By moving to Galilee, settlers will turn from national problem to a solution
Yair Lapid
One of the most well known arguments advanced by settlers is that it doesn’t matter whether they would be evacuated or not – after all, once the struggle for Judea and Samaria ends, the battle for the Galilee will get underway (they also really like to add “and the battle for Jaffa as well” in order to scare the Tel Avivians, but it’s just a case of hilltop humor.)  
Based on figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, this argument is well founded. At this point already, 53.1 percent of Galilee residents are Arab, while only 46.9 percent are Jewish, and the gap has been growing consistently for a decade now.  
Those concerned about Israel’s existence as a Jewish state cannot ignore this trend. In order to change it we need a very specific type of Israelis: People who are not interested in living in urban centers and who prefer small communities, while being able to adjust to new places. We need people who love mountain air as fresh as a Galilee-made cabernet wine and know how to battle our ...   more »

Kuwait based Al-Jarida newspaper reports Hamas' Khaled Mashaal met with Iranian officials, asked for backing when organization exacerbates attacks on Israel
Roee Nahmias
Hamas has asked Iran to allow the organization to escalate its altercations with Israel, carry out more suicide attacks and if need be – threaten kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit with execution, Kuwait's Al-Jarida newspaper reported Friday.  
The report, citing senior Hamas officials, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal recently met with a senior Iranian intelligence official, who accompanied Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his visit to Qatar last week.     
The two reportedly discussed Hamas' retaliation to a possible large-scale IDF operation in Gaza, which may leave Hamas debilitated.  
Mashaal, said the report, told the Iranians Hamas will need their political support, as well as Iran and Syria's go-ahead to carry out a series of major attacks on Israel.   
Al-Jarida further reported that Mashaal told the Iranians Hamas wants to kidnap more Israeli soldiers, as well as threaten Gilad Shalit's well-being in order to "stir Israeli public opinion, pressure Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and hinder the Israeli-Palestinian peace process."
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By Michael Young  
To better understand the assassination of General Francois Hajj on Wednesday morning in Baabda, one has to view it against the backdrop of the statement by Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa a day earlier. At a conference of Syria's National Progressive Front, Sharaa declared that "Syria's friends in Lebanon represent a true force on the ground, and no one in Lebanon is able to harm Syria and Lebanon."
One of the things most disturbing to the Syrians about the decision of the March 14 coalition to support army commander Michel Suleiman was that this was apparently preceded by commitments on both sides. One such commitment appeared to have been agreement on a new army commander, or a list of potential army commanders. Hajj, despite the opposition's effort to paint his killing as a blow against Michel Aoun, was actually Suleiman's man and was reportedly one of those on the list.
The message, therefore, was that for Suleiman to become president, he has to, first, renounce all previous commitments reached with March 14 and enter into new arrangements with the "true force on the ground."
The Syrians are accelerating their return to Lebanon, and the disastrous French ...   more »

By Caroline B. Glick      
Israel is only the latest example of governments throughout the free world that, sadly, share a common malady that continues to put our lives at risk
 Life in southern Israel is unbearable. Since last January, on average, 6.3 mortars and rockets have been fired from Gaza on southern Israel every day. As Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i warned the heads of the communities around Gaza last week, due to the improvements in the Palestinian arsenal since Israel vacated Gaza two years ago, the Palestinians now field missiles and rockets with extended ranges that place 130,000 Israelis under threat of missile attack.
Wednesday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi made clear that if Israel wishes to secure its citizens there is only one thing it can do. It can conquer Gaza.
In a speech at Tel Aviv University Ashkenazi explained, "It is impossible to defeat a terrorist organization without eventually controlling the territory. The good situation in Judea and Samaria is the result of our control over the area and we will not be able to achieve victory in the conflict [in Gaza] simply with indirect fires and attacks from the air."
Presumably ...   more »