By: Roee Nahmias – Yedioth Internet

In response to Ashkenazi’s warning of Israeli retaliation in face of attack, Hezbollah says, ‘Enemy knows any attack will bring about its total defeat that will result in end of its entity’

Roee Nahmias
Published: 11.11.09, 16:31 / Israel News

A day after the chief of staff warned against an increasing threat from the north, Hezbollah bragged, “All cities, military bases, factories, and settlements in Israel are within the organization’s firing range.”

Hezbollah’s political bureau chief Mahmoud Qomati was responding to the statements made by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday. Ashkenazi said that Hezbollah is armed with tens of thousands of missiles that can even reach Dimona. “Some of them reach a range of 300 km (about 185 miles),” he said.

According to the chief of staff, the missiles are ready for use. “There is a paradox. On the one hand, there is quiet, but when you raise your head over the fence, you see strengthening and arming. If Hezbollah carries out an attack to avenge the death of Mughniyeh, this will obligate Israel to respond. This can lead to deterioration.”

Qomati said Wednesday that if Israel attacks the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s Dahiya neighborhood, the organization will respond with an all-out shelling of Tel Aviv. Qomati dismissed Ashkenazi’s statements: “Ashkenazi’s threats are empty statements made in a bid to restore the initiative to his hands after the enemy’s defeat in Lebanon and Gaza.”

Qomati continued, “The enemy knows that any offensive initiated under the current conditions will ensure his total defeat, will change the balance of power in our favor, and will bring about the end of its entity.

By: –

A top State Department official spelled out on Tuesday that the goal of the United States in its negotiations in the Middle East is to pressure Israel into expelling Jews from Judea and Samaria in order to “end the occupation that began in 1967.”

William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, said in his address to the Middle East Institute Tuesday that he sees the U.S.mandate as one of “determined leadership” and that American must be straightforward about its intentions.

“Our goal in the region is clear,” he said, “two states living side by side in peace and security; a Jewish state of Israel, with which America retains unbreakable bonds, and with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, that ends the daily humiliations of Palestinians under occupation, and that realizes the full and remarkable potential of the Palestinian people.”

Although he made no mention of any demands upon the PA in order to achieve its goal of establishing a new Arab state within Israel’s current borders, Burns was blunt about America’s expectations of Israel.

“We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements; we consider the Israeli offer to restrain settlement activity to be a potentially important step, but it obviously falls short of the continuing Roadmap obligation for a full settlement freeze,” he said.

Further, he said, “We seek to deepen international support for the Palestinian Authority’s impressive plan to build over the next couple years the institutions that a responsible Palestinian state requires. And we also seek progress toward peace between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon, as part of a broader peace among Israel and all of its neighbors.”

The highest ranking Foreign Service Officer in the United States, Burns served as Acting Secretary of State until the appointment of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001, and as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008.

The Under Secretary’s remarks came barely 24 hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met at the White House with President Barack Obama for talks grudgingly scheduled just hours before he flew to the U.S. on Sunday.

The two leaders were accompanied for some of the one hour and 40-minute meeting, held Monday night, by their respective administrative and security teams. On the agenda were the issues of the Iranian nuclear threat, the paralysis in Israel’s negotiations with the PA, and the claim by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he will not run again for the leadership in PA elections on January 24.

Burns vowed the U.S. “will continue to work hard to bring about the early resumption of negotiations, which is the only path to the two state solution on which so much depends, not only for the future of Israelis and Palestinians, but for the entire Middle East.”

“We have made limited headway,” he claimed, ” a shared understanding between the parties about a two-state objective; a shared interest in moving back to the negotiating table; wide international backing for this process; steady progress, in the face of very difficult odds, toward shaping reliable Palestinian security organizations and governmental institutions in the West Bank. Now we need to bear down, move ahead, fulfill our responsibilities for leadership, and challenge every other party to fulfill theirs.”

By: Michael Slackman – The New York Times

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Even before Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would not seek re-election as the Palestinian president, throwing the Palestinian Authority into chaos, America’s closest Arab allies, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, had begun to despair over Washington’s Middle East missteps, government officials and political experts said.

With Israel having rebuffed American calls to freeze settlement-building, and with the prospects for substantive peace talks fading, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are increasingly viewed in the region as diminished actors whose influence is on the wane, political experts say.

They have been challenged by Iran, opposed by much smaller Arab neighbors, mocked by Syria and defied by influential nonstate groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Even while Iran has been focused on its domestic political crisis, and Syria has struggled with an economic and water crisis, their continued support for Hamas and Hezbollah has preserved for them a strong hand in matters like the formation of a new government in Lebanon and efforts to reconcile Palestinian factions, officials and analysts said.

Officials in Saudi Arabia and Egypt acknowledge all this; they admit that they are no longer masters of their universe. What they do not agree upon is how to respond.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has decided that Arab unity is the only way to re-establish the kingdom’s role and to blunt Iran’s growing influence. The king has begun a diplomatic drive to smooth relations with two Arab leaders who have insulted and admonished him in the past, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya and, more recently, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

Egyptian officials say they wish the king well but have declined to participate in his reconciliation initiative because they think it will fail as long as Syria determines that the advantages of playing the spoiler outweigh the gains of pushing for peace.

“If there is no peace, then all those who bet against peace are winning,” said an Egyptian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid increasing tensions with the United States or Saudi Arabia. “And all those who act and bet there will be peace are losing, like us. We are losing because we are putting this bet.”

The great promise of President Obama’s June speech in Cairo, officials and political commentators said, was severely damaged when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on her recent trip to the Middle East, praised as “unprecedented” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to slow the building of settlements. That left the leadership of Saudi Arabia and Egypt — the two regional American allies most committed to negotiating with Israel — exposed, embarrassed and weakened, political analysts and government officials said.

“Egypt’s role is receding regionally, and its cards are limited,” said Emad Gad, an expert in international relations at the government-financed Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “Their main card, which is reconciliation and peace, is receding.”

Egypt says these efforts will come to nothing until there is progress in the peace process, an approach the Saudis have not accepted.

Even as its vast reserves of oil money have expanded its global influence, Saudi Arabia finds itself unable to exert its will even on its own border, where it blames Iran for stoking an uprising against the government in Yemen; or in Lebanon, where its chief source of influence, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated. Even its goal of leading the Persian Gulf states, under the umbrella of the Gulf Cooperation Council, has faltered.

“Saudi’s role in the last 10 years has declined,” said Abdulkarim H. al-Dekhayel, a political science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh. “The leadership now feels it has to try to reset the agenda.”

The Saudis have decided that the key to re-establishing a strong hand in the region rests broadly in Arab unity and specifically in Syria. Syria has close economic and political ties with Iran. It hosts the political leadership of the militant group Hamas. It shares a border with Iraq and has been accused of allowing militants and weapons to cross over. It has a close alliance with Hezbollah. All of these are excellent tools for undermining Saudi efforts to blunt Iran and push for peace with Israel.

“The relations between the Arab countries, if they are solid, if the understanding is there, if the cohesiveness of their policy exists, then there is no worry,” said Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s longtime foreign minister. “It is only when there is division, and looking for other alternatives between the Arab countries, that creates problems.”

But Saudi Arabia’s challenge is also one of leverage, political analysts and Saudi officials said. How does Saudi Arabia persuade Syria to switch from the antipeace camp, to the pro-peace camp?

The Saudis have hinted at two strategies. One involves giving Syria much needed economic assistance. The other, though not stated directly, involves Lebanon. Syria has made it clear that it views events in Lebanon as central to its national security, as well as its pride. Saudi Arabia has tried in recent years to keep Lebanon in its orbit through proxies and cash infusions. But lately it has suggested that it might not object to Syria reasserting political control there.

“What is recognized is that Lebanon is more important to Syria than any other Arab country,” said a Saudi official who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to antagonize officials in either country. “It’s in its backyard. We understand that. But what we are looking for is some kind of Arab unity to stop foreign intervention in our Arab affairs.”

Egyptian officials, for their part, have been trying to reconcile the Palestinian factions, which have been at odds since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. While that is looking ever more remote, the Egyptians believe that a deal between Hamas and Fatah would already have been reached as a result of their mediation efforts if not for intervention by Syria, officials said.

Egyptian officials say they would be delighted if Saudi Arabia succeeded, not only in mending relations with Syria, but also in persuading the Syrians to sever ties with Iran, stop supporting Hamas and actually support the Arab initiative, which offers Israel peace in return for withdrawal to 1967 border lines, establishment of an independent Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and a “just solution” to the refugee problem.

But the Egyptians said they simply did not believe that would happen.

“Does the West give any support to those moderates on the Palestinian front, on the Arab side, that advocate peace, that say, ‘It is not about resistance any more, but what we want can be achieved through negotiations?’ ” said the Egyptian government official. “The answer is, ‘No.’ Do we have an empty hand? The answer is, ‘Yes.’ ”

By: Ariel David – The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — E.T. phone Rome. Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church.

“The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration,” said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.

Funes, a Jesuit priest, presented the results Tuesday of a five-day conference that gathered astronomers, physicists, biologists and other experts to discuss the budding field of astrobiology — the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.

Funes said the possibility of alien life raises “many philosophical and theological implications” but added that the gathering was mainly focused on the scientific perspective and how different disciplines can be used to explore the issue.

Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, said it was appropriate that the Vatican would host such a meeting.

“Both science and religion posit life as a special outcome of a vast and mostly inhospitable universe,” he told a news conference Tuesday. “There is a rich middle ground for dialogue between the practitioners of astrobiology and those who seek to understand the meaning of our existence in a biological universe.”

Thirty scientists, including non-Catholics, from the U.S., France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Chile attended the conference, called to explore among other issues “whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds.”

Funes set the stage for the conference a year ago when he discussed the possibility of alien life in an interview given prominence in the Vatican’s daily newspaper.

The Church of Rome’s views have shifted radically through the centuries since Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600 for speculating, among other ideas, that other worlds could be inhabited.

Scientists have discovered hundreds of planets outside our solar system — including 32 new ones announced recently by the European Space Agency. Impey said the discovery of alien life may be only a few years away.

“If biology is not unique to the Earth, or life elsewhere differs bio-chemically from our version, or we ever make contact with an intelligent species in the vastness of space, the implications for our self-image will be profound,” he said.

This is not the first time the Vatican has explored the issue of extraterrestrials: In 2005, its observatory brought together top researchers in the field for similar discussions.

In the interview last year, Funes told Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano that believing the universe may host aliens, even intelligent ones, does not contradict a faith in God.

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said in that interview.

“Just as there is a multitude of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot put limits on God’s creative freedom.”

Funes maintained that if intelligent beings were discovered, they would also be considered “part of creation.”

The Roman Catholic Church’s relationship with science has come a long way since Galileo was tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant his finding that the Earth revolves around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

Today top clergy, including Funes, openly endorse scientific ideas like the Big Bang theory as a reasonable explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

Earlier this year, the Vatican also sponsored a conference on evolution to mark the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species.”

The event snubbed proponents of alternative theories, like creationism and intelligent design, which see a higher being rather than the undirected process of natural selection behind the evolution of species.

Still, there are divisions on the issues within the Catholic Church and within other religions, with some favoring creationism or intelligent design that could make it difficult to accept the concept of alien life.

Working with scientists to explore fundamental questions that are of interest to religion is in line with the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made strengthening the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

Recent popes have been working to overcome the accusation that the church was hostile to science — a reputation grounded in the Galileo affair.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared the ruling against the astronomer was an error resulting from “tragic mutual incomprehension.”

The Vatican Museums opened an exhibit last month marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first celestial observations.

Tommaso Maccacaro, president of Italy’s national institute of astrophysics, said at the exhibit’s Oct. 13 opening that astronomy has had a major impact on the way we perceive ourselves.

“It was astronomical observations that let us understand that Earth (and man) don’t have a privileged position or role in the universe,” he said. “I ask myself what tools will we use in the next 400 years, and I ask what revolutions of understanding they’ll bring about, like resolving the mystery of our apparent cosmic solitude.”

The Vatican Observatory has also been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world’s best.

The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has his summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.

* Ahmadinejad: Obama must choose between Israel and Iran Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the US to choose between Israel and Iran on Tuesday night.

* Palestinians mark Arafat’s death Thousands of Palestinians have flocked to the grave of their former leader, Yasser Arafat, in Ramallah to mark five years since his death.

* Abbas: We won’t lose hope, our revolution is history’s longest Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the impasse in peace talks.

* EU to decide top jobs next week The EU will hold a special summit on 19 November to decide the new top jobs of EU president and foreign policy chief.

* Fatah: Fayad is plotting to replace Abbas Fatah officials in the West Bank have accused Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad of quietly staging a “bloodless coup” against PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

* Vatican looks to heavens for signs of alien life E.T. phone Rome. Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life.

* China proves to be an aggressive foe in cyberspace One day in late summer 2008, FBI and Secret Service agents flew to Chicago to inform Barack Obama’s campaign team that its computer system had been hacked.

* Influence of Egypt and Saudi Arabia Fades Even before Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would not seek re-election as the Palestinian president, throwing the Palestinian Authority into chaos, America’s closest Arab allies, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, had begun to despair over Washington’s Middle East missteps.

* State Dept: US Goal to Expel Jews in ‘Occupied’ Post-67 Lands A top State Department official spelled out on Tuesday that the goal of the United States in its negotiations in the Middle East is to pressure Israel into expelling Jews from Judea and Samaria.

* Hezbollah: All of Israel within our range A day after the chief of staff warned against an increasing threat from the north, Hezbollah bragged, “All cities, military bases, factories, and settlements in Israel are within the organization’s firing range.”

By: Fox News Network

The Army psychiatrist suspected of killing 13 people at Fort Hood reportedly warned senior Army physicians in 2007 that the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars to avoid “adverse events.”

According to The Washington Post, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic during his senior year as a psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Instead, Hasan lectured his supervisors and two dozen mental health staff members on Islam, homicide bombings and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting against other Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A source who attended the presentation told the paper, “It was really strange. The senior doctors looked really upset.”

The Powerpoint, entitled, “The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military,” consisted of 50 slides, according to a copy obtained by the Post.

“It’s getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims,” Hasan said in the presentation.

Under a slide titled “Comments,” he wrote: “If Muslim groups can convince Muslims that they are fighting for God against injustices of the ‘infidels’; ie: enemies of Islam, then Muslims can become a potent adversary ie: suicide bombing, etc.” [sic]

The last bullet point on that page reads simply: “We love death more then [sic] you love life!”

On the final slide, labeled “Recommendation,” Hasan wrote: “Department of Defense should allow Muslims [sic] Soldiers the option of being released as ‘Conscientious objectors’ to increase troop morale and decrease adverse events.”

An Army spokesman told the Post Monday night he was unaware of the presentation, and a Walter Reed spokesman declined comment.

A classmate of Hasan, meanwhile, told FoxNews.com that the warning signs were all there — the justification of homicide bombings; spewing anti-American hatred; efforts to reach out to Al Qaeda — but that the military treated Hasan with kid gloves, even after giving him a poor performance review.

And though he was on the radar screen of at least one U.S. intelligence agency, no action was taken that might have prevented the Army psychiatrist from allegedly gunning down 13 people and wounding 29 others in the Fort Hood massacre last week.

“There were definitely clear indications that Hasan’s loyalties were not with America,” Lt. Col. Val Finnell, Hasan’s classmate at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He and Hasan were students in the school’s public health master’s degree program from 2007-2008.

“The issue here is that there’s a political correctness climate in the military. They don’t want to say anything because it would be considered questioning somebody’s religious belief, or they’re afraid of an equal opportunity lawsuit.

“I want to be clear that this wasn’t about anyone questioning his religious views. It is different when you are a civilian than when you are a military officer,” said Finnell, who is a physician at the Los Angeles Air Force Base.

“When you are in the military and you start making comments that are seditious, when you say you believe something other than your oath of office — someone needed to say why is this guy saying this stuff.

“He was a lightning rod. He made his views known and he was very vocal, he had extremely radical jihadist views,” Finnell said. “When you’re a military officer you take an oath to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic.

“They should’ve confronted him — our professors, officers — but they were too concerned about being politically correct.”

Finnell said the warning signs were clear to many, not just classmates. Faculty members, including many high-ranking military officers, witnessed firsthand his anti-Americanism, he said.

Finnell recalled Hasan telling his classmates and professors, “I’m a Muslim first and I hold the Shariah, the Islamic Law, before the United States Constitution.”

He recalled one time when his classmates were giving presentations in an environmental health class on topics like soil and water contamination and the effects of mold. When it was Hasan’s turn, he said, he got up in front of the class and began to speak about his chosen topic, “Is the War on Terror a war on Islam?”

Finnell says he raised his hand. “I asked the professor, “What does this topic have to do with environmental health?”

“When he was challenged on his views, Hasan became visibly upset. He became sweaty, he was emotional.”

But despite questioning from the other students, Finnell said, the professor allowed Hasan to continue. He said Hasan’s anti-American vitriol continued for two years as he worked toward his degree in public health.

There were even more warning signs that might have alerted the Army in recent months:

— In the days and weeks before the shooting, Hasan voiced his objections to Muslims fighting the war on terror to members of his mosque, the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen. Congregants at the mosque said he voiced his objections to Muslims serving in the U.S. military and to his impending deployment to Afghanistan.

— Over the summer, Hasan’s comments led Osman Danquah, co-founder of the mosque, to recommend that it deny Hasan’s request to become a lay Muslim leader at Fort Hood, the Associated Press reported.

— In the months before Thursday’s shooting Hasan tried reaching out to people associated with Al Qaeda — and did so under the watchful eye of at least one U.S. intelligence agency. An intelligence official told FOXNews.com that “Hasan was on our radar for months.”

On Sunday Sen. Joe Lieberman announced his intention to lead a congressional investigation into the Fort Hood murders, saying there were “strong warning signs” that Hasan was an “Islamic extremist.”

“The U.S. Army has to have zero tolerance. He should have been gone,” said Lieberman, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

In interviews Sunday, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey stressed that it was too early in the investigation to know whether these warnings signs could have spared the lives of the 13 killed, dismissing earlier reports about such signs as “speculation” based on anecdotes. “I don’t want to say that we missed it,” he said.

Finnell said that once Hasan was identified as the suspect in Thursday’s massacre, he reached out to the Army to tell them about his experiences with Hasan.

This time, he said, “They listened.”

By: Andrew Rettman – EUobserver

The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago changed the course of EU history. But many people in Europe are still waiting for the political and economic freedoms promised by the event.

Lela-Rose Engler was on 9 November 1989 a 26-year-old student of East German origin resident in West Berlin. Having heard radio reports of massing crowds on the eastern side of the barrier, she took the underground to the Heinrich-Heine-Strasse crossing point at around 11pm local time to see what was going on.

Confused border guards had begun letting trickles of people through from east to west at various points from 9pm onward. The mass breaches started at 11.30pm, with tens of thousands gathered on the western side to greet fellow Berliners after 28 years of separation.

“That night there was pure joy, no thoughts about problems …just a feeling of getting back a missing part of your body, your missing other half,” Ms Engler told EUobserver.

“Even today it is very emotional, almost too emotional, for me to speak about this night. I’ll never forget one man, from the west, saying to the people crossing the border from the east: ‘It is really high time that you came.’ It’s the nicest welcome I’ve ever heard in my life.”

The peaceful end of Communism in East Germany came amid similar developments in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria the same year. But the broader transition was more violent than the Berlin events suggest. In December 1989, 1,104 people died in the Romanian revolution. In 1991, 14 protesters were shot in Lithuania.

The European Economic Community (EEC) of 20 years ago was hardly recognisable compared to the union of today.

Helmut Kohl was in power in Germany. Francois Mitterand led France. Margaret Thatcher was in charge in the UK and Jacques Delors was president of the European Commission. The EEC had just 12 members. The euro was in its planning phase. The Baltic states were still part of the Soviet Union. And the community’s main priority of creating the single market was a far cry from the institutional and geopolitical angst generated by taking in eight former Communist states in 2004.

When the majority of the 27 EU leaders go to Berlin on Monday (9 November), talks on the fringe of the festivities will likely tackle who to name as the union’s first permanent president and foreign minister, following the tortuous ratification of a constitution-type treaty.

Apparatchiks still in power

At the same time, former dissidents such as Poland’s Lech Walesa will make statements welcoming the end of Soviet domination alongside guests including President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, a country where power remains concentrated in the hands of Cold-War-era apparatchiks such as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and which is undergoing a new wave of nostalgia for Soviet greatness.

“Some of the worst and most frightening elements [of the USSR] are still present. Take a look at what is going on in the Khamovnichesky Court. Just like in the past, the siloviki are in control,” Marina Filipovna, the 74-year-old mother of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, told this website.

“I feel that a similar wall is being erected today – between us and the West. Even between people, between those who understand what is happening and those who do not want to understand.”

Mr Khodorkovsky, a one-time oil tycoon and Putin critic, is currently on trial at the Moscow court in what is widely seen as a politically-skewed case designed to keep him in jail for life.

Russian human rights campaigners and journalists work in a climate of fear, while pro-Western politicians in Ukraine and Georgia have to reckon with the threat of Russian military force to bring their countries to heel.

Domino effect

The €5 million Berlin festivities involve concerts by rock groups Bon Jovi and U2 and will culminate in the toppling of 1,000 2.5-metre-high polystyrene dominoes. When the last domino falls, at around 8.40pm in front of the Brandenburg Gate, a fireworks display will go off.

Millions of eastern Europeans will watch the celebrations with bittersweet feelings, however.

Amid the uncertainties brought by the financial crisis, some older people remember Communism through rose-tinted spectacles. Just 59 percent of respondents in Poland and 53 percent in Slovakia said that life is better today in a recent survey.

Meanwhile, looking at the EU from the outside in, many Belarusians, Moldovans and Ukrainians may reflect that their countries have no EU accession perspective and remain cut off by an economic chasm. A visa to enter the union costs €35 for Moldovans and Ukrainians, the lion’s share of the monthly minimum wage. It costs €60 for a Belarusian, twice what the poorest people earn.

By: Ronen Medzini – Yedioth Internet

Western Wall Heritage Foundation holds tour of tunnels in attempt to ward off Muslim claims that al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger of collapsing. Waqf refuses offer for similar tour for Muslims, saying ‘settlers won’t give us approval to enter a Muslim-owned area’

Excavation works being held near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have sparked uproar in the Muslim world in recent years. Recent riots in the capital were allegedly sparked by a repeated Muslim claim that the Jews are attempting “to take over” the Temple Mount mosques or damage them through the digs taking place in tunnels within the mount.

According to the Muslims, the digs are taking place under the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and are threatening to collapse them.

Initial photos obtained by Ynet show the excavation works along the tunnels, as photographed during a tour held in the area about two weeks ago, which was attended by several officials and organizations from all parts of the political spectrum.

Following the tour, its participants said they did not witness attempts to dig under the mosques’ plaza.

Within the tunnels. Important archaeological remains from the First Temple

The digs begin on al-Waad Street in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and connect to the Western Wall tunnels under the ground. The works began more than four years ago, and have since caused angry responses in the Muslim world, which is finding it difficult to receive a clear picture of the dig, due to the discrete manner in which it is are being led by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

One of the claims is that the dig is endangering the buildings located above it and damaging the heart of the Muslim heritage. The fears are also related to the fact that many of the members of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation are also members of the Ateret Kohanim association, whose goal is to see Jews settle in the Old City’s Muslim and Christian quarters.

The tunnels are expected to be open to the public in the future, but today they remain closed until the excavation works will be completed. In light of the many claims, however, the Foundation decided to invite several officials to tour the area.

The tour’s participants included the Foundation’s executive director Mordechai (Sullie) Eliav, Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Jerusalem Council Members Meir Margalit (Meretz) and Rabbi Yossi Deutsch (United Torah Judaism), and representatives of left-wing organizations.

12 meters deep

The tour’s participants spoke to the excavation workers, who told them that the digging is currently 12 meters (39 feet) deep. According to estimates, the final dig will be 16 meter deep, where the workers will reach an impenetrable rock layer.

According to the participants, the workers uncovered important archaeological remains from the First Temple during the excavation.

It should be noted that the tour’s participants testified that in some of the places, improvised reinforcement works were being conducted to support the walls and ceiling, in a manner which raises fears that there is indeed a danger of collapse, or at least a danger that the land above may sink. The picture brought here support this claim.

Arab diplomats seek solution

“I don’t support digging in sensitive places, and I understand the Muslims’ fears,” said Margalit. “However, in the name of intellectual integrity, I did not see any attempt to dig under the mosques’ plaza. I cannot guarantee that such a thing will not happen in the future, but it’s clear to me that in the meantime there were no signs testifying that this is in fact taking place.

“It’s important for me to say this because I am very concerned about what may happen following the wave of rumors and speculations running around this city,” he added, “and everyone must contribute as much as they can to calm things down.”

Margalit in one of tunnels. Very concerned

Ynet has learned that the Western Wall Heritage Foundation is now planning to conduct another tour, which will be attended by a professional Muslim delegation, in order to refute the accusations.

Margalit has even approached representatives of the Jerusalem Waqf with an offer to tour the area, but they have rejected it for now, claiming that “we will not receive approval from settlers to enter a Muslim-owned area.”

Diplomats from an Arab country arrived in Jerusalem on Thursday in an attempt to come up with a creative solution which would allow a Muslim delegation to tour the area. A third party is now trying to mediate between the Foundation and the diplomats in a bid to organize such a delegation, which will be comprised of representatives from Arab countries.

However, in light of the recent political tensions, which have led to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ announcement that he would not run for president in the upcoming elections, it appears that such a tour will not be made possible for the time being.

By: Hillel Fendel – Arutz Sheva

Though the Foreign Ministry invited ambassadors from around the world to see the tremendous cache of arms intercepted on their way to Hizbullah last week, the world media did not take interest.

Ambassadors and diplomats from 44 countries, along with military attaches from 27 nations, were taken to the Ashdod port on Thursday to see for themselves the weapons and ammunition seized from the Antiguan ship Francop off Cyprus.

The 500 tons of Iranian weapons bound for Hizbullah that Israel intercepted was ten times more than those confiscated aboard the famous Karine-A ship several years ago – and would have been enough to keep Hizbullah fighting against Israel in a future conflict for 30-40 days.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, complained to the UN on Thursday about the terrorism shipment.

Yet, despite the significance of the event in terms of the worldwide struggle against terrorism, the story received barely any coverage in the world press.

“Israel did what it was supposed to do,” former IDF Spokesman Ephraim Lapid told Arutz-Sheva, “and there is no explanation as to why the news stations around the world basically ignored the story. It is very surprising that this event, which is major news item by any standard, was not appropriately covered. I have no explanation, but Israel can’t be blamed.”

Arutz-Sheva’s Uzi Baruch reports that MK Nachman Shai (Kadima), a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, disagrees. “Israel’s public relations and information efforts have apparently failed in disseminating the story of the Francop. Prime Minister Netanyahu is supposed to understand these matters, yet precisely under him, Israel continues to limp along in getting out its message.”

MK Shai has asked the Knesset committee for an urgent discussion on why Israel failed.

Yossi Levy, of the Foreign Ministry’s Israeli media department, defended the ministry in light of Shai’s criticism. “The Foreign Ministry carried out a complete, coordinated and successful campaign in order to get the information out to all the media outlets. Some of them are, not surprisingly, not interested in publicizing this important information.”

“It’s not an Israeli failure,” Levy said, “but rather those world media that chose to ignore this story deviated from all accepted standards in the world of media.”

By: –

World leaders have hailed the Berlin Wall’s fall in celebrations 20 years on from the upheaval that changed Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was joined at the Brandenburg Gate by Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and UK PM Gordon Brown.

In a special video address, US President Barack Obama said Berliners had rebuked tyranny on 9 November 1989.

The event two decades ago led Germany to reunify, caused the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Cold War’s end.

Communist East Germany erected the 155-km (96-mile) concrete barrier in 1961 to encircle West Berlin and prevent citizens from fleeing into the capitalist enclave.

At least 136 people are thought to have been killed at the wall while trying to escape.

Ms Merkel – who grew up in East Germany – presided over Monday’s celebrations, which were attended by tens of thousands of people despite a downpour of rain.

She led a procession of leaders through the Brandenburg Gate – the symbol of German reunification in 1990.

The presidents of Russia and France, the British premier and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among those who joined the German chancellor.

Ms Merkel said the events of 20 years ago had shown the world could tackle new challenges, from poverty to climate change.

“Together we brought down the Iron Curtain and I am convinced this can give us the strength for the 21st century,” she said.

Mrs Clinton also spoke, before introducing a surprise video address from Washington by Mr Obama.

“There could be no clearer rebuke of tyranny. There could be no stronger affirmation of freedom,” he said of the wall’s tearing down.

Mr Medvedev said the wall’s collapse had helped Russia and Germany end their World War II enmity.

He said he hoped everyone had rejected the dividing lines represented by the wall.

In his speech, Mr Brown told Berliners: “You dared to dream in the darkness. You knew that while force has the temporary power to dominate, it can never ultimately dictate.”

After the leaders spoke, a chain of 1,000 giant foam dominoes – painted with messages of freedom by young people – was toppled along where the wall once stood.

The symbolic act was to reflect how the then Communist governments of Eastern Europe fell one after another.

The first wave of dominoes were knocked over by former Polish President Lech Walesa and ex-Hungarian Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth.

Mr Nemeth’s decision to open his country’s borders first allowed East Germans to flee to the West.

The festivities were capped with fireworks and a concert featuring music from Berlin’s State Opera and the American rock band Bon Jovi.

Earlier in the day, Ms Merkel retraced her steps on the night the wall fell by crossing the first checkpoint to open 20 years ago.

The German chancellor was joined by ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Mr Walesa, the former Polish trade union leader and later president, whose movement was the first to challenge Communist rule successfully in Eastern Europe.

There were cheers from hundreds of onlookers as Ms Merkel praised Mr Gorbachev for helping to make change possible.

Earlier, Ms Merkel said in a TV interview that German unity was still incomplete, as the East lagged in economic growth.