* Yesha Council: Beware of Steps Towards Palestinian State As the US continues to prepare for an international Middle East summit this coming November, concern grows in Israel that the goal is to force Israel to agree to a Palestinian state on its very doorstep, founded upon Hamas, Iranian and even Al-Qaeda influence.

* IDF assessment: Syria thinks Olmert wants to launch war Damascus does not believe Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s public statements of reassurance that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria, and is genuinely concerned about an Israeli preemptive attack, according to official Israeli assessments.

* Iraqi Premier to Hold Talks in Search for Compromise Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Sunday that he would meet as early as this week with leaders from all the major political parties of Iraq in the hopes of forging a grand compromise among the warring factions.

* W. Bank: 10,000 call for Islamic state A global Islamic movement that wants bring Muslims back to the roots of their religion drew a crowd of more than 10,000 at a rally Saturday and denounced the moderate Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank as infidels.

* Islamists urge caliphate revival Some 100,000 Islamists have met in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to press for the re-establishment of a caliphate across the Muslim world.

* New party for annexation of territories New Jersey-native Yechiel Aaron has decided to start a new political party to advocate for the annexation of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

* Enviromentalists slam World Bank over Red-Dead canal Israeli environmentalists accused the World Bank of stacking the timetable of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal project discussions in their favor, at a public hearing on Sunday in Neveh Ilan, west of Jerusalem that frequently erupted in chaotic screaming matches.

* Japanese FM to launch Israel-PA-Jordan project The foreign ministers of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Japan are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Jericho to launch a joint economic project called the “corridor for peace and prosperity.”

* Kurds build an island of calm in the inferno of Iraq Unlike many other Iraqi cities, Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, has seen very few terrorist attacks since civil war broke out following the U.S. invasion in 2003 and the subsequent execution of Saddam, Iraq’s former dictator.

* EU and US central banks consider currency swap Amid fears that US mortgage market problems would prompt a worldwide credit crunch, the European Central Bank, ECB, is expected to continue pumping funds into the eurozone banking market today (13 August).