Iran and Hamastan: A Comprehensive Overview

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)




July 15 , 2007

Iran and Hamastan:


From Iran’s perspective, the establishment of a Hamas-dominated entity in the Gaza Strip presents both opportunities and risks, in general tipping the scales in Iran’s favor. Iran publicly recognized the legitimacy of Ismail Haniya’s government and is expected to continue providing Hamas with economic and military aid.


Iranian foreign minister Mamuchehr Mottaki met with Imad al-Alami, a member of Hamas's political bureau (Al-Alam TV, July 7). Iran is the only country so far to have received a senior Hamas delegation since the organization took over the Gaza Strip.






Overview

1. The dramatic developments which led to the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip and the creation of “Hamastan” surprised Iran, in our assessment, and created a new situation in the internal Palestinian arena, which holds both opportunities and risks for Iran. The main ones are the following:

A. On the one hand , the establishment of a Hamas-controlled entity reinforces Iran 's deterrent image and creates new opportunities for Iran to maneuver against Israel , the moderate Arab camp and the Western countries. That is because the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip can be perceived as the victory of the ideology the radical Islamic movement which is supported by the Iranian-Syrian axis. That ideology includes resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict through terrorism and violence. The takeover weakened the nationalist-secular and pro-Western trend in Palestinian society and also harmed American and Israeli interests.

B. On the other hand , Iran had no control over the events leading to the establishment of Hamastan. The worsening tension between Hamastan and Israel , the opposition to Hamastan of most of the Arab world and its isolation in the international arena have all created the potential for weakening Hamas rule. It may also show that such a radical Islamic entity, like the one created in the Gaza Strip, is not viable in the long run (and whose regional implications go beyond the Israeli-Palestinian context). In addition, recent events have also deepened the ideological and political schism in the Palestinian society and may draw attention away from the violent campaign against Israel .

2. So far, Iran seems to be studying the situation and formulating its policy regarding the recent developments in the Palestinian arena. In our assessment, at this point Iran is trying to maneuver between various considerations and constraints : One consideration is its desire to settle the differences of opinion between Hamas and Fatah in order to focus their activity on the campaign against Israel; another is its desire to exploit the event to strengthen Hamas and radical Islam, and encourage the use of violence and terrorism against Israel, a common interest for both Hamas and the Iranian regime.

3. With that in mind, senior Iranian figures and the Iranian media expressed their support for Hamas and Ismail Haniya's government, criticizing Fatah and Abu Mazen were criticized. At the same time they called for Hamas-Fatah unity , and expressed their worry as to what might result from the split in Palestinian society. On the diplomatic front , Iran is so far the only country to have hosted a Hamas delegation since the organization took over the Gaza Strip.

A summary of Iranian responses to the establishment of Hamastan in the Gaza Strip

Senior figures

4. Senior figures within the Iranian regime recognized the legitimacy of Ismail Haniya's government but at the same time called upon Hamas and Fatah to reconcile their differences. Some of the responses were the following:

A. On June 17, Mohammed Ali Hosseini, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman , stated that Iran would invite representatives of all the factions to Iran to settle their internal differences and avoid clashes. He added that all the factions had to close the gaps between them and begin a common campaign against “the Zionist enemy” in order to restore their rights. However, he also noted that the Palestinians had to respect the results of the elections (to the Palestinian Legislative Council) to restore democracy (i.e., to recognize the legitimacy of the Hamas government).

B. Mehdi Mustafawi , deputy Iranian foreign minister, stated that the establishment of the Palestinian emergency government in the West Bank parallel to the Haniya government in the Gaza Strip was undemocratic. He warned that it would “serve to fuel other conflicts in occupied Palestine ,” and called upon the factions to settle their differences through dialogue, in that only Israel benefitted from the current situation.

C. On June 23, Hamid Reza Haji Baba', a member of the Iranian committee for foreign policy and national security , accused Israel and the United States of “plotting” to cause a rift among the Palestinians. He called upon Fatah and Hamas to join forces and turn their resources against Israel .

D. On June 26, Gholam Ali Haddad- Adel, chairman of the Iranian Majlis , called upon Hamas and Fatah to settle the conflict between them. He extolled Palestinian solidarity and at the same time expressed support for the legitimacy of the elected Hamas government.

The Iranian press

5. The conservative Iranian press expressed support for Hamas which, it claimed, “had been elected in democratic elections” (Keyhan International). At the same time, as part of its desire to bring an end to the confrontations, it claimed that “the Zionist regime profited most from the clashes” (Tehran Times).

6. The daily Jumhuri , one of Leader Khamenei's mouthpieces, sided unequivocally with Hamas, severely criticizing Fatah and Abu Mazen. Some of the main points of Jumhuri articles were:

A. On June 20 an editorial expressed the hope that recent developments would prove that Hamas had drawn the right conclusions, and that it intended to refrain from integrating into the Palestinian Authority, which reflected the “disgusting legacy of Arafat's tendency to compromise,” and would join the efforts of the Islamic jihad in Palestine to carry out “the orders to destroy the Zionist regime.” Jumhuri repeatedly stated that the solution had to be formulated in “ the spirit of remarks made by Khomeini regarding wiping Israel from the pages of history .”

B. On June 26 an editorial accused Fatah of having betrayed the Palestinian people because for years it had collaborated with Israel and the United States . Therefore, no government should be allowed to be established in accordance with Abu Mazen's proposals because that would lead to a situation in which “the Zionist regime would again control Palestinian fate under the guise of nationalism.” The editorial also attacked Egypt and Jordan 's “cursed” regime for their mediation in the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

C. On July 3 an additional editorial belittled Salam Fayyad's government and described it as “a puppet government of the Zionist regime.”

The first visit of a Hamas delegation to Tehran .

7. On July 7 a Hamas delegation, representing the “external” leadership in Damascus , visited Tehran . Two members of the delegation were Imad al-Alami , a senior terrorist operative and member of the Hamas political bureau, and Muhammad Nasser , a member of the political bureau. The delegation deliberated with senior Iranian figures. Among others, al-Alami met with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (currently Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran) and with Mamuchehr Mottaki, Iranian foreign minister.

8. On the same day, after the meeting Mottaki made a cautious statement expressing his support for the Palestinian national unity government and expressing hope that al-Alami's consultations in Tehran would play a significant role in resolving the Palestinians' internal differences of opinion.


Imad Al-Alami, member of the Hamas political bureau (Al-Alam TV, June 7)

Iranian support for Hamas

9. Since the Hamas victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections, Iran has increased its financial, military and political support for the organization. In 1our assessment, the support will continue and increase following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, to fortify Hamastan's ability to survive and to improve its terrorist operative capabilities against Israel . 2

10. Musheir al-Masri , Hamas representative in the Palestinian Legislative Council, was asked whether Hamas would agree to accept aid from Iran . He answered that despite Hamas's ideological differences with Iran , Iranian support, if offered, would be accepted. He added that Iranian support was “a thousand times preferable to putting our trust in the Americans and Zionists…” (Al-Zaman, July 7, 2007)


1 For further information see our March 11, 2007 Bulletin entitled “Anti-Israeli Terrorism, 2006: Data, Analysis and Trends”

2 Tawfiq al-Tirawi, commander of Palestinian general intelligence, said in an interview that more than 70 Hamas terrorist operatives on their way back to the Gaza Strip after training in Iran , were among the thousands of Palestinians held up at the Rafah Crossing (Al-Quds, July 14).


SOURCE LINK

HAMAS 101

FATAH 101

And in the
HUDNA
HUDNA
HUDNA ...

KABOOM
department:

Fatah militants agree to stop attacking Israel
Palestinian and Israeli leaders agree to meet

Grounded in Fantasy says Glick. Compliciots, says The Spleen.

She is far kinder than I am.
I say they are complicit idiots - compliciots, and the depth of this thing knows no end.



Grounded in Fantasy

By Caroline B. Glick


WHY are Bush and Olmert set to embrace Fatah and Abbas today? Why are they abjectly refusing to come to terms with the strategic reality of the Iranian-Syrian onslaught? Why are they insisting that the establishment of a Palestinian state is their strategic goal and doing everything they can to pretend that their goal has not been repeatedly proven absurd? Iran and its client state Syria have a strategic vision for the Middle East. They wish to take over Lebanon. They wish to destroy Israel. They wish to defeat the US in Iraq. They wish to drive the US and NATO from Afghanistan. They wish to dominate the region by driving the rest of the Arab world to its jihad-supporting knees. Then they wish to apply their vision to the rest of the world. Today, Syria and Iran are ardently advancing their strategic vision for the world through a deliberate strategy of victory by a thousand cuts.


Last week's Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip; Sunday's reopening of the Lebanese front against Israel with the Syrian-ordered rocket attacks on Kiryat Shemona; the now five-week old Syrian ordered low-intensity warfare against Lebanon's pro-Western Siniora government; last week's attack on the al-Askariya mosque in Samarra; the recent intensification of terrorism in Afghanistan and Iran's move to further destabilize the country by violently deporting 100,000 Afghan refugees back to the war-torn country — all of these are moves to advance this clear Iranian-Syrian strategy. And all these moves have taken place against the backdrop of Syria's refashioning of its military in the image of Hizbullah on steroids and Iran's relentless, unopposed progress in its nuclear weapons program. For their part, both the US and Israel also have a strategic vision. Unfortunately, it is grounded in fantasy. WASHINGTON and Jerusalem wish to solve all the problems of the region and the world by establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.


While Israel now faces Iranian proxies on two fronts, in their meeting at the White House today US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will gush about their support for Palestinian statehood. Creepily echoing LSD king Timothy Leary, they will tune out this reality as they drone on about the opportunities that Gaza's transformation into a base for global jihad afford to the notion that promoting the Fatah terrorist organization's control over Judea and Samaria can make the world a better, safer, happier place. Today Bush and Olmert will announce their full support for Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas's new government. The US will intensify General Keith Dayton's training and arming of Fatah forces. Israel will give Fatah $700 million.


The Europeans and the rest of the international community will give the "moderate, secular" terror group still more money and guns and love. The US will likely also demand that Olmert order the IDF to give Fatah terrorists free reign in Judea and Samaria. Olmert and Bush claim that by backing Abbas militarily, financially and politically they will be setting up an "alternative Palestine" which will rival Hamas's jihadist Palestine. As this notion has it, envious of the good fortune of their brethren in Judea and Samaria, Gazans will overthrow Hamas and the course will be set for peace — replete with the ethnic cleansing of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem of all Jewish presence. FATAH FORCES barely raised a finger to prevent their defeat in Gaza in spite of the massive quantities of US arms they received and the military training they underwent at the hands of US General Keith Dayton. Bush, Olmert and all proponents of the notion of strengthening Fatah in Judea and Samaria refuse to answer one simple question: Why would a handover of Judea and Samaria to Abbas's Fatah produce a better outcome than Israel's 2005 handover of Gaza to Abbas's Fatah? They refuse to answer this question because they know full well that the answer is that there is absolutely no reason to believe that the outcome can be better.


They know full well that since replacing Yasser Arafat as head of the PA in 2004, Abbas refused to take any effective action against Hamas. They know that he refused to take action to prevent Hamas's rise to power in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. They know that the guns the US transferred to Fatah in Gaza were surrendered to Hamas without a fight last week. They know that the billions of dollars of international and Israeli assistance to Fatah over the past 14 years never were used to advance the cause of peace. They know that that money was diverted into the pockets of Fatah strongmen and utilized to build terror militias in which Hamas members were invited to serve. They know that Fatah built a terror superstructure in Judea, Samaria and Gaza which enabled operational cooperation between Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror cells. SO WHY embrace the fantasy that things can be different now, in Judea and Samaria? Rather than provide rational arguments to defend their view that Hamas's takeover of Gaza is an opportunity for peace, proponents of peace fantasies as strategic wisdom explain vacuously that peace is the best alternative to jihad. They whine that those who point out that Israel now borders Iran in Lebanon and Gaza have nothing positive to say. To meet the growing threat in Gaza, they argue that Europeans, or maybe Egyptians and Jordanians can be deployed at the international border with Egypt to stem the weapons and terror personnel flow into Gaza.


To meet the growing threat in Lebanon, Olmert pleads for more UN troops. Both views ignore the obvious: Gaza has been transformed into an Iranian-sponsored base for global jihad because Egypt has allowed it to be so transformed. Assisted by its Syrian-sponsored Palestinian allies, Hizbullah has rebuilt its arsenals and reasserted its control in southern Lebanon because UN forces in southern Lebanon have done nothing to prevent it from doing so. No country on earth will volunteer to fight Hamas and its jihadist allies in Gaza. No government on earth will voluntarily deploy its forces to counter Hizbullah and Iran in south Lebanon. This is why — until they fled — European monitors at the Rafah terminal were a joke. This is why Spanish troops in UNIFIL devote their time in Lebanon to teaching villagers Spanish.


SO WHY are Bush and Olmert set to embrace Fatah and Abbas today?


Why are they abjectly refusing to come to terms with the strategic reality of the Iranian-Syrian onslaught? Why are they insisting that the establishment of a Palestinian state is their strategic goal and doing everything they can to pretend that their goal has not been repeatedly proven absurd? Well, why should they? As far as Bush is concerned, no American politician has ever paid a price for advancing the cause of peace processes that strengthen terrorists and hostile Arab states at Israel's expense. Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton had Arafat over to visit the White House more often than any other foreign leader and ignored global jihad even when its forces bombed US embassies and warships. And today Clinton receives plaudits for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.


By denying that the war against Israel is related to the war in Iraq; by ignoring the strategic links between all the Iranian and Syrian sponsored theaters of war, Bush views gambling with Israel's security as a win-win situation. He will be applauded as a champion of peace and if the chips go down on Israel, well, it won't be Americans being bombed. OLMERT LOOKS to his left and sees president-elect Shimon Peres. Peres, the architect of the Oslo process which placed Israel's national security in the hands of the PLO, has been rewarded for his role in imperiling his country by his similarly morally challenged political colleagues who just bestowed him with Israel's highest office. Olmert looks to his left and his sees incoming defense minister Ehud Barak. In 2000, then prime minister Barak withdrew Israeli forces from Lebanon, and enabled Iran's assertion of control over southern Lebanon through its Hizbullah proxy. In so doing, Barak set the conditions for last summer's war, and quite likely, for this summer's war. By offering Arafat Gaza, 95 percent of Judea and Samaria and half of Jerusalem at Camp David, Barak showed such enormous weakness that he all but invited the Palestinian terror war which Arafat began planning the day he rejected Barak's offer.


For his failure, Barak has been rewarded by his Labor Party, which elected him its new chairman on the basis of his vast "experience," and by the media which has embraced him as a "professional" defense minister. Olmert looks to his right and he sees how the media portrays Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu and former IDF Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya'alon as alarmists for claiming that Israel cannot abide by an Iranian-proxy Hamas state on its border. He sees that Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu supported Peres's candidacy as president and have joined their fortunes to Olmert's in a bid to block elections which will bring the Right to power. ISRAEL HAS arguably never faced a more dangerous strategic environment than it faces today. Yet it is not without good options. It can retake control over the Gaza-Sinai border. It can renew its previously successful tactic of killing Hamas terrorists. It can continue its successful campaign of keeping terrorists down in Judea and Samaria, and it can continue preparing for war in the north. All of these options can be sold to the Left.


But today both Bush and Olmert will reject these options in favor of mindless peace process prattle. They will reject reality as they uphold Abbas as a credible leader and shower him with praise, money and arms. Their political fortunes will be utmost in their minds as they do this. And they will be guaranteeing war that will claim the lives of an unknown number of Israeli civilians and soldiers. Bush and Olmert should know that when the time for reckoning comes they will not be able to claim, along with Peres and Barak that their hands did not shed this blood. Reality has warned them of their folly. But in their low, dishonest opportunism, they have chosen to ignore reality and amuse themselves with fantasies and photo-ops.

DEMONTIA

Asked a similar question in October 1984 – whether he believed in Armageddon, President Ronald Reagan answered: "Yes, Armageddon could come the day after tomorrow."

Bush’s Favorite Muslim Fanatic

By Robert Spencer


When is a moderate Muslim not a moderate Muslim? How about if he is an employee of a Saudi Wahhabi organization that has been identified by the Senate Finance Committee as one of a long list of Islamic charities that “finance terrorism and perpetuate violence”?

Last month, the White House appointed Talal Eid, an imam from Quincy, Massachusetts, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan panel that, according to the Boston Globe , “monitors religious freedom in countries around the world and recommends policies to the president, State Department, and Congress.” Eid is also participating in goodwill missions overseas for the State Department. Ishan Bagby, a University of Kentucky professor and member of the board of directors of the Islamic Society of North America, was pleased with the appointment : “It’s a very good sign that a mainstream, moderate Muslim leader like Imam Eid can be appointed to such a position.” Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American Islamic Relations was pleased also, saying that Eid would bring “valuable perspective” to the Commission.

Eid was forced out of his position as imam of the Islamic Center of New England’s mosque in Quincy in July 2005, some said because he was too moderate. The Bush Administration has been determined since September 11, 2001 to find moderate Muslims with whom it could work and to whom it could show public support; unfortunately, however, in this quest it has sometimes been less discriminating than it should have been, and the case of Talal Eid is a prime example of this.

Talal Eid, reported the Globe in January 2007, “no longer has a mosque.” However, “he still has the original appointment from the Muslim World League, a theological and cultural entity in Saudi Arabia that certifies imams, that sent him to Boston in 1982.” The scrutiny from the Senate Finance Committee is just one of many things about the Muslim World League that should have raised red flags for the Administration when considering Eid’s appointment. Alex Alexiev of the Center for Security Policy told a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security in 2003 that “there is conclusive evidence from Saudi sources” that the League was “tightly controlled by the [Saudi] government.”

Given that the League’s stated purpose is to “to disseminate Islamic Dawah [proselytization] and expound the teachings of Islam,” this means that it is a vehicle for the propagation of the House of Saud’s Wahhabism, the virulent school of Islamic thought that teaches, in words that appeared on the website of the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C. until November 2003 , that “the Muslims are required to raise the banner of Jihad in order to make the Word of Allah supreme in this world, to remove all forms of injustice and oppression, and to defend the Muslims.” Waging jihad in order to make the Word of Allah supreme in this world means fighting against non-Muslims in order to impose Islamic law, Sharia, over them. Evgenii Novikov of The Jamestown Foundation notes, moreover, that the League’s publications are “often radical and vehemently anti-American.”

Nor has the Muslim World League contented itself with promoting jihad by words alone. A jihadist who played a part in an al-Qaeda cell in Boston before 9/11, Nabil al-Marabh, claimed to have worked for the League in Pakistan ; while this may have been his attempt to whitewash his record, also involved with the League in Pakistan was Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law and self-described “best friend,” who at another time worked to set up al-Qaeda front groups in the Philippines.

Does all this mean that Talal Eid is a jihadist and a supporter of Osama bin Laden? No, it doesn’t. But his connection to the Muslim World League is not the only troubling item on his resume. Eid has proposed “five solutions for the unique problems of Muslims in America,” including “the establishment of Sharî‘ah courts which would manage the family affairs of American Muslims and mediate their religious affairs within the scope of American law.”

A similar initiative to introduce Sharia courts for mediation of personal disputes and marriage cases into Canada was defeated in 2005; Muslim women’s groups spearheaded the opposition because of Sharia’s institutionalized subjugation of women. In the thick of the battle, Alia Hogben of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women declared : “We’ve had a flood of e-mails from people asking, ‘How can we help stop what is so dangerous to Muslim women?’” In introducing a motion to disallow Sharia in Quebec in 2005, legislator Fatima Houda-Pepin saw an even greater threat: “The application of Sharia in Canada is part of a strategy to isolate the Muslim community, so it will submit to an archaic vision of Islam. These demands are being pushed by groups in the minority that are using the Charter of Rights to attack the foundation of our democratic institutions.”

Will the U.S. now do what Canada drew back from doing, and introduce private Sharia courts, despite the harm they will cause Muslim women and the encouragement they will provide to establishing the Muslims in the U.S. as a separate, self-governing enclave? Apparently, if Talal Eid gets his way, yes. And that’s why he has no business being on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The Bush Administration should reconsider this appointment, or at very least call upon Eid to renounce any desire to introduce Sharia in any form into U.S. law, as well as all ties to the Muslim World League. After all, George W. Bush said it best: You’re either with the terrorists or with us.

Source Link

SEE ALSO

THIS IS ISLAM

UPDATE.... RELATED.....FROM WEASEL ZIPPERS

Bush Reaching Out to the Muslim Brotherhood?....

This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son. ~ Exodus 4:22

Then the man said,
"Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,
because you have struggled with God
and with men
and have overcome."
~ Genesis 32:28




ON DECEMBER 6, 2006:


Baker panel's mention of Palestinian "right of return" raises eyebrows


A reference to Palestinians' "right of return" in the report issued by the high-level Iraq Study Group broke a diplomatic taboo which sparked immediate concern in Israel and surprise among Middle East policy experts. The reference was buried deep inside a 160-page report that urged US President George W. Bush to renew efforts to revive Israel-Palestinian peace talks as part of a region-wide bid to end the chaos in Iraq. "This report is worrisome for Israel particularly because, for the first time, it mentions the question of the 'right of return' for the Palestinian refugees of 1948," said a senior Israeli official, who was reacting to the US policy report on condition he not be identified.


[SNIP]


He shall say: "Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them.
~ Deuteronomy20:3



ON JUNE 4 2007:


Netanyahu: Drop Palestinian right of return from agenda



Israel must take the issue of the Palestinian "right of return" off its political agenda, Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday. Speaking at a ceremony at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Netanyahu said that removing this issue was a precondition for negotiations with the Palestinians. "At the moment, we have no partner, and those who stand against us declare incessantly that they intend to destroy us," Army Radio quoted him saying.


According to Netanyahu, peace negotiations today are "in retreat following the unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon, the withdrawal from Gaza, and the Second Lebanon War." Netanyahu also attacked the government's activity, and estimated that it would not remain in power much longer. The opposition leader also mentioned the Winograd Committee's partial report, which determined that the government had failed to exercise responsibility. He said that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lacked in-depth knowledge of military operations. "We need to change [our] leadership," he said.


"The [Winograd] report said that the entire government had failed. We can't keep marking time with deterrence that has lost its effectiveness." "The leadership should be changed in order to learn a lesson," Netanyahu continued. "Everyone has had a chance to make his claims, and the public will decide. I'm not afraid of elections," he said.



Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD ?
He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword.
Your enemies will cower before you,
and you will trample down their high places. "
~ Deuteronomy 33:29




From the Deafening Silence post:


Tension between the Bush administration and Israel have intensified of late because Israel will not adopt a U.S. benchmark strategy devised by U.S.security coordinator in the Palestinian territories, General Keith Dayton.


LINK


Well, I don't know about you.... but when I read this, I wanted to know just exactly whoTF IS Keith Dayton, anyway? Once again I implore the reader to pay very careful attention to the language used throughout the document. He who controls language controls thought.....and words make worlds.



Remarks by U.S. Security Coordinator LTG Keith Dayton
Update on the Israeli-Palestinian Situation and Palestinian Assistance Programs
House Foreign Affairs
Middle East and South Asia Sub-Committee


May 23, 2007


Mr. Chairman, Representative Pence, and Members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. We are all well aware of the deterioration of the security and economic situation in the territories – especially in Gaza – over the last few months. There is a point where inaction – a wait and see attitude- is not an option. The security assistance package that we have proposed, and that was recently approved by Congress, is action and I intend to make the most of it.


First, let me provide a few comments on the current security situation, and then I will address the status of our programs. The violence of the past ten days has clearly demonstrated that the Palestinian security situation, especially in Gaza, has deteriorated significantly since the last time I met with this committee. An atmosphere of lawlessness exists in Gaza, with simple disputes often devolving into gunfights. The Palestinian Minister of Interior, tasked with bringing security to the streets, resigned earlier this month. The HAMAS Prime Minister has assumed his responsibilities while his own party’s militias are engaged in a fierce battle with the legitimate Palestinian security forces.



The legally constituted Palestinian security forces in the territories – the Presidential Guard, the National Security Forces (NSF), and the Civil Police - are engaged in a battle for law and order like never before. In addition to outright aggression by HAMAS militias, other smaller factions, some also backed by Iran, have conducted attacks throughout the Gaza Strip against the security forces under the authority of President Abbas, creating a situation of total anarchy and highlighting factional divisions between Fatah and Hamas, and probably within Hamas itself.



The conflict has also spilled across the border into Israel, with hundreds of Qassams fired at Sderot and nearby communities by rejectionist groups, a reminder that while HAMAS’s intermediate target may be the Fatah-loyal forces of law and order in the Gaza Strip, the paramount goal for the rejectionists remains and will continue to be the destruction of Israel. Israel has now launched airstrikes and a limited ground incursion into the Gaza Strip in response to the more recent and damaging Qassam fire this week.



The goal of U.S. security assistance is to help create the conditions necessary to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace via the Roadmap.

which will do nothing but give rise to a deeper war ~ TOSOZ



Through the programs we are just beginning with the Presidential Guard, and at the Karni crossing, we are working with President Abbas to create an environment of security, stability and prosperity in the Palestinian territories. This assistance is a good beginning, but it can only do so much to affect the factional violence and lawlessness pervasive in Gaza at this time.


Through the provision of training and non-lethal equipment , the United States is providing the Palestinian Presidential Guard, a force tasked with the protection of the President, VIPs and critical installations, as well as key crossings with Israel, a “security horizon”, an assurance that they have support and have a future.




Bullshit!! We are arming them and everyone knows it ~ TOSOZ




The NSF and civil police, the forces tasked with the day-to-day responsibility for ensuring law and order, do not have that assurance. These forces face a daunting challenge not only by HAMAS’s Executive Force but also its military force, Izz al Din al Qassam Brigades, both of whom continue to receive support from Iran and Syria. We continue to evaluate the situation and consider ways in which we can take a more proactive role in affecting the dangerous conditions and support President Abbas in his efforts to bring the lawlessness in Gaza under control.



Behold, ABBAS the "moderate"


The recent violence in Gaza may in fact be the beginning of a sustained effort by the HAMAS military wing to reassert the dominance of the most extreme elements in the Palestinian political community, and to eliminate altogether Abbas’s legitimate security forces in Gaza, creating an extremist statelet on the border of Israel, a major concern that is the subject of frequent discussions I have with my Israeli counterparts



HAMASATAN ~ ~ TOSOZ



I note that the Presidential Guard unit at the Karni crossing with Israel, who has already received training coordinated by the USSC mission and funded by European donors, successfully stood its ground last week and fought off a determined HAMAS attack. The NSF battalion there also acquitted itself well, despite its dire need of material and financial support and the death of its battalion commander.

I fear HAMAS is in this fight for keeps.



Oh my, he's a veritable fucking genius. ~ TOSOZ


For this hearing, let me say that the worrisome scenario in Gaza that I have been warning about for the past several months is coming to a head. We are entering a rough patch, but all is not lost and our regional partners share that sentiment. However, it is critical that those who support the legitimate authority and forces represented by President Abbas receive the critical assistance they need.


U.S. Security Coordinator Mission



US names new security coordinator to Palestine



The United States is leading the international effort to positively affect this worrisome situation, and the security assistance plan we have just begun to implement is pointing out the way forward for all international and regional allies. The programs I will discuss briefly are truly important to advance our national interests, deliver security to Palestinians, and preserve and protect the interests of the State of Israel.
I thank you for your support.



Right . Thanks, pal. ~ TOSOZ



The U.S. Security Coordinator Mission, working in close coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Consulate General in Jerusalem, is focused on three priorities, which are vital to the realization of the President’s vision of two independent states living side-by-side in peace and security:


1. Improving the security at the Gaza crossings, particularly at the Karni crossing, to advance the goals of the Agreement on Movement and Access and boost Palestinian economic development while addressing Israeli security concerns;


2. Improving the capabilities of the Abbas-controlled Presidential Guard to help them protect the President and VIPs, manage security at the crossings, and respond to urgent security situations;


3. Working with the Office of the President to establish a capacity for security service oversight, reform, and strategic planning. The $16 million assistance package for infrastructure improvements on the Palestinian side of the Karni crossing will result in a major security enhancement at this vital commercial link between Gaza and Israel. This work will be implemented by USAID,

United States Aid to the Palestinians PDF ~ 2005 report Edifying!


and they have already issued a solicitation of interest from Gazan construction firms. This is vital for the recovery of the Gaza economy and to address legitimate Israeli security concerns at the crossing. This project has the enthusiastic support of the State of Israel. We have a temporary security zone almost complete on the Palestinian side, financed largely by the Dutch, British, Norwegians and Canadians, and this has resulted in a further 15% daily increase in Palestinian exports in April over the months before.



WTF DO THEY EXPORT? INFIDEL DEATH? BODY PARTS? BURNING TIRES?



Palestinian exports come in the form of Non metallic mineral manufacturers, fruits and vegetables, iron and steel, furniture and mattresses, footwear, tobacco products, cork and wood and finally animal and vegetable fertilizers.


Ironically the Palestinian National Authority has free trade agreements with Israel, the USA, Canada, the EU, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway. With only partial agreements on free trade, with Egypt and Jordan. Left with the question what about the remaining 20 Arab states?


The master plan for the construction project will be complete this summer and final construction will begin before September. The Palestinians, Government of Israel, and members of the international community are investing time and money in this project, complementing our own efforts.


We still have our work cut out for us to achieve the AMA goals, but the US $16 million will go a long way towards achieving them.


OK...WTF IS AMA? Agreement on Movement and Access



The Presidential Guard is primed to receive the equipment and training envisioned in its $40 million assistance package . We will focus on close protection to the Office of the President and VIPs, critical logistical and administrative functions, management of security at crossing points, and crisis response.



The State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) is partnering with the State Department’s Office of Anti-Terrorism (ATA) to provide critical training to the PG.



The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) advises the President, Secretary of State, other bureaus in the Department of State, and other departments and agencies within the U.S. Government on the development of policies and programs to combat international narcotics and crime. The bureau is headed by Assistant Secretary Anne W. Patterson under the direction of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. INL programs support two of the Department's strategic goals: (1) to reduce the entry of illegal drugs into the United States; and (2) to minimize the impact of international crime on the United States and its citizens. Counternarcotics and anticrime programs also complement the war on terrorism, both directly and indirectly, by promoting modernization of and supporting operations by foreign criminal justice systems and law enforcement agencies charged with the counter-terrorism mission. WTF does any of that have to do with this? ~ TOSOZ


Our planning is well advanced on the training curriculum, and the equipment lists, 100 percent non-lethal, have been finalized. We are proceeding cautiously and expeditiously with our program, and ensuring that the appropriate protocols for vetting and oversight are in place - both in the field and in Washington. I am happy to provide greater details on our vetting process which includes checks for both terrorist affiliation and gross human rights violations.


I would be happy to see them. No one asked, can't find it anywhere. ~ TOSOZ


These mechanisms have been coordinated with INL and are already being put in place. Our efforts have been closely coordinated with my Israeli colleagues; there will be no surprises. The practical effect of our preparations is that U.S. funds should begin to make a difference by mid-summer. The $3 million assistance package to the Office of National Security (ONS) ensures that the USSC has a strong and capable Palestinian partner as we proceed with Palestinian security sector transformation and our focus on a smaller, but more capable Palestinian Security Force, operating under the rule of law and with respect for human rights.



In summary, I am committed personally and professionally to putting the $59 million authorized to me by the Congress to the uses you intended with the Presidential Guard, the Karni Crossing, and the Office of National Security under President Abbas. We must remain mindful of the dangerous challenges facing Abbas’s security forces, and continue to encourage our European and Arab partners to complement our efforts with their own assistance. I and my team are in place to help coordinate these efforts in support of U.S. and International commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the realization of the two-state vision. Thank you.



BTW: WTF is a "Rejectionist Group?" ..the diplobabbling double speak never ends.



SEARCH: General Keith Dayton FATAH




SEARCH: General Keith Dayton BAKER





SEARCH: General Keith Dayton JIMMY CARTER




So.... not only are we arming Fatah, now we are arming the SAUDIS:



A high-level Israeli delegation will meet with officials in Washington this week and demand that restrictions be clamped on the proposed US sale of state-of-the-art weaponry to Saudi Arabia, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The talks are expected to center on the US decision to sell Joint Direct Attack Munition satellite-guided "smart bombs" to Saudi Arabia. The sale has caused consternation in Jerusalem over concern it could tip the balance of power in the region.



If the sale does go through, Israel has expressed interest in acquiring the F-22 stealth bomber - a plane that can avoid radar detection and is the world's most advanced fighter jet - to maintain its qualitative edge. In April, the Post reported that the IAF had inquired about obtaining the aircraft and had requested that the Defense Ministry present the request on its behalf to the Pentagon. Israel is to be represented at the talks by Defense Ministry Diplomatic-Military Bureau head Amos Gilad and IDF Planning Directorate head Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan.



The US team is to be headed by Beth McCormick, the acting deputy undersecretary of defense for technology security policy and national disclosure policy, and the director of the Defense Department Defense Technology Security Administration. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to meet with US President George W. Bush in Washington on June 19. The Saudi arms sale is expected to be a topic of discussion.


[SNIP]

SOURCE LINK






Meantime, the Administration remains very busy replacing the major players. What this appointment means I have no idea yet:


6/9/2007: Pace out as Joint Chiefs chairman

[SNIP]


Pace is to be succeeded by Adm. Michael Mullen, who has been chief of naval operations since the summer of 2005, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Friday.


[SNIP]



ADMIRAL MICHAEL MULLEN



No plan to attack Iran, says US naval chief

NEWS OF THE LAND TODAY:

Hamas Gains Ground in Gaza Fighting




Peres elected Israel's president after rivals step down





40 Fatah men cross into Egypt, fleeing Gaza factional fighting





Gaza civil war has begun: Abbas





Government on brink of collapse as Gaza moves closer to civil war





Q&A: Hamas and the violence in Gaza





General Gazit helped redraw the borders of Israel.
He says the road map to peace is a lie!





Palestinians, UN workers killed in Gaza

SO SORRY.....LOST POWER YESTERDAY !

AFTER ALL THAT.... WE LOST POWER YESTERDAY IN A STORM.

THE LORD MUST REALLY WANT ME TO GET SOME REST!
BE BACK IN A FEW HOURS WITH THE POSTS!

WE HAVE MORE LIGHTNING COMING TODAY...
IF I DISAPPEAR, THIS IS WHY!

Meantime, Behold the Mighty Glick:

Column One: James Baker's disciples

Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 7, 2007

Ahead of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trip to the White House on June 19, the Bush administration is pressuring Israel to endanger itself on at least two fronts.

First, the Americans are pressuring the Olmert government to agree to Palestinian Authority and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas's request to bring millions of bullets, thousands of Kalashnikov assault rifles, RPGs, antitank missiles and armored personnel carriers into Gaza from Egypt.

The government has yet to respond to the request. Those who oppose it argue that Fatah forces in Gaza are too weak and incompetent to battle Hamas, and so any weaponry transferred to Fatah militias will likely end up in Hamas's hands.

This logic is correct, but incomplete. It is true that Fatah forces are unwilling and presumably unable to defeat Hamas forces. But it is also true that Fatah forces use their arms to attack Israel. So even if there was no chance of Hamas laying its hands on the weapons, allowing Fatah to receive them would still endanger Israel.

The same limited logic informs Israel's strenuous objection to the Pentagon's intention to sell Saudi Arabia Joint Direct Attack Munition satellite-guided "smart bombs," or JDAMS. The government claims that while it has no quarrel with the Saudis, it fears for the stability of the regime. If the House of Saud falls, Osama bin Laden would get the bombs.

Yet like Fatah, the Saudis aren't simply vulnerable. They are culpable. In addition to being the creators of al-Qaida and Hamas's largest financial backers, the Saudis themselves directly threaten Israel.

In direct contravention of their commitment to the US (and the US's commitment to Israel), the Saudis have deployed F-15 fighter jets at Tabuk air base, located 150 km. from Eilat. On May 13, the Saudi Air Force held an air show at Tabuk for the benefit of King Abdullah and senior princes where the F-15s where ostentatiously displayed.

The timing of the show was interesting. It took place the day before Abdullah hosted US Vice President Richard Cheney at Tabuk.

The Bush administration is not just asking Israel to facilitate the arming of its enemies. It is also placing restrictions on Israel's ability to arm itself. As The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday, the Pentagon has yet to respond to Israel's request to purchase the F-22 stealth bomber. Moreover, the US seems to be torpedoing Israel's acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Pentagon recently voiced its objection to Israel's plan to install Israeli technology in the jets that are to be supplied starting in 2014. Israel's installation of its own electronic warfare systems in its F-16s and F-15s is what has allowed the IAF to maintain its qualitative edge over Arab states that have also purchased the aircraft.

THE ADMINISTRATION'S display of hostility toward Israel is unfortunately not an aberration. It is the result of a policy shift that occurred immediately after the Republican Party's defeat in the Congressional elections in November.

After the defeat, the administration embraced former secretary of state James Baker's foreign policy paradigm, which is based on the belief that it is possible and desirable to reach a stable balance of power in the Middle East.

As Baker sees it, this balance can be reached by forcing Israel to shrink to its "natural" proportions and assisting supposedly moderate and stable states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia to grow into their "natural" proportions. Once the states of the region (including Syria and Iran, which Baker wishes to appease) have settled into their proper proportions, stability will be ensured.

Baker fleshed on his view in the Iraq Study Group's recommendations that were published immediately after the elections. Although President George W. Bush rejected the ISG's recommendations, the day after the elections he sacked defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and replaced him with Robert Gates, who served on the ISG. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a disciple of Baker's ally, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft.

The problem with the Baker paradigm is that it has never been borne out by reality. It collapsed during the Cold War, both as the Soviet Union worked tirelessly to destabilize countries allied with the US and when the states of East-Central Europe revolted against the teetering empire and gained their freedom with its collapse.

In the 1990s, Baker's stability paradigm failed to foresee the post-nationalist movements that swept through Western Europe and the Muslim world, and embraced the Soviet goal of weakening the US. Baker still denies the phenomenon and ignores its policy implications.

Today, the notion that stability is a realistic aim is even more far-fetched. Specifically, the willingness of Muslim secularists to form strategic relations with jihadists and the willingness of Shi'ites to form strategic partnerships with Sunnis was unimaginable 20 years ago. Aside from that, the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran throws a monkey wrench into any thought of regional stability. A look around the region shows just how absurd Baker's notions truly are.

In Lebanon today, Fatah al-Islam, which is apparently allied with al-Qaida, is fighting the Lebanese army in a bid to bring down the Saniora government at the behest of its sponsor - the secular Ba'athist regime in Damascus. Fatah al-Islam is also aligned with Hizbullah, which shares its goal of bringing down the Lebanese government, and with Iran, which gives the Syrians their marching orders.

This state of affairs is also the name of the game in Iraq, where Iran and Syria support both Muqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite Mehdi army and al-Qaida's Sunni death squads. It repeats itself in Afghanistan, where Iran is arming the Taliban, and in the Palestinian Authority.

Furthermore, the paragons of moderation and stability in Egypt and Saudi Arabia that Baker and his followers are so keen to strengthen are neither stable nor moderate. Both Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah are old men of uncertain health. To "stabilize" their regimes, they wrought unholy alliances with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wahabis, the only forces in Egyptian and Saudi societies that have not been flattened under their jackboots.

This week, Channel 10 reported that the Bush administration recently informed Israel and the Gulf states that it has no intention of launching military strikes against Iran's nuclear installations. The Americans explained that they need Iranian assistance in stabilizing Iraq to pave the way for an American withdrawal from the country before Bush leaves office. Under Baker's regency, the administration apparently now subscribes to the belief that they will be better off out of Iraq and with a nuclear-armed Iran, than in Iraq without a nuclear-armed Iran.

For their part, the Arabs have demonstrated clearly that they do not share the administration's newfound faith that a nuclear-armed Iran will reach a stable equilibrium in a Bakeresque Middle Eastern balance of powers. Their stated aim to build nuclear reactors is a clear sign that they recognize the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran. The administration's support for the Arabs' quest for nuclear reactors makes clear that it is now willing to have a Middle Eastern nuclear arms race.

THIS BRINGS us back to Israel, which is situated smack in the middle of the regional chaos. How is Israel contending with this threatening state of affairs?

The IDF seems to be contending fairly well, at least with regard to Syria and Lebanon. The IDF's decision to have television crews film Israeli soldiers fighting in mock Syrian villages this week, like Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi's announcement that the IDF is prepared to fight on two fronts simultaneously, are signs that the IDF recognizes that its only safe bet is to prepare for all contingencies. Were the IDF to complement these actions with warnings to Iran and operational plans to attack Iran's nuclear installations and distribute gas masks to the public, the General Staff would go a long way toward proving that it is adopting the only reasonable strategic posture available, given the cards Israel has been dealt.

Yet not only is the IDF not warning Iran, the Olmert government is undermining the army's correct posture toward Syria and Lebanon. Indeed, on every front, including toward Israel itself, Olmert has himself adopted Baker's failed paradigm.

Rather than publicly explain that in light of Syria's position as an Iranian client state with regards to Lebanon, Iraq and Israel, there is nothing for Israel to talk to Syria about, Olmert announced Wednesday that he wishes to open negotiations on an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights to the Syrians.

The Syrians, for their part, cornered Olmert on Thursday by agreeing to his offer. As Karl Moor and David Rivkin explained in Thursday's Post, it is not true, as Olmert and his minions claim, that Israel has nothing to lose by negotiating with Syria. Given Israel's perceived weakness in the wake of last summer's war and Syria's perceived strength, speaking to Damascus about an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights will only encourage Syrian belligerence.

And as with the Syrians, so too with the Palestinians, the Olmert government acts as Baker's water boy. Rather than waging a rational military campaign to defeat the jihadist front that has seeded itself in Gaza, Olmert issues near daily statements telling the Palestinians that Israel will cause them no harm. He defends this policy by declaiming on the importance of strengthening the "stability" of the Palestinian Authority.

Then there is the daily brown-nosing Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni engage in toward the Egyptians and Saudis. Israel praises both as "moderates" while Egypt vows publicly not to act to stop the transfer of weapons from Sinai to Gaza and the Saudis bankroll Hamas and demand that Israel implement their "peace plan" that calls for Israel's destruction.

Yet all of this incompetent bumbling pales in comparison to Israel's weakness toward Iran. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz's assertion this week to the Post that he does not "think it is right today to talk about military options" toward Iran because he thinks that sanctions can still convince the mullahs to give up their nuclear ambitions comes dangerously close to an Israeli collapse in the face of an existential threat. The fact that Mofaz made this statement the same week that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Teheran had crossed the nuclear threshold only exacerbates the perception of Israeli strategic disarray.

Sooner or later the US will pay a price for the Bush administration's decision to embrace the delusion of stability as its strategic goal. With jihadist forces growing stronger around the globe, if the Americans leave Iraq without victory, there is no doubt that Iraq (and Iran and Syria) will come to them.

But whatever the consequences of America's behavior for America, the price that Israel will pay for embracing Baker's myths of stability will be unspeakable.

Behold the Deafening Silence Amid the Roaring of Beasts

BEHOLD, THE DEAFENING SOUNDS OF SILENCE:

“It is therefore truly amazing that, other than the foreign ministers of France and Spain, so few have raised their voice against Ahmadinejad. Why has there been no denunciation from President Bush, Secretary Rice or any other senior figure in the Administration? Unfortunately, this silence is part of a pattern.”

"There was silence when, on March 30, Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan ended his sermon broadcast on the Palestinian Authority TV with the words, ‘The Hour [of Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the rock and the tree will say: “Oh, Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him!” There was silence when, a Palestinian Arab author, Kan’an Ubayd, wrote in a Palestinian Arab newspaper in April, ‘the extermination of Jews is good … to which Allah gave his blessing.’ Why does the U.S. continue to deal with, support, fund and urge concessions to the PA when its elected officials call for genocide of Jews? Why are foreign governments not protesting or demanding a retraction of these statements? Now Ahmadinejad, head of a state that is believed to be close to acquiring nuclear weapons and which has openly discussed using them against Israel, speaks of Israel’s imminent destruction and the world remains largely silent.

US STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN SEAN McCORMACK 5/17/07:

But we've also urged them [ISRAEL] to consider the consequences of their actions in defending themselves on Palestinian infrastructure as well as on what effect it might have on the prospects for moving forward the political process. But we know that Prime Minister Olmert is somebody who is committed to working actively on that political track.

SO....WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF ISRAEL NOT DEFENDING HERSELF, SEAN?

DEAD JEWS.

....but that's fine with the world, right?

I assure you, it is NOT fine with GOD

AMIDST THE ROARING OF BEASTS:

Countdown to Israel's destruction has begun, says Ahmadinejad Iranian president

says Israel's disappearance imminent,

'Zionist regime' will have to bow down to Palestinians.

Iranian FM meets with Hamas, Jihad, leader in Damascus, urging them to continue struggle against Jewish state

YES

THIS IS THE SAME IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MOTTAKI

That Ambassador Crocker and Secretary Rice spoke to

SEE:

HERE



HERE



HERE



HERE



HERE

and


HERE

The War's Upon Us

Cale Hahn

"We hoped for peace, but no good has come. A time of healing, but there was only terror." (Yirmiyahu 8:15)

We have come to the end of the road. No more initiatives. No more recycling under different names the same failed formula for Middle East peace. The end of the road is conflagration, not coexistence.

The peace process is dead. The time of wars has begun. Israel has been sufficiently weakened for the Muslim world to once again attempt annihilation of the Jewish state. The facade of Muslim desires for peace is lowered, and behind the curtain looms a violent and murderous religion that brooks no opposition.

Islamic peace is: no god on earth but Allah. Islamic honor may only be restored by the destruction of the Jewish nation. Hence, their nakba is the "catastrophe" of Israel's birth.

The Muslim nations are actively preparing for war; to declare there is hope for peace given the mountains of evidence to the contrary is manic delusion. Unfortunately, those who say these things are currently running the country.

This is precisely the reason the Muslims will soon attack. Israel is led by a coalition of political hacks who exhibit colossal incompetence and cinematic buffoonery. They possess no will to fight beyond a staged photo op. They are hollow men, empty shells without convictions and without courage beyond self-preservation.

As Ehud Olmert confessed, "We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies."

In previous wars, Israel was armed with superior US weapons systems, while the Muslim armies fielded inferior Soviet-bloc material. Though significantly outnumbered, Israel possessed enough of a qualitative advantage to overcome significant quantitative disparities.

Not so anymore. The Muslim nations are armed with the latest Western weapons platforms and, for the first time, possess not only numerical superiority, but qualitative parity with Israel in many areas. Under the auspices of enlisting Muslim support in participating in its "War on Terror," the US has armed Israel's enemies with its latest weapons systems. Examples include Harpoon anti-ship missiles, F-16 fighters, Apache helicopters, Abrams main battle tanks, JDAM bombs, AWACS radar planes and Avenger Air Defense Systems.

Israel has voiced deep alarm to Washington at Muslim weapons parity vis-a-vis the Jewish state, but to no avail. Washington continues arming Israel's enemies, knowing these systems may soon be employed against the Jewish state.

Along with Western weapons, the Muslim armies possess advanced Russian, Chinese, Iranian and North Korean rockets. These will target Israel from the Golan to Eilat, employing the successful strategies garnered from the Second Lebanon War. Utilization of chemical, biological or nuclear munitions cannot be ruled out.

The most likely casus belli is an Iranian terror proxy launching attacks against Israel's borders, forcing Israel to respond in kind. The situation will quickly deteriorate to include rocketing from Syria, Lebanon, Hizbullah, Iran, Gaza and other Palestinian enclaves. These attacks will dwarf the Second Lebanon War in terms of intensity and accuracy.

The Muslim nations will then follow the rocket blitz with conventional forces to rid the Jews from Palestine. Dar-Al-Islaam, at last.

Indeed, this is precisely the reason the US has restrained Israel from responding to the rocket barrages on its southern border. The US is deeply concerned an Israeli invasion of Gaza will trigger a regional war or possibly World War III.

Knock one domino down and it is connected by a tripwire to others, which will blow from Gaza to Afghanistan in a quick succession of cataclysmic explosions. Islamic war planners deliberately engineered the structure as such.

America is feverishly working to keep this from happening. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack cautioned, "We've urged them [Israel] to consider the consequences of defending themselves."

But global war is precisely the goal of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is the prerequisite for the Islamic Messiah (the Mahdi) coming upon the world stage to lead the Islamic ummah ("nation") to global victory. Ahmadinejad believes he is the one chosen to usher the Mahdi's coming.

The whole of the Middle East is a mountain of munitions atop a rumbling, ash-belching volcano. Late summer or fall appears to be the intended point of detonation. When it erupts, it will blow the US from the Middle East and propel Israel to the brink of destruction.

These are heady days for the ummah . They are drunk on the power their oil wealth brings. They sense a moment of historic tectonic shift is soon to occur, an imminent glorious triumph over the infidel.

Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons and is restoring Islamic honor by standing up to America. Every Muslim nation is undertaking a massive armament campaign, ironically provided in large measure by America. The US fatally misidentified their enemy as terrorism, when in actuality the enemy is Islam, from which terror springs.

The Muslim nations haven't made the same mistake. They know America's veneration of its economy, and they intend to bring it down in a ruinous, smoldering heap. They intend to drive the US from the region and shut the oil taps to its markets. The OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s is returning, only this time it will be utilized to a much greater effect, intended to destroy the US economy.

America should prepare for numerous terror attacks using conventional and non-conventional munitions. A Department of Homeland Security agent said Al-Qaeda has several South American training camps to instruct terrorists in Spanish and the Hispanic culture and infiltrate them across the US-Mexico border as illegal immigrants. He stated there are several thousands of terrorists who have successfully infiltrated the US and who are awaiting orders to strike.

The coming conflagration in the Middle East may be the trigger to activate these cells; almost certainly, should a shooting war develop between America and either Syria or Iran.

Since the Rabin-Arafat handshake fourteen years ago, 2,000 Israelis have been killed, 14,000 wounded and unnumbered hundreds of thousands psychologically scarred. Israel was willing to pay the price for peace. Time and again, Israel gave faith. Time and again, faith was violated. Time and again, Israel hoped. Time and again, Israel was targeted.

Israel will learn its lessons. After the war, all of Jerusalem will be free from Islamic domination. No area will be off-limits to Jewish worship.

Israel will not fall. He who keeps her will neither slumber nor sleep. HaShem is faithful to His promises and His people: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." (Psalms 46:10-11)

Tension between the Bush administration and Israel have intensified of late because Israel will not adopt a U.S. benchmark strategy devised by U.S.security coordinator in the Palestinian territories, General Keith Dayton.

LINK

BACKGROUND: SEE ~ BENCHMARKS

HERE



HERE

AND


HERE

Now the planned talks with Syria are off again as of this morning:

US, Israel: Time not ripe for talks with Syria

The United States and Israel said after high-level talks here Wednesday that the time might not be ripe (MIGHT NOT BE RIPE? FOR WHO, SYRIA OR ISRAEL? ~TOSOZ) for the Jewish state to resume peace talks with arch-rival Syria.

Washington insists that Syria is not playing a "constructive role" in the Middle East while Israel wants critical peace talks with the Palestinians to be given top priority, officials said.

"I don't think you're going to find many indications of Syria showing the rest of the world that they are interested in playing a constructive, positive role in trying to bring about a more peaceful, secure region," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

McCormack accused Syria of continuing to support terrorist groups in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories. He also cited Damascus links to Iran, both of which Washington calls "state sponsors of terrorism."

He spoke after a meeting Wednesday between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former defense minister and army chief, ahead of a "strategic" bilateral dialogue between the two allies on Thursday.

It also comes ahead of a meeting on June 19 between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush in Washington.

About a month ago, Rice held an unprecedented meeting with her Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem but emphasized later that Damascus needed to close its Iraq border to foreign fighters and to crack down on Palestinian extremists if it wanted to thaw frosty ties with Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also has for the moment rejected overtures by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to restart peace talks, saying Damascus first had to stop supporting militant groups like Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Mofaz told reporters after talks with Rice that Israel wanted to give greater priority to building peace with the Palestinians than the Syrians.

"Our first priority should be Palestinian discussions," he said repeatedly when asked whether peace efforts would be revived with Syria.

It was reported in the Israeli media that Mofaz believed that "the time has come to launch a secret channel with Syria" in order to defuse mounting tensions in the region.

Mofaz's Washington trip was also intended to "verify what Syria's objectives would be in eventual peace talks with Israel," a press report had said.

US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Syria broke down in 2000 over the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau that Israel captured in the 1967 war and unilaterally annexed in 1981.

On the Israeli-Palestinian talks, Mofaz said he hoped leaders of the two sides would "continue to meet" following the postponement of a Thursday summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Plans for regular meetings between Abbas and Olmert have been scuppered by internal crises both in Israel and the Palestinian territories and by the resumption of violence between the army and militants in Gaza.

Washington on Wednesday played down the postponement of the meeting -- the first talks in nearly two months -- saying they remain committed to the peace process.

"They have committed themselves to meet, they believe it is important for them to talk and actually get down to problem solving," McCormack said.

Rice and Mofaz also discussed Iran's defiant nuclear program, with the Israeli minister suggesting that the international community should give Tehran an end-2007 deadline to end its sensitive atomic activities.

"Iran continues its military nuclear program and I believe diplomatic efforts should bear result until the end of 2007," he told reporters.

But McCormack said he was not aware of any timeline but added, "Clearly, Israel, as well as the rest of the world, is concerned about Iran's nuclear activity."

John Hagee - Israel, Iran & Iraq (Part 1)

John Hagee - Israel, Iran & Iraq (Part 2)