by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) The IDF Deputy Commander of the Northern Command during the Second Lebanon War says Israel is learning from last summer and preparing for war.
Speaking at a Monday conference at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben-Reuven said the IDF is learning the mistakes of last summer's war and is preparing for a comprehensive war.  Ben-Reuven said the war in Lebanon was justified, but turned out "bad" for Israel both militarily and politically.  "It is not good that we failed," he said.
"The year 2000 is when the problems started," Ben-Reuven said.  Israel hurriedly withdrew its forces from Lebanon that year, and Ben-Reuven feels that Israel then began to concentrate mainly on the terrorist threat, as opposed to all-out war.  This led, he said, to a wrong deployment of forces for the war with Hizbullah.
"We can deal with Palestinian terrorism in the course of preparing for all-out war," he said, "but we can't prepare for war while dealing only with terrorism. Until now, we thought that our readiness in the campaign against terrorism would help us in all-out war as well, but this is not the case."
"We were ...   more »

ADL survey of six European countries finds that half of those surveyed believe Jews not loyal to their country; more than one-third say Jews have too much power in business and finance. Hungary exhibits highest level of anti-Semitic attitudes surveyedYnetnews
One half of Europeans believe that Jews are not loyal to their country and more one-third believe they have too much power in business and finance, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.  
The poll, entitled Attitudes Toward Jews and the Middle East in Six European Countries, surveyed 3,000 adults, 500 in each of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.   
ADL Director slams American Christian group for Israel divestment call    
Abraham Foxman, the ADL's national director, said he was "especially concerned that the survey found a large percentage of all respondents and a majority in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland believe that American Jews control US policy on the Middle East, an old canard that has been resurrected in mainstream American and bolsters existing European attitudes."  
He also told a press conference in Jerusalem that Hungary exhibited the highest anti-Semitic attitudes of the countries surveyed and the ...   more »

Imagine that an Islamist central command exists — and that you are its chief strategist, with a mandate to spread full application of Shariah, or Islamic law, through all means available, with the ultimate goal of a worldwide caliphate. What advice would you offer your comrades in the aftermath of the eight-day Red Mosque rebellion in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan?
Probably, you would review the past six decades of Islamist efforts and conclude that you have three main options: overthrowing the government, working through the system, or a combination of the two.
Islamists can use several catalysts to seize power. (I draw here on "Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop: How Inevitable is an Islamist Future?" by Cameron Brown.)
Revolution, meaning a wide-scale social revolt: Successful only in Iran, in 1978–79, because it requires special circumstances.
Coup d'état: Successful only in Sudan, in 1989, because rulers generally know how to protect themselves.
Civil war: Successful only in Afghanistan, in 1996, because dominant, cruel states generally put down insurrections (as in Algeria, Egypt, and Syria).
Terrorism: Never successful, nor is it ever likely to be. It can cause huge damage, but without changing regimes. Can one really imagine a ...   more »

By Aluf Benn  
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday to begin work as the "Quartet" special envoy to the region. Blair has taken upon himself to establish Palestinian institutions as a basis for the future Palestinian state.
Blair's mission will be officially launched at a meeting with Quartet ministers in Lisbon on Thursday.
Blair said he would stay in the region for one week every month. He has appointed as his chief of staff Nick Banner, who worked with Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Blair's foreign policy adviser in Downing Street. He intends to add staff members from the USAID agency, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
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Assad: New country mediating between Syria, Israel


In parliament speech following his reelection, Syrian president says, 'Israelis must remember that the cost of peace is lower than all wars. But if they are only sending messengers to us, this is not serious. They must provide us with guarantees that all of the Golan will be returned'
A new country has begun mediating between Jerusalem and Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday.  
"There were delegations here which brought messages from the Israeli prime minister, saying that he wants peace. One even came here during the war. We said that this is a positive thing, but our stance is that we do not support secret negotiations. What is required from the Israeli officials is an official statement that they want peace," he added.   '
In a speech which dealt with the possibilities for negotiations rather than with threats, Syrian president revealed that "there is one party, which we are proud of, which has begun mediating in the past few weeks and got into the thick of things. The Israeli prime minister said that he wants peace and this is a good thing, but it's not enough.  
"We are waiting ...   more »

In a statement of Middle East policy, the US president stressed that all the participants in such a conference chaired by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice must recognize Israel’s right to exist and a two-state solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. DEBKAfile: Egypt, Jordan and Qatar are the only Arab rulers likely to attend such a conference.
Referring to the Quartet meeting in Lisbon Thursday, Bush outlined a plan for international sponsorship of the Mahmoud Abbas government in Ramallah.
He pledged $190 m in US aid this year, another $208 m in loans to Palestinian businesses and $80 m for helping to reform Palestinian security services. Bush urged the Palestinians to choose the path of moderation rather than extremism and terror offered by Hamas which he said seized control of Gaza illegally. He commended the new Middle East envoy Tony Blair’s role in helping the Palestinians establish ruling institutions free of corruption.
Bush repeated his frequent assertion that the Palestinians are entitled to a stable viable and contiguous state, adjusted to the current realities, while calling on Israel to remove unauthorized outposts and halt settlement expansion on the West Bank. The US, he said is committed to the security of Israel ...   more »