Etgar Lefkovits
Meretz MK Yossi Beilin on Thursday called on European countries to declare how many Palestinian refugees and their descendants they would be willing to absorb as part of any future peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"It is important that we know now how many Palestinian refugees [third] countries are willing to absorb, so that when we get to the critical moment [of a peace agreement] we will be prepared for such an eventuality, and be able to carry it out," Beilin said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
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by Jonathan S. Tobin
The Mufti of Jerusalem's Nazi ideology lives on among contemporary Islamists.
It is axiomatic that a knowledge of history is a prerequisite for understanding the present. But the question is: How much weight should we give to controversial figures from the past when deciding how to think about current conflicts?
According to the authors of a new book about Haj Amin al-Husseini (1893-1974), the grand mufti of Jerusalem, who played a key role in fomenting and exacerbating the struggle between Jews and Arabs during much of the 20th century, the answer is quite a lot.
The book, "Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam," by David G. Dalin and John F. Rothman, makes the case that you can draw a direct line from al-Husseini to not only the Palestine Liberation Organization and Hamas -- groups that took up his battle against Zionism -- but to Iran, Al Qaeda and the 9/11 conspirators.
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by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
This day marks the beginning of the three weeks of mourning for the fall of Jerusalem and the loss of our holy Temple.
The 17th of Tammuz is a fast day commemorating the fall of Jerusalem, prior to the destruction of the Holy Temple. This also marks the beginning of a 3-week national period of mourning, leading up to Tisha B'Av.
The 17th of Tammuz is the first of four fast days mentioned in the prophets. The purpose of a fast day is to awaken our sense of loss over the destroyed Temple - and the subsequent Jewish journey into exile.
Agonizing over these events is meant to help us conquer those spiritual deficiencies which brought about these tragic events. Through the process of "Teshuva" - self-introspection and a commitment to improve - we have the power to transform tragedy into joy. In fact, the Talmud says that after the future redemption of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple, these fast days will be re-dedicated as days of rejoicing and festivity. For as the prophet Zechariah says: the 17th of Tammuz will become a day of "joy to the House of Judah, and gladness and ...   more »

Israel's decision to conduct a prisoner exchange with Hizballah, just like any other bargain with terrorists, is destined to encourage more violence against the Jewish state, cautioned a top American Christian Zionist leader on Wednesday.
Gary Bauer, who serves on the board of John Hagee's Christian United for Israel, told Christian news agency OneNewsNow that while he sympathizes with the Israeli families who only wanted to get their sons back, he feels that Israel has unfortunately "made a move here that will guarantee more suffering and more deaths and more kidnappings by Israel's enemies."
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By Nathan Jeffay
 Haifa, Israel - Of all the stops on Barack Obama’s upcoming swing through Europe and the Middle East, it is his visit to Israel that has received the most attention, but not because of his popularity here.
Polls indicate that Israelis evince some of the lowest levels of support for Obama of any country in the world. In France and Germany, both stops on Obama’s tour, respectively 65% and 67% of the population has said that they would vote for him if they could. By contrast, in Israel, where he is due for 24 hours on July 22 to July 23, only 27% of the respondents said that they would like to see him become president, with John McCain being the preferred choice of 36%, according to a poll published at the end of June in the right-leaning Makor Rishon newspaper.
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Israeli Arabs planned to shoot down helicopter on behalf of terror network
By Aaron Klein
President Bush at news conference Tuesday (White House)
JERUSALEM – On the heels of a visit here next week by Sen. Barack Obama, Israel today announced it arrested six Arabs who allegedly were plotting to assassinate President Bush on behalf of al-Qaida.
Israel's Shin Bet Security Services released for publication that it had arrested six Arabs – two of them Israeli citizens and the other four Palestinian residents of eastern Jerusalem – for attempting to set up an al-Qaida cell with plans to shoot down Bush's helicopter during the president's recent visit to Israel.
According to a police indictment, an Israeli Arab student – Nazareth resident Mohammed Nijam – lived in a college dormitory at Jerusalem's Hebrew University that overlooks the landing pad used by Bush's helicopter while he was here in May and also in January. Nijam and another Hebrew University student, Ibrahim Naashaf, are accused of sending messages to al-Qaida-linked websites asking for instructions on how to shoot down the helicopter.
Nijam and Naashaf are said to have formed a closed terrorist cell with four other Arabs here, all in their early 20s. ...   more »

By George Thomas
CBNNews.com - QOM, Iran -- Iran's president believes Allah has chosen him to prepare the world for the coming of an Islamic 'savior' called the Mahdi.
But before the Mahdi's return, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes there must be global chaos - even if he has to create it himself.
Whether it's his belief that Israel should be wiped off the map, denials of the Holocaust, obsession with going nuclear, or support for radical Islamic terrorist groups, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a man on a divine mission.
To understand him, and that mission, you have travel to the small dusty village of Jamkaran tucked in a corner of Iran's holy city of Qom.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, CBN News made that journey heading south out of Iran's capital, Tehran. Some 95 miles, and a couple of wrong turns later, we arrived at the Jamkaran mosque on the outskirts of Qom.
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A two-state solution is the only way to solve the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Friday.
The former British prime minister urged both sides to use the opportunity of the cease-fire which took effect June 19 to try to reach a peace agreement.
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