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1. Rice Fried for Mideast Mess
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Former United States Foreign Service Officer Norman Olsen has blamed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for misguided policies that he and his Gaza activist son say put Hamas in power.

Writing in the Christian Science Monitor, Olsen and his son Matthew also revealed that the U.S. State Department is so deeply involved in the Palestinian Authority that it financed Fatah in its election campaign against Hamas.

The senior Olsen worked for the Foreign Office for 26 years, including four years in Gaza as a counselor for the American Embassy in Tel Aviv.

"Hamas never called for the elections that put them in power. That was the brainstorm of Secretary Rice and her staff," he and his son, who runs peace programs, wrote in the Monitor Monday morning.

Olsen maintained that Rice and her aides "had apparently decided they could steer Palestinians into supporting the more-compliant Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction through a marketing campaign that was to counter Hamas's growing popularity.'

Reflecting the traditional career diplomat view, he added that Rice's policy ignored "continued Israeli settlement construction, land confiscation, and cantonization [si of the West Bank [Judea and Samaria -ed."

The Olsen father and son team reported that their Fatah contacts in Gaza as well as Israelis are living in fear because of the current violence, "but it didn't have to be this way; we could have talked instead of fought."

The writers blamed the American-sponsored PA legislative election in 2006 for leading to the Hamas coup last year that resulted in the closure of Gaza crossings and a general economic collapse in Gaza.

They also revealed how deep the State Department is involved in political affairs in the Middle East. "State Department staffers helped finance and supervise the Fatah campaign, down to the choice of backdrop color for the podium where '[PA Chairman Mah Abbas was to proclaim victory," they wrote.

"An adviser working for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) explained to incredulous staffers at the Embassy in Tel Aviv how he would finance and direct elements of the campaign, leaving no U. S. fingerprints. USAID teams, meanwhile, struggled to implement projects for which Abbas could claim credit," the Olsens added.

The American strategy was to pave the way for Mohammed Dahlan, Fatah's strong man and "warlord" on Gaza, to destroy Hamas's terrorist brigades.

"Rice was reportedly blindsided when she heard the news of Hamas's victory during her 5:00 a.m. treadmill workout," the Olsens recalled.

From that point, everything went downhill, according to their analysis. "She immediately insisted that the Quartet [the U.S., European Union, United Nations, and Rus ban all contact with Hamas and support Israel's economic blockade of Gaza…. The isolation was supposed to turn angry Palestinians against an ineffective Hamas."

As for Dahlan, who they said U.S. President George W. Bush considered "our guy," he "roamed Gaza, demanding protection money from businesses and individuals, erecting checkpoints to extort bribes, terrorizing Dahlan's opponents within Fatah, and attacking Hamas members.

"Finally, in mid-2007, faced with increasing chaos and the widely-known implementation of a U.S.-backed militia, Hamas – the lawfully elected government – struck first. They routed the Fatah gangs, securing control of the entire Gaza Strip, and established civil order. "

The Olsens also compared the failed American policy of trying to defeat Hamas with "Washington's Lebanese clients" who were supposed to turn on Hizbullah.

Their conclusion parallels the career State Department attitude that the Americans are the only ones who can put an end to the Arab-Israeli struggle and can do so by talking with Arabs on all issues, including the status of Jerusalem, as the right formula for peace.

They advised President-elect Barack Obama to name a "peace envoy" with authority over American missions in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and over American contacts with Israel and the PA.
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2. NATO Chief Meets Israeli Leaders
by Avraham Zuroff

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met Sunday in his Jerusalem office with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and discussed with him the situation in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead.

The Prime Minister described the security situation in the area and the continuing threat to residents of the south, which led the government to decide to embark on the operation, and said, "For seven years, our residents suffered from rockets being fired at them. Do you know of any other country that is prepared to tolerate such a thing? To not respond when its residents were under daily attack?"

NATO Secy.-Gen. Scheffer said that he could understand Israel's desire to defend its residents but expressed concern over the killing of innocents in Gaza. Prime Minister Olmert replied that the State of Israel is doing much in the humanitarian sphere – by opening crossings for the passage of goods into the Gaza Strip and withholding fire if there are tangible concerns that civilians might be hit. "Pilots relate how they refrained from attacking rocket launchers only because there were unidentified people nearby whom they preferred not to shoot at," the Prime Minister responded.

Prime Minister Olmert thanked NATO Secy.-Gen. Scheffer for NATO's cooperation with Israel: "Israel stands behind NATO and fully supports its struggle against terrorism, just as we expect that you will understand us in our struggle against terrorism. The difference between us is that while you are fighting terrorism even if your territory is not in immediate danger, we are defending our territory and our citizens, who are being attacked on a daily basis."

Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni earlier met on Sunday with the NATO secretary-general. They spoke together about mutual ways to cooperate in a war on terrorism, and discussed actions to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

In reaction to Livni's hopes for cooperation in preventing smuggling into Gaza, Secretary-General Scheffer stated that NATO has no plans for a peacekeeping force to supervise any ceasefire in Gaza.

The NATO chief told an audience at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies on Sunday that NATO would be willing to play a peacekeeping role only if there existed a full-scale peace agreement, consent from both sides, and a UN mandate. He predicted that those conditions would not be ripe any time in the near future.
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3. Hamas Booby-Traps Empty Homes
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Israeli soldiers face "an insane reality" as Hamas has booby-trapped abandoned homes in Gaza, IDF spokesman Brigadier-General Avi Benayahu said Sunday evening. "We continue to face an insane reality of booby-trapped tunnels and booby-trapped schools," he said. "In one neighborhood of 150 homes, over 30 homes were found to be rigged with explosives.


Email readers: Click here to see IDF video of Gaza zoo and school filled with explosives ready for detonation.

Benayahu added that in many places, booby-trapped mannequins designed to resemble terrorists have been placed at the entrances of abandoned buildings in order to entice approaching IDF soldiers into firing at the explosive-rigged structures. The mannequins are rigged to explode when a soldier draws near.

Overnight, ground troops hit more than 40 armed terrorists, and none of the Israel Defense Forces was wounded. In several cases, ground forces directed the Air Force in targeting terrorists who were firing at them.

 

Paratrooper forces uncovered weaponry, camouflage uniforms and communications equipment during searches.

 

A tank squad identified a group of terrorists planting an explosive device, fired and confirmed hitting them.

The Air Force targeted 60 Hamas targets, including more than 20 smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi smuggling route. At least 15 terrorists cells, seven weapons factories and storage buildings and rocket launcher sites were wiped out.

No rocket attacks were reported between Sunday night and dawn on Monday following 22 rocket attacks during the day.
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4. Kadima Ordered Secret Poll
by Gil Ronen

The ruling Kadima party commissioned a poll on Day 2 of Operation Cast Lead to assess how the war affected its chances at the ballot boxes in the upcoming elections, News1 reported Sunday.







'Poll of polls' showing an average of several polls held this week.

www.bhirot2009.co.il

The poll was held among several hundred people, who were asked several questions on the subject. It was carried out on December 28 by a polling firm that works for Kadima.

News1 notes that Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni and other Kadima leaders announced that they were suspending the party's election campaign because of the war. It notes that the timing and nature of the poll would make it seem that the ruling party had political considerations in mind at the time it launched the war.

Some pundits have claimed from the outset of the war that the war itself is a political campaign for Kadima and Labor. Labor, which is headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, has indeed risen dramatically in the polls since the war began, from about 11 projected Knesset seats to about 16. Kadima and Likud enjoy similar levels of support in the polls to the ones they had on the week before the war began.
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5. IDF, UN, Red Cross Meet on Aid
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

IDF Gaza Commander Brigadier-General Eitan Eisenberg met with army coordinators and delegates of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday to work out arrangements for further humanitarian shipments during the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign.


Hamas terrorists fired a barrage of at least eight rockets at southern Israeli cities during the first hour of the three-hour humanitarian ceasefire initiated by the IDF in order to enable Gaza residents to stock up on the supplies provided by the international aid organizations.

After the Sunday meeting, an IDF spokesman said, "Working guidelines for humanitarian issues were agreed upon in order to increase and improve the cooperation and prevent mishaps between the organizations and the IDF."

Tensions between relief groups and the IDF mounted last week after an Arab driver working for the U.N. was shot and killed. Israel and UNRWA traded accusations on whether the driver was killed by IDF or Hamas terrorist sniper fire.

UNRWA promptly suspended its aid, charging it could not guarantee the safety of workers.

Shipments have been resumed, and 132 trucks moved through Gaza crossings on Sunday. They carried 3,339 tons of basic food commodities, medical supplies, and electrical supplies as well as blood units donated by Jordan.
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6. Canada's Jews Show Solidarity
by Israel National News staff

As Hamas supporters mounted large demonstrations against Israel worldwide, Canada's Jews gathered to show their support for Israel.


Email readers: Click here to view videos above and below.

Over 50,000 people are estimated to have participated. They viewed and listened to Sderot's residents through a live video feed.


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7. Gov't Processing Damage Claims
by Avraham Zuroff

The Property Tax Branch of the Finance Ministry intends to handle about 1,300 claims for damages that were caused to structures, vehicles and farm land due to rocket attacks in southern Israel since Operation Cast Lead began.

The city to have received the highest number of claims is Ashkelon. Its residents have filed 396 claims for damages to structure and vehicles. In second place is Ashdod, with 290 claims, followed by communities that border the Gaza Belt. Sderot is in fourth place. In Be’er Sheva, which has received relatively little damage compared with Ashkelon and Ashdod, 22 residents have made claims to date.

Residents whose homes have been damaged can choose between fixing the damages themselves and receive compensation or wait for the Tax Authorities to repair their homes. To date, 28 families have been evacuated to hotels from their homes that are unfit for residing. About 17 homes took a direct hit.

Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, over 683 Kassam rockets, mortar shells, and Grad rockets have been fired towards Israel.

As a result of the firing by Hamas terrorists, four civilians have been killed, six have been critically injured, eight suffered moderate injuries, 39 have been listed as lightly wounded, and 201 have been treated for trauma.
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