Abbas offers to join pan-Arab war against Israel
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
By: ICEJ News

News in brief...

The official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported on Tuesday that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas supports negotiations with Israel today because it is the only option, but that he would join a war against the Jewish state if all Arab countries were involved. "If you [Arab states] want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it,” Abbas told writers and journalists in the home of the Palestinian Ambassador to Jordan this week, according to a translation of the PA newspaper’s report by Palestinian Media Watch. “The West Bank was completely destroyed [by the second intifada] and we will not agree that it will be destroyed again,” he continued. His comments come as diplomatic sources in Oslo are claiming that Abbas has been using various intermediaries to lobby members of the Nobel Peace Prize committee to name him this year’s recipient of the prestigious annual award.

IDF exposes Hizbullah mass deployment in south Lebanon
Just ahead of the anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, the IDF has unveiled classified footage, videos, maps, and other documentation indicating the Hizbullah terror militia has deployed about 20,000 guerrilla fighters throughout southern Lebanon to prevent any future Israeli incursion. The IDF Northern Command on Wednesday declassified new evidence of Hizbullah's growing presence inside close to 200 villages in southern Lebanon. The extensive material identifies homes that Hizbullah has taken over and used to establish weapons storage centers, command-and-control centers, as well as the location of improvised mines, some of them weighing up to half a ton, located throughout the main command-and-control village. The IDF recently dispatched a delegation to United Nations headquarters in New York to present the evidence to the international community, after it was also shown recently to the new Spanish commander of UNIFIL, Maj-Gen Alberto Asarta Cuevas. The IDF said that the large Hizbullah force of about 20,000 militiamen in south Lebanon are also tasked with activating the group’s extensive missile arsenal, which is now capable of striking any point within Israel. Hizbullah is estimated to have 40,000 short-, medium- and long-range missiles. In the maps unveiled by the IDF, Hizbullah weapons caches are shown approximately 50 meters from schools and hospitals. Storage and command centers are located in most cases inside or adjacent to the homes of Lebanese civilians. 'It is important to show the world that Hizbullah has built up its military infrastructure inside villages with the objective that we will kill the maximum amount of civilians in a future conflict" a senior IDF officer said Wednesday. "We want to warn that if we are attacked by Hizbullah - this may happen.” Meantime, senior Republican party official Sue Myrick told Fox News on Tuesday that she suspects Hizbullah is operating terror cells along the US-Mexico border that are involved in drug trafficking and other crimes to raise money for the Shi’ite terror militia.

Ailing Mubarak taken to hospital in Paris
The Arab-language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Tuesday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has fallen ill and may be suffering from cancer after the 83-year-old leader underwent a wide array of tests during a sudden visit to a Paris hospital. He was in the French capital to meet with President Nicolas Sarkozy and Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri when the surprise hospital visit took place. Mubarak tried to conceal an emergency gallbladder surgery in a German hospital in March and is reported to be ignoring his doctors’ instructions to rest. The latest reports of ill health will likely renew speculation in the Egyptian media over his likely successor if he succumbs before the next presidential elections are held. The leading candidate to replace him is his son Gamal Mubarak, but he can expect stiff challenges from Arab League head Amr Moussa and former IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei – both of whom have gained popularity by bashing Israel.

Poll finds most Palestinians do not want ‘armed resistance’
A poll of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza released on Wednesday found that most Palestinians do not want a renewal of violence or ‘armed resistance’ against Israel. The Ramallah-based Arab World for Research and Development polled 1,200 Palestinians in late June and found that two-thirds of those surveyed believe Hamas should renew its ceasefire with Israel after it expires in September, and it should not resume use of missiles against targets in Israel. However, nearly half also oppose direct talks with Israel. Half of those polled would vote for Salam Fayyad as head of the Palestinian Authority, with only 22 percent favoring Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh. Similarly, 56% prefer Fatah in the Palestinian parliament, as opposed to 33.5% for Hamas. The vast majority of Palestinians think creating jobs and fighting poverty is the most important issue facing Palestinians, with 75% saying the Palestinian economy is deteriorating. The poll also showed that 67% of Palestinians think their society is headed in the wrong direction.

Turkish president Gul insists Israeli leaders cannot ‘act rational’
Turkish President Abdullah Gul told reporters aboard his official aircraft on Tuesday that internal political problems in Israel are making its leaders ‘irrational’ and keeping them from repairing relations with Turkey. "As far as I can see, the internal political strife in Israel is very harsh," Gul said. "My own impression is that they don't have the ability to act rationally. They don't have many friends in the region. Now it seems they want to get rid of the relationship with Turkey." The remarks came a day after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu threatened to sever ties with Israel unless it apologizes for the May 31 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident and appoints an international investigation. Israeli officials have insisted they will not apologize and will conduct their own internal probe of the incident. Foreign Ministry officials are reported to be downplaying the threat of severing ties, pointing out that Turkey needs to maintain good relations with Israel in order to maintain a friendly relationship with the US and EU countries. But there are reports coming out of Iraq that Turkey is getting impatient with America’s inability to rein in a growing Kurdish insurgency against Turkey that has killed 80 Turkish soldiers so far this year. "These terror camps within the borders of Iraq, in northern Iraq, are unacceptable. We have demanded this from Iraq and the United States. The time for words is over. It is time for action now," Interior Minister Besir Atalay recently told a news conference.

Hollywood stars back out of Jerusalem film festival
The annual Jerusalem Film Festival that brings over 150 official guests and leading actors will start Thursday but Hollywood stars Meg Ryan and Dustin Hoffman have backed out, likely due to the international backlash over Israel’s recent interception of a Turkish-led Gaza flotilla. “Meg Ryan was supposed to come here, it had all been closed with her people,” said Yigal Molad Hayo of the host Cinematheque. “A day after the flotilla incident we got an email saying she was not going to attend, and although they claimed it was because she was too busy, it was clear to me that it probably had something to do with what had happened.” Along with Ryan, Cinematheque had made “advanced negotiations” with Jewish actor Dennis Hoffman. “We were very close to reaching an agreement with him, then the flotilla happened and correspondence was ended,” said Molad Hayo. Prince Albert of Monaco, son of famous actress Grace Kelly, also was expected to attend, but backed out with no official explanation. Over 70,000 people are expected to attend the two-week event.