2. Israel - God's Timepiece
Hizbullah undertakes massive exercise as warning to Israel
Hizbullah recently held a large-scale exercise south of the Litani River that included thousands of gunmen, under the personal supervision of the organization's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese daily Al Akhbar reported Monday. According to the report, the maneuvers, which included all military and logistic units of Hizbullah, were meant to convey a warning to Israel. The paper quoted sources in the organization saying that after Israel's military exercises in the Galilee last week - which, the paper claimed - included some 50,000 troops, the organization's top echelon adopted steps to "deter the enemy from undertaking any further Lebanese adventures." The exercise lasted for three days and was reportedly the largest in Hizbullah's history. According to the sources quoted by Al Akhbar, one of the exercise's main objectives was to convey to Israel the "big surprises" Nasrallah had threatened to unleash if Israel attacks Lebanon.
Hamas setting stage for West Bank seizure
Hamas is setting the stage for a takeover of the West Bank similar to the coup in which the terror group seized control of the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials. Hamas leaders confirmed to WND they are planning a West Bank takeover. "Fatah will fall in a matter of weeks at most, and the Islamic resistance (Hamas) will reign in the West Bank just as we do in Gaza," said Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' so-called resistance department. The West Bank borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, slated to arrive here next week for her second visit this month, has been serving as mediator for an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian summit later this month. At the meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, ultimately handing the strategic territory to security forces associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah militias. But Israeli security officials are warning Abbas' forces are not strong enough to contend with controlling the West Bank without the aid of the Israel Defense Forces. Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's Shin Bet Security Services, estimated during a Knesset meeting earlier his week that if control of the West Bank were handed over to Abbas, Israel would suffer a "significant threat to its security." The issue of Hamas infiltration of Fatah was thought to have been the Achilles heel that led to the terror group's takeover last summer of the entire Gaza Strip, including dozens of major, U.S.-backed Fatah security compounds there. Hamas' seizure is thought to be a partial consequence of Israel evacuating Gaza in 2005. Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesman for the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terror group, told WND his group and Hamas have infiltrated "very deep" in Fatah. "We already are planning to obtain American weapons and take over the West Bank like we did in Gaza with help from the Palestinian resistance, including elements in Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Fatah Security Services. The Committees and Hamas has infiltrated very deep in Fatah," Abdel-El said.
Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem calling to set up an appointment with the Interior Ministry to apply for an Israeli citizenship will discover the next available interview date is only in April. In the months leading up to the upcoming Annapolis peace conference talk of a future division of the city has prompted a staggering increase in nationalization requests by Palestinians seeking to escape life under the Palestinian Authority. Some 250,000 Palestinians currently reside in Jerusalem. Only 12,000 of them have sought to obtain an Israeli citizenship since 1967, an average of about 300 new citizens a year. But over the past four months the Interior Ministry has registered an unprecedented 3,000 applications, primarily residents of the Arab neighborhoods unlikely to remain under Israeli sovereignty according to the political initiative currently on the agenda. As accepting Israeli citizenship was viewed by many within the community as tantamount to treason, most Palestinians opted to remain permanent residents and enjoy the benefits of living under Israeli sovereignty – full welfare rights, municipal voting rights and unrestricted movement - without putting their loyalty to the Palestinian Authority into question. The average Palestinian family in East Jerusalem currently receives a $770 monthly stipend from Israel. "They've weighed the pros and cons of life under the Palestinian Authority and those under Israel and they've chosen," said residents in East Jerusalem of their naturalization-seeking neighbors.
Majority of secular public views rabbinical authority 'irrelevant'
It is the sole authority overseeing marriage, divorce, conversion, kosher licensing and virtually ever other aspect of Jewish life in Israel. But a new study conducted by Ynet and the Gesher Institute reveals that 41% percent of the general public believes the time has come to dismantle the National Authority of Religious Services (NARS). Of the 500 adult Hebrew-speaking Jewish Israelis polled for the study, only 59% said they believed it was still a relevant governmental body. Of respondents who identified themselves as secular, 61% said they viewed the religious services as obsolete whereas only 8% of ultra-Orthodox respondents said the same. When asked what they viewed as the NARS' greatest failing, 28% of respondents noted its lack of accessibility to the secular public, 25% said its decision to convert non-Jewish immigrants, 16% said its handling of secular marriages and 9% said the handling of the shimta year. An analysis of the data indicates that the ultra-Orthodox and religious sectors focused their disappointment on the conversion of immigrants (38% and 29%, respectively), while observant and secular respondents took issue with the lack of accessibility to the non-religious public (28% and 32%). And what should a rabbi's focus be on? 26% of respondents said a rabbi should strive to bring the religious and secular sectors closer together, 23% said he should provide religious services, 15% said bringing the general public closer to Judaism, 9% said dealing with domestic troubles and an additional 9% said the rabbi should only cater to the needs of the religious public. Shoshi Becker, director general of Gesher Educational Enterprises, said that the study shows a clear desire amongst secular citizens to engage their religious counterparts. According to Becker, despite the secular stance on the relevancy of the rabbinical institution, that sector still views rabbis as important and necessary figures.
No comments:
Post a Comment