I-58 the Palestinians agreed to a cease-fire

Israel,Palestinians OK Gaza cease-fire JERUSALEM -
Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a cease-fire Saturday to end a five-month Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and the firing of rockets by Palestinian militants into the Jewish state — a major step toward possibly reviving long-stalled peace talks..... The cease-fire was to go into effect at 6 a.m. Sunday (11 p.m. Saturday EST), both sides said.

The truce announcement was a significant achievement for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as he tries to put together a more moderate government to replace the one currently led by Islamic Hamas radicals. Abbas, a moderate from the
Fatah Party, hopes a deal with Hamas will persuade the West and Israel to lift crushing economic sanctions against the Palestinians.

I-57 Israel rejects Palestinian peace offer

Israel rejects Palestinian peace offer
JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian prime minister said Friday that militants were prepared to stop firing rockets at Israel if it would halt all military action in Palestinian territories. Israel rejected the offer, saying it would respond positively only to a total truce.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza five months ago, in an unsuccessful attempt to curb militant rocket fire on Israeli border communities.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said armed factions had agreed Thursday to halt rocket fire in exchange for a complete cessation of Israeli military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

"The ball now is in the Israeli court," Haniyeh said. "It (Israel) must stop its aggression and escalation against the Palestinian people, then there will be no problem according to what the factions agreed in their last meeting."

I-56 Bush plays "the good guy" with the death of Christian and US supporter

Bush pledges to stand by Lebanon US President George W Bush has pledged to support Lebanon's independence from what he called the "encroachments of Iran and Syria", a US official said..... Mr Bush's promise came in a call to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, following Tuesday's murder of leading anti-Syrian politician Pierre Gemayel.... Mr Gemayel, Lebanon's industry minister, was shot in broad daylight in his car in a Christian area of Beirut.

In his telephone call to Mr Siniora, Mr Bush reiterated the "unwavering commitment of the United States to help build Lebanese democracy and to support Lebanese independence from the encroachments of Iran and Syria," an official at the White House said.

Mr Bush has not specifically blamed Iran or Syria for Mr Gemayel's murder but he has called for a full investigation to identify "those people and those forces" behind the killing.

************************* says a me comment ********************************

True his character, Bush, who let Israel bomb Lebanon and kill thousands a few months ago and never said a word against Israel, but now offers to help find the assassins of a pro US Christian Lebanese official and that he now blames on Iran and Syria... He's just looking after his best interests in Lebannon and for any excuse to provoke and attack Syria and Iran.

Saysame JR

I-55 Israeli troops advance into Gaza towns

Israeli troops advance into Gaza towns
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip - Israeli ground troops, tanks and armored vehicles advanced on two northern Gaza towns Wednesday in pursuit of Palestinian rocket squads, besieging a well-known Hamas lawmaker's house and engaging militants in ferocious clashes, Palestinian officials said.

Snipers positioned themselves on more than a dozen rooftops in Beit Hanoun and Jebaliya in northern Gaza as the ground troops fanned out, Palestinian security officials said. Three teenage Palestinian girls were wounded by Israeli gunfire outside a school in Beit Hanoun, hospital and security officials said.

Militants, led by gunmen from the ruling Hamas party's military wing, faced off against troops in both towns with land mines, antitank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades, security officials said. Hamas commanders instructed their gunmen not to travel in cars for fear they would draw Israeli airstrikes.

I-54 More Israeli Gestapo tactics...

Israeli offensive in Gaza City kills 2 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Israeli military launched a three-pronged offensive in the northern
Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing a top Hamas commander in its latest operation against Palestinian rocket squads. An elderly Palestinian woman died in a gunbattle between troops and militants.

Militants persisted with the rocket fire, launching five homemade projectiles, including three that landed in southern Israel. One critically wounded a man in the town of Sderot, a frequent target, striking the ground a half-mile from a convoy carrying the United Nations' top human rights official, who was touring the town.

The operation on Tuesday began at about 2 a.m. as an arrest raid in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, then fanned out to the outskirts of Jebaliya and Beit Lahiya, about 4 miles away..... Ground troops backed by helicopters, tanks and snipers surrounded the Zeitoun home of Ayman Hassanin, 26, a local leader in the military wing of the ruling Hamas group, witnesses said.

Gunmen streamed to the area as troops called on loudspeakers for Hassanin and his brother, Ibrahim, to surrender, said the militants' mother, who identified herself only as Umm Mahmoud. A fierce gunbattle erupted, and Ayman Hassanin, 26, was killed, Hamas said..... A 70-year-old woman was also killed in the battle, Palestinian medical officials said.

*** *** *** The army confirmed surrounding Hassanin's home to arrest him, saying troops opened fire only after militants fired guns and mortars at the soldiers first. *** *** ***

Troops entered the town of Jebaliya after dawn. Bulldozers plowed over farms, ripping up irrigation systems and destroying greenhouses and fields. A main electricity transformer, which provides about 60 percent of the power to the Zeitoun neighborhood, was also destroyed.... Four people, including at least one Hamas gunman, was wounded when a tank shell hit a group of fighters, witnesses said.

Israeli bulldozers demolished a factory between Jebaliya and Beit Lahiya in an area where rockets were launched Tuesday morning. Troops also razed land on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya and took up positions on high ground.... By late morning, the troops had left Zeitoun.

I-53 CIA issues report .... 'No proof' of Iran nuclear arms... White house denies report and calls it hostile

'No proof' of Iran nuclear arms The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not found conclusive evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a US magazine has reported.

Correspondents say the alleged document appears to challenge Washington's views regarding Iranian nuclear intentions..... The article says the White House was dismissive about the CIA report.

The CIA assessment, according to unnamed officials quoted in the article, casts doubt on how far Iran has actually progressed to making a nuclear weapon..... "The CIA found no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program running parallel to the civilian operations that Iran has declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency," Mr Hersh wrote.

It says the agency based its conclusions on technical intelligence, such as satellite photography and measurements from sensors planted by US and Israeli agents..... The article says: "A current senior intelligence official confirmed the existence of the CIA analysis, and told me that the White House had been hostile to it."

The White House is not going to dignify the work of an author who has viciously degraded our troops... Dana Perino... White House spokeswoman

I-52 Olmert - Liberman - to take back Gaza, Israeli official says

Take back Gaza, Israeli official says RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israel should ignore moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, wipe out the Hamas leadership and walk away from the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, Israel's new deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Saturday.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert forged an alliance with Lieberman, one of Israel's most divisive politicians, last month to shore up his shaky coalition. The appointment of Lieberman as minister of strategic affairs raised concern that Olmert's government, weakened by the summer's war in Lebanon, would freeze all peace efforts.

"We have a reliable partner there which is Jordan," he said. "We have to coordinate with Jordan. We have to say that Abbas is simply not relevant, we have to ignore him ... He has no authority, no power."

Israel also needs to get tougher with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, particularly their leaders, Lieberman said. "I see the entire leadership of Hamas and Jihad walking around freely, and it's continuing to incite," he told the radio. "They ... have to disappear, to go to paradise, all of them, and there can't be any compromise."

UPDATES '06 Nov 18
Israeli official: Kill Hamas leaders JERUSALEM -
Israel's deputy prime minister on Saturday said Israel should assassinate Hamas' leadership, ignore the moderate Palestinian president and walk away from international peace efforts, the latest in a string of hard-line positions voiced by the newest member of the Cabinet..... The comments by Avigdor Lieberman came as the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, continued talks on forming a unity government. President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah hopes the coalition deal will enable him to revive peace efforts with Israel.

I-51 Israel dismisses new peace plan... Doesn't want outside interference with its agenda...

Israel dismisses new peace plan Israel has dismissed a Middle East peace plan put forward by Spain, France and Italy..... The plan calls for a ceasefire and increased international intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

An Israeli official said parts of the plan were being discussed, but it was not being taken seriously as it was not co-ordinated with the EU or Israel.... The Spanish prime minister proposed the plan, saying the situation required urgent action by the outside world..... "We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said. ..... "Violence has reached a level of deterioration that requires determined, urgent action by the international community."

Israel has long opposed greater international intervention and does not favour an international peace conference...... "Israel believes that it is right to conduct direct negotiations with all sides of the conflict," Amira Oron, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, said.

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U.N. calls on Israel to end operation UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. General Assembly called for an end to Israeli military operations in the
Gaza Strip on Friday, overwhelmingly passing a resolution in an emergency special session the Israeli ambassador blasted as a "farce" and a "circus." .... The Arab League had asked for the session after the United States vetoed a similar, but watered-down U.N. Security Council draft resolution against Israel's actions last weekend — its second veto on the matter this year.

There are no vetoes in the 192-member General Assembly and the chamber's resolutions are nonbinding, considered more a reflection of international opinion...... The resolution passed Friday by a vote of 156 to 7, with six abstentions. The U.S., Israel and Australia voted against the document, while all the
European Union members supported it after last-minute changes were made to soften the tone.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said it was ironic the assembly held a special session on the Palestinian question a day after one of its committees passed a resolution stressing the need to avoid politically motivated and biased human rights resolutions..... "We believe that the United Nations is ill-served when its members seek to transform the organization into a forum that is little more than a self-serving and polemical attack against Israel or the United States," he said in the session...... The resolution "deeply deplores" the Israeli offensive, launched after the June capture of an Israel soldier, and calls on Israel to immediately halt its operation and pull its troops out of the Gaza Strip.

I-50 Israel vows to respond to Palestinian homemade rocket attack

JERUSALEM - Israel promised a punishing response to a deadly Palestinian rocket attack Wednesday near the home of the country's defense minister..... The rocket — one of at least eight that struck Israel during the day — killed a 57-year-old woman walking to the grocery store in the Israeli town of Sderot near the Gaza border and raised the specter of a large-scale offensive against militant rocket squads.

Militants affiliated with the Palestinians' ruling Hamas group and Islamic Jihad both claimed responsibility for the fatal Sderot attack, calling it retaliation for 19 civilians killed by Israeli shelling last week in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.

"The terror organizations will pay a heavy price," he said.... Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is at a meeting of Jewish leaders in Los Angeles, talked to Peretz and generals before the meeting, said his spokeswoman Miri Eisin..... "The operations in Gaza will continue without letup," Olmert told reporters.

I-49 New Palestine Hamas-Fatah unity government won't recognize Israel....

Hamas says new government won't recognize Israel GAZA (Reuters) - The ruling Islamic group Hamas said on Tuesday a planned Palestinian unity government would not recognize
Israel or accept a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict as demanded by Israel and the United States...... The stance could undercut Palestinian efforts to ease an eight-month-old Western economic boycott by forming a unity cabinet more acceptable to the West..... The unity government between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction "will not recognize Israel and will not include accepting the two-state solution."

The United States and its partners in the Quartet of Middle East mediators imposed the boycott to pressure Hamas, which took control of the Authority in March, to recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.... The United States and Israel have demanded that the new government adopt a platform that meets the Quartet's conditions. The Quartet is composed of the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations....

The United States and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and have cut off direct aid to its administration..... As a result, the Palestinian government has largely been unable to pay its 165,000 workers since April.

A U.S.-educated Palestinian academic is the top candidate to replace Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas as part of the proposed unity government.

*************************** says a me Comment *********************************

The Palestine people and government have no voice and no choice...or rather, they have a voice.. BUT no one is listening.... They are being forced to abide by the unconditional demands of (Israel) United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations... That's impossible.. they can't possibly meet all the demands and make Israel happy because if one person acts out of line.. then Israel blames the whole nation... Palestine is fighting for it's life.. and all the others involved are either ignorant or pretending to be ignorant and are part of the conspiracy of annihilating the Palestinians.

Saysame JR

I-48 Israel watches as US and UK now seek help from so-called terrorist Iran and Syria to help stablize Iraq..

Bush maintains tough line on Iran The US and UK governments have indicated there will be no softening of their stances on Iran and Syria despite calls for their help to stabilise Iraq...... President Bush said Iran must halt its nuclear activities and Syria stay out of Lebanon before talks could begin.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Tehran to "stop supporting terrorism" in the region or face isolation..... Engaging Iraq's neighbours is one of the proposals being considered as part of a re-think of US strategy in Iraq..... In a major foreign policy speech in London, Mr Blair put the blame for the violence in Iraq squarely on outside forces.

He accused Tehran of exploiting "pressure points in the region" - Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinians - to thwart international efforts to rein in its nuclear programme...... "We offer Iran a clear strategic choice. They help the Middle East peace process, not hinder it. They stop supporting terrorism in Lebanon or Iraq. They abide by, not flout, their international obligations...... "In that case, a new partnership is possible. Or alternatively, they face the consequence of not doing so: isolation," Mr Blair said.

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Iraq: What Iran and Syria want Washington may need the two regional allies to help stabilise Iraq in order to pull its own troops back from an increasingly unpopular commitment there.

But given its fraught relations with Tehran and Damascus, Washington is only likely to secure active Iranian and Syrian co-operation by paying a high price diplomatically from two countries known for their hard bargaining.
**********************************************************************************

Israel, US have 'complete understanding' on Iran: Olmert WASHINGTON (AFP) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that
Israel and the United States had "complete understanding" on
Iran, as President George W. Bush threatened to isolate Tehran unless it suspends its nuclear programme...... Bush said that if Iran continues with its programme, which the United States and Israel believe is aimed at developing an atomic bomb despite Iran's denials, "there has to be a consequence for their intransigence.".... "And a good place to start is working together to isolate the country," he said, branding a nuclear-armed Iran as an "incredibly destabilizing, and obviously very threatening to our strong ally," Israel.

************************* says a me comment *******************

In the preceeding post, Bush and blair are looking to Iran and Syria for help to stabilize Iraq and now he calls Iran "incredibly destabilizing".... Dah! So what logic is there is having talks with Iran over Iraq if Iran is seen as a problem in Iraq??? More word games and political BS....

Saysame JR

UPDATES: '06 Nov 14 Iran will talk if U.S. 'behaves'

I-47 U.S. vetoes condemnation of Gaza strikes... Israel free do do as it pleases...

U.S. vetoes condemnation of Gaza strikes UNITED NATIONS - The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution Saturday that sought to condemn an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and demand Israeli troops pull out of the territory...... U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the Arab-backed draft resolution was "biased against Israel and politically motivated."

The draft received 10 votes in favor and four abstentions, along with the U.S. vote against. Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia all abstained. The U.S. is one of five permanent members of the council that has the power to veto resolutions.

It was the second U.S. veto this year of a Security Council draft resolution concerning Israeli military operations in Gaza. The U.S. blocked action on a document this summer after Israel launched its offensive in response to the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked Palestinian militants..... In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the draft resolution was one-sided. "It's good that it wasn't accepted by the Security Council," he said.

The Palestinians' Hamas-led government, however, was furious at the U.S. veto..... "This decision by the U.S. government gives unlimited cover to commit more massacres of innocent Palestinians," spokesman Ghazi Hamad said. "This is a shame on the American administration, which says it is trying to promote human rights and democracy in the Middle East."

UPDATES:
US vetoes motion on Gaza attack

'06 N0ov 12 Arabs 'to break Hamas aid freeze' Arab foreign ministers considering a response to Israel's Gaza offensive say they have decided to break a freeze on aid to the Palestinian government.

The ministers met hours after the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli actions in Gaza..... Arab League chief Amr Moussa said the veto was incomprehensible..... The Arab ministers, meeting in Cairo, said they would somehow get funds to the Palestinians despite a Western-led ban imposed when Hamas was elected.

The US and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation. *****(even though it was freely and democratically elected)*****

I-46 Israeli: Now talking of a pre-emptive military strike on Iran

'06 Nov 10 Israeli: Strike on Iran a possibility JERUSALEM - The deputy defense minister suggested Friday that Israel might be forced to launch a military strike against Iran's disputed nuclear program — the clearest statement yet of such a possibility from a high-ranking official.

"I am not advocating an Israeli pre-emptive military action against Iran and I am aware of its possible repercussions," Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, a former general, said in comments published Friday in The Jerusalem Post. "I consider it a last resort. But even the last resort is sometimes the only resort."

Olmert, who was arriving in Washington on Sunday, said he was confident in the U.S. handling of the international standoff over Iran's nuclear program. The Bush administration and other nations say is a cover for developing atomic weapons, but Tehran says the program is peaceful.

"I have enormous respect for President Bush. He is absolutely committed," Olmert said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show. "I know that America will not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons because this is a danger to the whole Western world."

The United States and its European allies have proposed a raft of sanctions to try to curb the country's nuclear development. Olmert to focus on Iran in visit to U.S.

************************** says a me comment *********************

International polictcs now come into play now that Bush has lost party control of the US government and Irag is on the chopping block as far as the US withdrawing troops.... That now means that Israel will have to create the necessary conflict with Iran in order for the US to once again get involved in saving the Jews and the world from terrorism... and to extend it's empire and control of Irans oil...

Saysame JR

UPDATES: '06 Nov 12 Israeli PM brings Iran agenda to U.S.
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began a five-day trip to the United States on Sunday, armed with an agenda focusing on the Iranian nuclear threat and Israel's relations with the Palestinians..... On the flight over, Olmert repeated his view that Iran will not scale back its nuclear ambitions unless it fears the consequences of its intransigence, a spokeswoman said.

"They (the Iranians) have to be afraid of the consequences if there isn't a compromise," spokeswoman Miri Eisin cited Olmert as telling journalists on the flight to Washington.....

While the U.S. has led international efforts to curb the Iranian unclear program, Israelis are concerned that American policy might soften following the Democratic victory in elections last week...... The fear is that with American public opinion turning against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Bush would be less likely to take decisive military or diplomatic action against Iran.

UPDATES:
'06 Nov 12 Ahmadinejad blasts U.N. Security Council
'06 Nov 12 Iran plans to counter any Israeli attack
'06 Nov 14 Iran says nuke program is near complete

I-45 Hamas leader calls off Israel cease-fire

Hamas leader calls off Israel cease-fire BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip - Hamas' exiled leader on Wednesday called off a cease-fire with Israel and militants threatened to attack Americans after 18 members of a family, including eight children, were killed in an Israeli artillery barrage on a densely populated Gaza neighborhood.

It was the highest number of Palestinian civilians killed in a single strike since fighting erupted six years ago, and undermined Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's attempts to form a more moderate government and renew a peace process with Israel.

Abbas condemned the "terrible, despicable crime," and the international community criticized the deaths. Israel, promising a swift inquiry, expressed regret for harming civilians.

"Shells were fired directly onto the people who were rushing out of the house," said Akram al-Athamna, a relative of the victims. "There was blood everywhere.".... The family is prominent in Beit Hanoun and includes several doctors and professionals. Family members said they had fled during the Israeli offensive, returning home after Tuesday's pullout....... Bits of dismembered bodies were plastered to walls of the damaged buildings and lying on the ground. A woman's head scarf, children's boots and slippers, and a pair of jeans — all burnt — were strewn outside.

Gaza town stunned by shelling

Palestinians ask revenge for Gaza deaths

Gaza hit was 'technical failure' Israeli PM Ehud Olmert has said an army artillery barrage that killed 18 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was the result of a "technical failure".

"I'm very uncomfortable with this event. I'm very distressed, Mr Olmert was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency...... "I checked it and I verified it. This is not the policy," he said.... But military operations against suspected Palestinian militants would continue, he added, admitting that further mistakes "may happen".

I-44 Israeli attacks on Palestinine... one too many...

Hamas chief: Truce with Israel is over

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip - Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal says that a truce with
Israel is finished and is appealing to all Palestinian factions to resume attacks. Israeli tank shells ripped through a residential neighborhood in the northern
Gaza Strip early Wednesday, killing at least 18 members of an extended family, including eight children, and wounding dozens of others, Palestinian health officials said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed regret over the deaths and, along with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, offered "urgent humanitarian aid" to the Palestinian Authority and immediate medical treatment to the wounded.

Russia and the European Union condemned the attack.

I-43 Israeli PM Olmert..... Gaza offensive will continue (until no one is left to resist)

Israeli PM: Gaza offensive will continue JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged Sunday to press ahead with Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip until the army significantly decreases Palestinian rocket fire on Israel...... In new fighting, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians, including a Hamas gunman, raising the death toll to 46 Palestinians in the 5-day-old operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. One Israeli soldier has been killed.

"This operation has one goal: to decrease the Qassam (rocket) fire at southern Israeli towns and to halt the terror attacks that are trying to get organized and get out to Israel," Olmert said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, a far right politician who recently joined Olmert's government called for near-total separation of Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land, saying there was no hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

I-42 Soldiers kill unarmed Palestinian woman.. wound ten others...

Israeli troops kill Palestinian woman Israeli soldiers trying to pressure the gunmen to surrender also threw stun and smoke grenades, and knocked down an outer wall of the mosque with a bulldozer, causing the ceiling to collapse..... By midmorning Friday, veiled women protesters had gathered outside the mosque, where troops were positioned in tanks and armored personnel carriers. The army said the gunmen in the mosque took advantage of the demonstration to escape because there were not enough soldiers to block the protesters from approaching the building, and troops did not want to shoot into the crowd.

Israeli forces fired at a group of women who streamed to the scene to serve as human shields, killing one and wounding 10, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.... The dead woman was one of several hundred who had heeded a call by Hamas militants to ring the mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Their presence allowed the gunmen inside to escape, some reportedly wearing robes supplied by the women, ending their 19-hour standoff with soldiers parked outside in tanks and armored personnel carriers.

The army said it targeted Beit Hanoun because it was a major staging ground for rocket attacks. But Israeli officials have said the takeover of the town did not signal the start of a wider-scale military offensive in Gaza....

************************* says a me comment ************************

And the Israeli acts of HATED continue to escalate... If the Israeli Military is not speaking for the Israeli people... then where are the Israeli people that are opposed to the actions of the military and why are they not speaking out to stop it?

For by your silenece and denial in expressing any opposition.. you are in agreement... and are also... a "doer of evil"...

Saysame JR

Updates: Palestinian women help free gunmen

I-41 Israel - Iran conflict.... Israel has and will use.... Nuclear weapons

NOTE DATE of POST: 2006 Jan 22

Israel Threatens Iran Over Nuclear Research Israel was taking advantage Sunday of the growing international pressure on arch enemy Iran to dangle the threat of pre-emptive action to stop Iran's nuclear program in its tracks.....

Army chief of staff Dan Halutz became the latest senior defense official to fire a warning shot across Tehran's bows by telling a security conference that Israel would not be "helpless" in the face of Tehran if it acquired nuclear weapons.....

His comments followed a pledge by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz that Israel, widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, would not tolerate a "a nuclear option" for Iran while reaffirming his commitment to diplomacy over the escalating crisis.

****************************says a me comment ************************

I was going through my journals and found an article that I was going to do for a newspaper in the Maritimes on the above topic but didn't submit it.... I found the above date and then did a net search and found the above site.... I also found this site and I felt I needed to include a link to it.. LOTS of related info... Petrodollars and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: 2006 Feb 10 Understanding the Planned Assault on Iran