* Muslims Worldwide Celebrate Eid-al-Fitr Muslims around the world are ready to celebrate one of the most important holidays on the Islamic calendar, Eid-al Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

* ‘We’ll back Abbas if Hamas included’ The European Union would support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas if he reconciled with Hamas, according to Christina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana.

* Rabbi Elyashiv Joins Battle For Jerusalem In the opening shot of the battle for Jerusalem, top rabbis of the Hareidi-religious and Jerusalemite communities have joined Rabbi Avraham Shapira’s final statement against dividing Jerusalem.

* Gore and UN panel win Nobel prize Climate change campaigner Al Gore and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

* Russia urges US missile ‘freeze’ Russia has called on the US to “freeze” plans to employ missile defence facilities in eastern Europe.

* Israel braces as US-Turkey crisis erupts Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US Thursday as already-strained relations frayed further following a congressional committee vote recognizing the Armenian genocide.

* Muslim scholars reach out to Pope More than 130 Muslim scholars have written to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders urging greater understanding between the two faiths.

* Solana warns Turkey against military incursion in Iraq EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has warned Turkey that an offensive against Kurdish rebels in Iraq would further complicate the security situation of the conflict-ridden country.

* Cabinet to rethink mass conversion Cabinet ministers will vote next Sunday on a major change in policy toward mass-conversion aliya, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

* Pope appeals to South Korea to reject human cloning Pope Benedict XVI appealed Thursday to South Koreans’ “inherent moral sensibility” to reject embryonic stem cell research and human cloning after the country decided to let embryonic stem cell research resume.

* EU officials condemn IDF action in Gaza Calling Gaza a “prison” and a “ghetto,” European Union parliamentarians harshly condemned Israeli actions there in a special session held in Brussels on Wednesday.

* Turkish govt to seek go-ahead for Iraq incursion next week The Turkish government will formally ask parliament next week to approve an incursion into northern Iraq to crack down on Kurdish rebels taking refuge there.

* PA official: Failed talks at peace summit could spur third intifada Senior Fatah official and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia warned Thursday that if the upcoming regional peace summit does not yield results, Palestinians are likely to respond with an intensified uprising.

* Hamas offers talks with Fatah Hamas has said it will hold reconciliation talks with Fatah and hinted it may be ready to give up control of the Gaza Strip.

* Assad: Israel is trying to cover up failed IAF strike Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published Thursday that Israel is trying to cover up the failure of an Israel Air Force strike on his country early last month.

* Muslim Brotherhood sets up Islamic clerical power The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s powerful opposition movement, has laid down its first detailed political platform.

* Report: African Conflicts Cost Billions About $18 billion a year has been drained from Africa by nearly two dozen wars in recent decades.

* US Presidential Candidate Endorses Elon’s “Israeli Initiative” US Presidential candidate Sam Brownback, a senior Republican senator has endorsed the new Israeli Initiative peace plan.

* Expert: We missed opportunity to enlist Russians against Iran The damage caused by a lack of direct dialogue with Russia regarding the Iranian nuclear issue is beyond repair.

* Turks warn U.S. over genocide vote Turkish President Abdullah Gul has warned the U.S. that a congressional bill recognizing the mass killings of Armenians during World War One as genocide could cause “serious problems” for relations.

* Turkish artillery pounds Kurdish rebel camps in n. Iraq Turkish troops pounded suspected Kurdish rebel camps in northern Iraq with artillery fire.

* At NY Rally: ‘Olmert is Dangerous to Diaspora Jewry’ Thousands of people took part in an emergency protest rally this week at the World Lubavitch Center in Brooklyn, New York.

* Abbas lays out land for state Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state.

* Putin plays down Iran bomb fears Moscow has no information that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

* Doors closing on Iraqi displaced A growing number of Iraqi provinces are refusing entry to internal refugees, the UN refugee agency has warned.

* Cabinet okays new plane defense system The Security Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new Israeli-made system for the protection of civilian aircraft against missile attacks.

* Nuclear Deal Threatens India Government In the new capitalist India, old-line communists are playing the spoiler, threatening to bring down the government over a nuclear energy deal with the United States.

* Egypt signs treaty with NATO Egypt has signed a treaty with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), thus becoming the second Middle Eastern country, after Israel, to sign such a pact.

* Barroso worried commission could take a hit in new EU treaty European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso is worried that his institution will be sidelined under the new EU treaty.

* Petition calls for two-state solution More than half a million Israelis and Palestinians have signed a petition calling on the Israeli and Palestinian governments to reach a peace agreement within the next year.

By: Matthew Wagner – The Jerusalem Post

‘A soldier’s uniform is like the holy garments worn by the priests in the Temple when they brought animal sacrifices before God Almighty,” says Rabbi Eli Sadan, head of the Bnei David Pre-Military Academy in the Samaria settlement Eli, as he reaches for a Bible to prove his point.

Read more….

By: Etgar Lefkovits – The Jerusalem Post

Any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will require the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in all of east Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Adnan Husseini told The Jerusalem Post Monday.

Read more….

* ‘We must control all of east Jerusalem’ Any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will require the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in all of east Jerusalem.

* Barak: Israel soon to be able to block 90% of missile launches Within a few years Israel will be able to defend itself against 90 percent of missiles fired against it.

* Turkey and the Kurds on the Brink The simmering conflict between Turkey and Kurdish guerrillas headquartered in neighboring Iraq may be getting close to a boil.

* Olmert pledges quest for peace Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will devote the next year to pursuing peace with the Palestinians, he has told Israeli MPs.

* EU’s Mideast envoy warns against failure of Annapolis conference The price of failure at the Annapolis conference in November could be greater than that of the Camp David conference in 2000.

* EU treaty ‘same as Constitution’ The EU treaty is “substantially equivalent” to the EU Constitution thrown out by Dutch and French voters in 2005, MPs have said.

* Most Israelis say no to sharing Jerusalem Most Israelis oppose sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians as part of a final peace deal.

* Iran president faces rare protest A rare anti-government demonstration has been held in the Iranian capital during a speech at Tehran University by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

* Eurozone ministers call for stronger Chinese currency Eurozone ministers are pressing China for a more freely floating yuan.

* God’s army? ‘A soldier’s uniform is like the holy garments worn by the priests in the Temple when they brought animal sacrifices before God Almighty,” says Rabbi Eli Sadan.

By: Hillel Fendel – Arutz Sheva

MK Benny Elon presents a peace plan that emphasizes the closing of refugee camps and Jordanian citizenship for the Arabs of Judea and Samaria

Read more….

* Jordan Replaces P.A. in MK Elon’s Peace Plan MK Benny Elon presents a peace plan that emphasizes the closing of refugee camps and Jordanian citizenship for the Arabs of Judea and Samaria.

* PMO denies report that Jordan will have custody of Temple Mt. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office on Monday morning denied the report in Al-Quds al-Arabi that he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to transfer the Temple Mount’s holy sites to Jordanian custody.

* Bush moves ahead with plans to attack Iran US President George W. Bush is moving ahead with plans to attack Iran.

* Telegraph: ‘Brown will support strike on Iran’ British Premier Gordon Brown has agreed to support US air strikes against Iran if Iran were to carry out large-scale attacks by militant proxies against British or American forces in Iraq.

* West Papua Delegation Donates Gold For Holy Temple On Wednesday, the last day of the Sukkot festival, a 34-person delegation from West Papua presented a large amount of gold to be used in the building of the Holy Temple.

* Official Saudi website for fatwas Saudi Arabia has launched an official website to publish Islamic legal rulings, or fatwas.

* Petraeus: ‘Show me’ if Iran has stopped supplying Iraqi insurgents Although America’s top general in Iraq called al Qaeda “the wolf closest to the sled,” he said sectarian fighting among militias fueled by Iran could be the biggest long-term challenge for Iraq.

* Palestinian Christian found dead in Gaza The body of a Christian official who was kidnapped over the weekend was discovered in Gaza City early Sunday.

* Poland to be wooed by Germany and France over EU treaty France and Germany will this week try and persuade Poland to support the EU’s new treaty amid reports that Warsaw is not happy with the latest draft.

* Turkish cabinet in urgent talks after Kurdish attacks The Turkish cabinet met today amid heightened pressure to hit back at Kurdish fighters in Iraq after 13 soldiers were killed in an ambush yesterday, and two more today.

* ‘Syria won’t hesitate to a start war with Israel to regain Golan’ Syria will not hesitate to start a war with Israel in order to restore its control over the Golan Heights.

* Musharraf wins presidential vote Gen Pervez Musharraf has easily won a vote to be re-elected Pakistan’s president, even though it is unclear if his candidacy was legal.

* ‘Israel wants to drag the ME into war’ Israel wants to take control of the Middle East and drag the region into war.

* Iraq Shia leaders sign truce deal Two of Iraq’s most influential Shia leaders have signed a deal to try to end violence between their groups.

* Qureia: PA may not attend ME parley Head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Ahmed Qureia, said Saturday that if a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement is not drafted before the upcoming Middle East peace conference, the Palestinian Authority may not participate in it.

* Abbas: J’lem key to peace The Israeli and Palestinian teams asked to draft a joint statement ahead of a Mideast peace conference will hold their first meeting Monday.

* ‘Iran won’t negotiate over nuke rights’ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Friday that Iran will not negotiate over its “nuclear rights”.

* Egypt uncovers smuggling tunnel leading to Gaza Strip Egyptian authorities discovered a freshly dug tunnel leading under the border to the Gaza Strip and arrested an Egyptian man inside it.

* Bush ‘optimistic’ about Mideast peace In a rare interview with an Arabic satellite news station, US President George W. Bush addressed the Arab world Friday to bolster America’s image.

* Ahmadinejad wants ‘all Palestine liberated’ President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Friday that Iran would work until “all of Palestine is liberated” from Israel’s hands, and repeated his deeply-controversial questioning of the Holocaust.

* Ahmadinejad: Let Jews move their country to Europe or Alaska Millions of Iranians attended nationwide rallies Friday in support of the Palestinians, while the country’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel’s continued existence was an “insult to human dignity.”

* Israel Shakes Iran’s Confidence in Stopping IAF Despite its usual posturing about its military excellence and that of its terrorist allies, Iran appears to be increasingly concerned about Syria’s ability to detect infiltration by Israeli aircraft.

* Bush: Terrorists don’t represent Islam The United States has a proud history of standing with Muslims and “mainstream citizens across the broader Middle East.”

* EU split on sanctioning Iran Divisions are emerging within the 27-nation EU over how to deal with Iran’s reluctance to freeze its uranium enrichment program.

* Bush says he is ‘very optimistic’ about Palestinian statehood U.S. President George W. Bush said in comments aired on Friday he was “very optimistic” a Palestinian state could be set up alongside Israel.

* Moslems Descend on Jerusalem for Last Ramadan Friday Some 3,000 policemen, including Border Guardsmen and special forces, are on hand throughout Jerusalem.

* Reveal the truth of al-Dura affair Last month, a French court heard an appeals case whose forthcoming verdict will have far-reaching ramifications for all who value truth and accuracy in Middle East news reporting.

* Kosovo: Separation Anxiety It took 77 days for NATO bombs to drive Serbian forces out of the small Balkan province of Kosovo during the 1999 war.

* PA demands all prisoners freed within few months Ashraf al-Ajrami, the Palestinian Authority minister for prisoners affairs, met this week with Public Security Minister Avi Dichter.

* Bush to Syria: Stay out of Lebanon President George W. Bush warned Syria Thursday against interfering in Lebanon’s presidential elections.