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Forward this to a friend June 12, 2008

In This issue

Chicago, Midwest, and US news

* UJC stands with Seattle Federation
* Holocaust survivors benefit from new German government Ghetto Labor Compensation Fund
* A look at the situation in Sderot and environs

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

* Israeli cabinet votes to seek truce in Gaza
* U.S. proposes trilateral talks with Israel, PA
* Palestinian PM: deal with Israel impossible in 2008
* Palestinian caught with 6 pipe bombs at Nablus checkpoint
* Israel transfers tax revenue to Palestinians
* Father of 3 killed in mortar attack, IAF strike kills girl in Gaza
* Blair firm on boycott of Hamas

Israel and World News

* Syria plays down chances of direct talks with Israel
* Lebanon rejects Israel offer for talks
* British Minister denies anti-Israel claim

Iran Watch

* Israeli attack "uunavoidable" if Iran goes nuclear
* Iran threatened with new sanctions
* Iran unmoved by threats on its atomic program

Events and Programs

* Greater Chicago Jewish Festival this Sunday!
* TOV announces first annual Green Mitzvah Mania!
* Teens: Learn about terrific programs just for you
* Learn modern Hebrew at Chicago's Hebrew Ulpan Center

Editorial, Opinion & Analysis

* From the world press

Chicago, Midwest, and US news
UJC STANDS WITH SEATTLE FEDERATION

UJC/The Federations of North America expressed solidarity with colleagues at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle after a court declared a mistrial this week in proceedings against the man who allegedly attacked the federation in 2006.

"We can only imagine the feelings of the Seattle Jewish community, both the victims, their families, and their colleagues, who in addition to the loss and injuries they suffered, now can't even have closure on this aspect of this terrible tragedy," said UJC's President and CEO, Howard Rieger.

Pam Waechter, a fundraising professional for the federation, was murdered in the attack, and six others were wounded.
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HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS BENEFIT FROM NEW GERMAN GOVERNMENT GHETTO LABOR COMPENSATION FUND

Jewish victims of Nazi persecution may be eligible, under certain conditions, to obtain a payment of 2,000 Euros (approximately $3,000) from the German government's Ghetto Labor Compensation Fund if s/he:
- Was living in a ghetto under Nazi influence
- Worked "without force" during this period and
- Has not already received a Social Security pension for that same work.

The staff of the Holocaust Community Services program is working with a consortium of volunteer attorneys from Chicago law firms to provide assistance with the required application.

Holocaust Community Services is administered by Jewish Child & Family Services in collaboration with CJE Seniorlife, HIAS Chicago and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

For information or application assistance, call Holocaust Community Services at (847) 568-5151. View our ad.
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A LOOK AT THE SITUATION IN SDEROT AND ENVIRONS

JUF-funded programs in Sderot, Ashkelon, and other communities in southern Israel are making a difference in the lives of the area's most vulnerable residents, who face constant terror rockets from Gaza. The programs supported by the Federation system also are boosting the resilience of students, business owners, and professional first-responders whose commitment to the area will help assure its future. Seeing that work on the ground and meeting those helped is a deeply moving experience, JUF News Executive Editor Aaron Cohen discovered during a UJC Media Mission last week. Hear podcasts about the mission:

Giving Shelter from the Storm, Resilience, and Even a Little Techno, and Pondering Place on a Trek from Southern Wisconsin to Southern Israel. The text of these and other accounts also is posted on Aaron's blog.
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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
ISRAELI CABINET VOTES TO SEEK TRUCE IN GAZA
The Israeli security cabinet voted on Wednesday to pursue an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, but it left open the possibility of a military offensive should truce talks fail. The decision, after hours of deliberations, was reported to leave Israelis in waiting mode despite public pressure for immediate action to halt Palestinian rocket and mortar fire into southern Israel.

Violence continued, however, with terrorists firing mortar rounds from Gaza. An Israeli man was lightly wounded when a mortar shell hit a factory on the Israeli side of the border, according to the army. An Israeli worker was killed when a mortar shell struck the same factory last week.
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U.S. PROPOSES TRILATERAL TALKS WITH ISRAEL, PA
The American proposal for a tripartite effort appears to have been raised by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Washington last Tuesday. The idea had been making the rounds of the State Department for several weeks.

Rice will fly to Israel to try to push negotiations forward, and is likely to visit the region again later this month. The American proposal calls for a meeting at which Rice or one of her senior aides would sit with the heads of the respective negotiating teams, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Qureia, or their representatives.
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PALESTINIAN PM: DEAL WITH ISRAEL IMPOSSIBLE IN 2008
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Wednesday he believed it would be impossible to reach a peace deal with Israel this year.

Talks on Palestinian statehood have shown little progress since their launch at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November. Washington has said it hoped for a framework deal before President George Bush leaves office in January 2009. "I have a strong feeling that is tantamount to certainty that a solution won't be achieved this year," Fayyad told reporters, ahead of a planned visit to the region this weekend by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

His comments echoed remarks last week by Palestinian chief negotiator Ahmed Qurie, who said it would "take a miracle" to reach an agreement in 2008.

Asked about Qurie's comments, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last week that in the turbulent Middle East "a realist is someone who believes in miracles".
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PALESTINIAN CAUGHT WITH 6 PIPE BOMBS AT NABLUS CHECKPOINT
IDF soldiers manning the Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus apprehended on Sunday an 18-year-old Palestinian who was carrying six pipe bombs, a bullet cartridge and a bag full of what appeared to be gunpowder. Following the incident Palestinian movement through the checkpoint was temporarily suspended.
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ISRAEL TRANSFERS TAX REVENUE TO PALESTINIANS
Israeli officials said they have transferred millions of dollars in tax revenue to the Palestinian authority, money that will help pay thousands of workers who have not received their May wages, the Palestinian prime minister said Monday. Israel had agreed to transfer the tax revenue--about $74 million dollars--at the end of last month.
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FATHER OF 3 KILLED IN MORTAR ATTACK, IAF STRIKE KILLS GIRL IN GAZA

The man killed last Thursday morning by a Palestinian mortar shell attack has been identified as 51-year-old Amnon Rosenberg of Kibbutz Nirim. Rosenberg, a member of the kibbutz since 1982, is survived by a wife, Tali, and three children - Dor, Eldar and Yarden.

Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades have claimed responsibility for the firing of the mortar, which crashed into the Nirlat factory in Kibbutz Nir Oz, which is located within Eshkol Regional Council limits. Five other employees sustained light-to-moderate shrapnel wounds and were evacuated to the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for treatment. Several people were reported as suffering from shock at the scene.

Also, eighteen mortar shells were fired from Gaza toward the Nahal Oz area on Tuesday.
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BLAIR FIRM ON BOYCOTT OF HAMAS
Tony Blair has ruled out talks with Hamas until it recognizes Israel and stops firing rockets, yesterday saying he would not visit the Gaza Strip until he could be sure his trip would "help rather than harm" peace efforts.
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Israel and World News
SYRIA PLAYS DOWN CHANCES OF DIRECT TALKS WITH ISRAEL
A senior Syrian official said on Tuesday no direct negotiations will be held with Israel until it recognizes what Damascus regards as requirements for a deal. Indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel are expected to resume soon in Turkey, which has been mediating between the two sides since last year.

The Damascus government and Israel have kept secret the details of the talks. Syria seeks full return of the occupied Golan Heights and Israel has linked a peace agreement to Syria distancing itself from Iran and severing ties with Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.
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LEBANON REJECTS ISRAEL OFFER FOR TALKS
Lebanon rejected on Wednesday a call by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for peace talks and demanded that Israel withdraw from disputed territory along their international borders.
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BRITISH MINISTER DENIES ANTI-ISRAEL CLAIM
The government has hit back at claims by Israel's ambassador to Britain that the UK has become a "hotbed for radical anti-Israeli views." In a Daily Telegraph article, Ron Prosor wrote that a "climate of hatred" towards Israel had been stirred up on British university campuses. But Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell denied Mr Prosor's remarks. He said any such "uncomfortable or distasteful" views were held only by a "small minority."
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Iran Watch
ISRAELI ATTACK "UUNAVOIDABLE" IF IRAN GOES NUCLEAR
Israel "will attack" Iran if it continues to develop nuclear weapons, one of prime minister Ehud Olmert's deputies warned yesterday. Shaul Mofaz, a former defence minister and a contender to replace the scandal-battered Olmert, said military action would be "unavoidable" if Tehran proved able to acquire the technology to manufacture atomic bombs.
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IRAN THREATENED WITH NEW SANCTIONS
President Bush and European Union leaders threatened Iran Tuesday with new financial sanctions unless the country curbs its nuclear ambitions and opens facilities to international inspection.

Following a meeting that touched on Iran and a host of issues, including climate change and trade, Bush and his European counterparts indicated they were prepared to go beyond current United Nations sanctions to try to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.

The president of Iran has ordered the country's leading banks to transfer billions of dollars of assets from Europe to the Central Bank to prevent them being frozen by international sanctions, according to Western diplomats. The funds are being moved to Tehran through a secret network of "front" companies set up in Gulf states such as Dubai.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the move amid growing concern that Iranian banks would soon be subject to strengthened European Union-level sanctions. But his action has caused friction with Tahmaseb Mazaheri, the governor of the Central Bank. The Iranian press has reported that he may resign over the issue.
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IRAN UNMOVED BY THREATS ON ITS ATOMIC PROGRAM

Increasingly tough warnings from President Bush and his European allies have done nothing to temper Iran's stance on its nuclear program, worsening the confrontation over what American officials and others suspect is a covert Iranian plan to build an atomic bomb. In Germany for meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Bush emphasized again on Wednesday that "all options are on the table" in any response to what is suspected of being Iranian research into developing nuclear weapons. Those options would include the possibility of military force, he said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran responded by mocking attempts to rein in his country's nuclear program, which Iran maintains is for peaceful development of nuclear energy. Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech in Iran that the West "cannot do anything" and singled out Mr. Bush as a lame duck who had failed at every attempt to hurt Iran.

"Bush's time is up, and he was not able to harm even one centimeter of our land," the state-run news agency, IRNA, quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.