Close to 200 terrorists, including two who had murdered Jews, were freed Monday in another "goodwill gesture" to the PA by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Relatives and friends of Jews who are imprisoned in Israeli prisons held a protest Monday morning to demonstrate their disgust at the government’s decision to keep their loved ones in jail while freeing Arab terrorists.
 
The protestors demonstrated at the Ofer Prison, calling on the government to release Jewish prisoners as it has the hundreds of Arabs that have been freed in Prime Minister Olmert’s numerous “goodwill gestures” to the Palestinian Authority.

Security officials began the process of releasing 198 Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists and security prisoners, including two with “blood on their hands,” Monday morning at the Ofer Prison, north of Jerusalem.

After signing a document that certified their promise to abstain from returning to a life of terrorism, each convict – including the two who actually killed Jews, as well as the many others who attempted to do so, but failed – boarded buses taking them to Ramallah and then to their homes in Judea and Samaria.

In a statement released to the media, the government spokesperson’s office said the released prisoners are all members of factions that support the leadership of Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

“Through this latest confidence-building measure - which addresses an issue of critical significance for the Palestinians - Israel seeks to intensify its continued dialogue with partners who are both committed to diplomacy and opposed to terrorism,” read the government statement. “The release further underscores Israel's willingness to make painful concessions for the sake of advancing peace negotiations.”

Killers Welcomed by Abbas with Open Arms
The prisoners were taken to the Betunia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, where they were to be officially set free.  The busloads of terrorists are then to be transported to the Mukata in Ramallah for a festive welcome ceremony at which they will be greeted by Abbas, according to PA Minister for Prisoner Affairs, Ashraf El Ajrami.

Following the ceremony, the terrorists will return to their families and other festivities in Hevron and Shechem.

Originally 199 prisoners were to be set free, but at the last minute it was discovered that one of those on the list is facing a pending criminal investigation and was thus deemed ineligible for release.

Two of the prisoners slated for release served nearly 30 years of their life sentences for murdering Jews. The rest were convicted on other charges, including attempted murder, shooting at people, placing bombs, membership in terrorist organizations and aiding and abetting senior terrorists. 

Israel released 429 prisoners last December in a similar “goodwill” gesture.

Court Rejected Attempt to Block Release
The High Court of Justice on Sunday rejected a petition by the Almagor terror victims’ group asking the court to block the government’s release of the terrorists, accepting instead the state’s position that the matter was a purely political-diplomatic issue.

Two justices, Ayala Procaccia and Edmond Levi, criticized the government’s urgency in freeing the terrorists, saying the time frame made it impossible to hold a proper discussion before reaching a decision on such a grave matter.

Israelis were given only a 48-hour window within which to examine a published list of the names of those who were being released and file a legal petition against the move.

A Show for Condoleezza Rice
The timing of the release is also being carried out several hours before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives, making it obvious that Prime Minister Olmert wants to show her that Israel is making concessions to the PA.

Last week, the road that connects Ramallah with PA villages to the south was re-opened to a free flow of traffic when the IDF and the Civil Administration removed the security roadblock at Bir Naballah, the third such roadblock to be eliminated this month.

More than 100 roadblocks and security checkpoints were removed in Judea and Samaria in May and June, around the time of Rice’s last spate of visits to the region.

It is not clear what, if any, concessions have been made to Israel by the Palestinian Authority in return.

After a marathon 16-hour session, the Cabinet approved the proposed 2009 budget by a 13-12 vote at 2 AM Monday morning.  It ended with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert winning his demands, and Labor and Shas voting against the budget. Labor Minister of Sport Raleb Majadle threatened earlier on Sunday that Labor ministers would quit the Cabinet if the budget were passed and Olmert later said they would be fired if they did not support the government proposal.

Histadrut union leader Ofir Eini said the last-minute compromises by Finance Minister Roni Bar-On (Kadima) on social spending satisfied most of his demands and that he will not call for a general strike, as he had threatened last week.  Bar-On said that the passing of the budget was "an important accomplishment."

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The debate was permeated with accusations by Labor that Finance Minister Bar-On actually wanted the budget to fail in order to help force the government to fall, a move which might help Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, whom he backs, to win the leadership primaries.  Similarly, Labor party chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak was accused of pulling out all stops to have the budget defeated, for political reasons.  Barak failed in his attempt to have the vote postponed until week, and Kadima leaders condemned him for politicking instead of studying the proposed budget.

"It's a shame the defense minister is not studying the budget thoroughly, because he is absent [from the meeting] most of the time," said Prime Minister Olmert.  The Labor party chairman retorted that he was consulting with ministers, while the government refused to achieve "a sensible, balanced budget."

Later, Barak complained that the vote was held at such a late hour that the ministers could barely understand what they were voting for. Olmert retorted that if Barak's demands had been met, "you wouldn't be complaining about how late it is."

Yishai of Shas
Despite Olmert's promise to fire ministers who did not accept the Cabinet decision, Shas Party leader Eli Yishai, the Minister of Industry and Trade, said, "This is an imaginary, virtual budget that perpetuates the crushing of the weaker classes, and that the next coalition will certainly totally overturn.  If the government does not re-think this, it too will soon become virtual."

Finance Minister Bar-On had presented the ministers with two alternative budget proposals: one with a sharp cut in defense spending, and one that diverted the cut to national welfare needs.  In the end, Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog (Labor) expressed satisfaction that the welfare budget was not harmed.  He said he was not happy, however, with the "defense-or-welfare" choice presented by the Finance Minister. 

Barak later said that the budget will undergo some changes - an apparent reference to additional allocations to the defense budget that were promised to him.

A report by the Israel Bar Association says that prisoners and detainees being held in Israel's jails for terror crimes claim to suffer from maltreatment.

The report cites complaints regarding poor ventilation in rooms, lack of proper lighting, and of suffering inflicted upon them during their transportation from one prison to another. The prisoners complain that men from the Prison Service's Nachshon unit humiliate them and use dogs to hurt their pride.

In addition, they would prefer not to have to wear handcuffs and leg cuffs while being transported, claiming that this is an affront to their human dignity.

'A Record Number of Deaths'
The prisoners complain that men from the Prison Service's Nachshon unit humiliate them and use dogs to hurt their pride.

The Bar Association representatives visited Hadarim jail where most of the "heavy leaders" of Hamas and Fatah are held. The secure wing holds 120 prisoners defined as having "blood on their hands." Their spokesman is Hamas killer Rafik Abu-Naeem who was appointed by the former spokesman, Samir Kuntar, upon his recent release to Lebanon.

The Israeli attorneys say lawyers visiting the prisoners have to wait a long time before seeing them and that the visits are conducted in unreasonable conditions. In addition, the convicted terrorists complain that a record number of prisoners died in jail in the past two years because of poor medical treatment. The terrorists complain that strict security regulations cause medical treatment to take a long time and that during emergency situations they have to wait two to three hours before a medic comes to see a security prisoner.

The medical staff treating the prisoners has not grown in recent years, they claim, while the terrorist population in the jail has grown considerably.

A Hercules jet will take off Monday afternoon from central Israel to the new Nevatim Israel Air Force base in the Negev, marking the start of the herculean IDF move to the Negev.

The move marks today's closing of the IAF's main transport base, in Lod, and its replacement in Nevatim.  The new base will be formally dedicated later this week in the presence of President Shimon Peres and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi

At the same time, infrastructure work is beginning on the new army city in the Negev, to be called Ir HaBahadim, or City of the Training Bases.  Construction was long delayed because of environmental concerns.  Defense Minister Ehud Barak is in attendance for a ceremony marking the construction.

The new town is set to be built on an area of 1,065 dunams (263 acres, just over a square kilometer), and and will house the IDF's Armaments School, Logistics Training School, Military Police, and more.   Ir HaBahadim will also include an inn for visitors, a shopping mall, a country club and theaters, and is expected to provide a welcome economic boon for the sparsely-populated area - as well as boost for the IDF, technologically and manpower-wise.

The move to the Negev, called "Project IDF Ascent to the Negev," is being termed by security network personnel "one of the largest and most important military projects in the history of the State of Israel."  Some 11,000 soldiers, both in the standing army and career officers, will serve on the technological campus of the 4CI Branch - the army's Command, Control, Computers, Communications and Information Branch.  Another 9,000 soldiers will serve in other branches there.

Ir HaBahadim (Bahad is an acronym for Bsis Hadrachah, or Training Base) has long been in the planning, and will feature state-of-the-art elements in the training and preparation spheres. 

What better place for a daytrip than Utopia itself? Israel's Utopia Park, located in Kibbutz Bachan near Netanya, reproduces a tropical rainforest environment to showcase orchids, carnivorous plants, other tropical plants, and wildlife.

 

Walking paths on multiple levels guide you through the serene tropical jungle.

Thousands of Orchids, the largest family of flowering plants, are in Utopia's rain forest.

Dozens of species of Orchids bloom during all seasons due to the constant tropical conditions.

A deep rich green surrounds the visitors on all sides.

But it's not just about plants. Utopia Park's 40,000 square meters include an indoor rain forest, an outdoor park and a Garden Center, each of which has a collection of unique wildlife and family attractions.

In addition to two mazes—a classical maze made of bushes and a tunnel maze— the outdoor park has a musical water fountain and a butterfly garden with a specially monitored environment. Children can also enjoy the playground or the petting area, which has sheep, goats, rabbits, and chickens.

In a large cage inside the rain forest, chickens and roosters roam freely and share a bench with visitors.

After petting the rooster a few times, relations improve tremendously.

A religious youth starting up with a chick.

Chairs and benches are available throughout the rain forest for a reststop.

Throughout the day, presentations are given in this area of the rain forest

Upon exiting the rain forest, one is greeted with a frog water fountain. To remove any doubt, a sign explains, "All water is recycled and used in the rain forest."

In Utopia’s indoor Orchid Park, orchids grow in a recreation of a rainforest, in addition to one of the largest collections of carnivorous plants. The entrance to the rainforest area is a large cave, and inside are waterfalls, fish pools, bridges. There is also a variety of wildlife and a large birdcage, which visitors can enter to walk among pheasants, parrots, peacocks, and other birds. The park has both covered and open sections and is open all year.

Utopia Park’s Garden Center is one of Israel’s largest nurseries, with orchids and other tropical plants. Aryeh, the park manager, notes that he had excellent relations with what was once Israel's largest nursery in Atzmona, Gush Katif.

"When the Disengagement closed down Atzmona's operation, we stepped in and purchased all of their remaining stock," he said.

A classical maze with low bushes for kids to get lost in while parents remain in site.

The entrance to the tunnel maze where you may spend more time than originally planned.

Inside the tunnel maze. Utopia management is expanding the maze to include a 2nd level of walking paths in tunnels.

The Butterfly Garden has thousands of butterflies.

The white dots on the leaves are eggs, stage 1 of becoming a butterfly. Look closely along the stem to see a well-camouflaged green larva (catapillar), stage 2.

A more colorful larva.

When the larva is fully grown, it transforms into a pupa (stage 3) many of which are seen hanging from the screen walls of the butterfly garden.

There is also a cafeteria and a shop with fertilizers, fish, and other garden products.

Individuals can drop in anytime, while groups are encouraged to make reservations. Groups can also participate in a “plant design workshop” on how to design a plant cocktail.

And the final product: a fully-grown butterfly.
www.utopiapark.co.il

An outdoor sitting area.

Goats grazing in Utopia park.

A musical fountain plays easy-listening tunes in the outdoor park. A wooden bridge close the water level enables visitors to feed the fish.
www.utopiapark.co.il

A nursery with a wide variety of house and garden plants awaits visitors at the entrance/exit of the park.

Prices, hours, directions, and more information can be found in English at www.english.utopiapark.co.il.

Photos by Baruch Gordon

With the Likud expected to win the next national elections, which may be held as early the coming months, ex-Police Commissioner Assaf Hefetz has become the latest public figure to jump on the party bandwagon.

In other political news, the Knesset has a new hareidi-religious Knesset Member: Uri Maklev (see below).

Hefetz says he wants to become the country's next Public Security Minister. To this end, he says he will join the party and run for a slot on the Likud's list of Knesset candidates - noting running for the Knesset is only a means to be able to oversee Israel Police from a government position. 

Speaking with Army Radio, Hefetz said he met with Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, and "we found that that we agree in principle and in ideology on the guidelines for the struggle for personal security for Israeli citizens."  This, despite their disagreements when the two served in the mid-90's as Prime Minister and Police Commissioner, respectively.

Assaf Hefetz was Israel's 12th Police Commissioner, from 1994-1998.  He lost his hearing in one ear, and was awarded a certificate of valour, for his actions during a battle with terrorists in the Coastal Road massacre in March 1978.

Hefetz and Bar-Lev
Hefetz reportedly wants to name Uri Bar-Lev as Israel's next Police Commissioner, when the term of the incumbent Dudu Cohen ends.  Bar-Lev was a top police commander overseeing the expulsion of the Jewish residents from Gush Katif in 2005.

Dayan Joined a Month Ago
Just a month ago, ex-National Security Advisor Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan announced that he was joining the Likud party, though reactions in the party were mixed.  Moshe Feiglin, for instance, head of the Likud's Jewish Leadership faction, said Dayan's strong left-wing leanings disqualify him from Likud membership.  Dayan favors the establishment of a Palestinian state, and headed the Israeli delegation for security talks with the Palestinian Authority in the framework of the Oslo II talks in the early 1990's.  In 2003, Dayan included this fact in his official biography - but the current version of his biography omits this fact.

Dayan started a party named Tafnit (Turnabout), which strongly favored the speedy construction of the partition/wall separating most of Judea and Samaria from the rest of Israel, and Israels' abandonment of most small and/or isolated Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Netanyahu reportedly promised Dayan either the Defense or Education Ministry portfolios, depending on the availability of the former based on coalition necessities.

Likud Members Complain
In response to complaints by high-ranking Likud members that "Netanyahu is giving away all the top positions and leaving us nothing," both Netanyahu and Hefetz later denied that Hefetz had been promised anything.

New Hareidi MK
In other political news, the Knesset has a new hareidi-religious Knesset Member: Uri Maklev, a former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and a member of the United Torah Judaism party. He assumed his position last week after Yaakov Cohen resigned, in keeping with an agreement made before the last elections between Cohen's Agudat Yisrael faction and Maklev's Degel HaTorah faction.  The two factions together comprise the United Torah Judaism party.

Maklev was sworn in last Wednesday, and received an admiring welcome from Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik (Labor). As he strode quickly up to the podium, she said to him, "No need to walk so fast; take it calmly."  He then answered, "I heard that people run for the Knesset," and Itzik broke out in laughter.  She then said that though she did not know him personally, she had heard much praise of his hard-working and friendly nature.

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Sunday his terrorist army is much stronger than before the Second Lebanon War and can destroy Israel. He issued the threat at a Boy Scout ceremony as a response to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's remark last week that "if Lebanon becomes a Hizbullah state, then we won't have any restrictions" in striking the country.

The Prime Minister claimed that during the last war, Israel did not use all of its firepower because the enemy was Hizbullah and not its host country Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has sent United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon a letter protesting Olmert's remarks. Siniora, at a meeting with his Cabinet, accused Israel of "once again… threatening to launch a new attack on Lebanon, forgetting that the [Israeli] occupation was the core of the problem for Lebanon and the region."

The flurry of threats and warnings came two days after a report in the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera that three Hizbullah leaders visited Russia in July to clinch a deal involving the purchase of anti-tank missiles and air-defense systems.  Israel disclosed evidence during the Second Lebanon War that Hizbullah used advanced Russian anti-tank missiles smuggled from Syria, in violation of previous international agreements.
 
Nasrallah said, in a speech televised by the Hizbullah-backed Al Manar satellite network, that his arsenal of weapons is so great that "the Zionists will think not one thousand times but tens of thousands of times before they attack Lebanon."

The prospect of an Israeli attack on Iran's growing nuclear threat also played a hand in Hizbullah's latest threats. Mohammed Raad, the head of the terrorist party's political bloc in the Lebanese government, warned, "The first shot fired from the Zionist entity toward Iran will be met by a response of 11,000 rockets in the direction of the Zionist entity. This is what military leaders in the Islamic Republic [Iran] have confirmed."

Hizbullah has become a stronger political force in Lebanon since the end of the war two summers ago, winning enough representation in the Cabinet to veto any major decisions.

Syria, which aided Hizbullah in the Second Lebanon War, last week established diplomatic relations with Lebanon for the first time in history, providing Syrian President Bashar Assad with a stronger political base in Beirut's affairs after having withdrawn its military from Lebanon before the 2006 war.

Syria has dominated Lebanese affairs for 30 years, and the West has joined Lebanese opponents of Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs in accusing Damascus of being behind the the 2005 assassination of anti-Syrian former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The new Lebanese government that gives Hizbullah more power assures Syria that it still can influence affairs in Lebanon, with the naming of Michel Suleiman as president. He is close to Syria and was the Lebanese army chief for 10 years during the Syrian army's control of the country.

"It's a win-win situation," said Patrick Seale, a British expert on Syria told the Associated Press. "The Lebanese get diplomatic recognition and the Syrians get recognition of vital interests in Lebanon."

The Fatah-run Palestinian Authority embassy in Yemen announced over the weekend that it was closing its mission in protest of the fact that Hamas also has a form of representation in Yemen.  Fatah appears to be losing in Jordan, as well, and is losing still more ground in Gaza.

"We are closing the embassy [in the capital city of Sanaa] in protest at the dual Palestinian representation in Yemen," embassy spokesman Fayez Jawad told the Frence news agency AFP.  The Fatah spokesman did not further elaborate, though he also complained that Yemen had arrested ten Palestinians in the southern port city of Aden, and that the PA consulate premises there were in danger of being confiscated.

Fatah and Hamas are the two largest organizations in the Palestinian Authority, and have battled each other more than once in the past three years.  Hamas won control of Gaza in 2007, while Fatah still retains Oslo-Accord control of parts of Judea and Samaria - areas that were under Jordanian control between 1948 and 1967, and under Israeli control from 1967.

Jordan, Too
The protest coincided with Fatah concern over an apparent tightening of ties between Jordan and Hamas. 

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs quotes "unconfirmed reports" as saying that over the past month, Khaled Meshaal of Hamas has met with Jordanian intelligence officials in Jordan. Meshaal recently announced that Hamas would agree to recognize Israel in its pre-1967 borders - unlike other Hamas leaders. Other meetings between the two entities have also been held at Jordanian initiation, and Fatah leaders in Ramallah are "concerned."

Hamas, currently at odds with Egypt, is happy to foster relations with Jordan, while Jordan is anxious to know that Judea and Samaria can serve as the "Palestinian" homeland.  Jordan hopes this will end talk of it itself being the Palestinian homeland. 

Fatah, on the other hand, is not yet able to guarantee positive results for Jordan, as its talks with Israel are limping along unsuccessfully.  US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was set to land in Israel and the PA for yet another round of talks on Sunday.  It is not believed that an agreement will be reached before US President George W. Bush leaves office five months from now.

Gaza, Too
In Gaza, too, Fatah feels it is losing ground.  Fatah teachers there plan to strike during the first week of the coming school year, in protest of the way Hamas is relocating teachers in various Gaza schools in order to lessen Fatah influence and increase Hamas influence there.

Jewish law generally forbids placing objects in the coffin of a Jew, but rabbis in Europe recently were faced with the dilemma of how to fulfill a Jew's request that he be buried with what he considered his best friend--a bottle of Vodka.

The question arose after a former Soviet Jew living in Germany died and left a will stating his wish to a friend that he be buried with his best friend, a bottle of Vodka, with which he had never parted during his lifetime, the European Jewish Press reported.
His wish to a friend was that he be buried with his best friend, a bottle of Vodka.

The local rabbi was unsure how to decide the question according to Jewish law, not wanting to violate the Torah but also wanting to respect a deceased person's last wishes. He contacted halachic [Jewish law] experts at the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) in Brussels, which assists more than 600 rabbis across Europe on issues of daily life.

They learned that the man emigrated from the Soviet Union to Germany in the 1970s. He had a good friend who, unlike himself, was active in the   Jewish community. The friend explained to the rabbis, "Every day he would drink a half a glass of Vodka in the morning and a half in the evening."

Rabbi Yaakov Rozhe, chairman of the Zaka Rabbinical Council and a representative of Israel’s chief rabbinate in the Medical Institute of Abu Kabir, ruled that there is no problem in Jewish law if the bottle is placed near the coffin. He pointed out that an object may not be placed in a coffin or between it and the ground underneath.

Saudi Arabia will step in to help bail out the Palestinian Authority from its latest financial crisis, according to statements by a top PA official Saturday.

"The Saudi finance minister told the Palestinian Authority that the decision was made to transfer $100 million," said Palestinian Information Minister Riyad Al-Malki.

Al-Malki said the funds, expected to arrive in the next days, were pledged as part of an aid package approved by Arab donor countries at a Paris conference last December.

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad claims that in recent months his government has had difficulty paying its bills—specifically, the salaries of government workers—because a number of donor countries have failed to meet their pledges to send financial aid.

Former PA chairman and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat established a legacy of profound financial corruption in his administration. The Fatah-dominated PA is believed to have siphoned vast amounts of money, said to number well into the billions, from its subjects as well as foreign donors. In spite of this, the European Union continues to partner Arab states in keeping the PA financially afloat.

The EU said earlier last week that it would dump another 40 million euros ($59 million) into the PA, bringing the total amount of EU handouts this year to nearly 300 million euros ($437 million).

Europe’s Arab counterparts in December’s Paris conference pledged to send a total of $7.7 billion to the PA over the course of three years, only a fraction of which has come forth. The PA has allocated what it has received for ‘projects’ rather than general spending, which covers basic needs like sanitation and healthcare services.

PA Prime Minister Fayyad says he needs more money to support his budget, and he faces embarrassment if the PA delays in paying its workers as it did earlier this year. Western countries backed Fayyad’s appointment last year after the PA President Mahmoud Abbas fired Hamas, known to be more conscientious in paying its workers, from his government.