SANA, the official Syrian news agency, reported yesterday Syria and Turkey signed a technical military cooperation agreement on Monday in the fields of defense industries and the exchange of technical and scientific information.

This cooperation agreement followed two days of joint Syrian-Turkish military maneuvers.

Israel Minister of Defense Ehud Barak said yesterday at an Israel Memorial Day event that “a Syrian-Turkish military maneuver is taking place, definitely a disturbing development. But I believe that the strategic relationship between Israel and Turkey will overcome Turkey’s necessity to participate in this drill as well.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The Middle East Newsline reports Jordan’s King Abdullah has warned the Obama administration that Iran was expanding its presence throughout the Middle East.

Kiing Abdullah, in his first meetings with the Obama administration, told the White House and Congress that Iran has established strongholds in such places as Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The king was quoted as saying that Iran was using proxies, particularly Hamas and Hezbollah.

“I met with King Abdullah, who said that Hamas ministers [in Gaza] all directly follow the orders of Tehran,” U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a leading Republican on the House Foreign Appropriations Committee, said on April 23.

The Jordanian warning came as the administration has sought to funnel $840 million in aid to the Gaza Strip as well as any Palestinian unity government that included Hamas ministers.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged Jordan’s concern, but said the Hamas regime, which has considered a coalition with the ruling Fatah movement in the West Bank, was not completely loyal to Tehran.

“We do believe that there has been some efforts to try to, you know, get more authority and opportunity on the part of those in Gaza,” Ms. Clinton said.

In testimony to the United States House Foreign Appropriations Middle East Subcommittee, Ms. Clinton urged Congress to provide “flexibility” for U.S. aid to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The secretary stressed that Washington would not directly assist Hamas.

“We don’t want to bind our hands in the event that such an agreement [on a Fatah-Hamas coalition] is reached, and the government that they are part of agrees to our principles,” Ms. Clinton said.

But administration officials and members of Congress said Jordan has warned of any arrangement that would aid the Hamas regime or movement. Abdullah was said to have stressed Iran’s expansion in every meeting in Washington during his visit in late April.

“So it’s a worry that we would provide taxpayer subsidies to a government with Hamas ministers,” Kirk said. “That’s sort of like saying, ‘Well, we would provide taxpayer subsidies to a coalition government. If it only has a few Nazis in it, but it’s okay.’“

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

In fiery speech delivered in Ramallah yesterday, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said he does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He also underscored his rejection of the new Israeli government’s demand for recognition.

A senior official in Mr. Abbas’ office said the PA president was trying to make the world aware of the deadlock with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Bureau responded by saying there would be no progress in the negotiations unless the Palestinians recognize the State of Israel’s right to self-determination as a Jewish state.

“This is a fundamental demand. We won’t sweep the Palestinian refusal to recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state beneath the carpet,” officials in the Prime Minister’s Bureau said.

The prior government refused to press the issue with the Palestinians during the 2007 Annapolis Conference, but the Prime Minister’s Bureau promises the Netanyahu government will not follow the same path.

“They want to be given a nation-state, but aren’t prepared to recognize our right to a Jewish state. If one wants to reach peace then ultimately one has to accept the basic legitimacy of the other side. They have to say these things to their people,” Mr. Netanyahu recently said on the subject.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “Recognition of Israel is a vital and necessary stage in the historic reconciliation.”

An Israel Government Minister and former Israeli Army commander in chief, Moshe Yaalon, and said that the Palestinians’ actions demonstrated their true intentions.

“They want in Judea and Samaria [The West Bank] a country that has been purged of Jews and in the rest of the land an Israeli state, for the time being, that is secular and democratic, with Arabs, which, at some point, in keeping with their perception, will become part of the greater Palestinian state,” Mr. Yaalon said. “That is the realization of the stages strategy, or the realization of the Hamas charter. The disagreement they have is about the route, not about the goal.”

Israeli Arab Knesset member Ahmed Tibi, former chief of staff to PLO leader Yassir Arafat, said Mr. Abbas’ statements were logical: “The recognition does not include recognition of the political substance, but, rather, of its right to exist, its independence and borders.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The results are in after Hamas conducted elections last week.

The elections were held in Gaza and in other areas of the Middle East.

The Fatah, which runs Palestinian institutions in the West Bank towns of Ramallah, Jenin, Bethlehem, and Nablus, would not allow Hamas members in these areas to participate in the Hamas elections.

On Monday, the Ma’an Palestinian news agency reported Khaled Masha’al was re-elected politbureau chief of Hamas.

Ma’an, based in Ramallah, reported Osama Hamdan, Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, was elected to replace Mohammed Nazzal on the ruling panel.

Mr. Masha’al, the head of the political bureau, has been in the position since 1997. Mr. Masha’al’s deputy, Mussa Abu Marzouk, also retained his post.

Maan said Hamas also elected an executive council. The council was said to comprise 15 members of the political bureau and 10 members of the General Consultative Council.

Elections for the Shura Council and General Consultative Council have been set for every four years. The elections were meant to establish Hamas’s administrative and political leadership.

While Hamas is defined by the United States, Canada, Australia and all members of the European Union Hamas as an illegal terrorist organization which honors anyone who will murder Jews, Hamas has built a democratic process that seems to be functioning with great efficiency. Hamas can now present itself to the West as a democratic entity, even if it is a terrorist organization.

Pundits often note Adolf Hitler came to power in democratic process.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

Hours before Israel Memorial Day began yesterday, honoring those Israelis who were killed in battle or murdered by terrorists, Israeli security officials announced they had arrested the Arab terrorist who had been involved with the murder of one boy and the injury of another on April 2.

The confessed murderer, identified as Moussa Teet, 26, killed Shlomo Nativ, a 13-year-old Jewish boy, and injured Yair Gamliel, a 7-year-old child, with a pickax, in Bat Ayin, located southwest of Bethlehem.

The Israeli security services captured the terrorist after receiving information he was hiding in Beit Ummar, located south of Bethlehem. They reached him on April 14 during the late evening hours, before surrounding him and forcing him out.

“We surrounded the house, called upon him to come out, and five minutes later he came out with his hands up. He acted coolly and didn’t panic. It took a few days before he confessed to the murder,” Israeli security officials said.

Mr. Teet re-enacted the incident during questioning from the planning stage until he fled the scene of the murder after residents of Bat Ayin began to pursue him.

He told his interrogators he had committed the act for religious reasons, and he had written a will 10 days before carrying out the terror attack.

The confessed terrorist also led the investigators to the weapons he had hidden in the field after murdering the teenager. He also thought he would not emerge from the attack alive.

“I wanted to be a shahid (a martyr),” Mr. Teet said under questioning.

After he managed to escape from Bat Ayin, he tried to continue to go about his life as usual, with the belief he would not be caught.

“Army forces combed the village on the day of the murder. He saw that they did not reach him, and thought that he wouldn’t be found. He went on with his life, tended the sheep and felt safe,” sources said.

Samih Teet, the terrorist’s cousin and an officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, said he intended to inform the Palestinian Authority, so it would arrest Moussa and investigate whether he had committed the murder.

“On the day of the arrest, children in the village saw Moussa burying the clothes that he was wearing at the time of the attack,” Samih said. “People immediately started to talk about the fact that Moussa carried out the attack.”

Shlomo Nativ’s family has asked for Mr. Teet’s execution for murder; however, Israel has only administered the death penalty once before, when it hanged Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichman in 1962.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The executive director of Iran’s national oil company, the Continental Shelf Oil Company, says his company has signed an agreement with a French company worth 32 million euros, or about $40 million.

Mahmoud Zirkjian Alizada, the executive director, says the plan will carry out support and planning operations in Iran’s Dorood Three refinery.

According to Iranian Mehr news agency, Mr. Alizada told reporters covering the Fourth International Exhibition on oil, gas and petrochemicals in Tehran that contracts worth $12 billion had been signed between domestic and foreign companies and the Iranian company.

The executive director said the volume of oil and gas production from oil fields in the Persian Gulf has increased during the past year. He stressed the Iranian Frouzan oil field production increased by 11 percent, as well as the size of Salman oil field production, which witnessed an increase of 6 percent.

“Iran has 13 oil and gas fields shared with Gulf, and there are about 5 billion barrels of crude oil in those fields,” Mr. Alizada said.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

With two weeks left before Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled trip to Israel, set to take place May 11 to 15, the Vatican has announced it has signed a deal with the Arab League outlining cooperation aimed at promoting “peace, security and stability.”

Vatican senior diplomat Dominique Mamberti and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mussa signed the agreement.

However, what the Vatican did not mention in its press statement was the League of Arab States remains in a formal and active state of war with Israel.

The league declared a war to destroy the nascent state of Israel on the day that Israel declared its independence following the end of the British Mandate, on May 14, 1948. A spokesman for the Washington office of the Arab League confirms the international organization has never rescinded that state of war.

In March 2002, the league announced its first peace plan by making peace with Israel conditional on a full Israeli withdrawal to the territory it held prior to 1967, the expulsion of Jews from the Old City of Jerusalem and Israel’s recognition of the Arab refugees’ rights to the homes and villages that they left in 1948 war.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said last week Israel views the league’s plan as a prescription for its destruction.

In that context, a source in the Israel Foreign Ministry says that Israel has little to rejoice from the Vatican signing a new agreement with the Arab League, because the league remains committed to its 61-year-old war to destroy Israel.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

Whenever Israel Independence Day approaches, someone with a historical perspective invariably reminds the people of Israel the American State Department did everything in its power to dissuade Israel from declaring its independence after the British withdrew in May 1948.

After Israel declared independence and in spite of the State Department’s warnings Arab armies would overwhelm it, the U.S. enforced an arms embargo of Israel during its War of Independence.

This week, as Israel enters its 61st anniversary, American directives abound once again.

The text of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimony to the Congress from last week was released to the Israeli media yesterday, and it does not sit well with Israel.

In that testimony, Mrs. Clinton warned Israel it risks losing “Arab support” if itdoes not resume negotiations to launch a Palestinian state.

Mrs. Clinton made this demand, despite the fact that both movements that represent the Palestinians – Fatah and Hamas – remain at war with Israel.

“For Israel to get the kind of strong support it is looking for vis-a-vis Iran, it can’t stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and the peace efforts. They go hand in hand,” Mrs. Clinton told the House Appropriations Committee.

Concerning a funding request for the Palestinians, Mrs. Clinton said the State Department would ensure that no U.S. taxpayer money goes to Hamas.

“No aid will flow to Hamas or any entity controlled by Hamas,” she said.

Mrs. Clinton said any new Palestinian Authority government that would include Hamas must recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous agreements.

However, Mrs. Clinton contradicted herself and indicated that the U.S. would not necessarily cut funding to the Palestinians even if Hamas were to join a unity government and fail to meet the three of the above conditions, noting that the U.S. continues to provide funds to Lebanon, whose government includes Hezbollah.

“We are doing that because we think, on balance, it is in the interest of the United States,” she said.

The question as to whether American policy plays into the interest of the state and people of Israel remains to be seen.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The Middle East Newsline has confirmed Saudi Arabia has warned its nationals of the prospect of an imminent attack by al-Qaida in India.

Al-Qaida was believed to have targeted Saudi diplomatic and trade interests in several Indian cities.

“We have detected this threat after [the November 2008 al-Qaida-aligned seaborne strike in] Mumbai,” an official said. “We assess that al-Qaida believes it would be easier to attack Saudis in India than in the kingdom.”

Indian intelligence relayed the warning of al-Qaida’s plans to attack Saudi facilities such as the Saudi consulate and the state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines in Mumbai. They said Mumbai contains al-Qaida sleeper cells that were identifying Saudi and other targets.

Saudi nationals in India have also been ordered to avoid appearing in groups. Officials said 350 Saudi university students were enrolled in India.

India and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in an intelligence exchange in the effort to prevent al-Qaida attacks. Officials said the exchange intensified in wake of the Mumbai strike, in which nearly 200 people were killed.

The Jedda-based Arab News quoted a senior Indian police official as saying that New Dehli intercepted communications between Islamic insurgency groups.

The communications reported al-Qaida infiltration of India and plans to attack Saudi interests in Mumbai.

“There is high possibility of Saudi aircraft being hijacked from Indian airports,” the Arab News said.

A key concern, officials said, was that al-Qaida was being aided in India by Pakistani-based insurgency groups. They cited Lashkar-e-Taiba, Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami and Jaish-e-Mohammed, which are said to have been linked to the November Mumbai attack.

“The most valued target of al-Qaida would be the blowing up of a Saudi airliner, and we have received tremendous cooperation from Indian authorities,” the official said. “But there are other Saudi targets that would also be important.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

Two weeks after the revelation of a Hezbollah network in Egypt, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has threatened Iran’s revolutionary regime and Hezbollah with harsh language.

“We are well aware of your plans,” he said. “We will reveal your plots and grab you by your necks. Stop hiding behind the Palestinian cause. Beware the wrath of Egypt and its people.”

In the course of the speech, which was his most bitter to date aimed at Iran and its allies, the Egyptian president also accused Iran of being hostile to peace and of pushing the region to the brink of hell.

“They wish to force their influence and agenda on our Arab world, and they ignite disharmony in the Palestinian and Arab arena,” he said “They infiltrate their agents in the region in order to threaten Egypt’s national security, to breach its borders and to shake its stability.”

Since the uncovering of the Hezbollah network, sources in Cairo have said they would act in a localized and efficient manner against the Shiite organization.

They have hinted that most of the damage would be to the weapons’ smuggling conducted along the Sinai roads and Suez Canal.

Mr. Mubarak’s speech came while his men continued to uncover more information in the course of the investigation.

The brains behind the Hezbollah network in Egypt – Hezbollah’s intelligence officer Mohamed Kablan – trained and qualified Palestinian suicide bombers for attacks in Israel. Mr. Kablan is a senior officer in Hezbollah’s 1800 unit, a secret body that aids Hamas and other Palestinian factions in their struggle against Israel.

Information on his involvement in attacks against Israel emerged in the course of the interrogation of the affair’s main suspect, the Lebanese Mohammad Yussuf Mansur, aka Sami Shihab.

“Mohamed Kablan is responsible for preparing the Palestinians who left for Jihad,” Mr. Shihab told his interrogators, “This is due to his proficiency in the language and his great ability to spark enthusiasm in the hearts of the holy warriors.”

Mr. Kablan lived in Egypt in the past for a long period and is fluent in the Egyptian dialect of Arabic.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com