Leader vows U.S.-backed Fatah 'will fall in a matter of weeks at most'
By Aaron Klein
Hamas is setting the stage for a takeover of the West Bank similar to the coup in which the terror group seized control of the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials.
Hamas leaders confirmed to WND they are planning a West Bank takeover.
"Fatah will fall in a matter of weeks at most, and the Islamic resistance (Hamas) will reign in the West Bank just as we do in Gaza," said Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' so-called resistance department.
The West Bank borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport.  
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, slated to arrive here next week for her second visit this month, has been serving as mediator for an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian summit later this month. At the meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, ultimately handing the strategic territory to security forces associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah militias.
But Israeli security officials are warning Abbas' ...   more »

By Caroline B. Glick      
 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's opinion of Russian President Vladimir Putin seems directly correlated to his hostility towards America. In this vein, Rice defends her support for Russian inclusion in the G-7, (or now G-8), by arguing that it enables the club of industrial democracies to "influence" Putin.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, former world chess champion and current leader of Putin's liberal political opposition Gary Kasparov responded ironically to Rice's notion. "Occasionally you have to look at the results of your brilliant theories," he said.
But as the date of her departure from office approaches, Rice's unwillingness to examine the results of any of her brilliant theories only increases. Take North Korea for example.
On Thursday a delegation of American nuclear inspectors traveled to North Korea to inspect the "disablement" of the nuclear installation at Yongbyon. Speaking of their mission and of the status of US-North Korean relations with the press on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who serves as the chief negotiator with North Korea, said that aside from some technical matters, the US has no outstanding issues with the Stalinist dictatorship in Pyongyang. In ...   more »

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a rare meeting with Syria's foreign minister on Saturday as the West stepped up pressure on Damascus not to interfere in Lebanon's presidential election process.
The United States and France, Lebanon's former colonial power, have led international criticism of what they call Syria's constant meddling in its neighbor's affairs. Syria denies the accusations.
Officials made no comment on Rice's talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, held on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq in Istanbul.  
Rice also discussed the Lebanon crisis at a meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries. No statement was made after those talks.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he had emphasized to Moallem in bilateral talks in Istanbul the importance of non-interference in Lebanon by outsiders.
"I warned Syria of the imperative need to allow the presidential election process to go ahead according to the constitution... without any external interference," Kouchner told reporters.
"A political vacuum in Lebanon serves the interests of neither Syria nor of the region."
Kouchner said Moallem had signalled Damascus would be ready to open full diplomatic relations with Lebanon on certain ...   more »

Special WND report on understanding and surviving difficult economic times ahead
"Roller coaster" – that's the best way to describe the U.S. economy these days.
Housing prices plummet after reaching dizzying heights. The stock market skyrockets to a record high, only to crash 1,000 points days later. The U.S. dollar loses more value every day against foreign currencies, while gold hits a 27-year high.
And while the federal government insists inflation is almost non-existent, life's essentials like food and gas seem to cost so much more. It doesn't make sense.
(Story continues below)
Meanwhile, everyone is wondering: "Is America heading into a recession, how will that affect me and my loved ones, and how can I protect myself?"
The future of the U.S. economy is the focus of the November edition of WND's famed Whistleblower magazine, titled "HOW GLOBALISM IS DESTROYING THE U.S. ECONOMY."  
"We've put together a Whistleblower issue that answers – in crystal clear, non-technical language – the most important questions everyone needs answered about the economy and what's likely down the road," said WND and Whistleblower Managing Editor David Kupelian.
In this special issue, all of the articles take the form of answers to crucial issues, ...   more »

Chuck Baldwin
With Christian conservatives trying to scramble to find a Republican presidential candidate they can support, some of them seem to be coalescing around former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee. Janet Folger, especially, seems to be trumpeting his candidacy. But is Mike Huckabee someone Christian conservatives should be supporting? Not everyone thinks so.
Randy Minton, chairman of the Arkansas chapter of Phyllis Schlafly's national Eagle Forum, said, "We called him a pro-life, pro-gun liberal, when I was in the state legislature and he was governor." Phyllis Schlafly herself was even more direct.
President and Founder of Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schlafly, said this about Governor Huckabee: "He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles." She went on to say, "Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a 'compassionate conservative' are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee."
Even one of Huckabee's strongest supporters within the Religious Right, Pastor Rick Scarborough, head of Vision America, admitted, "Mike has always sought the validation of elites." Of course, my question for Rick Scarborough is, With an indictment such as that, how can you continue to support Mike Huckabee?
According to ...   more »