Aipac June 17

2008
Iran Rejects Incentives Offer, Refuses Nuclear Halt

Hamas Pounds Ashkelon With Katyusha Rockets

EU Upgrades Economic, Diplomatic Ties with Israel

United States Condemns Chinese Trade with Iran

Date Seed from Masada is Oldest Ever to Sprout

Shimon Peres Hosts U.S.-Israel Biotech Conference


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Iran Rejects Incentives Offer, Refuses Nuclear Halt Iran said Saturday that accepting a package of incentives offered by the United States and five other countries was "out of the question" because it includes a demand for the country to stop enriching uranium—a key step toward developing nuclear weapons, The Washington Post reported. In response, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced new sanctions against the Islamic Republic, and vowed heightened European pressure if Tehran refuses to halt its illicit nuclear work. "If Iran continues to ignore [U.N. Security Council] resolutions, to ignore our offers of partnership, we have no choice but to intensify sanctions," Brown said. Click here to learn how you can take action to stop Iran's nuclear program.
Hamas Pounds Ashkelon With Katyusha RocketsDespite ongoing Egyptian-mediated efforts to end Hamas rocket fire, the terrorist group on Monday fired several Katyusha rockets at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. One man was wounded, and several others were treated for shock. "It appears today's attack is a deliberate attempt to undermine the Egypt initiative to achieve calm," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said. Hamas' longer-range, Iranian-supplied Katyusha rockets pose a serious threat to the industrial city of Ashkelon, home to 120,000 civilians and critical infrastructure. Since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Hamas terrorists there have overseen a massive arms buildup, turning the coastal area into a base for launching attacks at the Jewish state. Click here to learn more about the threat of Hamas.
EU Upgrades Economic, Diplomatic Ties with IsraelBrushing aside intense lobbying by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, the European Union on Monday announced it would significantly upgrade its diplomatic and economic relations with Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported. Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, who currently holds the EU presidency, announced the decision during a visit to Luxembourg by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "There are numerous historic, cultural and economic ties between us," Rupel said. "Therefore, the developments in these regions are of common concern to us." The upgrade is expected to enable Israel to better compete in the EU market, particularly in the high-tech arena, and will increase high-level diplomatic cooperation and dialogue between the parties.
United States Condemns Chinese Trade with IranThe U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said recently that China must halt its trade with Iran, Reuters reported. "This is not a time for business as usual with Iran, this is a time to demonstrate to Iran that they are hurting their country politically and economically by withholding information from the international community," Ambassador Gregory Schulte said. Schulte's statement comes as Iran continues to refuse to provide information about its nuclear activities to the IAEA. Tehran has also rejected an offer by the five members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany for help in developing a civilian nuclear program in exchange for a halt in enrichment activities that could produce a nuclear weapon.
Date Seed from Masada is Oldest Ever to SproutScientists in Israel have confirmed that an ancient date palm seed retrieved from the rubble of Masada and successfully germinated is about 2,000 years old, The New York Times reported. That makes it the oldest seed ever to sprout, beating the previous well-documented record holder, a lotus found in a dry lakebed in China, by about 700 years. The date seed was among several obtained in the 1960s by archaeologists excavating Masada, the fortress in the Judean Desert built by Herod around 35 B.C.E. and destroyed by the Romans in 73 C.E. The Judean Dead Sea region was well known for its date palms that produced high quality fruit around the first century C.E., but over several centuries this line of plants was lost. Researchers say more seeds are needed for a more thorough understanding of what made those old dates so good.
Shimon Peres Hosts U.S.-Israel Biotech ConferenceIsraeli President Shimon Peres recently hosted a two-day conference in Israel in order to foster U.S.-Israel biotechnology cooperation, the Web site Israel21c reported. Eric Richman, a Vice President of the Maryland-based company PharmAthene, said that when the United States and Israel do business together, both countries benefit. "Part of the technology we are using for a vaccine we are developing as a medical countermeasure to bioterrorism, was developed at the Hebrew University," Richman said. "The drug was adopted by the U.S. military, now we are meeting with Israeli military officials about making it available in Israel." Israel has long been a center of biotechnology