By: The Jerusalem Post

Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair expressed optimism for peace between Israel and the Palestinians on Sunday, while pushing for negotiations to “get underway as quickly as possible.”

Speaking to CNN’s John King, the former UK prime minister said that there were “many things, positive things, happening on the ground at the moment.” He specifically cited growth in the Palestinian economy in the West Bank, as well as the fact that checkpoints were being “opened or removed.”

“There’s a lot of bustle and activity on the West Bank and in Gaza,” he noted.

Blair also expressed hope that a deal to secure the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit could be signed, in order to open Gaza “to the outside world.”

He said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was “genuine and serious in wanting negotiations [with the Palestinians] to start.” On the Palestinian side, he said, people “need to know that negotiations are going to be credible,” and that they will “genuinely lead to the two-state solution.”

Blair also lauded the Palestinian Authority’s work in “greatly improving” the security situation in the West Bank.

Both the Israeli and Palestinian governments, Blair went on, have “one great source of strength… The majority of people, both Israelis and Palestinians, want to see a two-state solution.”

He reiterated his call for a prompt resumption of talks, saying, “The next month will be completely critical, fundamental to this, because if we can’t get negotiations going that are credible, then the vacuum that is created will suit no one but the extremists.”

When asked about diplomatic involvement from the United States, Blair called US Mideast envoy George Mitchell “One of the most skilled and strategic negotiators I’ve ever come across,” having worked closely with him during the Northern Ireland peace process.

Blair also mentioned US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who he said were “completely committed” to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

By: Israel Today

According to a centuries-old rabbinical prophecy that appears to be coming true, on March 16, 2010, Israel will begin construction of the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

During the 18th century, the Vilna Gaon, a respected rabbinical authority, prophesied that the Hurva Synagoge in Jerusalem, which was built during his day, would be destroyed and rebuilt twice, and that when the Hurva was completed for the third time, construction on the Third Temple would begin.

The Hurva Synagogue was first destroyed shortly after its initial construction when Muslims demanding the return of loans tore it down. The synagogue was rebuilt a hundred years later and became the most important Jewish house of worship in the Holy Land, only be blown to pieces by Jordanian troops during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.

In 2001, Israel finally decided to rebuild the landmark, which today stands in the center of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City. The building is scheduled to be completed and the Hurva Synagogue dedicated for the third time on March 15 of next year.

* EU’s Lisbon Treaty comes into force The European Union is celebrating the entry into force of a new set of rules today (1 December), hoping to put a full-stop behind the years of wrangling.

* Israel: EU stance on Jerusalem harms peace talks The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday lashed out at a European Union plan to call for the division of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians.

* Palestinians to ask UN for 1967 borders Palestinian statehood is a “vital” component necessary for regional peace, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

* Settlers block Israeli inspectors enforcing West Bank freeze Defense Ministry inspectors who came to the West Bank on Tuesday to enforce a freeze on settlement construction found the roads blocked by Israeli settlers, who have vowed to defy the government crackdown.

* Nasrallah: Continue arming to fight Israel Hizbullah will improve its weapons capabilities to face off any Israeli threat, the group’s leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s said.

* As Iran crisis grows, the UN nuclear watchdog has a new chief The new director general of the International Atomic Energy said Tuesday he would do his best to deal with the challenges facing his organization.

* Russia building arms plants in Venezuela Russia is building arms plants in Venezuela to produce AK-103 automatic rifles and cartridges.

* New IDF unit to fight enemies on Facebook, Twitter The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman’s Office is to begin drafting computer experts with an eye toward establishing an Internet and new media department unit.

* Minaret ban ‘a security risk’ – Swiss minister A decision by Swiss voters to ban the construction of minarets poses a risk to Switzerland’s security, the country’s foreign minister says.

* U.S.: Time running out for Iran The White House warned Iran Tuesday that it faces further sanctions if “they don’t stop their enrichment activities, if they don’t forsake their nuclear weapons program.”

* Iran’s 10 Uranium Plants In Defiance Of UN Iran has approved plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, the country’s state media has said.

* Blair: Both Israel, Palestinians want peace Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair expressed optimism for peace between Israel and the Palestinians on Sunday, while pushing for negotiations to “get underway as quickly as possible.”

* Settler leaders ban ‘Bibi’s inspectors’ from communities Yesha Council, local community heads hold emergency meeting, call West Bank construction moratorium ‘immoral, anti-Zionist, inhumane,’ say it violates basic rights of 300,000 Israelis

* How Hamas is Islamicizing Gaza A report by the Shin Bet describes how Hamas has instituted Islamic law and thought in all areas of Gaza life since its violent takeover of the area.

* Knesset Members to Get Bible Lessons What can Knesset Members learn from the Nation of Israel’s biblical leaders?

* Iran gov’t earmarks $20 million to support militant groups Iranian state radio reported Sunday that the country’s parliament has approved a bill earmarking $20 million to support militant groups opposing the West.

* Mysterious ‘Saddam Channel’ hits Iraq TV Turning on their TVs during the long holiday weekend, Iraqis were greeted by a familiar if unexpected face from their brutal past: Saddam Hussein.

* Vatican and Muslims condemn Swiss minaret ban vote Religious leaders across the world have criticised Switzerland’s referendum vote to ban the building of minarets.

* Medvedev tables EU-Russia-US security pledge draft Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday (29 November) tabled a draft “European security treaty” aimed at overcoming the Cold War “legacy,” but without acknowledging any of Moscow’s military adventures in the past year.

* Hezbollah chief: Armed struggle is best way to end occupation Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah asserted on Monday that the use of violence was the most effective way to end Israel’s occupation of Arab lands, amid criticism in Lebanon of his militant organization’s refusal to disarm.

* ‘Israel aims to wipe out Palestinians’ In a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday night, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Israel of aiming to “exterminate” the Palestinians.

* Russia train crash ’caused by bomb’ A bomb blast caused the Russian train crash in which at least 26 people were killed.

* PA intensifies attacks on settlement freeze The Palestinian Authority on Thursday stepped up its rhetorical attacks on Israel.

* UN chief urges leaders to ‘seal deal’ on climate change The United Nations chief has urged world leaders to “seal a deal” on climate change when they meet in Copenhagen next month.

* Iranian lawmaker: We may bar inspectors, withdraw from NPT Iran’s parliament may consider withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

* Climategate e-mails sweep America, may scuttle Barack Obama’s Cap and Trade laws Just a few considerations in addition to previous remarks about the explosion of the East Anglia Climategate e-mails in America.

* Russia and China Endorse Agency’s Rebuke of Iran The United Nations nuclear watchdog demanded Friday that Iran immediately freeze operations at a once secret uranium enrichment plant.

* Dubai Debt Woes Raise Fear of Wider Problem Of the many economies that gorged on debt in the boom years, Dubai stood out.

* Tourism Min. pledges to keep developing West Bank sites, despite freeze Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov (Yisrael Beitenu) said Saturday that despite the cabinet’s decision to temporarily freeze settlement construction, his ministry would continue to develop tourist sites in the West Bank.

* Herschel telescope ‘fingerprints’ colossal star The death throes of the biggest star known to science have been observed by Europe’s new space telescope, Herschel.

By: Brian Blondy – The Jerusalem Post

If the United Nations General Assembly were to vote today on Resolution 181, the Partition Plan that led to the creation of the modern State of Israel, “there is no doubt” that it would not be approved, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday night, at the first meeting of the Hadar Israel organization in Jerusalem.

Former ambassador to the UN Dore Gold, who also spoke at the Hadar event, gave a similar assessment to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, noting that “the UN today seeks to undermine the very legitimacy of the State of Israel.”

Anglo-action group Hadar, which scheduled the event to coincide with the anniversary of the November 29, 1947 vote on the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, which was approved by 33-13 with 10 abstentions, invited Israel Beiteinu MK Ayalon, Gold and former ambassador to Canada Alan Baker as keynote speakers to address the hundreds of participants on how Israel should confront the new diplomatic and legal threats in the international political arena.

In his speech, Ayalon declared that in the coming weeks, in response to the increasing international diplomatic pressure, the Foreign Ministry would be unveiling a national and global campaign to change negative public opinion.

Ayalon estimated that 60-65 percent of today’s UN member nations are “dictatorial” countries that would vote against Israel were the establishment of the Jewish state put to the UN now.

“That’s an automatic majority against us…We have to understand this and devise how to counter it,” said the deputy foreign minister.

“We need two arms, one for special diplomatic operations and another for intensifying cooperation with the IDF Spokesman in documenting and delivering news as quickly as possible” he added.

Ayalon also called for the creation of a new political culture, with new political reforms, and revising the United Nations Charter and Geneva Convention in order to “change the laws and charters so terrorists will be under the gun, rather than democracies.” Ayalon praised the 300,000 English-speaking olim and called the Anglo aliya “the best aliya Israel has ever had.”

“You all came of your own accord and rather than asking what you can receive from the country, you ask what you can give to the country. I hope there will be an imprint of Anglo participation in the political realm in the future,” he said.

Gold told the crowd that Israel faces a three-pronged international delegitimization through “the erosion of our diplomatic rights, the eroding of our historical rights and the branding of the IDF as a criminal entity.” Gold also recommended strengthening and defending Israel’s legal rights in the international sphere by suggesting that the Foreign Ministry should be “encouraging countries to take measures against Hamas and Iran…and also taking the message to the press of how Israel is trying to defend itself.”

“We need to assert ourselves like we have never asserted ourselves before,” Gold declared to resounding applause, as he explained his recommendations for both offensive and defensive strategies to combat Israel’s delegitimization.

Speaking to the Post on Thursday, Gold noted that, in 1945, “to become a member state of the UN, you had to declare war on one of the axis parties, Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan. As a result, most of the founding members of the United Nations were allies, most of which were democratic. And they mostly shared a common ethos. Even those countries that were authoritarian or totalitarian like Saudi Arabia or the Soviet Union acquiesced to the values of the democratic majority, for example, in abstaining and not voting against the declaration of human rights. That was the environment in which Resolution 181 of the General Assembly was adopted on November 29, 1947.”

Today, Gold went on, “the United Nations has a completely different membership, the majority of which are authoritarian states and therefore have completely different values to those of the state of Israel.”

He noted that “they are under the domineering influence of the Islamic states and the non-aligned movement which consistently support anti-Israel resolutions no matter how much they undermine the Arab-Israeli peace process.” Therefore, Gold concluded, “the UN today seeks to undermine the very legitimacy of the state of Israel – even though it was the UN in 1947 that recognized the right of the Jewish people to a Jewish state.”

Created earlier this year, Hadar Israel is a self-proclaimed council for civic action. It is aiming to develop leadership and volunteer opportunities for English-speakers in Israel, and provide related training, information, and assistance in order to increase Anglo participation in Israeli public affairs.

* Iran rebuked over nuclear ‘cover-up’ by UN watchdog The UN nuclear watchdog’s governing body has passed a resolution condemning Iran for developing a uranium enrichment site in secret.

* Ahmadinejad: World to be freed from ‘bullying states’ The World according to Ahmadinajed: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday upon his return from a visit to Latin America and Africa that “a new movement has started to free the world from domination of a few bullying states.”

* Activists Compare Netanyahu to Pharaoh In response to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announced ten month construction freeze for Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, resistance activists have accused the prime minister of mimicking the decrees of Pharaoh in the Passover story.

* ‘Iran less of a threat than North Korea’ Iran is not as great a threat to global security as other nuclear-proliferating countries such as North Korea and Pakistan.

* Azmi Bishara: There is No “Palestinian” Nation. Never Was! The Zionist Freedom Alliance of California has been circulating a video on the internet this past week exposing former Member of Knesset Azmi Bishara denying the existence of a “Palestinian” nation.

* Ayalon: Today’s UN wouldn’t form Israel If the United Nations General Assembly were to vote today on Resolution 181, the Partition Plan that led to the creation of the modern State of Israel, “there is no doubt” that it would not be approved.

* Barroso unveils new commission line-up European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has unveiled his new team of commissioners putting new people in all portfolios.

* Van Rompuy faces difficult power balancing act New procedural rules being considered by member states show that EU president-designate Herman Van Rompuy will have to manage a delicate power balancing act.

* US shares tumble on Dubai fears US shares have opened lower as worries about Dubai’s debt problems rattle world markets for the second day.

* Hajj Pilgrims Symbolically Stone Devil Friday in Annual Hajj Ritual Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims performed the ritual “stoning of the devil” at Muzdalifa.

* ‘US warned China that Israel could bomb Iran’ Two senior officials from the White House, Dennis Ross and Jeffrey Bader, made a trip to China on a “special mission” to garner support in Beijing over the Iranian nuclear program.

* IAEA chief: Iran probe at ‘dead end’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Thursday that his probe of allegations that Iran was trying to produce nuclear arms is at “a dead end” because Teheran is not cooperating.

* Palestinians shun Israeli settlement restriction plan The Palestinian Authority has reacted negatively to Israel’s offer to temporarily restrict construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

* US dollar falls to 14-year low against the yen The US dollar has hit a 14-year low against the Japanese yen with low interest rates in the US making the greenback less attractive to investors.

* Slowdown in Muslim population growth rate Figures published by Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Eid al-Adha holiday show birthrate among Muslim women in Israel higher than among women in Arab countries.

* Settlers plan pressure on ministers, PR efforts Yesha Council management and municipal heads in West Bank to hold emergency session to decide how to move forward in campaign against building freeze.

* Obama will unveil Afghan troops move at West Point President Barack Obama plans to announce a redrawn battle plan for Afghanistan.

* Chavez: Israel murderous arm of US Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s president, has branded Israel a murderous agent of the US during a visit to Caracas by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his Iranian counterpart.

* Saudi floods kill 77 while Muslims perform hajj Muslim pilgrims holding white umbrellas against the blazing sun clambered up a rocky desert hill for prayers Thursday during the annual hajj, a day after torrential rains that killed at least 77 people.

* China expert warns of pandemic flu mutation China must be alert to any mutation or changes in the behavior of the H1N1 swine flu virus because the far deadlier H5N1 bird flu virus is endemic in the country, a leading Chinese disease expert said.

By: Ali Akbar Dareini – Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran – Islamic religious authorities have begun tightening their grip on Iranian public schools, a report said Wednesday, as hard-liners expand an ideological “soft war” against Western influence.

The effort appears to be part of a wider drive to counter opposition groups and other pro-reform factions that have been emboldened by the unprecedented protests after June’s disputed presidential election.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi strongly attacked the Revolutionary Guard in a new statement Wednesday, accusing the elite corps of using brutal force to crush the massive street protests.

Authorities have recently emphasized the need to battle the reach of Western media, viewpoints and culture — which resonate strongly in a country where nearly half the population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Officials also have stepped up blocks on Internet links and closures of the few remaining liberal-leaning news outlets, while expanding state-run media arms and giving hard-liners more sway over education.

“Now, the enemy has put soft war on its agenda and the top priority today is to fight the soft war,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on state television Wednesday during a meeting with Revolutionary Guard commanders and its affiliate paramilitary Basij forces.

Mousavi’s statement said the Basij, the street wing of the Guard, was created by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, as a popular body to serve the public and not to become stooges of the government and kill citizens holding peaceful protests.

“Basij, which the Imam (Khomeini) favored, didn’t stand against the people, it stood by the people,” he said in the statement. “It was not expected that Basij … rob the people of their free votes … and be rewarded for detaining people at gatherings.”

Mousavi says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 election from him through massive vote fraud. Hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets in the weeks after the vote, prompting a violent government crackdown.

The opposition says at least 72 people died in the security crackdown on protesters and that many of those detained were abused in custody. The government puts the number of dead at half that figure.

Although the street protests died down months ago, Mousavi and other leading opposition figures have refused to silence their protests and their pressure on the country’s Islamic leadership.

In his Wednesday statement, Mousavi said the Revolutionary Guard has under Khameini, Khomeini’s successor, deviated from the values it was once committed to.

“Should anyone who rejects the superstition offered to the people in the name of religion … be beaten up in the streets, tortured in prison and sentenced to long jail terms? Does Islam … allow that people who seek justice from their rulers be killed?” he asked.

Cleric Ali Zolelm, who heads a joint school-seminary committee, said Islamic clerics have already widened control in some schools, the daily Etemad newspaper reported.

Full details of the plan have not come out and it was not known whether the Education Ministry would relinquish full oversight. But hard-liners, including Ahmadinejad, have criticized Western influence in school curriculum.

“Recently, seminaries took management control of some schools in several provinces,” the paper quoted Zolelm as saying.

Elementary grades were believed to be the focus of the nationwide plan. It was not immediately clear whether higher grades also would fall under clerical influence.

Earlier this month, Iranian officials announced plans to appoint a cleric in every school — a move widely seen as an effort to bring stricter Islamic interpretations into the public education system and address growing divides between clerics and many young, secular-oriented Iranians.

An Education Ministry official, Ali Asghar Yazdani, was quoted as saying that the clerics could lead collective prayers in schools and answer religious questions by students.

Last month in Tehran, pupils elected a classmate in student elections because his name was similar to opposition leader Mousavi’s.

In the central city of Isfahan, a student running for school office copied Mousavi’s campaign and used the green as his signature color.

While Iranian government officials tried hard to stop spread of the news, words of the student vote spread across the nation.

By: Benjamin Weinthal – The Jerusalem Post

The educational content of the Hamas children’s Web site Al-Fateh (The Conqueror) is not a form of pedagogy, but an “indoctrination to suicide bombing,” said David Oman, the director of communications for the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) on Tuesday at a press conference at the Regent Hotel.

Gert Weisskirchen, a former Social Democratic Party MP and chairman of the OSCE on combating anti-Semitism between 2004-2008, introduced the IMPACT-SE study, and said that “there is a chance to prevent the indoctrination of children and youngsters in Germany and all over Europe.”

The study “Al-Fateh – The Hamas Web Magazine for Children: Indoctrination to Jihad, Annihilation and Self-Destruction” took place from September 2002 to April of this year.

Oman cited the “friends of Al-Fateh” entry of the young German-Palestinian child Muhammad Warad as growing evidence of the spread of radical, anti-Western Hamas ideology.

The Hamas Web site, according to the IMPACT-SE study, serves to demonize Israel through the use of anti-Semitic cartoons and tries to strip the country of its right to exist.

The promotion of violence is a standard theme of Al-Fateh. A telling example, said Oman, is the glorification of female suicide bomber Zeynab Abu Salam, who murdered two Jerusalem police officers in 2004.

Al-Fateh claims to receive millions of visitors, according to Oman. He said the Al-Fateh server, which has been tracked to Russia and Malaysia, frequently relocates its operation to prevent closure. The United Kingdom is listed as the site’s current host.

The educational material on the site contravenes “all of the International Educational Standards based on UNESCO Resolutions,” noted the study. Moreover, the authors of the study wrote that the site violates the International Convention on the Rights of the Child affirming that “every child has the inherent right to life,” by inciting children to commit suicide bombings.

The pro-violence ideology of Hamas will have “implications for the West and Israel,” said Oman.

“What will happen in 10 or 15 years from these children after their exposure to this type of hate?” asked Oman.

The Iranian-Hamas connection appears on Al-Fateh. The study highlighted the role of the founder of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, in stoking hatred against the West and Israel.

“The Web site often uses stories of shahids [martyrs] or their last wills and testaments to convey the message of violent jihad till victory or death – a message found in the teachings of Ayatollah Khomeini,” wrote the authors.

“Child abuse” was the term Oman invoked to describe the effect of Hamas’s educational site on adolescents and children.