Haaretz poll: economy pivotal for 38% of voters
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
Some 38 percent of respondents in a Haaretz-Dialogue poll taken on Tuesday night said socio-economic concerns would most influence them if the elections were to take place now.
Twenty-seven percent cited security-political issues, and 21 percent gave preference to corruption in the public sector.
The Haaretz-Dialogue figures match those of the Latet organization published on Tuesday morning.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/654461.html
Ayalon: Evacuate all settlements beyond the fence by 2010
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Former Shin Bet Chief Ami Ayalon, who is vying for a place on the Labor Party's Knesset list, said Tuesday that if it was up to him, no settlements outside major blocs would remain on the Palestinian side of the West Bank separation fence by 2010.
"It is unethical to build houses, knowing that they will be destroyed, and it is immoral to send soldiers to kill and be killed over land that will not be controlled by Israel," Ayalon said at a meeting held with Ben-Gurion University students in Be'er Sheva.
According to Ayalon, the Evacuation Compensation Law should apply to all settlements beyond the fence, and action must be taken immediately to destroy all illegal outposts.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/654533.html
PMO anti-terror command to Israelis: Leave Sinai immediately
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
The anti-terror command at the Prime Minister's Office called Tuesday for all Israelis to leave the Sinai Peninsula immediately due to warnings that terrorist plan to kidnap vacationers.
"In recent days the threat of Israelis being kidnapped in Sinai has worsened," said the statement from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.
Two months ago, the anti-terror command issued a similar warning, recommending that Israelis refrain from crossing into Sinai, and calling on Israelis already there to return to Israel immediately.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/654524.html
Yad Vashem institute honors Austrians who saved Jews from Holocaust
By The Associated Press
Israel's Yad Vashem institute on Tuesday paid tribute to 85 Austrians who risked their lives to save their Jewish friends and neighbors during the Holocaust.
Among those recognized for their courage in defying the Nazis were Hermine Riss, who hid a Jewish woman in her Vienna home between 1942 and 1945, and Danuta and Ewald Kleisinger, who saved the lives of several Jews by giving
them sanctuary in their Warsaw home.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/654545.html
Jordan's premier assures Palestinian counterpart of support
By Associated Press
AMMAN - Jordan's new prime minister, a former ambassador to Israel, assured his Palestinian counterpart on Tuesday that Amman remained committed to a Palestinian state and an end to Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
Premier Marouf al-Bakhit also told Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia that intensified international involvement was necessary in order to help the Palestinians and Israelis overcome obstacles to peace and the implementation of the roadmap plan for achieving it, according to the official Petra news agency.
The roadmap, sponsored by the Quartet - the United States, European Union, the United Nations and Russia - envisions an end to violence between the Palestinians and the Israelis and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/654541.html
Free Barghouti? Lifer or leader, arch-terrorist or peacemaker?
He has been hailed as the eventual, even the inevitable successor to Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas. He has been condemned as a serial murderer, an arch-terrorist, a loose cannon in the Palestinian movement.
He was once, in the words of cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit " a strong supporter of peace, a very positive man." Later, as head of Fatah in the West Bank, he became the commander of its Tanzim militia during the second intifada, a position which led to his arrest by Israel.
He is currently serving five life sentences for murder, convicted of involvement in terror killings.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ArticleNews.jhtml?itemNo=650482&contrassID=13&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0
UN nuclear watchdog shows greater understanding of Israel's concerns
By Yossi Melman
Four days before he is to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is showing greater understanding toward the concern of Israel and the West about Iran's nuclear program.
ElBaradei said yesterday that he understands the West's fears of Iran's nuclear program. "I know it [Iran] is trying to acquire the full fuel cycle. I know that acquiring the full fuel cycle means a country is months away from nuclear weapons, and that applies to Iran and everyone else," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654054.html
Geneva Conventions countries mull new Red Cross emblem
By The Associated Press
GENEVA - Delegates of the 192-nation Geneva Conventions met in special session yesterday to consider adding a new emblem that could drop a half-century barrier to Israel's becoming a full member of the international Red Cross movement caring for victims of armed conflict.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who has spearheaded the effort to resolve the long-standing dispute, told the conference it should add a "red crystal" to the red cross and red crescent already in use because it would help make the movement universal.
"The adoption of an additional emblem - devoid of any national, political or religious connotation - would make it possible for us to have a new instrument that we can use to protect military and civilian medical services on the battlefield," Calmy-Rey said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654057.html
You won't find me watching this miniseries. Mel will no doubt 'get it wrong.' He exhibited anti-semitic sentiment during his previous Christian film that became a campaign cry for his followers. I don't see that his 'new found resurrection into Christian awareness' as stated while doing his Jesus film, remains objectionable for his lack of apology for his last rendition of history.
Mel Gibson Plans TV Miniseries on Holocaust
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
Published: December 6, 2005
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 6 - Mel Gibson, whose "The Passion of the Christ" was assailed by critics as an anti-Semitic passion play - and whose father has been on record as a Holocaust denier - has a new project under way: a nonfiction miniseries about the Holocaust.
Mr. Gibson's television production company is developing a four-hour miniseries for ABC based on the self-published memoir of Flory A. Van Beek, a Dutch Jew whose gentile neighbors hid her from the Nazis but who lost several relatives in concentration camps.
It is not expected that Mr. Gibson will act in the miniseries, nor is it certain yet that his name, rather than his company's, will be publicly attached to the final product, according to several people involved in developing it. Nor is it guaranteed yet that the project will be completed and broadcast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/arts/television/06cnd-gibson.html?hp&ex=1133931600&en=5c7469338f8f51e3&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Most ful-filling
By Michal Palti
Does anybody still eat plain old jelly donuts? This year's donut fillings include butterscotch, rum and creme patissier, and among the toppings offered are melted chocolate and dark and white chocolate chips. Modern donuts look like little cakes and soft donuts filled with inferior quality strawberry jam are almost a thing of the past. Tal Bagels makes donuts with chocolate or butterscotch filling sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, and also has large donuts filled with caramel, bittersweet chocolate, pieces of flaked white and milk chocolate and decorated with white chocolate and candies.
The large donuts were a little gluey and did not stay fresh despite being only a few hours old. A quick warming in the microwave soon fixed that (the donut, never a refined dessert, works well with that appliance). The toppings were tasty, and will satisfy anyone in need of a chocolate fix in the middle or at the end of the workday. Large donuts with toppings are NIS 5-6 and donuts with strawberry filling are NIS 3.50 for a medium donut and NIS 4.50 for a large one.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654108.html
Five killed in Netanya suicide bombing
By Roni Singer and Arnon Regular
At least five people were killed and 95 others were wounded yesterday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at around 11:30 A.M. at the entrance to Hasharon shopping mall in Netanya.
The wounded were taken to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, Hillel Yaffeh Medical Center in Hadera and Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava, and 27 were still hospitalized as of last night: one in serious condition, four in moderate condition, and the rest were lightly wounded.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654077.html
Fischer: If 1997 is benchmark, poverty in Israel hasn't spread
By Haaretz Staff and Agencies
Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer provided more than a modicum of support yesterday for embattled ex-finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the economic policies he instituted. Fischer counseled people to look at poverty in Israel from a different angle entirely.
Speaking at the annual Israel Business Conference, Fischer said that to consolidate social policy properly, poverty has to be examined from a number of perspectives, not just one.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654095.html
A responsible war on poverty
By Haaretz Editorial
"There will be no election economics because it produces big headlines, but causes major damage," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday. But, in the same breath, he announced his plan to cancel value added tax (VAT) on basic food items - and this, of course, is simple, crude and eye-grabbing election economics.
Fifty years ago, many people believed that basic goods should be subsidized to help society's weak sectors. But, over the years, it has become clear that subsidization causes billions of shekels to be wasted; they are diverted from important goals, like education and infrastructure. Moreover, most of the subsidies ended up in rich people's pockets.
This subsidization was revoked in 1985, and since then, variations of it have arisen - such as canceling the VAT on basic food items. This occurs mainly on the eve of elections. What is easier, and more popular, than scattering such delusions in the air, and ultimately failing to implement them?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654590.html
Analysis: The first terrorist attack of Elections 2006
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent
It was only a matter of time before the first attack of Elections 2006. That's how it will be remembered, and it will doubtless not be the last.
The campaign headquarters of Labor, Likud and Kadima are preparing for every scenario: security calm, a smattering of attacks, waves of terror or total security collapse. The candidates' strategists will provide an appropriate response to each scenario. The accepted wisdom is this: A lull in attacks plays in the favor of Amir Peretz by permitting him to highlight his social-economic agenda; escalating violence would likely require a military response and tough talk, allowing Ariel Sharon - Mr. Security - to regain control of the agenda that got away from him a bit and preserve his large advantage in the polls; and total collapse (Qassam rockets on Ashkelon) would enable the Likud, particularly frontrunner Benjamin Netanyahu, to tell voters: "Told you so!"
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654051.html
The Los Angeles Times
I don't know about clemency but Mr. Williams case needs a new hearing at the very least. The issues of racism at his trial is a bit obvious. If he doesn't have a new trial then his sentence should be communited to life without. There must be examples of mercy and reformation, without it prison is simply a cage for animals.
NAACP Campaign Seeks Clemency for Williams
By Lisa Richardson, Times Staff Writer
Seeking to build pressure on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the NAACP this morning kicked off a four-city tour urging the governor to grant clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams, scheduled to be executed next week.
"I am asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams," said Bruce S. Gordon, head of the 96-year-old national civil rights group.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-120605tookie_lat,0,7067570.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Californians Conflicted on Williams' Fate
By Mark Z. Barabak and Michael Finnegan, Times Staff Writers
If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is feeling conflicted as he weighs life or death in the case of Stanley Tookie Williams, he is not alone.
Bill Knox opposes capital punishment because he believes it has not "been handled fairly over the decades … especially in the minority communities."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-williams5dec05,0,6982496.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Supreme Court Appears Amenable to Military Recruiting at Colleges
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court justices signaled today that they will give the military the right to recruit on college campuses and at law schools, despite its policy of excluding openly gay people from its ranks.
The justices gave a thoroughly skeptical hearing to the claim of some liberal law faculties that they have a free-speech right to exclude military recruiters, a claim that was upheld by a lower court.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-120605scotus_lat,0,4761516.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Bush Dismisses Dean's Comments on Iraq War
By Edwin Chen, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Top Republicans and Democrats exchanged sharp new words over the Iraq war today, as President Bush dismissed as "pessimists" those raising questions about his strategy and calling for a troop withdrawal.
The president spoke to reporters at the White House after Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said on a San Antonio, Texas, radio station that "the idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-120605bush_lat,0,991387.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Israel to Crack Down on Islamic Jihad
By Ken Ellingwood, Times Staff Writer
JERUSALEM -- Israel imposed a near-complete closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip today and promised to target Islamic Jihad militants a day after a suicide bombing killed five people and wounded more than 40 outside an Israeli shopping mall.
By this morning, Israeli forces had arrested 14 wanted Palestinians, most of them in the area of the northern West Bank that was the origin of the suicide bomber who blew himself up in the coastal city of Netanya on Monday morning. Palestinian authorities said they arrested seven members of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank as part of their investigation into the bombing.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-120605mideast_lat,0,1891708.story?coll=la-home-headlines&track=morenews
Plame Is Set to Leave the CIA
The operative whose covert identity was revealed in a 2003 column wants to spend more time with her family, friends say.
By Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — Valerie Plame, the diplomat's wife whose secret resume was exposed in a newspaper column that eventually led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is leaving the CIA on Friday, people familiar with her plans said.
Plame, 42, worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation but saw her clandestine career imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative in the summer of 2003 in a syndicated column by Robert Novak.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-plame6dec06,0,4176250.story?coll=la-home-headlines&track=morenews
Real Estate Fraud Booms
Mortgage scams thrive amid soaring home prices, little regulation and, in some cases, complicit borrowers. Higher rates result.
By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer
Real estate fraud is surging, fueled by a booming housing market, feverish refinancing activity and lax regulation, authorities say.
In the last two years, according to the FBI, reports of mortgage fraud nationally have tripled to 21,994, while the dollar value of the alleged crimes quadrupled to $1.01 billion.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-fraud5dec05,0,6840082.story?track=hpmostemailedlink
Lockyer Asks Justices to Rein In 9th Circuit Court
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer urged the Supreme Court on Monday to shield the state courts from being second-guessed on criminal cases by the judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the most liberal of the federal appellate courts.
He was challenging a recent 9th Circuit ruling that reversed the 9-year-old drug conviction of a Los Angeles man because of possible race bias in the selection of one of the jurors.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scotus6dec06,0,3388729.story?coll=la-home-nation
French Engineer Abducted in Iraq
Bernard Planche is seized outside his home in Baghdad. Separately, a GI is reported killed.
By Louise Roug, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD — Gunmen abducted a French engineer in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood Monday, French and Iraqi officials said. He was the latest victim in a recent surge of kidnappings of Westerners.
The day also saw mounting tensions between the two Shiite Muslim political factions because of violence as parliamentary elections approach.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq6dec06,0,4989082.story?coll=la-home-world
I don't agree with any of this editorial. Russia is not our enemy. However, Bush has made it clear that the USA is definitely Russia's enemy. With that in mind the reality this editorial addresses about Russia is a whole of prejudice where it does not belong.
CPR for Russian democracy
December 6, 2005
WHILE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION has been busy trying to promote democracy in the Middle East, Vladimir V. Putin has been slowly suffocating Russia's nascent democracy.
Putin's latest assaults on freedom include: legislation that would restrict foreign funding of nongovernmental organizations and impose registration requirements that would keep them under the Kremlin's thumb; a court decision that could bar the right-wing party Rodina, the only realistic opposition challenger, from competing in parliamentary elections; interrogations, arrests and attempts to disbar defense lawyers who dare to represent Kremlin enemies; and sham elections in Chechnya.
Although Russia has been helpful to the United States and Europe in proposing a way out of the Iranian nuclear deadlock, it plans to sell surface-to-air missiles to Tehran. Moscow also rushed in to profit from the Bush administration's principled stand against a bloody crackdown on protesters in Uzbekistan. After the Uzbeks announced they would evict U.S. forces from their bases in retaliation for American pressure over human rights, Russia pledged to step up military cooperation with Uzbekistan.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-russia6dec06,0,6926411,print.story?coll=la-home-oped
Ex-Professor Cleared on Some Terror Charges
By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer
TAMPA, Fla. -- In a stinging defeat for prosecutors, a former Florida professor accused of helping lead a terrorist group that has carried out suicide bombings against Israel was acquitted on nearly half the charges against him Tuesday, and the jury deadlocked on the rest.
The case against Sami Al-Arian, 47, had been seen as one of the biggest courtroom tests yet of the Patriot Act's expanded search-and-surveillance powers.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top12dec06,0,841929.story
The Arab News
Focus on 10-Year Action Plan
Siraj Wahab & Abdul Maqsood Mirza, Arab News
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is welcomed on arrival in Jeddah by Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed. (Reuters)
JEDDAH, 7 December 2005 — Nearly 40 foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference met in Jeddah yesterday to finalize the agenda of a two-day extraordinary summit that opens in Makkah today.
The ministerial conference was held at the Conference Palace in Jeddah’s upmarket Al-Hamra district amid some of the tightest security measures ever seen in the Kingdom. All roads leading to the palace were closed to the public, with traffic diverted due to security concerns. From early in the morning, cars with tinted glass streamed toward the palace carrying foreign ministers of the OIC’s various Muslim nations and non-Muslim member states.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=74313&d=7&m=12&y=2005
Summit’s Outcome Important for Islamic Countries on WTO
Wael Mahdi, Arab News
JEDDAH, 7 December 2005 — There are two important international events taking place this month in which Islamic countries are participating. One event is political while the other is economic. The Third Extraordinary OIC Summit is the political event; it precedes the economic one, the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference (HKMC).
There is a strong link between the two events in that the outcome of the OIC summit might influence the future of Muslim countries in the World Trade Organization. Without doing a political analysis, it is possible to understand the nature and the importance of the OIC summit by being aware of the challenges that WTO imposes on the economic and political future of Islamic countries. In other words, to understand the political it is essential to understand the economical.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=74320&d=7&m=12&y=2005
Secret CIA Prisons Moved From Europe to North Africa
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
WASHINGTON, 7 December 2005 — The United States held captured Al-Qaeda suspects at two secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe until last month when the facilities were shut down after media reports of their existence, ABC News reported Monday, citing current and former CIA agents.
Eleven Al-Qaeda prisoners who were held in Eastern Europe were relocated “to a CIA site somewhere in North Africa,” say reports, adding that the US scrambled to get all of the suspects off European soil before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Europe yesterday.
Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden have all been used as prison “transit camps.” The US has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the secret prisons, as reported by the Washington Post last month.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended US treatment of terrorism suspects before leaving for Europe, but would not respond to allegations that the CIA has run secret prisons in Eastern Europe. She insisted, however, that the US does not use torture.
The underlying question to all this remains: Why was this information of secret CIA prisons and flights leaked?
“Leaks usually happen for one of two reasons, either there is a deliberate effort to manipulate public opinion, so it’s done with the full sanction of the government authorities, or there is a fundamental policy disagreement on an issue, and those who think that the policy is wrong leak it,” said Larry Johnson, a former CIA intelligence officer and State Department Counter Terrorism officer. Johnson, who spoke to Arab News by telephone, said he believes the CIA officers involved with the secret prisons fear they may ultimately be held accountable for their actions.
“Valerie Plame’s leak is an example of the first kind; the CIA prison leak is an example of the second. Clearly some of those involved in this link are CIA officers who fear that they will ultimately be blamed as the master minds and implementers of this policy.
“The CIA does not set the policy. The president, the secretary of defense, and the vice president set the policy,” said Johnson. “The CIA implements the policy, but when they carry out a policy that runs afoul of international law, they feel vulnerable.”
The problem is accountability, he said. “Nobody in the White House or the Department of Defense, at a senior level, is being held responsible for these actions.”
Johnson said their vulnerability is not without reason: “The lesson of Abu Ghraib is: Don’t trust these guys to stand by their men.”
Recently the former commander of Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, Brig Gen Janis Karpinski was demoted. Nine junior US soldiers also have been charged in connection with the abuse at the prison in late 2003, and seven of them have already been convicted. The verdict came at the end of a hearing in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Another top US commander at Abu Ghraib also was recently reprimanded and fined $8,000. The US Army found Col. Thomas Pappas guilty of two counts of dereliction of duty, including that of allowing dogs to be present during interrogations. Col Pappas was in charge of military intelligence at the prison near Baghdad.
Aside from the vulnerability of CIA officers, Johnson said what is going on in prisons there “is reprehensible.”
Asked to comment on reports that the CIA prisons in eastern Europe have been closed and moved to North Africa, Johnson slammed the secret detainee prison policy.
“Shifting these prisons to Africa is reprehensible. It is incumbent upon the CIA officers to determine through interrogation on whether a person has knowledge or is a mere foot soldier who got caught up in the battle. If we start saying all things are justified, it would be difficult for us to make the moral argument that we are somehow different from the former Soviet Union or Communist China.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=74316&d=7&m=12&y=2005
Restoring the True Spirit of Islam
Lubna Hussain, lubna@arabnews.com
Today heralds the advent of the summit for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) where nearly 50 heads of countries spanning the globe will come together in Makkah, the birthplace of Islam, to face one of their toughest challenges yet. It comes at a time when we Muslims the world over are consistently confronted with the fact that the reputation of our faith has been distorted, maligned and plundered by politicized elements both from within our fold and from without.
With Islamophobia on the rise we are at a critical juncture of our history and the decisions that are made about our future will affect the lives of generations to come. In an era when Islam has become symbolic with terror, oppression and intolerance, it’s about time its tarnished image was restored to embody its true spirit and that we, as Muslims, unite to vanquish the demons that have plagued our ranks for far too long.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=74308&d=7&m=12&y=2005
The News About Fake News
Fawaz Turki, disinherited@yahoo.com
In his speech at the US Naval Academy last week, President Bush told his audience that the administration will settle for nothing short of victory in Iraq, and regaled them with details of how Iraqis are seemingly making progress toward democracy, independence and stability.
Never mind that this was in sharp contrast to daily reports of bombings, assassinations, hostage taking, sectarian violence and torture of prisoners in government-run prisons. The president wants to “stay the course,” so let him stay there.
What was weird about the speech, however, was the reference in it to how the US, in its most ambitious intervention in a foreign country since Vietnam, was providing Iraqis with “technical assistance and training to support a free and independent media that delivers high-quality content and responsible reporting throughout the country.” What he did not say was that this was done through payola, propaganda and duplicity — one fake news item at a time.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=74307&d=7&m=12&y=2005
continued ...
