Speaking with Arabic-language Radio Sawa, based in Washington and Dubai, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice went further in her demands on Israel than President Bush did in his recent speech on Israel.

Rice, about to depart for the Middle East to prepare an upcoming international meeting of regional leaders, said that President Bush recently stated "very clearly that Israel's future will rest in Israel, in places like Galilee and in the Negev - and that the occupation of the West Bank will have to end, and a Palestinian state will need to be established."

In fact, however, in his recent speech, President Bush did not phrase this as a demand upon Israel, but rather cited Prime Minister Olmert as having "made clear that Israel's future lies in developing areas like the Negev and Galilee - not in continuing occupation of the West Bank. This is a reality that Prime Minister Sharon recognized, as well. So unauthorized outposts should be removed and settlement expansion ended."

Rice Sets New Standard
Pres. Bush also stopped short of saying Israel must withdraw from all of Judea and Samaria.  Bush said rather that future Israel-PA negotiations must "lead to a territorial settlement, with mutually agreed borders reflecting previous lines and current realities, and mutually agreed adjustments."

By stating so clearly that the "the occupation of the West Bank will have to end," Rice has set a new standard for United States officials of her stature in opposition to Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria.

Secretary Rice did not deal with the question of what to do with the 240,000 Jews living in the non-annexed areas of Judea and Samaria (nor the roughly equal amount living in the outlying neighborhoods of Jerusalem beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders).  Israel has not yet been able to solve the problems of the fewer than 10,000 Jews it evicted from Gaza two years ago; those Jews are still living in transient camps of temporary pre-fab houses, with no long-term housing or employment solutions in sight.

No Invitations Yet
Secretary Rice also told Radio Sawa that "no invitations have gone out yet" for the planned meeting.  "I want to talk to our allies in the region and our friends in the region about how they see and what they would see to be a useful international meeting," she said.  "[It] will be, as the President said, an opportunity to review our progress. It will be an opportunity to make commitments to support the Israelis and Palestinians in their discussions, in their future negotiations... The United States doesn't want Made-in-America solutions. We need the entire population of states that are devoted to the two-state solution to work with us. And so these will be very important consultations."

Bush: Hamas - Bad, Fatah - Great
President Bush, in his speech ten days ago, compared Hamas and Fatah in stark terms, painting a picture of contrasts in which the Arabs under PA jurisdiction can, seemingly, choose either evil (Hamas) or good (Fatah).

"This is a moment of clarity for all Palestinians," Bush said," and now comes a moment of choice... There is the vision of Hamas, which the world saw in Gaza - with murderers in black masks, and summary executions, and men thrown to their death from rooftops. By following this path, the Palestinian people would guarantee chaos, and suffering, and the endless perpetuation of grievance. They would surrender their future to Hamas's foreign sponsors in Syria and Iran. And they would crush the possibility of a Palestinian state."

"There's another option," Bush continued, "and that's a hopeful option. It is the vision of [Fatah] President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad; it's the vision of their government; it's the vision of a peaceful state called Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people. To realize this vision, these leaders are striving to build the institutions of a modern democracy. They're working to strengthen the Palestinian security services, so they can confront the terrorists and protect the innocent... And they're ensuring that Palestinian society operates under the rule of law. By following this path, Palestinians can reclaim their dignity and their future -- and establish a state of their own."

Rampant Fatah Terrorism and Hatred
In fact, however, Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have actually taken responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the past three years.  Just this week, WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein reports, Fatah terrorists organized yet another terrorist cell in Samaria for attacks against Israel.  In addition, the 178 wanted Fatah terrorists whom Israel agreed to pardon last week if they would renounce terrorism described their hand-in of weapons as a "big joke."

Interestingly, Bush noted that Hamas men threw Fatah members out of apartment buildings during their recent battles, but neglected to mention that Fatah did the same to Hamas members.

As Caroline Glick wrote in the Jerusalem Post on Dec. 26, 2006, "If Abbas were interested in peace, he would not be demanding that Israel [do the following]: release terrorists from prison; stop arresting wanted terrorists; make it easier for terrorists to operate in Judea and Samaria by suspending IDF counterterror operations and taking down roadblocks; bring more terrorists into the areas from Jordan; arm terrorists through Egypt; and give him money to pay the salaries of terrorists."

Former Israeli Cabinet Minister Natan Sharansky succintly described the cultural milieu in the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority as one that “promotes genocide” against Jews: “As in Nazi Germany, there is an entire culture of hatred in Palestinian Arab society today, from textbooks to crossword puzzles, from day camps to TV music videos.  Calling for the murder of Jews, as Jews, is the end result.”

The general strike which brought the country to a halt and threatened to disrupt air travel at the peak of the season has ended with the Finance Ministry compromising with the Histadrut Labor Union.

The strike was called off at 5 AM Thursday after lasting for 23 hours, just ahead of the 6 AM deadline at which point Ben Gurion Airport employees were to join in walking off the job. Following all-night marathon meetings between Finance Minister Roni Bar-On and Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini, the government agreed to a 5 percent pay raise for public-sector workers – more than its initial offer of one percent, but half of the ten percent initially demanded by the Histadrut. The pay raise will be implemented incrementally, as follows: 1.5% in January 2008, another 1.5% in December 2008, and 2% in December 2009.  Other minor benefits were also agreed upon.

Both Eini and Bar-On expressed satisfaction at the agreement, offering each other mutual compliments.  "I praise the Finance Minister," Eini said.  "This is a revolutionary day for the workers who have suffered only pay cuts over the past six years, and now will finally get a raise." 

Bar-On, who assumed the post of Finance Minister only this month, said he was happy that a balance had been found "between the workers' needs and the economy's budgetary capacities, in a manner that will allow the economy to continue to grow."  He praised Eini for his "patience and responsibility."

The one-day strike shut down trains, postal services, border crossings, seaports and government offices. The Histadrut made an exception for Sderot and other Gaza-area municipalities and emergency services, allowing them to continue working.

The shutdown of the airport, which would have taken place at the peak of the tourist season, was delayed for a day and now, to the relief of tens of thousands of travelers, will not take place at all.

Ahead of the deadline, airport authorities approved the early takeoff of 120 flights, departing every three minutes, with passengers told to arrive at the airport five hours early to navigate through the mobbed check-in counters.

As night fell on Givat HaEitam, hundreds of Land of Israel activists had reached the top of the hill despite use of force by IDF soldiers and police to prevent their ascent.

Click here for photo essay

Givat HaEitam is the northern most hill of the Efrat Municipality, a south Jerusalem suburb, and was approved as part of the city's limits. Israel's Housing Ministry originally planned to build 2,500 Jewish housing units on the hill. All of that changed when the architects of Israel's Partition Wall planned the route to truncate Givat HaEitam from the rest of Efrat, leaving it on PA-controlled Bethlehem's side of the wall.

Jews from all over the country answered the call to protest the shrinking of Efrat and came out Wednesday to establish a Jewish presence on Givat HaEitam. The Partition Wall is not yet built there, and protestors hope that as a result of their actions, the route will be changed to incorporate Givat HaEitam back into Efrat as per original plans.

MK Aryeh Eldad was at the protests and attempted to lower tensions and relay a report to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter about what was happening.

The activists came to create a new community at the site. 13 people have been arrested, including Baruch Marzel, the head of the Jewish Front movement, who is being held on suspicion that he incited youths to enter a closed military zone, and Rabbi Moshe Levinger, the father of the renewed Jewish community in Hevron. At least two women were among those arrested.

The event's organizers said that hundreds of people continue to stream up the hill and that those who reached the top had begun building a stone structure. Security forces chased down the protestors detaining busloads of them. Police struck some activists and twisted arms, despite the event being one of civil disobedience.

"The ascenders, including old people and women, are being beaten with no justification by the IDF and the police," the organizers claimed. They said that Rabbi Levinger was also beaten by police.
'The ascenders, including old people and women, are being beaten with no justification by the IDF and the police.'

Faced with an onslaught of Border Guard policemen and Yasam Special Force Units, the activists scattered in the fields and reorganized in groups of about 30 each before attempting the ascent again.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, Rabbi Moshe Levinger of Hevron, Rabbi Gidon Perl and Rabbi Shimon Golan encouraged the civilians to continue in their peaceful action of establishing a Jewish presence on the barren hill.

Activists in Efrat said earlier Wednesday that the IDF should not have deployed large forces to fight them. "It is a national disgrace that in order to prevent the ascent to Eitam, the Yehuda Regiment assembled a large force that includes two infantry battalions, a reconnaissance unit and hundreds of police officers, including YASAM (SWAT) teams," they said. "This force should be used against terrorists and crime families and not against Jews," the HaEitam Headquarters said.

Security forces claim the community on HaEitam Hill is an "illegal outpost."

IsraelNationalRadio Showhost Jeremy Gimpel was amongst those detained temporarily. He said:

"Three guards were watching over our group of detained activists. One guard was from Russia, one from Ethiopia, and one from Kazakhstan. I pointed out to them that I am from the US, and they are each from their respective countries. What brings us together is that we are brothers who have returned to Zion to establish a Jewish presence in our Holy Land after 2,000 years. I continued talking to them about the importance of strengthening Israel through settlement, through Jewish brotherly love, and through a return to Torah values. Suddenly, a 4th guard, apparently a Druze Arab, came over and shouted at me to shut up. The three guards shouted back, however, and insisted that I continue to talk to them."

The HaEitam project is only the opening shot in a large scale campaign of renewal that the activists are planning to put into motion. The organization "Yishuv Achshav" (Settlement Now) is a coalition of organizations that include the Land of Israel Faithful, Youth for the Land of Israel, Women in Green and the Action Committees for Hevron and Kiryat Arba.

The organizers say that groups of families will settle on different hills in Judea and Samaria, with the purpose of building new communities in the Land of Israel. "This is our answer to the ongoing policy of surrendering to the enemy," they said. "We will ascend HaEitam Hill, establish roots in it and declare: 'we shall continue to build you, Land of Israel!'"

"Two years after the terrible eviction of our brothers from Gush Katif and northern Samaria," they lamented, "Gaza has become Hamastan. Sderot and nearby communities are bombarded." Despite the fact that "anyone with half a brain" now realizes that handing over parts of the homeland to the enemy endangers the country," they said, "our political leaders intend to surrender, retreat, give up, hand over more and drive [us] away. Instead of trying to strengthen the People of Israel and defeating the Arab enemy endangering our existence on its own territory, the government busies itself day and night with attempts to set up a terror state in Judea and Samaria."

The Likud Party primaries campaigns are in full swing, with a third contender joining Binyamin Netanyahu and Moshe Feiglin in the bid to lead the party.

Feiglin, who heads the Jewish Leadership (Manhigut Yehudit) faction within the Likud, kicked off his campaign Wednesday at Jerusalem’s Renaissance Hotel. The former protest leader said that he fully intends to win the race, having received a  “strong message from Israelis that they want leadership that can look the people in the eyes – leadership that it’s possible to trust and believe in…The people deserve a leadership that has a G-d. The people of Israel want this.”

The underdog candidate said that the panic within the Netanyahu camp proves that victory is truly within reach. "The victory will come. We can feel it in the air and in the hysteria of the other side,” he said. “We are not playing games anymore. We intend to win this time. We have to win this time.”

The campaign-launch included addresses by diverse members of the Jewish Leadership faction.

Netanyahu Unveils Slogan
Buses and billboards across the country feature a simple photo of a sharply-dressed and groomed Netanyahu with the slogan “Israel Chooses to Succeed.” The slogan refers to Netanyahu’s performance as Finance Minister under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, during which he is credited for bringing about economic reform.

Feiglin commented on Netanyahu’s slogan, saying that financial success and high-tech prowess can be achieved anywhere in the world. Feiglin’s slogan is “Because he has a G-d” – a reference to his faction’s insistence that a leadership of faith is necessary to get Israel through these troubled times, as well as to a Hebrew idiom oft-heard on the radio and TV referring to incorrigibly corrupt politicians as “not having a G-d.”

Third Candidate Joins Race
A third candidate who just recently decided to join the race is Danny Danon, head of the World Likud party and former leader of the Betar Movement.
 
Danon launched his campaign with a full-frontal attack on Netanyahu for attempting to relinquish the Golan Heights during his term as Prime Minister. He appeared at the Western Wall Tuesday, during the Tisha B’Av holiday, handing out bumper stickers reading “Assad is waiting for Bibi.” Political campaigning is forbidden at the Western Wall.

The seasoned politician, who represents the Likud in the World Zionist Organization, has been raising money from evangelical Christian sources for use in the race against Feiglin and Netanyahu. Danon defended the practice, saying “I prefer to receive contributions from Jews and Christians who share my ideology than from people who have a financial interest.”

Manhigut Yehudit reiterated its policy of only accepting donations from Jews and those who accept the seven Noahide laws.

An Arab terrorist who tried to stab IDF soldiers in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, was clubbed by a soldier and died later of his wounds.  It occurred shortly after it was announced that Israel had secretly allowed a shipment of rifles to the Palestinian Authority.

Around 10:30 Thursday morning, a 21-year-old terrorist approached several IDF soldiers near Tekoa in eastern Gush Etzion.  The forces reported that the terrorist then unsheathed a knife and tried to stab one of the soldiers.  Another soldier was about to shoot him, but was afraid that he might hit a soldier near him - and so he beat him with his club instead.  An IDF paramedic force arrived to give him medical treatment, but the terrorist died of his wounds.

Arab sources reported that the terrorist was never close to the soldiers, and that he was mentally retarded.  Israel responded that even if so, this did not reduce the danger he presented. His body was handed over to the Red Crescent.

On this backdrop, it was learned Thursday that the government had approved the transfer of 3,000 guns - some reports said 1,000 - from Jordan to the Palestinian Authority forces in Jericho.  "This is an irresponsible move by [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak," said Likud MK and faction chief Gideon Saar.  "It is based on total ignoring of our past experience and lessons, which show that the guns will be used against Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers. Fatah has no lack of weapons."

The Israel Air Force fired at a Kassam rocket launching cell late Thursday morning, hitting at least one terrorist and destroying the launchers. Further to the south early Thursday afternoon, Arabs in Gaza fired an anti-tank shell at IDF forces, causing no injuries or damage.

The High Court of Justice decided Wednesday to issue a three-week injunction against implementation of the plea bargain agreement signed by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and former President of Israel Moshe Katzav.

A five-judge panel headed by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch gave the prosecution 21 days in which to justify the plea bargain it had fashioned. The plea deal drops all rape charges and includes no sexual felonies. Instead, Katzav is to plead guilty to lesser charges of sexual misdemeanors.

The plea bargain, which must be approved by the court, could be scuttled if the prosecution cannot convince the court it was justified. The court intervention is seen by some as a slap in the face to the Attorney General. If the bargain is annulled, it would be the first time that the Supreme Court interfered in this way in the Attorney General's decision-making.

President Beinisch grilled prosecution attorney Shai Nitzan about the plea bargain and asked him why the prosecution could not have charged Katzav with the offense of "consensual forbidden intercourse" in the case of the woman who worked in the President's Residence. This law in the Israeli penal code makes it possible to convict a man for having intercourse with a female subordinate even if she participated in it willingly or initiated it.

Nitzan said that the woman – known by the initial Aleph – had "told us about forcible rapes and se
A Katzav attorney said that the decision would hasten the decline of the entire Israeli legal system.
nt us to [interview] her friends, but they said that she had told them of a passionate love affair." When Nitzan said that the prosecution feared there was a high chance of an acquittal if it pressed forward with severe charges, Beinisch cryptically retorted that his job was to assess the chances of achieving a guilty verdict, not the chances of an aqcuittal.

Two of former President Moshe Katzav's lawyers, Avi Lavi and Avigdor Feldman, told reporters that the plea bargain in the case is not yet dead.

"We respect the decision by the court, which is interested in hearing further explanations of why the plea bargain was struck," they said: "We believe that one cannot deduce from this regarding the final decision, and that at the end of the day the court will find that the arrangement is proper and balanced and will not intervene in the Attorney General's decision."

However, a third attorney for Katzav, Tzion Amir, was visibly angry as he left the court, and said that the decision would hasten the decline of the entire Israeli legal system.

An attorney for "Aleph", Kinneret Barashi, said that the High Court had "opened the gates of justice before us," and Tziona Kenig Yair of the Women's Lobby - one of the petitioners to the High Court - said the decision was a historic one.

Meretz MKs Yossi Beilin, Ran Cohen and Zehava Gal-On were the first politicians to comment on the High Court's decision to stay the plea bargain between former President Moshe Katzav and the prosecution.

MK Beilin called upon the prosecution to "check itself thoroughly and decide if it is willing to continue to stand behind the deal." 

MK Cohen called the High Court's decision "dramatic" and said that the Attorney General now has no choice but to draw the necessary conclusion, that the plea bargain is not reasonable and improper, and should be hidden away and forgotten as soon as possible." MK Gal-On, too, called upon Mazuz to dump the bargain.

Three boxes of documents belonging to Israel Kastner were presented to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem this week. Negotiations between Kastner and Nazi Leader Adolph Eichmann to free Jews in exchange for cooperation from Kastner remain controversial to this day.

The private archives, comprising three boxes of letters of correspondence with Nazi officials, Jewish organizations and families, were presented in an official ceremony on Sunday.  In attendance were Kastner's daughter, his granddaughter Merav Michaeli (a popular television personality who MC'ed the event), survivors of the “Kastner Train,” and others.

The papers, which also document Holocaust rescue efforts of the Relief and Rescue Committee in Budapest,  were given to the Holocaust museum by the historian Dov Dinur.  Dinur received them in 1981 to help him research the Kastner Affair. 

The Controversy
Kastner has long been a controversial figure in Israeli history. A leader of the Zionist movement in Hungary during World War II and the co-chairman of the Relief and Rescue Committee, Kastner aided Jewish refugees who reached Hungary during the first years of World War II. 

In April 1944, a month after the invasion of Hungary by the Germans, the Committee began talks with the Nazis regarding the saving of Hungarian Jews in exchange for money, goods, military equipment and cooperation.  These negotiations took place under the shadow of the deportations of over a hundred thousand Hungarian Jews to death camps.  In June 1944, a trainload of 1,684 Jews traveled to safety in Switzerland.  A Yad Vashem statement says the negotiations also resulted in the diversion of 20,000 Hungarian Jews to an Austrian labor camp, preventing their expulsion to extermination camps.

In 1954, Kastner was accused by Malkiel Grunwald of having collaborated with the Nazis, and Grunwald was sued for libel.  Grunwald claimed that Kastner struck a deal with the Nazis whereby he could handpick the 1,684 Jews to be saved on a train to Switzerland in exchange for encouraging the rest of Hungarian Jewry to get on the trains to the death camps.

Concluding a two-year trial that gripped the nation, Judge Binyamin HaLevi acquitted Grunwald and found that Kastner had "sold his soul to the German Satan."

In 1958, Israel's Supreme Court overturned most of the judgment - a year after Kastner's assassination by a Holocaust survivor.

Some consider Kastner a hero who should be credited with the saving of the nearly 1,700 Jews on the "Kastner train."  Yad Vashem Chairman Yosef Tommy Lapid, a former government minister and founder of the anti-religious and now-defunct Shinui party, said at the ceremony that Kastner was one of the Holocaust's great heroes.  “There was no man in the history of the Holocaust who saved more Jews, and was subjected to more injustice than Israel Kastner,” Lapid said. “This is an opportunity to do justice to a man who was misrepresented and was a victim of a vicious attack that led to his death.”

Others, however, agree with Grunwald, who accused Kastner of a series of unforgivable crimes: "costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews;" testifying in Nuremburg in defense of SS Col. Kurt Becher, a high-ranking Gestapo official and murderer; saving "no fewer than 52 of his relatives, and… people with connections," and "making a fortune in the process;" saving many of his own townspeople; and of agreeing to keep quiet about the fate of the other tens or hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews who were murdered.

Kastner was serving as spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Trade when Grunwald published his charges in the form of a pamphlet.  Representing one side of the long-running controversy, his lone daughter Suzanne said at the ceremony, "I think the State of Israel has finally retrieved some of its lost honor over this entire affair."

A7 Radio's "Alex Traiman Show"

The day after Tisha B'Av is a time for reflection on how we personally can rebuild the Temple both physically and figuratively. What is the dynamic between faith in Hashem and taking initiative and how doe sit relate to Israeli current events?

Listen Now

or

Download

  How to use XML?

For more A7 Radio visit IsraelNationalRadio.com