Monday, November 19, 2007

11/19/07

* PM: We'll freeze settlements, remove outposts Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet on Monday that Israel will not establish any new settlements in the West Bank and will begin to dismantle existing illegal outposts.

* Turkish Soldiers Continue to Deploy at Iraqi Border Turkey is still massing tens of thousands soldiers on the Iraqi border, a response to a series of attacks by Kurdish militants that have claimed the lives of more than 50 soldiers and civilians.

* Army on high alert ahead of Annapolis The IDF is in a heightened state of alert ahead of the Annapolis summit next week, out of fear that Hamas and Islamic Jihad will try to perpetrate a large-scale terror attack to derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

* 'Egypt allowing Hamas to amass arms' Thirty years after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Israel, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter accused Egypt on Sunday of knowingly permitting smuggling that strengthens Hamas.

* Hamas on the Way to Building an Army The Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza is two to three years away from becoming a real army and reaching the same capabilities of Hizbullah today.

* Iran leader dismisses US currency Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested an end to the trading of oil in US dollars, calling the currency "a worthless piece of paper".

* Survey: Americans see Israel as ally A large percentage of Americans continue to support the State of Israel, especially in relation to the Palestinians and the "war on terror".

* Court Upholds Musharraf Election The newly formed Supreme Court of Pakistan, which was appointed after emergency rule was imposed two weeks ago, today dismissed the main outstanding challenges to Gen. Pervez Musharraf's election for another presidential term.

* Analysis: Iran's secret Syrian plan Israel has been providing intelligence and satellite images to the U.S. about a secret Syrian nuclear program for several months.

* OPEC 'upset at dollar,' Ahmadinejad says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday OPEC heads of state were annoyed about the decline in the dollar and asked their finance and oil ministers to study the issue of pricing oil.