* Iranian official: US seeks to undermine clerical regime A top security official accused the United States Thursday of seeking to undermine Iran’s clerical regime.

* Palestinians ‘are learning’ from Iraq A leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the suicide car bombing that killed nine US soldiers in Iraq on Monday bolstered his belief that the US would soon be defeated and retreat from “Muslim lands.”

* Egypt leans on Hamas to stop Kassams Egypt has threatened to cut off its relations with Hamas unless the movement halts its rocket attacks on Israel.

* Russia in defence warning to US Russia may stop implementing a key defence treaty because of concerns over US plans for a missile shield in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said.

* MK Hasson: Prepare for war with Israel’s Arabs MK Israel Hasson (Yisrael Beiteinu) said on Thursday that in a “normal” country, former Knesset Member Azmi Bishara, would already be behind bars.

* Syria’s ruling party grabs most of the seats in elections The ruling coalition took an overwhelming majority of seats in Syria’s parliamentary elections.

* US House votes for Iraq deadline The US House of Representatives has narrowly approved a bill making further funding of the war in Iraq conditional on a timetable for a US troop pullout.

* Maliki wants Iranian leaders at talks on stabilizing Iraq Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he is willing to go to Iran to convince its leaders to attend an upcoming key regional summit aimed at stabilizing Iraq.

* Israeli anxiety over ‘enemy within’ “There’s one thing in common between Arabs and Jews in Israel,” says Amnon Rubinstein with a wry smile. “They can’t stand each other. It’s sad but its true”.

* Barroso forced to change mini-summit plans European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has been forced to scale down plans for a mini-summit next month with select EU leaders.

* Barroso organizing mini-summit on EU constitution European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso is in the process of organizing a mini-summit brainstorming on a new-look EU constitution.

* Iraqi politicians say government is failing Iraqi politicians — frustrated by violence throughout the country and the glacial pace of parliamentary lawmaking — say the nearly one-year-old government is failing.

* 25 percent of Ethiopian immigrants traumatized A new study reveals that 25 percent of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) triggered by their move to Israel.

* Iran and EU seek to break impasse Iran’s top nuclear negotiator and the EU’s foreign policy chief are to meet in Turkey in an attempt to break the deadlock over Iran’s nuclear program.

* Russians Pay Last Respect to First President Yeltsin Tearful Russians filed past the open coffin of former president Boris Yeltsin inside a vast Moscow cathedral Tuesday.

* Turkey ‘must have secular leader’ Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has pledged to adhere to secular principles if, as expected, he is elected president.

* Hamas Attack Was Cover For Kidnap Attempt The barrage of Kassam rocket fire from Gaza during Independence Day celebrations Tuesday was part of an extensive Hamas-led kidnapping operation, thwarted by the IDF.

* Russia threatens veto over Kosovo Russia has threatened to veto in the UN Security Council a plan to give Kosovo a form of supervised independence.

* Hundreds of rightists spend night at Homesh Hundreds of settlers and right-wing activists were forced to spend the night at the evacuated West Bank settlement of Homesh.

* IDF presents PM with proposal to renew targeted assassinations Senior defense officials on Wednesday presented Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with a proposal to resume targeted assassinations of Palestinian militants and hits on infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

By: Jeremy Last – The Jerusalem Post

Of all the Independence Days in the 59 years of the State of Israel, the 19th Yom Ha’atzma’ut is seen by many as one of the most significant, a day that carries with it the weight of history and represents the start of a period of change in the attitude and atmosphere of the country as a whole.

The weeks and months leading up to the 1967 Six Day War, when the future of the country’s existence hung by a thread, and the period that followed, had an enormous effect on the people living in what was then still a fledgling country.

That year’s Independence Day took place less than three weeks before war officially broke out, in the midst of growing tension and concern. But still, like every year before, on the fifth of Iyar the nation celebrated Israel’s statehood.

Read more….

By: Ynet

As Israel approaches Independence Day, population is nine times higher than in 1948; millions more live in big cities

As Israel’s 59th Independence Day approaches, the country’s population stands at 7,150,000 residents, almost nine times its population of 806,000 at the time of the state’s creation in 1948.

According to the Central Statistics Bureau, 5,415,000 (76 percent) are Jewish, 1,425,000 (20 percent) are Arab and 310,000 (4 percent) are other.

Read more….

By: Haviv Rettig – The Jerusalem Post

For Prof. Yoram Shachar, Independence Day 5767 will be different than those that came before. Twenty-five years of research and painstaking labor have borne fruit, yielding an archive of original documents, many rescued from oblivion, related to Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

The digital archive includes scans of first drafts, mostly written by the Yishuv leadership in the month preceding the May 14, 1948, signing of the Declaration.

“My first goal was scientific,” Shachar told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, “to create a document archive that will allow future researchers to know about the phrasing of the Declaration.” But his second goal, he added with some urgency, “is to convince many people who may not even know that they are in possession of additional drafts to help me find these documents. Every passing year lowers the chances of finding them.”

Read more….

By: Yehuda Avner – The Jerusalem Post

As the Sabbath noon of May 15, 1948 turned to afternoon, and afternoon into evening, the mood in downtown Jerusalem grew from excitement to tumult. Despite the siege and the threat of shelling, people roamed the streets rejoicing. Revelers from an inglorious bucket brigade of trench diggers and hackers, I among them, frolicked down Jaffa Road to Ben Yehuda Street, whose upper section had been blasted by truck bombs.

A bonfire was ablaze in a giant crater, and youngsters were spinning around it in a feisty hora folk dance. One young man in red shorts, overwhelmed by the thrill of the hour, cartwheeled over to where some of us were standing, and hugged each in turn.

In Zion Square an old man with a trombone and a girl with a guitar were playing a spirited “Hava Nagilla” and, spying the violin case of one of our crowd called Leopold Mahler – a professional violinist and Holocaust survivor who never ever wanted to play again – persuaded him to unpack his instrument and join in. Picking up the rhythm, Mahler began reworking it into wildly spiraling variations, his notes fluttering this way and that, improvisation upon improvisation, as if man and instrument were rediscovering each other in shared delight after a long separation.

Read more….

* Independence 1948 As the Sabbath noon of May 15, 1948 turned to afternoon, and afternoon into evening, the mood in downtown Jerusalem grew from excitement to tumult.

* Gay marriage evil, abortion terrorism: Vatican The Vatican’s second-highest ranking doctrinal official on Monday forcefully branded homosexual marriage an evil and denounced abortion and euthanasia as forms of “terrorism with a human face.”

* Probing the Declaration of Independence’s preparation For Prof. Yoram Shachar, Independence Day 5767 will be different than those that came before. Twenty-five years of research and painstaking labor have borne fruit, yielding an archive of original documents.

* Ahmadinejad offers to have direct talks with Bush President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday proposed holding talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.

* Independence Day marked at Homesh The first group of activists arrived at the ruins of the former settlement of Homesh early Tuesday morning.

* US gives Sudan Darfur ‘ultimatum’ The US has said it expects Sudan to prove its commitment to allowing a strengthened UN peacekeeping force into Darfur within a matter of weeks.

* The Independence Day that changed all others Of all the Independence Days in the 59 years of the State of Israel, the 19th Yom Ha’atzma’ut is seen by many as one of the most significant.

* US increases pressure on Syria The United States has imposed sanctions on 14 foreign people, companies and government agencies, including the Syrian navy and air force.

* IDF: Hamas attempt to kidnap soldiers foiled IDF sources stated on Tuesday that they had prevented an attempt by Hamas to kidnap an Israeli soldier.

* Tributes flow for flamboyant Yeltsin Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin has been remembered for his success as the man who dismantled the Soviet Union as well as for his failings in office.

* Israel remembers its fallen fighters A minute-long siren sounded across the nation at 8 p.m. Sunday, marking the beginning of Israel’s 59th Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism.

* France opts for left-right battle Centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy will face Socialist Segolene Royal in the run-off of France’s presidential election on 6 May.

* Hamas calls for new attacks on Israel Hamas on Sunday called for new attacks on Israel after nine Palestinians were killed in a surge of fighting over the weekend.

* 59 years, 7,150,000 residents in Israel As Israel’s 59th Independence Day approaches, the country’s population stands at 7,150,000 residents, almost nine times its population of 806,000 at the time of the state’s creation in 1948.

* Iraqi PM criticises Baghdad wall Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has asked for construction to end on a concrete wall around a Sunni enclave in the capital, Baghdad.

* No IDF monument in West Bank After her son, St.-Sgt. Uri Biton, 21, was killed in Lebanon in 1997, his mother found a worn, folded-up note in his wallet with a scribbled motto which read: “Give your utmost for the nation.”

* EU agrees Iran nuclear sanctions EU foreign ministers have agreed to implement sanctions against Iran after its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

* US urges Iran to join Iraq talks Condoleezza Rice is urging Iran to join her at a high-level conference on the future of Iraq next week.

* Fresh Somali clashes ‘kill many’ At least 47 people have been killed in Mogadishu in fresh fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali forces and Islamists, a human rights group says.

* IDF bans settlers’ march to Homesh The IDF officially announced on Sunday that authorization for a march to the evacuated settlement of Homesh this Independence Day would not be granted.

* Al-Qaeda seeks to expand its operations Al-Qaeda is reaching out from its base in Pakistan to turn militant Islamist groups in the Middle East and Africa into franchises charged with intensifying attacks on western targets, according to European officials and terrorism specialists.

* Musharaf wants to mediate ME peace Pakistan took initiative Saturday to bring about stability to the Middle East – by first attempting to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

* Taleban uses boy to behead ‘spy’ The Taleban in Afghanistan have used a boy of around 12 to behead a man they accused of spying for the US.

* Settlers: We’ll return to Homesh on Independence Day Thousands of right-wing followers plan to return to evacuated settlement; organizers say, ‘Independence Day is not just about barbeques, it’s about Zionism, values and settling the land’

* Iran invites West to build nuke plants Tehran on Friday invited Western nations to participate in the construction of nuclear power plants across Iran.

* Deadly Somalia clashes continue Heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamist militiamen has continued for a fourth day in Mogadishu, Somalia.

* Pentagon Invites Kremlin to Link Missile Systems The Bush administration is offering Russia a new package of incentives to drop its strong opposition to American missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

* US eyes potential bomb sale to Israel Pentagon notifies Congress of miltary sales deal of up to $65 million, for bombs, spares, repair parts and US technical assistance

* Hezbollah slams UN over report of arms smuggling from Syria Hezbollah lashed out at the United Nations Security Council, saying reports of illegal arms smuggling from Syria to Lebanon were “inaccurate.”

* EU agrees breakthrough hate-crime law After six years of political wrangling, the European Union has agreed to make incitement to racism and xenophobia a crime across the 27-nation bloc, setting a jail sentence of at least one to three years.

* Gates placates Israel on Saudi arms sale US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday tried to ease Israeli concerns about a planned American weapons sale to Arab allies in the Gulf.

* Sudan responds defiantly to threat of new sanctions Sudan has dismissed as unjustifiable the threat of slapping new sanctions because of the Darfur conflict, vowing to do everything it can to protect what it sees as its national security.

* Abdullah: Unilateralism is failed policy Jordan’s King Abdullah presented the Arab peace initiative to Acting President and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik.

* Moscow foreign students told to stay in as racist attacks rise over Hitler’s birthday Russia’s most prestigious medical institute has told its foreign students to stay indoors for three days because of fears they may be attacked by skinheads celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday.

* U.S. boosts security in Germany The US Embassy in Germany said on Friday it was increasing security at its facilities in the country in response to a heightened threat situation.

* Strong Quake Strikes Japan; No Tsunamis Detected A series of strong earthquakes rattled southwestern Japan on Friday, prompting the government to warn of a possible tsunami that ultimately never came.

* E.U. Ministers Agree on Rules Against Hate Crimes, Racism European Union officials agreed Thursday to new regulations for combating hate crimes and racism at a time when xenophobia and concern over immigration have been increasing across the 27-country bloc.

* Iran, EU to meet on nuclear stand-off Iran’s top negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet on Wednesday for talks on Tehran’s disputed nuclear activity.

* Christians in Turkey fear more attacks The slayings of three Christians in this eastern town highlight Turkey’s uneasy relationship with its minorities, and Christians expressed fear Thursday that growing nationalism and intolerance could lead to more violence against them.

* Nuclear terror: How likely is it? How likely is it that terrorists will some day be successful at detonating a nuclear device in a major American city?