Jerusalem – The Middle East Newsline has confirmed from highly-placed sources in the Israeli intelligence community that Hamas has established operational cells in the Jewish state.

Israeli intelligence has determined that Hamas set up cells in such Israeli cities as Beersheba, Jerusalem, Lod, Nazareth and Umm El Fahm. They said the Hamas groups included sleeper and operational cells.

“Hamas members from the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been in contact with representatives in Israel to establish an operational presence,” the official said. “Hamas often sends operatives from Jerusalem to discuss financing and other support by Israeli Arabs.”

Hamas has recruited Israeli Arabs who study in neighboring Jordan. Some of these Israeli Arabs were said to have enrolled in Islamic seminaries in Jordan.

Olmert In D.C.

In the shadow of a police investigation for corruption charges after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not deny receiving $150,000 in cash from an American business supporter over the past 15 years, Mr. Olmert left for Washington to attend the annual meeting of AIPAC, the lobby for Israel in Washington and to meet with senior U.S. administration officials.

Mr. Olmert described the issues that are to come up in his conversations with President George Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as “fateful from Israel’s perspective.” The principal issue that is to come up addresses the various scenarios that have been analyzed recently with the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Mr. Bush discussed this issue with Mr. Olmert, along with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, during his visit to Israel.

In the course of Mr. Olmert’s visit, President Bush is expected to announce a “security package” that will be given to Israel that will enhance Israel’s defense against long-range missiles. This package reportedly includes radars, cruise missiles, a permanent hookup to a worldwide warning system that identifies whenever a ballistic missile is launched from anywhere around the world, help for Israel to equip itself with the Iron Dome anti-Kassam rocket system, the Americans’ involvement in the Wall and Arrow 3 projects, along with assurances about the sale of future planes and, mainly, upgrading the strategic relations between the two countries.

In the course of his visit, Mr. Olmert will ask Mr. Bush to purchase the F-22 fighter plane, considered to be the leading and most advanced warplane of its type in the world. It is built to avoid being identified by radar systems.

Mr. Olmert will also apprise President Bush of the state of the indirect negotiations with Syria that are being mediated by Turkey. Israeli and Syrian representatives are scheduled to meet next week in Istanbul for a second round of talks.

The prime minister, who will be staying at Blair House, the formal guest house of the administration, will also meet with leading figures in the U.S. Senate in order to reach final understandings about the aid bill that is to continue with the normal $3 billion annual military allocation that it has been providing to Israel since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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