…The General Secretary of the U.N, Kofi Annan is asked to put up a commission that would make inquiries about the attack in Beit Hanoun on November 8th. 19 civilians had died. Among them, there were women and children. The resolution exhorts Israel to conform to the Geneva Convention as far as the protection of the civilian population is concerned.
…The 25 countries of the E.U voted in order to stop immediately any kind of violence and to start the dialogue anew. Finish Ambassadress Kirsti Lintonen insisted on finding out a peaceful solution. The Palestinian representative, Ryad Manour, thanked all the countries for voting in favor of his country. He accused the Israeli delegation of insulting the General Assembly when it said that this special sitting was acting the fool and playing a prank.
World Jewish Congress - Italian PM wants EU partners to endorse Mideast peace plan. November 22nd - The Middle East peace initiative proposed last week by the governments of Spain, France and Italy must be endorsed by Germany and the broader European Union as well in order to be successful, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said. Prodi made the remarks in a phone conversation with Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in response to a question about the peace plan. The plan, made public last week, mirrors a deal the moderate Palestinian president is offering Hamas to form a national unity government, and it makes no explicit reference to the need for Hamas to recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist, a key sticking point blocking the resumption of Western aid to the impoverished Palestinians. Its five points are an immediate ceasefire, formation of a Palestinian unity government that can gain international recognition, an exchange of prisoners, talks between the Palestinian Authority president and Israel’s prime minister, and an international mission to Gaza to monitor the truce. During their phone conversation, Prodi and Olmert also condemned the assassination of Lebanon’s industry minister Pierre Gemayel, a prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician, was assassinated on Tuesday in a suburb of Beirut with gunmen shooting him at point-blank range in his car.
Spiegel, November 17th - Bionic Hornets - “Israel looks at the next generation of warfare” - After its stalemate in Lebanon last summer, Israel needs new way to fight terrorists. The government has announced a new push into nanotechnology to develop tiny flying robots –but what would keep guerrilla fighters from using them?
More than anything else, the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer convinced Israel of the need to research new ways to fight terrorists. One idea has now received funding: that of building small flying robots that can navigate streets and alleyways.
The “bionic hornet”, writes Israel daily Yedioth Ahronoth, could chase, photograph and kill, say, a terrorist hiding with a rocket launcher in a civilian neighborhood—as an alternative to bombing in the neighborhood.
The Israeli government plans to invest $230 million in nanotechnology research and development over the next five years, which would make nanoscience one of Israel’s most heavily invested R and D fields.
“The war in Lebanon proved that we need smaller weaponry” said Deputy Minister Shimon Peres. “It’s illogical to send a plane worth $100million against a suicidal terrorist. So we are building futuristic weapons.”
…Prototypes for the new weapons could be ready within three years, Peres said.
…But the problem with such weapons is that insurgents and terrorists can use them, too.
MFA MAIL, November 19th - Israel deplores UN General Assembly resolution - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement in response to the resolution adopted by the General Assembly on Friday, 17 November 2006 - We regret the resolution passed by the UN General Assembly on Friday, which once again expressed the automatic majority held by the Arab countries in this form.
What is particularly outrageous is the ignoring of the ongoing terrorism against Israeli civilians by the Palestinian terrorist organizations, including the suffering this causes the population and the damage to its property.
Resolutions of this nature subvert the position of the United Nations and undermine Israel’s trust in this body. Israel has already expressed regret regarding the incident in Beit Hanoun; it has been investigated and the lessons drawn.
We expect the United Nations to show a more balanced and fairer approach toward Israel and not to automatically adopt any notion from those whose only desire is to discredit Israel.
November 23rd - Israel blasts UNRWA head’s Kassam remark - …The Ministry of Foreign Affairs utterly rejects the use of such unfortunate and misleading terminology, whose purpose is to dwarf the danger and threat faced by Israeli civilians in the daily firing of Kassam rockets and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip.
At the very hour when the UNRWA commission-general found it appropriate to employ such an apparently naïve concept as “homemade rockets”—a concept that reflects a forgiving attitude to the firing of Kassams—an Israeli civilian was killed by such a rocket in Sderot.
The commissioner-general would do well to remember to demand that the Palestinian Authority honor the demands of the international community, which are anchored in a decision of the UN Security Council: to renounce terrorism, to recognize Israel, and to honor agreements signed with Israel.
The commissioner-general’s words do not contribute to the cessation of terrorism, which is the key to improving the living conditions of the Palestinian population.
European Jewish Congress, November 21st - Representative Council of French Jewry holds first national convention - Releases poll showing 4 out of 5 French favourable to UN sanctions.
…About 500 people attended this event, with the participation of French intellectual Bernard Henri Levy, as well as Alexander Adler, Dominique Moisi and François Heisbourg, well-known specialists of international strategy who held a debate about the Iranian threat.
…The results of a study show that 4 out of 5 French people do not trust Iran’s nuclear program and are favourable to UN sanctions. This nuclear program is also considered to be a real danger to Israel for 88% and 80% take the Iranian President’s threat to wipe Israel off the map quite seriously.
…The French are more divided when it comes to stopping Iranian oil imports and stopping exports to Iran, even though a small majority emerges in favour of sanctions…
The Middle East
Le Monde November 21st - Antoine Sfeir: “Who stands to gain by this crime?” - …It is a fact that those who wished Pierre Gemayel to die are those who want Syria to be back in a Lebanon going to pieces. Those who committed the crime may well be Lebanese but those who financed it are Syrians.
…Syria wants to draw closer together with Bagdad, but this has nothing to do with getting closer to the Americans…
The New York Times: November 22nd - “Lebanon Official Critical of Syria is assassinated” by Michael Slackman - Beirut: Pierre Gemayel, a Lebanese cabinet minister and strong opponent of Syrian influence in Lebanon was gunned down in his car here on Tuesday afternoon, jolting a nation already paralyzed by political conflict that threatens to topple the government.
The killing of Mr. Gemayel, the 34-year-old scion of a prominent Maronite Christian family, inflamed tensions between the anti-Syria coalition trying to hold its government together and the Syrian-allied opposition, led by Hezbollah. An Iranian-supported Shiite group, Hezbollah has threatened street protests if it is not given more power.
…The prime minister’s political allies in the so-called March 14 coalition- a pro – Western group of Sunni Muslims, Druses and Christians-blamed Syria for the killing…
