An Arab terrorist murdered three people on Wednesday, using a bulldozer as his implement of destruction. The three murdered people were identified as Jerusalem residents Jan Relevy, 68, Elizabeth Goren Friedman, 54, and Batsheva Unterman, 33. In addition, over 60 were wounded. The attack began at noon when the terrorist drove out of a nearby light rail construction site where he worked and plowed his Caterpillar bulldozer into traffic, first on Rehov Sarei Yisrael and then on Jaffa Road, overturning a No. 13 Egged bus, flattening half a dozen cars and leaving destruction and carnage in his wake. The terrorist managed to drive about 500 meters (547 yards) in his nearly 10-minute rampage. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rampage. It was the second attack in Jerusalem by a lone Arab terrorist from eastern Jerusalem in five months. The previous attack was a shooting spree at a Jerusalem yeshiva in March, which left eight students dead. Wednesday's attack renewed debate in Israel over how to handle Arabs from eastern Jerusalem, who carry Israeli identity cards and may travel freely around the Jewish state. Pictures of the attack can be seen on the Web. [Jerusalem Post, JTA]
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The Arab terrorist with a bulldozer, and his eastern Jerusalem neighbor, who murdered eight students at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva four months ago, involved one person, something for which an early warning based on intelligence is almost impossible. When the murderer is a lone terrorist, with no infrastructure backing him, and not having spoken about it, it is hard to stop him. The Arabs of eastern Jerusalem carry Israeli identity cards, move about in the capital with no restraint, speak fluent Hebrew and do not raise suspicions. However, about 300 residents of the eastern part of the city have been arrested during the last eight years for their role in terrorism. Even if most of those killed this year have been victims of an individual's attack in Jerusalem and rocket and mortar shelling from Gaza, the statistics are troubling: 26 dead in six months. This number of victims is four times greater than last year. [Ha'aretz]
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Iran has moved ballistic missiles into launch positions, with Israel's Dimona nuclear plant among the possible targets, defence sources said last week. The movement of Shahab-3B missiles, which have an estimated range of more than 1,250 miles, followed a large-scale exercise earlier this month in which the Israeli air force flew en masse over the Mediterranean in an apparent rehearsal for a threatened attack on Iran's nuclear installations. Israel believes Iran's nuclear program is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons. The sources said Iran was preparing to retaliate for any onslaught by firing missiles at Dimona, where Israel's own nuclear weapons are believed to be made. The sabre-rattling coincided with a visit to Israel last Shabbat by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, for talks with his Israeli opposite number, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi. This intensified speculation that Israel was seeking US approval for a possible attack on Iran. "Although the visit had been planned well in advance, we got the feeling he was coming to make sure we'll obey the strict timetable agreed with the US," said an Israeli defence source. He refused to elaborate. US President George W. Bush has approved the linking of Israel to a US infrared satellite detection system that could spot Shahab missile launches within seconds. This should enable the Israeli air force to destroy such missiles in the booster stage. The system will also give the Israelis about 15 minutes to seek shelter before any warhead hits.

Meanwhile, a top commander of Iran's armed forces warned on Shabbat that the Islamic republic would shut the Strait of Hormuz which controls the Persian Gulf oil exports if its interests were threatened. However, Iran's armed forces joint chief of staff stressed his country's priority was that the Strait of Hormuz remain open. Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari had also earlier warned that his forces would use "blitzkrieg tactics" in the Persian Gulf if his country came under attack.

In another statement, Iran is ready to negotiate with world powers over its nuclear program but without suspending its uranium enrichment work, the government spokesman said on Shabbat. "Iran's stance has not changed [on uranium enrichment] and we are ready to hold talks on the common points of the P5+1 incentives package and Iran's package," Gholam Hossein Elham told a weekly news conference. "Iran will not go back on its rights on the nuclear issue," Elham said, in the first comments from Tehran since it handed over a response to a set of proposals by the world powers. "The will of the Iranian people is firm and will continue to follow the principles defined by the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]," the spokesman said at a weekly news conference. [The Sunday Times, Fars News Agency]
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The yearly increase in military aid to Israel that was proposed by the Bush administration last July has been approved by Congress. The 92-6 vote in the Senate sealed the aid hike, which will bring the yearly total to $2.55 billion in 2009, up from $2.38 billion. Israel will receive $30 billion over 10 years. The aid boost was part of a package that included a $20-billion arms deal for Saudi Arabia and Gulf States aimed at firming up an alliance between the U.S. and Arab states opposing Iran and Syria. Analysts at THE MEDIA LINE add that some observers felt at the time the increase was announced that it was intended to forestall any objections by Israel or its American supporters to allowing the Saudis to have sophisticated weapons such as laser-guided smart bombs that could fall into the hands of Israel's enemies. [That's exactly what it is for. In the past, the US gave the money to Israel in order to have a hand in the Middle East; now that George W. Bush is president (and he is a life-long friend of the Saudis, and has placed troops in the Middle East), it is necessary in order to allow him to arm the Saudis. Also, be aware that this deal means that Israel must spend all of the money, $30 billion over 10 years, buying from US-based military contractors.] [The Media Line]
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Israeli President Shimon Peres, the primary proponent of Israel's land-for-peace process with the Palestinian Authority (PA/PLO), very pragmatically announced at a dinner party last weekend that he no longer believes a genuine peace can be achieved. (Peres, you will remember, met illegally with Yasir Arafat and the rest of the PLO, in order to create the ill-fated Oslo Accords.) Israel's HA'ARETZ newspaper reported that Peres made the assessment during a dinner party at Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Tel Aviv home last Shabbat. According to the newspaper, as the meal came to an end, Jordanian Ambassador to Israel Ali Ayed got into an argument with another Israeli guest after the latter stated that Israel could not reach a final status peace agreement with the regime of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. As the debate grew more heated, Peres jumped in and, to everyone's surprise, agreed that Abbas' weakness and inability to implement any of his security commitments made reaching a peace deal leading to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian Arab state impossible. Pointing to the situation in Gaza, Peres reminded those gathered that the last time Israel fully surrendered territory to Abbas, his Hamas rivals quickly took over and turned the area into a base for increased violence against the Jewish state. [Israel Today]
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The Knesset approved on Monday the first reading of a bill that would mandate a national referendum on any future Israeli territorial concessions. The Knesset's Golan Lobby sees the vote as a tremendous success, with 65 Knesset Members supporting the bill and only 18 opposed. According to the bill, a Knesset vote and a nationwide referendum would be required for any agreement to cede territory currently under Israeli jurisdiction. The referendum, to be held 90 days after the Knesset vote, would include the wording of the relevant government decision and would offer voters the chance to approve or reject the proposed concession. In the event that 80 MKs or more approve the government decision, however, no referendum would be required. An additional caveat is that if national elections are to be held within 180 days of the Knesset vote on the proposed concession, the election results would be considered equivalent to a referendum. The bill still has to pass through committee and face two more parliamentary votes before it becomes law. [Arutz Sheva]
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Israelis have been warned to prepare for a likely major earthquake in the near future. The warning came in a letter to health officials in northern Israel from the Health Ministry. It warned of the strong possibility of a quake measuring 6 on the Richter Scale originating in Lebanon and reverberating through northern Israel. There have been as many as 500 minor quakes in the area during the past three months alone. The frequency of the tremors in both Lebanon and northern Israel increased "significantly" during May and June. Israel's last major earthquake was 81 years ago, which sets up the present as the probable window, based on the historical incidence of an earthquake every 80 years. Meanwhile, Ministry Director-General Avi Yisraeli has instructed hospital chiefs and representatives of the health maintenance organizations in the north to prepare immediately for the possibility of a major tremor. In a special notice distributed to medical authorities, including managers of hospitals, health maintenance organizations, Magen David Adom, and senior officials in the health system, Yisraeli wrote that exceptional seismic activity was recorded in southern Lebanon in the middle of February. [The Media Line, Ha'aretz]
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Millions of pounds of British government money is going to PA/PLO security forces which use methods of torture including hanging prisoners by their feet and putting them in "stress" positions for hours at a time. Evidence to be published next month in a report by Human Rights Watch was corroborated last week in interviews by The Sunday Times with victims in Judea and Samaria, ruled by PA/PLO President Mahmoud Abbas. Prisoners who have emerged from PA/PLO jails - many of whom have never been charged with any offence or even seen a lawyer - said they had been subjected to mock executions, kicked, punched and beaten with sticks, plastic pipes and hoses. The disclosures came at the end of a week in which a Berlin conference of 40 donor nations, including Britain, pledged GBP 121 million ($240 million) over the next three years to bolster the PA/PLO security forces and judicial system in Judea and Samaria. Of this total, about GBP 20 million ($40 million) will come from Britain, which is already committed to spending GBP 2.7 million ($5.4 million) on the training of PA/PLO security forces this year. A British brigadier based in Ram'Allah is involved in the training. A total of GBP 4 billion ($7.9 billion) overall has been promised to the government of Abbas, who is the commander-in-chief of the PA/PLO security forces. [The Sunday Times]
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