TONY BLAIR is expected to inspect a prospective new home - known locally as a palace - when he travels to Jerusalem tomorrow on his first trip to the Middle East as a peace envoy. He is said to be keen to take over the one-time residence of the British High Commissioner for Palestine, with its ballroom and spectacular view of the golden dome of Al-Aqsa mosque. The house, built of Jerusalem stone in 1931, was once the pride of British diplomacy and occupies a commanding position in West Jerusalem on the inauspiciously named Hill of Evil Counsel, where Judas is said to have negotiated his betrayal of Jesus. It has acres of lush gardens filled with delphiniums, roses and trees. After the British mandate ended in 1948, it was taken over by the United Nations. Security fears about such a prominent residence might still block the deal as Blair is regarded as a target for Palestinian extremists.
The abdication: a portrait of Blair's last days
On the road with Tony Blair pictures to chronicle the PM's last days in power
Blair will travel to Jerusalem as envoy of the Quartet, the grouping of the UN, the European Union, America ...   more »

 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have been holding secret talks on a final status agreement on the critical issues between Israelis and Palestinians, Al-Hayat reported on Tuesday. The London-based newspaper quoted a senior government source as saying that the "secret channel was set up in a mutual agreement between the two leaders." The newspaper also reported that the two discussed the issue during their recent meeting in Jerusalem and decided that there was a need for deep discussions on the more "burning issues." The source reportedly said that the talks were focusing on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, the Palestinian refugee issue, West Bank settlements and the future of Jerusalem. There were talks on these issues but as yet there has been no breakthrough on any of them," the source was quoted as saying. The Prime Minister's Office has yet to respond to the report, a spokesperson told the Jerusalem Post.

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The Carter Center in Atlanta has refused to confirm or deny reports that former President Jimmy Carter has offered to mediate between the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in a violent coup last month.Washington has maintained a policy of isolating Hamas and bolstering Abbas and his Fatah faction as moderates among Palestinians. Abbas is considered moderate because he publicly favors a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported last week that Hamas leade Ismail Haniyeh met with Scott Custer, West Bank director of the Carter Center, in Haniyeh's office in the Gaza Strip. Custer told Haniyeh that Carter, a Democrat, was willing to mediate between the factions. Haniyeh approved Carter's offer, the report said.Custer would not respond in any way to the report when contacted by telephone and referred Cybercast News Service to the Carter Center headquarters at Emory University in Atlanta.Cybercast News Service was then instructed to contact Carter's spokeswoman Deanna Congileo by email. A list of questions was forwarded to her asking for verification about whether or not Custer had indeed met with Haniyeh; if the former president had offered to mediate ...   more »

By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – Security forces acting on orders from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday destroyed a synagogue used by Jews to worship near Joseph's Tomb, Judaism's third holiest site and the believed burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph – the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became the viceroy of Egypt.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which granted nearby strategic territory to the Palestinians, Joseph's Tomb was supposed to be accessible to Jews and Christians. But following repeated attacks against Jewish worshippers at the holy site by gunmen associated with then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat's militias, Prime Minister Ehud Barak in October 2000 ordered an Israeli unilateral retreat from the area.
The tomb is located near the modern day West Bank city of Nablus, or biblical Shechem.
Currently, Jewish pilgrimage to Joseph's Tomb is legal only several times per year in convoys protected by the Israel Defense Forces. Still, some Jews regularly attempt clandestine visits to the holy site.  
Jewish students last year built a structure on the West Bank's Mount Gerizim, which is just outside the tomb area. The structure was used as a synagogue and was constructed on the ...   more »

By Dennis Prager http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | What do anti-Semitism, racism and Islamophobia have in common?In fact, nothing. But according to Islamist groups, Western media and the United Nations, they have everything in common. Anti-Semites hate all Jews, racists hate all members of another race, and Islamophobes hates all Muslims. Whoever coined the term "Islamophobia" was quite shrewd. Notice the intellectual sleight of hand here. The term is not "Muslim-phobia" or "anti-Muslimist," it is Islam-ophobia — fear of Islam — yet fear of Islam is in no way the same as hatred of all Muslims. One can rightly or wrongly fear Islam, or more usually, aspects of Islam, and have absolutely no bias against all Muslims, let alone be a racist. The equation of Islamophobia with racism is particularly dishonest. Muslims come in every racial group, and Islam has nothing to do with race. Nevertheless, mainstream Western media, Islamist groups calling themselves Muslim civil liberties groups and various Western organizations repeatedly declare that Islamophobia is racism. To cite three of innumerable examples: The Guardian published an opinion piece titled, "Islamophobia should be as unacceptable as racism"; the European Union has established the European Monitoring Center for Racism and Xenophobia; and the B'nai ...   more »