David Bedein

--Prime Minister Ehud Olmert believes there is a chance of renewing peace negotiations if the Hamas-Fatah government forswears terror and recognizes Israel and honors the agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians. This transpires from remarks the prime minister made in the course of a discussion that he held with security and political establishment leaders after the Mecca agreement--Syrian Organization Claims Capture Of Israeli Soldier

Jerusalem officials say that the Russians did not use their supervisory apparatus, as they had promised, and did not prevent the trickle. The quantity is not at the level that it was before the war, but rather at the beginning of a worrying trend.

Ahmadinejad had hinted he was going to announce on the 28th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that saw hard-line clerics take power in Iran that his country had begun installing 3,000 centrifuges at its nuclear plant at Natanz - a move widely seen as a defiant gesture to international community, which has demanded Iran suspend uranium enrichment.

The Israeli government miscalculated when it based its approach toward Hamas on its blind faith in the economic and political boycott. Only two weeks ago, this reporter heard Israel's 83-year-old Deputy Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, the architect of the 1993 Oslo Accord, declare that "only with economics can we make peace." Peres went on to say that if members of terrorist groups perceive economic incentives, they will cease to be terrorists. Peres, not a religious man, has never understood the tenacity of a terrorist movement which is grounded in religion - not only in prosperity.

Israel does have The Basic Law, which guards the rights and dignity for all of its citizens, and which gives all citizens the right to sue the government in the Israeli citizens court - the Israel High Court of Justice. Experience has it in Israel that when a citizens group needs budget to protect a fundamental need, that citizen group simply sues in the Israel High Court of Justice and the court often orders the government to find a way to protect human rights, and to find the necessary funds for that purpose.

Any Palestinian government that adopts the conditions of the Quartet and the international community will be acceptable to Israel, Olmert said, and Israel will cooperate with it. Yet until then Israel would do everything in its power to prevent terrorism. He said in recent months Israel had exercised absolute restraint, but the Palestinians had not honored the cease-fire for even one day.

In a letter that 40 members of the ruling UMP party in France sent to President Jacques Chirac, they wrote that "with financing and support from Iran and Syria, the organization (Hezbollah) constitutes a grave threat to the possibility of a peaceful solution in the region. Hezbollah is responsible for the attacks and for the taking of the captives."

--Israelis and Palestinians are making the final preparations for the expected summit in the last week of February with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Abu Mazen and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. That summit is supposed to be the launching point of negotiations between the two sides, which will be defined as a framework of meetings and reciprocal examination--Hezbollah Bombs--Israeli Foreign Ministry And Security Officials: 'Nasrallah Will Take Over Lebanon'

--Over the weekend, three cease-fire agreements were signed with the assistance of the Egyptian security delegation, but all of the efforts to bring about reconciliation ended in failure and the battles were renewed--The University Front --Tirawi Strikes Rajoub With His Shoes--Egyptian Spy Scandal