Facts are so inconvenient when they conflict with a larger goal!

Abbas' Gaza residence fired at repeatedly, Fatah security guard killed as Hamas members intensify their attacks. Israel, secretly, has shipped more arms to Abbas' police, as a result of U.S. request.

Few seem to be paying attention to GW regarding negotiating with and or visiting Syria. Sen(s).Kerry and Specter are soon to visit, Sen Nelson and others just returned. (Sen Kerry might make a side trip to educate our stupid troops who are fighting for their lives in Iraq.) I am surprised Jesse Jackson hasn't already been there. Israel's Peretz says now is the time but Olmert says no it is not the time to negotiate with Syria. (See 1 below.)

It is ironic the more Syria supplies arms to Hezballah, the closer it aligns itself with Iran and moves to overthrow Lebanon's government the more attention they receive and the more anxious Peretz is to negotiate. What does Olmert have to offer -land (Golan) for peace akin to Sharon's Gaza withdrawal. Syria lost the war and with it Golan at a heavy cost of Israeli lives. When will Arabs be given the chance to learn life's lesson - you attack, you lose, you lose permanently? Until there is a permanent cost for Arab aggressive behaviour and constant threats what incentive do they have to change?

In the world of PC'ism the message to the aggressor seems to be "to the loser belongs the spoils." Keep giving the keys to the child who speeds and wrecks the family car! Some message.

Itmar Marcus is someone we hope to get to speak here. Though he has agreed, there is a conflict in dates so we are trying to come up with a compromise. In two below, Itmar , through his PMW Organization, again sets the record straight with respect to the refugee problem by publishing the interpreted writing appearing in an Arab daily authored by an Arab writer. Itmar's organization tracks and interprets into English all Palestinian writings, TV and radio programs. (PMW.Org.IL)

What Itmar has uncovered is nothing new but because it undercuts Palestinian mythical claims it is consistently rejected and or ignored. Facts are uncomfortable when they conflict with a larger objective. Ask Jimmy, he ought to know something about that!

An election goes against Ahmadinejad? (See 3 below.)

Dick

1) Olmert: Now is not time to start talks with Syria, Bush opposed
By Gideon Alon, Aluf Benn and Yoav Stern

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet Sunday that now is not the time to embark on negotiations with Damascus, given that U.S. President George W. Bush is demanding Syrian President Bashar Assad "stop instigating war."

"We need to ask ourselves why, precisely at this moment, Assad is asking to renew negotiations with us," Olmert said. "The considerations that motivate Assad are not necessarily the considerations that motivate us."

He later added that, "Even the German foreign minister was disappointed by his [own] visit to Damascus."

But Defense Minister Amir Peretz, squaring off against Olmert in the Sunday cabinet meeting, said that Israel should hold an "urgent debate" to weigh Syria's recent diplomatic overture to consider entering into negotiations with Damascus.

A diplomatic source in Jerusalem said intelligence officials, including those who support talks with Syria, agree that Syria will not sever ties with Iran, Hezbollah and Palestinian terror organizations even if Israel returns the Golan Heights. Olmert believes the threat of war will only increase if Israel's demands are not met.

But Peretz told the cabinet Sunday that "We must make decisions over the significance of the Syrian arena, and its priority, whether it is important enough in order to enter into negotiations, and whether we have preconditions for negotiations with Syria."

Israel's position must relate to those of Washington and the EU, Peretz continued.

"Any agreement comes with a price tag. In the case of Syria, the price tag is known," Peretz said, in a reference to the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.

"The question is, do we see high strategic importance in a severing of the tie between Syria and the radical axis, and in barring cooperation between Damascus and Hezbollah?"

Israeli military officials said at the weekend that they believe the Syrian proposals should be examined carefully and not dismissed out of hand.

Peretz has for some time been calling for a review of possible talks with Syria, but he is demanding that Assad first prove he is serious about abandoning terror.

Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Saturday in response to the statements from Damascus that Israel has preconditions for negotiations with Syria: the closure of the terror headquarters in Damascus, an end to Meshal's activities there and the suspension of arms deliveries to Hezbollah.

Assad calls on Olmert to heed calls for peace
In an interview published Friday in the Italian daily La Repubblica, Syrian President Bashar Assad called on Olmert to heed his calls for peace. "Talk to Syria, and like many Israelis are saying, 'even if you think it's a bluff you have nothing to lose.'"

Assad said he is not acquainted with author David Grossman, who called on Olmert to respond to the peace offers coming from Damascus, but that he is right. The Syrian president said he and others in his country follow the Israeli media, particularly where peace with Syria is concerned.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, meanwhile, told The Washington Post that Syria has no preconditions to negotiations with Israel, not even regarding the Golan Heights. In an interview in Damascus, Moallem told columnist David Ignatius, "A constructive dialogue has to start without preconditions."

Moallem did not bring up Syria's longstanding position that the peace talks must begin from where they left off, but Assad had this to say: "Anyone who wants to start from zero doesn't want to achieve peace, because that means he doesn't agree to things that have already been agreed." Assad also said that Olmert's government is too weak to advance the peace process, because "Peace is much harder than war."

Asked about Israeli intelligence reports about Syrian ground-to-ground missiles clustered on the border with Israel, Assad told the Italian newspaper that Israel and Syria are still at war and that Syria must be ready for an Israeli attack at any moment. He also said that Israel has declared that it is preparing for a war next summer.

"War is always possible in our region. It is natural to prepare (for it)," Assad said. He said that one of the ways to do this is by learning the lessons of previous wars, particularly in the region. He also said, however, that "Amassing missiles is an inexact description" of Syria's actions.

The interviews were the first by the Syrian officials since the publication of the Baker-Hamilton report of the Iraq Study Group findings. Both Assad and Moallem emphasized that Syria is willing to cooperate with the U.S. on regional issues, including Iraq. The interviews focused on Syria's relations with Israel and with the
West.

Netanyahu: Syria must first end alliance with 'axis of evil'
Likud chair MK Benjamin Netanyahu said negotiations with Syria can begin when that country ends its alliance with the "axis of evil," stops the flow of arms from its territory to Hezbollah and shuts down terror headquarters within its borders. In addition, Israel must coordinate its actions vis-a-vis Syria with the U.S., Netanyahu said.

Aides to Netanyahu emphasized Saturday that Syria needs a peace agreement with Israel no less, and possibly more, than Israel needs a peace agreement with Syria. They stressed that Netanyahu has not changed his position that Israel must remain in the Golan Heights no matter what.

2) PA Daily: Arab leaders caused the refugee problem
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

PMW has documented yet another corroboration in the official Palestinian
Authority (PA) paper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that it was Arab leaders who were
responsible for the flight of Arabs from the new State of Israel in 1948.

A backbone of PA ideology, and indeed of anti-Israel propagandists
worldwide, is the myth that Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Arabs
from Israel and created the Palestinian "refugee" situation.

However, a regular writer for the official PA paper, Mahmud Al-Habbash,
writes in a recent column that in 1948 the Arabs left their homes willingly
under the instruction of their own Arab leaders and their false promises of
a prompt return. He refers to these promises as "Arkuvian," after Arkuv - a
figure from Arab tradition - who was known for breaking his promises and for
his lies - and states that the Arabs who left their homes, and became
refugees did so believing their leaders' deceptive promises. He places the
blame and the responsibility on the shoulders of the Arab leaders and does
not mention any so-called "Israeli expulsion."

Following is this most recent article, as well as earlier statements by Arab
"refugees" that have appeared in the PA press, all of which corroborate
Israel's historical narrative. The latter two testimonials are significant
because they were corroborated by still other more public Palestinians,
indicating that the responsibility of the Arab leaders is known in the
Palestinian world. One was confirmed by Arab Member of Knesset, Ibraham
Sarsur, who was then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and the other
by a Palestinian journalist, Fuad Abu Higla, in the official PA daily.

The following are four statements corroborating that Arabs fled Israel under
the instruction and the encouragement of Arab leaders:

1. Journalist writing about the events of 1948

Mahmud Al-Habbash, a regular writer in the official PA paper, Al-Hayat
Al-Jadida, indicates in his column "The Pulse of Life" that the Arabs left
Israel in 1948 only after political Arab leaders persuaded them to do so by
promising the Arabs a speedy return to their homes in Palestine:

".The leaders and the elites promised us at the beginning of the
"Catastrophe" [[the establishment of Israel and the creation of refugee
problem] in 1948, that the duration of the exile will not be long, and that
it will not last more than a few days or months, and afterwards the refugees
will return to their homes, which most of them did not leave only until they
put their trust in those "Arkuvian" promises made by the leaders and the
political elites. Afterwards, days passed, months, years and decades, and
the promises were lost with the strain of the succession of events." [Term
"Arkuvian," is after Arkuv - a figure from Arab tradition - who was known
for breaking his promises and for his lies."] "
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 13, 2006]

2. Woman who fled Israel in 1948

"We heard sounds of explosions and of gunfire at the beginning of the summer
in the year of the "Catastrophe" [The establishment of Israel and the
expulsion from the land in 1948]. They told us: The Jews attacked our region
and it is better to evacuate the village and return, after the battle is
over. And indeed there were among us [who fled Israel] those who left a fire
burning under the pot, those who left their flock [of sheep] and those who
left their money and gold behind, based on the assumption that we would
return after a few hours."
[Asmaa Jabir Balasimah Um Hasan, Woman who fled Israel, Al-Ayyam, May 16,
2006]

3. Son and grandson of those who fled in 1948

An Arab viewer called Palestinian Authority TV and quoted his father and
grandfather, complaining that in 1948 the Arab District Officer ordered all
Arabs to leave Palestine or be labeled traitors. In response, Arab MK
Ibrahim Sarsur, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, cursed the
leaders who ordered Arabs to leave, thus, acknowledging Israel's assertion.

Statement of son and grandson of man who fled:

"Mr. Ibrahim [Sarsur]. I address you as a Muslim. My father and grandfather
told me that during the "Catastrophe" [establishment of Israel in 1948 and
the expulsion from the land], our district officer issued an order that
whoever stays in Palestine and in Majdel [near Ashkelon - Southern Israel]
is a traitor, he is a traitor."

Response from Ibrahim Sarsur, Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel:

"The one who gave the order forbidding them to stay there bears guilt for
this, in this life and the Afterlife throughout history until Resurrection
Day."

[PA TV April 30, 1999]

4. Article by senior PA journalist

Fuad Abu Higla, then a regular columnist in the official PA daily Al Hayat
Al Jadida, wrote an article before an Arab Summit, which criticized the Arab
leaders for a series of failures. One of the failures he cited, in the name
of a prisoner, was that an earlier generation of Arab leaders "forced" them
to leave Israel in 1948, again placing the blame for the flight on the Arab
leaders.

"I have received a letter from a prisoner in Acre prison, to the Arab
summit:

To the [Arab and Muslim] Kings and Presidents, Poverty is killing us, the
symptoms are exhausting us and the souls are leaving our body, yet you are
still searching for the way to provide aid, like one who is looking for a
needle in a haystack or like the armies of your predecessors in the year of
1948, who forced us to leave [Israel], on the pretext of clearing the
battlefields of civilians... So what will your summit do now?"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, March 19, 2001]

Conclusion

It is clear from these statements that there is general acknowledgement
among Palestinians that Arab leaders bear responsibility for the mass flight
of Arabs from Israel in 1948, and were the cause of the "refugee" problem.
Furthermore, the fact that this information has been validated by public
figures and the media in the Palestinian Authority confirms that this
responsibility is well-known - even though, for propaganda purposes, its
leaders continue to blame Israel publicly for "the expulsion."


3) Ahmadinejad losing in local election

Iran's interior ministry confirmed Sunday that former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani has a comfortable lead in the polls of the Experts' Assembly elections.

The development was seen as a setback for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - although Ahmadinejad himself insisted Sunday that the elections were not a popularity test for himself.

Rafsanjani, one of Ahmadinejad's main opponents, gained almost two times more votes than the presidential candidate Mohamad-Taqi Mesbah- Yazdi, who is only in sixth place, official said.

Rafsanjani represented the coalition of reformists and moderates in the elections for the Experts' Assembly which has the power to appoint, supervise and even oust Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who constitutionally has the final say in state affairs.

The new anti-Ahmadinejad coalition is also backed by former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who appeared together with Rafsanani at the polling station in the Jamaran mosque in north Tehran on Friday, demonstrating their political solidarity.

Ahmadinejad earlier rejected Western interpretations that the two elections in Iran have been a popularity test for his person.

"These are just empty phrases by the foreign press for undermining the people's solidarity," he told a press briefing at the election headquarters in the interior ministry in Tehran.

Ahmadinejad's government has termed the people as the main winners of the elections and the turnout as a way of neutralizing "Western conspiracies" against Iran.

"The government has no sensitivity on who wins or loses in the elections," Ahmadinejad claimed. "For us the participation of over 28 million people (60 per cent) in the elections shows national solidarity and is the best fuel for the engine of future programmes."

Initial results of the municipality elections indicate that the presidential group named "The Sweet Smell of Service" gained only two of the fifteen seats of the Tehran City Council.

The Abadgaran (Development) party, of which Ahmadinejad was a senior member, distanced itself from the president in the run-up to the elections owing to differences over the mayor.

While Abadgaran wanted the current technocrat mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf to continue, the Ahmadinejad group reportedly insisted on appointing a new mayor.

Although Abadgaran seems to get the majority in the Tehran City Council it has lost total domination and must share the seats with reformists close to Khatami and Rafsanjani.

Due to differences over the computerized counting process, the election headquarters in the interior ministry has to count the votes manually. The announcement of final results is therefore expected to take at least two more days.

The final results of the Experts Assembly elections were to be announced later Sunday but observers consider it certain that Rafsanjani will maintain the pole position until the end.