Jerusalem – A missile was fired Sunday at Sderot by Palestinians in Gaza into an open area inside the city, causing a fire to break out in a thorn field. A man, a woman and a child went into shock and were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

Israeli security officials assessed that this was not an escalation but rather an isolated incident, while telling the Israeli media that if it should become apparent that this was not the case-the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would act accordingly.

It should be noted that last Thursday a bomb was detonated for the first time in several months against an IDF force patrolling close to the border fence in Gaza.

None of the soldiers on patrol near Gaza were injured, but damage was caused to the fence.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – Yesterday, Israel’s daily Maariv newspaper published a short interview with former CIA Director and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dr. James Schlesinger, who offered Israel dire warnings.

“Israel will face the most severe existential threat in its history in the next year,” Dr. Schlesinger told Maariv, adding, “I would expect the Israelis to choose for their leadership the people with the greatest experience in national security.”

His prediction came as Israel prepares to elect a new prime minister due to the anticipated early departure of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is facing corruption charges.

Dr. Schlesinger spoke also as the former U.S. secretary of energy, and one of the foremost experts in the U.S. on employing nuclear force and the nuclear balance of power. He had earned this distinction as secretary of defense during the Yom Kippur War. He is considered a conservative Republican and a security expert.

He also is a convert from Judaism who left his faith during his college years.

He was pressed further by the interviewer for Maariv.

“Do you recommend that Israel act alone against the Iranian nuclear program?” the Maariv reporter asked him.

He didn’t bite: “I am not recommending to the Israeli government what to do,” he said. “That is what you have a government for. I can only tell you that in the past 60 years, Israel has survived because it knew how to meet security challenges, because it was attentive to them and they were at the center of its agenda. Now the toughest security challenge of all is rising up in front of you. The Iranian regime, armed with nuclear weapons, means an existential danger. You must not make light of it. In such days, there must be people with experience in this field at the helm.”

The current U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently appointed Dr. Schlesinger to head a special task force to examine the needs of the United States in the area of nuclear security, and mainly aerial security of the nuclear arms standing at the disposal of the U.S.

Dr. Schlesinger submitted his recommendations over the past few days. They were firm: Invest resources in renewing, updating and retaining American nuclear capability with regard to the air branch, he said.

Mr. Gates’ team has determined this ability has rusted and been neglected in the past years, since the end of the Cold War. Mr. Gates and his team have concluded that now that a new Cold War seems to be in motion, the party is over, and it’s time to get back to work.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

It is now confirmed that Mahmoud Abbas, will continue to serve as Palestinian president even after January 2009, which is when his legal term in office is scheduled to end.

Mr. Abbas had inherited the dual position from Yassir Arafat as the head of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005, and the Palestine Liberation Organization in November 2004, following Mr. Arafat’s death in November 2004.

Senior Palestinian sources said that Mr. Abbas’ decision had been made despite Hamas’ announcement that it would not recognize Mr. Abbas as president and would demand that elections be held as soon as possible.

Instead, Mr. Abbas had held a number of consultations with Arab heads of state and earned their full support for his continued term as Palestinian president.

Mr. Abbas was warned by a number of the Arab leaders that he would do best were he to refrain from holding elections, which were liable to give Hamas the presidency as well.

In the past number of months, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been urging Mr. Abbas to appoint a vice president, lest his departure leave a political vacuum that would then be filled by Hamas.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

The political echelon in Jerusalem is angry because U.S. Consul General Jacob Walles said that Israel had agreed in principle to relinquish control of all areas of Jerusalem that it had annexed in 1967, following the 1967 war.

Jerusalem had been divided between Israel and Jordan from 1948 until 1967. While Muslims and Christians were allowed access to the areas under Israeli control in Jerusalem, no Jews were allowed access to areas in Jerusalem under Arab control for that entire 19-year period.

According to statements made by the U.S. consul, Israel and the PLO had agreed that a permanent status arrangement would be based on the 1967 lines in Jerusalem. He said this in an interview to the Palestinian al-Ayyam daily published in Ramallah.

Mr. Walles said that in her last visit, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed to both sides that these parameters would be the basis of a permanent status arrangement.

Mr. Walles stressed that the intention is to end the conflict by the beginning of January 2009, when President Bush’s term ends.

Israeli government sources emphasize that not only were the consul’s remarks not true – but that the senior American diplomat had also broken an explicit promise given by the Americans not to comment publicly on the details of the negotiations in order not to jeopardize them.

Israeli government sources also said that the question of Jerusalem did not come up in the negotiations and was not on the negotiating table.

Israeli government sources labeled Mr. Walles’ remarks “irresponsible” and have asked for an American government denunciation of Mr. Walles. The Bulletin has not yet received a response to a query placed in this regard to the U.S. State Department.

U.S. State Department officials who have held the position of consul in Jerusalem have often gone on to work for the Arab cause.

Edward Abington, the U.S. consul in Jerusalem from 1993 until 1997, has been the official lobbyist for the PLO and the Palestinian Authority in Washington ever since leaving his term of office. His successor, Mr. Phillip Wilcox, now works became a lobbyist for a pro-Arab lobby group know as The Foundation For Middle East Peace.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday underwent medical tests at Tel Hashomer hospital, as part of the ongoing watch on the development of the cancer that he developed about a year ago.

The prime minister is suffering from prostate cancer, and his doctors recommended that he undergo surgery to remove the growth. Mr. Olmert decided not to have the operation and that is why he is under continuous supervision, The tests, which are relatively simple, do not require an anesthetic, and therefore there was no recourse to the procedure in which the prime minister hands over his authority to the deputy prime minister for a few hours. The tests were successful, but a source in Mr. Olmert’s bureau said the doctors have not yet submitted the results to the prime minister.

Whether or not Mr. Olmert’s days on earth are numbered is not known. However, it is believed Mr. Olmert’s days as head of state in Israel are definitely numbered.

On Thursday, on the eve of his MRI test, prime minister Olmert promised is Kadima political party that he would resign as Prime Minister immediately after the Kadima party chooses his successor on Wednesday.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – Violence flared on Saturday after an Arab infiltrated the Jewish community of Yitzhar, set a house on fire and stabbed a 9-year-old boy before fleeing back to the neighboring Arab village of Asira Kabaliya.

Within an hour, 50 Yitzhar residents, some of them armed, ran into the Arab village, some of them shooting in the air. As a result, four Arabs were injured by that gunfire.

The Arab infiltrator was not caught. The boy who was stabbed is recovering in the hospital from four stab wounds in his back and his spine.

Residents in Yitzhar said that they were incensed by the ineptitude of the Israeli troops stationed around their community and by those soldiers’ failure to prevent the attack.

An Arab Member of Israeli Knesset, Ahmed Tibi, PLO leader Yassir Arafat’s former chief of staff, maintained that it was the Israeli security forces who encouraged the incursions into the Arab village. Appearing on the Voice of Israel Radio newsreel, Mr. Tibi described the residents of Yizhar as “two-legged animals, vigilantes who riot against the Palestinians, while the IDF turns a blind eye,” Mr. Tibi said.

Chairman of the “Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria,” Danny Dayan said the background to the event must be borne in mind. “They are dancing on the blood of a wounded Israeli 9-year-old boy, in an attempt to promote a political agenda,” he said. “Violence of any kind is unacceptable, but the fact that they totally ignore the attempted murder of a Jewish boy proves that they are not people of peace, but propagandists in the Palestinian cause.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

©The Bulletin 2008

Jerusalem – The Israel Intelligence Information Center reported that the terrorist organization Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV station in Lebanon has started broadcasting via an Indonesian satellite, after being taken off a Thai satellite.

The Indonesian satellite covers East Asia, China and Australia. Indonesia is a Muslim country, and critics say this will make it more difficult for the international community to fight incitement aired by Hezbollah.

About two months ago, Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV channel started broadcasting via an Indonesian communications satellite called PALAPA-C2. The satellite’s coverage includes, inter alia, China, East Asia and Australia.

A local newspaper in Perth, Australia published an article on Aug. 21 that reported that al-Manar’s broadcasts could be viewed across Australia.

According to the article, the channel airs talk shows and documentaries inciting against Israel and the West. The channel also airs children’s shows and music shows, and calls upon the viewers to donate to Hezbollah. The article further states that Australia’s minister of communications examines the legal aspect of the channel’s broadcasts in order to report to the government whether those broadcasts contradict the Australian law (according to which any channel which encourages viewers to join or support terrorist organizations should be banned).

The American embassy spokesman in Indonesia noted that the U.S. government was concerned about the use made by al-Manar of the Indonesian communications satellite, as the U.S. declared al-Manar a terrorist entity in December 2004. Indonesia’s Minister of Communications and Information Mohammad Nuh said that the broadcasts were “purely commercial” and that the U.S. had no right to meddle in the company’s affairs. He further stated that such TV channels as BBC also made use of satellites.

It should be noted that the Indonesian PALAPA-C2 is a third-generation communications satellite launched in 1996.

Owned by Indonesia Telkom, it is operated by the SATELINDO Group from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Most of Indonesia Telkom’s shares are held by the Indonesian government, which has the right to veto strategic decisions. The satellite is suited to the rainy weather in Indonesia and the surrounding region, so that it can broadcast with almost no interruptions. It provides video transmissions, cellular phone services and Internet access.

Back in August 2005, the activity of Asiasat, a communications satellite that broadcasted Hezbollah’s TV channel to Asian countries, was terminated. In addition, limitations were imposed on the channel’s broadcasts to the U.S., Europe and South America.

In January, the al-Manar channel started broadcasting via Thaisat, a communications satellite operated by a Thai company that covered Southeast Asia.

However, Thaicom officially announced that it was taking al-Manar off its satellite starting Jan. 11.

Now, however, Hezbollah has recovered from the blow it took in Thailand by broadcasting al-Manar via the Indonesian communications satellite.

The significance of this development is said to be that it now allows Hezbollah and Iran to improve the availability of al-Manar’s broadcasts of insurrection, particularly among Muslim target audiences in Southeast Asia, China and Australia.

It should also be noted that Palestinian terrorist organizations’ Web sites, such as those of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, now rely heavily on Indonesian Internet service providers, since some Western Internet companies have stopped servicing them.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

Last week the chairman of the Palestinian negotiation team with Israel, Ahmed Qureia Abu Ala voiced unequivocal support for the candidacy of his negotiation partner, Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, for chairman of Kadima.

His revelation came at an intimate meeting in his home on Monday in Jerusalem, with a number of Arab journalists from Israel in which Mr. Abu Ala presented to them a picture of the negotiations between the parties.

The journalists wanted to hear from the senior Palestinian official his opinion about the four candidates for Kadima chairman, and which one he personally preferred.

Mr. Abu Ala agreed to share his views with those present but stipulated, “this must not appear in the Israeli media, so as not to harm Palestinian interests,” as he put it.

One of the participants at the meeting said that Mr. Abu Ala said that he preferred that Tzipi Livni win the primary for a number of reasons, which he detailed. The first is that Ms. Livni is very involved in the negotiations and, if she wins, the negotiations would not affect their progress. He added that, despite the difficult disagreements between them, Ms. Livni’s positions on the peace process were relatively close to the Palestinian positions.

Another reason Mr. Abu Ala mentioned was connected to his aversion for the other candidates, particularly the ‘two security experts,’ Mr. Shaul Mofaz and Mr. Avi Dichter, as his past experience, and that of the Palestinians, with them was not good.

At the meeting, Mr. Abu Ala said he was pessimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement between the sides in the coming months. He said that the political situation in Israel, in the U.S. and the PA was not conducive to reaching an agreement, because the three leaders in power today – President Bush, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) – were about to end their terms.

PA sources are pleased with the “new ideas” that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented during her last visit to region last week.

A senior Palestinian official told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat that Ms. Rice presented “a position closer to the Palestinian demands in relation to stopping settlement activity, to establishing an independent Palestinian state in the June 4, 1967 lines that includes Jerusalem, and a territorial swap of identical quality on a one to one basis between the sides.”

It should be noted that at Ms. Rice’s meeting with Mr. Abbas in Ramallah two weeks ago, Ms. Rice supported Mr. Abbas on most of the core issues. In an interview that Mr. Abbas gave to the Al-Arabiya network last week, he said that Ms. Rice had proposed the establishment of a secure land crossing (instead of a tunnel or bridge), to divide Jerusalem on the basis of the 1967 lines instead of on a demographic basis, and giving the Palestinians control of the water sources.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) recently announced he intends to extend his term in office into 2010.

He said he plans to do so by means of what is being called a legal ploy that will involve dissolving the Palestinian Legislative Council before the end of his term in January 2009.

Mr. Abbas will then complement the dissolution of parliament with an extension of his own term by six months, in the event that the reconciliation talks among the various Palestinian factions should fail.

Arab sources report that Mr. Abbas made his decision following consultations with senior PA officials and experts on the Palestinian constitution, which confirmed the report.

A high-ranking Palestinian source said that Mr. Abbas would announce his decision in the event that the reconciliation talks that are to be held in October in Cairo were to end in failure.

According to reports, Hamas is not expected to be forthcoming with Fatah or to take any measures that are likely to contribute to Palestinian unity.

Meanwhile, PA officials said that Mr. Abbas intended to extend his term in office by another year.

This confirms the statements that were made yesterday by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki during a lecture he gave in Jerusalem to Israeli Foreign Ministry officials. He said Mr. Abbas would remain in office until January 2010.

Mr. Maliki said that following the death of former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, any decision to extend the chairman’s term had to be made in conjunction and with the cooperation of others. One high-ranking Palestinian official said that the decision was made after senior PA officials advised Mr. Abbas to dissolve the Palestinian parliament, which is comprised of a Hamas majority. “Ending Abbas’s term this coming January creates a situation in which his replacement is his deputy, the PLC speaker from Hamas, Ahmed Bahar,” said the official. Hamas has threatened that it will not recognize a new Palestinian Legislative Council and said that “a decision of that sort will be a continuation of a series of illegal decisions that Abu Mazen has made,” said a Hamas spokesman.

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, tried to say that all options were open and in a conversation with Israeli media denied the above report and said that the issue of Palestinian unity was at the top of the PA chairman’s agenda. “Abbas intends to act to end the division between Hamas and Fatah and to achieve a full agreement to his reelection,” he said.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008