From the people who brought us Farfour the Mouse, the stuffed animal character on Palestinian TV “killed” by an Israeli official, now comes a new summer camp for Palestinian kids that trains children in Gaza to hate and kill Israelis (and Americans), reports Israel’s Channel 10 TV.

Obama: Israel will strike if sanctions fail

Barack Obama reportedly told fellow Democrats that Israel will strike Iran if sanctions fail.

Obama, his party's presumptive presidential nominee, met Tuesday with members of the Democratic Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives to recount his tour last week of the Middle East and Europe.

"Nobody said this to me directly, but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work, Israel is going to strike Iran," Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, was quoted as saying, according to ABC News, which cited multiple sources.

Israel wants the international community to intensify Iran's isolation as a means of getting the Islamic Republic to end its suspected nuclear weapons program.

Rice warns Iran against stalling on nuclear offer

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) July 29, 2008
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran Tuesday not to delay a decision on an international offer of incentives if it halts sensitive nuclear work, ahead of a Saturday deadline.

"The Iranians should know that this is not going to be a matter that they can stall," Rice told reporters after talks with her Italian counterpart Franco Frattini at her office. "The world is watching...," she said.

Asked if there was no satisfactory response from Iran, Rice said, "We have been very clear that we have two tracks -- if one track is not working, then we are going to have to go to the other."

She was referring to the offer of six-power talks with Iran weighed against the threat of increased international punitive sanctions against the country.

Already under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions, Iran has been given a two-week deadline expiring Saturday on a final answer to the offer by the permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

The offer includes trade incentives and help with a civilian nuclear program in return for Iran suspending uranium enrichment, a process which could be used to make a nuclear bomb.

The offer was officially made earlier this month by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the pointman for the world powers in talks with Iran.

"This is a very, very beneficial package for Iran. But Iran can't have it both ways," Rice said.

On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed the hope that negotiations to end the nuclear crisis would yield progress with both sides finding "common ground" in competing proposals.

Rice said Iran should accept the international offer "to demonstrate that they believe there's common ground."

"This is a good basis for the beginning of pre-negotiations within a six- week period," she said.

Under the offer to Tehran, world powers offered to start pre-negotiations during which Tehran would add no more uranium-enriching centrifuges and in return face no further sanctions -- the so-called "freeze-for-freeze" approach.

Italian minister Frattini told Iran that it was "simply not possible to keep a negative role by continuing" with its uranium enrichment activities.

The prospect of Iran making a nuclear bomb "is simply not acceptable. This is the Italian position, which is very firm," he said.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is designed solely for civilian use.

Rice on Tuesday also held talks Tuesday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whose country considers Iran its greatest threat.

Barak said he told senior US officials he met in Washington that "Iran is a major threat to the stability of the whole world and to any considerable world order" and that sanctions against the Islamic republic should be stepped up.

"But ultimately no options could be removed from the table," he said.

Although the United States and Israel continue to say diplomatic and economic sanctions could still dissuade Iran from continuing its nuclear program, the close allies have refused to rule out military action.

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear armed state in the Middle East although it has a policy of neither confirming or denying it has a nuclear arsenal and does not allow international inspections.

related report
Economic, political pressure on Iran is best: Pentagon
Washington believes economic and political pressure are the best ways to dissuade Iran from seeking atomic weapons, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday, following an appeal by Israel's defense minister to keep "all options" on the table.

The comments followed a closely held meeting at the Pentagon Monday between Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"I think the Israelis are keenly aware that we believe the best possible avenue of dissuading the Iranians from pursuing nuclear weapons is through economic and political pressures," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.

"We certainly understand that the Israelis view a nuclear Iran as an existential threat -- they have made that abundantly clear to us, to the world. And we are working diligently to prevent that from happening," he said.

"But the way we are focusing our efforts is on diplomatic, economic, financial pressures," he said.

Morrell added that "a military option is always available to us. It's not our first choice."

The Israeli defense ministry, meanwhile, said Barak had urged Gates to keep all options open.

"A policy that consists of keeping all options on the table must be maintained," it quoted Barak as saying.

"Iran's plans pose a threat to regional and global stability. We insist that it is vital to continue tightening the economic and financial sanctions imposed on the Iranians," he said.

The United States and Israel are both convinced that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran insists that it is for civilian energy purposes only and has defied international sanctions against it.

Despite the difference in emphasis, Morrell said the two sides had a "shared strategic vision and a common understanding of the threats to the Middle East and emanating from it."

Gates assured Barak that they would explore providing Israel with additional defensive capabilities, Morrell said.

The Pentagon press secretary declined to confirm an Israeli statement that the capabilities included a forward deployed missile defense radar, missile early warning launch data, and counter-measures against short-range rockets and mortars.

Morrell said the Barak-Gates meeting was kept small on purpose to keep details from getting out.

Gates was accompanied by Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Eric Edelman, the undersecretary of defense for policy. Barak was with the Israeli ambassador to Washington and a general, Morrell said.

The meeting came amid a continuing diplomatic impasse with Iran over its nuclear drive and just days after Tehran announced that its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz has now expanded to 6,000 centrifuges.

It also came after the United States on July 19 took the unprecedented step of sending a top diplomat to meet Iran's chief negotiator at talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the standoff.

Washington also indicated it was considering sending diplomatic personnel to Tehran to open a US interests section there.

Iran's Ahmadinejad backs 'just' nuclear talks

by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) July 29, 2008
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Tehran would continue talks with world powers aimed at resolving the crisis over its atomic drive provided these are "on equal footing."

"Tehran is interested in continuing nuclear talks but the talks should be just and on equal footing," Ahmadinejad was quoted by the Mehr news agency as telling visiting South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

"We welcome the US presence in the talks," Ahmadinejad told Dlamini-Zuma on the sidelines of a foreign ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran.

"These kinds of talks should continue until we reach an agreement. Understanding and talks are a two-way matter but if one side puts forward conditions then it becomes unfair and it is natural that no nation will accept this," he said.

"(They) should not put any illegal conditions on the talks since this will wreck the negotiation process. Iranians will not give up even an inch of their rights," he added.

In Geneva, Iran was set a two-week deadline which expires on Saturday to give a final answer to world powers who have offered a package of incentives to try to persuade Tehran to halt sensitive nuclear work.

But Iran has rejected any deadline, saying it was agreed in Geneva that it would during a two-week period examine the proposal put forward by permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Tuesday not to delay a decision on the international offer of incentives.

"The Iranians should know that this is not going to be a matter that they can stall," Rice said in Washington.

Asked what would happen if there was no satisfactory response from Iran, Rice said, "We have been very clear that we have two tracks -- if one track is not working, then we are going to have to go to the other."

The two-track approach is based on negotiations on the one hand and punitive sanctions on the other hand.

Earlier Tuesday, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili gave an upbeat assessment of the talks with world powers.

"The negotiations have been positive and progressive, and in Geneva the seven nations got a better understanding of one another's views," Jalili was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

He was referring to his talks on July 19 with representatives of major powers including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and, for the first time, an official from Tehran's arch-foe the United States, William Burns.

The six nations, concerned that Tehran is pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons project, have offered to start pre-negotiations during which time Tehran would face no further sanctions if it did not add any more uranium-enriching centrifuges.

The package, offered to Iran in June, includes trade incentives and help with a civilian nuclear programme in return for suspending enrichment.

Iran is under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process which makes nuclear fuel but can also create the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

Tehran denies the charges and maintains that it seeks nuclear programme for peaceful purposes aimed at producing electricity.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, whose country considers Iran its greatest threat, urged the United States during a visit to Washington to keep all options open in dealing with Iran's nuclear programme.

"A policy that consists of keeping all options on the table must be maintained," Barak told US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, his ministry said on Tuesday.

"Iran's plans pose a threat to regional and global stability. We insist that it is vital to continue tightening the economic and financial sanctions imposed on the Iranians."

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear armed state in the Middle East although it has a policy of neither confirming or denying it has a nuclear arsenal and does not allow international inspections.

Responding to Barak's plea, a Pentagon spokesman said Washington believes economic and political pressure are the best ways to dissuade Iran from seeking atomic weapons.

"I think the Israelis are keenly aware that we believe the best possible avenue of dissuading the Iranians from pursuing nuclear weapons is through economic and political pressures," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary

More foreign fighters join Taliban in Afghanistan

Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008 12:4PM UTC

By Jon Hemming

KABUL (Reuters) - More foreign fighters are joining the ranks of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan as militants increasingly cross the border from Pakistan to attack Afghan and Western troops, the Afghan Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

Afghanistan has kept up a barrage of criticism against neighbor Pakistan in the last three months, accusing Pakistani agents of being behind a string of high-profile attacks and allowing militants sanctuary along the long and porous border.

"The presence of foreign fighters is increasing, and increasingly the operations of the terrorists are led by foreigners," Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi told a news conference.

Afghan, NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces are struggling to contain a sharp surge in violence as the traditional summer fighting season gets into full swing.

Already more U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan in May and June than in Iraq, where there are some four times more American soldiers.

July, usually the peak month for fighting, could well be the worse month yet for violence since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. Security analysts predict the number of violent incidents could top 1,000 for the first time.

As well as more violence, Afghan and foreign troops are reporting a greater sophistication in Taliban tactics such as multiple roadside bombs and complex ambushes, factors indicating more training and possibly the presence of foreigners.

TALIBAN LEADERS TARGETED

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, said this month there were indications that al Qaeda was switching its focus from Iraq back to Afghanistan.

Violence has increased by 40 percent in the last two months compared to last year, NATO says, partly due to the improved weather, but also due to ceasefires between troops and militants in Pakistan's border tribal belt.

Afghanistan believes foreign funding for the Taliban is channeled through Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency, Azimi said.

Money for the insurgency comes through donors in Gulf countries and a tax on Afghanistan's booming drug trade, security analysts say.

Afghan security forces have launched a series of operations along the main highway that loops around the south of Afghanistan, killing around 100 militants in the last two weeks, Azimi said.

Meanwhile, Afghan and international troops have killed 20 senior militant leaders, including one from al Qaeda, in the last month and captured another seven, he said.

Western troops in Afghanistan have concentrated on targeting the Taliban leadership in an effort to degrade the insurgent fighting ability.

(Editing by David Fox)

U.S. confronts Pakistan on links to militants: report

Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008 11:49AM UTC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled to Islamabad and confronted senior officials with evidence of ties between Pakistan's spy agency and militants operating in that country's tribal areas, the New York Times reported in Wednesday editions.

The CIA envoy presented information linking members of Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with some militant groups responsible for a string of attacks including the suicide bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul this month which killed 58 people, the newspaper said.

The report, based on accounts by U.S. military and intelligence officials, described the decision to confront Pakistan over ISI's activities as the bluntest warning to Islamabad since shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

It was published a day after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani visited the White House and made a commitment to U.S. President George W. Bush to secure Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

The New York Times said the CIA assessment specifically raised links between ISI members and the militant network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, believed by the U.S. intelligence community to have close ties to senior al Qaeda figures in Pakistan's tribal areas.

The Haqqani network and other militants operating in the tribal areas along Pakistan's Afghan border are thought to be behind increasingly deadly attacks inside Afghanistan, the newspaper said.

Gilani told PBS television in Washington on Tuesday the ISI was a "great institution" and said reports some members of the agency were sympathetic to the militants are "not believable."

"We would not allow that ... because the ISI is directly working under the Prime Minister," he told the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer in an interview.

(Reporting by Paul Eckert, editing by Alan Elsner)