go away. So far, the administration has wasted almost ten months pursuing this. First, it shouted at Israelas if it were some servantto do it fast or else. Then when Israel didn't, the administration realized that perhaps Israel should get something in exchange for the concession. So it went to Arab states and askedpresuming, wrongly, that they are desperate for a peace agreementfor some compromise but got nothing. In fact, the Obama administration had destroyed its own policy because, as a result, the Palestinian Authority (PA) refused to negotiate until there was a complete construction freeze. How could it be less hardline than the president? But there was a solution; sort of. Israel agreed to stop all construction once the apartments currently being built are finished, except in Jerusalem. The United States accepted the deal, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exulting about what a huge concession Israel was making. The US government knew how big a risk Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was taking with his coalition. So what happened? The PA couldn't stand to see Israel being praised and doesn't want to negotiate peace anyway. So it threw a temper tantrum: riots in Jerusalem, threats by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas to resign, refusal to go to negotiations with Israel, and clamor for a unilateral declaration of independence. The hubbub about a unilateral declaration of independence was almost universally described in the media as arising from Palestinian frustration. Not at all. It is based on their core strategy: Why make compromise peace with Israel when you can just claim everything you want, ensuring the door is kept open for a future struggle to wipe Israel off the map entirely? What did the US administration do? It backed down on everything except the independence bid! Having made a deal with Israel, having gotten Netanyahu to take an enormous risk, it then pulled the rug out from under him. Now it said: Well, maybe it wasn't such a great deal after all. Those who always advocate Israeli concessions as the solution should take note: Once again, we've seen that a concession doesn't lead to a concession by the other side nor does it lead to progress. It just produces a demand for more concessions without giving any real credit to the last one. The latest act in the drama is that after an announcement of a plan to build apartments in the Gilo section of Jerusalemwhich is quite within the US-Israel dealthe administration complained bitterly, showing not only that it wouldn't respect agreement others made with predecessors but it wouldn't even respect the agreements it made itself. Obama complained that the Gilo construction complicates administration efforts to relaunch peace talks, makes it harder to achieve peace and embitters the Palestinians. Funny, he never said this about: PA incitement to terrorism; failure to punish terrorists; negotiations with Hamas despite its hardline positions, genocidal goals, anti-Semitic views; refusal to return to talks with Israel despite Obama's express request to do so; breaking its promise on not using the Goldstone Report to punish Israel; and other such actions. Each of these individually is more dangerous than the Gilo construction. Moreover, having sabotaged negotiations by highlighting the construction-on-settlements issue, the administration has now escalated even higher: no construction in Jerusalem is the minimum demand. Of course, Arab states and the PA will echo this, refusing all talks unless that happens. And since Israel won't stop building in Jerusalem and the Arab side won'tunlike the administrationback down, Obama has just guaranteed a dead peace process for his entire term in office. In fact, he's probably ensured no comprehensive negotiations will take place. Here's another problem: By blaming Israel repeatedly for every failure, the administration is not only signaling to the PA and Arab states that they can do anything and pay no cost, it is also unintentionally encouraging them to sabotage any progress. Why? Because the worse and slower things go, the more they can blame Israel and expect the United States and Europe to do so also. The administration is making its own failure far more likely. If the United States gets angrier with Israel every time the Arab states and Palestinians sabotage negotiations, why shouldn't they do it? One final point: The same loss of US credibility and reliability that affects Israel also hits the relatively moderate Arab states in the administration's dealings with them. No doubt we will soon be hearing that if Israel stopped building apartments in Gilo there would be Arab-Israeli peace, no terrorism, Iran would give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and Obama would get the Nobel Peace Prize. Oops, that last event has already happened. How about giving him the Nobel Peace-Fumbling Prize? For Obama, the world doesn't revolve around Israel by Yossi Melman, Haaretz One needed to hear Bruce Riedel last week to understand once again that Israel is not the center of the universe. Riedel, who spoke at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said that the most important subject on the foreign affairs agenda of President Barack Obama's administration is the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Riedel formerly served in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Tel Aviv station and later was a analyst in the agency's research directorate and a member of U.S. president Bill Clinton's National Security Council. According to Riedel, in the coming weeks Obama will make a decision about a strategy that could decide his fate and determine whether he will win a second term in office. The reference is to whether he will agree to the demands of the army commanders to send tens of thousands more soldiers into the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan. "Obama inherited a disaster in Afghanistan and it is getting worse," said Riedel, who was asked by the president a few months ago to look into that issue and offer his advice. "In Afghanistan the Taliban and al-Qaida have the strategic momentum after years of American neglect and they are winning the war." Riedel is of the opinion that the most important man today in al-Qaidaan organization he defines as a syndicate along the lines of La Cosa Nostrais not Osama bin Laden but rather the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar. If the United States is not able to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, he believes, this will lead also to the collapse of Pakistan where "a weak civilian government is fighting for its survival against the Frankenstein-like monster [the Taliban and Islamist organizations like Lashkar e-Taibe] that it created." The biggest nightmare of the Obama administration is that Pakistan, with its dozens of nuclear warheads, will turn into a jihad state. "There are already more terrorists per square kilometer there than in any other country in the world," he says. "A jihadist Pakistan will be the largest terrorist state that has ever been set up," and will dwarf Libya, Iraq, Syria and Iran. It is clear that under circumstances like these, the president's attention to other topics, including involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will be virtually non-existent. Moreover, the administration in Washington needs Iran if it wishes "to merely stabilize" the situation in Afghanistan. Iran can cause trouble and make the lives of the American soldiers in Afghanistan even more miserable, he says. With this in mind, it seems that the Israelis who pin their hopes on the United States leading a military move against Iran because of its nuclearization, merely have pipe dreams. Analysis: Aim for the bull's eye, or at least the center by NOAH POLLAK, Jerusalem Post Two recent events focus the mind on the growing failure of Israeli grand strategy: the UN's endorsement of the Goldstone Report and the capture of the Francop cargo ship, laden with arms destined for Hizbullah. From 1948 until 1973, Israel's enemies fought conflicts that largely adhered to the traditional doctrines of combat. Wars had start and end dates, soldiers wore uniforms, and armies fought on behalf of states. Every time, however, they lostoften humiliatingly. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973 the United States sought to preempt this constant conflict by forming an alliance that gave the Jewish state a conspicuous military advantage over any regional challenger. The Arabs got the message: Egypt and Jordan eventually sued for peace, and Israel's other enemies have not launched a conventional war since. But those foes have not stopped fighting. Today, Syria and Iranthe so-called "resistance bloc"pursue a new strategy of building up the capabilities of terrorist militias who fight in their place. Despite the tactical defeat groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah have suffered on the battlefield, the larger strategy has been working. It allows Iran and Syria to take credit in the region for antagonizing Israel without risking retaliation on their soil; it detaches conflict from regime security, reducing the disincentive for war; and it forces battles into densely-populated civilian areas, undermining the IDF's military superiority and ensuring civilian destruction which today's media and NGOsan increasingly meaningless distinctionblame on Israel, not on the terrorist groups who start the wars. Perhaps most importantly, the resistance strategy creates a moral inversion: in both the Lebanon and Gaza wars, Israel was transformed in media coverage and public opinion from a victim fighting in self-defense into an aggressor perpetrating atrocities. If the highest objective in war is defeating the enemy's armed forces, Iran and Syria must be given credit for creating a strategy that often transforms the Israelimilitary advantage into a liability. Today, long after the shooting has stopped, Israel remains the target of a cynical campaign of international opprobrium over its recent wars. Complaining about double-standards will never be successful: the Jewish state will always be the target of activists who know that it is easier to make inroads against a small, liberal, and self-critical societyespecially one whose citizens crave international acceptancethan against a great power such as the United States. This is especially true when Israel can be forced to fight every few years and thereby provide its detractors with a constant supply of "evidence" of criminality. The new strategy of creating proxy terrorist groups endowed with the potency and sophistication of armies, but with none of their restrictions or responsibilities, is racking up points. The goal is not to defeat Israel on the battlefield, but to wage a war of attrition that erodes its national confidence, challenges its moral clarity, and transforms it into a pariah among democratic peoples. Yet this model of warfare depends for its success on one important factor: Israel's willingness to fight on the battlefields that Iran and Syria have assigned to it. Many argue that Israel has established deterrence with Hamas and Hizbullah. Perhaps, but it is only temporarythe Francop's missiles, grenades, and mortar rounds are testament to that. More importantly, Israel is only deterring the junior members of the terrorist hierarchy, and they can renew their ranks and capabilities much more easily than can a regime. It is hard to imagine that in the coming years there will not be another conflict with Hizbullah that will lead to a predictable cycle of events: civilian deaths in Lebanon; condemnation of Israel; farcical UN and NGO investigations; and a deepening Israeli feeling of isolation that will make peace harder to achieve. But the tables can be turned by shifting the target of retaliation onto the state sponsors of Hamas and Hizbollah. The military strategist Carl Von Clausewitz argued that "a major act of strategic judgment" is to distinguish the "centers of gravity in the enemy's forces"and attack there, where it will make the most difference. By fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel is attacking its enemy's periphery, not its center of gravity. Its victories will thus always be ephemeral. Starved of state patronage, Hamas and Hizbullah would become shadows of themselves. They would lose much of the weaponry, money, training, and ideological support that makes them such potent actors. The means by which pressure against the center of gravity is applied need not be according to conventional methodsthere is no reason why asymmetry cannot be countered with asymmetry, or new diplomatic and economic initiatives pursued. If Israel wants to see an end to the era of Goldstone Reports and cargo ships loaded with missiles, it must shift its focus to the source of the problem. Deterrence will never be meaningful unless it encompasses the full spectrum of enemies. The writer is a graduate student at Yale University and a contributor to Commentary Magazine's blog, Contentions. Formerly, he was assistant editor of the Shalem Center's Azure magazine. Focus: Amnesty's travesty by MARTIN SHERMAN, Jerusalem Post The Israeli occupation changed local agriculture profoundly. It introduced modern technology, including mechanization, precision tillage, pest control, plastic covering of crops for temperature control, high yielding varieties, postharvest processing of produce, marketing and export outlets. It also introduced efficient methods of irrigation, including sprinkler and especially drip irrigation. Consequently, output increased greatly, and farming was transformed from a subsistence enterprise to a commercial industry. Daniel Hillel: Rivers of Eden, Oxford University Press, 1994 The above excerpt is sufficient to heap richly-deserved ridicule on the recent Amnesty report claiming that Israel's avaricious water policy has gravely compromised Palestinians' human rights. Miraculously, the Amnesty report was published to coincide perfectly with a vicious crusade launched across US campuses by Omar Barghouti, a Tel Aviv University graduate student, campaigning foramong other thingsthe boycott of Tel Aviv University, together with the entire Israeli academic establishment (avowed leftists and all). By some curious coincidence, one of the issues raised by Barghouti to justify the BDS (boycott-cum-divestment-cum-sanctions) campaign was Israel's alleged exploitation of water resources to implement a process of "ethnic cleansing" and "apartheid." Predictablyif not persuasivelyAmnesty denied any hint of collusion with the Barghouti initiative, emotively entitled "Palestine: Thirsting for Justice." The facts, however, paint a very differentindeed antitheticalpicture to that painted by the A/B (Amnesty/Barghouti) duo. For by every conceivable measure of consumption of fresh water, the lot of the Palestinians has improved dramaticallyindeed beyond all recognitionsince 1967 under Israeli administration, whether it be overall consumption, per capita consumption, consumption relative to Israel/Israelis, conveyance of running water to households, area under agricultural cultivation or size of the agricultural product. In the period 1967-2006 the overall annual consumption of the Palestinians in the West Bank grew by 300 percentfrom 60 million cubic meters to 180 million cu.m. The annual per capita consumption in the same period rose by almost 15%from 86 cu.m. to 100 cu.m. By contrast the overall consumption by Israel dropped by 15% (from 1411 million cu.m. to 1211 million cu.m.), while the per capita consumption plummeted an amazing 300% from 508 cu.m. to 170 cu.m.a decrease made possible not only by more efficient usage but also massive replacement of fresh water by recycled sewage for agricultural irrigation and of naturally occurring water by artificially produced (desalinated) water for domestic use. The Palestinians, by contrast, have steadfastly refusedication quoted anonymous Hamas officials as saying a deal is "reaching completion." Germany's new Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle arrives in Israel on Monday for a pre-arranged visit. Some reports have speculated that a deal, or at least its first stage, will be carried out by Friday in conjunction with the Id al-Adha Muslim holiday. Schalit's father, Noam, is set to speak today with Israeli mediator Hagai Elias, at a meeting that was previously scheduled. Afterwards he is expected to head to the Kness to undertake agreed upon sewage purification plants, allowing untreated effluents to endanger "downstream" Israeli supplies. Moreover, from 1967 to the years preceding Oslo, the Palestinian household consumption of water rose dramatically under Israeli ruleby almost 600%, significantly higher than in Israel where domestic consumption in the same period rose by approximately 230%. But not only did consumption by households improve, so did conveyance to households. In 1967 only 50 West Bank villages were connected to a running water system whereas by the early 1990s the number rose to 260. Likewise, as can be inferred by the opening citation from Hillel, there was a dramatic enhancement of agricultural performanceeven though water allocations were not increased. This was facilitated by more advanced methods of cultivation/irrigation introduced under Israeli rule. (In this regard it should be remembered that Israeli farmers have had their water allocations significantly reduced since 1967.) This resulted in an increase of the cultivated area by about 160% and of the agricultural product by 1200%. Furthermore, the malicious and mendacious claims that the luscious lawns and shimmering swimming pools in the Jewish settlements are unfairly and provocatively depriving Palestinians of water are belied by a single statistic. For Israel in fact conveys more water from inside the pre-1967 borders into the West Bank (nearly 56 million cu.m.) than the total consumption of the entire Jewish population in the settlements across the Green Line ( just over 48 million cu.m.). In other words, there is a net inflow of water from pre-1967 Israel to the Palestinians which more than compensates for the sorely-maligned lawns and swimming pools. (In addition, Israel conveys about 5 million cu.m. to Gaza in accordance with the provisions of the Oslo Accords.) All these facts are studiously omitted from the Amnesty reportand from Barghouti's public appearances. Indeed it is intriguing to note striking similarities between the language used and the issues raised in the document produced by Amnesty and in the advance fliers publicizing the allegedly unconnected Barghouti appearances. Both, for example, state that Israel is using around 80% of the aquifer leaving the Palestinians "with what is left." This assertion is factually accurate but meaningless in terms of its significance and misleading in terms of its presentation. For while is indeed true that Israel uses 80% of the waters of the aquifer today, in the pre-occupation timesbefore 1967it utilized 90% of these waters which flow naturally into the Coastal Plain and the Jezreel Valley. In other words, since the advent of occupation, there is actually more water available from the aquifer to the Palestiniansbecause of more efficient utilization and advances inirrigation techniques, increased use of recycled sewage and desalination by Israel. Moreover while the A/B claims that per capita consumption of water by Israelis is much higher than that of the Palestinian population are true, this is principally a result of differences in demand (rather than supply) due to differences in lifestyles. Similarly, different rates of consumption occur between the Jewish and Arab populations within pre-1967 Israeland between different socioeconomic groups within the Jewish populationwithout anyone raising the claim that this is the result of purposeful deprivation. With regard to supply stoppages (which by the way also regularly occur in Arab capitals such as Amman and Damascus), it should be stressed that Israel does not supply final Palestinian consumers. Via its water utility Mekorot, Israel supplies Palestinian providers (such the PA, municipalities and local and private water companies). It is these entities which deliver the water to the final consumers, and it is they who initiate the overwhelming majority of stoppages. Typically these stoppages are due to theft, poor infrastructure maintenance or unpaid billsa feature which even the Amnesty report is forced to grudgingly acknowledge. Amnesty/Barghouti present a stream of amazingly similar heart-rending anecdotal evidencetypically presented without any independent corroborationregarding the desperate distress of individual Palestinians, allegedly the victims of Israel's deliberate policy of deprivation. These, however, are indicative neither of the intentions nor the implications of overall policy. Significantly, an Israel response is seldom presented and when one is, it is laconically dismissed as untruthful by the author(s). Moreover, even if there is some truth in these scattered accounts of local IDF abuse, they cannot be taken as representative of wider realities which the preceding figures clearly demonstrate. Indeed, little reflection is needed to realize the alleged destruction of individual cisterns and rooftop tanks would be a singularly ineffective method to use water as a depopulating technique when far more pervasive options are available. In an incredibly mindless statement on its Web site, reflecting either immense ignorance or deliberate disregard of hydrological realities, Amnesty issues a demand which if ever implemented would spell certain doom for the aquiferfor Israelis and Palestinians alike: "Israel must ... immediately lift all the restrictions it imposes on Palestinians' access to water ... " One can hardly wait for the next Amnesty report on inequitable use of shared water resources and for it to direct the same demands at, say, Egypt, whose coercive policy preventing making any upstream riparian use of the Nile flowing through their sovereign territory is causing widespread famine and starvation. This is especially acute in Ethiopiawhich contributes most of the water to the Nile compared to Egypt's zero contribution. One assumes that such a report must already be under preparation, for one can hardly believe that Amnesty would be guilty of applying a double standard to Israel, could one? The writer is academic director of the Jerusalem Summit and lectures in security studies at Tel Aviv University. He is also an Israeli Schusterman scholar at USC and HUC. Web: When anti-Semitism is just a click away by Jordana Horn, The Forward "What's the difference between Jews and Nazis? The Jews are guilty of the crimes they're accused of." The boldfaced quotes are real. They were written within the past few months by people who believe they are true. They are quotes from hateful blogs and Web sitessome written in America, some abroad. Antisemitism pulses, alive and well, on the Internet. As a freelance journalist, I wrote two pieces on Quentin Tarantino's movie "Inglourious Basterds" (a fictional fantasy about American Jewish soldiers killing Nazis in German-occupied France). My Google Alerts, which finds Web sites that mention my name and sends them to my mailbox, showed me how my stories (one for the Forward, one for The Wall Street Journal) were used as jumping-off points for hate groups and white supremacists. Quotes from those sites, delivered like valentines to my inbox, are interspersed here. The movie is a fantasy. So is the idea that antisemitism and virulent hate are things of the past. "It's nice knowing none of it ever happened. Just like the phony Holocaust." When I was about 10 years old, I first read Anne Frank, who famously said all people are good at heart. At the time, I believed that too. Her words were immortalized in pen and ink on the pages of a flimsy diary. As I hoped mine would be, her words were published, reaching an audience beyond any expectation. The thin journal and her words survived the war, while she, along with more than 1 million other murdered children, did not. The lesson: The world seems to have more affection for dead Jews than for live ones. And this: Words are more durable than people. I watched countless Holocaust movies and read countless Holocaust books, as a good suburban American Jewish girl should. I was appropriately horrified. But as a fourth-generation Jew in the United States, I felt comfortably separated from the death camps by impenetrable buffers of oceans, time and circumstance. No member of my family would step on the grounds of Auschwitz until some 50 years after the Holocaust had ended. At that point, my parents paid to send my sister and me to Eastern Europe, to see the death camps. So I walked through long-defunct gas chambers and, unsurprisingly, came out alive to return home. At home, I told my family how I had recited the Kaddish in front of a pile of human ashes two stories high at the death camp of Majdanek. A Polish man had watched me and my yarmulke-wearing, obviously Jewish teen group. With no expression on his face, he lit a cigarette and took a drag from it. He made sure we were watching him. Then he flicked the smoking butt onto the pile of human ash. "The moral relativism of Jews is the same as that of the criminalwhat they want (pleasure, money, power, sex) is more important than you or your life. Jews are the spiritual meta-criminals of the world. We are objectively the moral ones." I didn't have to travel to the other side of the world to encounter hatred or ignorance. "Of course the Jews killed Jesus," my New Jersey eighth grade English teacher said in class one day, with an exasperated sigh. "That was why they deserved the Holocaust." That "they" that he was talking about, that he was so wrong about, I realized that daythat was me. "["Inglourious Basterds"] could also be a metaphor of what they're doing to us already with our economics and our banking system". No guns' just behind desks wearing suits and ties." Holocaust deniers have been trumped by law, common sense and historians time and time againand yet they keep coming back for more. Some attempt to hide. To avoid protests, longtime denier David Irving is conducting his current United States book tour in secret. Other forms of antisemitism are openly aired: Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are mixed into a nonsensical stew of hatred and anger (see Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres, swiped with a Hitler moustache, in a poster held in Brazil that calls him "Shimon Hitler"). Antisemitism is a relentless force defying reason and history, leaving its mark through pogroms, discrimination and ubiquitous cartoons. Caricatures of Bernard Madoff came almost directly from the Goebbels playbook. Other manifestations can be evocative yet more subtle, to the point where you're not sure even if it's really there. Rolling Stone called Goldman Sachsa great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,-evoking centuries of antisemitic bloodsucking imagery with impunity. In a series of letters exchanged with Albert Einstein in 1932 about the nature of war, Sigmund Freud noted that people are driven by an inexorable aggressive impulse. Despite all evidence to the contrary, however, Freud was optimistic about human nature. He voiced the hope that Macht (might) would be trumped by Recht (right), and that law would serve as a mechanism to tame human violence. But in the context of the unaccountable Internet, both Macht and Recht can conveniently absent themselves. "The real HolocaustJews had their stolen goods taken away and were forced to do real work for the first time in their lives." In one generation, the internet has refashioned the world. Facilitating communication both fosters relationships and expedites idiocy. One hundred and forty characters of tripe or brilliance can appear instantly on the screens of thousands (or, in Ashton Kutcher's case, millions). Thanks to Facebook, we have friends that we hardly know, who helpfully proclaim to the world that they hate Mondays. We have itchy e-mail and textet to lobby parliamentarians on his son's behalf. He told the media on Sunday that he had received no officials reports of any progress. "At this moment, there is nothing new," he said. The deal would need to be approved by the cabinet and would be brought for a vote before its implementation, possibly as early as this week. On Sunday, Al-Arabiya reported that Israel could release as many as 1,000 security prisoners in exchange for Schalit. The Dubai-based broadcaster said that if the deal goes through, Schalit would return to Israel via Egypt. The report said that the list of prisoners included Fatah-Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, as well as other prisoners with "blood on their hands," who had been involved in terrorist attacks that killed Israelis. Hamas's announcement on Saturday that it was reining in all of the Gazan factions to prevent rocket fire is viewed as a step toward an agreement, since Hamas understands that a rocket attack with casualties could set back a deal indefinitely. Hamas hopes that trigger fingers. We disclose thoughts best kept to ourselves. Many of these thoughts are boring or mundane. Others are virulent. As a writer, I know that words have worth and words have power. Our children will grow up in a world where words are ever easier to broadcast, but may seem to have no visible ramifications or consequences. Hate is consequential and is readily accessible. It can be lucid or incoherent. It can be prosecuted or ignored. The constant waterfall of information over the Internet, however, doesn't drown out the human quest for what is real. If anything, the excess of words makes finding what is true and worthwhile even harder. Yes, words are more durable than peoplebut people determine which words are worth saving. "All most of us on this forum are is [sic] ordinary people who can't share their thoughts anywhere but here." Good. Jordana Horn is a lawyer and writer at work on her first novel. Israel Information Office in Scotland, 222 Fenwick Road, Glasgow G46 6UE. E-mail: ezra@isrinfo.demon.co.uk News from Israel: http://www.isrinfo.demon.co.uk PAGE  PAGE 13  .Ae 7 r 10 .Ae 7 10bc UV  =|STij =">"''8*9*,, / /112233Y5Z566!7"7y;z;%<&< A AjGkG"H#HLLNNWWXXYY``aacceeeeffV^UVn UV[]cUV[]bc0\f+i,ikkllppqqbrcrttwwNxOx y yvywy#\݁ށDEɉxyST(/01jkuvިߨЯѯ9:st<=xy=>PQpqV^VnbqXY op=>%3$%{|jk26|<=O&   SEFZbV]cV]UVVnV^VnZ)HIJPQRTU[\^_`cdVV^u PU]cuDPU]cP uDPU]V] V]`cF3r T G f|>9= z!p"#s&'''(*+',-R/011 " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " "x< &K'K(K)K/(11345D7|88#9H9:;=</=>><@AA[C/DEFGH J/JNJ|KLMOxPQSdUVVWXYh[[[]_` " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " "-`Babc'efhhi/kWkoklmGoGpqssstu&wxz1{|,~8#]x6΅wɉ ڍC " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " "F " " " " " " " "F " " " " "K-CUCʑܑRؔ+^2n(Dc֠0/XsQ} " " " "K " " " "K " " "K " " " " "K " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "-ɴ\ qn Ot<An" Sa~V\6s " " " "F " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " "<<x<)s|#2_|O &   SQ[bH " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "!<<<<x<<%HIRST`abcd " 8 " " +%%h`% K(@(Normal  a ck:@: Heading 1P, U]ckR@R Heading 2)qqx,&2 '2 (2 )2 UV[]ck8@8 Heading 3(,Uck,@, Heading 4 << UVck"A@"Default Paragraph Font @ Footer 9r )@ Page Number @ Header 9r h  !!!!!!!!! !   9E+?UGls¾vh &9   Fs#$$$|55#6H6E G/GNG|HVhXXXZf/hWhohpppq8}#~]~x~Ɇ ڊCUʎ܎Rؑ^2n(Dc\ ¾" V6cS* W _fLh "] "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " " "K " " " " "K " " " "K " " " "F " " " "F " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "F " " " "K " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "F3rTG f |>9= zp s#$$$%'(')*R,-1.012D4|55#6H678=9/:;;<=>>[@/ABCDE G/GNG|HIJLxMNPdRSSTUVhXXXZ\]B^_`'bceef/hWhohijGlGmnpppqr&tuw1xy,{8}#~]~x~6΂wɆ ڊCUCʎ܎Rؑ+^2n(Dc֝0/XsQ}ɱ\ qn ¾Ot<An" Vd Y_9v&6cS* W  U_fLhh""""""""""""""""""" fq11`CsHh !!> Dr Golombock.C:\NETSCAPE\PROGRAM\WEBPAGES\NEWS\DAVIDMON.DOC@HP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843CLPT1:winspoolHP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843C DC 4d,,A4DINU"<$WVK$$$$13MD`HP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843C DC 4d,,A4DINU"<$WVKRoot Entry FpӁ?lCompObjnWordDocumentDObjectPool09l09l  !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstvwxyz{|}~SummaryInformation(  FMicrosoft Word 6.0 Document MSWordDocWord.Document.69q_Oh+'0$ H l   D h*C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\TEMPLATE\DAVNEWS2.DOTNEWS FROM ISRAEL 27-MAY-09 Dr Golombock Dr Golombock@29_9l@q@a?l@dMicrosoft Word 6.04ܥe- 4edDM,,-----2.:::::.2CF:;"$;$;$;$;$;$;b;d;d;d;.;>ACT*DoA-$;$;$;$;$;A$;--$;:$;$;$;$;-$;-$;b;-P*.----$;b;$;>$;News FROM ISRAEL 23-Nov-09 Progress in Schalit talks, but no deal yet by YAAKOV KATZ, HERB KEINON and TOVAH LAZAROFF, Jerusalem Post Amid a flurry of media reports that after more than three years of deadlock, Hamas may agree this week to release St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit, President Shimon Peres told reporters in Cairo on Sunday that progress had been made toward a prisoner swap. "There are negotiations between the two sides. I do not think that I need to elaborate. We all know there is progress. I hope that it will lead to a positive conclusion," Peres said. Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi warned that the media reports on progress in the talks "could harm the efforts" to release Schalit. "We have a deep commitment to release Gilad and this is a joint effort by everyone, but it needs to stay behind the scenes," he said. "This is what will contribute to his returning home quickly." Despite his words, the Israeli, international and Arab media churned out headlines throughout the day on an imminent agreement. Fox News reported that a deal had taken "another important step" forward and that Israel has approved a Hamas list of 70 additional names that met its criteria for release. Israel originally had reservations about 70 names on a Hamas list of 450 security prisoners it demanded in exchange for Schalit, 22, who has been held by Hamas in Gaza since June 2006. According to Al-Arabiya satellite news, senior Hamas officials arrive in Cairo today (Monday) for talks with Egyptian officials and Gaza-based Hamas officials. Usama Mazeini, a Hamas official involved in the German-brokered negotiations over Schalit, told Hamas newsletter Al-Risala on Saturday that the remaining "obstacles" were close to being resolved. He gave no further details, but the publication quoted anonymous Hamas officials as saying a deal is "reaching completion." Germany's new Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle arrives in Israel on Monday for a pre-arranged visit. Some reports have speculated that a deal, or at least its first stage, will be carried out by Friday in conjunction with the Id al-Adha Muslim holiday. Schalit's father, Noam, is set to speak today with Israeli mediator Hagai Elias, at a meeting that was previously scheduled. Afterwards he is expected to head to the Knesset to lobby parliamentarians on his son's behalf. He told the media on Sunday that he had received no officials reports of any progress. "At this moment, there is nothing new," he said. The deal would need to be approved by the cabinet and would be brought for a vote before its implementation, possibly as early as this week. On Sunday, Al-Arabiya reported that Israel could release as many as 1,000 security prisoners in exchange for Schalit. The Dubai-based broadcaster said that if the deal goes through, Schalit would return to Israel via Egypt. The report said that the list of prisoners included Fatah-Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, as well as other prisoners with "blood on their hands," who had been involved in terrorist attacks that killed Israelis. Hamas's announcement on Saturday that it was reining in all of the Gazan factions to prevent rocket fire is viewed as a step toward an agreement, since Hamas understands that a rocket attack with casualties could set back a deal indefinitely. Hamas hopes that trigger fingers. We disclose thoughts best kept to ourselves. Many of these thoughts are boring or mundane. Others are virulent. As a writer, I know that words have worth and words have power. Our children will grow up in a world where words are ever easier to broadcast, but may seem to have no visible ramifications or consequences. Hate is consequential and is readily accessible. It can be lucid or incoherent. It can be prosecuted or ignored. The constant waterfall of information over the Internet, however, doesn't drown out the human quest for what is real. If anything, the excess of words makes finding what is true and worthwhile even harder. Yes, words are more durable than peoplebut people determine which words are worth saving. "All most of us on this forum are is [sic] ordinary people who can't share their thoughts anywhere but here." Good. Jordana Horn is a lawyer and writer at work on her first novel. Israel Information Office in Scotland, 222 Fenwick Road, Glasgow G46 6UE. E-mail: ezra@isrinfo.demon.co.uk News from Israel: http://www.isrinfo.demon.co.uk PAGE  PAGE 13  .Ae 7 r 10 .Ae 7 10 10bc UV  =|STij =">"''8*9*,, / /112233Y5Z566!7"7y;z;%<&< A AjGkG"H#HLLNNWWXXYY``aacceeeeffV^UVn UV[]cUV[]bc0\f+i,ikkllppqqbrcrttwwNxOx y yvywy#\݁ށDEɉxyST(/01jkuvިߨЯѯ9:st<=xy=>PQpqV^VnbqXY op=>%3$%{|jk26|<=O&   SEFZbV]cV]UVVnV^VnZ)HIJPQRTU[\^_`cdVV^u PU]cuDPU]cP uDPU]V] V]`cF3r T G f|>9= z!p"#s&'''(*+',-R/011 " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " "x< &K'K(K)K/(11345D7|88#9H9:;=</=>><@AA[C/DEFGH J/JNJ|KLMOxPQSdUVVWXYh[[[]_` " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " "-`Babc'efhhi/kWkoklmGoGpqssstu&wxz1{|,~8#]x6΅wɉ ڍC " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " "F " " " " " " " "F " " " " "K-CUCʑܑRؔ+^2n(Dc֠0/XsQ} " " " "K " " " "K " " "K " " " " "K " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "-ɴ\ qn Ot<An" Sa~V\6s " " " "F " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " "<<x<)s|#2_|O &   SQ[bH " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "!<<<<x<<%HIRST`abcd " 8 " " +%%h`% K(@(Normal  a ck:@: Heading 1P, U]ckR@R Heading 2)qqx,&2 '2 (2 )2 UV[]ck8@8 Heading 3(,Uck,@, Heading 4 << UVck"A@"Default Paragraph Font @ Footer 9r )@ Page Number @ Header 9r h  !!!!!!!!! !   9E+?UGls¾vh &9   Fs#$$$|55#6H6E G/GNG|HVhXXXZf/hWhohpppq8}#~]~x~Ɇ ڊCUʎ܎Rؑ^2n(Dc\ ¾" V6cS* W _fLh "] "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " " "K " " " " "K " " " "K " " " "F " " " "F " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "K " " " "F " " " "K " " " " " " " " " "K " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "F3rTG f |>9= zp s#$$$%'(')*R,-1.012D4|55#6H678=9/:;;<=>>[@/ABCDE G/GNG|HIJLxMNPdRSSTUVhXXXZ\]B^_`'bceef/hWhohijGlGmnpppqr&tuw1xy,{8}#~]~x~6΂wɆ ڊCUCʎ܎Rؑ+^2n(Dc֝0/XsQ}ɱ\ qn ¾Ot<An" Vd Y_9v&6cS* W  U_fLhh""""""""""""""""""" fq11`CsHh !!> Dr Golombock.C:\NETSCAPE\PROGRAM\WEBPAGES\NEWS\DAVIDMON.DOC@HP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843CLPT1:winspoolHP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843C DC 4d,,A4DINU"<$WVK$$$$13MD`HP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843C DC 4d,,A4DINU"<$WVK$$$$13MD`ad**!**``nnn<}HIZV[W[[[\lmpq>?UVLMX`bdefgh  }K L ] V^ W^ ^ ^ _     k l o p = >   R S   I T  ^ ` a b cFTimes New Roman Symbol &Arial&Britannic Bold"e#&R& "o)C:\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\TEMPLATE\DAVNEWS2.DOTNEWS FROM ISRAEL 27-MAY-09 Dr Golombock Dr GolombockHP DeskJet 840C/841C/842C/843C DC 4d,,A4DINU"<$WVK