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Israel Considered "Close Ally" by Most Americans
Israel is seen as a close ally of the United States by over 40 percent of the American population, according to a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive. This year's results of this annual poll show that Great Britain maintains its position as the country most widely viewed as a close ally (70%), with Canada in second position at 52 percent. The only other country viewed more favorably than Israel was Australia at 54 percent. Israel was viewed as a closer ally than Japan (38%), Italy (35%), South Korea (29%), Germany (28%), Mexico (27%), Norway (27%), and the Netherlands (26%). (Guardian-UK)
Israel to Promote Palestinian State's 'Economic Horizon'
by Barak Ravid
 Israel is working to promote an economic plan to complement the agreement of principles ahead of the regional conference later this year, government sources in Jerusalem said last week. A source said the plan would provide an "economic horizon" with a number of future investment projects when the Palestinian state is declared. A senior government official said the plan's goal is to "present the Palestinians with economic signposts along with the diplomatic signposts to show what can be accomplished." (Ha'aretz)
Israel Rejects Calls to End Isolation of Hamas
by Donald Macintyre and Anne Penketh
 Israel attempted to damp down calls for moves  to end the isolation of Hamas last week by warning that it would be a "huge mistake" to try to reconcile it with its rival Fatah. Tzipi Livni, Israel's Foreign Minister, denounced calls for talks with Hamas by warning that "any compromise with terror, any compromise with these extremists" could undermine the new emergency government set up in the West Bank by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. Ms Livni's reaction was at the highest level yet to calls -- mainly within Europe -- for the international community, including the EU, to end the boycott imposed on Hamas since it took office 17 months ago. (Independent-UK)
In Gaza, Even a Hospital Is a Battlefield
by Niel Genzlinger
"Gaza E.R.," a documentary by Olly Lambert that was broadcast on PBS, looks at the goings-on inside Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, where heavily armed thugs try to bully doctors in the hallways and gun battles are regular occurrences. The film, which picks up a few months after Hamas came to power in early 2006, captures such episodes and more, as various factions and families carry their disputes inside the hospital when their wounded are brought in for treatment. The hospital becomes a battleground even as it is running out of medicine and supplies, Hamas seeming not up to the task of governing. (New York Times)
See also Gaza E.R. (YouTube)
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Israel's Defense Minister: Israel Needs Rocket Defense
by Laurie Copans
 Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel must  have a missile defense system in place to protect it from Palestinian rocket fire before it could carry out a large-scale pullback in the West Bank. Military experts said it would take between two and a half and seven years to develop a system that would protect Israel from the type of crude rockets that Palestinian militants use. Militants have launched tens of thousands of Qassam rockets into southern Israel from Gaza in the past seven years of fighting, killing 12 Israelis, the army says. Israelis fear West Bank militants could someday produce the projectiles and launch them into nearby Israeli cities. (Guardian-UK)
Hizbullah Buys Frontier Land to Attack Israel
by Charles Levinson
 Hizbullah is buying up large tracts of land owned by Christians and other non-Shias in southern Lebanon as the militant group rebuilds its defenses in preparation for a new war with Israel. The forested wadis, or valleys, north of the Litani River make ideal terrain for Hizbullah's brand of guerrilla warfare and, just 10 miles from the border, are within rocket range of Israeli cities. "Christians and Druze are selling land and moving out, while the Shia are moving in. There is an extraordinary demographic shift taking place," said Edmund Rizk, a former Christian MP for the area. Wealthy Shia businessman Ali Tajeddine, who made his fortune trading diamonds in Sierra Leone, is said to be using Iranian funds to buy land from destitute villagers at up to four times the going rate. (Sunday Telegraph-UK)
'Palestinian Militias Preparing to Destroy Israel'
 Palestinian militias are preparing for a confrontation with Israel in order to "wipe it off the face of the earth," Hamas's representative in Lebanon, Usama Hamdan, said last week. During an interview with the official Iranian TV channel Al Kausar, Hamdan also said suicide bombings on Israeli buses were justified because they provided transportation and protection to soldiers. (Jerusalem Post)
Hamas TV's Child Star Says She's Ready for Martyrdom
by Dion Nussenbaum
Inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters, Saraa Barhoum, 11, the young star of Hamas television's best-known children's show, said she wants to be a doctor. If she can't, she'd be proud to become a martyr. "Of course," Saraa said. "It's something to be proud of. Every Palestinian citizen hopes to be a martyr." Saraa offers a jarring mix of innocent charm and militant rhetoric as the sweet face of "Tomorrow's Pioneers," a weekly, hour-long Hamas television children's show best known for bringing the world a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike and then having him killed off by an Israeli interrogato r. During the show, Saraa fields calls from Palestinian children who warble songs about Islam, liberating Jerusalem and finding answers in the barrel of a machine gun. (McClatchy/Santa Barbara News-Press)
See also Animal Rights Activists Criticize Hamas TV Show (Evening Echo-Ireland)
See also Palestinian Soccer Tournament Named for Terrorist - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (Palestinian Media Watch)
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