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BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces on Thursday took over the remains of three abandoned Jewish settlements in the northern Gaza Strip and entered a nearby Palestinian town, creating a temporary buffer zone to prevent Palestinian militants from firing rockets at Israel. The army last week launched its largest operation in the coastal area since it withdrew from the territory a year ago. The operation, which followed the capturing of an Israeli soldier, was expanded overnight after militants from the ruling Hamas group fired two homemade rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, which used to be out...

No, Never Again by Rachel Saperstein Jun 29, '06 / 3 Tammuz 5766 The following was adapted from a speech delievered by Mrs. Saperstein to the World Beitar Convention, held at the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem on June 17, 2006 My name is Rachel Saperstein. I am 65, a wife, mother and grandmother. I came from New York to live in my homeland 38 years ago. My husband and I once lived in a beautiful home in Gush Katif. Today, I am a refugee. We were forcibly removed from our home by the State of Israel. Not by the non-Jewish...

Most Israelis oppose Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to unilaterally withdraw from most of the West Bank, a public opinion poll released Monday showed. 50 percent of Israelis oppose the premier's realignment plan, whereby Israel would pull out of the vast majority of the West Bank while maintaining the large settlement blocs, while 46% of Israelis support the proposal, the Hebrew University poll found. While 54 percent of the Israelis polled said that the outcome of the last election grants Olmert a mandate to carry out his withdrawal plan, 58% believe a referendum should be carried out over the contentious...

Shin Bet investigates former settler spokesman Security service interrogates former Gaza Beach Regional Council spokesman Eran Sternberg on suspicions of involvement in incitement, illegal activity against security forces, minorities. 'Even today I maintain that delaying recruitment could prevent uprooting of settlements' he says Efrat Weiss Eran Sternberg, a former spokesman for the Gaza Beach Regional Council, is being investigated by the Shin Bet after he made comments in favor of dodging the draft. The security service is investigating Sternberg, who was evacuated from the Ganei Tal settlement almost a year ago during last summer’s Gaza disengagement, for alleged incitement. Officers...

My "Reward" for Serving My Country by Yehezkel Bin-Nun Jun 15, '06 / 19 Sivan 5766 In 1993, I was one of the few Canadian Jews who moved to Israel. A year later, I volunteered for the Israeli army. I was 23 years old, five years older than native-born Israelis when they begin to serve. I served for a year in the Golani infantry brigade and then, for the next ten years, I did one month of reserve duty annually. Today, almost half of secular Jews refuse to serve in the army. Not three years, not one year and certainly...

IDF commanders are to hold a disciplinary hearing Thursday morning for a soldier commended for excellence, who refused to shake hands with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz on Wednesday, in protest over what he called the "expulsion" of the Gaza settlers, Army Radio said. Sergeant Hananel Dayan, who serves in the armored corps, was one of 120 soldiers who received commendations at Wednesday's traditional Independence Day ceremony at the President's Residence.

Elections winner Olmert visits Western Wall before delivering victory speech; Kadima leader vows to bring peace, stresses need to renew negotiations, but tells PA leader Abbas: We won't wait forever Acting Prime Minister and Kadima leader Ehud Olmert turned to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas early Wednesday and called for "reconciliation, compromise and peace," but told the PA chairman Israel will not "wait forever." In order to move forward Israel will need to renounce parts of the Land of Israel and evacuate Jews from their homes, the acting PM said. In his victory speech following what is shaping up as a...

The Promise of Kadima By Guardian Unlimited / World news 12:07pm The elections here are just under three weeks away. If the polls can be believed, Kadima, Ehud Olmert's party, will get the largest number of seats and form the next government. Since November, surveys have shown Kadima well in the lead, and it has remained there despite the seemingly incredible turns of event - from Ariel Sharon's debilitating stroke to Hamas's unexpected victory in the Palestinian elections. I, for one, am not surprised. I come from a long-time Labor family. During the '90s I supported the Oslo accords and...

Thursday, March 09, 2006 Annexation? Colonies? Inflammatory U.K. Media Bias On March 6th The Scotsman ran a story with the incredible headline Israel 'plans to annex West Bank colonies' in response to Hamas. The story, of course, was about former GSS Chief and Kadima Knesset candidate Avi Dichter's detailing of Prime Minister Olmert's plans for unilateral withdrawal from most of Judea and Samaria. The headline was the most inflammatory part of the piece, of course, and it colors how a reader not intimately familiar with the history of the area and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians will view...

Mar. 6, 2006 20:32 | Updated Mar. 6, 2006 20:36 Analysis: 'Short and tight defensible borders' By YAAKOV KATZIsrael's security fence. Photo: Ariel JerozolimskiAvi Dichter's announcement this week that Israel would unilaterally disengage from large sections of the West Bank if Kadima won the upcoming elections, brought to surface one of the most current crucial arguments within the IDF General Staff over the security importance of settlements in Judea and Samaria. While anticipating a second disengagement under the next government, some in the IDF were taken by surprise with Dichter's announcement that the disengagement would be a strictly "civilian affair"...

Israel: Ariel Sharon Near DeathBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyUPDATE 17:20: Four hour emergency operation on Prime Minister's Sharon was successful. Fifty centimeters of Sharon's upper intestine was removed. Doctors say that the major problem remains Sharon's lack of consciousness. Sharon, who entered surgery in critical condition, is now in stable but serious condition. Jerusalem-----February 11.......Israel has been praying for a miracle. For Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to wake up from a stroke induced coma, smile and tell us that we should not be worrying about his health. But on this sunny and cold day in Jerusalem, the news is...

Israel: Ariel Sharon Near DeathBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem-----February 11.......Israel has been praying for a miracle. For Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to wake up from a stroke induced coma, smile and tell us that we should not be worrying about his health. But on this sunny and cold day in Jerusalem, the news is not good. And most of Israel will not know that Sharon may be living his last hours until they switch on their TV or check their e-mail tonight. A hospital spokeswoman in Jerusalem has just stated that the Israel Prime Minister's "life is in danger."...

Aluf Benn and Mazal Mualem report “Olmert facing dissent within Kadima over unilateral pullout”, "Senior Kadima figures Avi Dichter and Tzachi Hanegbi strongly oppose party leader and Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's vision of further unilateral withdrawals in the West Bank, Army Radio reported Wednesday." "In his first media interview since taking on the job of acting premier, Olmert said Tuesday that Israel "will separate from most of the Palestinian population that lives in the West Bank, and that will obligate us to separate as well from territories where the State of Israel currently is." "The direction is clear," he...

Moshe Yaalon says during Herzliya Conference Israel failed to create effective, reliable deterrence against rocket attacks; ‘Arabs’ refusal to recognize Israel is source of all violence directed against it from dawn of Zionism to this day,’ he adds Former IDF chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon said Monday that Gaza has turned into “Hamastan, Hizbullahstan and al-Qaedastan” following Israel’s withdrawal from the area last summer. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference on the Balance of Israel’s National Security, Yaalon said Israel easily gave up on principles such as border supervision and demilitarization. The former IDF head said Israel failed to create effective...

Sharon was elected in ’02 to fight terror and so he did. He also got together with Bush and planned a mutual strategy which took the form of the Roadmap. The Road Map envisaged the end of terror and incitement prior to the creation of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state whose borders were to approximate the Green Line subject to minor exchanges of land. To top it off the Arab countries were to normalize relations with Israel. Sharon’s acceptance of the Roadmap was conditioned on the removal of Sadaam Hussein. Israel had to be protected from an attack from...

From Ha'aretz/Kol Israel Reshet Aleph: 06:14 Settler leader: All Israelis, Gaza evacuees too, hope for PM`s recovery (Israel Radio) From The Jerusalem Post: Jan. 5, 2006 6:20 Gaza rabbi believes evacuees will pray for PM By JPOST.COM STAFF Rabbi Yosef Elnekaveh, regional rabbi of Gaza, said early Thursday in an interview to Israel Radio that despite the pain of the disengagement, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had worked for years to build Israel. "He is a brother," Elnekaveh said, adding that the Jewish people should pray for Sharon's recovery. Elnekaveh stated that he believed that most of the Gush Katif evacuees...

White House to Israel: 'Get moving!' By Stan Goodenough December 12, 2005 Just in case it was not yet clear that Israel's diplomatic rewards from this summer's Gaza "disengagement" have expired, the US State Department at the weekend signaled it was back to business as usual, insisting Israel ignore recent "Palestinian" aggression and offer concessions that put Jewish life in danger. Stripping away all the bureaucratese, the message went something like this: Now you listen to us, Israel. You listen well, and you do as we say. It does not matter to us that six Jews were blown to shreds...

Friday, November 25, 2005 Opening Rafah: A Recipe For Disaster Today the border crossing at Rafah was opened with much fanfare and very positive news coverage worldwide. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony marking the occasion which will give the Palestinians a border with Egypt free of Israeli supervision. Perhaps ominous were some of President Abbas' comments, in particular: The achievement we are celebrating today belongs first and foremost to the martyrs, wounded, prisoners, and all Palestinians who have sacrificed plenty in this struggle. Why is this ominous? He credits the intidafa and the...

Whither Disengagement? Whither the Road Map? Whither Two-State Plans? Michael L. Wise, One State Plan, March 6, 2005 Supporters of PM Sharon’s Disengagement Plan thought it was a very clever strategy. Evacuate Gaza, complete the Wall to include 5-8% of the West Bank territory and 80% of its Jewish settlement population, and then declare a Palestinian state. Sounds exciting. No more Arabs to worry about and a great opportunity for peace and prosperity. Singapore, Hong Kong, Benelux, NAFTA all Pollyannaish images. However... A significant risk associated with all two-state plans is being ignored. PA control of any part of the...

Senior Hamas sources say group turned former Gaza settlement Neve Dekalim into ‘military training camp for martyrs,’ boast several Qassam rockets fired from former Jewish capital into nearby Israeli Negev towns In what expelled Jewish residents of the area are calling the "ultimate insult," Hamas has turned the former Jewish capital of the Gaza Strip into a terror training camp and has used the territory to launch rockets into Israel, World Net Daily has learned. Before Israel's Gaza withdrawal in August, Neve Dekalim was the largest town in Gaza's Gush Katif slate of Jewish communities. The neighborhood was usually bustling...