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Israel's Demand to Be Recognized as Jewish State Roils Preparations for Annapolis
 An Israeli demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state lies at the heart of the latest crisis to upset preparations for an upcoming Mideast peace conference. In Israel's eyes, the demand seems obvious. Israel has always defined itself as the homeland of the Jewish people. But the Palestinians think offering that recognition would imply they are dropping one of their key demands in any peace deal - a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost their homes after Israel's 1948 creation and for their millions of descendants. Israel opposes a return of refugees, for fear they would eventually outnumber the Jewish majority. Israel, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, has brought up the issue now because "it is the core of the conflict." "Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish people," Regev said. "That has never been accepted by the Palestinians, and we think any peace agreement has to include that." (AP/International Herald Tribune)
U.S. Jewish Group Asking Fatah to Rescind Call for "Destruction of Israel"
 An umbrella body for U.S. Jewish groups is asking the Fatah party to rescind passages from its charter. The proposed Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations statement, initiated by the Zionist Organization of America, urges Palestinian Authority president and Fatah chairman Mahmoud Abbas "to rescind the clauses of the Fatah Constitution which call for the 'demolition' of Israel and 'the eradication of the Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence"; call for the use of the 'armed struggle' and 'armed public revolution' (meaning terrorism) against Israel as 'a strategy and not a tactic, to uproot the Zionist existence"; state that 'the Zionist movement is racist'; calls on countries 'to prevent Jewish immigration to Palestine' (meaning Israel); and 'opposes any political solution' whatsoever." The motion continues: "Rescinding these clauses would be an important confidence-building measure which would help to create a better environment to achieve progress in the peace talks." (JTA News)
Hamas Leader Sees West Bank Takeover If Israel Leaves
by Nidal al-Mughrabi
  Hamas Islamists, who seized control of Gaza in June, would take over the West Bank if Israel pulled out of the territory, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said last week. "We say to those in the West Bank, take a lesson from what happened in Gaza," Zahar said. Israel has warned that Hamas would be poised to take over the territory were it to withdraw its forces. (Reuters)
See also Gunmen Kill Palestinian Who Objected to Shooting at Israelis (Palestinian Center for Human Rights)
See also Al-Zahar - The Fate of the West Bank Will Be the Same as in Gaza (YouTube)
The Secret Tunnels Of Gaza
by Elizabeth Palmer
 At first glance - Gaza's southern border is a wasteland, battle-scarred, patrolled by Hamas and separated from Egypt by a wall. But a set of derelict buildings shown on CBS News video hide a secret that CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer found her way into. It’s a subterranean maze that makes a mockery of Israel's efforts to seal Gaza. Veteran smugglers took CBS News down for an exclusive look. One tunnel goes straight under the desert about 40 yards and comes up again in Egypt. Its part of a whole labyrinth of tunnels here and it’s the mainline smuggling route for everything from explosives and people to cigarettes. VIDEO (CBS News)
See also Egypt Finds 60 Gaza Tunnels in 10 Months (AP/Jerusalem Post)
Educating for Violence
 On Oct. 21, Al-Arabiya TV broadcast a report about Palestinian children who play with toy guns, imitating the fighting methods of the terrorist organizations. The toy guns, imported from China, are almost identical to the genuine weapons in the possession of the terrorist organizations. That sometimes makes it difficult for soldiers to distinguish between terrorist operatives and children playing with toy guns. Children taking part in ceremonies with toy guns, beginning in kindergarten, are common events in the Palestinian areas. (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)
See also Palestinian Girl Sings About Guns (YouTube)
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Clinton, Bush Sr. to Help Organize Events Marking Israel's 60th Anniversary
by Yitzhak Benhorin
 Former U.S. presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton have agreed to head-a committee tasked with organizing the events that will celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations announced last week. Malcolm Hoenlein, the Conference's vice-chairman, said it was a "great honor" that the two former American presidents agreed to head the National Committee for Israel 60, adding that the Jewish community's response to the development was "amazing". "A core part of Israel's story is the special role that the American people and governments have played to support Israel," the Conference of Presidents said in a statement. "The involvement of the former presidents will send a strong and reassuring message to the people of Israel as well as to the American people of the continued stability and growing strength of the bonds between these great democracies." (Ynet News)
French Court Screens Al-Durah Video Footage
by Helene Schoumann
 More than seven years after Muhammad al-Dura, 12, was apparently shot to death during clashes between IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen at Gaza's Netzarim junction, a small packed courtroom in the Palais de Justice here viewed raw footage of the incident last week. (Jerusalem Post)
See also French Court Screens Al-Durah Video Footage - Melanie Phillips
It is clear to anyone looking at this in detail that the whole thing was staged, not least from the devastating evidence which shows the boy raising his arm and peeping through his fingers seconds after France 2 correspondent Charles Enderlin said he had been shot dead. From this footage, there is no evidence that anyone at all was killed or injured - including Mohammed al-Durah, who by the end of the frames in which he figured seemed to be still very much alive and unmarked by any wound whatsoever. (Spectator-UK)
See also Reaction from the Paris Courtroom - Tom Gross and Richard Landes (Honest Reporting/YouTube)
U.S. to Purchase $700M in Arms from Israel
by Yitzhak Benhorin
 The U.S. Congress last week approved the purchase of $700 million worth of weapons and technological systems from Israel's defense industries for use by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Weapons and components to be purchased include a navigation and attack sensor system for combat aircraft produced by Rafael, the Israel Aerospace Industries' Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle, Elbit's pilot helmet systems, and Rafael's stabilized marine gun system. (Ynet News)
Olmert: Israel to Release Hundreds of Palestinian Prisoners
by Amnon Meranda
 Prime Minister Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week that Israel planned to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners ahead of the Annapolis meeting. "These will not be prisoners with blood on their hands," he said. "This time, we have agreed on a rule that will spare possible unpleasant results, if we reach an agreement that the Palestinians are unable to fulfill," Olmert said. "The innovation is that we will try to reach an understanding of all the components of the solution based on two states side-by-side, but we will not have to implement something before the implementation of the Road Map's first stage," the prime minister added. Olmert indicated that Israel would talk to the Palestinians on a variety of diplomatic and security issues, but will not implement a thing until the Palestinians fight terror. (Ynet News)
Peres Makes History Speaking to a Muslim Parliament
by Barak Ravid
 In an historic first address to a Muslim state parliament by an Israeli president, Shimon Peres told Turkish lawmakers Tuesday that Israel is ready to end its decades-long conflict with the Palestinians. In the first speech by an Israeli president before a Muslim legislature, Peres said, "Israel is determined to reach a two-state solution." Peres expressed the gratitude of Israel to the people in Turkey who opened their doors to Jews when they were expelled from Spain in 1492. Turkish Sultan Beyazid II accepted Jews into the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey, after they were expelled from Spain. Turkey's President Abdullah Gul and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were among those in the audience in Turkey's 550-seat Parliament. (Ha'aretz)
See also Peres, Abbas Sign Industrial Zone Deal by Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
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