Barak In Washington To Lobby For Iran Attack

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
July 11, 2008

Israeli war minister Ehud Barak will visit Washington next week to meet with top U.S. government officials and President Bush in what some are suggesting will be the final planning session in anticipation of a military strike on Iran.

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President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran

The Sunday Times
July 13, 2008

President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support.

Nor is it certain that Bush’s amber light would ever turn to green without irrefutable evidence of lethal Iranian hostility. Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack against Israeli or US targets.

“It’s really all down to the Israelis,” the Pentagon official added. “This administration will not attack Iran. This has already been decided. But the president is really preoccupied with the nuclear threat against Israel and I know he doesn’t believe that anything but force will deter Iran.”

The official added that Israel had not so far presented Bush with a convincing military proposal. “If there is no solid plan, the amber will never turn to green,” he said.

There was also resistance inside the Pentagon from officers concerned about Iranian retaliation. “The uniform people are opposed to the attack plans, mainly because they think it will endanger our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the source said.

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Iran carried out a series of missile tests this week in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the United States to issue a warning that it would defend Israel in the event of an Iranian attack. Israel's Air Force last month conducted drills seen as a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

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It's because Israel got everybody all stirred up with their exercise in June.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have begun a military exercise with a warning that Israel and the U.S. naval force in the Persian Gulf would be prime targets if Iran is attacked, according to the ISNA news agency.

Iran's military exercise began after the IDF Air Force conducted an exercise in the first week of June that looked suspiciously like a practice run at attacking the nuclear facilities in Iran.

A senior U.S. strategic analyst says the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, sent Israel an unequivocal message stating that Israel does not have a "green light" from the U.S. to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

Professor Anthony Cordesman of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies foreign policy think tank is considered a leading researcher in the area of U.S. national security. In the past he served in senior positions in the Defense Department, and was Senator John McCain's National Security Assistant.

Cordesman is visiting Israel this week, and gave a lecture Monday at Tel Aviv University and at Hebrew University on Sunday. He talked about Mullen's comments last week in Washington when the Admiral said such an Israeli attack would be dangerous and could destabilize the Middle East.

Mullen spoke after returning from a visit to Israel, during which he met with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and other senior IDF officers.

Cordesman said Mullen came to Israel to deliver a message that Israel did not have a green light to attack Iran and that it would not receive U.S. support for such a move.

In addition, Chief of Naval Operations, Gary Roughead, and General William S. Wallace, Commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, visited Israel prior to Admiral Mullen's visit.

It looks as if these guys jetted over to Israel to deliver a message to the Israel Defense Forces that going after Iran wouldn't be a good idea.

It wouldn't be such a great idea because we have don't have the military resources to deal with the mess we've got ourselves into in Iraq and Afghanistan, let along trying to pull Israel's butt out of the fire when they piss off the entire Arab world.

So, with some progress evident in Iraq, and with the military brass trying to keep the lid on from blowing off another boiling kettle, maybe we have some reason for optimism.

If we can just keep Israel from bombing Iran.

More impressive, silver prices have gained 33% since mid December.

Now, compare that to how U.S. stocks have fared since then: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has plunged 13.6%; The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 10.5%; The S&P 500 Index has fallen 11.1%.

Like gold, silver is a safe haven from inflation and a weak dollar. The prices of the two metals often move parallel to one another. However, silver is poised to rocket - handing investors not only gains in our bear-market economy, but steeper gains than gold.

James Turk, founder of GoldMoney, said in his annual forecast that the U.S. economy "will get much worse in 2008, making gold the premier asset of choice, but not the best performing precious metal. That honor will go to silver, which I expect will clear $30 in 2008."

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June 29, 2008

The visiting Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, carried out a guided tour of Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip over the weekend. It was led by the IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and OCs Northern and Southern Commands, Maj. Gens. Eisenkott and Galant.

He was briefed on IDF tactics in a war on all these potential flashpoints in the context of a comprehensive conflict with Iran and then held long conversations with defense minister Ehud Barak and Ashkenazi.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that it is very unusual for the top American commander to carry out a close, on-the-spot study of Israel’s potential war fronts. It was prompted on the one hand by skepticism in parts of the US high command of Israel’s ability to simultaneously strike Iran’s nuclear installations and fight off attacks from three borders while, at the same time, Adm. Mullen showed he was open to persuasion that the IDF’s prospective tactics and war plans were workable.

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Former Israeli spymaster: We have year to hit Iran nukes

Haaretz
June 29, 2008

Israel must destroy Iran’s nuclear program within the next 12 months or risk being attacked with an atomic bomb itself, the former head of the Mossad told the British Sunday Telegraph.

"As an intelligence officer working with the worst-case scenario, I can tell you we should be prepared," Shabtai Shavit, who served as Mossad chief from 1989 to 1996, told the British paper.

"We should do whatever necessary on the defensive side, on the offensive side, on the public opinion side for the West, in case sanctions don’t work. What’s left is a military action."

"The time that is left to be ready is getting shorter all the time," Shavit told the Telegraph.

Shavit added that a victory by Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the November presidential election would significantly lower the chances that the U.S. would approve of military action against Iran.

"If [Republican candidate John] McCain gets elected, he could really easily make a decision to go for it," Shavit told the paper. "If it’s Obama: no. My prediction is that he won’t go for it, at least not in his first term in the White House."

Shavit told the Telegraph, however, that Israel would not hesitate to go it alone, with or without U.S. support.

"When it comes to decisions that have to do with our national security and our own survival, at best we may update the Americans that we are intending or planning or going to do something," Shavit told the paper. "It’s not a precondition, [getting] an American agreement," he said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday he did not believe Israel was in a position to attack the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

"They know full well what the consequences of such an act would be," Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki told reporters.

Speculation about a possible attack on Iran because of its disputed nuclear ambitions has risen since a report this month said Israel had practiced such a strike, prompting increasingly tough talk of retaliation, if pushed, from Tehran.

Mottaki said Israel was still dealing with the consequences of its 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and was also suffering a "crisis of deepening illegitimacy" in the Middle East region.

"That’s why we do not see the Zionist regime in a situation in which they would want to engage in such an adventurism," he said when asked about the possibility of an Israeli attack.

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Iran ’digging 320,000 graves for invaders’

Press TV
June 29, 2008

A senior Iranian commander says the country is digging some ’320,000 graves’ in its bordering provinces for future slain invaders.

Brigadier General Mir-Faisal Baqerzadeh, the Head of the Foundation for the Remembrance of the Holy Defense, said Sunday that the decision had been approved by Iran’s Armed Forces Headquarters.

"We will dig 15,000 to 20,000 graves in each of the border provinces," he said.

"We do not wish the families of enemy soldiers to experience what Americans had to go through in the aftermath of the Vietnam War," added Brig. Gen. Baqerzadeh, who is also the head of the search committee for missing soldiers.

The commander said the preemptive measures would decrease the time slain soldiers would be ’missing in action’.

"The burial of slain soldiers will be carried out decently and in little time," he continued.

Baqerzadeh added that the decision is in line with the Islamic Republic’s commitment to comply with the Geneva Convention and the additional protocol regarding wartime cooperation between Iran and the Red Cross.

"I reiterate here in the clearest manner: As far as France is concerned, a nuclear Iran is totally unacceptable," Sarkozy declared. "France is determined to continue to lead, along with its partners, a policy that integrates gradually intensifying sanctions with openness, in case Iran chooses to honor its international obligatons."

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"All of the Palestinians must be killed; men, women, infants, and even their beasts." This was the religious opinion issued one week ago by Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, director of the Tsomet Institute, a long-established religious institute attended by students and soldiers in the Israeli settlements of the West Bank. In an article published by numerous religious Israeli newspapers two weeks ago and run by the liberal Haaretz on 26 March, Rosen asserted that there is evidence in the Torah to justify this stand. Rosen, an authority able to issue religious opinions for Jews, wrote that Palestinians are like the nation of Amalekites that attacked the Israelite tribes on their way to Jerusalem after they had fled from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. He wrote that the Lord sent down in the Torah a ruling that allowed the Jews to kill the Amalekites, and that this ruling is known in Jewish jurisprudence.

Rosen's article, which created a lot of noise in Israel, included the text of the ruling in the Torah: "Annihilate the Amalekites from the beginning to the end. Kill them and wrest them from their possessions. Show them no mercy. Kill continuously, one after the other. Leave no child, plant, or tree. Kill their beasts, from camels to donkeys." Rosen adds that the Amalekites are not a particular race or religion, but rather all those who hate the Jews for religious or national motives. Rosen goes as far as saying that the "Amalekites will remain as long as there are Jews. In every age Amalekites will surface from other races to attack the Jews, and thus the war against them must be global." He urges application of the "Amalekites ruling" and says that the Jews must undertake to implement it in all eras because it is a "divine commandment" .

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I feel like this is the type of thing we all think about and wonder as kids (ok maybe just those of us who grew up with the Orthodox upbringing): when we get married, what traditions will our husbands have? Will we stand united, stay separate but equal or be dissolved into one another?

My husband and I have a fun mix of Ashekenazi and Spehardi between us; it's cause for all kinds of different foods and we like to be multicultural about it. Now that it's Pessach, we're learning new customs, foods and Ma Nishtana languages from each other.

For example, one of the staples of the seder is the haroset; the ugly but yummy dip we use to remember the bricks our forefathers built in Egypt. Ashkenazi haroset is usually constructed from apples, walnuts, sugar, honey, cinnamon, sweet red wine. Sephardi charoset is more focused on dates, raisins, apples, and some kind of nut. That is why we will have two different charosets at our seder table this year.

Can you guess which is which?

I have never been a fan of Ashkenazi charoset. It's kind of awkward to me and looks like chopped liver, another Ashkenazi food I try to avoid. In my house growing up, we all fought over the amazing, sweet pasty charoset my Sephardi grandmother prepared for us. Every year the amount she made grew, and every year, it seemed more like there was not enough.

Well, I replicated it this year and I can proudly say that my Polish husband fell in love with it instantly... although, to be fair, he has decided to have his mum's version at the seder because it wouldn't be the same for him without it.

Pessach is definitely my favorite food holiday and it's probably in the number one spot for all-time favorite holiday. I feel honored to be cooking the dishes my grandmother spent years serving us, carrying on traditions... and even picking up new ones.

Tracing Gaza's chaos to 1948

By Mark LeVine

The roots of Gaza's misery today can be traced back to the late Ottoman period, decades before the war of 1948 transformed the Gaza Strip from a minor port and agricultural hinterland into one of the most overcrowded places on earth.

It was then, in the middle of the first great age of globalisation, that Gaza's fate was sealed, although it would take half a century for it to unfold.

At the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman empire was undergoing a process of modernisation that was opening provinces like Palestine to greater economic and cultural penetration by Europe.

It was during this period - the heyday of high imperialism - that Zionism arrived on Palestinian soil.

By the early 20th century, thousands of young and relatively unskilled East European Jews were arriving each year in Palestine desperate for work and housing.

While Gaza was never a primary location for Zionist settlement, Gaza City had a small but longstanding Jewish community, and several settlements, including Kfar Darom, were established during the British mandate (1917-1948) period and re-established after 1967.

Most of the young settlers who came during the first three waves of Jewish settlement, from the late 1880s until World War I, were unable to compete with the better-trained and cheaper Palestinian Arab work force, which itself was sustained by a larger Palestinian economy that had undergone a significant development,
albeit with ups and downs, in the last century and a half.

This reality led the emerging Socialist Zionist leadership to develop two strategies, the "conquest of labour" (kibosh ha-avodah) and when that failed, the "conquest of land" (kibosh ha-karka'a) to ensure the creation of autonomous, exclusively Jewish settlements that would be free of competition from non-Jewish workers.

The bourgeois town of Tel Aviv, founded in 1909, copied the Jews-only policy of the first kibbutz, or collective agricultural settlement, Degania, which was founded the same year.

Both sought to create modern exclusively Jewish environments that would, culturally, economically, and politically, be as autonomous as possible from the surrounding environment - the older Arab/Sephardi and non-Zionist Ashkenazi Jewish communities as much as from Palestinian Arabs.

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Distrust of outsiders was common then and, wherever the exiled Israelites went, they were ostracized by the local population. European Jews were not permitted to own land, or to work in any agriculture-related field, or to hold any job that required membership in a trade guild. Well into the 19th century, they were forced by law to live in ghettos, and throughout the 19th century, they were victims of pogroms. In the 20th century, they were rounded up and sent to death camps by the Nazis, with the goal of ultimately exterminating the entire Jewish race.

But the Ashkenazi Jews were neither destroyed nor defeated. The ordeals they endured strengthened their resolve to not only survive, but to overcome and rise above their circumstances. They reacted to persecution and oppression by developing a culture of determined self-reliance and dedication to personal achievement, along with helping and encouraging each other. When Jewish children were prohibited from attending public schools, the Jews formed their own schools in the ghettos and tutored their children themselves. Being barred from trades and agriculture, the few professions open to them required skills in math and business, so education was a high priority.

After six million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust, many of the survivors left Europe never to return. The land that is now Israel was an arid desert then, undeveloped, and thought by many to be undevelopable. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, that entire area was divided up by the United Nations to establish the current Arab states. The area called the Palestinian Territory was set up as a British Mandate, as it was not a part of any nation, and had no government of its own. Because this area was sparsely populated, and because of the historical connection, it was determined to be the most viable place to establish a homeland for the displaced Jews. The founders of the new Israeli nation offered automatic citizenship to any who were living there who desired to stay, and cautioned that those who left would not be permitted to return and claim citizenship later. Many Arabs did stay and became full Israeli citizens, but many fled out of fear and ignorance, believing the propaganda spread by the neighboring Arab states.

The surrounding Arab states vehemently objected to having a Jewish state in their midst. They swore that "Israel will be wiped off the map" and "every Jew will be driven into the sea." They immediately set about attacking Israel, bombarding it from every border, forcing the Israelis to defend their existence from the very start, even as they struggled to build a new nation. But the Jews had learned a hard lesson in Europe, and they understood what it meant to either fight or die. This time, they were prepared to fight back. They were already accustomed to hardship, and brought with them a culture of diligent perseverance. They relentlessly pursued their dream of establishing a land of freedom and Democracy in the middle of the unforgiving desert. Though continually beset with wars and terrorism, against seemingly insurmountable odds, they managed to build a new nation, with modern cities and a thriving agricultural and high tech-economy, where previously there was nothing but poverty and sand. But still, they're surrounded by enemies on all sides, who seek the destruction of their nation, and they live in constant vigilance against terrorist attacks.

Not all the Jews who fled Europe went to Israel. A great many came to the United States. Though many had lost everything in the Holocaust, and came here with little or no possessions, they brought with them their culture of survival and self-sufficiency, their strong work ethic and belief in education as the road to progress. Those values served them well in this land of freedom and opportunity. Like every other immigrant group, they started out huddling together in ghettos. But the Jews had had enough of ghettos in Europe, and were quick to realize the value of assimilation. They had no sense of entitlement to anything from anybody, but were grateful for the opportunity to earn an honest living in whatever way they could, and to educate their children, and reap the rewards of their own efforts. They fit right in with the American ideal, eager to leverage every opportunity. They made sure their children got the best educations they could, and with each successive generation, they worked their way higher up the socio-economic ladder.

But still there are people who, out of envy or ignorance, resent the Jews for the very successes they fought so hard to achieve, and find excuses to dismiss their accomplishments or accuse them of having "unfair advantages." Such is human nature.

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Judaism --YIDDISH IN THE ETHNO GENESIS OF THE Ashkenazi AND Sephardim ORIGINS, Wexler , Paul The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity; Wexler, Paul. The Non-Jewish Origins of The Sephardic Jews. NY: State University of New York Press, 1996. Not Khazars from Khazaria.

Sephardic Sephardim Ashkenazic Ashkenazi history judaism christianity islam Khazars Khazaria

Refrences gk here
http://www.geokarras.org/infiltration/Judaism_origins.htm
 

Arran d’una conversa recent vaig refermar la meva percepció d’una situació paradoxal. A diferència de tants conflictes i litigis oblidats del món (Nagorno-Karabaj, Colòmbia, Birmània, Argèlia i etc.), de l’àrabo-israelià gairebé qualsevol persona amb un mínim d’interès per l’actualitat se sent amb esma per formular-ne un judici o donar-ne una opinió i, si més no, pot afirmar-se que és aquell del qual se’n reben més informacions regulars (no entrarem a discutir-ne la qualitat). Però aquest fet no acostuma a coincidir amb una idea mitjanament acurada de la societat israeliana i, per tant, dels contorns d’aquest problema. La noció més pregonada es correspondria amb la d’una societat homogènia i que de manera molt unitària recolza les polítiques i orientacions del seu estat. Però aquest concepció està completament allunyada de la veritable naturalesa d’un país tan excepcional en la seva configuració i tan divers en la seva composició com Israel.

No pretenen aquestes línies discutir assumptes d’una complexitat tan gran i dissuasòria com són els orígens del conflicte o els arguments de cadascuna de les posicions (que en tot cas són moltes més de dues) i els fets en què es fonamenten. Tracten simplement d’introduir la idea d’una societat formada per molts fragments i sensibilitats i amb un encaix extremadament enrevessat.

Per prou conegudes circumstàncies històriques, durant el segle XX el territori actual d’Israel va rebre successives onades immigratòries que es sobreposaren a la població autòctona de Palestina, àrab en part molt important, antics súbdits de l’imperi otomà i sota règim de protectorat britànic després, però també de jueus que mai havien format part de la diàspora. ¿Però qui són aquest immigrants jueus que arriben primer a l’escalf de la encara minoritària ideologia sionista i, ja després de l’holocaust, com a remei al desarrelament que provoca la destrucció de les seves comunitats a Europa, empentats per la seva precària situació en les democràcies populars de l’òrbita soviètica o per la seva posterior desintegració, fugint de les dictadures sud-americanes o de la creixent inseguretat que senten en els estats àrabs o senzillament engrescats per les favorables condicions de retorn i les garanties que els ofereix la seva nova ciutadania? De fet, aquesta pregunta ens portaria a un problema previ en absolut menyspreable ¿Què és ser jueu? ¿Una condició religiosa, ètnica, cultural, nacional? ¿Una barreja de tots o alguns d’aquest elements? ¿Una resta més que no pas una suma, com deia Musil dels austrohongaresos?

La resposta es troba en la pluralitat aclaparadora d’identitats particulars que han confluït en el gresol israelià. Els seus membres poden venir de les comunitats que primer s’instal•laren a la Península Ibèrica i després de l’expulsió s’estengueren pels dominis otomans i altres ciutats de França, Itàlia i Holanda, anomenats sefardites; els ashkenazis o jueus germànics i orientals supervivents de la Shoah i vinguts dels shtetls o ciutats de Rússia, Polònia, Hongria, Lituània, Romania, Ucrania i etc., qui també arribaren després dels 60 en periòdiques fornades; els mizrahis, o jueus amb arrel en països musulamans com el Iemen, Siria, Iraq, Iran o el Marroc (i que sovint refusen que els encabeixin en un mateix sac), jueus nord o sud-americans de tota mena i fins i tot alguns grups escadussers com els falashes o Beta Israel d’Etiòpia, els gruzim de Geòrgia, els darrers residus del criptojudaisme de Mallorca o Portugal i altres comunitats de fantasmagòrica filiació amb les tribus perdudes de l’antigor com els Bnei Menashe indis. En total s’identifiquen fins a 71 divisions ètniques en el judaisme, la majoria presents a Israel en major o menor mesura. A més a més, cada procedència suposa un grau diferent d’assimilació: d’aquells jueus qui abans del nazisme no tenien ni de bon tros aquesta condició per sobre de la d’ésser alemanys, italians o txecs (per exemple) a aquells per qui el judaisme havia estat sempre el seu tret fonamental d’identificació. I, és clar, també diferents mentalitats religioses: de l’ultraortodòxia, el hassidisme o el caraïsme als corrents liberals i reformistes o directament laics. I cadascún d’aquests respectius grups i subgrups amb les seves particulars tradicions, ritus, modes de relació i codis de valors.

Lingüísticament les coses tampoc són senzilles: malgrat l’extraordinària adopció i aceptació de l’hebreu com a llengua comú, encara avui queden moltes persones a Israel per a les quals és una segona llengua o una llengua apresa en edat adulta. I la disparitat d’accents possibles així ho delata. A això cal afegir el pes d’altres idiomes lentament minoritzats però encara conreats en determinats àmbits: aquells considerats propis, como el jiddisch o el ladí, altres vigents per la continuitat del seu ús entre qui els han tingut com a llengues mare -el rús i el romanès principalment- o la plètora de llengues semites o africanes portades per diversos contingents d’emigrants.
Per si no fos prou, el ventall d’opcions polítiques i ideològiques també és inusualment ample. A l’actual Knesset o parlament nacional hi tenen representació 12 partits polítics, sense comptar els religiosos radicals per qui l’estat secular d’Israel és una mena d’heretgia que es neguen a reconèixer.

En darrer terme, existeixen també subtils distincions entre aquells ja nascuts dins d’Israel -els sabres, “figues de moro”- o fora d’ell, entre els qui arribaren abans, durant o després de la guerra d’Independència, entre els qui són fills de les granges col•lectives Kibbutzim o colons dels assentaments o etc. i etc.
I si hom creu que, per alguna mena de fraternitat primària, una superposició d’estrats tan complexa no ha generat infinitat de divergències i tensions s’equivoca de mig a mig. Els prejudicis, els sentiments de discriminació d’alguns grups, les discusions sobre la separació efectiva o no del poder civil i el religiós, les acusacions a l’Estat de voler uniformar aquesta societat segons el model ashkenazi majoritari o de relegar les opinions que discrepen amb el sionisme oficial han estat a l’ordre del dia.
I tot això sense tenir en compte l'omnipresent i virulent debat sobre les polítiques que cal seguir en el conflicte amb els palestins i països veïns o deixant de banda els àrabs amb ciutadania israeliana que sumen la gens menyspreable quantitat d’un milió cent mil habitants (aproximadament 1/7 part del total de la població).

De manera que la propera vegada que es tingui la temptació d’associar l’Estat d’Israel a alguna mena de realitat compacta es farà millor de tenir en consideració aquestes circumstàncies i d’evitar les sempre traïdores generalitzacions. En pocs casos funcionen amb una lògica tan deficitària com en parlar d’aquest gòlem de mil fangs distints, d’aquest fet polisèmic anomenat Israel.

Ehud Barak habló ante la Comisión de Defensa y Relaciones Exteriores de la Knesset antes de partir a Turquía, para deliberar con el liderazgo de ese país acerca de la situación en Gaza y los peligros regionales representados por las aspiraciones nucleares de Irán.

Barak agregó que la primera prioridad será poner fin al disparo de los cohetes Qassam y al contrabando de armas y explosivos desde Egipto. 

El Jefe del ejército, el General Gaby Ashkenazi dijo que las tropas están preparadas y listas para profundizar y ampliar sus actividades militares en Gaza.

Por su parte, el Primer Ministro Ehud Olmert viajó a Berlin para deliberar con la Chancler alemana Angela Merkel. 

Merkel dijo a Olmert que la solución para el sufrimiento de los palestinos habitantes de Gaza es que se ponga fin al disparo de cohetes Qassam.  "El terrorismo emanante de Gaza genera la respuesta", dijo la jefa del gobierno alemán y agregó que la situación humanitara en Gaza es dificil y su país trata de ayudar en todo los posible, pero ante todo debe interrumpirse el disparo de cohetes contra las ciudades israelíes.

Pero mientras los dirigentes israelíes buscan la aprobación internacional, la oposición de derecha insta al gobierno a lanzar el operativo ya mismo.

El diputado del Likud, Silvan Shalom dice que la operación militar en Gaza es necesaria en forma inmediata.  "No créo que haya que esperar, hay que hacerlo de inmediato.  El número de cohetes disparados contra Israel aumenta diariamente y por ello debemos hacerlo hoy, mañana será mucho más dificil".

El analista israelí Zvi Barel escribió en su diario, Haaretz, que los cohetes disparados desde Gaza por Hamas no tienen por objetivo sólo las ciudades israelíes sino también debilitar al la Autoridad Palestina encabezada por Mahmud Abbas y que una invasión israeli a Gaza servirá a esos propósitos, ya que pintará a Hamas con heroismo enfrentando a Israel y hará interrumpir las negociaciones de paz entre palestinos e israelíes, conducidas por Abbas. 

Los palestinos presentaron amargas quejas por la decisión israelí de ampliar la construcción en Har Homá, un barrio judío al sur de Jerusalén, que está sobre tierras reclamadas por los palestinos como parte de su estado futuro.

Israel, por su parte, elevó sus preocupaciones por los temas de seguridad, principalmente el continuado ataque con proyectiles desde Gaza.

Por lo menos quince cohetes Qassam hicieron impacto éste Miércoles en Sderot y sus inmediaciones y el intendente de esa ciudad israelí, Eli Moyal presentó su renuncia, ante la imposibilidad de garantizar la seguridad de sus habitantes.

Treinta de los habitantes de Sderot presentaron una apelación ante la Suprema corte de Justicia, demandando que se ordene al Gobierno la construcción de cuartos de seguridad para 800 viviendas en esa ciudad constantemente atacada desde Gaza

"Venimos ante la Suprema Corte de Justicia para que la corte nos dé la oportunidad de defendernos físicamente de los cohetes Qassam", dijo uno de los apelantes

Ayer murieron ocho milicianos palestinos en combates con las fuerzas armadas israelíes al sur de Gaza.

El Primer Ministro Ehud Olmert convocó a su gabinete de seguridad, pero la decisión emanada de esa reunión indicó que por ahora, no se lanzará un operativo de invasión a la Franja de Gaza.

Pero por su parte, el Comandante en Jefe del Ejército, el General Gabi Ashkenazi, dijo que se aproximaba el momento de lanzar la operación.

La visita oficial, la primera en diez años, se produce en medio de profundos desacuerdos entre Israel y Estados Unidos acerca de las intensiones nucleares de Irán.  Dos semanas atrás se publicó en Washington un informe de inteligencia que afirmaba que Teherán interrumpió su programa armamentista nuclear ya en 2003. 

El Portavoz de Almirante Mullen dijo a la prensa en Israel que "Irán estuvo involucrada en la tecnología nuclear y constituye una seria amenaza"

Por su parte, el Comisionado para Exteriores y Defensa de la Unión Européa, Javier Solana, afirmó en Bruselas que Europa continuará con su política de dos caminos respecto al programa nuclear de Irán, ofrecer a Teherán negociaciones a la par de apoyar la imposición de sanciones por parte de las naciones Unidas.

En referencia a otro foco de tensión, Gaza, continúa la discusión dentro de Israel acerca de la necesidad de llevar allí un amplio operativo militar y la reconquista de esa franja de territorio controlada por Hamas, para poner fin al continuado y creciente ataque con balas de mortero y cohetes Qasam sobre las localidades israelíes.

El Vice Ministro de Defensa, Matán Vilnaí dijo entender las presiones ejercidas por los habitantes perjudicados por el disparo: "Todo lo que puedo prometer respecto a Gaza es que en el momento adecuado y del modo adecuado sabremos ocuparnos también de ése problema".

Pero otro Ministro del Gobierno, Ami Ayalon, estima que una invasión israelí a Gaza sólo fortalecerá a Hamas.

Mientras tanto, Fatah y Hamas reanudaron su diálogo con el objeto de poner fin al prolongado bloquéo económico sobre la Franja de Gaza, aunque están muy distantes de un acuerdo.

Un alto funcionario de Hamas, Ahmad Yusuf, dice que su organización solicitó a la Secretaria de Estado estadounidense Condoleezza Rice la apertura de un diálogo con Washington.  Yusuf, quien se desempeña como asesor político del Primer Ministro del gobierno de Hamas, Ismail Haniye, escrbió a Rice en una carta, que el movimiento Hamas "no tiene discusiones ideológicas con occidente".

Durante los últimos días aumentó considerablemente el número de cohetes y balas de mortero disparados por los milicianos palestinos contra las localidades Israelíes lindantes con la Franja de Gaza.

Pero la Autoridad Nacional Palestina dice que una ofensiva militar Israelí en Gaza boicoteará las negociaciones de paz anunciadas en Annapolis y que deberán empezar el próximo 12 de diciembre.

Mientras tanto comienza a sentirse en Gaza la influencia de la falta de combustible.  El gobierno Israelí recortó el suministro de combustibles a Gaza para ejercer presiones sobre Hamas, aunque el responsable palestino por el combustible dice que en el depósito de la frontera hay mas de un millón de litros de gas-oil, pero los dueños de las gasolinerías se abstienen de comprarlo para crear un ambiente de crisis.

Uno de los habitantes de Gaza se quejó, en una entrevista por la radio, que sus hijos no pueden llegar a la escuela.  "Mis hijos estudian en la escuela americana al norte de Bet Lahia, algo más de 30 kilómetros de mi casa pero los autobuses no tienen combustible para circular y mis hijos están en casa desde hace cuatro días".

El Presidente Palestino Mahmud Abbas pedirá a la comunidad internacional que redoble prácticamente el monto de las inversiones en los territorios palestinos, para alcanzar los cinco mil ochocientos millones de dólares hasta el año 2010.

Abbas dice necesitar ayuda para cubrir un inmenso déficit acumulado durante años de conflicto, pero tambien para asegurar el crecimiento económico palestino.