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JERUSALEM – Even with a war in Lebanon after withdrawal from the country's border six years ago and with ground troops forced to return to Gaza following evacuation from the territory 11 months ago, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday Israel will forge ahead with his plan to pull out of Judea and Samaria. "We will yet evacuate communities and it is important to me to complete this chapter as soon as possible so that we will be able to continue as a strong and united nation for the challenges that await us," Olmert told a group of Israelis evacuated...

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reluctantly allowed the Israeli Defense Forces this week to begin a more extensive ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip after a Palestinian rocket traveled further than any projectile ever fired from Gaza, hitting the strategic, populated city of Ashkelon about eight miles from the Gaza border. Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced the new IDF operation was aimed in part at stopping the regular Qassam rocket fire from Gaza into nearby Jewish communities. An Israeli soldier and at least 23 Palestinians, mostly militants, have been killed in street battles since yesterday,...

A new video on the website of the Palestinian terrorist and governing group Hamas promises the eventual defeat and subjugation of Western nations under Islam. Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in the face of terrorist attacks is present as the prototype for future Israeli and Western behavior in the face of Islamic force, reports Palestinian Media Watch. The video is a collection of statements by Hamas terrorist leader Yasser Ghalban, who was killed last week by Palestinians among ongoing internal fighting.

Russia’s determination to undermine the U.S. policy in the Middle East may well weaken U.S. power. But opposing punitive sanctions for Iran at the U.N. and endorsing HAMAS is likely to cost Russia dearly. On March 8, 2006, after discussing the Iran crisis with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov conveyed Russia’s objections to sanctioning Iran, while warning that “there is no military solution to this crisis.” Instead, he welcomed the European Union proposal to continue exploring diplomatic solutions with Iran, despite years of European-led negotiations that merely allowed Tehran to continue to develop its nuclear program....

TEL-AVIV, February 13 (RIA Novosti) - An Israeli non-governmental organization involved with information on terrorism has published a report on the links between Hamas and Chechen terrorist organizations following the Russian president's decision to offer an invitation to the radical Islamic group. A link to the document, which claims the group that won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January, identifies ideologically with Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, has been published on the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Web site alongside a report on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's response to Vladimir Putin's invitation.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned against international recognition of Hamas in a New York Sun interview published Friday morning. The warning came in the wake of Russian president Vladimir Putin's invitation to Hamas to come to Moscow for talks. According to Livni, there was a "slippery slope" effect caused by the tendency of some international actors to compromise with Hamas. Any sign of weakness in dealing with Hamas, she added, would lead to "a negative effect - not only for Israel, but also for the Palestinian people and for the international community."

The Washington Post gives prime op-ed space to an indicted terrorist, arguing for diplomatic engagement with Hamas. All one needs to know about Mousa Abu Marzook can be found at the end of the article: The writer is deputy political bureau chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). He has a U.S. doctorate in engineering and was indicted in the United States in 2004 as a co-conspirator on racketeering and money-laundering charges in connection with activities on behalf of Hamas dating to the early 1990s, before the organization was placed on the list of terrorist groups. He was deported to...