Israel ratcheted up its air strikes in Gaza in response to another day of heavy rocket fire on Sderot and Katyusha missiles on the city of Ashkelon.

At least twenty people were killed in the air strikes. PA reports say five children are among the dead but the kids were apparently involved in moving rocket launchers.

Late Thursday afternoon, an IAF air strike hit a Hamas position outside the home of Hamas PA chief Ismail Haniyeh, killing one and wounding four others. Haniyeh has gone into hiding and was not home at the time. A day earlier another air strike targeted his office.

Another IAF strike killed two Hamas terrorists – one of them a son of senior Hamas official Khalil al-Haya who oversaw a rocket-launching cell. Al-Haya visited the Gaza morgue and declared that he was proud his son had died for the cause. "I thank G-d for this gift. This is the 10th member of my family to receive the honor of martyrdom," he said.

An air strike Thursday night targeted terrorists in a vehicle in Khan Younis. The vehicle was marked as a PA electric company car and both terrorists inside were killed. PA reports claimed the men were mere electric company workers.

In Gaza City, two Hamas terrorists, members of the group’s Executive Guard military force, were killed in a strike on a truck carrying Kassam rockets near the Shifa Hospital. PA reports claimed the truck driven by the men in military-style uniforms was just carrying beverages.

Four teenagers were killed in an air strike in the Jabalya area. The young men were in an open area used for rocket-fire at the time. PA reports claim they were playing soccer.

Two other air strikes killed one Hamas terrorist each in northern Gaza. Two more strikes destroyed a large weapons warehouse and a Hamas training camp facility. Thursday morning a Gaza City strike killed a Hamas terrorist and two members of the Hizbullah-backed Popular Resistance Committee.

Israeli-Arab Teenage Terrorist Arrested in Jerusalem
The Shabak (General Security Service) released for publication the recent arrest of a 17-year-old female terrorist who intended to carry out a suicide bombing on a Jewish target in Israel. The girl enjoys Israeli citizenship and free passage to all Israeli and PA-controlled areas.

The girl held several meetings with leading Islamic Jihad terrorist coordinators, where she expressed her hatred of Jews and intentions to carry out a suicide bombing. Two Israeli-Arab members of Islamic Jihad from Jerusalem were arrested in the case as well.

The girl’s remand was extended Thursday by the Jerusalem Magistrates Court.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the Grad-type Katyusha rockets fired at Ashkelon came from Iran and may lead Israel back to Gaza.

“In the past 24 hours, over 15 heavy rockets were fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza against Israel’s southern port city of Ashkelon,” a Foreign Ministry dispatch to journalists and diplomatic staff said. “The 122 mm Grad rockets (also known as Katyushas), are a type of standard military artillery weapon produced in the former Soviet bloc and by other states deploying non-Western arms. It is manufactured to military standards, by a conventional arms industry, and is equipped with a weapons-grade high explosive fragmentation warhead.”

The Foreign Ministry pointed the finger at Tehran. “The Grad rockets fired today were apparently smuggled into Gaza from Iran via Egypt through tunnels and the breached Rafah border fence,” the dispatch stated. “Israel has repeatedly warned neighboring states and the international community about the arms buildup taking place in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Today’s attacks constitute a regretful yet unequivocal proof of the veracity of Israel’s warnings.”

Prior to the implementation of the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria, anti-expulsion activists placed posters all around Ashkelon proclaiming that the withdrawal would herald missiles on the port city and advising resident to oppose the move or prepare for the attacks. Thursday’s missiles slammed into the campus of Barzilai Hospital, destroyed a family home in one of the city’s neighborhood, made a large crater in one of the city’s streets and stuck the municipal cemetery.

The Foreign Ministry statement ended with an acknowledgement echoing the predictions of Gaza’s Jewish evictees: that Israel will have no choice but return to settle the region. “Israel left the Gaza Strip over two years ago, with no intention of ever returning,” the statement said. “Yet, the continued escalation of Hamas terrorism emanating from Gaza, purposely targeting Israeli civilians, is liable to leave Israel with no choice.”

A total of 24 people are hospitalized, mostly for shock, following the firing of more than 30 rockets and mortar shells from Gaza on Israel on Thursday.  Among them are two with shrapnel injuries. 

Among the rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza on Israel on Thursday, eight long-range Grad rockets hit the coastal city of Ashkelon.  The city's 100,000-plus rocket-besieged residents were told just last night (Wednesday) by Defense Minister Ehud Barak that there was no need to change the city's deployment plans.

The Katyusha-like were fired in several waves in the mid-afternoon hours.  Two rockets slammed directly into residential homes, and shock victims were treated at the sites. One rocket landed at the northern entrance to town, and marks the longest-range hit to date. 

At the same time, five Kassam rockets were being fired at Sderot and the western Negev.  A 70-year-old woman in Sderot suffered shrapnel wounds; she is listed in light condition in Barzilai Hospital. Two rockets scored a direct hit on a hothouse, and the Thai workers inside were just barely able to escape unharmed. 

Later in the day, eight more Kassam rockets were fired into Israel; four of them landed north and east of Gaza, and four landed in Ashkelon.

Escalation in Barak's Statements and Threats
Defense Minister Ehud Barak warns of an impending escalation. Following his recent comments that a "solution to the Kassams is closer than thought," Barak said on Wednesday afternoon, "A large ground offensive in Gaza is concrete and actual." 

Speaking after a high-level security consultation in the shadow of the rocket attacks on Israel, Barak said, "The responsibility for the escalation lies with Hamas, and he will bear the consequences. We will reach those who are responsible and we will hit those who carry out the attacks."

IAF Attacks
Palestinian Authority sources report that a Hamas terrorist was killed around 2:30 PM, and others were hurt, in an Israel Air Force attack.  A total of 13 Gaza Arabs - among them several terrorists - were killed in various IAF counter-terrorism attacks today, including a particularly significant attack on a Hamas position adjacent to the home of Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, who is currently in hiding from Israel.

Thursday Morning Rockets
Prior to the latest waves of Kassam and Grad rocket attacks, 16 Kassams and 8 mortar shells had been fired at the western Negev.  One of the former caused injuries to a bodyguard of Public Security Minister Avi Dichter in Sapir College; the guard was checking the area prior to a visit by Dichter in Sderot.

Fire-fighting teams in Sderot were dealing early this afternoon with two fires caused by rocket hits - one in a factory in the industrial zone, and one that set several cars ablaze when a rocket slammed down alongside them.

National Fire Department Commissioner Shimon Romach instructed fire-fighting teams in central Israel to shore up the ranks of their counterparts in Ashkelon and Sderot.

Ashkelon's Mayor: We're Willing to Pay the Price
Last night, following the landing of three powerful Grad rockets in Ashkelon, Mayor Roni Mahatzri talked with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.  The two told Mahatzri that their position was that there was still no need to activate a "Color Red" early warning system in Ashkelon.  "No change need be made in the city's deployment," Barak said.

Mahatzri held an emergency meeting last night with representatives of the army, police, fire fighters, and emergency services.  "Until now," he said, "the firing on Ashkelon was sporadic, but now, for the first time, the rockets were fired in a purposeful manner.  This was what was predicted for Ashkelon back in 2005, but we never actually experienced it until now."

Mayor Mahatzri said his city would be willing to pay a price in exchange for increased military pressure on the terrorists: "It is clear to us that the price for intensifying the Israeli pressure on the rocket launching cells is liable to bring Ashkelon into a state of alert and one in which we may have to absorb rocket fire.  We are willing to pay this price for a limited time.  We are aware of the fact that such a situation will require activating an early-warning system, and that the people of Ashkelon will have to pay the price for a military offensive in Gaza.  Ashkelon is ready for this, and is able to deal with it."

Plans for a visit to Jerusalem next week by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman are on the back burner.
Suleiman had been due to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.  He was also expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose visit to Israel would have coincided with his.

Suleiman called Barak Friday morning to tell him he was postponing the visit, originally set for the middle of next week.  According to Voice of Israel government radio, Suleiman cancelled to protest Israel's air strikes on Hamas terrorists in Gaza, but intends to reschedule for another date.

The Egyptian intelligence chief is considered the second-most powerful man in Cairo, after President Hosni Mubarak. Suleiman is the top Egyptian official involved in mediations between Israel and Hamas terrorists on every issue, including efforts to secure the release of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, abducted in a cross-border raid from Gaza in June 2006.

The meetings with Suleiman were originally intended to discuss a possible deal to re-open the border crossing at Rafiah, often referred to as Gaza's international gateway. The crossing was sealed by Egypt when Hamas took over Gaza last June.

The border barrier next to the crossing was breached when it was blown up by Hamas last month, and then re-sealed by Egypt with an ominous warning to the terrorists not to repeat the error.

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents flooded into Egypt, with terrorists attacking Egyptian police officers who tried initially to repair the barrier. Thousands of terrorists also crossed over, many infiltrating into Sinai.

After three weeks, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit issued a grim notice to Hamas leaders that the border would be resealed, and that anyone who tried to breach the new barrier would "have their legs cut off."

While Suleiman postponed next week's meeting due to the mounting military crisis in Gaza, Prime Minister Olmert met with senior defense officials Friday morning on the same issue.

The week's barrage of 11 Russian-made mid-range Grad missiles fired at the port city of Ashkelon is seen as a major escalation by Hamas which has taken the war to a new level.

The coastal city, home to approximately 110,000 Israelis, is some 15 kilometers north of Gaza.
For the first time, Ashkelon activated on Friday the "Color Red" rocket alert system, which offers a bare 15 to 20 seconds' notice of an incoming missile attack.

Until now, attacks have been largely confined to firing short-range homemade Kassam rockets at Jewish communities in the western Negev within a 7 to 9-kilometer range.

Former Yassam riot police officer Mordechai Mehager is facing a judge in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to answer charges of brutality in the 2006 eviction of protestors prior to demolition of nine structures at the Samarian town of Amona.

Mordechai Mehager was indicted on three counts of grievous assault following an Internal Affairs investigation of his role in the unprovoked violence that bloodied at least 200 people, including two Knesset Members and more than 100 young activists.

Yishai Greenbaum, one of the young activists brutalized during the expulsion, filed charges against Mehager, saying he beat him with a club for two full minutes on his head, arms and leg – leaving him with a permanent disability.

The Yesha Human Rights Organization assisted Greenbaum in filing the suit, with attorney Chaim Cohen writing in the petition that "the accused – officer Mehager – exceeded the authority granted to him by law and police regulations, acting in an independent manner and exercising excessive force without justification."

Accusations by Mehager's lawyers that their client is being used as a political scapegoat by his superiors were countered in Greenbaum's petition. "Alternatively, if it turns out that the accused received 'orders from above,' then we are dealing with unacceptable orders whose implementation should have been refused."

A simultaneous Internal Affairs investigation resulted in a decision to indict Mehager as well.

State prosecutors refused to provide the former riot police officer with immunity and said if he was fined, he would have to pay the damages himself.

Mehager was indicted partly on the strength of video evidence provided by demonstrators who filmed him clubbing young protestors as they sat passively on the floor in one of the nine structures slated for demolition.

Mehager blamed his superiors, testifying "clear instructions were given [to riot police officers] that in any eventuality it would be necessary to use batons." He has filed suit against his former employers, Israel Police, saying he was "a victim of the prosecution and political interests on the one hand, and of the police on the other."

Collision Between Politics and Police Methodology
The overwhelming brutality of that day marked a turning point in the way the government has since approached the issue of dismantling unauthorized outposts.

The hilltop community of Amona, one of the oldest communities in Samaria, was established by 30 families in 1995. It was built on the hill that overlooks the nearby town of Ofra.

The town was hooked up to the national electricity grid – a move which requires approval by the Defense Ministry – by 2003. Today there are approximately 45 families living there.

Nine unfinished structures, intended to become homes in a new neighborhood on the outskirts of Amona, became the flashpoint in the conflict between the government and residents for Jewish rights in Judea and Samaria.

The decision to demolish the new neighborhood was made at the time by then-Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to placate U.S. and Palestinian Authority leaders by demonstrating his willingness to freeze construction and destroy "illegal outposts" in Judea and Samaria.

Passive Resistance Met with Police Brutality
More than 2,000 Yassam riot police and mounted officers had spent a week preparing for a showdown on the appointed day of eviction. Several hundred activists were prepared as well, with many packed tightly into the structures in a passive protest geared to keep things calm.

Others waited outside, gathering cinder blocks and other items with which they hoped to block bulldozers and other efforts to carry out the demolition.

Events quickly spiraled out of control.

A number of other club-swinging police officers and at least one mounted police officer have been indicted for their role in the violence.

Mounted police officer David Edry was charged with trampling at least one protestor beneath the hooves of his horse.

An army driver who happened upon the scene, Ibrahim Sharif decided to join the action, borrowed an officer's club and started swinging, beating activists in the head and elsewhere on their bodies.

The Yesha organization said there are been many more active civil cases against violent police officers who were involved in the brutality than there have been Internal Affairs investigations.

The Chief Rabbinate's Education Committee held a special session Thursday to discuss the situation in IDF units in which young men and women serve side by side, which presents certain obstacles for male soldiers observing religious strictures prohibiting mixed military service. Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger and other leading rabbis wrote to
The Chief Rabbinate is intending to consult further with the heads of the nation's Hesder yeshivas....
the military chiefs, calling for the army to respect soldiers' religious standards of modesty.

The chief rabbi of Har Brachah, who is also the dean of the Samarian town's Hesder yeshiva (combining seminary studies and military service), Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, addressed the Chief Rabbinate's Education Committee. He described the difficult situation facing religious soldiers as a result of the integration of young women in IDF field units.

The process of full gender integration began in response to a Supreme Court decision from a decade ago and slowly spread to encompass almost the entire army. During this period of adjustment, the General Staff produced regulations regarding religious soldiers called the "Suitable Integration" guidelines. In the wake of recent events, many rabbis have recently questioned the effectiveness and consistency of the regulations.

During his appearance before the Chief Rabbinate, Rabbi Melamed described an incident from the beginning of February in which three soldiers in the Intelligence Corps were sentenced to 21 days in military prison for refusing to take part in an extended course with female instructors and participants. Despite the army guidelines that state specifically that soldiers must not be forced to serve in frameworks that negate their religious lifestyle, the soldiers were told they must participate in the course or face jail.  Choosing the latter, the three young men were tried and imprisoned; however, after serving 11 days, they were pardoned and released.

Participating in the special meeting of the committee were Chief Rabbi Metzger, Haifa's Chief Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Hacohen, Kiryat Ono Chief Rabbi Ratzon Arousi, Rehovot Chief Rabbi Simcha Hacohen Kook, and other members of the Chief Rabbinate.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the rabbis announced their disappointment that "soldiers who are studying or who graduated yeshivas, and for whom serving in mixed-gender units or participating in courses taught by women is contrary to their Halachic (Jewish law) and moral understanding, were imprisoned for refusing to act against their conscience."

The Chief Rabbinate is intending to consult further with the heads of the nation's Hesder yeshivas, as well as with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Defense, the IDF Chief of Staff and the IDF Chief Rabbi. Through the series of meetings, the Chief Rabbinate is hoping "to draft an appropriate and agreed-upon protocol that will prevent a conflict between a soldier's Halakhic and moral understanding and the obligation to maintain discipline and obedience in compulsory army service."

Leading Rabbis Write to Military Chiefs
Earlier this month, Chief Rabbi Metzger wrote to IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Ronsky in defense of the three aforementioned religious soldiers. At the time, he called upon the IDF Chief Rabbi to intervene on behalf of the soldiers, who, he wrote, behaved correctly.
Dozens of leading Zionist rabbis called on the army to stop forcing religious soldiers to participate in courses with female instructors.

"It is difficult to find justification for the severe punishment of a three-week jail sentence," Rabbi Metzger wrote, "and on the face of it, it looks like a disproportionate punishment which has the direct purpose of striking terror into the hearts of those who believe in a stricter Torah worldview."

In a separate and more recent letter to the IDF Chief of Staff and the Defense Minister, dozens of leading Zionist rabbis called on the army to stop forcing religious soldiers to participate in courses with female instructors.

"It is a unique mitzvah (commandment) for the soldiers of Israel to maintain a holy camp and modest behavior.... In contrast, in recent years there has been a decline in the army, with more courses taught by female instructors and more mixed-gender units," the rabbis wrote. They explained that such a situation poses greater Halakhic difficulties in the context of the army than in civilian frameworks.

The letter was signed by leading religious-Zionist rabbis, among them: Former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior, Beit-El Chief Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rabbi Avraham Zuckerman, head of the Bnei Akiva yeshiva network, and many others.

The Justice Ministry is striving to keep pace with the meteoric rise of mediation, or Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), in Israel.

For one thing, this past Monday it abruptly informed the Knesset Audit Committee that the procedure for including mediators on official court lists would now be drastically changed.  Until now, mediators who wished to be recommended by the courts as mediators in various cases would be required to fulfill three Justice Ministry requirements: A Bachelor's degree from a recognized Israeli college, five years of employment in one's profession, and a certificate from a recognized mediators' course of study. The 60-70 hour courses are offered throughout Israel, and cost roughly 3,000 shekels (some $850).

On Monday, the Justice Ministry announced that the regulations were no longer in effect - it was even stated that they were actually never legally in effect - and that courts would now choose on their own whom to recommend for future mediation. 

"There were several problems in the way things were run until now," Dr. Peretz Segal of the Justice Ministry told Arutz-7. "For one thing, there were too many people on the lists.  It will now be up to the individual mediators to take the initiative and show the courts why they feel they are qualified, and the courts will use their own judgment in deciding whom to recommend."

The regulations were actually in the midst of being challenged in the Supreme Court.  Two mediators with college degrees from universities outside Israel demanded to be included on the courts' lists.  Knesset committee sources estimated that this appeal was instrumental in the Justice Ministry's change of heart.

Dr. Segal also said that a new experimental program will be implemented in three cities, beginning this Sunday: "Litigants in all cases involving more than 50,000 shekels will be asked to consider mediation, rather than litigation.  If both sides agree, this will be a major step towards relieving to a considerable agree the heavy case loads facing the courts."

Segal said that the program will be implemented in the Magistrates Courts in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Jerusalem, for a trial period of two years. "The cases involving high sums are the ones that take up most of the court's time," he said, "and we want to see if mediators can handle these successfully."

Compromise in Jewish Law
In Jewish Law, compromise is often seen as preferable to litigation in which one side will emerge the loser.  In fact, the classic Shulkhan Arukh code of Jewish Law quotes the Talmud in ruling that judges must always offer litigants the option of compromise before beginning the case.

The profession of mediation can be applied to a variety of disputes, including commercial, legal, workplace, community and family matters. 

Currently, over 6,000 mediators are registered on the courts' official lists, with more in the midst of applying.  The courts are interested in promoting mediation, in the knowledge that theire 500 judges are unable to deal fast enough with the increasing litigation rate.

Divorce Mediation
Sara Silber, a Business and Divorce Mediator, has written, "In Israel, with the increase in the divorce rate and lawyers’ fees and the overcrowding of courtroom calendars, more and more divorcing couples are seeking and being referred by the courts to divorce mediation... With recognition of how mediation can help families cope with divorce in a much healthier and calmer way and how it can help maintain a low state of conflict rather than exacerbating it, it is foreseen that more and more divorcing couples will seek that process as their modality of choice when the decision has been made to break up the family."

Critics of the mediation system say that increasingly, lawyers are sent to the mediation sessions to represent the sides, such that mediation thus becomes just another aspect of litigation.  Dr. Segal rejects this: "If this happens, the lawyers themselves often realize that they are in the wrong place - because the mediator's goal, as opposed to the lawyers, is to identify each side's best interests." 

Artifacts from City of David excavations in Jerusalem reveal an interesting tidbit of information about the ancient postal system in Israel.

In an archaeological excavation being carried out at the “Spring House,” near the Gihon Spring in the City of David – in the valley east of Jerusalem’s Old City, soil was excavated which contained pottery shards that date to the Iron Age 2 (eighth century BCE).

“Whereas during the ninth century BCE, letters and goods were dispatched on behalf of their senders without names, by the eighth century BCE the clerks and merchants had already begun to add their names to the seals,” concluded the Antiquities Authority.

Wet sifting and sorting through the soil revealed three fragments of clay stamps used to seal letters or goods in ancient times. Two more stone seals were recently found as well. All of the objects bear Hebrew names and all date to the eighth century BCE.

Among them is a seal that was discovered intact, bearing the Hebrew name “Rephaihu (ben) Shalem”, who lived in the City of David in Jerusalem during this period. The seals were primarily used by public officials, according to Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who oversee the dig.

“In contrast with the large cluster of bullae (seals) that was found two years ago, in which all of its items contain graphic symbols (such as a boat or different animals – fish, lizards and birds) but are of an earlier date (end of the ninth-beginning of the eighth century BCE), the new items indicate that during the eighth century BCE the practice had changed and the clerks who used the seals began to add their own names to them.”

The Israel Antiquities Authority, together with the Nature and Parks Authority and the Elad Association, discovered the seals during ongoing intensive excavations being carried out on the eastern side of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah (NBN) organization is launching tailored seminars in areas with large Jewish populations in the US to better facilitate mass immigration.

The group’s “Enhanced Pre-Aliyah Informational Seminars” will include twelve sessions with various experts and professionals dealing with various aspects of immigrating to the Jewish state. NBN has tailored different seminars to some of the dominant demographic segments that are making the move.
 
The first round of tailored seminars will cater to young couples, retirees and physicians in the New York and New Jersey area. They will take place on Sunday, March 9 and will feature general seminars as well, geared for all individuals considering Aliyah.
 
“One of the ways that Nefesh B'Nefesh has revolutionized Aliyah planning is by sending its expert staff around the world offering professional and personal guidance and advice on all aspects of Aliyah to individuals considering the move,” organizers say. Indeed, despite being active in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom, nearly all of Nefesh B’Nefesh’s staff works out of its headquarters in Jerusalem’s Givat Sha’ul neighborhood.
 
NBN says the seminars are both for those “actively planning” as well as just “contemplating” Aliyah. The seminars will deal with specific issues such as employment, schooling, healthcare, government benefits, communities and housing. 
 
The seminars will include free baby-sitting, a move that is expected to allow families with many children to attend. That demographic, judging from the stream of young children disembarking from the organization’s charter flights, is well represented in the Aliyah movement.
 
“Due to the high importance of proper Aliyah planning, Nefesh B’Nefesh has made a concerted effort to reach out to anyone seeking advice on Aliyah, and provide as much qualitative information as possible,” Nefesh B’Nefesh Co-Founder and Executive Director Rabbi Yehoshua Fass explains. “At present, we are coordinating, customizing and implementing seminars across the three countries we operate in, in order to offer the best guidance and information possible as well as inspire any potential Olim to take the next step in realizing their dream of moving to Israel.”
 
To date, close to 30,000 North American and British Jews have attended Nefesh B'Nefesh pre-Aliyah informational seminars and the organization says that over 19,000 people have contacted them requesting guidance and support for making Aliyah in the near future.
 
Click here for a full listing of seminars and locations.