Middle East News updates
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Lieberman favors dividing Jerusalem
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Gil Hoffman and Tovah Lazaroff, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 22, 2005
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Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman, who was once seen as one of Israel's most right-wing politicians, called for dividing Jerusalem on Wednesday in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
Lieberman said that he would give the Palestinians Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem such as Sur Baher and Jabal Mukaber, along with heavily Arab areas in the Galilee, in return for expanded settlement blocs in
Judea and Samaria.
"There are Arabs in Jerusalem whose only connection to the state is that they go once a week to Salah a-Din street to get their National Insurance Institute payments," Lieberman said. "I don't think taxpayers should be paying for them anymore." -
Violence Against Jews Continues Worldwide
Thursday, December 22, 2005 / 21 Kislev 5766
Though many of them have only appeared on page two of local Jewish papers, a wave of anti-Jewish attacks continues around the globe. In recent weeks...
* In Australia the Executive Council of Australian Jewry's annual report points to Jews there increasingly being verbally abused and physically attacked. "There were 332 incidents of anti-Jewish assault, vandalism, intimidation and harassment in the past 12 months," according to the report. Among the incidents reported were arson attacks on synagogues, vandalism and Nazi graffiti on property, assaults on Jewish men by unknown assailants, and vandalism of Jewish schools and synagogues.
* A 16-year-old British Jew was attacked with a knife in Manchester last week. His ear was slashed and his assailant shouted anti-Jewish slogans as he attacked him. A local rabbi chased the attacker.
* A French court sentenced a 25-year-old man last week to three years in jail for vandalizing a cemetery with Nazi graffiti and anti-Jewish slogans.
* Three teens in Swampscott, Massachusetts have been charged with hate crimes after burning a van belonging to a local Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue. The same Chabad synagogue was broken into in October and anti-Jewish graffiti was scrawls inside the sanctuary.
* A large menorah was torn down and stomped to pieces by a group of vandals at a South Philadelphia community center last week. The community says it will put up a newer and brighter Chanukah menorah to replace it.
* An anti-Jewish TV program called "America is a Changing Country” was aired on cable access television in Maryland. The program, produced by National Alliance neo-Nazi group, blames, “Jewish media” for urban decay and the denigration of "Aryan values."
* Thousands of fans of Hungary's Ujpest FC soccer team chanted anti-Jewish slogans during a league match last month when the team played against MTK Budapest, a team with Hungarian Jewish roots.
* In Salt Lake City, Utah, a plaque featuring a quote by Rabbi Eric Silver, part of the Judge Memorial Religious Freedom Shrine, was defaced. The plaque featured the words: "Upon his deeds not his ideas does G-d's favor rest on man.'' Vandals scratched out the words "G-d" and "Rabbi" and added the words, "Jews suck." Rabbi Silver said, ``It is unfortunate that in times that we'd like to regard as enlightened this sort of thing can still occur."
* In Peru, Rabbi Guillermo Bronstein, rabbi of Lima's only Conservative synagogue, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency of a significant rise in attacks on the country's small Jewish community. Bronstein attributed the rise in attacks to the increase in neo-Nazi groups and the perception that the Jews have disproportionate influence in the government.
* Jews in the South Tottenham area of London have reported that they live in constant fear of violent attacks, citing several recent cases of unprovoked assaults on outwardly Orthodox Jews.
* According to a report released last week, the regimes in the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Syria promoted Holocaust-denial or defended Holocaust-deniers over the past year. Iran and Egypt have each been in the headlines several times in recent months for similar government statements and activities. Just Thursday, the head of Egypt`s Muslim Brotherhood said that the Holocaust is a "myth."
Also on Thursday a man was put on trial in Austria for publicly swearing allegiance to Adolf Hitler. A French group was reported to be distributing pork soup to homeless in a bid to exclude Muslims and Jews from benefiting from their magnanimity. -
Iran Interested in Russian Weapons — Ambassador
Created: 23.12.2005 11:45 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:46 MSK, 18 hours 29 minutes ago
MosNews
Iran is interested in developing military-technical cooperation with Russia, the countryÂ’s ambassador to Russia, Gholamreza Ansari, said on Friday.
“Until now, our cooperation has mostly been established in the sphere of trade,” the ambassador was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. “But the Iranian government now wants to strengthen cooperation with Russia in the field of energy, in particular nuclear energy. We also intend to develop military-technical cooperation.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov earlier confirmed Russia’s intention to continue military-technical cooperation with Iran. He said that “Russia is supplying Iran with conventional armaments and military hardware such as armored vehicles and air defense equipment of a limited range. This is ordinary commercial trade and we are not going to end it.”
It was reported in the beginning of December that Russia had struck a deal to sell short-range, surface-to-air missiles to Iran. Ivanov said this did not change the balance of forces in the region.
The European Union has formally protested to Russia about the deal. -
Iran rejects Russian nuclear offer
Sun. 25 Dec 2005
TEHRAN, Dec 25 (AFP) - Iran on Sunday rejected an offer from Russia for the Islamic republic to conduct uranium enrichment activities on its soil, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
"We have still not received the concrete offer, but it is clear that we will accept positively the propositions and the plans that recognize the right of the Islamic republic to carry out enrichment on its own soil," he told reporters.
Russia on Saturday had said its proposal to create "on Russian soil a joint Russo-Iranian undertaking to enrich uranium still stands," despite earlier indications from Tehran that it was not interested.
The Russian embassy in Tehran put the suggestion put to the Iranian government on Saturday, the Russian foreign ministry said.
"This proposal represents Russia's contribution to the search for a solution acceptable to all in the context of the settling of the situation... by political and diplomatic methods," it said in a statement.
The Europe Union wants Iran to accept the Russian idea that enrichment operations should take place in Russia without the direct involvement of Iranian scientists.
EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany restarted talks Wednesday with Iran over Western concerns about Tehran's nuclear programme and agreed to meet again in January.
Asefi, however, refused to confirm January 18 as the date for resuming negotiations.
"It is one date among others. But it is certain that the negotiations will restart in January," he said. -
Russia confirms wants to help Iran enrich uranium
Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:40 PM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow told Iran on Saturday it remained ready to build a joint venture plant to enrich uranium in Russia, just days after an EU diplomat said Tehran had dismissed the compromise plan at talks in Vienna.
The plan, which would allow Tehran to establish a civilian nuclear energy program but transfer enrichment to Russia, is aimed at ending a stalemate between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear programs.
"The Russian embassy in Tehran gave to the Iranian side an official note saying that the previous Russian proposal of the creation ... of a joint Russian-Iranian company to enrich uranium remains in force," the Foreign Ministry said.
"The proposal is Russia's input in looking for a mutually acceptable decision to settle the problem of the Iranian nuclear program via political and diplomatic methods," it said on its Web site www.mid.ru.
The West suspects Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program. Iran denies that, saying it wants only to generate electricity and that it has the right to carry out enrichment on its own soil.
European powers Britain, Germany and France last Wednesday reopened talks with Iran in Vienna and said the dialogue would resume in January, halting a spiral into confrontation.
Iranian delegate Mohammad Mehdi Akhonzadeh said his side urged the EU3 to "act on the proposition that enrichment will be conducted inside" the Islamic republic. Any other option, he said, was "unacceptable" and "an insult" to Iranian sovereignty.
An EU diplomat, indicating the idea was all but dead, said after the talks that Tehran had again dismissed the Russian compromise plan.
Russia is already building Iran's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr in southern Iran, a lucrative $1 billion business.
The United States fears that weapons grade plutonium could be extracted from the Bushehr reactor once it goes on line.
Moscow has said it saw no evidence Iran is bent on assembling nuclear arms and has generally supported Tehran's nuclear plan.
But it condemned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for expressing doubts about the Holocaust -- the killing of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in World War Two.
For two years EU powers have been offering Iran trade incentives if it gave up enrichment work. But they froze talks in August when Iran resumed uranium-ore processing, which it had shelved after U.N. sleuths found an 18-year-old, covert nuclear program.
The EU wants to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council, but Russia and China, which also has energy and weapons interests in Iran, blocked the decision. -
Shteinitz: Egypt is Preparing for Possible War with Israel
Tuesday, December 27, 2005 / 26 Kislev 5766
MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) says that EgyptÂ’s arms buildup over the past few years has focused on the possibility of future war with Israel.
In a radio interview broadcast on Arutz 7Â’s Hebrew internet site Tuesday night, Shteinitz, a former professor of political science at Haifa University who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that Egypt has already become a major supporter of terrorism against Israel.
Shteinitz said that Egypt has been allowing terrorist groups operating out of the Gaza district to smuggle missiles into Gaza. Those groups intend to use the missiles against Israeli targets.
In his estimation, 90% of the explosives used by the terrorist groups are brought in from Egypt.
Shteinitz explains that it is a mistake for Israel to view Syria as its principle enemy, while neglecting the Egyptian threat, primarily because Israel maintains diplomatic relations with Egypt.
The committee chairman said that weapons smuggled from Egypt has become so important to the Hamas, “if you would ask them what they would be willing to give up, assistance from Egypt or Syria, they would prefer to give up Syrian, but not Egyptian aid.”
The Egyptians, Shteinitz asserts, have kept to the peace agreements signed in 1978 as far as not engaging Israel in outright conflict. But on other levels, such as economic relations or stopping anti-Israel incitement, Egyptian compliance has been lacking. -
'This is a battle for the Land of Israel'
By Ryan Jones
December 27th, 2005
Hundreds of Jewish youth holding fast to the divine promises given to their forefathers have announced plans to establish 25 new settlement outposts in Judea and Samaria – the biblical heartland of the nation of Israel.
Ten such outposts have reportedly already been set up near existing settlements. According to Ynet, the other 15 are to be established by the end of Hannukah.
Participants in this effort say they are working to thwart the intentions of the gentile world, which would see the hills of Judea and Samaria – where Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joshua and David once dwelt – made judenrein, and transformed into yet another Muslim Arab state that would threaten Israel's narrow center.
“We are going up to the outposts because this is the Land of Israel. This is not a battle on someone's house. This is a battle on homeland territories and on the Land of Israel,” one teenage girl told Ynet. “We are going up proudly and fighting for the Land of Israel. We have not given up and we are here.”
That battle is made all the harder by the fact Israel's government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has become a willing partner in the ethnic cleansing of all Jews from key portions of Israel's patrimony.
Sharon's new Kadima Party has chosen “two states for two peoples” as its core platform for the upcoming March general elections. Likud Party chief Binyamin Netanyahu warns Sharon will relinquish 90 percent of Judea and Samaria, in addition to the full surrender of the Gaza Strip earlier this year, if he wins a third term.
Labor Party leader Amir Peretz, Sharon's primary rival if media polls are to be believed, is expected to offer a similar surrender to Israel's Muslim foes and the whims of the international community should he emerge victorious.
The young Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are determined to not let that happen.
“If Sharon is thinking about implementing a second disengagement here, he should implement it on the Arabs, who are working on promoting terror,” one young organizer said. -
Dagan: One nuke not enough for Iran
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RAFAEL D. FRANKEL and OREN KLASS, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 27, 2005
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Iran is but six months away from achieving technological independence in its quest to develop a nuclear bomb, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during his yearly briefing to the body Tuesday.
Though he refused to lay out a specific time line for when Iran could complete work on a nuclear weapon, Dagan appeared to accelerate the most recent prediction made by Israeli intelligence. On December 13, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said Iran could begin enriching uranium by March 2006 but would not be able to develop a bomb until 2008.
The Islamic State has made a "strategic decision to reach nuclear independence," Dagan said, and once it reached that goal it would then be only a matter of "a few months" before it was able to finish building a nuclear bomb.
Dagan further warned that Iran would not be content with just one nuclear weapon. "If they continue undisturbed, and they succeed in developing fissile material, they won't be content in the amount needed for just one bomb, they will try to make more," the Mossad chief warned. "You don't need a lot of fissile material, you just need it to be enriched."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to "be wiped off the map."
Iran has already produced 40 tones of UF6, a compound used in the uranium enrichment process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. That amount of UF6 could produce 40 kilograms of fissile material, Dagan said. Iran is also continuing to "build and enhance" centrifuges, which are part of its nuclear program.
Despite the mounting threat Iran's nuclear weapons program posses, Dagan implied there is still time for a peaceful solution to the dispute if the international community is willing to take action soon.
Economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council "would be very effective," Dagan said. Since Iran imported 40 percent of its refined fuel, and also relied heavily on imported spare parts for its vehicles, it was highly susceptible to coordinated and targeted sanctions from the international community, he said.
"The chances of this going to the Security Council are higher than they were in the past," he said.
The Mossad chief was careful in his presentation to the Knesset committee not to use the words "point of no return" in describing when, in his estimate, Iran would be able to complete its nuclear ambitions without any outside help. Rather, he used the phrase "technical independence". The difference could imply that even once Iran was able to make a nuclear weapon, it may still be persuaded not to by outside forces or agreements.
Dagan's briefing to the Knesset committee comes on the heels of a Saturday report by German newspaper Der Spiegel that the Mossad had marked six Iranian nuclear facilities the IAF would hit in a pre-emptive strike. Additionally, a Tuesday Ma'ariv report said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was coordinating intelligence on Iran with the United States.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that Israel had modified American-made Harpoon cruise missiles in order to launch them from submarines as a means to further dissuade Iran from becoming a nuclear power itself.
Efforts by the United Kingdom, France, and Germany to convince Iran to give up its nuclear program have so far proven fruitless while a
recent offer from Russia to Iran to enrich uranium in Russia for a peaceful Iranian nuclear power program has gone unanswered.
Nevertheless, the United States and other countries have said they will give Iran until March to comply with international demands for it to halt its nuclear program before referring the Islamic State to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
In his briefing to the committee, Dagan also touched on the "global jihad" being waged by Muslim militants, saying that Israelis and Jews remain prime targets around the world.
The goal, he said, of the global jihad is to establish a "pan-Islamic entity" similar to the Caliphate which once spanned huge parts of Asia, Africa, and southern Europe. "They have independent infrastructures all over the world, there is no one central headquarters," Dagan said, describing the command structure of the global jihad.
Despite ideology which sometimes overlapped, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have, for the most part, remained outside the global jihad network due to their more focused goal of establishing a Palestinian state, Dagan said.
With assistance from Egypt and Jordan in the global war on terror, and the threat to Israel from Syria and Lebanon severely diminished,
Israel's main threat following Iran was now veterans of the Iraq War, Dagan said.
Foreign fighters who have undergone training and cut their teeth in Iraq were now returning home and "setting up their own infrastructures there," he said. "The absurd thing is that the more success the United States has in Iraq, the more dangerous it will be for Israel."
Despite reports to the contrary, Dagan also said there are "no signs at all" that there is a discernable movement to overthrow Bashar Assad in Syria. "There is unity around Assad, and he controls the old guard.
He has the last word on all matters," the Mossad chief said. -
Iran says still wants to enrich uranium at home
Fri Dec 30, 2005 8:20 AM ET
By Paul Hughes
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's agreement to discuss Moscow's plan to enrich uranium in Russia does not mean that Tehran has abandoned its drive to enrich uranium on its own soil, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Friday.
The remarks by Javad Vaeedi, deputy of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, appeared to dash faint hopes that Russia's proposal could resolve the Islamic state's nuclear standoff with the West.
The proposal, which is backed by Washington and the European Union, involves the creation of a joint Iranian-Russian company to enrich uranium in Russia.
The plan has been put forward by Moscow to try to allay international concerns that Iran could manufacture highly enriched uranium on its own soil to build atomic weapons.
Iran says it wants to enrich uranium only to a low grade, suitable for use in atomic power reactors.
But Vaeedi said Iran had only agreed to study Moscow's joint-venture proposal on the assumption that it did not affect Iran's plans to develop a full nuclear fuel cycle, including enrichment, at home.
"Securing Iran's rights, based on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to enrich uranium on Iran's soil within the framework of International Atomic Energy Agency regulations would be the first assumption for assessing Russia's proposal," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
Calling the Russian plan an "idea" he said: "Iran takes seriously new proposals and ideas aimed at finding a peaceful solution to its nuclear problem and can review them."
Earlier on Friday, Russia's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov had talked to his Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani on Thursday to discuss the Russian proposal, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
"The telephone conversation occurred at the request of the Iranian side," the agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.
A spokesman declined to confirm the report when asked by Reuters. Tass quoted him as saying "discussion of these themes will continue".
An Iranian diplomat on Thursday said Ivanov, who acts as a Kremlin envoy for unofficial contacts on controversial issues, had agreed to send a delegation to Tehran led by one of his deputies to continue talks on the enrichment joint venture.
The Iranian diplomat said Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Larijani told Ivanov there were "ambiguities and problems" with the proposal that needed clarifying.
EU diplomats and arms control experts have noted that Tehran has been careful to stop short of rejecting Moscow's plan.
Doing so could see Moscow drop its earlier opposition to EU and U.S. efforts to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, they say. -
Saturday, December 31, 2005
President Abbas: Palestinians will only accept complete withdrawal including from Jerusalem
On Occasion of Fateh 41st Anniversary, President Abbas: Our People will Only
Accept Just Peace
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=5040
RAMALLAH, December 31, 2005 (WAFA-PLO news agency) - President Mahmoud Abbas
affirmed Saturday that the Palestinian people will only accept a just peace
which guarantees the return of the 1967 lands, including Jerusalem.
In a televised speech on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of the
Foundation of Fateh Movement, President Abbas said the Palestinian people
has made a great achievement which is the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip and parts of the West Ban, describing the achievement as "a step
forward" that must be followed by similar steps to withdraw from the West
Bank.
"It is time to impose the authority of law and order," Abbas said "these
events .
. harm our international credibility and strengthen Israel's pretext to
undermine peace and stop withdrawals".
"The Palestinian National Authority regards chaos, anarchy and challenges to
the authority of law and order as dangers threatening the entire national
project," he added.
President Abbas greeted the late leader President Yasser Arafat and the
other martyrs who sacrificed their lives for achieving out national
aspiration.
A.D. (22:05 P) (20:05 GMT)
***********
This is too much.
First Gaza, now Jerusalem. -
Saturday, December 31, 2005
President Abbas: Palestinians will only accept complete withdrawal including from Jerusalem
On Occasion of Fateh 41st Anniversary, President Abbas: Our People will Only
Accept Just Peace
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=5040
RAMALLAH, December 31, 2005 (WAFA-PLO news agency) - President Mahmoud Abbas
affirmed Saturday that the Palestinian people will only accept a just peace
which guarantees the return of the 1967 lands, including Jerusalem.
In a televised speech on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of the
Foundation of Fateh Movement, President Abbas said the Palestinian people
has made a great achievement which is the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip and parts of the West Ban, describing the achievement as "a step
forward" that must be followed by similar steps to withdraw from the West
Bank.
"It is time to impose the authority of law and order," Abbas said "these
events .
. harm our international credibility and strengthen Israel's pretext to
undermine peace and stop withdrawals".
"The Palestinian National Authority regards chaos, anarchy and challenges to
the authority of law and order as dangers threatening the entire national
project," he added.
President Abbas greeted the late leader President Yasser Arafat and the
other martyrs who sacrificed their lives for achieving out national
aspiration.
A.D. (22:05 P) (20:05 GMT) -
Israel 'aims to scrap peace plan'
From correspondents in Jerusalem
January 02, 2006
ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans eventually to scrap a US-led "road map" to peace with the Palestinians and instead seek Washington's blessing for annexing occupied West Bank land, a newspaper said today.
The report by senior staff of Maariv newspaper gave no source, but Mr Sharon's initial plans for last year's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip were first floated in a similar way.
Mr Sharon's spokesman declined to comment.
The paper said Mr Sharon, who is up for re-election in March, will argue that Israel is justified in abandoning the peace plan and setting borders unilaterally because of the failure of the Palestinians to crack down on militant groups.
In public, Mr Sharon remains very much committed to the road map for a Palestinian state on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war alongside a secure Israel.
But Palestinians have long said they suspect Mr Sharon wants to dictate terms. -
MK Eitam: Netanyahu Will Allow Jerusalem to be Divided
Monday, January 2, 2006 / 2 Tevet 5766
Former NRP chairman and current National Union MK Effie Eitam sharply attacked Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, saying the former prime minister will not stand up against JerusalemÂ’s division.
National Union MKs toured the Maaleh Adumim region Monday. The MKs inspected areas surrounding Jerusalem where Arab construction is being carried out illegally using funds from the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia.
“Jerusalem is being divided, with the consent of Sharon and Peres and the illegal construction will leave Jerusalem surrounded by a fence, with a wall down the middle and surrounded by fire,” MK Effie Eitam said, “and Netanyahu won’t stop it if it is up to him.”
MK Effie Eitam told Arutz-7 that Jerusalem is already being divided in the field. “I am very concerned that if there is not, alongside Netanyahu, a bloc of right-wing Jewish parties, the connection between the nation and its land will become only a slogan for him. And we have already seen where how far the Likud can deteriorate.”
Notably, Netanyahu’s campaign slogan in 1996 was ‘Peres will divide Jerusalem.’ Following a report in Newsweek quoting one of Sharon’s campaign advisors saying Jerusalem would have to be partitioned, Netanyahu has repeatedly implied that Sharon would implement such a move following elections.
Sharon has denied such intentions.
Eitam said the Likud does not understand that its political strength is tied with its adherence to clear right-wing principles. He said that such ambiguity has caused the partyÂ’s support to decline to a mere fifteen mandates projected for the Likud in the coming elections. -
Arabs split on Sharon: earthquake or gift from God?
By Times Online
The widely-predicted end to Ariel Sharon's political career today polarised opinion in the Arab world, with some commentators describing it as an "earthquake" while others said it was "a gift from god".
The two main Arab satellite channels, al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya, offered non-stop coverage with reports from outside his hospital accompanied by interviews with aides.
The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, published in occupied East Jerusalem, ran the banner headline: "Sharon fights death". The Al-Ayyam in Ramallah announced: "Sharon in a complete coma."
In the Gulf, news about the Israeli leader competed with the funeral prayers for Sheik Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emir of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates who died yesterday.
In Lebanon, the As-Safir newspaper ran the headline: "Sharon is at deathÂ’s door and Israel is on the brink of political strife."
Sateh Noureddine, the managing editor, wrote: "ItÂ’s an earthquake, whose aftershocks will be local - Israeli and Palestinian - because the (Middle East) conflict has become a Palestinian-Israeli one."
An-Nahar newspaper, Lebanon's biggest-selling daily, added: "SharonÂ’s coma shuffles the political cards in Israel and the region."
In Iran, state television reported his deteriorating condition without comment. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has triggered an international outcry with a series of anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish comments, including calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
In the Occupied Territories, where the implications of Sharon's political demise will be felt most keenly, the hatred among radicals remained vehement.
"The world is on the verge of being rid of one of its worst leaders," the chief Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. "SharonÂ’s fate is divine intervention reserved for despots and evil-doers."
The view was echoed by radicals in Syria, where Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, described SharonÂ’s health crisis as a gift from God.
"We say it frankly that God is great and is able to exact revenge on this butcher... We thank God for this gift he presented to us on this New Year," he said.
A Palestinian commentator on the respected Al-Arabiya network, however, offered Mr Sharon unexpected praise as "the first Israeli leader who stopped claiming Israel had a right to all of the PalestinianÂ’s land".
"A live Sharon is better for the Palestinians now, despite all the crimes he has committed against us," said Ghazi al-Saadi.
Ali Badwan, a Palestinian living in Damascus, said that Mr Sharon was "the dinosaur of the Israeli political Right and his legacy was the bloodiest of any Israeli against the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people would not mourn his passing from the political scene."
Highlighting the emerging divide within the Palestinian community, Ahmed Qurei, the Palestinian Prime Minister, wished Mr Sharon a swift recovery.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Prime Minister Sharon, the Israeli government and people. We wish the prime minister a full and quick recovery," he said.
In the West, where Mr Sharon was widely regarded as being central to the peace process, there was a generally sombre tone.
President Jacques Chirac of France who repeatedly praised Mr Sharon's decision to withdraw from Gaza, said that his "courageous" peace efforts must continue.
Dennis Ross, a special envoy during former US president Bill ClintonÂ’s efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, expressed fears that Israel lacked "a built-in anointed successor"
"You have real uncertainty in Israel, paralleled by what is increasing chaos among Palestinians. You take away someone who has been the real driving force of any change and you take him out of commission... so I look at it as huge and very troubling."
Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's Prime Minister, has postponed a trip to Israel and Palestine later this week: "IÂ’m concerned and I have heard that his condition is not very good. I hope he will recover soon," he said. -
Friday, January 6, 2006
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FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Jewish groups urge:
Secede from Israel
New effort seeks 'biblical heartland' to break away for own sovereignty
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Posted: January 6, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
JERUSALEM – A new movement is set to be presented next week by residents of Judea and Samaria calling for Jews there to secede from Israel and create their own autonomous Jewish entity in part to head off the possibility of further unilateral Israeli withdrawals from the area, WND has learned.
The Judea Initiative, led by northern Samaria resident Yekutel Ben Yaacov, is seeking to gather signatures from Judea and Samaria's nearly 200,000 Jews for a manifesto declaring the creation of a sovereign Jewish authority that would govern itself independently according to Jewish law and would provide its own security.
Judea and Samaria are referred to by some as the West Bank, the name coined for the area after Jordan annexed it in 1948.
The initiative aims to create the new Jewish authority in any part of Judea and Samaria, even a small settlement, in hopes of eventually ruling the entire territory, Ben Yaacov said, explaining his initiative was prompted by talks of possible Israeli withdrawals from the area.
"We can't sit around and wait until Israel sends the bulldozers to take down Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria before attempting to counter the next Israeli withdrawal. We are acting now so we can retain our rightful biblical heritage," Ben Yaacov told WND.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew Israel's Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip last summer in spite of fierce opposition from members of his own Likud party. He recently announced he was leaving Likud to start his own "centrist" party, Kadima, prompting new elections currently scheduled for March. Since then, multiple Kadima members have told reporters the new party is looking to change Israel's borders with possible withdrawals from Judea and Samaria. There have been talks of disengagements from parts of Jerusalem as well.
It's unclear as yet how Sharon's massive stroke this week and his inability to govern will affect the future politics of Israel.
Currently, Judea and Samaria, inhabited by about 2.4 million Palestinians, is considered landlocked territory not officially recognized as part of any country. Israel calls the land "disputed." The United Nations claims Judea and Samaria is "occupied" by Israel, which maintains overall control of most of the area while the Palestinian Authority has jurisdiction in about 40 percent.
Judea and Samaria remained under Jordanian rule from 1948 until Israel captured the territory in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War. Most countries rejected Jordan's initial claim on the area, which it formally renounced in 1988.
Ben Yaacov says his Judea Initiative takes advantage of Judea and Samaria's murky legal status to argue for independent Jewish sovereignty.
"Legally it's a no-man's land. The Palestinians used that status to create their own authority, so there is absolutely no reason the Jews can't do the same thing."
Ben Yaacov's group, Mishalot Israel, is holding a conference next week in Jerusalem's Old City to present the Judea Initiative. It will then begin petitioning both private citizens and entire communities to join.
He says already he has garnered interest from local residents and some town leaders.
"The plan hasn't even been announced or presented and already I am getting a lot of phone calls from people and at least one town that wants to sign on. They are hearing about it by word of mouth," Ben Yaacov said. "The area is the site of a lot of the Bible and has had a Jewish population for centuries. We will not allow the Israeli government to kick us out."
Many villages in the Judea and Samaria area, which Israelis commonly reefer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Old Testament.
The Book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring.
Jacob dreamed of angels on a stairway leading to heaven
The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory.
And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shilo, which is believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.
Ben Yaacov said his new Jewish authority would be "governed by Jewish law. Non-Jews, including Palestinians, are more than welcome to live there as long as they accept Jewish sovereign and agree to abide by the Seven Noahide laws, the most basic of biblical dictates."
He said the annexed territory would provide for its own security.
"A large contingent of Judea and Samaria residents served in the Israeli army. They currently defend their own settlements to a large extent. We would base ours on the same concept as Israeli security. Immediately after Israel was founded, it was attacked on all sides and it won every war because of the help of God and because of the same people we have with us."
The initiative states there are three primary reasons to form a Jewish authority in Judea and Samaria:
"The new Jewish authority will protect Israel from terror and enhance Israeli security. It is more advantageous to have Jewish autonomy in Judea and Samaria in place of complete Palestinian autonomy, which will give the Palestinian terrorist groups more land from which to fire Qassams and launch attacks. The Jews who remain in the area will be accepting a certain level of self-sacrifice by putting themselves in harms way."
"The creation of a Jewish authority will relieve tension and prevent bloodshed between Jew and fellow Jew by halting an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. There are hundreds of thousands of Jews in the area, some of whom may use violent resistance in the face of any withdrawal. It will also alleviate some of the tension and rifts that would be created in Israeli society by any withdrawal."
"The new Jewish authority will offer appropriate self-determination to fulfil the national aspirations of many religious Jews in Israel. The area will be ruled by Torah law as opposed to the current anti-religious government."
Ben Yaacov's Judea Initiative is not the first major push for Jews to secede from Israel. In 1989, the late author and Knesset member Rabbi Meir Kahane, a mentor of Ben Yaacov, attempted to found the State of Judea, a Jewish state in Judea and Samaria. That effort eventually fell through.
"Ours is different in that we are starting small," explained Ben Yaacov. "We are not talking about our own state, just an entity or authority, however small or large it will be."
Reacting to the news of calls for Jews to create their own authority, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told WorldNetDaily, "This is the chaos and lawlessness [the Palestinian Authority] has warned about. If the Israeli government does not get its act together concerning the settlers, who by the way are armed to the teeth and acting like a parallel authority, the price will be paid in Palestinian blood."
Israeli government spokesmen Raanan Gissin and David Baker refused to comment on the issue.
Said Ben Yaacov, "There may be resistance at first, but eventually people will come to understand a lot of Jews in Judea and Samaria will not go along with any further withdrawals. Now those Jews will have a solution." -
Iran has built 5,000 centrifuges, says opposition
Jan 10 2:28 PM US/Eastern
Iran has secretly built thousands of centrifuge machines for its nuclear plant at Natanz, an exiled opposition figure alleged.
The claims by opposition figure Alireza Jafarzadeh could not be independently verified, but if confirmed, they would likely enflame the worsening standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
The new allegations came hours after Iran resumed sensitive nuclear research after a two-year suspension, triggering fierce Western condemnation and risking censure by the UN Security Council.
Jafarzadeh, citing what he said was intelligence from the Iranian opposition and sources within the Iranian nuclear program, said Tehran had already committed serious violations before Tuesday.
"Iran has already manufactured as many as 5,000 centrifuge machines ready to be installed in Natanz, which is a clear breach of its agreements with the IAEA and the EU," Jafarzadeh, former spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said at a press conference here.
He said Iran had been continually building underground centrifuge cascade installation platforms at Natanz which could be used in the process of enriching uranium on a large scale suitable for a nuclear bomb.
Jafarzadeh released information in 2002 which amounted to the first outside glimpse into the Iranian nuclear program and which triggered International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) scrutiny.
He said that work at Natanz was now so advanced that construction could be finished by the middle of this year, though it was unclear when installation of enrichment facilities would be complete.
"The 5,000 centrifuge machines are going to be installed in underground cascade halls. ... All of this has been going on while supposedly the program has been under freeze," he said.
Iran said Tuesday it was removing the seals on several nuclear operations, including a small 164-centrifuge cascade at Natanz -- which in itself would not be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon.
But it said enrichment remained frozen. Tehran denies that it is seeking a nuclear weapon, and it has been trying to draw a distinction between research into the fuel cycle and actual production of enriched uranium.
Paul Leventhal, president of the independent Nuclear Control Institute research group, appeared alongside Jafarzadeh at the press conference and called on the IAEA to act to see if his claims were true.
"If the information obtained by the Iranian opposition can be verified, ... then we have a major crisis on our hands," he said.
"Can such a remarkable allegation be true? There is only one way to find out. IAEA inspectors now standing at the Natanz site should demand immediate access to the areas where these secret activities allegedly are taking place."
Robert Einhorn, an independent expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who was not linked to the press conference, said Jafarzadeh had a mixed accuracy record on Iran's nuclear program.
"His organisation was on target in the summer of 2002. Without information from his organisation, we would largely be in the dark today on Iran's nuclear program.
"Having said that, his organisation's batting average over the last three years or so has not been very good," said Einhorn, who served as assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation between 1999 and August 2001.
"There is no way to evaluate the credibility of this information unless it is backed up by specific information on the whereabouts of the manufacture of these 5,000 centrifuge machines, and so on."
Einhorn did say, however, that the existence of such equipment would "be a large-scale violation of Iran's commitment to the Europeans and the IAEA board to suspend all manufacture of these centrifuge machines."
Jafarzadeh said military companies linked with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had built most of the alleged centrifuge parts but could not exactly pinpoint their location.
"The 5,000 centrifuges, I don't know exactly where they are. It is conceivable that some or all of them are already in Natanz," he said. -
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006 12:30 a.m. EST
Report: Israel Accelerates Iran Strike Plan
A preemptive airstrike by Israel against suspected nuclear weapons facilities in Iran could come as early as March, a report in the Glasgow Herald claimed Tuesday.
"The Israeli raids would be carried out by long-range F-15E bombers and cruise missiles against a dozen key sites and are designed to set Tehran's weapons program back by up to two years," the paper said.
"Pilots at the Israeli air force's elite 69 squadron have been briefed on the plan and have conducted rehearsals for their missions."
One of the primary targets would be the enrichment plant at Natanz - where Iranian scientists removed seals on Tuesday that had kept one of the country's largest uranium stockpiles under wraps since 2004.
According to an Iranian defector's account published in the Australian on Wednesday, Tehran has 5,000 centrifuges ready to install at the Natanz facility.
The same defector said Iran has also been building underground centrifuge cascade installation platforms at Natanz which could process enough enriched uranium to produce a nuclear bomb.
Other nuclear sites said to be among Israel's primary targets include a heavy-water production site at Arak, 120 miles southwest of Tehran, and a site near Isfahan in central Iran that produces uranium hexafluoride gas.
Plans for a preemptive strike were accelerated, the Herald said, after Russia agreed last month to sell Tehran advanced SA-15 Gauntlet mobile missile systems with an eye towards foiling an Israeli attack.
The paper quoted an unnamed Israeli source who warned: "We believe Iran will have useable nuclear weapons by 2007 unless something is done to prevent it. If Tehran is allowed to start enrichment of uranium, it will be too late." -
The Western countries are stupid...
Iran can make enough plutonium 239 for it's bombs within weeks from the huge amount of uranium it has...
-
Monday, January 16, 2006
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FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Israel withdrawal
from West Bank?
Many regard planned eviction of Jews as start of massive future evacuation
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Posted: January 16, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
HEBRON, Israel – In what some here are calling the beginning of a possible large-scale withdrawal from the West Bank, Israeli forces are currently preparing to evict Jews from their homes in select area neighborhoods including the biblical city of Hebron, considered the oldest Jewish community in the world.
Clashes broke out here yesterday between Jewish protesters and hundreds of policemen and Israeli Defense Forces soldiers deployed in Hebron ahead of the announced eviction of eleven families from a marketplace near the entrance to the city.
The skirmishes began after a protest organized by community leaders was at the last minute declared illegal by Israel's Police Authority. Rioters reportedly threw eggs and paint at security forces and yelled anti-withdrawal slogans. There were some reports of soldiers using excessive force against the protesters.
Protest leaders last week had obtained the necessary permits to hold the rally, but yesterday afternoon, after hundreds of Israelis had already amassed, police told the crowd the gathering had to be called off.
"People came to express their rights and protest," said Mikey Rosenfeld, a Jerusalem resident who attended the gathering. "It was irresponsible of the authorities to call off the rally right as it was beginning. They knew the atmosphere was explosive, and they basically ignited it themselves with the last minute declaration."
Israel earlier this month issued eviction notices to the resident's of Hebron's Mitspe Shalhevet, a marketplace built in 1929 after Arab riots temporarily forced Jews from the area. For a period of over 30 years, a sign was posted on the market boasting in Arabic the structure was built on stolen Jewish property.
Arab families had moved into the market but were asked to leave by the IDF after a series of clashes broke out in the mid-1990s. Then in 2001, Jewish families took up occupancy in the market to strengthen Jewish ties to the area after a Palestinian sniper murdered a Jewish infant nearby.
Even though the original owners of the property recently signed over the market to Hebron's Jewish community, Israel considers the structure, in which eleven families currently reside, an illegal outpost.
Jews lived in Hebron – home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, believed to be the resting place of biblical patriarchs and matriarchs – almost continuously for over 2,500 years. There are accounts of the trials of the city's Jewish community throughout the Byzantine, Arab, Mameluke and Ottoman periods.
In 1929, as a result of an Arab pogrom in which 67 Jews were murdered, the entire Jewish community fled the city, with Hebron becoming temporarily devoid of Jews.
The Jews re-established their presence in Hebron after the West Bank was recaptured in the 1967 Six Day War, with some prime ministers allowing Jewish construction in the city, and others calling it off.
Hebron residents believe evacuation of the marketplace is imminent. The 11 families had until yesterday to leave on their own accord or they may be forcibly removed, according to the eviction notices obtained by WND, which were worded similarly to eviction documents distributed to Jews living in the Gaza Strip just before their withdrawal from the area.
Hebron is not the only Jewish city facing evacuations. In what some commentators here are calling the start of a larger withdrawal from the West Bank, Israel has announced several other area communities now face evacuation, including nine homes in the Binyamin community of Amona, a home in the large Gush Etzion block, and three hilltop outposts in northern Samaria.
Also, Israel is now debating closing off the main Jewish highway in the West Bank to Jewish traffic, rerouting the major commuter artery for the area's roughly 200,000 Jews to a series of roads that run dozens of miles away from West Bank Jewish communities. The highway was constructed in the early 1990s to ease traffic for Arab and Jewish commuters, and to make it safer for Jews to travel throughout the West Bank by bypassing major Arab cities from which snipers had fired on Jewish vehicles.
Moshe Jacobs, a West Bank doctor who commutes during the week to his office in Jerusalem, told WND, "Now I am going to have to drive over 15 miles out of the way closer to major Arab cities to get to work. There is no reason in the world for this road to close. The only thing it will accomplish is make our lives uncomfortable and more dangerous."
Sara Frankel, a resident of the West Bank town of Eli, said, "Before Israel evacuated Gaza, it took steps just like this to make life harder and conditions unsafe for the Gaza Jews by closing roads and taking away protection. If they close the highway it would be a clear step in the direction of a future forced evacuation."
Indeed, just prior to the Gaza withdrawal, the Israeli army rerouted Jewish traffic, closed several roads and began removing army outposts from Jewish communities.
Several years before the withdrawal, residents of an entire Gaza Jewish community, Nitzarim, were banned from driving their vehicles on the only access road that led to their town. Instead, Nitzarim residents had to take hourly shuttles into their community provided by the IDF.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced he is leaving the ruling Likud Party he helped found to start his own "centrist" party, Kadima, prompting new elections that will be held in March. The new party was widely regarded as a bid to carry out further Israeli withdrawals after Sharon drew the ire of senior Likud figures for his decision to evacuate Jews from Gaza.
Multiple Kadima members have stated the new party is looking to change Israel's borders. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is filling in for Sharon as head-of-state following the Israeli leader's massive stroke two weeks ago, has expressed approval of West Bank withdrawals and has made statements to reporters about the possibility of vacating some parts of Jerusalem.
Olmert, currently leading in a series of national polls for the figure most likely to win in the upcoming elections, was the first Sharon deputy to go public with the Gaza-withdrawal plan.
The West Bank is considered landlocked territory not officially recognized as part of any country. Israel calls the land "disputed." The United Nations claims the West Bank is "occupied" by Israel, which maintains overall control of most of the area while the Palestinian Authority has jurisdiction in about 40 percent. The Palestinians claim a population of roughly 2.4 million, but new demographic studies show the numbers are likely inflated. The actual Palestinian population could be up to 1 million less.
The territory remained under Jordanian rule from 1948 until Israel captured the West Bank in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War. Most countries rejected Jordan's initial claim on the area, which it formally renounced in 1988.
The West Bank borders most of Israel's major cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Military strategists have long estimated Israel must maintain the West Bank to defend its borders from any ground invasion.
Many villages in the West Bank, which Israelis commonly reefer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Old Testament.
The Book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He was later buried in Hebron.
The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory.
And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shilo, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt. -
can make it into summary....
too long...
-
Egypt's Muslim Brothers brand Israel a 'cancer'
Mehdi Akef says he expects demise of Israel soon, its peace deal with Egypt should be put to referendum.
CAIRO - Israel is a "cancer" in the Middle East and its peace deal with Egypt should be submitted to a referendum, the leader of Egypt's Muslim Brothers said in an interview published Thursday.
"I declared that we will not recognize Israel which is an alien entity in the region. And we expect the demise of this cancer soon...," Mohammed Mehdi Akef told the state-owned English language Ahram Weekly.
Egypt signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, becoming the first Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.
Islamists opposed to the deal assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981 for signing the Camp David accord and opposition to the normalisation of relations with Israel remains strong in Egypt.
Akef stopped short of demanding the peace agreement be scrapped but suggested it should be submitted to a popular referendum.
"That is for the people to decide... If I had the power I would put it to the people," he said.
The banned but tolerated Brotherhood won 20 percent of the seats in the 454-strong parliament, making it the largest opposition bloc in the house. -
Err... too long to summarize.Originally posted by masteryap:can make it into summary....
too long... 
-
Iran 'could go nuclear within three years'
Iran 'could go nuclear within three years'
By Con Coughlin, Defence and Security Editor
(Filed: 16/01/2006)
Iranian scientists are expected to start work this week on the highly technical task of enriching tons of uranium to a level where it could be used in the production of atomic weapons, say the latest reports received by western intelligence agencies.
The work is to be undertaken at the top-secret Natanz uranium enrichment facility 90 miles north-east of the capital, Teheran.
The very existence of the plant was concealed from the outside world until two years ago, when an Iranian exile group produced details of its work.
Intelligence sources say Iran will begin feeding converted uranium into 164 centrifuges at Natanz this week. That could enable it to create enriched uranium of sufficient quality for nuclear weapons production within three years.
Previous estimates of the minimum time required had ranged from five to 10 years.
Iran's unilateral decision to resume enrichment is by far the most critical development in its latest stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations-sponsored body responsible for enforcing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
As a signatory to the NPT, Iran is obliged to provide the IAEA with a comprehensive breakdown of all its nuclear activity, which Teheran insists is purely for the development of an indigenous nuclear power industry - despite Iran having one of the world's largest known oil reserves.
But the discrepancies that have appeared in declarations to IAEA inspectors - which included concealing the existence of the Natanz complex - have increased suspicions that Iran is well advanced in its clandestine programme to build a nuclear weapon.
Nuclear experts working for the intelligence agencies have concluded that it now has the resources necessary for developing a nuclear weapon.
"Iran has spent the past 20 years scouring the world to acquire all the means of production and materials necessary for building nuclear weapons," a senior western intelligence officer told The Daily Telegraph.
"The big intelligence debate now is not whether Iran can build a bomb, but how long it will take them to build it."
Despite concerted attempts by western intelligence to prevent them acquiring nuclear equipment, the Iranians have managed to import key components.
Latest reports suggest that Iran has at least 1,000 tons of uranium -"yellowcake", the oxide of uranium that can be enriched to create weapons-grade uranium.
It was acquired from Niger and South Africa in the late 1990s. When processed, that quantity of yellowcake could provide enough material for five nuclear bombs.
The Iranians have also obtained key components for processing the yellowcake and technical expertise from A Q Khan, the controversial scientist regarded as being the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb.
By far the most alarming acquisition from Pakistan, according to western intelligence assessments, is the P2 centrifuge, the highly sophisticated device necessary for enriching uranium to weapons grade.
In order to reach the advanced stage needed for building an atomic weapon, it is necessary to connect a number of centrifuges so that they form a "cascade".
When they were finally allowed to visit Natanz two years ago, IAEA inspectors were alarmed to discover that the Iranians had managed to construct a cascade. This comprises 164 centrifuges, which are based on Pakistan's P2 design.
Any doubts about the effectiveness of the devices were banished when soil samples taken from the site by IAEA inspectors showed traces of weapons-grade uranium.
If the nuclear programme were genuinely aimed at developing nuclear power, there would be no need to process weapons-grade uranium.
Asked to explain the soil samples, the Iranians provided the rather lame excuse that the traces had inadvertently been imported from an unidentified foreign power - believed to be Pakistan - when the centrifuges were purchased.
This is only one of the many glaring inconsistencies that have appeared in the Iranians' submissions to the IAEA, which has been powerless to prevent their relentless pursuit of nuclear technology.
As a consequence Iran now has all the means of production and materials to proceed to the final weapons stage.
That process will begin this week when scientists resume work on processing uranium to weapons grade at Natanz.
Much of the preparatory work has already been done at the Isfahan nuclear conversion plant.
Work resumed there last year when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the removal of IAEA seals, unilaterally breaking the Paris Accord of November 2004.
This was negotiated with the European Union as Iran promised to suspend its nuclear activities until IAEA inspectors had satisfied themselves that Teheran's nuclear intentions were purely peaceful.
Isfahan has the capacity to process 300 tons of yellowcake a year, and before work was suspended in 2004 it was known that 37 tons had been developed to make uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas. UF6 is a key component in achieving weapons grade.
Once the UF6 is produced, it is transferred to Natanz where it is fed into the centrifuges to enrich uranium to weapons grade.
Exactly how much UF6 has been produced since the Isfahan seals were removed last August is unknown, although conservative intelligence estimates suggest there are sufficient stocks of UF6 for 30 kilos of enriched uranium. The warhead used at Hiroshima contained 25 kilos.
The only question remaining for western intelligence is to assess exactly how long it will take the Iranians to complete the process.
"We just don't know how efficient the Natanz plant is at enriching uranium," said an intelligence official.
"This is a very complex and highly sophisticated process that requires a great deal of technical ability."
IAEA officials have estimated that it will take Iran three years to produce weapons-grade uranium once the Natanz plant resumes work.
Given that its Shahab-3 ballistic missile system has the range to hit southern Europe, it is clear that the threat posed by Teheran's hard-line regime is significant and urgent. -
IRAN COULD ACHIEVE NUKE CAPABILITY IN 2006
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Iran has acquired sufficient technology and equipment to produce nuclear weapons, a report said.
A report published by the U.S. Army War College asserted that Iran has virtually completed the nuclear fuel cycle and was ready to assemble weapons. The report, financed by the Defense Department, said Iran could reach nuclear weapons capability as early as 2006.
"The truth is that Iran soon can and will get a bomb option," the report, entitled "Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran," said. "All Iranian engineers need is a bit more time: 1 to 4 years at most."
The report, released in late 2005, differed significantly from CIA and State Department estimates on Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Iran would need another decade to produce nuclear weapons. -
Iran’s president sees “final war” between Muslims, West
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 21 – Hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told senior leaders of a radical Palestinian group in Damascus on Friday that the Middle East conflict has become “the locus of the final war” between Muslims and the West, Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, reported.
Ahmadinejad, who was speaking on the second day of his two-day trip to Syria, told the leaders of Hamas, “Today, victory in Palestine has become a matter of life and death for the Islamic world and for Global Arrogance (the West)”.
The Iranian president urged the Palestinians to reject moves such as IsraelÂ’s withdrawal from Gaza.
“Some point to the withdrawal of the occupiers from parts of Palestine, but this event has already been greatly detrimental to Muslims”, Ahmadinejad said.
“If the occupiers stay on even one inch of Palestinian soil, the goal of Palestine will not be realised”, Ahmadinejad told Hamas leaders, who included Khalid Mash’al, the head of the group’s political bureau.
“We must not let our guard down now for even one moment against the enemies’ plots. Belittling the goal of Palestine is a great plot that the enemies are after”, he said.
Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a “myth” and said that Israel must be “wiped off the map”.