The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
“I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; and My own fury, it sustained Me.” (Isaiah 63:5)
1. Dahlan: Prisoner swap unlikely in near future - Jerusalem Post
Israel and Hamas don't want Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to play any role in the talks over the release of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit, PA National Security Adviser Muhammad Dahlan claimed on Thursday.
2. Hamas arming Islamic Jihad with Qassams - Ha'aretz
Hamas is supporting Islamic Jihad's rocket attacks against Israel with behind-the-scenes activities and is emerging as the lynchpin of Palestinian terrorist activities against Israel, security sources said yesterday.
3. "Syria won't attack Israel" - Ynet News
If Israel attacks, Damascus will defend itself with all its might, but Syria will not start the war, said Syrian- American businessman Ibrahim Soliman at a press conference following an unprecedented appearance before an Israeli parliamentary panel in Jerusalem on Thursday.
4. Gates to visit Israel - ICEJ News
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will visit Israel next week for a series of talks with senior Israelis including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz. The visit, scheduled for April 17, will be the first visit to Israel by an American Secretary of Defense since 1999. The Gates/Olmert/Peretz trio is expected to discuss Israel's position on America's war in Iraq, as well as other topics such as cooperation between IDF and American forces and America's sale of arms to Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia. Gates' visit is expected to be a healing balm to the recent rift between the Israeli and American defense establishments, caused by Israel's controversial sale of weapons to China in 2005.
