A Qassam rocket fired from Gaza slammed between two homes around 5:30 p.m., local time, yesterday. The Tzeva Adom, Color Red siren, blared twice in the city, sending residents fleeing to area bomb shelters. After the second Color Red siren, an unusually loud explosion sounded throughout the city.

The sound of the rocket explosion shocked no one more than Ilan Dahan. Ilan was sleeping when the Qassam rocket crashed into his backyard, right outside his bedroom.

“I slept right through the Color Red siren,” said Ilan. Ilan, dazed and shocked, walked into his bedroom. His bed was full of broken glass, from a window right above the bed, which shattered from the impact of the rocket slamming into the ground.

“It’s a miracle that all I got was this small scratch,” Ilan told the Sderot Media Center. A piece of broken glass struck Ilan’s back, leaving behind a red mark.

Both of Ilan’s parents were home when the rocket struck. His father raced into Ilan’s bedroom after the rocket struck, picked his son up and carried him outside to safety. “At that point, I didn’t even realize that the rocket hit right outside our home,” said Ilan, who is 18 and getting ready to enter the army.

Shula, Ilan’s mother, looked tearfully at her son.

“I never expected this to happen to us during a cease-fire,” she said. The family was sitting outside in the front of the home to cool off from the heat of the evening when the siren sounded.

“We didn’t react quickly enough to the siren,” said Shula. “If we had reacted, we would have raced to the back of the home where our new shelter is located. Most likely, one of us would have been injured because the rocket exploded right outside the shelter.”

The back of the Dahans’ home suffered severe damage from the rocket blast. Broken glass and debris littered the floor, while holes from rocket shrapnel marked the ceiling and walls. Outside, the Dahans’ shelter was also covered with shrapnel marks.

The rocket explosion also damaged the home next to the Dahans.

Family members from both sides suffered shock, as did neighbors further along the street. Several people were treated for trauma on the scene.

The rocket attack comes as the Sderot Mental Health Center is shutting down. Dr. Adrianne Katz, the head of Sderot Mental Health, told the Sderot Media Center that the mental health center is closing due to budget cuts. The Sderot Mental Health Center has provided therapy treatments to thousands of Sderot trauma victims and has 5,500 patients on file.

The Gaza rocket attacks on Sderot came in the wake of the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama in the White House on Monday.

During a White House press conference after the meeting, President Obama said: “[T]here is a recognition that the Palestinians are going to have to do a better job providing the kinds of security assurances that Israelis would need to achieve a two-state solution, [and] gain additional legitimacy and credibility with their own people, and delivering services.”

Mr. Obama also called the situation in Sderot unacceptable and recalled his experience visiting the city during last year’s presidential campaign.

When Mr. Obama visited Sderot last year, he stated in a Sderot press conference: “I will work from the moment that I return to America, to tell the story of Sderot and to make sure that the good people who live here are enjoying a future of peace and security and hope.”

The president emphasized Israel’s responsibility to protect its citizens.

“If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing,” Mr. Obama said.

Yesterday marked the fifth month since the Hamas-Israel cease-fire in mid-January. Since then, over 210 rockets have been fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza at Israel.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

A senior adviser to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has said, according to Middle East Newsline, Fatah, the faction that runs the PA, has agreed in principle to form a joint security force with its rival, Hamas.

Nabil Shaath, who is serving as a PA negotiator, said this took place in the course of its negotiations in Cairo, Egypt with the rival terrorist group, which runs Gaza. This has taken place despite the presence of American military advisers in the West Bank who are training the PA’s security forces and U.S. opposition to Hamas.

“There are many details that must be concluded,” Mr. Shaath said.

This marked the second time in three months that a Fatah official claimed an agreement with Hamas in reconciliation talks conducted in Egypt.

Egypt has been encouraging Hamas to agree to the joint security force in an effort to form a unity government with Fatah. The next round of talks was scheduled for July.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a briefing yesterday regarding Monday’s meeting with President Barack Obama.

The prime minister called the meeting successful as far as he was concerned.

First and foremost, it is clear Mr. Netanyahu had interpreted Mr. Obama’s seemingly contradictory words relating to a timetable for dialogue with the Iranians over their nuclear program as a deadline in every sense of the word.

Although Mr. Obama said he would not commit to an artificial deadline, he made it clear the U.S. was giving itself until the end of the year to make progress in talks with Tehran.

“If only these negotiations succeed,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Obama talked about re-evaluating at the end of the year. Is that a deadline or not?”

He said setting the end of the year as a clear target date for re-evaluating progress equaled setting a time limit for the dialogue.

The prime minister left the meeting with Mr. Obama pleased, particularly relating to what was agreed upon on Iran.

“I didn’t ask him for a green light or an orange light,” the prime minister said. “What’s important is that we reached agreement on a commitment to the outcome – that Iran not develop nuclear military capability. He stated this clearly.”

As for the Palestinian issue, it was apparent that the White House meeting did not exactly end according to Mr. Netanyahu’s expectations. The prime minister again clarified his belief that discussions with regard to establishing a Palestinian state should focus on restrictions that would guarantee Israeli security.

“All those who talk about the solution don’t stress the constraints enough – that it not have an army, about how to ensure that this be an entity that does not threaten Israel. That is the emphasis for us,” he said.

Mr. Netanyahu said the meeting between them had taken place in a very friendly atmosphere.

“At first, there was a meeting of an hour and 45 minutes, and that was very important to solidify the personal connection between us,” the prime minister said.

The president’s verbal ability and good English definitely helped, but it was not the only thing that solidified this important connection between the leaders.

“There is a deep commitment to the connection between Israel and the U.S.,” Mr. Netanyahu said, summing up the summit.

Predictions About Tense Meeting Were Proved Wrong

The Israeli political establishment had braced for a disastrous meeting between Messrs. Netanyahu and Obama.

Once the results of the meeting became known last night, members of the prime minister’s Likud Party expressed their happiness with the outcome.

“The predictions about a tense meeting were disproved,” said Likud Knesset member Ophir Okunis, who heads the party’s public response team. “The Obama-Netanyahu meeting proved once again the might of the relationship between the United States and Israel.

“The government is committed to the peace process with the Palestinians not on the basis of two states for two peoples, but, rather, on the basis of Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.”

However, Dr. Aryeh Eldad, a Knesset member of the opposition National Union Party, said he was troubled by Mr. Obama’s statements about Iran.

“There is cause for real concern because the United States is shrugging off its historic duty to guarantee Israel’s security. The United States is willing, in practice, to resign itself to a nuclear Iran, so that Israel has been left facing Iran alone.”

Dr. Eldad said that Israel might not have any choice, in light of Mr. Obama’s statements, but to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.

Labor Knesset member Yuli Tamir said: “Netanyahu has insisted on ignoring the unequivocal policy that has been introduced by the president of the United States, who regards the principle of two states for two peoples to be the key for stability in the Middle East…”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides have been busy trying to arrange a meeting between his wife, Sara, and first lady Michelle Obama.

Mrs. Netanyahu said she has been interested in having such a meeting, but it is unclear whether one will take place.

“We are attempting to schedule a meeting between Sara Netanyahu and Michelle Obama [for today],” said a source in the prime minister’s entourage.

This could prove difficult because Mrs. Obama is presently away from Washington.

The tradition so far has always been, during an Israeli prime minister’s first visit to Washington, for the wives of the two leaders to meet for a joint meal.

Mrs. Obama, it seems, had other plans.

She is in no hurry to meet with wives of leaders who visit Washington and prefers cultural and social events instead. But the last word has yet to be said, and indeed, if the efforts of the Israelis bear fruit, Mrs. Netanyahu will be able to hold a face-to-face meeting with the first lady of the United States.

During Mr. Netanyahu’s fist visit to Washington in the course of his first term as prime minister in the 1990s, Mrs. Netanyahu met with then first lady Hillary Clinton.

Even if she does not meet with the president’s wife, a busy schedule still awaits Sara Netanyahu, and she has already been rather busy.

Yesterday, she paid an official visit to the Holocaust Museum, met with professionals in her field – child psychology – visited a local school and also met with Noa Meridor, the wife of Israeli Ambassador to Washington Sallai Meridor.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

Following the Papal visit, the Israeli Tourism Ministry has announced that it is launching comprehensive marketing activities via the Israel Government Tourist Offices overseas to promote Christian tourism to Israel.

The Israel Government Tourist Offices, located around the world, have been working with target audiences and leading tourism bodies in target countries and will launch focused marketing campaigns within the next few weeks.

They will act in accordance with the various market activities, including conventions on the theme of pilgrimage travel; launching focused itinerary suggestions; hosting opinion makers in the Christian world; and launching complementary public relations activities.

A special Israel Tourism Ministry camera crew accompanied the Pope during his recent pilgrimage.

Over the next few days, a special film of the visit will be produced and used to augment marketing activities overseas.

Alongside these marketing activities, a Web site developed by the Tourism Ministry in honor of the Papal visit will remain online.

Israel Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov said: “The visit of the Pope represents a strategic anchor for Christian tourism to Israel in the coming years, and the Israel Tourism Ministry will operate in all areas to realize the great potential in this type of tourism.”

Three million tourists visited Israel in 2008 (a record year), of whom over 1 million were Christian.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

A new Haifa University poll shows only 41 percent of Israel’s Arab citizens – who constitute 1.4 million of the nation’s 7 million population – recognize its right to exist as a Jewish democratic state. A further 59 percent do not.

Additionally, 40.5 percent of Arab Israelis believe the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis and their allies never happened.

Haifa Professor Sami Samocha, who conducted the survey, has been monitoring Arab-Jewish relations for 35 years.

The poll underscores the fears of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, who also acted as the nation’s first defense minister, 1948-1963, and mandated military rule over the Israeli Arab population. He worried the Israeli Arabs would one day create a fifth column and join forces with surrounding Arab nations that were at war with Israel.

After Ben Gurion’s retirement, Israeli military rule over the Israeli Arabs was lifted in 1966, over his objections.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official responded yesterday to a press statement made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Saturday, saying “Israel is not a partner for peace,” by calling the Syrian dictator’s credibility into question.

“What interests Assad is not peace, but rather the peace process. Assad knows very well that he will have to pay for peace with normalization and open his country to the West, which could bring about the toppling of his regime,” said Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon. “Assad is only interested in the peace process in order to get his country out of its international isolation and to remove the pressure of the international community.”

Peace between Israel and Syria can only be reached, he said, when the Syrians start negotiating without preconditions and stop supporting terrorist groups that seek Israel’s destruction.

“It’s impossible to desire peace and at the same time support and arm Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad,” Mr. Ayalon said.

Mr. Ayalon also addressed today’s meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama in Washington. He called the bond between the U.S. and Israel “a natural one” because both nations share the common goal of stopping Iran’s and Pakistan’s nuclear programs.

The Israelis, he said, likely would not act against Iran without coordinating operations with the U.S., and he expressed hope that time hasn’t run out for a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Iran is a very weak state in a shaky situation,” Mr. Ayalon said. “They cannot withstand real sanctions; their banks and shipping companies are vulnerable. If the world insists on imposing strict sanctions against them, military action may not be necessary.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

A report issued on the eve of today’s summit between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama says U.S. policy toward Iran’s nuclear program could determine the outcome of the president’s administration.

The report, published by The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), warns the issue could be “the Cuban missile crisis all over again.”

“It will test the ability of the newly-elected U.S. president to confront the adversary and better him. In a way, this is a make-or-break situation for Obama,” analyst Ephraim Asculai wrote in the INSS report, titled “The Game with Iran.”

The INSS report said Tehran would test Mr. Obama’s resolve by continuing uranium enrichment and other activities required for nuclear weapons development.

It also says the United States will likely be forced to confront rising instability in the Middle East sparked by Iran’s nuclear program, as well as by Tehran’s support for insurgency groups. The report cited Egypt’s capture of an alleged Hezbollah network, which reportedly planned attacks throughout the Sinai Peninsula as an example.

“Egypt is confronting Iran and instability is in the air,” the report said. “Perhaps more than the recent U.S. elections, the timetable is now dictated by the closing deadline of Iran’s nuclear progress.”

Earlier this month, CIA director Leon Panetta held a meeting with the Israeli prime minister and reportedly demanded Israel not take any military action against Iran.

Officials said Mr. Obama ordered Mr. Panetta’s visit because he wanted to avoid a long discussion on Iran during today’s meeting in Washington.

Mr. Asculai, a former official in the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, said the Obama administration likely will pursue a diplomatic solution to Iran’s outlawed uranium enrichment program. But the report advises Mr. Obama to set a deadline for obtaining diplomatic results.

“In setting the time limit, the president must remember that any time gained by the Iranians during the negotiation process would be used to further advance their project,” the report warned.

The report said Iran could exploit the Obama administration’s diplomatic endeavors by insisting its nuclear project is nonnegotiable. Doing so, the report said, would harm U.S. influence throughout the Middle East, particularly among the Gulf Cooperation Council states, such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Mr. Asculai urged Israel to delay plans to attack Iran and instead recommended the Netanyahu government give Mr. Obama time to discover how receptive Iran is to diplomacy.

“Should engagement fail, Israel would be in a better position to convince the United States, if not to actively support, then at least not to interfere, with any military action,” the report said.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

The American military now openly admits providing military training to Palestinian military forces.

A U.S. military official, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, assigned by the United States to be a “security coordinator,” has been appointed to train 1,500 Palestinian military personnel. They will be available for “immediate deployment” in the area between Jenin and Nablus, less than an hour from Israel’s populated coastal plain.

He discussed his mission at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies last week.

Lt. Gen. Dayton said: “We also have something in our pocket called the West Bank Training Initiative where we have plans to continue a series of courses in the West Bank on logistics, leadership, first aid, maintenance, English language, battalion staff training and driver education. These are led by our British and Turkish officers with an eye to eventually turning this over to the Palestinians themselves.”

The premise behind American military aid to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) military forces is the hope the American-trained Palestinian personnel will fight Hamas.

However, the training of Palestinian military units by U.S. advisers is taking place at the same time the PA is negotiating to join forces with the Hamas terrorist organization, which rules Gaza.

All indications show the PA is making every effort to co-opt and include Hamas in its military forces for joint operations against Israel.

Were that to happen, American military advisers and their Palestinian trainees would be placed into direct confrontation with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and with the Israeli population.

Despite assurances to the contrary, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the parent organization of the PA, remains in a state of war with Israel.

To reassure the Washington Institute, Lt. Gen. Dayton downplayed the dangers of the training that the Americans are providing the Palestinians, by saying that “Our equipping is all nonlethal…”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com