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Israeli security forces say they arrested a member of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah terror group for involvement in a cell that was to attack a crowded disco in one of Israel's coastal cities. The attack was reportedly planned and directed from Arafat's Muqata compound in Ramallah. The Israelis say the PA refused to act on the intelligence, but senior PA security sources deny it. The arrested militant, Issim Farukh from Ramallah, confessed to his interrogators that he was expected on one of the next weekends to send two bomb-strapped young women to carry out suicide attacks in Tel Aviv...

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said that Israel has the means to respond defensively and to deter a possible Iranian missile strike. The IDF's Arrow anti-missile system can adequately defend the country against Iran's newly upgraded Shihab-3 ballistic missiles, he said. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Iran was "trying to do everything" to develop nuclear weapons and called on Europe to help counter the threat. On Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush accused Iran and Syria of supporting terrorism and undermining the Middle East peace process. "Syria and Iran continue to harbor and assist terrorists. This behavior is completely unacceptable, and...

An elite IDF unit broke into a construction site in the West Bank town of Beituniya, near Ramallah, late Tuesday night and rescued Ramat Gan taxi driver Eli Gurel, who had been held captive for four days. Earlier, the police's anti-terror unit captured two of the Palestinian kidnappers in Kalandiya. No shots were fired, and no one was hurt in the rescue. Gurel was reported to be in good health. Just before midnight, soldiers arrived at the site where Gurel was being held. One of them shouted down into a deep pit, "Is there anyone down there?" Gurel, who was...

A mob of furious Palestinians stormed the Ramallah offices of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) on Sunday when they learned that the results of a survey would show that most Palestinian refugees were willing to abandon claims of a "right of return" to Israel. PSR director Dr. Khalil Shikaki was due to announce that although the vast majority of Palestinian refugees were unwilling to give up their "right of return" in principle, the "vast majority" was willing to accept monetary compensation and a new life in the Palestinian state in practice. Just before Shikaki convened the...

Israeli intelligence operatives have launched an extensive manhunt for an IRA bomb-making expert suspected of training Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank, the British Observer weekly reported today. The identity of the 40-year-old man, who entered Israel three weeks ago on a British passport, is known both to The Observer and the Shin Bet, the publication reported. The man is considered "among the world's leading experts in both bomb- and mortar-making technology," according to the report. Intelligence officials believe that the man successfully crossed into the West Bank and is currently working to help Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas and...

New documents released this week by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) prove that Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty was accidental. The Israeli attack on the American surveillance ship during the Six Day War, which killed 34 U.S. servicemen and wounded 172, has been a controversial and disputed chapter in Israel's relations with the United States. Last week, the NSA released additional information relative to the June 8, 1967 attack on the U.S.S. Liberty. The information included three audio recordings, transcripts (in English), three follow-up reports, and a U.S. Cryptologic History Report entitled "Attack on a Sigint Collector,...

The United States reiterated its support for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), after the Palestinian leader quit as deputy head of the Fatah Central Committee and cancelled a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. A senior American official said that no one could strengthen Abu Mazen's shaky leadership more than Sharon. The U.S. plans to push Israel to remove more unauthorized outposts and release more Palestinian prisoners. "We stand behind Prime Minister Abbas," U.S. State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker said on Tuesday. Reeker said Abbas's leadership had produced important changes beneficial to the Palestinians. Reeker's statements...

For the first time since the start of the Intifada, official Palestinian Authority television yesterday refrained from broadcasting programs encouraging jihad and municipal workers in Gaza City began whitewashing over anti-Israeli graffiti. The Palestinians called for an end to remarks such as those of Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman, suggesting that released Palestinian prisoners "should be drowned." Click here for full article

Security forces thwarted a major terror attack in central Israel today when they arrested two Tanzim terrorists, one of whom was carrying a bag with a powerful explosive device. "If this terrorist had mingled with crowds in Tel Aviv, no one would have suspected him," a soldier told ynet. The terrorists were identified as Nidal Subhi Abdelhak and Mohammed Ramadan, both residents of Nablus. The arrests were made in Kfar Kassem, an Israeli Arab village northeast of Tel Aviv. Security forces went on high alert in the Sharon region this morning due to intelligence warnings of an impending terror attack....

Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel; Umm el-Fahm Mayor Suleiman Agbariya; and three others were indicted today on charges of membership in a terror organization and passing on information to the enemy. Hundreds of family members and other Israeli Arabs gathered outside the Haifa District Court to protest the proceedings. Police arrested Salah and 14 other officials in May on suspicion of transferring charity funds raised overseas to the families of suicide bombers and Hamas. Internal Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said the men "oiled the wheels" of terrorism. Police emphasized yesterday that...

IDF Paratroopers, female soldiers and police this morning began dismantling Mitzpe Yitzhar, an unauthorized outpost south of Nablus. Some 200 settlers gathered at the outpost to block the soldiers. Large stones were placed on access roads and fires were set off to prevent the evacuation. The High Court of Justice issued a temporary restraining order late Wednesday, staying the army's dismantling of one permanent structure at the site. Two settlers said they were injured when they were struck by an army jeep. Army Radio reported that three settlers and four policemen were lightly injured during the evacuation. The settlers were...

A suicide bomber detonated a bag of explosives early Thursday morning in a grocery store located in Moshav Sde Trumot, in the Beit Shean Valley. Avner Mordechai, 63, the owner of the store, was critically injured in the blast, and later died of his injuries. Security forces are searching for the bomber's accomplices, who may have driven him to the site. Media reports indicated that Hamas was close to accepting an agreement to stop "big" terror attacks in Israel. Moshav Sde Trumot is located a few miles north of the West Bank, inside the Green Line. The attack occurred just...

The Israeli Antiquities Authority announced today that an ancient stone box with the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus," was a fake. The authority also determined that a stone tablet bearing the "Joash inscription," with fifteen lines of ancient Hebrew detailing improvements at the Temple, was a forgery. The inscriptions on both items were made "in the modern era." Click here for this breaking story

Question to President Bush from the reporter's pool aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003, from the White House official transcript: "What's your role? What do you do? ... What's your obligation?" THE PRESIDENT: "I show up when they need me to call people to account, to praise, or to say, wait a minute -- you told me in Jordan that you would do this, you haven't done it, why? How come? What is it? It's to keep the thing moving, keep the processes moving. They've got the man on the ground that is going to -- he's just going...

Senior Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi was apparently lightly injured when an IDF Apache helicopter fired at least four rockets at a jeep traveling in central Gaza City this morning, Israel Radio reported. According to Palestinian sources, three people - one of Rantisi's bodyguards, a woman bystander and her baby - were killed. The Associated Press reported that Rantisi was among the 25 people wounded in the strike. Israel Radio reported that Rantisi and his bodyguards noticed Israeli helicopters hovering overhead and escaped from their vehicle. The jeep burst into flames after a rocket struck it. Palestinian doctors said...

Despite two deadly terror attacks on Sunday, in which 5 Israeli soldiers were killed at the Erez Crossing and in Hebron, the IDF is preparing to dismantle some 15 "unauthorized" outposts in the West Bank, in accordance with the "road map" peace initiative and PM Ariel Sharon's declaration at the Akaba summit. Although efforts are being made to have settlers vacate outposts voluntarily, the army may move into action tonight. Click here for full article

I am an American, a Jew, and a Zionist and I am writing to defend Islam against those who belittle it, defame it, and demean it. Don't get me wrong. I am no fan of many things in the Islamic world today. To start with, Hamas and its endorsement of suicide bombings and the mass murder of innocent Israelis. Just as bad are the whining sycophants who proclaim these suicide attacks only occurred because the Palestinians are "frustrated." These guys do more to damage Islam's reputation than any staunchly anti-Islamic American preacher. Any Islamic cleric who supports suicide attacks against...

Four Israeli soldiers were killed and four others were wounded when three terrorists attacked an IDF post at the Erez Crossing in the northern Gaza Strip early Sunday morning. The terrorists, wearing IDF uniforms, approached the outpost in the fog and opened fire and threw grenades. Soldiers fired back and after a fierce gunfight, killed the terrorists. The terrorists arrived at the Erez industrial area shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday morning with a group of Palestinian workers who were waiting to cross into Israel. The terrorists separated themselves from the workers, scaled a wall and then infiltrated into the army...

Security officials are increasingly concerned over a possibility that right-wing extremists will seek to physically harm PM Ariel Sharon in the wake of the government's approval of the "road map" peace initiative and its readiness to dismantle "unauthorized" outposts. Security details around Sharon and other ministers have been increased. Officials also fear extremists may use weapons against soldiers dismantling the outposts. Click here for full article

One week after pop star Whitney Houston's highly publicized "spiritual retreat" in Israel, actor Richard Gere arrived in the country on a "visit to promote peace." Gere, the 54-year-old star of hit films including An Officer and a Gentlemen, Pretty Woman and Chicago, asked that the media not cover his three-day visit to Israel, but the Israeli press was full of reports of his arrival on an El Al airliner at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday and his lodgings in the royal suite at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, which had previously hosted the Dalai Lama, Gere's spiritual mentor....