IN THE WEST BANK, IDF FIGHTS TERROR AND PROPS UP ABBAS

Israel's War on Terror in the West Bank - Tim McGirk (TIME)
Just because fewer Palestinian terrorists are slipping into Israel from the West Bank doesn't mean that they have stopped trying.  Says an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF): "Our people sleep comfortably in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv because the IDF is putting in a huge effort, day and night, in the West Bank to prevent terror."  Last year more than 6,650 suspected Palestinian militants were rounded up, among them, claim Israeli intelligence officers, 279 potential suicide bombers.

IDF troops, in effect, prop up Mahmoud Abbas. Without the presence of Israeli troops, his advisers concede, the West Bank would soon fall to Hamas militants, just as Gaza did last June.  Israel's domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, claims that in 2007 it foiled 29 suicide attacks.

SEE ALSO: Fatah Military Wing Tells Abbas to Fire Fayad, Band with Hamas - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)

Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, called on Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday to fire Prime Minister Salaam Fayad and "form a new government that would not abandon the armed struggle," in a leaflet distributed in Ramallah. It also called on Abbas to stop all contacts with Israel.

Several Fatah officials have accused Fayad of refusing to give their representatives enough jobs and salaries in the PA government.   They are also angry with Fayad because of his decision to stop paying salaries to thousands of Fatah members.

SEE ALSO: Hizbullah Becoming More Visible in West Bank

A Hizbullah flag, along with Hamas banners, adorned the home of a Palestinian man who was killed after gunning down eight Israeli students in Jerusalem last week. Hizbullah has long operated behind the scenes in the Palestinian territories, funneling millions of dollars to militant groups for attacks against Israel, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials. Hizbullah's influence has become increasingly visible in the West Bank since last month's assassination of its military chief, Imad Mughniyeh.

On Thursday, mourners marching in a funeral procession for four Palestinian militants killed in Bethlehem chanted, "Hizbullah is coming." The bodies of local Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed Shehadeh and another militant were wrapped in Hizbullah flags. Shehadeh had converted from Sunni to Shiite Islam in a show of support for Hizbullah, said his cousin, Khalil. (AP/International Herald Tribune)

WITHOUT IDF IN WEST BANK, HAMAS WOULD TAKE OVER IN DAYS

IDF: Without Presence in West Bank, Hamas Would Take Over in Days
"Without the massive IDF presence in the West Bank, Hamas would take over the institutions and apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority within days," Head of Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni told President Shimon Peres Tuesday. Shamni said Hamas was engaged in a constant effort to increase its influence "and its presence is felt in hospitals, preschools, schools, universities and mosques." Shamni said the PA was making an effort to keep public order but was not seriously working to stop terrorists operating in the West Bank. Peres was shown a Kassam rocket and launcher captured in Nablus in the West Bank. (Jerusalem Post)

BUSH MANAGES TO UPSET EVERYONE ON MID-EAST TRIP

Bush Gives Israel Scope for Antiterror Acts - John D. McKinnon and Cam Simpson
President Bush signaled he would give Israel broad leeway to continue raids targeting Palestinian militants and to develop settlements in disputed parts of Jerusalem, despite international pressure to curb such actions. Bush and his aides suggested they were more focused on getting Olmert and Abbas to make progress in the negotiations over a Palestinian state and less worried about making sure each side immediately met all its existing international peace obligations.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said that given Abbas' lack of control over the violence, the implementation of the roadmap obligations "may take longer" than the process of reaching an agreement in principle over the outlines of a Palestinian state. Hadley also said the issues surrounding some of the disputed settlements would become far easier to resolve once the borders of a Palestinian state had been decided. (Wall Street Journal)

Bush in Israel: Palestinian State Cannot Be Launching Pad for Terrorists
President Bush said in Jerusalem on Wednesday: "We're in conflict with radicals and extremists who are willing to murder innocent people to achieve a dark vision. And this is an historic opportunity for the world to fight those terrorists." "I believe that two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace, is in the best interests of America and the world. I believe it's in the long-term security interests of Israel....[But] there has to be a firm commitment by a Palestinian government to deal with extremists and terrorists who might be willing to use Palestinian territory as a launching pad into Israel....You can't expect the Israelis, and I certainly don't, to accept a state on their border which would become a launching pad for terrorist activities." (White House)

Bush predicts Mideast peace treaty (AP)
President Bush, summing up meetings with both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, said Thursday that a peace accord will require "painful political concessions" by each. Resolving the status of Jerusalem will be hard, he said, and he called for the end of the "occupation" of Arab land by the Israeli military....

Bush gave his most detailed summation yet of what a final peace should include, including U.S. expectations for the resolution of some of the hardest issues in the violent conflict, one of the world's longest-running and most intractable. He used tough language intended to put both sides on notice that he sees no reason they cannot get down to serious business, "starting right now."

In his set of U.S. bottom lines were security for Israel, a "contiguous" state for the Palestinians and the expectation that final borders will be negotiated to accommodate territorial changes since Israel's formation 60 years ago.

He made a point of using a loaded term — occupation — to describe Israeli control over land that would eventually form the bulk of an independent Palestinian state. That he did so in Jerusalem underscored that he is trying not to seem partial to Israel.

On borders, Bush said "any agreement will require adjustments" to the lines drawn for Israel in the late 1940s. He was referring to Israeli neighborhoods on disputed lands that Israel would keep when an independent Palestinian state is formed.

At the same time, Bush reiterated that Palestinians deserve better than a "Swiss cheese" state, and that a state wouldn't be viable otherwise.

"The point of departure for permanent status negotiations to realize this vision seems clear," he said. "There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. The agreement must establish a Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people."

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Bush was referring to the West Bank when he spoke of occupation.

HAMAS TRYING TO DEVELOP KASSAM ROCKETS IN WEST BANK

Hamas Trying to Develop Kassam Rockets in West Bank - Yaakov Katz
Hamas terror operatives in the West Bank have recently increased efforts to develop Kassam rockets that could be fired into central Israeli cities, the Israel Security Agency revealed Monday. The agency's year-end report also warned of global Jihad and al-Qaeda attempts to bolster their presence in the West Bank and Gaza. (Jerusalem Post)

OLMERT: NO SETTLEMENTS WITHOUT MY APPROVAL

Olmert: No West Bank Construction Without My Prior Approval - Barak Ravid
Prime Minister Olmert sent an official letter on Sunday to government ministers with an order to refrain from authorizing any construction in the West Bank without his and Defense Minister Barak's prior approval. Olmert did not address construction in eastern Jerusalem in the letter. However, he said Sunday, "the sweeping order regarding all of Judea and Samaria [West Bank] won't touch upon Jerusalem, but even on Jerusalem, we must act wisely and cautiously." (Ha'aretz)

WEST BANK POLLUTION THREATENS ISRAELI GROUNDWATER

Study: West Bank Pollution Threatening Israeli Groundwater - Zafrir Rinat
For several years now, a white river has run through the Hebron Hills with waste from a sawmill near Hebron, threatening the groundwater inside Israel and impeding attempts to rehabilitate Israel's rivers. Israel has tried to deal with the problem by collecting and purifying the waste at the boundary between Israel and the West Bank. But that is insufficient because much pollution enters the groundwater in the West Bank and spreads to Israel underground.

The problem is documented in a two-year study conducted by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University and the Palestinian Water and Environmental Development Organization. The study found that the Basor River, which runs from near Hebron to Gaza, is now full of both municipal waste and toxins emitted by the stone- and leather-working industries around Hebron. It estimated that from 45 to 90% of the pollution seeps into the ground before the river reaches the Israeli treatment plant. While the Alexander River has improved substantially, the study said, it still is being polluted by municipal waste and the olive oil industries around Nablus and Tulkarm, and about half of the pollution on the Palestinian side seeps into the groundwater before reaching the "green line." (Ha'aretz)

VIDEO: HELICOPTER RIDE OVER ISRAEL AND WEST BANK

BBC's Bird's Eye View (BackSpin)
BBC's Paul Wood takes a helicopter ride over Israel and the West Bank. Watch the video.

HAMAS AS STRONG IN WEST BANK AS IN GAZA

Intelligence Assessment: Hamas Just as Strong in West Bank as in Gaza - Yaakov Katz
At Wednesday's security cabinet meeting, Israel's defense establishment - including the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet - was extremely pessimistic about what will happen the day after the Annapolis peace meeting. Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin warned that Mahmoud Abbas was too weak to implement an agreement after the summit. At the same time, he said, if Israel did not engage Abbas as a partner today, it might find itself without a partner tomorrow.

According to recent intelligence assessments, and contrary to public thinking, Hamas is just as strong in the West Bank as it is in Gaza. While in Gaza Hamas men walk around in the open with assault rifles and anti-tank missiles, in the West Bank the group's power core can be found in the mosques as well as in welfare and financial institutions. (Jerusalem Post)

Palestinians: Israel Prevents Hamas Takeover of West Bank (CAMERA)
According to a November 2007 poll of Palestinians by An Najah University, a plurality of Palestinians feel that Hamas is "unable to dominate the West Bank" mainly because of Israel's presence in that territory. That seems to be something that both Olmert and Abbas would want to consider when they meet in Annapolis later this month.

What makes Hamas unable to dominate the West Bank?

36.7% The Israeli Occupation
23.3% The Strength of Fateh in the West Bank
19.6% The weakness of Hamas in the West Bank
13.0% The strength of the security apparatuses in the West Bank
7.4% No opinion/I do not know

You can see the rest of the poll results here.

PALI WOMEN FACE "HONOR" KILLINGS

As order slides, Palestinian women face honor killings (CSM)
QALQILYA, WEST BANK - All the women in the family say Wafa Wahdan was wonderful.

But her sisters-in-law add that they noticed a few little things. She had changed the way she dressed in the past year to a less conservative style and she sometimes went out for a drive without saying where she was going.

A few weeks ago, the body of the young mother of four was found in a garbage dump east of town. Police arrested two of the woman's male cousins for having trapped Ms. Wahdan and shot her to death, committing the third "honor killing" in Qalqilya last month.

Wahdan's brutal murder devastated her husband and immediate family, who say that the rumor mill's tales of Wahdan having an affair were untrue. But regardless of their veracity, suspicion alone can be enough to get a woman killed by distant relatives looking to "cleanse" the family honor when there is talk of an illicit relationship.

According to local organizations, such murders have risen in the Palestinian territories to nearly 50 this year – a fact that many here blame on the absence of any true law and order, which allows individuals to enforce their own version of justice. Palestinians here say the image of an ever-weaker Palestinian Authority has increased after Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June, making this local vigilantism harder to combat.

Particularly galling to many here is the fact that a man who admits to murdering a female relative for reasons of honor can be sentenced to as little as six months in jail. Palestinians say that policy is based on an old Jordanian law, which still holds in the West Bank: Article 341 considers murder a legitimate act of defense when the killer acts "in defense of his life or his honor."

UK "PEACE ADVOCATES" CAUGHT DESTROYING JEWISH VINYARDS

'Olive Harvest' Activists Caught Destroying Jewish Vineyards
(IsraelNN.com) Jewish-owned vineyards in Samaria were once again destroyed by leftist “humanitarian groups” Friday. This time some were caught in the act and arrested.

Shortly after residents of Dolev, located north of Jerusalem, discovered Friday that a local synagogue had been burned to the ground overnight, they saw that 3,000 plants in nearby vineyards had been destroyed. This is the third case of major agricultural vandalism in the region in recent months.

Vines were torn from the ground, and expensive irrigation equipment was damaged. The Jewish locals saw a group of foreign activists and Arabs heading toward an additional Jewish agricultural plot and alerted the police and IDF. The group fled, but three female activists from the United Kingdom were slower and were caught by police....

The three British women who were apprehended by police are accused of responsibility for the destruction Friday. Police also have evidence, however, that the women were part of the group that destroyed farm equipment in the nearby town of Neria in an earlier incident as well.

The women are activists with the International Solidarity Movement, a militantly anti-Zionist group that seeks to enable provocative actions against the IDF and Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, under the assumption that their foreign citizenship will raise the threshold on the response of security forces. The lines between ISM and local terrorist groups are quite blurry. In the past, British terrorists even carried out a suicide bombing after being embedded in an ISM cell.

Most of the vandals also take part in clashes with the IDF near the Arab village of Bilin. The militants were recently handed a victory by the Supreme Court, which ordered the IDF to move the security fence in the area of the weekly protests.

HAMAS THREATENS TO TAKE WEST BANK

Hamas: We'll Soon Take Control of West Bank - Ali Waked (Ynet News)
Senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan said Monday that the Islamist group would soon take control over the West Bank.

"In the autumn Hamas supporters will be praying in the Muqata compound in Ramallah (site of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' offices)," he said during a rally in Gaza.

"We are now praying at the Presidential compound in Gaza, just as we said we would. Abbas' regime will fall like a leaf come autumn."

ARABS BURNDOWN WEST BANK SYNAGOGUE

PA Arabs Burn Down Synagogue
(IsraelNN.com) Jews arrived at the Yad Yair synagogue for morning prayers on Friday to the horrific site of Torah scrolls and holy books consumed in a blaze that destroyed the building.

It was the third time in the past 18 months that the synagogue, named in memory of terror victim Yair Mendelson, was burnt down by Arabs. Built more than ten years ago, the Jewish house of worship is located near the Binyamin region community of Dolev, northwest of the Palestinian Authority government seat of Ramallah, in Samaria.

The Arabs also defaced the memorial to Mendelson, who was murdered by Arabs at the beginning of the first intifada in the 1980's. They also destroyed a children’s playground. A torn Israeli flag was placed under a pile of rocks on the approach road.

Most recently the synagogue was attacked last January, with many of the holy books and other sacred items burned, including the Torah scrolls. An adjoining building was also set on fire. Both buildings are located on privately-owned Jewish land.

Three months prior, the synagogue was desecrated by vandals who broke into the building and destroyed its sacred contents. The Binyamin Regional Council suspects Palestinian Authority Arabs have carried out the attacks.

ISRAEL BUILDING ROAD TO CONNECT PALI TOWNS IN WEST BANK

Israel Building West Bank Road to Assure Palestinian Contiguity - Karin Laub
Israel confirmed Tuesday it is building a new 10-mile road to help connect Palestinian communities in the West Bank. "Due to the construction of the security fence in Maaleh Adumim, a need arose to build a road to directly connect the Bethlehem and Judea regions (southern West Bank) and the Jericho and Jordan Valley area (in the east), in order to improve quality of life for the Palestinians," an Israel Defense Ministry statement said. The road will be built on 400 acres, of which 56 acres were expropriated from Palestinian land owners, the ministry said. Benny Kashriel, the mayor of Maaleh Adumim, said Palestinian motorists would eventually be able to drive from the southern to the northern West Bank without encountering any Israeli checkpoints. (AP/Washington Post)

WEST BANK PALIS FEAR SAFE PASSAGE FROM GAZA

West Bank Palestinians Fear Safe Passage from Gaza - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yair Naveh
There are those who believe that the solution lies in a "safe passage" that would connect Gaza and the West Bank. In the framework of my position as IDF Central Command chief, I have met several experts, including Palestinians residing in the West Bank, and it can be firmly ascertained that their main fear is the influx of Gazan youngsters into the West Bank. They do not wish to see Gazans on the streets of Ramallah more than we do, affecting the economy, taking jobs, attacking women and determining new norms of veils and religious fanaticism. The "safe passage" is the Gazans' dream but the nightmare of the West Bank. (Ynet News)

See also Linking the Gaza Strip with the West Bank: Implications of a Palestinian Corridor Across Israel - Justus Reid Weiner and Diane Morrison (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

ABBAS SETS UP MORALITY POLICE TO ENFORCE RAMADAN OBSERVANCE IN WEST BANK

THANK GOODNESS HE'S A SECULAR MODERATE!

Abbas Sets Up Morality Police to Enforce Ramadan Observance - Dalia Nammari
A new squad of morality police has begun detaining Palestinians in the West Bank who eat or drink in public during Ramadan. The 12-member squad appears to be an attempt by Mahmoud Abbas' government to challenge the monopoly on religious righteousness claimed by Hamas, the rival ruler of Gaza. The sudden deployment of Ramadan police was unexpected in Ramallah, the most cosmopolitan and well-to-do of the Palestinian cities.

Morality police Lt. Murad Qendah got a radio call telling him a suspect had been spotted in the street imbibing a soft drink. He ordered his six-man squad to seize the man's identity papers pending investigation. Police spokesman Adnan al-Damari said police have arrested at least 50 alleged public morality offenders in Ramallah since the start of Ramadan on Sep. 13. Hamas has imposed no Ramadan patrol of its own in Gaza, where the population is overwhelmingly conservative and social pressure alone is enough to stop public violations of the fast. (AP)

HAMAS THREATENS TO OVERTHROW ABBAS IN WEST BANK

Hamas Warns Palestinians Will Overthrow Abbas in the West Bank
Hamas spokesman in Gaza Fauzi Barhoum warned on Tuesday that Palestinians in the West Bank would overthrow Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad, Israel Radio reported. Barhoum told the Palestinian website Qudsnet that the PA was carrying out a sinful and cruel attack on Hamas in the West Bank and was cooperating with Israel to destroy the organization. Barhoum claimed that Abbas' policy - to distance Hamas from the Palestinian arena - was in line with that of Israel and the U.S. (Jerusalem Post)

OLMERT: TIME FOR CONCESSIONS ON JERUSALEM, WEST BANK

SO AFTER ISRAEL GIVES UP PART OF JERUSALEM AND THE WEST BANK IN EXCHANGE FOR NOTHING (CERTAINLY NOT PEACE), WHAT DOES ISRAEL HAVE LEFT TO OFFER FOR THE PEACE THE PALESTINIANS DON'T INTEND TO EVER OFFER? RETURN OF REFUGEES? SUICIDE?

ALSO, AFTER ISRAEL GIVES UP CONTROL TO FATAH, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FATAH EITHER STARTS WORKING WITH HAMAS AGAIN OR FALLS TO A HAMAS TAKE OVER? HAMAS WILL BE IN JERUSALEM AND ON LAND SITUATED LIKE A DAGGER INTO THE HEART OF ISRAEL (NOT TO MENTION ON MOUNTAINS OVERLOOKING ISRAEL). AS IN GAZA, HAMAS WON'T HONOR ANY AGREEMENTS REACHED BY FATAH WITH ISRAEL.

I THINK OLMERT SHOULD RE-READ THE STORY OF THE TROJAN HORSE.

Olmert, Ramon prep Israelis for concessions (JTA)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his deputy, Haim Ramon, said concessions in Jerusalem and the West Bank were key to achieving a peace agreement.

In a Yom Kippur eve interview on Friday, Ramon told Israel Radio in his bluntest terms to date that Israel must hand over Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem over to Palestinian sovereignty, going so far as to blast Israel's a1968 annexation of the eastern part of the city. "This annexation threatens Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people," Ramon said. "It will bring about its transformation into a Palestinian capital with a Palestinian majority."

Addressing a Kadima Party conference Thursday night after wrapping up meetings with Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, Olmert slammed Israelis who oppose concessions, saying they are seeking excuses "to avoid seizing opportunities and not look for real chances to break the ice between us and the Palestinians. I do not share this view." Olmert called Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president a partner for peace.

Rice's visit to the region comes ahead of a November peace conference to be convened by the United States.

Abbas, who will meet Monday in New York with President Bush during the launch of this year's U.N. General Assembly, made it clear in his remarks with Rice that the conference would address final status issues. "We assured Dr. Rice of our genuine endeavor to reach a final status framework agreement in order to implement the final status issues including borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, water and security," Abbas said. "We believe that the time is ripe for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for living side by side in security and tranquillity with the State of Israel."

SEE ALSO: Dividing Jerusalem
No one in Ehud Olmert’s Kadima Party is asking if Jerusalem will be divided. The only question is how it will be divided. (Ha'aretz)

IDF FOILS TERROR INFILTRATION IN WEST BANK

IDF foils terror infiltration in W. Bank (JPost)
Palestinian gunman identified cutting fence of Shevei Shomron settlement, shoots at soldiers and flees

IDF troops stopped an armed Palestinian from infiltrating Shevei Shomron Sunday. The forces identified the gunman trying to cut his way through the fence surrounding the West Bank settlement, north-west of Nablus.

Soldiers shouted at the would-be infiltrator to stop, at which point he opened fire at the soldiers and ran away. The forces began combing the vicinity of the settlement in search of him and additional troops were deployed to the area.

Troops in the region have been on high alert in recent days, based on information that terrorists would use take advantage of the Jewish holiday season in order execute attacks against Israeli settlements.

Additionally, it is suspected that Hamas is planning a large-scale terror attack in order to derail the upcoming US-led Mideast peace conference, currently planned for November 2007.

Friday, Palestinians opened fire at a car traveling between the settlements of Karnei Shomron and Kedumim, leaving a man and woman mildly injured. Fatah's military wing claimed responsibility for attack

IDF HAS REMOVED MOST WEST BANK ROADBLOCKS

IDF Has Removed Most West Bank Roadblocks (Jerusalem Post)
In the past year, Israel has dismantled most of the roadblocks and temporary barriers in the West Bank, a senior officer in the IDF's Central Command said Tuesday.

"In most of the area, Palestinian traffic is flowing and there is an improvement in the economy," he said, adding that the remaining roadblocks were "critical for security needs."

Israel Radio quoted the officer as saying the IDF was continuing its surveillance of Fatah terrorists who relinquished their weapons in exchange for Israeli amnesty and that many of them had indeed ceased their terrorist activities.

According to the officer, PA security forces are not targeting Hamas terrorists in the West Bank - as per Israel's request - but are focusing solely on Hamas-affiliated institutions such as charities and summer camps.

OLMERT OFFERS PALIS THE STORE

ISRAEL CONTINUES TO NEGOTIATE AGAINST ITSELF IN EXCHANGE FOR NOTHING... NOT EVEN EMPTY PROMISES. SHAMEFUL.

Ramon, Fayyad outline peace terms (JTA)
Haim Ramon reportedly offered the Palestinians most of the West Bank, parts of eastern Jerusalem, and land swaps from Israel.

Ramon, the deputy Israeli prime minister who is close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, met recently with Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, Israel's daily Yediot Acharonot reported Friday.

The two discussed the outlines of a declaration of principles ahead of a November peace summit to be convened by the Bush administration.

Israel would retain the portions of the West Bank west of the security barrier that runs through the West Bank, according to the report, and the Palestinians would get Israeli land as compensation – likely in the form of a land corridor between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians would get Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, and the sensitive Old City areas would be under religious authority with no national flags visible. Palestinian refugees would not be allowed to return to Israel.

The Associated Press reported that neither side had comment on the reported plan.