Half of Israelis Back Immediate Strike on Iran
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Just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday.
Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.
But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama’s efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.
Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its arch-foe after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be “wiped off the map.”
Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.
via Half of Israelis back immediate strike on Iran.
Jordanian King Says US Pushing 57 State Peace Plan
The United States is promoting a peace plan for the Middle East involving a “57-state solution” in which the entire Muslim world would recognize Israel, Monday’s Times of London quoted Jordan’s King Abdullah as saying.
“We are offering a third of the world to meet them with open arms,” the king said. “The future is not the Jordan River or the Golan Heights or the Sinai, the future is Morocco in the Atlantic and Indonesia in the Pacific. That is the prize.” But he warned: “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months.” The newspaper said the king had hatched the plan with President Barack Obama in Washington in April. Details are likely to be thrashed out in a series of diplomatic moves this month, including Obama’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington next week. “What we are talking about is not Israelis and Palestinians sitting at the table, but Israelis sitting with Palestinians, Israelis sitting with Syrians, Israelis sitting with Lebanese,” said the king. While Palestinians seek a state in their long-running conflict with Israel, Syria wants the return of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in a
via Jordanian king says US pushing new peace plan.
Iran Deploys Missile Batteries Fearing Israel, US Attack
May 12, 2009 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has deployed mobile ground-to-air and ground-to-sea missile batteries in the Strait of Hormuz and other areas in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian source was quoted by Al Watan as saying on Tuesday.
The source told the Saudi-based newspaper that the move was made after Iran received reports that the US and Israel were preparing to attack the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities.
Will Israel Be Forced To Face The World Alone?
As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu prepares for his visit to the United States next week, warnings abound that the Obama Administration’s policies will leave Israel to face Iran and Hamas alone.
The warnings are summed up in recent articles by the West’s two main pro-Israel female commentators: Melanie Phillips and Caroline Glick. Writing in the Spectator (United Kingdom) last week, Philips warns that “Obama is attempting to throw Israel under the Islamist bus.” She cites the report that Obama’s National Security Adviser told a European foreign minister that Obama will be ‘forceful’ with Israel, and plans to impose, with the EU and moderate Arab states, “a satisfactory endgame solution” upon Israel.
“This is all not only evil,” Phillips says, “but exceptionally stupid… The Arab states are beside themselves with anxiety about Iran. They want it to be attacked and its nuclear programme stopped. They are desperately fearful that the Obama administration might have decided that it can live with a nuclear Iran… A Palestine state will be Iran, in the sense that it will be run by Hamas as a proxy for the Islamic Republic. The idea that a Palestine state will not compromise Israel’s security is ludicrous.”
American Jewry: Spineless
After expressing incredulity at the American demands for further Israeli concessions in the light of the utter failure of the Disengagement, Phillips writes that U.S. Jews are reacting “with a total absence of spine… Almost eighty per cent of American Jews voted for Obama despite the clear and present danger he posed to Israel. They did so because their liberal self-image was and is more important to them than the Jewish state whose existence and security cannot be allowed to jeopardise their standing with America’s elite.”
Netanyahu must therefore take Israel’s message to “the ordinary American people,” she concludes: “They do value and support Israel. They do understand that if Israel is thrown under that bus, the west is next. And it is they to whom Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu must now appeal, over the heads of the politicians and the media and certainly America’s Jews and everyone else. He must tell the American people the terrible truth, that America is now run by a man who is intent on sacrificing Israel for a reckless and amoral political strategy which will put America and the rest of the free world at risk.”
Peres: Israel Supports Two-State Solution, Iran Engagement
Israel is on board with key elements of President Obama’s agenda in the Middle East, Israeli President Shimon Peres told reporters Tuesday after meeting with Obama at the White House.
He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would support a two-state solution to achieve peace between the Israelis and Palestinians and that if Obama wants to engage Iran, the Israelis are willing to back him.
“Mr. Netanyahu said he will cooperate (with) the commitments of the previous (Israeli) government. The previous government accepted the roadmap (to Middle East peace). In the roadmap, you’ll find the attitude to the two-state solution,” Peres said.
He said Netanyahu is ready to “start to negotiate right away” and does not want to “govern the Palestinian people.”
The Tuesday sit-down was meant to lay the groundwork for a meeting later this month with Netanyahu which the U.S. president hopes will lead to a resumption of the Middle East peace process.
The White House released a statement Tuesday noting that Peres and Obama discussed issues “including the pursuit of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and Iran’s nuclear program” and saying Obama looks forward to the meeting with Netanyahu.
Peres, more moderate than Netanyahu, had been downplaying the new Israeli leader’s previous refusal to endorse the “two-state solution” that has been the foundation of U.S. policy since early in the Bush administration.
The push for a two-state solution was also at the heart of a political flap Tuesday over the tone the administration was taking with its top ally in the Middle East.
Netanyahu Considering Land-For-Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly contemplating making a deal with the Obama administration in an effort to encourage a more forceful American response to the Iranian regime.
According to The Jerusalem Post Thursday, Netanyahu may agree to some form of implementation of the so-called Arab peace plan in exchange for an American pledge to more robustly oppose Tehran’s nuclear program.
This Arab plan calls for Israel to withdraw from all land it has controlled since the Six Day War - including Judea, Samaria, the Dead Sea/Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights - and the granting of blanket rights for all “Palestinian” “refugees” to “return home.”
In exchange for this abandonment of historical and biblical Jewish lands and the opening of the doors to an Arab deluge - acts which will mean national suicide - the Arab states say seductively, they will establish full, normal relations with what will be left of Israel.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has signaled Washington and Europe of the new Israeli government’s intention to revise the repeatedly-failed land-for-peace approach to the Israeli-”Palestinian” conflict.
Netanyahu is expected to face enormous pressure to change this stance when he visits Washington on May 18.
It is already in play: President Barack Obama and his state department have repeatedly if diplomatically rejected any Israeli questioning of the viability of the “two-state-solution.”
Pundits expect that Netanyahu will be accorded a frosty reception at the White House and that Obama’s gloves will come off. Administration officials answering journalists’ questions in this way, “assured” them that the president was looking forward to hosting the Israeli.
In part because of the widespread media speculation, Netanyahu’s policy review team is understood to be brainstorming ways to avoid any form of clash that could harden Obama’s heart towards Israel.
via Jerusalem Post: Bibi considering land-for-Iran.
Jordan: Israel Faces War If It Does Not Agree To Arab Terms
Israel faces all-out war within 18 months if it does not come to terms with the Arab world and allow the establishment of a new Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
The Hashemite monarch also declared on America’s Meet the Press television program Sunday that threats from Iran and Al Qaeda will fade away once Jerusalem is divided.
His position basically echoed the Palestinian Authority (PA) stand that its demands are a condition for peace and are not a matter for negotiation, despite diplomatic and media language about Israel and the PA each making concessions.
The king responded to virtually every question concerning the Middle East by pointing to Jerusalem. “In Arab and Muslim minds, the most emotional aspect is the Palestinian cause and that of Jerusalem. And from there leads all the other problems,” he argued.
When program host David Gregory asked if it’s not a “fantasy’ to think that the problem of Al Qaeda will disappear so easily, the Jordanian monarch answered, ”What — what is Al Qaeda’s platform is — is the plight of the Palestinians in Jerusalem under occupation.”
Turkish Arms Sale To Lebanon Shocks Israel
DEBKAfile quotes senior Israeli military circles as staggered by the discovery that US president Barack Obama had approved a large Turkish arms sale to the Lebanese army, including the services of Turkish military instructors. This was taken as further proof that the US president is deaf to Israel’s immediate security concerns. Lebanese president Gen. Michel Suleiman has more than once threatened neighboring Israel. When he signed the arms deal in Ankara Tuesday, April 21, he once again pledged publicly to place the Lebanese army at the disposal of the Shiite terrorist Hizballah in any confrontation with Israel.
If that happened, said one Israeli source, Israel could find itself under attack not just by Hizballah as in the past, but by a Lebanese army, well trained and armed by Turkey. He noted that more than 50 percent of Lebanon’s fighting manpower are Shiites loyal to Hizballah.
The conviction is growing in Jerusalem that the US president endorsed the transaction as a means of breaking up the long-standing military pact between Israel and Turkey, because it interferes with his Middle East objectives. Our sources note that neither Washington nor Ankara bothered to inform Israel of the transaction or its scope.
After meeting Turkish president Abdullah Gul, Suleiman at the head of a large Lebanese military delegation signed the contracts for the sale and declared with deep satisfaction: “We reviewed the new [US] policies towards the region in the light of President Obama’s recent visit to Turkey.”
Iran Nuclear Threat
A top Israeli general says Iran is capable of producing a nuclear bomb.
Israel’s military intelligence chief told the country’s Cabinet that Iran has crossed the “technological threshold” of nuclear capability. Major-General Amos Yadlin said this does not mean that Iran actually has an atomic bomb, but that it has the expertise and materials needed to build one.
So how long would it take Iran to acquire the bomb? Israeli analyst Barry Rubin says time is running out.
“There is a big gap between material and bomb,” said Barry Rubin. “But basically, people who are well-informed estimate that Iran will need between 15 months to over three years.”
Rubin says that is a significant timetable considering there is a new administration in Washington, and in a few weeks, there is due to be a new government in Israel.
“We are entering a period in which we can assume that during the administration of this president of the United States and during the term of this prime minister of Israel, Iran will obtain nuclear weapons and those governments will have to make major decisions,” he said.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But Israel has grown increasingly alarmed about Iran’s intentions since 2005, when the Iranian president threatened to wipe the Jewish state “off the map.”
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North Korea Threatens Retaliation
North Korea ordered its armed forces on standby and warned Monday it will retaliate against anyone seeking to block its planned satellite launch, which many fear will disguise a missile test.
The threat was the North’s latest attempt to escalate tensions on the divided peninsula and a strong sign that the communist nation intends to push ahead with the launch despite mounting international pressure to drop the plan. Analysts say Pyongyang is trying to grab President Barack Obama’s attention as his administration formulates its North Korea policy.
Monday’s warning came hours before United States and South Korea kicked off annual war games involving tens of thousands of troops, which the communist nation has condemned as preparations for an invasion.
The joint drills across South Korea began as concerns mounted that Pyongyang could be gearing up to test-fire a long-range missile capable of reaching U.S. territory. North Korea says it plans to launch a communications satellite, but neighboring governments believe it is a cover for a missile test.
Analysts have said a launch could come late this month or in early April when the North’s new legislature, chosen in Sunday’s election, is expected to convene its first meeting to confirm Kim Jong Il as leader.
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South Korea’s Navy On Alert After North Issues Warning Of Conflict
North Korea issued another warning on Sunday, threatening South Korea of a possible military conflict as the former try to restructure its foreign policies against South Korea amid mounting tension in the Korean Peninsula.
The reports on Sunday said the South Korean Defense Ministry officials have indicated that the country’s navy will remain on high alert along the western sea border.
The Communist country warned that it will abandon all the peace agreements with its southern neighbor, adding that he is confident that it’s army has grown to be “invincible”
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) claimed that the South Korean government has been responsible for worsening ties between the two nations.
South Korean president had pledged to reduce tensions by resuming food aid after the talks between the two sides, which accepted truce after 1950-1953 conflict but have not agreed on a peace treaty.
But with Friday’s warning by the North, the political analysts fear that the tension may lead to inevitable military conflict and a war.
“The KPA (Korean People’s Army)… has grown to be the invincible revolutionary ranks all members of which devotedly defend the Party and the leader” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim Jong-Il as saying, without giving a date for the visit, according to AFP.
The state media has blamed the South Korea’s president for trying to avoid his personal responsibility for the two sides’ strained relations by reviving previous bilateral summit accords.
via Source
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Uranium For Iranian Nuke Within 2009
Iran will have enough enriched uranium to make a single nuclear weapon later this year, the prestigious International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) predicts.
The think tank’s Mark Fitzpatrick made the announcement at today’s launch of its annual global review of military powers.
“But being able to enrich uranium is not the same as having a nuclear weapon.”
However, the survey reports doubts over US Intelligence estimates that Iran halted its work on nuclear weapons six years ago.
This points to Tehran’s continued development of long-range ballistic missiles able to reach targets in Israel and beyond.
The IISS recommends a mixture of carrot and stick as the best international response.
It concluded a dual policy of engagement and sanctions, testing possibilities for Iranian cooperation while adopting targeted containment strategies, is the best way to deal with Iran’s nuclear programme.
Foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said: “Several think-tanks have come to the same conclusion.
“The intelligence agencies are more reluctant to put a time frame on it, and the report itself says having enough enriched Uranium to build the warhead is not the same as building the warhead itself.”
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Gaza Rockets Put Israel’s Dimona Nuclear Plant In Battle Zone
There were growing fears in Israel last night that Hamas missiles could threaten its top-secret nuclear facility at Dimona.
Rocket attacks from Gaza have forced Israelis to flee in ever greater numbers and military chiefs have been shaken by the size and sophistication of the militant group’s arsenal.
In Beersheba, until a few days ago a sleepy desert town in southern Israel, there is little sign of the 186,000 inhabitants. Schools are closed and the streets of shuttered shops echo with the howl of sirens warning of incoming rockets.
Israeli planes, meanwhile, began a new stage yesterday in their offensive on Gaza, killing Nizar Rayyan, a senior Hamas official. The one-tonne bomb in Jabaliya is also understood to have killed two of his four wives and four of his twelve children. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed in the six days of Israeli attacks.
Despite a diplomatic mission by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, to Paris, the Israeli army continued to muster thousands of troops and scores of tanks along Gaza’s border for a possible ground offensive. Israel’s airstrikes are designed to blunt Hamas’s capacity to fire its new Grad missiles deep into its territory. The weapons are smuggled in through tunnels and by sea, replacing homemade Qassam rockets.
Israeli officials say that Hamas has also acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles with an even longer range. Many fear that as the group acquires ever more sophisticated weaponry it is only a matter of time before the nuclear installation at Dimona, 20 miles east of Beersheba, falls within its sights. Dimona houses Israel’s only nuclear reactor and is believed to be where nuclear warheads are stored.
via - Times Online.
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Bush: America Will Not Allow Iran To Develop Nuclear Weapon
U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated his pledge that the United States will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons in a wide-ranging speech on the Middle East Friday.
“For the safety of our people and the peace of the world, America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon,” Bush said at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.
Bush called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the most vexing problem in the region, but offered a hopeful tone, saying “on the most vexing problem in the region - the Israeli- Palestinian conflict - there is now greater international consensus than at any point in recent memory.”
He noted that he was the first U.S. president to call for a Palestinian state and said he sees progress toward reaching a two-state solution.
The Israelis and Palestinians agreed last November at a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, to reach some agreement by the end of the year. But after months of publicly insisting that an agreement could still be forged, the Bush administration has conceded that it will hand the fragile, unfinished U.S.-backed peace effort to Obama.
