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Forward this to a friend July 24, 2008






Chicago, Midwest, and US news

JUF expresses condolences to soldiers' families

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

16 hurt in second bulldozer attack in Jerusalem
Peres gives Abbas red carpet welcome for peace talks
Palestinian report: U.S. plans peace talks with Israelis and Palestinians
Obama meets with Israeli and Palestinian leaders
Six Arabs arrested in Israel for allegedly plotting attack on Bush
New Arab city nears creation
Hamas using truce to plant mines in Gaza

Israel and World News

Hezbollah moves into 'every town' in S. Lebanon
Israeli military intelligence chief warns of attacks on northern, southern fronts
Al-Qaida in Israel fertile ground for terrorism
Syrian visitors' meeting scrapped
UK's Brown promotes academic links with Israel
Seizing the day in Tel Aviv

Iran Watch

US gives Iran two weeks to think again on enrichment
IDF chief: All options open against Iran

Events and Programs

TOV's first annual Green Mitzvah Mania continues next month!
Teens: Learn about terrific programs just for you

Editorial, Opinion & Analysis

From the world press



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Chicago, Midwest, and US news

JUF EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES TO SOLDIERS' FAMILIES
On behalf of Chicago's Jewish community, JUF/JF President Steven B. Nasatir wrote letters to the Regev family and to Karnit Goldwasser--who Nasatir had met in Israel during the first week of the Lebanon War--offering his deepest condolences on their losses.

Meanwhile, a Chicago Tribune reporter who interviewed Karnit writes again about her struggles on behalf of her husband, and quotes JUF's JCRC Executive Director on the quandries Israel confronts in such prisoner exchanges.

Since the summer of 2006, JUF has shown support for and solidarity with the Goldwasser and Regev families. On August 6, 2006 Karnit Goldwasser, Udi's wife, and Shlomo Goldwasser, his father, spoke at an event for JUF's Israel Emergency Campaign and also met with JUF leaders during an Israel Emergency Campaign Mission to Israel. The community has also reached out to the Regev family.

In the fall of 2000, JUF initiated a Blue Ribbon public awareness campaign to draw attention to the plight of Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Souad, IDF soldiers also abducted by Hezbollah terrorists from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon. As with Goldwasser and Regev, their welfare and whereabouts also remained hidden for more than a year.

"Wearing these blue ribbons is our way of bringing this tragedy to the attention of our community and standing in solidarity with their parents, who wait anxiously for some word, any word, about their beloved sons," said Nasatir at a December 5 , 2000 rally in Ramat Gan, which launched the Blue Ribbon campaign.

As the community mourns the fate of Goldwasser and Regev, it continues to stand with the families of Ron Arad, who has been missing in Lebanon since 1982, and Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas in 2005 and believed to be held in Gaza.


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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

16 HURT IN SECOND BULLDOZER ATTACK IN JERUSALEM
For the second time in three weeks, an Arab bulldozer driver from east Jerusalem rammed his construction vehicle into a city bus and several cars on a central thoroughfare in the capital on Tuesday, wounding 15 people before being shot dead by a Druse border police officer and a civilian passerby.

Also read 'All the terrorist wanted to do was to kill Jews' (Jerusalem Post).


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PERES GIVES ABBAS RED CARPET WELCOME FOR PEACE TALKS
Israeli President Shimon Peres gave Mahmud Abbas a red carpet welcome on Tuesday when he welcomed the Palestinian leader to his official Jerusalem residence for talks on the peace process. The largely ceremonial Israeli president greeted Abbas for the first time with a red carpet and Palestinian flags flying. In the past, Abbas has been received either at the Israeli cabinet office or Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's official resident .
"We have a chance of peace. We must not let it escape, we must not lose it," Abbas said, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.


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PALESTINIAN REPORT: U.S. PLANS PEACE TALKS WITH ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to host peace talks in Washington with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on July 30, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Thursday. Rice met a Palestinian delegation in Washington on Wednesday and offered to host the three-way meeting between herself, chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie and his Israeli partner, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Erekat said.


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OBAMA MEETS WITH ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN LEADERS
Senator Barack Obama met with leaders on both sides of the Middle East conflict on Wednesday, pledging to protect Israel and prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Obama, who said he hoped his appearance here would open the door to a stronger bond with Jewish voters at home, pledged that if elected president he would not pressure Israel to accept concessions with Palestinians that would compromise security for Israelis. He also sought to allay concerns over his proposal to negotiate with Iran.

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SIX ARABS ARRESTED IN ISRAEL FOR ALLEGEDLY PLOTTING ATTACK ON BUSH
Israel Police and the Shin Bet Security Service have arrested six Arabs--two of them Israeli citizens and the other four Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem--with alleged links to the Al-Qaida terror network. A gag order lifted on Friday revealed that the suspects allegedly planned to attack U.S. President George W. Bush's helicopter during one of his recent visits to the region.

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NEW ARAB CITY NEARS CREATION
The Israeli Cabinet voted on Sunday to form a ministerial committee to focus on the establishment of a new Arab city in the Galilee. If the city is established, it will be the first new Arab city since the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 - save permanent housing projects developed for Bedouins in the Negev. There is widespread Arab public support for creating the new city, although some say the government should invest in the development of existing Arab cities rather than building a new one.


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HAMAS USING TRUCE TO PLANT MINES IN GAZA
Hamas has been taking advantage of the truce in order to plant mines in wide areas in the Gaza Strip, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin warned the Knesset's Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

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Israel and World News

HEZBOLLAH MOVES INTO 'EVERY TOWN' IN S. LEBANON
Hezbollah is bolstering its presence in south Lebanon villages with non-Shi'ite majorities by buying land and using it to build military positions and store missiles and launchers, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The decision to build infrastructure in non-Shi'ite villages - where Hezbollah has less support - is part of the group's post-war strategy under which it has mostly abandoned the "nature reserves," forested areas in southern Lebanon where it kept most of its Katyusha rocket launchers before the Second Lebanon War.


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ISRAELI MILITARY INTELLIGENCE CHIEF WARNS OF ATTACKS ON NORTHERN, SOUTHERN FRONTS
Israel's Director of Military Intelligence Major-General Amos Yadlin told the cabinet Sunday that Israel's enemies have no interest in provoking any military conflict while US President George W. Bush is still in office. The military, he warned, does believe a limited military campaign, which will probably not escalate into a full-fledged war, is possible.

"We have intelligence indicating terror activities are possible both on the northern and southern fronts. Hezbollah may choose to use one of their still disputed subjects, such as the Shaaba Farms or Imad Mugniyah's assassination," he told the cabinet.


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AL-QAIDA IN ISRAEL FERTILE GROUND FOR TERRORISM
The uncovering of a second Arab-Israeli cell with ties to Al-Qaida in the space of a few weeks does not quite suggest that an attack by international Islamic terrorism is imminent. But we are still able to learn two things: that among Arab Israelis, like the Palestinians in the territories, there is growing support for the messages of Al-Qaida, and that the Israeli security services are also countering terrorist plans also through the Internet.

Also read Intelligence bodies warn threat from global Jihad 'substantial' (Ynet)


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SYRIAN VISITORS' MEETING SCRAPPED
In an abrupt about-face, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday scrubbed plans to meet with a visiting delegation from Syria, a meeting that could have signaled an easing of tense U.S. relations with Damascus.

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UK'S BROWN PROMOTES ACADEMIC LINKS WITH ISRAEL
British academics will be encouraged to conduct research with their Israeli peers in an attempt to heal fractured relations between UK and Israeli universities. Gordon Brown signed up to a 740,000 pounds academic exchange scheme during his trip to Israel this week.
The government has been keen to promote links between the two countries to play down attempts by British academics to boycott Israeli academics over the treatment of Palestinians.


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SEIZING THE DAY IN TEL AVIV
Read a New York Times travel article about the city of Tel Aviv.

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Iran Watch

US GIVES IRAN TWO WEEKS TO THINK AGAIN ON ENRICHMENT
Iranian and American officials were deadlocked yesterday after their most highly publicized meeting for nearly 30 years failed to produce a breakthrough on Iran's nuclear enrichment program. After six unproductive hours the Iranians were given two weeks to respond.
"Iran has a choice to make: negotiation or further isolation," said US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted on Wednesday that Tehran would not "retreat one iota" from its atomic work, which includes the enrichment of uranium.


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IDF CHIEF: ALL OPTIONS OPEN AGAINST IRAN
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday night that Israel prefers to solve the Iranian nuclear problem through diplomatic means, but hinted that the Jewish state must also prepare for the scenario of a military strike.

Ashkenazi, who is on an official visit to Washington, met Wednesday with US Vice President Richard Cheney and with Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.


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Events and Programs

TOV'S FIRST ANNUAL GREEN MITZVAH MANIA CONTINUES NEXT MONTH!
In an effort to explore new areas of volunteerism and to uphold the Jewish values of environmentalism and tikkun olam, the JUF TOV Volunteer Network is proud to introduce the first annual Green Mitzvah Mania!! Look for the next project opportunity coming up August 17. Register online.

Green Mitzvah Mania is a great opportunity for people to give back in a meaningful way, learn more about the Jewish community's response to climate change, and volunteer outside with friends and family!


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TEENS: LEARN ABOUT TERRIFIC PROGRAMS JUST FOR YOU
Applications are now open for the hands-on youth philanthropy programs Voices and Kolot; Camp TOV 2008, a week long, fun and interactive service oriented day program on wheels; TOV MTV - Monthly Teen Volunteering; and Write On for Israel, a selective, two-year advocacy training fellowship.

Get more information about all these opportunities.


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Editorial, Opinion & Analysis

FROM THE WORLD PRESS
Lebanon's 'soldiers of virtue,' by Fouad Ajami
A presidential primer on the Middle East conflict, by Richard Boudreaux
What to do about Iran, by Sheldon Schorer
We only get one strike, by Moshe Sharon
Abbas didn't have to honor terrorist, by Steve Huntley
Will deal with Iran be worked out? An interview with Gary Sick, by Bernard Gwertzman
Talks signal Mideast shift, by Michael Slackman



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