US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that current Israeli concessions to the Arabs are not enough.

On her flight back to Washington, US Secretary Rice told reporters that Israel's removal of several IDF security
Barak agreed to several of the American demands, but declined to make a formal commitment.
checkpoints in Judea and Samaria does not improve life enough for Arabs in the region. She added that US embassy staff would be sent to speak with PA Arabs waiting in lines at the remaining IDF checkpoints, in order to "really get a sense of how the movements and access is working."

During her two-day visit, Rice demanded four meeting with Defense Minster Ehud Barak. Barak agreed to several of the American demands, but declined to make a formal commitment. He has promised that none of the roadblocks would be removed if it means endangering Jewish lives.

Israel took down 44 defensive barriers in Judea and Samaria since Rice's last visit in March, but a United Nations report has stated that those security concessions are insignificant.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with US Secretary of State Rice on Monday. They refrained from holding a press conference, and did not release details of their conversation.

Olmert and Abbas Give Contradictory Reports About Mutual Meeting
Officials in the Prime Minister's Office called recent discussions between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas "the most serious talks the sides have ever conducted." Aides to Abbas, on the other hand, say the PA leader is "depressed" by the ongoing negotiations.

On Monday, Olmert's spokesmen indicated that the Israeli Prime Minister and PA Chairman Abbas made major progress in negotiations over the borders of an Arab state in Judea and Samaria. On the other hand, officials said that there had been no progress towards an agreement over the status of Jerusalem, which Abbas claims as the capital of a PA state. Nor was there any agreement regarding the PA's demand that millions of Arabs claiming descent from those who fled during the War of Independence be allowed to "return" to pre-1967 Israel.
The PA leader is "depressed" by the ongoing negotiations.

Meanwhile, in statements quoted by the Associated Press, advisors to the PA's Abbas said he is "depressed" by the lack of advancement in negotiations with Israel. "When he goes to visit other Arab countries, he tells them that we negotiate with the Israelis on a daily basis, but we have nothing to show for it," Abbas's aides told the AP.

'Progress in Talks' Measured by 'Progress in Investigation'
Members of the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council responded to reports of "significant progress" in negotiations between Israel and the PA with derision. They linked the news of another criminal investigation of Prime Minister Olmert, leaked this week, with the ongoing negotiations with the PA.

"From now on, progress in negotiations will correspond to progress in the investigations, and the willingness to give in will parallel the witnesses' willingness to testify," they said.

The council called to make the content of Israel's negotiations with the PA public, saying, "The time has come to shed light on the attempt to sell the State of Israel for worthless promises." Olmert cannot commit to anything in Israel's name, they added.

Prime Minister Olmert claimed that the latest police investigation of him over suspicions of bribery is not interfering with or affecting his government duties.

Reuters reports that a terrorist killed in an IAF air strike last week, Awad al-Qiq, actually lived a double life: By day, he was a respected headmaster and science teacher at a United Nations school, but during the night, he built rockets for Islamic Jihad.

The news agency reports that Israel's air strike in southern Gaza last Wednesday not only revealed Al-Qiq's double life, but also "embarrassed a U.N. agency which has long had to rebuff Israeli accusations that it has aided and abetted guerrillas fighting the Jewish state."

Though his family, students, colleagues, and U.N. officials denied knowledge of Qiq's work with explosives, Hamas terrorists hailed him as a martyr who led Islamic Jihad's bomb-making unit. They fired a barrage of Kassam rockets into Israel in response to his death.

A spokesman for UNRWA - the UN Relief and Works Agency, which runs the school in which Qiq taught - told Reuters that it was looking into the matter. "We have a zero-tolerance policy towards politics and militant activities in our schools,"  he said. "Obviously, we are not the thought police and we cannot police people's minds."

Air Force Eliminates Gaza Terrorist
Arabs from Gaza report that a member of the Hamas military wing, Hisham Shomar, was killed in an Israel Air Force strike early Tuesday morning.  Three terrorists were reported wounded.  The IDF confirmed the attack on armed terrorists, part of a cell that fired mortar shells at Israel from northern Gaza.

Israel on the Alert: 11 Specific Warnings
In honor of Memorial Day and Independence Day, which fall on Wednesday and Thursday this week, the Defense Ministry has imposed a full closure on the Arabs of Judea and Samaria.  The checkpoints will be opened for humanitarian cases.

Israeli intelligence has received 11 specific warnings of intended terrorist attacks, and is on the alert in light of the terrorists' desire to carry out a major attack on Independence Day.  The specific warnings cover suicide attacks, shootings, attempted kidnappings, and rocket firings, chiefly from northern Shomron and Gaza.  Dozens of "general terrorist warnings" have been received as well.

Kassams Hit Israel
Terrorists from Gaza fired one or two Kassam rockets at Israel on Tuesday, hitting open areas in the Negev.

The Tel Aviv District Court rejected the media's request to allow publication of bribery suspicions against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert until Sunday.

Contrary to what had been widely surmised, the court rejected out of hand the request to lift the gag order even slightly.  Reports had been rife that if the court allowed the publication of even some of the details of the latest suspicions against Olmert, the news would "shake the country."

The State Prosecution, defending its insistence on maintaining the gag order, said, inter alia, that it would not be appropriate to have Independence Day and Memorial Day headlines and news reports saturated with reports of accusations against the Prime Minister.  Memorial Day begins Tuesday night, and Independence Day begins Wednesday night.

However, it is permitted to report that the prosecution and police have asked to have an unnamed foreign citizen - clearly a central figure in the case - give "early testimony" in the case.  This unusual request signifies that the police fear that the central figure may not be able to testify later on, when and if an indictment is handed down and the trial begins.

The Jerusalem District Court will hold a hearing on the request Tuesday afternoon, in the presence of representatives of the police, the State Prosecution, Olmert, and his long-time aide Shula Zaken, who is also a suspect in the case.

"Early testimony" implies that both the defense and the prosecution will be able to question the witness.

Ms. Zaken, Olmert's chief-of-staff, was interrogated Tuesday for the fourth time in this case.  She has maintained the right to remain silent on the previous occasions.  She and at least one other former close friend of Olmert have been mentioned as possible candidates to turn State's witness in exchange for immunity.

All that is officially known about the criminal investigation against Mr. Olmert is that it is the sixth one since he took office in January 2006, and that sources close to the case say the evidence against him is potentially the strongest that has been produced to date.

The Haaretz newspaper reports on yet another aspect of Olmert's financial dealings: In 2005, he and his wife received a discount of over $8,000 when they lodged at the Peninsual Hotel in New York City, owned by businessman Michael Kaduri.  Olmert was Minister of Industry and Trade at the time.

Most of Olmert's party colleagues in Kadima, as well as those of Kadima's coalition partners Labor and Shas, have remained neutral on the scandal, preferring to sit on the fence until the picture becomes clearer.  Two Kadima MKs, however - Marina Solodkin and Ze'ev Elkin - have called for Olmert to either resign, suspend himself, and/or be replaced by another Kadima MK.  Labor's Shelly Yechimovitch, too, has called for Olmert to step down. 

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that his country has brokered an agreement in which the Palestinian Authority terrorist factions, including Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad, have all agreed to a ceasefire with Israel.

Omar Suleiman, Egypt's top intelligence chief, will visit Israel shortly after Independence Day, which falls on Thursday.
PA factions and militias meeting in Cairo on Wednesday managed to agree to a ceasefire designed by Egypt.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mubarak said that Suleiman "will head to Israel after the celebrations there to discuss the ceasefire with the Israelis. The visit comes after we agreed with Hamas, the PLO and other Palestinian factions like the Jihad."

Last week, it was reported that 12 PA factions and militias meeting in Cairo on Wednesday managed to agree to a ceasefire designed by Egypt. The proposal includes a six-month "period of calm," in exchange for ending counterterrorist operations and lifting the partial embargo Israel has imposed on Gaza.

In addition, the Rafiah crossing into Egypt would be opened, placed under the control of militia forces loyal to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and overseen by monitors from the European Union. Previous EU oversight on the border ended with the monitors withdrawing in fear when faced with Hamas terrorist threats.

According to Israeli officials, Suleiman is not expected to arrive until the beginning of next week at the earliest. Suleiman, as a representative of Egypt, has frequently acted as a go-between for Hamas and Israel for the purposes of negotiations. Israel officially rejects direct talks with Hamas, which has the declared goal of Israel's destruction.

The Egyptian government-controlled news agency MENA said that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was one of Mubarak's "urgent priorities." However, on three separate occasions last month, Egypt postponed an announced visit by Suleiman to Israel.

A Saudi Arabian newspaper published in London, A-Sharq Al-Awsat, reported this week that Israel is likely to agree to the demands that the Gaza area crossings be opened. The newspaper also noted that the ceasefire came with a threat: Hamas said it would increase attacks on Jews if Israel failed to agree to a truce on Arab terms.

The Christian missionary organization known as "Jews for Jesus" is about to launch a new proselytizing campaign in Israel. Their redoubled effort to gain Jewish converts comes on the heels of a controversy over the participation of an Israeli girl who worships Jesus in the annual International Bible Contest, to be held on Independence Day in
Several rabbis agreed to call for a boycott of the contest if Levy was allowed to compete.
Jerusalem.

The family of Bat-El Levy, 17, the winner of the Jerusalem District Bible contest for secular public schools, is known to be active in a group whose members call themselves "Messianic Jews." Her success in the regional competition earned Bat-El a place among four students representing Israel in the Bible Contest finals on Independence Day, this Thursday. Dozens of Jewish youth come to Israel each year for the last leg of the Bible Contest.

In reaction to the participation of a worshiper of Jesus in the Bible Contest, the head of the anti-missionary organization Yad L'Achim sent a letter to rabbinical and lay leaders in the religious community last week calling for efforts to get Levy disqualified. Several rabbis agreed to call for a boycott of the contest if Levy was allowed to compete. Among the rabbis supporting the idea of a boycott are Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who is the son of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of the Shas party's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Meir Mazuz, dean of Kissei Rachamim Yeshiva, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Motzkin Rabbi Meir Druckman, and Har Hamor Yeshiva dean Rabbi Tzvi Tau.

In a letter to the Education Minister, Yuli Tamir, Knesset Member Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) asked last week that Levy be disqualified from the Bible Contest on the grounds that she is not Jewish according to the High Court of Justice. In cases relating to the Law of Return, granting automatic citizenship to Jewish immigrants, the High Court has ruled that those who profess the Christian faith will not be recognized as Jews regardless of their ethnic background. Furthermore, Porush said, the Bible Contest itself may be turned into a tool for Christian proselytizing among Jews, which is forbidden by law in Israel.

According to MK Porush, one of the goals of the annual Bible contest, officially called the International Bible Contest for Jewish Youth, is "to strengthen the religious awareness of the students and their appreciation of the Bible as the source of the fulfillment of the commandments and the religious lifestyle." Therefore, the competition is open only to Jews, which would exclude Jews who believe in or
Because Levy is listed as Jewish in school records and in the Population Registry, she is Jewish for the purposes of the Bible Contest.
worship Jesus.

Levy Cannot Be Barred
In response to the controversy, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said that because Levy is listed as Jewish in school records and in the Population Registry, she is Jewish for the purposes of the Bible Contest as well. Therefore, she cannot be barred.

Yad L'Achim has already sent letters about the situation to the Education Ministry, the Jewish Agency, which sponsors the events surrounding the contest, and to the Bible Contest organizers. The organization is now in touch with some of the contest participants, according to Yad L'Achim director Rabbi Shlomo Dov Lipschitz. He is hoping to convince them to boycott the contest, he said, although he realizes the difficulty in his request, considering the great efforts the students made to take part in the competition.

New Jews-for-Jesus Missionary Campaigns
Even as the Bible Contest controversy is reaching its apex, in a letter to supporters, the Jews for Jesus organization announced a series of new campaigns in Israel. "The campaigns are scheduled to begin in 2008 and continue through 2013," the missionary organization announced. "These campaigns could be the most important thing we in Jews For Jesus have ever done...."

Claiming that "only one tenth of one percent (.001)" of the Jews in Israel "believe in Jesus," the missionaries see a positive side in that Israel "is the only place in the world where - when we do street evangelism - we don't need to wonder who is Jewish.  All we have to do is walk outside and talk to everyone we meet!"

There are about 8,000 people who worship Jesus and who claim to be Jews in Israel. Yad L'Achim says that there are over 100 missionary, or "Messianic", churches operating in Israel, representing various branches of Christianity.

A 'Spiritual' Hamas
Rabbi Tovia Singer, a leading lecturer countering the efforts of Christian missionaries, says that both the Messianic Judaism movement and Jews for Jesus have as their goal the elimination of Judaism and its replacement with Christianity as the faith of the Jewish people.

Jews for Jesus, Rabbi Singer explained, is in fact an international Baptist mission to the Jews. The organization "is trying to do to the Jews spiritually what Hamas is trying to do physically," he said.

Training manual for missionizing Jews

The young Bible Contest competitor, Bat-El Levy, is part of "a parasitic movement" to convert Jews using the ruse of "infiltrating the Jewish community and co-opting Jewish cultural norms to present themselves as normative Jews" instead of as Christians, Rabbi Singer continued. It is "like having Arab members of Knesset dedicated to destroying the Jewish State," he quipped.

Levy's participation in the International Bible Contest "so important to them because they are desperate to be accepted as a normative denomination. It's a bait and switch," Rabbi Singer said.

Explaining the timing of the latest campaign announced by Jews for Jesus, Rabbi Singer said that it is part of an "unprecedented urgency" such evangelical groups feel "to convert as many Jews as possible." According to the rabbi, the reason for the sense of urgency among missionaries is that events in the Middle East, especially Iranian ascendancy and its threat to Israel, have enflamed "old-time Christian eschatology" requiring Jews to convert to Christianity in order for Jesus to return to Earth.

Rabbi Singer concluded that, in the evangelical Christian view, "in essence, the Jews are holding up the show."

Rabbi Singer has provided over 80 hours of audio recordings online presenting the Jewish perspective on, and reaction to, Christian missionary efforts among the Jews. Rabbi Singer also hosts a radio program, The Tovia Singer Show, on Israel National Radio. He recently immigrated to Israel.

More than 100 paratroopers from around the world jumped from military planes into Israel's sparkling blue Mediterranean skies Monday afternoon as they rehearsed for a special Independence Day performance set for Thursday.

At least 120 paratroopers will parachute along the beaches of Ashkelon to salute the IDF as part of the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of establishment of the State of Israel, according to the IDF.

Air Force Planes rehearsing for Independence Day
Flash 90

Over the past weekend 150 foreign paratroopers representing armies from around the world arrived in Israel. Among them are paratroopers from the US, England, France, Spain, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Canada, Greece, Italy and Switzerland.

The group was first introduced to the IDF Parachuting School Sunday night and formally entered Tel Nof base at 8:00 a.m. Monday morning, where senior foreign officers met with the commander of the parachuting school, Col. Dror Paltin and other senior officers.

IDF paratroopers trained together with their foreign counterparts on jumps at sea Monday afternoon at Palmachim beach in preparation for Thursday's event. Israeli paratroopers in the "Oketz" unit then briefed their foreign colleagues on the capabilities of their group.

The day's events are to be followed by a full military ceremony in which Greek paratroopers will lay laurels at the IDF Paratroopers' Memorial.

A Dutch paratrooper, Jesper Nels, who is the grandson of Righteous Gentiles, will plant an olive tree next to the memorial and will meet the family of the man who was saved by his grandfather.

The foreign paratroopers are also expected to participate in memorial ceremonies elsewhere in Israel, including Ashkelon, Yad Mordechai, Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem and Latrun.

Their trip won't be all work and no play, however – the military guests will also be taken to visit technological farms, view the latest technological advances in the development of the Negev at Revivim and Sde Boker and enjoy a jeep tour in the desert.

The foreign paratroopers will also visit Jerusalem and follow in the footsteps of the Jerusalem Brigade that fought in the 1967 Six Day War.

One of the participants, a French Foreign Legionnaire named Yoni, is named after Yoni Netanyahu, the commander who was killed in the legendary Entebbe rescue operation.

He will be allowed to fulfill his dream and be given the chance to wear the IDF's Paratrooper wings.

On the day the property was presented to the buyer, the exchange rate stood at 3.70, meaning that the property should have been sold for 3,256,000 NIS. Linking the dollar to 4.0 shekels brought the price of the property up to 3,520,000 NIS . That means that for the buyer to come up with 3,520,000 NIS, he would have had to add $71,000 to reach the cost of the property, $951,000. The seller would not budge, and by the time the attempts of the agent were exhausted to make the deal happen, the rate dropped even further...

Read the continuation of this article in the IsraelNationalNews Real Estate Section.

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has assured government ministers that the recent Chief Rabbinical High Court decision to overturn recent conversions to Judaism will have no effect.  His basis for such a sweeping statement is unclear.

Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, head of the Hesder Yeshiva in Petach Tikvah and founding member of the Tzohar Rabbis Organization, bitterly castigated the High Court's ruling, and said he would work immediately to form an alternative to the Chief Rabbinate's conversion courts if it is not overturned.

It was reported late last week that the Rabbinate's High Court had overturned a specific conversion of a woman who apparently never lived a religious Jewish lifestyle, as required by Jewish Law.  In addition, the Court ruled all the conversions performed in the last several years by Rabbi Chaim Druckman, the head of the Conversion Administration, were hereby null and void. The number of people directed affected by this decision is unknown, but could be in the thousands.
Rabbi Cherlow: The ruling stands in total opposition to Jewish Law, embarrasses and shames a great Rabbi, violates the Torah's commands not to cause sorrow to converts, and deals a terrible blow to the fight against intermarriage.

At the heart of the matter is a halakhic [Jewish legal] dispute that has largely been drawn along hareidi-religious and national-religious lines.  Both disagree with the minority Halakhic opinion that a convert need not affirm his intention to observe the Torah's commandments; they rather demand that the prospective convert display sincere intention to observe a religious lifestyle.  They disagree, however, as to how to implement this requirement.

One school says that if a convert appears to be sincere in his desire to be a religious Jew when he appears before the rabbinical court, the judges may suffice with this and allow the conversion.  In addition, they need not check up later on his "progress."

The more hareidi school of thought is that if a convert is later seen to be living a non-religious lifestyle, this renders the conversion invalid almost automatically.

Judges Revoke Hundreds of Conversions, or More
The three judges of the High Rabbinical Court, representing the second approach, abruptly revoked the Jewishness of the woman in question in the specifica case at hand. In addition, they found irregularities in the way Rabbi Druckman - who represented the more lenient approach - carried out his court's conversions, and blanketly revoked all of them. 

Rabbi Druckman has a sterling reputation among his many thousands of students, and regularly remains awake until after 1 in the morning in order to meet with and help the many people who need him. For decades, he maintained a harrowing schedule as the founder and head of the Yeshivat Or Etzion institutions (including a military yeshiva high school), father to nine children, head of the nationwide Yeshivot Bnei Akiva umbrella organization, teacher in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, Knesset Member, advisor and helper to uncounted people who turned to him at all hours of the day, and more.

Rabbi Amar: No Need to Worry
Rabbi Amar - who, as the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, has ultimate authority for the courts under him - was angered at the decision.  He tried to control the damage on Monday by assuring Absorption Minister Yaakov Edry that new immigrants who had converted under Rabbi Druckman would not be affected by the ruling.  Rabbi Amar said that the issue never should have been judged in that forum, and that he would make sure to have it officially overturned.

Edry had said that the ruling had dealt a death blow to the entire system of conversion in Israel, as well as to the motivation of Israeli non-Jews - mostly Russian immigrants - to begin the conversion process.

Rabbi Amar and Minister Edry agreed that the issue of conversion is a matter of top national priority, and that all those involved must contribute to the national effort towards the full integration of new immigrants into the Jewish nation and Israeli society.

Orlev: Sharply Against Ruling
Rabbi Amar also met with MK Zevulun Orlev, the head of the National Religious Party, who had taken a sharp stance against the Chief Rabbinate's decision.  Orlev expressed satisfaction with Rabbi Amar's promise to overturn the ruling, but said, "He must not only say it, but must do it... The goal is that the [conversion] courts must be convert-friendly, ruling in keeping with a national and Zionist approach." 

A leading Conversion Authority figure told Arutz-7 that he does not believe the ruling will be able to withstand a Supreme Court appeal, "as the High Rabbinical Court probably does not have ultimate authority over the Conversion Courts in the Chief Rabbinate."  This is likely to be put to the test, as an appeal to the Supreme Court is likely.

Rabbi Cherlow's Attack
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, a leading figure in the religious-Zionist camp, wrote a scathing attack against the High Court's decision.  He called it a "desecration of G-d's Name."

The rabbi wrote that if the ruling was not overturned, he would work to create an alternative conversion court system - a surprising call coming from a leader of the camp that has traditionally supported the Chief Rabbinate. 

Rabbi Cherlow wrote that the ruling:
* stands in total opposition to Jewish Law,
* embarrasses and shames a great Rabbi [Rabbi Druckman],
* violates the Torah's commands not to cause sorrow to converts,
* and deals a terrible blow to the efforts against intermarriage. 

The rabbi wrote that the ruling also:
* leads to intervention by the secular Supreme Court in Jewish Law,
* is an unfair Halakhic intervention in an "ugly struggle against the religious-Zionist rabbinic world,"
* will lead to continued erosion of the status of rabbinical courts in the State of Israel,
* as well as to a deepening of the rift in the rabbinic world.

"If the ruling is not overturned," he concluded, "a genuine conversion authority will be immediately established that will operate according to Jewish Law and not according to politics, and will deal with one of the supreme missions in the Nation of Israel in a manner that is in keeping with the Torah and not via ugly manipulations.  We can no longer evade this responsibility..."