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Hamas' Moderation Claims Meet Skepticism
by Karin Laub
Israel's security agency, the Shabak, said that the Islamic Hamas had planned to detonate a powerful bomb in the Tel Aviv area during the Passover holiday. It rigged a van with some 100 kilos "of powerful explosives and considerable shrapnel." The driver drove the van into Israel but returned to the West Bank town of Qalqilya where the bomb exploded. The man allegedly entered Israel through a crossing point in the security barrier that runs in and around the West Bank. The driver, who was not named, is a Palestinian, a resident of Qalqilya who married an Israeli Arab woman and therefore obtained a regular blue Israeli identity card and temporary Israeli license plates. (United Press International)
Federal Campaign Targets Campus Anti-Semitism
 The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights launched a campaign against campus anti-Semitism. The campaign will distribute postcards, e-cards and posters to students through a network of Jewish groups. The image of a swastika scratched into tree bark above a "NO" is accompanied by a declaration, "Silence is an ally of hate," and a Web site, http://www.eusccr.com/ which will be active Friday. The site informs students how they can address anti-Semitic incidents while also apprising them of First Amendment protections for hate speech. (JTA)
Foiled Attack Raises Israeli Concerns
Israel's security agency, the Shabak, said that the Islamic Hamas had planned to detonate a powerful bomb in the Tel Aviv area during the Passover holiday. It rigged a van with some 100 kilos "of powerful explosives and considerable shrapnel." The driver drove the van into Israel but returned to the West Bank town of Qalqilya where the bomb exploded. The man allegedly entered Israel through a crossing point in the security barrier that runs in and around the West Bank. The driver, who was not named, is a Palestinian, a resident of Qalqilya who married an Israeli Arab woman and therefore obtained a regular blue Israeli identity card and temporary Israeli license plates. (United Press International)
Israel Happy UN Discussing Smuggling
by Herb Keinon
 Jerusalem expressed satisfaction last week with a French-circulated draft Security Council statement that expresses "serious concern" at mounting reports of illegal arms transfers across the Lebanon-Syria border and authorizes an independent mission to assess how the frontier is being monitored. Israel, according to senior government officials, has sent a clear message in recent weeks that "if the issue was not taken care of, Israel would be forced to defend itself from the smuggling." The officials said the issue was discussed extensively with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during his visit last month. (Jerusalem Post)
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Israel "Disappointed" with List of Prisoners Palestinians Want in Exchange for Soldier
 Israel is disappointed with the list of prisoners Palestinians are demanding in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier, according to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, dampening optimism that an issue that has held up peacemaking for nearly a year was nearing a solution. The statement said Olmert convened a meeting of senior officials and intelligence commanders last week to discuss the list, and expressed "disappointment and reservations." The statement said there has been some progress in negotiations, but "the road to completion is still long," and no further details would be forthcoming. (AP/International Herald Tribune)
See also The Top Six Terrorists on the Prisoner List (Jerusalem Post)
Yom Hashoa Commemorated in Rap: "God Almighty, When Will it End?"
Miri Ben-Ari and Subliminal
  Grammy winning Miri Ben-Ari aka The Hip-Hop Violinist and Israel rapper Subliminal created a tune for the memory of the Holocaust. Subliminal explained: "My father and mother lost most of their family in Iran and in Tunis. They found refuge in the land of Israel at 1948, leaving everything they had behind. With everything that's going on in the world today, my mission is to make my country a better place to live in. In order to do so, we must take the lessons that we have learned from past events, especially with Iran's agenda to deny that the Holocaust never happened, and remember that such tragic events must not be repeated! NEVER AGAIN!" (YouTube)
See also Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, April 16, 2007 (Yad Vashem)
Gaza Seen as Palestinian Shame, Banana Republic
by Bernd Debusmann
  Factional fighting, political bickering and a failure to establish law and order have turned Gaza into a symbol of Palestinian shame and are pushing the Palestinian national movement toward collapse, according to prominent Palestinian intellectuals. "It is time that Palestinian leaders looked at their own weaknesses instead of blaming everything on Zionism, imperialism and other outside forces," said Rashid Khalidi, director of Columbia University's Middle East Institute. Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, said, "officials with the mind-set of a banana republic are causing tremendous damage to the Palestinian cause." (Reuters)
Palestinians Release Shalit Kidnap Training Video
by Ali Waked
The internet site of Salah Al-Din Brigades, the military wing  of the Popular Resistance Committees, released a video clip Monday night showing some of the members of the unit that kidnapped Gilad Shalit (pictured) training for the operation in Kerem Shalom. The Resistance Committees is one of three organizations that took part in the kidnapping and now has the soldier in custody. The narrator of the video explains that preparations lasted six months, and included digging a tunnel. (Ynet News)
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