Israel's air strike inside Syria last month was directed at a site judged by Israeli and U.S. intelligence analysts to be a partly constructed nuclear reactor, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.
Citing U.S. and foreign officials who had access to the analysts' intelligence reports, all who spoke under condition of anonymity, the Times said the reactor was apparently modeled on one in North Korea used for stockpiling nuclear weapons fuel.
The targeted Syrian facility appeared to have been much further from completion than an Iraqi reactor the Israelis destroyed in 1981 in an attack the September 6 incident echoed, according to the Times, again citing U.S. and foreign officials. It also said Bush administration officials had been divided over the attack, with some seeing it as premature.
Some officials said the facility was years away from being used to produce spent nuclear fuel that could eventually be used for weapons-grade plutonium. The internal Bush administration debate over a possible Israeli attack on the reactor began last summer, the Times said.
It remained unclear how far Syria had gotten with the plant before the attack, what role North Korea might have played and whether a case could be ...   more »

GII picks up two small earthquakes in Jordan rift valley area over past few days. Study shows major quake is pending
Roee Nahmias
A 3.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Jordan rift valley area. The Geophysical Institute of Israel noted the seismic activity around 6pm Saturday. The Jordan rift valley is in close proximity to the volatile Syrian-African Rift.
Rami Hofstetter, head of the Geophysical Institute of Israel told Ynet that "our instruments picked up two small quakes in the area over the last few days – the first one registering at 2.9 and the second of a 2.5 magnitude."      
Shmuel Marko of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Geophysics in Tel Aviv University and Oded Katz of the GII, have recently published a new study, saying a major earthquake is heading Israel's way.  
Past data, said the two, proves that such a quake is just a matter of time. "We know that the area between the Kinneret and the Dead Sea was subject to several large quakes, in 31BC, 362BC, 749BC and 1033AD. Another major one is coming soon."   
Hofstetter seemed unfazed by Marko and Katz's study. "Saying Israel will be subject to a major earthquake is ...   more »

By Amira Hass
The state has recently agreed to grant West Bank resident status to some 5,000 people who seek family reunification with their Palestinian families, sources in the defense establishment told Haaretz.
The sources explained that the recipients had asked to be recognized as West Bank residents in the past. The decision to approve their request was part of a goodwill gesture toward the Palestinian Authority under Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the sources said.
Palestinian officials said Wednesday that Israel had granted official residency status to 3,500 Palestinians who in the last decade entered the West Bank on Israeli-issued visitors' visas but never left.
However, the approval is a one-off incident and does not represent a renewal of the family-reunification mechanism Israel halted in 2001, following the outbreak of the second intifada.
The Oslo Accords stipulated that Israel will grant resident status to 2,000 families every year as part of family reunification. In 2000, the Israeli government agreed to increase the number to 4,000 requests per year, before pulling the plug on the project one year later.
Human rights groups HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual and B'Tselem told Haaretz that 120,000 first-degree relatives have sent requests to ...   more »

By Joshua Mitnick - JERUSALEM — The Bush administration hopes to get as close as possible to establishing a Palestinian state during its remaining months in office, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday at the start of a five-day Middle East shuttle mission.
Speaking to reporters en route to Israel, Miss Rice acknowledged "a lot of work" will be necessary before Palestinian statehood, but she promised a 100 percent effort and suggested that the chance for a peace deal has never been better.
"You've got the broadest possible Israeli agreement that a Palestinian state is in Israel's interest. I don't think we've ever been there before," she said. "And on that basis, you know, we have an opportunity to try to move this as far forward as we possibly can."
The secretary is trying to help Israelis and Palestinians negotiate a joint statement for a conference next month in Annapolis that is meant to prepare a framework for future negotiations toward a final peace treaty.
Administration officials have sought to dampen expectations about the talks after widespread speculation that the Israeli-Palestinian document will contain landmark compromises on the core issues — the status of Jerusalem, the future of Jewish ...   more »

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday raised questions about Israel's control of Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, the first time he has openly signaled readiness to share control of the city with the Palestinians.
In a speech dedicated to the memory of Rehavam Ze'evi, a prominent right-wing parliamentarian who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists, Olmert noted that Israel has built a series of thriving Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, but signaled that Israel's control of Arab areas was unnecessary.
"Was it necessary to also join the Shuafat refugee camp, Sawakra, Walaje and other villages and define them as part of Jerusalem?" he asked. "With that, I must confess it is possible to ask legitimate questions."
Original Source
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By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent    
Fearing possible developments in Israel's talks with the Palestinians over control in Jerusalem, ultra-Orthodox leaders have urged the Haredi public to stage a mass protest Thursday against dividing the capital.
The gathering is scheduled to take place at the Old City's Ramban Synagogue. It is being organized by the Chief Rabbi of the Old City, Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, and Rabbi Eliyahu Medina.
The leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, joined the call for protest under the slogan "Over Jerusalem they cast lots," urging the public to rally at a demonstration against the government's diplomatic platform.  
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government is currently negotiating with the PA over final-status issues ahead of a peace conference scheduled for late November in the United States. Vice Premier Haim Ramon recently announced a plan to transfer the city's Arab neighborhoods to Palestinian control, effectively partitioning the capital.
On the eve of Sukkot earlier this month, just before his death, former chief rabbi Avraham Shapira protested the plan to transfer Jewish holy places to foreign control.
"The Land of Israel belongs to the Nation of Israel and was granted to us as ...   more »