A near-lynch by an Arab mob in Jerusalem ended without casualties on Monday, as rioters confronted civilians and soldiers in several locales. Arab students at Israeli universities held pro-Palestinian Authority demonstrations as well.  Hundreds of policemen are on high-alert duty in the capital on Tuesday.

Israeli security sources say that the riots are not a spontaneous outpouring of rage over the events in Gaza, as they are often portrayed. Rather, the sources say, the unrest is organized and incited by those elements interested in "heating up" the Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria regions. Those behind the incitement are attempting to spark what some sources say may be a "third Intifada."

Rioting, rock-throwing and firebomb attacks by Arab mobs were reported in several locations in municipal
Had they been able to, the Arab attackers "would have lynched us, not just the car."
Jerusalem during the day. In one instance, two municipal workers escaped a lynch mob on Salah A-Din Street, a main road in the eastern part of the capital. On Monday night, they described the event to Mayor Uri Lupolianski. 

Inspectors Ephraim Moshe and Chaya Eliyahu said they were driving down the street when they realized the road was blocked by flaming dumpsters. They were forced to stop and their vehicle was then attacked by dozens of Arab men, who hurled rocks through the windows and hit the sides of the car with metal rods. The two managed to escape after driving onto the sidewalk.

Eliyahu said that had they been able to, the Arab attackers "would have lynched us, not just the car."

"There's nothing to do about it," said Moshe, "because of what's happening in Gaza, it's easiest for them to take it out on us." He called on Jerusalem's Jews not to give in and to continue to travel in all parts of the city.

Mayor Lupolianski said the incident was quite serious and he called on police to catch the perpetrators as quickly as possible. "The municipality will not give in, but rather will continue to enforce the law and to provide service to all residents of the city - Arabs and Jews," he said.

In other incidents, Arab rioters attacked Border Police officers with rocks on Monday night in the village of Kalandia, north of Jerusalem. Police responded by firing at attackers' legs, hitting one of the men. The injured rioter's condition is not known.

Near the village of El-Aroub, south of Jerusalem near Hevron, attackers threw Molotov cocktails at an Israeli car. No one was hurt in the incident. An Arab rock-thrower was shot in the same area earlier in the day by an IDF soldier. The wounded man was part of a mob that stood aside the Tunnels Highway and stoned cars, lightly injuring an Israeli citizen.

In other incidents, an IDF officer was lightly wounded during a violent Arab riot outside Kalkilye, east of Kfar Saba. The officer was evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital. Arabs also stoned a car west of Ramallah around noontime Monday, causing damage but no injuries.

Residents of the PA-controlled city of Ramallah held a large demonstration in support of Fatah, of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and against the Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Alongside the violent riots and confrontations, relatively peaceful demonstrations were held by Arab students on the campuses of Haifa University and Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The students waved PLO flags and held signs condemning what they called Israeli "atrocities" in counter-terrorism operations against rocket-launching teams in Gaza. A smaller counter-demonstration of Israeli patriots was also held at Hebrew University, with students waving the national flag. A noticeable police presence kept the noisy demonstrators separated across a main thoroughfare at the school.

Sderot residents awakened in the early morning light on Tuesday to the wail of the first Color Red rocket alert siren of the day.

Less than a half minute later, a Kassam rocket slammed into a house. The house was destroyed, but terrorists failed to hurt anyone in the attack, as no one was home. 

The house is one of hundreds abandoned by residents who have become disenchanted with the government’s failure to protect Sderot from the constant rocket attacks fired by Palestinian Authority terrorists in northern Gaza.

Within the hour, the IAF attacked two rocket-launching terrorist cells in separate strikes. Soldiers confirmed hits on both cells. The IDF said the attacks targeted terrorists who were launching rockets at Israel from areas north of Jabalya and east of Gaza City.

Two terrorists were eliminated in the IAF strikes. One was identified as Ayman Cahouji, a member of the Hamas terrorist organization that rules Gaza. The second dead terrorist was not identified.

Undeterred, Gaza terrorists continued their attacks, firing two Kassam rockets at southern Israel at mid-morning. One landed near Kibbutz Miflasim and the other exploded in Kibbutz Sa’ad.

No one was injured and no damage was reported.

Damage to the economy in Sderot and in other western Negev communities, however, has ballooned in the past year. The damage to just two of the area’s factories has reached NIS 12 million.

The Hollandia factory in Sderot reported Tuesday morning that it has lost NIS 10 million in direct sales and indirect business due to rocket fire and related damages. Most of the losses were incurred in the past 12 months, according to a report submitted by the company to the Manufacturers Association.  

Hadas Rice, CFO of Nahara Industries, reported a loss of NIS 1.8 million in damages to her company’s factory in the region. At least 20 percent of the workers at the Nahara factory have quit their jobs and left the area, she added. As a result, the manufacturer has been failing to meet its production deadlines.

Tuesday morning’s Kassam attack was fired from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, located less than a mile away from Sderot.

The IDF withdrew its forces from the area a scant 24 hours earlier.

Rocket launchers continued to launch their deadly attacks on the western Negev throughout the four-day intensive IDF military operation that eliminated more than 100 terrorists in Gaza since Thursday.

The coastal city of Ashkelon also became a new focal point for rocket attacks from Gaza, with terrorists using the longer-range Grad-type Katyusha rockets to hit targets in the coastal city. 

Military censors released for publication Tuesday morning the news that one of the Katyushas exploded close to the home of Public Security Minister Avi Dichter in Ashkelon sometime over the weekend.

A seven-story apartment building in Ashkelon sustained a direct hit by a Grad missile on Monday morning. A second missile exploded in a playground close to a nursery preschool.

The Home Front Command decided after the Grad missile attacks to expand its assistance in helping Ashkelon residents learn to protect themselves against terrorist attacks from Gaza.

The IDF scaled back its military activities in Gaza Monday morning despite ongoing rocket, mortar and missile attacks on Israel in a hiatus which sources in Jerusalem said was due to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's expected arrival in Jerusalem Tuesday.

The US Secretary of State is expected to meet with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and other PA officials in Ramallah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as well as other officials in Cairo.

Rice has backed Israel's right to defend itself, but called on the IDF to limit civilian casualties. Terrorists in Gaza have stepped up their attacks on Israel with hundreds of homemade Kassam rockets, mortar shells and Iranian-made Grad missiles since last week.

In retaliation, the IDF killed more than 100 terrorists and wounded hundreds more during its four-day "Operation Warm Winter." The multi-pronged attacks ended Monday when ground troops were withdrawn from northern Gaza.

Senior government sources said that the IDF's operations up to this point constituted "a very limited operation [that was] intended to show Hamas what could happen."
"Time is running out and we need the United States of America completely involved...

Rice is under increasing pressure to directly intervene in talks between Israel and the PA in view of the current impasse. Abbas announced Saturday night he was canceling talks with Israel until the IDF completely ceased counterterrorism operations in Gaza.

Jordanian King Abdullah II said last week in a speech at Princeton University that not much time remains for Rice to resolve the obstacles to a final agreement between Israel and the PA before President George W. Bush completes his term in office.

"Time is running out and we need the United States of America completely involved, to influence the course of discussions, monitor progress and help bridge the gaps to ensure a final agreement by the end of 2008," he said.

US author and Middle East analyst Aaron Miller told The New York Times on Monday that it will be impossible for Rice to resolve the issues between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Miller said Rice is "walking into a buzz saw," pointing out that any deal negotiated between Israel and the Fatah PA, it may be impossible to enforce.

"You cannot make peace with half of the Palestinian polity and go to war with the other half," he said. "This is beyond her capacity. Israel cannot make peace with a divided Palestine."

Although the government of PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas remains in control of Judea and Samaria, there also exists, in Gaza, the government ruled by Hamas terrorists who won the PA election in a landslide victory two years ago.

Hamas, which has vowed to destroy Israel, continues to maintain the stranglehold on Gaza it secured in its civil war with Fatah last June.

A more pressing matter is the question of how Israel can put an end to the increasing range and intensity of rocket attacks emanating from Gaza.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to discuss the dilemma faced by PA and Israeli negotiators when he meets with Rice in talks scheduled for Tuesday night.

Olmert met Monday with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and with the Security Cabinet as well to discuss the military's activities in Gaza thus far.

The IDF counterterrorism operations in the past several days "were not a one-time operation," he warned. "Everything is possible, [including] aerial and ground attacks. Everything is on the table for discussion." Dozens of rockets, mortars and missiles continued to rain down upon western Negev kibbutzim, towns and cities despite the extensive ground operations carried out since Thursday.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak echoed Olmert's words, emphasizing that the IDF is far from finished with the fight to end the attacks on southern Israel by Palestinian Authority terrorists in Gaza.

The Home Front Command has ordered the IDF to add 150 nursery school teachers to help preschool nurseries in Ashkelon manage their classrooms and help get their small charges safely to a bomb shelter during an attack.

The women soldiers will also instruct older students in elementary schools how to respond when the Color Red incoming rocket alert siren sounds.

An Iranian-made Grad missile fired by Palestinian Authority terrorists in northern Gaza narrowly missed a preschool nursery Monday morning. A second missile scored a direct hit on a seven-story apartment building. Three other buildings were also damaged by the blasts.

Thirty IDF teachers were also sent to the western Negev city of Sderot last week, where Arab terrorists have battered the city with more than 7,600 Kassams since the start of the Oslo War (second intifada) in 2000.

Color Red Incoming Missile Alert Broadcast on Radio
Ashkelon and other towns, cities and kibbutzim in the Negev will also be able to hear the Color Red alert siren – by radio.

Radio Darom, ("Radio South") a popular station in the Negev, announced Monday it will begin broadcasting on-air warnings during rocket attacks.

The broadcasts will be similar to the procedure used by Voice of Israel government radio during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, when programs were interrupted to warn residents of incoming missiles.

Radio Darom will also maintain on-air status overnight in order to allow the warnings to be aired during times when there is no regular programming.

The precise numbers are not yet being publicized, but a survey shows that the young generation of the Religious Kibbutz (HaKibbutz HaDati) Movement wants more religion.  This, in contrast with the popular perception of Religious Kibbutz members as being "moderate modern Orthodox."

The leaders of the movement are still studying the findings, and one of them told Arutz-7 they hope to have the full report out by the Pesach holiday, in mid-April. The preliminary findings were originally released in December, at a Kibbutz HaDati secretariat meeting at Kibbutz Merav in the Gilboa region, near Beit She'an.

The findings were presented as follows: The young generation wishes to become more religiously observant, and even to send their children to more religious schools.  In addition, they believe that a religious lifestyle should be a clear condition for acceptance into a kibbutz of the movement.  However, at the same time, they are not interested in extremism in terms of religious observance.

The survey included 600 residents or former residents of religious kibbutzim between the ages of 24 and 40.  It was designed to find what the respondents like and dislike about Religious Kibbutz life, and why those who left did so.  It also measured their approach to Religious Kibbutz ideology. 

In this last regard, it found some ambivalence, with a majority relating positively to the concepts of equality and non-luxurious living - but also hoping for a high standard of living and the ability to pass on their assets to their children.

The survey was carried out by Professors Miriam Billig of Ariel University Center and Yossi Katz of Bar Ilan University.

The Kibbutz HaDati movement includes three moshavim (Masuot Yitzchak, Bnei Darom, and Nir Etzion), as well as 16 kibbutzim.  Half of the latter - Tirat Tzvi, Merav, Maaleh Gilboa, Ein HaNetziv, Sdei Eliyahu, Beit Rimon, Lavi, and Shluchot - are in the Galil-Beit She'an area in northern Israel.  The others are Rosh Tzurim and Kfar Etzion in Gush Etzion; Yavneh, Be'erot Yitzchak, and Ein Tzurim in central Israel; and Saad and Alumim in the western Negev. Many of them were founded in the 1930's and 40's.

Even as Palestinian Authority terrorists continue to launch mortar and missile attacks at Israel, Jerusalem has given the go-ahead to open crossings into Gaza so trucks can deliver medical and other supplies to the region.

For the second time in three days, truckloads of humanitarian aid made their way from Israel into Gaza through the Sufa Crossing.

In addition, Israeli officials approved passage through the Kerem Shalom Crossing. It is the first time the terminal has been open since a spate of terror alerts seven weeks ago prompted the IDF to close the crossing.

Early Tuesday morning, 80 trucks rumbled through the two terminals and into southern Gaza carrying medications and other medical supplies.

Sixty of the trucks passed through the Sufa Crossing with supplies donated by Jordan and Turkey. Two days earlier, Israel sent 62 trucks loaded with cases of fresh units of blood as well as basic food stuffs such as flour, sugar, salt and oil.

Twenty more trucks laden with other humanitarian supplies drove through the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The decision by Major-General Yosef Mishlav, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, to open the crossings for delivery of supplies into Gaza came after a request by PA Health Minister Fathi Abu Mogli.  According to a report by The Jerusalem Post, the PA official specifically requested supplies from Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals firm.

Hospitals in Gaza have complained they are overloaded with people wounded in clashes between PA terrorists and IDF forces, seriously taxing doctors’ ability to treat those who arrive in their emergency rooms.

Egypt opened its border at the Rafiah crossing Sunday to allow 150-200 sick and wounded Gaza residents to enter the country for medical care.

On Monday, two Israeli hospitals accepted seriously ill patients and wounded Gaza residents for advanced treatment as well.

A bill submitted by MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima) regulating when a person can be declared brain-dead has passed its first Knesset reading.

The bill is a historic one, as it may finally put to rest a decades-long dispute between the rabbinical and medical establishments - a dispute based on mutual mistrust that has prevented many would-be organ donors from willing their post-death organs to others.

The Chief Rabbinate ruled in 1986 that heart transplants could be carried out only when the donor was declared to be brain-dead by a medical committee including a doctor knowledgeable in Jewish Law.  The doctors refused to accept this condition, however, and because many would-be donors could not be certain that their future deaths would be determined in accordance with Jewish Law, they withdrew their intentions to donate their organs.

The new bill has seemingly solved these problems, says MK Schneller, a religious Jew who lives in the Shomron . His proposed legislation states that brain-death will be determined not merely by the doctors who happen to be on the scene, but rather by two doctors who have been authorized and trained to do so by a special Health Ministry committee.  The committee is to comprise three doctors; three rabbis recommended by the Chief Rabbinate, one of whom is a doctor; and representatives of the ethics, philosophy, and legal disciplines, including a religious non-Jew.

In addition, family members are to receive all the documentation relating to their loved one's death, upon which they may base their own final decision - in consultation with their rabbi or religious leader, if they wish - as to whether to allow his or her organs to be harvested.

Not all rabbis agree that brain-death is the main criterion for determining death.  Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leading sage of the hareidi-religious public, recently re-released his ruling stating that if the heart is still beating, brain-death is not sufficient to allow harvesting of organs. 

Schneller explained that the law does not force anyone to accept any particular definition of death, and that for this reason, hareidi opposition to the law has been lukewarm.  "In the preliminary Knesset vote," he told Arutz-7, "the hareidi MKs were against, and in the next vote [known as the first reading - ed.], one of them abstained.  I hope that this trend will continue."

Schneller said he is now working on final adjustments to the bill - he has had much input from rabbis, doctors, and other experts - and that he hopes the bill will be passed within a month or so.

MK Schneller admitted that having brain-death serve as the sole determining factor could sometimes delay the determination of death and sometimes speed it up. "Brain-death has generally been shown scientifically to be the moment of death," he said, "but again, the law specifies that not everyone must accept this criterion."

In light of the splintered national-religious Knesset factions, seniors from two yeshiva high schools have initiated an ultimatum: Unite, or it's likely we won't vote for you.

The petition was initiated by the seniors of two prestigious yeshiva high schools: Kfar HaRoeh near Hadera, Israel's first yeshiva high school, and Ulpanat Tzviyah in Herzliya for girls.

"We could be silent no longer," the petition states, "for the sake of the People of Israel... We demand that the [religious-Zionist] Knesset Members unite, or else we will seriously consider not voting for you in the next election."

The multi-faceted nature of the religious-Zionist political camp has long been an issue.  There is currently one religious-Zionist party in the Knesset - the National Union-National Religious Party (NU-NRP) - but it is comprised of four different factions: The NRP and the three parties that make up the National Union.  The party's four members are thus the following:
The goal of Achi is to unite the other parties into one, but has so far not succeeded in arousing the interest of the others.


• The NRP, the most senior member. Essentially the successor to the original Mizrachi party, it once boasted as many as 12 MKs on its own (in the 9th Knesset, from 1977 to 1981). It held a registration drive three years ago that garnered 70,000 members. It is headed by MK Zevulun Orlev; its other MKs are Eli Gabbai and Nissan Slomiansky.

• Tekumah, founded in 1998 by former MK Chanan Porat and others, and a long-time member of the National Union.  Its policy is largely determined by a board of three leading religious-Zionist rabbis. Its MKs today are Tzvi Hendel (formerly of the NRP) and Uri Ariel.

• Moledet, founded by the late Rehavam Ze'evi in time for the 1992 elections, when it won 3 Knesset seats - its best showing.  Comprising both religious and not religious members, its MKs are party leader Rabbi Benny Elon and Aryeh Eldad.

• Achi, whose MKs are Effie Eitam and Yitzchak Levy, both formerly of the NRP.  The goal of Achi is to unite the other parties into one, but has so far not succeeded in arousing the interest of the others.

Further muddling the picture are two other nationalist movements: The Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction of the Likud, and HaTikvah. The former boasts roughly 10,000 members, a strong presence in the Likud Central Committee, and an expectation of 1-2 Knesset Members in the next Knesset.  HaTikvah, only a few months old, was created for what one of its founders, Dr. Ron Breiman, calls the "secular orange [right-wing] camp."  Among its supporters are MK Aryeh Eldad.

"In light of the especially difficult situation facing our beloved and only country," the students write, "we see the MKs of the NU-NRP as the right ones to lead the country to better times.  But this objective will certainly not be reached with divisions, arguments, and fights. We therefore call upon them to unite immediately.  They must decide, in whatever manner they choose, to choose their representatives and leaders.  The key to success is simple and clear: Unity, mutual respect, and consensus."

The union between the NRP and the National Union was achieved, after much toil and hard work to overcome significant differences between the various sides, just in time for the last national election. 

The students are scheduled to meet with some of the MKs in question; the date has been set for March 31.

Eighteen new immigrant couples from the B'nei Menashe clan of northeastern India, who claim descent from a "lost tribe" of Israel, were married Sunday in simultaneous ceremonies in Jerusalem's Great Synagogue. Several hundred guests, including friends, family and loved ones, attended the festive affair.

Three of the couples
Shavei Israel

The 18 couples are among a group of 230 B'nei Menashe who came on Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) from India in August of last year. Their immigration was organized and facilitated by the Shavei Israel organization, which reaches out and assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. Shavei Israel founder Michael Freund organized the multiple weddings on Sunday, which were supervised by Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, the rabbi of Shavei Israel.

More of the couples
Shavei Israel

According to Freund, the weddings were a unique and special event: "For the first time, 18 B'nei Menashe couples - equal to chai ['life' in numerical equivalent - ed.] - [married] in a joint ceremony under the wedding canopy in Jerusalem. This symbolizes their successful absorption into Jewish and Israeli society, and we wish the couples a lot of joy and success," he said.

Smashing the glass
Shavei Israel

Two of 18 brides
Shavei Israel

Another two of 18 brides
Shavei Israel

The B'nei Menashe claim descent from the tribe of Menashe, one of the ten tribes exiled from the Land of Israel by the Assyrian empire over 2,700 years ago. They reside primarily in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh. In recent years alone, over 1,400 members of the community have made aliyah, thanks largely to the efforts of Shavei Israel. Another 7,000 Bnei Menashe are still in India, waiting to come to Israel.

The existence of the Bnei Menashe, known in India as the Manmassi tribe, was publicized in the Jewish world about 30 years ago by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichayil. When it was observed that the tribe's members maintained certain ancient traditions unlike any observed in the Indian subcontinent, investigation revealed that the rituals were of Jewish origin.

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar sent a delegation of two rabbinic judges to India about three years ago to conduct a thorough investigation of the community and its origins. After a review of their findings, it was decided that the Bnei Menashe are in fact descendants of Israel and should be drawn closer to the Jewish people.

When the recent group of new immigrants arrived from India in August, Rabbi Birnbaum said that the B'nei Menashe have been keeping the Jewish mitzvot, or rules and commandments, for at least the last four decades. He also stressed that the immigrants were well off materially in India and came to Israel because of Zionism.

The 18 couples
Shavei Israel

Shavei Israel works with various groups around the world, such as the Bnei Menashe, the B'nai Anousim ("Marranos") of Spain, Portugal and South America, the Subbotnik Jews of Russia, and the "Hidden Jews" of Poland from the time of the Holocaust. The organization also engages in the absorption of new Olim in Israel, including providing assistance with housing, employment and professional training. 

For more about the organization, visit: www.shavei.org.