Israeli firefighters battle a forest fire on the outskirts of Jerusalem. (Flash90)
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IDF Thwarts Attempted Attack on Samarian Town of Barkan
by Hana Levi Julian
IDF soldiers stopped a group of Arabs from carrying out an attack on the Samarian Jewish town of Barkan in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Soldiers from the Ephraim Brigade spotted a group of operatives approaching the fence around the perimeter of the community after having set an ambush nearby. There have been reports of repeated attempts to infiltrate the community in recent weeks.
Once the soldiers had positively identified the individuals approaching the fence as suspicious, and believing that at least one was armed, troops called on the Palestinians to halt - and when the order was ignored, they opened fire. One of the would-be infiltrators was killed, but his companions managed to escape.
IDF soldiers are continuing to search the area for the suspects.
In the wake of the incident, Civil Administration head Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai turned to his Palestinian Authority counterparts in the Kalkilya region to carry out a joint investigation of the incident. Mordechai also asked PA commanders to restrain the local Arab population and their own forces in the area in response to the incident, according to the IDF communique. Within hours, PA commanders had sent a representative to the site of the attempted infiltration.
According to the IDF, initial evidence indicates that the motive for the attack may have been criminal, rather than nationalistic. This is standard procedure unless the terrorists are known or their actions make terrorism an obvious motive.
Gershon Mesika, Shomron Regional Council chairman, congratulated the IDF, saying the infiltration could easily have been a terrorist attack. Another resident said that the town of Barkan is not afforded sufficient protection, explaining that "for some reason, it is categorized as a low-risk area - even though there have been attacks here in the past, and robberies in recent weeks."
Barkan, located in southern Samaria, is a short ride from Petach Tikva, approximately 10 kilometers east of Elkana, next to Highway 5, the "Trans-Samaria Highway" and slightly west of the Samarian city of Ariel. Founded in 1981, the town includes a large industrial park featuring at least 120 businesses and factories that employ more than 5,000 workers, including many PA Arabs, to whom the industrial park gave much needed employment, but who will be unemployed if Abbas' plan for banning PA Arab work for Israelis goes into effect.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
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'Don't sing 'Rivers of Babylon'
http://www.israel-shalom.com/hot-sites/h.sites/songs.html
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
07/22/2010 14:21
Boney M asked to skip hit in West Bank concert over Jewish reference.
RAMALLAH - The lead singer of the iconic 1970s disco group Boney M said Thursday that the band was asked to skip one of its biggest hits in a West Bank concert this week.
Maizie Williams says Palestinian concert organizers told her not to sing "Rivers of Babylon." The song's chorus quotes from the Book of Psalms, referring to the exiled Jewish people's yearning to return to the land of Israel.
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Williams said she did not know if it was "a political thing or what, but they asked us not to do it and we were a bit disappointed." Organizers said they asked for the song to be skipped, deeming it "inappropriate."
The Palestinian International Festival was set to continue Thursday in the West Bank.
Talkback
Homeland
Good enough proof they, the Palestinians, acknowledge knowing of the long, historical yearning of the Jews to RETURN to their homeland. Should be a message for all those who write in claiming otherwise.
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Study: Post-Traumatic Stress Lowest in IDF
by Maayana Miskin
Compared to their counterparts around the globe, IDF soldiers are less likely to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to combat, according to a study published in the most recent edition of official military magazine BaMachaneh.
The study compared research into PTSD in IDF soldiers to similar research done in other countries. Less than five percent of the soldiers who fought in the Second Lebanon War and in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza showed signs of post-traumatic stress, researchers found.
In comparison, between 15% and 30% of United States soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are believed to suffer from PTSD. Symptoms include flashbacks, outbursts of anger, nightmares and difficulty concentrating.
A captain familiar with the issue explained in the BaMachaneh report that one major difference between soldiers in Israel and those in America is that, in recent years, Israeli soldiers have faced shorter terms in active combat. Studies conducted in America have found that repeated tours of duty increase the risk for PTSD.
Another contributing factor is distance from home, the captain said. Foreign soldiers are often fighting thousands of miles from home, while IDF soldiers are often able to return home relatively frequently.
The captain also credited IDF officers' awareness of the issue for the relatively positive findings. In recent years awareness of post-war PTSD, once known in Israel as "combat shock," has grown, he said. More soldiers are seeking help, and officers are more aware that those in their command may need treatment, he explained.
Today's numbers are lower than those seen in the past, he continued. Following the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, and the First Lebanon War, an estimated 10% of soldiers suffered PTSD.
The IDF has created a unit responsible for treatment of post-combat emotional and psychological issues. The unit receives an average of 14 new requests for help each month, and treats more than 200 people. The unit provides care to veterans of past wars as well as those who served in more recent clashes.
During Operation Cast Lead, IDF mental health officers aimed to diagnose and treat soldiers suffering symptoms of PTSD as quickly as possible. "If someone diagnoses and treats the disorder in the first month, he can prevent it from becoming a chronic condition," the IDF captain explained.
Past studies conducted on former IDF prisoners of war found that religious POWs were at less risk of suffering severe psychological harm from the captivity than non-religious POWs.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
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Analysis: Abbas Doesn't Really Want Peace Talks
JERUSALEM, Israel - Despite all the rhetoric, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues appear unwilling to sit down with Israelis to talk about viable solutions for the future of both peoples.
That's the bottom line.
Following a closed meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council in Ramallah on Wednesday, Abbas told reporters that U.S. President Barack Obama is being "unclear and ambiguous" while simultaneously pressuring him to enter direct negotiations with Israel.
"With all due respect to the American president, his message was not clear," Abbas said.
"We want clear answers to questions we presented to the Americans, especially regarding security, borders, and the status of Jerusalem," he said.
"We continue to insist that any negotiations with Israel be based on recognition of 1967 as the future borders of the Palestinian state. Before we get to the negotiations, we want clear answers on the borders and settlements," he said.
In other words, these are the PA's preconditions - and none of them are realistic from Israel's perspective - so it's reasonable to question what's really behind all the rhetoric.
Pre-1967 'Borders'
First, the pre-1967 "borders" that Abbas and others continually refer to were armistice lines established after the War of Independence, which began on May 15, 1948, the day after the State of Israel was re-established.
Seven Arab armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen attacked the fledgling state. When the fighting ended 19 months later, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip.
Trans-Jordan, which was formed when the British lobbed off 75 percent of the original Jewish Palestinian homeland for an Arab Palestinian nation, annexed the area west of the Jordan River, renaming it the West Bank and shortening its own name to Jordan.
From 1948 to 1967, Egypt ruled the Gaza Strip, Syria ruled the Golan Heights, and Jordan rule the "West Bank" and eastern Jerusalem.
It was from these areas in June 1967 that the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies mobilized their forces to attack the truncated Jewish state with its seemingly indefensible borders.
In six days, instead of "pushing the Jews into the sea," Israel defeated all three armies, capturing the Sinai Desert from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem from Jordan.
Direct Negotiations
In this historical context, fast forward to 2010 to consider the Palestinian Authority's "pre-conditions" for talking to Israel:
re-divide the capital of the Jewish state (which by the way is a physical impossibility, not to mention other ramifications for the Jewish people)
uproot hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem,
turn it all over to the Palestinian Authority.
For these reasons and a few more, the reality appears to be that Abbas doesn't want to restart talks with Israel - direct or indirect.
By presenting what seem like legitimate pre-conditions and dismissing any goodwill gestures made on Israel's behalf by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Abbas achieves the indefinite postponement of peace negotiations between the two entities.
Not a few analysts have come to the conclusion that the Palestinian Authority isn't interested in peace with Israel, but rather, like their Hamas counterparts, is calling for Israel piece by piece. An enormous amount of evidence documented over the years supports this conclusion.
A return to the pre-1967 armistice lines would make Israel vulnerable to the less-than-friendly nations that surround it to fulfill their oft-repeated threat to wipe the Jewish state off the map.
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US-Iranian combat looms in Iraq as US plans UN role for US troop remnant
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 22, 2010, 1:30 PM (GMT+02:00)
US commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno
Rising military tensions are reported in Iraq as pro-Iranian Shiite militias appear to be planning attacks on American forces, debkafile's exclusive sources report from Washington and Baghdad. Tehran is furious over Washington's decision to retain a number of US troops in Iraq, possibly as UN peacekeepers, after the pullout pledged by President Barak Obama to start on September 1
Administration officials are holding intense consultations with UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon for the US detachment staying on in Iraq to be reclassified as international peacekeepers. This means that not all the American troops due to withdraw in six weeks will in fact do so.
Just last Friday, July 16, Vice President Joe Biden told a Democratic Party event in Nashville, Tennessee, shortly after returning from a visit to Iraq: "We will have brought home 95,000. There is no one in the military who thinks we cannot do that. I do not have a doubt in my mind that we will be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq."
But then, on Wednesday night, July 21, General Ray Odierno, commander of the US forces in Iraq, said the American army is busy reinforcing its bases and preparing its forces in anticipation of attacks by at least three Shiite militias recently trained in Iran to strike American targets in Iraq.
He also said the US drawdown was progressing on schedule, with about 74,000 troops currently in the country. According to the Obama administration's drawdown timetable, U.S. forces will number just 50,000 by the end of August and drop to zero by the end of 2011 in time with the transition to Iraqi agencies.
However, for the second time in a week, the American general warned of an Iranian threat to US forces. debkafile's military sources report that the new state of combat alert may well delay the departure of some of the troops scheduled to leave Iraq by Sept. 1. Instead of preparing for their exit they have been pressed into work on new defense systems for US bases. If tensions with Iran continue to rise, the next batch of 24,000 troops due to withdraw may have to stay on after that date.
General Odierno named the three Iraqi pro-Iranian militias preparing for attack as Ketaib Hizballah (the Iraqi branch of the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group); Asaib Ahl al-Haq -The League of the Righteous; and the Promised Day Brigade.
In his first warning of July 13, the general mentioned only the Ketaib Hizballah, but on Wednesday, he said US officials have confirmed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Al Qods Brigades are training and funding the three militias.
debkafile's Iranian sources report that Tehran refuses to countenance the transformation of the 24,000 US troops remaining in Iraq into UN peacekeepers for three reasons:
1. Their blue caps will authorize them to enforce UN Security Council sanctions against Iran in the Persian Gulf region.
2. In their dual role as US combat troops, there may be pressed into service for an American military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Iran's leaders took note of recent US media reports that the Obama administration had put a military option against Iran back on the table of Pentagon planners.
3. Intelligence-gatherers in Iraq have warned Tehran that the Obama administration is resolved on a harder line against any Iranian meddling - military or political - in Iraq. They understand that Washington is determined to install a power-sharing government in Baghdad between the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his rival Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqia party won the last elections.
This coalition would push Iran and its Shiite pawns out of the new administration's governing institutions.
Tehran has roped friendly Syrian president Bashar Assad into a scheme for thwarting the American design.
At his invitation, the pro-Tehran Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr visited Damascus on Saturday, July 17 together with Allawi, for talks on a combined scheme to torpedo Washington's plans for Iraq.
Until now, it was assumed in Washington and Persian Gulf capitals that Iran would only activate its terrorist surrogates in Iraq and the region in response to a direct US or Israeli strike against its nuclear facilities.
debkafile's military sources report that this evaluation has been radically revised in the wake of disturbing military and political moves in Iraq.
Possible Iranian surrogate attacks on American forces in Iraq and the Persian Gulf are now being considered as realistic on a track aside from - or an offshoot of - the events surrounding the Iranian nuclear program.
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Report: Arab states would support Israeli strike on Iran
Arab officials from the Persian Gulf region have again been making comments to international media suggesting that they would support an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Speaking at a media panel in Aspen, Colorado earlier this month, Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to the US, explained that "a military attack on Iran by whomever would be a disaster, but Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a bigger disaster."
Otaiba said that an Israeli attack on Iran would spark street protests by Muslims throughout the region, but that leaders like himself would be willing to deal with that in exchange for eliminating the Iranian threat.
Iran, which is Persian, has been in conflict with its Arab neighbors for over 1,000 years, and has never ceased to seek hegemony over them. Iran is also a predominantly Shiite Muslim nation, whereas most Arab states are Sunni Muslim. The conflict between the two sects is often bloody, as evidenced by regular sectarian violence in Iraq.
While few believe Iran would actually fire a nuclear warhead at a fellow Muslim state, be it Shiite or Sunni, by simply possessing such weapons, Tehran would be able to exert enormous influence over regional religious, economic and diplomatic policies.
Jeffrey Goldberg, the Middle East expert for The Atlantic Monthly who moderated the Aspen event, told Der Spiegel that what most Western leaders fail to realize is that Otaiba's views are shared by most Arab leaders. In other words, an Israeli strike on Iran should be seen as a viable military option to the nuclear crisis, as it will not result in war between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors.
Even in Saudi Arabia, a long-standing enemy of the "Zionist entity," a prominent cleric told the German magazine that he and others recognize that "Israel's agenda has its limits...it is mainly concerned with securing its national existence. But Iran's agenda is global.
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Americans: Israel an ally, relations will worse
A poll conducted earlier this month by Rasmussen Reports revealed that a firm 58 percent majority of Americans view Israel as an ally, despite growing efforts by ultra-liberal and Muslim movements to paint the Jewish state as a manipulative enemy.
Only 5 percent of respondents characterized Israel as an enemy, while 32 percent said the Jewish state falls somewhere in between friend and foe.
However, 31 percent of those surveyed said they believe relations between Israel and the US will significantly worsen over the next 12 months.
During the first half of this year, tensions between Washington and Jerusalem reached what some diplomats described as a breaking point as the Obama Administration harshly criticized Israel for approving routine Jewish building projects in the Israeli capital.
With a crucial mid-term congressional election approaching, Obama changed his tune and played nice with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli leader's recent visit to the White House. But most Israelis saw through the ruse, and continue to distrust the president.
After the election, Israelis fully expect Obama to renew heavy pressure on Israel to meet dangerous Arab demands for "peace." As his approval ratings dip, Obama is in need of a perceived diplomatic victory, and none could be greater than overseeing an Israel-Palestinian peace agreement.
But the past year has shown that as Obama cranks up the pressure, Israelis only become more hardened in their support for political parties that will not surrender to demands that endanger the future of their nation. The end result is political tension that could eventually trickle down to the masses.
