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Olmert Rejects Linkage of Iraq War and Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Sees No Talks with Syria
by Shmuel Rosner, Akiva Eldar, and Yoav Stern
 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week rejected linkage of the Iraqi war with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the Iraq Study Group. "The attempt to create linkage between the Iraqi issue and the Mideast issue - we have a different view," Olmert said. He also said conditions were not ripe to reopen talks with Syria, adding that he received no indications from President Bush during his recent visit to Washington that the U.S. would push Israel to start such talks. (Ha'aretz)
See also Sen. Biden: Linking Iraq to Israel-Palestinian Peace is "Dangerously Naive" - Marc Perelman
Senator Joseph Biden, incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, derided proposals to link progress in Iraq to the revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as "dangerously naive." "The notion that an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement would end a civil war in Iraq defies common sense," Biden said. (Forward)
Terrorists Rejoicing Over New Baker Report
by Aaron Klein
 A high-level U.S. commission's recommendations for an eventual withdrawal from Iraq and for dialogue with Iran and Syria proves "Islamic resistance" works and America will ultimately be defeated, according to senior terrorist leaders interviewed by WND. The militants, from the largest Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, welcomed the policies outlined by the Iraq Study Group, which they claim recognizes Islam is the "new giant of the world." "The report proves that this is the era of Islam and of jihad," said Abu Ayman, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin. (WND/Ynet News)
Study Could Acquit Israel of War Crimes
A think tank with strong ties to the IDF has compiled a thick dossier of evidence accusing Hizballah of using civilians as human shields during the war in Lebanon - a study the authors say can be used to rebuff war crime allegations over Israel's pummeling of residential areas. Israel has maintained that its attacks against Hizballah targets in populated areas did not violate international law, claiming that Hizballah deliberately operated within civilian areas, which raised the civilian death toll. The 300-page report seeks to bolster these claims. It includes documents, photos and video footage - billed as declassified. (AP/Jerusalem Post)
Hizballah Gambles in Quest for Dominance
by Anthony Shadid
 By mobilizing its rank and file and pouring them into downtown Beirut to topple the government, Hizballah has framed its pursuit for political power in the same martial language of this summer's war with Israel. A dominant theme is resistance to American influence in Lebanon. Banners condemn Jeffrey D. Feltman, the U.S. ambassador in Lebanon, who is often a target of Nasrallah's speeches. "The government of Feltman," one slogan reads, "We'll bring it down." (Washington Post)
Inspectors Catch Palestinians Cutting Olive Trees
by Tal Yamin
Police suspect now that in some cases the Palestinians themselves are those cutting the trees and then blaming the settlers and demanding compensation from the Civil Authority. Foresters of the JNF patrolling the Shaar Efraim area surprised a number of Palestinians damaging scores of olive trees. A senior source in the police noted: "Most of the complaints for damage to olive trees were filed in recent years at the end of the harvest season or towards the end, something that increases the suspicion that this is a cooked deal." (Maariv-Hebrew/IMRA)
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Abbas Decides to Call Early Elections
 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said he would dismiss the parliament and call early elections to end a political impasse with Hamas, but left the door open to reaching a compromise with the Islamic militant group, PLO officials said. Abbas announced his decision at a meeting of the PLO's powerful executive committee, and plans to deliver a formal nationwide speech next week, participants said. Calling a new election would be risky for Abbas. First, Abbas would be putting his own job on the line. Abbas also risks setting off a new round of tensions with Hamas. (AP)
Syria Smuggling Missiles to Hizballah
by Yaakov Katz
 Long-range missiles, as well as truckloads of advanced anti-tank missiles originating in Iran and Syria, have been smuggled to Hizballah in Lebanon during the past four months since the war ended this summer. The IDF destroyed most of Hizballah's long-range missile array during the month-long war, including the Iranian-made Fajr and Zelzal. But according to new intelligence obtained by the defense establishment, in the four months since the war, Hizballah has received weapon convoys carrying short-range missiles, anti-tank missiles and long-range missiles. Most of the weapon convoys crossed into Lebanon from Syria at night. (Jerusalem Post)
Gates: No One Can Promise Iran Would Not Use Nuclear Weapons Against Israel
by Eli Lake
 President Bush's nominee to be defense secretary, Robert Gates, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that he would counsel against a military strike targeting Iran except as a last resort and says he does not think the Iranian regime would use nuclear weapons in a first strike against Israel. Gates said he believed that Iran desired nuclear weapons and that Iran's president was "not kidding" when he spoke of his desire to wipe Israel off the map. But he also cautioned that President Ahmadinejad did not have the final say in the regime and that a nuclear weapon would likely be acquired as a deterrent to attack from others. When pressed, the nominee said, "If Iran obtains nuclear weapons, no one can promise that it would not use them against Israel." (New York Sun)
Israel Denounces UN Rights Probe on Lebanon
by Stephanie Nebehay
 Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, told the UN Human Rights Council last week that its commission of inquiry report on the war in Lebanon ignored the 4,000 rockets fired at Israel by Hizballah. He said the UN report was wrong to omit a reference to "Lebanon's obligations to prevent the use of its territory for hostile acts and to disarm and disband Hizballah." "The disturbing reality is that the conflict in Lebanon was the direct result of an unprovoked Hizballah attack, emanating from Lebanon into Israel," and Israel had been forced to act in self-defense. (Reuters)
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