Intelligence sources report increased motivation for terrorist attacks against Israel before and during Annapolis; stabbing attack thwarted in Hevron.

A 16-year-old Arab was arrested at the Machpelah Cave in Hevron before noon on Monday, and admitted he had planned to stab a Jew.  Border Guard policemen stationed at the holy site noticed a young man acting what they felt was suspiciously; when they approached him, he brandished a knife.  The police overcame him and placed him under arrest, and he later admitted he had been planning a stabbing attack.

Increased Alert
The army is on increased alert, placing surprise checkpoints along roads in Yehuda (Judea) and Shomron (Samaria) to try to prevent terrorists from reaching Israel or from perpetrating shooting attacks.  Just last week, a Jewish father of two was murdered in his car by Palestinian terrorists near Kedumim in the Shomron.  Firebomb and stoning attacks are also expected.

Israeli security forces arrested 14 Palestinian terrorists during the course of the night, mostly in Shechem (Nablus).

Kassam Report
Palestinian Hamas terrorists fired two Kassam rockets at the Shaar HaNegev area late Monday morning; no damage was caused.  Another rocket and three mortar shells were fired Sunday morning, and three Kassams and 11 shells were launched at Israel over the Sabbath.

In an IDF offensive action in northern Gaza on Monday around noon, 3-4 terrorist members of a rocket-launching cell were killed.

18 Life Sentences
The Military Court in Ofer sentenced Palestinian terrorist mastermind Iyad Abu-Shaidam to 18 life sentences.  Abu-Shahidam prepared the bombs used in the double attack in August 2004 Be'er Sheva in which 16 people were murdered. He also prepared the explosives vest that was planned for use in an attack a month earlier in a Jerusalem cafe.

In Hamas-run Gaza, an anti-Annapolis alternative summit is being held, with the participation of Muslim groups opposed to any agreement with Israel.  Rallies and gatherings are being held in Gaza in honor of the event today and tomorrow, including one by a terrorist organization that is considered to be even more anti-Israel than Hamas.  Though Syria has announced its participation in Annapolis, Hamas terrorist leader Abu Marzouk declared today that Syria also plans to host an anti-Annapolis rally.

Eitam More Worried About Israelis
MK Effie Eitam (National Union), a former Galilee Formation Commander in the IDF, says he is less worried about Syrian participation in Annapolis "and more about what our own leaders will do... It's completely obvious that if Fatah takes over security in Yesha, Jerusalem will become Sderot."

"As bad as Annapolis seems on the outside, the truth is that it's 1,000 times worse."  So says an IDF General Staff member who is personally involved in the contacts with the Americans and Palestinians, as quoted by Makor Rishon columnist Caroline Glick.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have departed for the United States, where they are to take part in the international summit at Annapolis, Md. this Tuesday.  In addition to the major concessions that Olmert is expected to announce at the summit - in principle, if not in full detail - it appears that the United States backs the Palestinian Authority positions against those of Israel. 

Namely, the PA wishes to obligate Israel to agree to return all the land captured in Israel's defensive Six Day War of 1967, accept up to millions of Arab refugees and their descendants, and allow outside parties - most likely the United States - to decide when and how the parties must fulfill their obligations.

Syria is In
In addition, though the Golan Heights will not be placed on the agenda at Annapolis, it will be mentioned in at least one speech - and therefore Syria has agreed to take part in the summit.  Syria will send its Deputy Foreign Minister to take part in the talks.  Other Arab countries are sending their Foreign Ministers. Olmert and Livni have said they hope Syria would take part in the Annapolis meetings.

Many protest rallies are being held in the days leading up to and following the Annapolis summit.  A partial list:

Sunday, Nov. 25:
* Washington, D.C. - 12 Noon at LaFayette Park in front of the White House, followed by a march to the Holocaust Museum, organized by Shalom International and Coalition to Defend Jerusalem
* Miami, 12 Noon at "Torch of Friendship", 5th St. and Biscayne. Blvd
* Jerusalem, 5:30 PM at the Mt. of Olives, with Natan Sharansky and One Jerusalem. Buses will leave from the Jerusalem Theater in the Talbiyeh neighborhood at 5 PM and will return around 8 PM. For more information, visit www.onejerusalem.org

Monday, Nov. 26:
* Annapolis, 11 AM to 2 P.M., Gate 1, King George and Randall, organized by Shalom International and Coalition to Defend Jerusalem.  The Knesset Israel congregation is providing kosher food from 2- 3 PM at 1125 Spa St.
* New York City, Noon to 2 P.M. at Israeli Consulate, 43rd St and 2nd Ave..
* Washington, D.C. 5 P.M., At U.S. State Dept., 23rd and "C" St.
* Jerusalem, 3 PM - Massive prayer service at the Western Wall, with the participation of the Rishon LeTzion, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu
*  Jerusalem, 6:30 PM - Large rally at Paris Square near Kings Hotel, organized by Yesha Council, Mateh Maamatz and Cities of Israel.
* Chicago, 7P.M., massive prayer service at Congregation K.I.N.S. of West Rogers Park, 2800 W. North Shore, organized by Chicago Rabbinical Council

Tuesday, Nov. 27
* NYC/Washington - 7 AM, AFSI (Americans for a Safe Israel) group departing NYC by bus - 31st Street between 7th and 8th Ave.  Noon - Protest rally at Gate #1 of the Naval Academy.  Return to NYC by approximately 8 PM.  email to afsi@rcn.com
* Annapolis, 11 AM to 2 P.M., Gate 1, King George and Randall, co-organized by Shalom International and Coalition to Defend Jerusalem.  The Knesset Israel congregation is providing kosher food from 2- 3 PM at 1125 Spa St.
* Philadelphia, 12 Noon at Holocaust Memorial between 16-17 St.

Wednesday, Nov. 28
* Washington, D.C. 11 AM to 2 P.M., 23rd St. and "C" St., U.S. State Dept.

In addition, on Monday, Ari Abramowitz of the International Center of Biblical Zionism will be speaking against Annapolis and in favor of the Jewish People's right to the entire Land of Israel at Columbia University in NYC at 7 AM, and at Stern College at 8:30 AM.   On Tuesday, at 7 AM, he will address the Mayim Hayim Ministries at 1412 Southwest 8th St. in Amarillo, Texas.

Though the Golan Heights will not be placed on the official agenda at Annapolis, it will be mentioned in a speech by the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister. Syria agreed to participate in the summit after it was agreed that it could raise the topic of Israel's control over the Golan.

Syria will send its Deputy Foreign Minister to take part in the talks - though other Arab countries are sending their Foreign Ministers.  Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign Minister Livni, in Washington, said they were happy Syria had agreed to take part in the Annapolis proceedings.

The American-sponsored summit is scheduled to take place this Tuesday. 

A Million Syrians in the Golan?
Middle East affairs expert Dr. Guy Bechor says that if the Golan is given over to Syria, Syria will immediately begin populating the area with hundreds of thousands of its citizens, "thus forming a type of Gaza on our northern shoulder."  As a result, Bechor continues, the Galilee - the heavily Arab-populated area of northern Israel just beneath the Golan Heights - will come under Syrian influence, possibly leading to Galilee-originating Arab terror attacks on the rest of Israel.

"For this reason alone," writes Makor Rishon editor Amnon Lord, "the idea of handing over the Golan to the Syrians must removed from the agenda."

Arabs at Annapolis
Bechor also states that the reason the Arab countries are showing up at Annapolis at all is merely because they are afraid of the rise of Iran and political Islam.  "They will have to pay the price of remaining, openly, in one room with Israelis," Bechor writes in his latest commentary piece, adding that they were able to secure a promise that they would not have to shake hands with Israelis or talk directly to them."

Though they claim to want peace, Bechor writes, "they will be in Annapolis in order to place the onus on Israel. They will say they are willing to have peace with Israel, but with conditions that Israel will never be able to accept: to give up all of eastern Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Golan, and to agree to accept the Palestinian refugees in its borders, as well as a Palestinian state."

Yossi Ben-Aharon, a former Director of the Prime Minister's Office who led the negotiating team with Syria under the Shamir administration, told Arutz-7 that he fears the government will once again offer to give up the entire Golan, as Ehud Barak did several years ago.  "This is because we have a bunch of spineless idiots in the government," Ben-Aharon said.  He explained that the reason Syria did not agree in the past to accept Barak's offer "is apparently because Assad the father was not willing to agree to the full diplomatic relations and open borders that Israel demanded."

Ben-Aharon said he calls upon Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu to announce that because the Olmert government is not taking the right-wing public into account in his policies, "Netanyahu, as well, if and when he forms a government, should not take the left-wing into account, and should announce that he may not accept Olmert's concessions as his government's policy."

Peres Advised PLO
Back in 1996, Ben-Aharon told Arutz-7 that during the Yitzchak Shamir-led government, Shimon Peres - currently the President of Israel - advised the heads of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, then based in Tunisia, on negotiation strategies with Israel. "This proved to be very damaging to our negotiating efforts with the Palestinian representatives in Madrid," said Ben-Aharon.

By Sunday night, Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiating teams were still unable to come up with a joint statement for the Annapolis conference on Tuesday, despite weeklong last-ditch efforts.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, chief negotiator for Israel, met for unscheduled talks with PA chief negotiator Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) in a Washington hotel Sunday night to try again to reach an agreement, but without success.

Both Livni and Qurei met with U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a dinner meeting following their talks. The three were slated to meet once more on Monday for another last-ditch attempt to hammer out a joint declaration between Israel and the PA. Each will also work with the others to coordinate their individual statements for Tuesday's conclave.

The PA team is not optimistic that the conference will bring any changes in its relationship with the Jewish State, with one aide noting that Israeli leaders are themselves not of one mind about its participation in the process.

"The Israeli negotiating team isn't serious," said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior aide to PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). "You can't reach an agreement when the Israelis are divided amongst themselves."

A second Abbas aide, Nabil Sha'ath, was slightly more positive about the potential for progress toward initiation of final status talks following the summit, citing a poll showing that 70 percent of the PA population supports its presence at the summit.

Sha'ath told reporters the PA is hoping to complete final status talks with Israel before U.S. President George W. Bush's term of office ends in January 2009. Bush is also hoping to see his "vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security" by the time he leaves office.

The PA is presently aiming to come away from the conference with a joint declaration commitment by Israel, the U.S. and the PA to carry out the U.S.-authored Road Map plan.

Sha'ath said his team is hoping to secure a commitment from Israel to immediately implement the first stage of the plan, which calls for freezing all construction and expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, destroying "illegal" outposts and removing security checkpoints on roads.

Sha'ath made no mention of the PA's obligation to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and completely halt all terrorist activity that emanates from areas under its control – the other requirement of the first stage of the Road Map plan.

The PA also plans to demand that Israel commit itself to a specific timetable for final status talks within the framework of the remaining phases of the Road Map plan.

Minister Ami Ayalon (Labor) met with Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Sunday in the hope of persuading him to keep his party in the government after the Annapolis summit. Ayalon said afterwards that Shas "will not leave the coalition so fast" even if negotiations with the Palestinian Authority advance following the Annapolis summit.

He said that Rabbi Ovadia did not tell him how Shas would act, but that the spiritual leader had listened to him attentively.

Speaking on Channel 10 TV's "London and Kirschenbaum" show Sunday afternoon, Ayalon said that if Avigdor Lieberman's party "Yisrael Beiteinu" bolts the coalition, "I will not shed a tear," just as "I didn't shed tears of joy" when Minister for Strategic Threats Lieberman joined the coalition.

Right wing is a Shabak problem
Ayalon outlined the Left's tactic for making the "peace deal" happen: A peace deal with the Arabs would be stru
Rabbi Ovadia did not tell him how Shas would act, but had listened to him attentively.
ck, and then general elections in Israel would be held with the peace deal being the main issue. Asked by the interviewers about the right wing's strong opposition to territorial concessions, Ayalon said the Shabak (General Security Service) would have to deal with that problem.

Ayalon, a former Shabak chief who was previously Commander of the Navy and was highly decorated as a soldier, is considered to be the most leftist of Labor's ministers.

Eldad: Lieberman helping Tibi
MK Aryeh Eldad (NU/NRP) said Sunday that Lieberman is under pressure to leave the government because of Annapolis.  Eldad was lashing back at Lieberman, after Lieberman badmouthed him and MK Effie Eitam in a Maariv interview. Lieberman was quoted as saying that Eldad, Eitam and activist Baruch Marzel belong to the "delusional right wing" and that their actions only serve the political aspirations of Arab nationalist MKs Tibi and Barakeh.

MK Eldad said Lieberman's attack is proof of the pressure he feels due to his partnership in diplomatic moves that are leading towards the creation of an Arab state in the Land of Israel. "Lieberman has a fixed modus operandi," Eldad told Arutz-7. "Every time he takes a sharp left turn and can no longer be the spokesman for the Right, he starts attacking the Left and the Arabs. This time he has also attacked his colleagues in the Right."

"Lieberman's accusations show that he is feeling pressure," Eldad explained. "He is sitting in the government which is going to Annapolis on the basis of the [Madrid] International Conference, the Cairo Conference, and more. He knows he is aiding Barakeh and Ahmed Tibi in this way."

The Knesset Law Committee on Monday gave its final stamp of approval to enforce fines that are meant to stamp out smoking in public places, including restaurants, coffee houses, bars and shopping centers.

Smokers who choose to ignore the law face a fine of up to NIS 1,000 ($260) for lighting up in public places.

Business owners will be penalized as well: fines of up to NIS 5,000 ($1,300) will be levied on businesses which allow smokers to puff away in violation of the law. Restaurant and coffee house owners will also be fined NIS 1,290 for each ashtray present on a table outside of special smoking zones.

"These are reasonable sanctions, and I hope that the public will take the legislation to heart," said Kadima Knesset Committee Chairman Menachem Ben Sasson.

Until July, business owners were only required to hang "No Smoking" signs in their establishments and essentially the no-smoking law already in existence was not enforced.

The new law, proposed in July by Likud Knesset Member and chairman of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, Gilad Erdan, passed unanimously.

As of November 7, the strict fines went into effect, requiring business owners to ask their customers not to smoke, and to report them to the local inspection authority if they persist in doing so.

Moreover, they are also required to post a hotline phone number in their establishments where customers can reach an inspector if they want to report a violation.

There is one accommodation, however: the establishments may set up separate ventilated areas for smokers. Owners of public recreation places are required to instruct smokers to put out their cigarettes, and are also mandated to file a complaint against violators with the municipality.

Last week, attorney Ido Almagor struck back with a petition to the High Court of Justice claiming the new bill infringed on the civil rights of Israeli smokers.

"There are over 1,250,000 smokers in Israel today," contended Almagor in his petition, "but their voices are silenced, and they are persecuted as a community." Almagor said the regulations set forth in the law that make allowances for those who want to light up are too complex and expensive for the average business owner to comply with.

Statistics published earlier this month by the Health Ministry belied concerns by business owners who are worried they will lose their customer base.

Only 23.2 percent of adult Israelis smoke, according to the survey, although 44 percent of non-smokers say they're uncomfortable telling those who puff that they would like them to cease releasing their second-hand smoke.

The study found that 80.3 percent of Israeli citizens agree that smoking should be prohibited in clubs, pubs and discotheques. In addition, 78.2 percent of the 3,154 respondents also felt smoking should be prohibited in cafes and restaurants. The highest percentage of anti-smokers came from those who said puffing should be prohibited in shopping malls – 84.8 percent. All of the respondents were over age 18.

Actually, the first law against smoking in public was passed by the Knesset in 1983, according to a report by the Israel Council for the Prevention of Smoking. By 1994, all private and public workplaces were included in the prohibition, and in 2001 restaurants, cafes and other public places joined the list. Local authorities, however, were often unwilling to risk their customer base by enforcing the law.

An ad heard last week on Voice of Israel Radio described the plight of Bedouin Arabs living in unrecognized villages, and called upon the government to grant them official recognition. No mention was made of the loss of government-owned land to the creeping expansion of the Bedouin villages. 

A citizen named Moshe Goldberg heard the ad, noticed that its sponsor was not named, and contacted the media watchdog organization Israel Media Watch (IMW).  He asked if, in light of past experience, Voice of Israel Radio would be likely to air similar ads calling for recognition of Jewish unauthorized outposts in Judea and Samaria.  Goldberg also wanted to know if the lack of a sponsor's identification was acceptable.

The Complaint Worked
In response to IMW's queries, Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Ombudsman Elisha Shpiegelman responded as follows: "I have checked into the matter and have concluded that the ad in question does not fulfill the requirements set by the IBA.  The Director-General of the IBA has instructed that the ad no longer be aired."

IMW head Nili Ben-Gigi told Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen that in September 2006, the IBA banned an ad calling on the public to take part in rallies demanding a public inquiry into the Second Lebanon War.  Several months earlier, an ad against the Shafdan (Waste Purification Facility) in Rishon LeTzion was disqualified.  Both ads were taken off because of their apparent controversial nature. 

"We are pleased with this latest decision," Ben-Gigi said. "We believe in openness and pluralism in ads, but if ads are disqualified for every fraction of ideology, consistency must be maintained."

An ad calling on the public to place gold ribbons on their car and otherwise show solidarity with a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty is currently running on Voice of Israel.

Bedouin Background
The Bedouin population in the Negev, which is one of the fastest-growing in the world, represents an acute demographic problem for the State of Israel.  Partially due to widespread polygamy, the annual rate of growth is 5.5%, leading to a doubling of the population every 15 years.  The total number of Bedouin in the Negev is currently 162,000, according to police statistics, of 25% of the area's entire population.  94,000 reside in permanent towns, and the other 68,000 live in unrecognized encampments. Nearly two-thirds of the population is under 19 years of age, such that 70% are supported by the other 30% - a comparatively high ratio. 

Legislation has been proposed to prevent cellular phone companies from giving information regarding the whereabouts of cellular phone users to employers.  The government opposes the bill.

Cellular phone companies can easily locate the whereabouts of any given phone at any given time.  This information is occasionally used by the police, with the approval of a judge, to find criminals, missing persons, and the like.

However, no court approval is required when companies wish to find their employees.  Phones purchased by companies and given to their employees are generally registered in the companies' names, and therefore they have the right to ask the phone companies to locate the phones. This essentially gives them the ability to locate, at any given moment, the employees who carry the phones.

The cellular service providers often offer this service, for a fee, to the employers.

MK Ophir Pines-Pas (Labor), the Chairman of the Knesset Interior Committee, has proposed a bill that would forbid the cellular phone companies from offering this information.  He says it represents a grave threat to employees' privacy and basic rights.

However, the government's ministerial legislation committee voted against the bill on Sunday, meaning that the government and its coalition MKs will not support the bill when it comes up for a Knesset vote.

MK Pines says he plans to continue to advance the bill, despite the government's opposition, and will bring it for its preliminary Knesset reading this Wednesday.  His spokesman told Arutz-7 that its chances of passing have dropped in light of the government's opposition, "but we are not giving up; MKs from both the opposition and coalition have expressed support and will vote for it."

"I'm not surprised that the government objects," Pines said, "because its offices use exactly these methods to track its employees."

Jerusalem police and security officers lowered the alert level Sunday afternoon after several tense hours on high alert following a warning received by intelligence officers that two terrorists were on their way to carry out an attack.

Security checkpoints and roadblocks were set up in a ring around Jerusalem, on Highway 1, the road that connects the capital with Tel Aviv, and in areas around the northern areas of the city.

Police closed off traffic on the Narkiss Bridge which leads to the French Hill junction from Pisgat Ze'ev, Neve Ya'akov and other Jewish neighborhoods in the north of the city.

The police Special Operations unit mobilized wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests, and Magen David Adom ambulances and rescue units moved onto the streets of the capital in anticipation of the possible attack. Special police mobile units and helicopters were also aloft, scanning the city and surrounding area in an effort to locate the would-be attackers.

Magen David Adom director-general Eli Bin announced that medics in the city had moved to alert Level 3. He also said MDA personnel had been placed on Level 2 alert in the central area of the country, which includes the Dan, Yarkon and Ayalon regions.

By mid-afternoon it became clear that the terrorists had not managed to enter the city and the alert level was lowered.

Two young PA would-be attackers were arrested near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron at midday. IDF soldiers discovered knives and rifle bullets while searching the two. They were taken by security personnel for questioning.

IDF soldiers shot and killed a would-be attacker in northern Gaza early Sunday afternoon after the man approached the security fence in a suspicious manner.  Local witnesses said the soldiers fired at a group of people, killing one.

Border Police officers also killed a wanted Palestinian Authority terrorist while operating in the PA-controlled town of Tulkarm. A second terrorist wanted terrorist was shot and wounded. He was evacuated to a hospital for treatment and will later be transferred to security personnel for questioning.

Local PA residents identified the dead man as 24-year-old Mohammed Kuzah and the wounded man as Moshir el-Manzouri.

Two armed terrorists were also shot overnight in central Gaza as they approached an IDF patrol. One was a member of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, and the other was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Neo-Nazi leader Horset Mahler is going back to jail, sentenced to a six-month imprisonment for giving the 'Heil Hitler' salute in violation of German law.

The 71-year-old neo-Nazi confessed to the salute when he began serving a prison term for a different crime – one of six for which he has been convicted, including denying the Holocaust and praising the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Mahler praised the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the United States, which struck the Pentagon simultaneously with the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City as "eminently efficient." A third attack by the Al-Qaeda terrorists was attempted at the same time but was stymied by passengers on the hijacked airliner which crashed in Pennsylvania, missing its intended target in Washington D.C.

Unrelated Attack
Over the weekend, officials released the report of a 17-year-old girl who said four neo-Nazi men held her down and carved a swastika on her hip after she tried to stop them from harassing a six-year-old girl from the former Soviet Union.

The attack took place three weeks ago in the town of Mittweida, and was confirmed by the six-year-old child.

No arrests have been made in the case.

Around the World
Neo-Nazism is also on the rise elsewhere in the world as well.

Most recently, anti-Semites in the U.S. scrawled swastikas in three different states, following a spate of similar incidents at Columbia University in New York.

Three black swastikas were spray-painted on the walls of an Orthodox Jewish day school in suburban Baltimore. Racial slurs were also painted on nearby roads.

Two more incidents were reported at a Minnesota university, where several large swastikas were found on a bathroom mirror. Another was burned into an elevator ceiling, and still others were carved into the wall of a computer lab.

Neo-Nazi vandalism was also reported in New Mexico, where swastikas were discovered painted on three cars, with profanity scrawled on a fourth vehicle.