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UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 14 — More than 700 Islamic militants from Somalia traveled to Lebanon in July to fight alongside Hezbollah in its war against Israel, a United Nations report says. The militia in Lebanon returned the favor by providing training and — through its patrons Iran and Syria — weapons to the Islamic alliance struggling for control of Somalia, it adds. The report, which was disclosed by Reuters on Monday, appears to be the first indication that foreign fighters assisted Hezbollah during the 34-day conflict, when Israel maintained a tight blockade on Lebanon. The report also says Iran sought...

The Bush administration has undertaken efforts to arm and train the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in order to prepare it for a potential violent confrontation with Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. According to information received in Jerusalem, the American security coordinator in the territories, General Keith Dayton, appeared before representatives of the Quartet in London last week and presented them with a program for bolstering the Palestinian presidential guard. The program calls for Egyptian, British and perhaps even Jordanian instructors to train the force loyal to Abbas. However, Palestinian sources say that the training of...

'Syria, Iran violating UN arms embargo' Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 31, 2006 US Ambassador John Bolton expressed concern that Syria and Iran are trying to destabilize Lebanon's democratically elected government by violating a UN arms embargo. Bolton stressed on Monday that Syria's obligations to respect a UN arms embargo authorized by the Security Council resolution that ended the 34-day Israeli-Hizbullah conflict in August "are particularly important as it is the one country other than Israel that borders Lebanon." He called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to abide by the commitment he made to Secretary-General Kofi Annan to support...

The US government has lodged a vigorous protest with Israel over its restrictions on the entry of Palestinian-Americans into the territories. State Department officials told senior Israeli diplomats in Washington that they find it "hard to understand" Israel's discriminating against American citizens based on their ethnic background. The officials also stressed that in the past, the U.S. had encouraged Palestinian-Americans to settle in the territories, in order to facilitate Palestinian economic growth. Some of these individuals own homes and businesses in the territories, and the Israeli restrictions make it hard for them to look after their assets. Israel promised to...

U.S. President George W. Bush extended permission for the Palestine Liberation Organization to maintain an office in Washington for six months. Bush acted by waiving provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 that prohibited the PLO from having an official presence in Washington. "I hereby determine and certify that it is important to the national security interests of the United States to waive the provisions," Bush wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. After the ban became law, PLO founder and longtime chief Yasser Arafat renounced violence and recognized Israel the next year, and official U.S. PLO contact began a...

Ha’aretz is reporting a meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Tanzim leaders (h/t Ozmandiyas). What ever happened to Bush’s war on terrorism? On June 27, 2002, Rice identified Tanzim as a group that “traffics in terror.” ....exchange below from a June 28, 2002 State Department briefing: QUESTION: Yesterday [June 27, 2002], in some remarks she made in Canada, Condoleezza Rice referred to Fatah and Tanzim as a group that traffics in terror. I know that there's been some thought before about whether or not Tanzim should be considered a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Is there any change in thinking...

Compromise would allow Hezbollah to keep guns A compromise agreement now being hammered out between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government would allow the Shi'ite guerillas to keep hidden weapons in south Lebanon, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday. While Hezbollah would need to keep the weapons it possesses south of the Litani River hidden, an agreement for areas north of the river would be "left to a long term solution," the paper reported. If the proposed compromise is accepted Tuesday by the Lebanese government, it would violate the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 ending the war...

Comment: An unmitigated disaster Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 13, 2006 There is a good reason that Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has accepted UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which sets the terms for a cease-fire between his jihad army and the State of Israel. The resolution represents a near-total victory for Hizbullah and its state sponsors Iran and Syria, and an unprecedented defeat for Israel and its ally the United States. This fact is evident both in the text of the resolution and in the very fact that the US decided to sponsor a cease-fire resolution before Israel had...

Rice welcomes 'positive' peace moves by Hezbollah ministers U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel on Saturday for a new round of diplomacy aimed at ending more than two weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Rice, who was due to dine with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Saturday evening, said she hoped for agreement on the main conditions for a cease-fire to be outlined in a United Nations resolution that could be tabled as early as Wednesday. She was also to meet with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Rice's plan to stop the fighting envisages the deployment of...

Facing down our defeatist leaders Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 12, 2006 Sunday Palestinian Hamas Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar was in Teheran meeting with his boss, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad reportedly devoted the meeting to reminding Zahar that jihad is the only path for the Palestinians, and demanding that Hamas redouble its attacks against Israel. This report tells us little we don't already know about Hamas and Iran. Since last year, Hamas leaders Zahar and Khaled Mashaal have been traveling to Iran to meet with Ahmadinejad and commanders of Iranian intelligence and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards units...

Abbas names top fugitive head of Force 17 Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 31, 2006 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided on Tuesday to appoint a security officer who had been accused by Israel of involvement in terrorist attacks as overall commander of his Force 17 "presidential guard" in the West Bank. The decision to appoint Col. Mahmoud Damra, also known as Abu Awad, comes only days after Israel agreed to provide weapons and ammunition to Force 17 following increased threats on Abbas's life. PA officials told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas approved the appointment of Damra in...

U.S. to Turn Over 16 Saudis From Guantánamo to Riyadh WASHINGTON, May 17 — The United States plans to turn over 16 Saudis suspected of terrorist activities and held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to Saudi Arabian authorities, the Saudi foreign minister and American officials said Wednesday. The decision to release the men came after months of wrangling over American demands for guarantees that they would be treated humanely once in Saudi custody, but it was not entirely clear what sort of agreement had been reached. A Saudi official said Saudi Arabia had refused American demands that the men be allowed...

Financing terror By Diana West If democracy makes leaders accountable to the people who elect them, it works the other way as well: People are also accountable for their elected leaders. Which is why the United States, in agreeing to provide a $10 million care package to the Palestinian Authority, is so dangerously wrong in failing to hold the people of the PA accountable for the democratically-elected terror chieftains of Hamas. Here's what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week when she announced the U.S. would provide medical and other supplies to the PA, which, after two months of...

Last update - 21:30 03/12/2005 Palestinians in Gaza fire three Qassam rockets at Negev town By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News Agencies Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday fired three Qassam rockets at an Israeli town north of the Gaza border. They fired the first two Saturday afternoon and the third in early evening. Israel Defense Forces on Saturday blasted artillery at the Gaza Strip in retalliation for the first two Qassam rockets. The Qassam rockets all landed in an open field in a town in the western Negev. No injuries or damages were reported. Defense...