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Attacks from Gaza Continue Saturday
Sderot residents were forced to return to their fortified rooms several times on Saturday. Two Qassam rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip towards  the town Saturday morning and one more Saturday afternoon. Eight rockets were fired at the western Negev Saturday evening. Two of the rockets landed in Sderot, with a third landing in nearby community and a fourth landing in an open area right outside city limits. (Ynet News)
See also Israeli Government OKs Harsh Response to Kassams by Herb Keinon and Yaakov Katz
Israel will respond in a "harsh and severe" manner to the barrage of Kassam attacks on Sderot, Prime Minister Olmert decided Wednesday, essentially putting an end to Israel's policy of restraint that has been in effect for more than six months. Defense officials said that targeted assassinations would be renewed against those actively involved in terrorism. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Olmert Visits Israeli Town Where Residents Flee Rocket Fire - Isabel Kershner
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert paid an unannounced visit to Sderot on Thursday. Sderot, about a mile from the Gaza border, has been struck hardest by the Kassams. The continual rocket fire has traumatized the local population, particularly the children, say social services officials in the town. Mayor Moyal said about 40-50% of the town’s 24,000 residents had left, but not for good. "We are not evacuating the place," he said. "People just need to decompress for a while." (New York Times)
See also Kassam Missile Attack on Sderot (YouTube)
Hamas Seizes U.S. Weapons
by Aaron Klein
 Hamas ambushed a convoy in the Gaza Strip last week and seized a stockpile of U.S. weapons transferred in recent months to militias associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, according to Hamas and Fatah sources. "We obtained the U.S. weapons and will keep hijacking any assistance the Americans provide to Fatah. Our fighters are aware of the American and Israeli conspiracies to topple our government. We're trained and well prepared to defeat the American-backed (Palestinian) agents," said a top member of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip. (WND/Ynet News)
Palestinian Aid Worker Charged in Assassination Plot
by Ezra HaLevi
 A Palestinian working for an aid group was charged today with gathering intelligence on Ehud Olmert as part of a plot to assassinate the Israeli prime minister. Israel's Shin Bet internal security service arrested Masseb Bashir, a resident of the Gaza Strip, a month ago, according to court documents. The indictment said Bashir, 25, admitted during his interrogation that he entered Israel to gather information on several Israeli leaders, including Olmert, as part of an assassination plot against them. Bashir said he easily entered Israel with a permit he held because he worked for the Paris-based Doctors without Borders. (AP/Toronto Star)
Tensions Ease at Mugrabi Gate after UN Study
by Jonathan Lis
 Tensions have subsided even though construction at the Mugrabi Gate leading to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has never stopped, despite violent clashes in February and concerns of diplomatic confrontations with Arab and Muslim countries. Senior police sources say the relative calm stems from the evaluations of the work by Turkish and UN delegations that confirmed that the Temple Mount is not being harmed. (Ha'aretz)
Aid to PA Nearly Tripled in '06, Despite International Boycott
by Amira Hass
 Donations to the Palestinian Authority almost tripled last year as a result of the international boycott of the Hamas government, according to a report published this month by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Aid in 2006 totaled $900 million, up from $349 million a year earlier. The biggest contributor to the PA last year was the Arab League, which gave $448 million. The EU gave $219 million and the World Bank gave $42 million. In addition, the PA obtained an estimated $180 million by smuggling in cash from abroad. (Ha'aretz)
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Gaza Falls Deeper into Chaos
Israeli planes pounded Hamas targets and rival Palestinian factions exchanged bursts of automa tic weapons fire outside Gaza City's Islamic University Friday. The volatile mix of Israeli strikes and Palestinian infighting plunged Gaza deeper into chaos. Hamas has fired more than 100 rockets across the border this week. Hamas gunmen also clashed with members of the rival Palestinian faction for the sixth straight day. In six days of mayhem, 46 Palestinians have died in the infighting and another 17 were killed in Israeli strikes. The fighting between Hamas and Fatah has all but destroyed a two-month-old power sharing deal between them, and brought them close to all-out civil war.
See also Gazans Saying Only Occupation Can Save Us by Avi Issacharoff (Ha'aretz)
Israel Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Reunification of Jerusalem
 Jerusalem, divided during the 1948 War of Independence, was reunited in the June 1967 Six-Day War. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the city's liberation. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
See also Jerusalem, Israel's Largest City, Still Growing Fast - Moti Bassok
Jerusalem is Israel's largest city, with 732,000 residents in 2006. Some 469,000 (64%) are Jews, compared to 239,000 (32%) Muslims and 14,700 (2%) Christians. (Ha'aretz)
See also Prime Minister Olmert's Remarks to a Special Knesset Session Marking the Reunification of Jerusalem (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
See also Jerusalem Day (YouTube)
Pro-Israel Group Counters Anti-Occupation Group
 A pro-Israel group is running ads in Washington's subway system to counter ads blasting Israel's occupation of the West Bank. The two ads by Stand With Us, which will appear in 20 downtown Washington metro stations, accuse the Palestinians of failing to be a partner for peace. One, which features Palestinian children marching with loaded sub-machineguns, says, "Teaching children to hate will never lead to peace." Another features a Palestinian toddler in an adult's arms; the man is in fatigues and holds up a sub-machinegun; the toddler is also in fatigues, and holds a toy machine-gun. "This child could grow up to be a doctor, teacher, terrorist," the text says, with "terrorist" checked off. (JTA News)
Hizbullah Fighters Are Preparing for the Next War
by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
 Hizbullah combines Shiite belief with bonds of family and tradition that are shrouded in secrecy and make it one of the most difficult organizations in the world to penetrate. "You don't join the party - you are born in the party," Mohammed, a Hizbullah student leader, tells me. From the time you are a small boy, he says, the party watches you; they monitor your behavior. "When they are sure you are committed...a party officer approaches you." A life of religious studies and indoctrination follows. "After preparing you for months, or even years, you enter the 'junoud,' or soldiers class. They don't teach you how to become a soldier, but you are taught everything about Shiite traditions and beliefs." Not until a novice member has finished all these preparatory courses is he sent to do military training. Jameel, a full-time fighter for the party, says, "I really love war....I hate this peacetime....We have to prepare for the arrival of the Mahdi - the Mahdi will not come into a Sunni country. We need to prepare, we have to liberate Jerusalem for the army of the 20 million and create the grand Shiite state." (Guardian/Kuwait Times)
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