(NEWS) Iran Wouldn’t Push The Button Says Israeli Military Analyst

"A multi-pronged approach, which includes military threats, is needed to stop Iran’s nuclear program, according to Dr. Emily Landau

As the U.N. pushes forward with sanctions on Iran, it still remains unlikely Teheran will use nuclear weapons if acquired, says one Israeli military analyst.



Emily Landau, at the Institute for National Security Studies, a prominent Israeli think tank, said she is skeptical that Teheran would actually push the button.

'The nuclear issue works on peoples minds. You get the effect through deterrence and through having the other side think that they can never be sure whether you will press the button or not. That’s the situation that you create when you have nuclear weapons,' Landau told the Media Line.

Landau added that urgent action is needed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

'All the debates that are going on about how much time is left before Iran gets there are, I think, beside the point. The right question is, is Iran motivated to get there, are they on the way to getting there, are they determined? And if the answer to all those questions is yes, and all the indications are that they are moving to a military capability, then the time to get serious is yesterday.'

Landau also criticized the Obama administration efforts to stop Iranian nuclear progress.

'Negotiations with Iran can’t be thought of as engagement and confidence-building. Those are not relevant to bargaining over the nuclear issue. In any case, Iran tends to view these offers as a kind of weakness.'



Unilateral steps would be more effective in dealing with Iran, she said, and the U.S. should assume the primary leadership role.

'In bargaining situations, multilateral frameworks can be the kiss of death, because if you have on one side a single, determined entity such as Iran, and on the other side you have six parties that are not in agreement over almost anything related to the Iranian situation, you give the one entity a structural advantage in the negotiations.'

Landau points out that Teheran has not been a serious negotiating partner in the past.

'In the past, Iran has not negotiated in good faith to say the least. They use negotiations in order to show that they are going through the motions of diplomacy, but there has been no evidence that they are actually serious about reaching a settlement, and they use the time to push their program forward,' Landau told The Media Line.

'Threats of military force have a role to play in the negotiations process,' said Landau.

What is needed is 'tough bargaining and pressure,' she explained. For sanctions to work, Landau said, they must be coupled with diplomacy and credible threats of military action. Iran needs to believe that U.S. military action is plausible.

'There has been a tendency to view diplomacy, sanctions and military force as three alternative routes to stopping Iran. I would suggest to you that this is a flawed logic, and these strategies need to be seen as complimentary, not as alternative routes.'" (source)

(NEWS) Kuwait Goes Nuclear

"Gulf state is the fourth Arab country to announce a nuclear program.

Kuwait will build four nuclear reactors over the next 12 years, a national nuclear energy official has said.



Ahmad Bishara, secretary general of Kuwait’s National Nuclear Energy Committee (KNNEC), said that Kuwait is planning to build four 1,000 megawatt reactors by 2022. Speaking to press in Tokyo, Bishara said construction will begin as early as January.

The move would make Kuwait, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, the fourth Arab state to announce plans to build nuclear reactors for energy, after Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

'This is typical of the region,' Dr. Theodore Karasik, director of security and defense studies at the Gulf Research Center told Media Line. 'Kuwait is following suit behind Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.'

'They need to do something,' Karasik said, pointing out that Kuwait faces an energy growth rate of some seven percent a year. 'They will have to figure it out as they go along.'

Bishara, secretary general of Kuwait’s nuclear committee, said the country would be able to afford nuclear development so long as the price of oil remains relatively stable.

'Our initial analysis indicates that nuclear is viable as long as oil is above $45 to $50 a barrel,' he said in Tokyo on Friday, adding that it was not yet clear how nuclear energy 'fits in the energy mix of Kuwait for the next 20 years.'



Tomoko Murakami, a nuclear analyst at the Institute of Energy Economics, told journalists in Tokyo that Kuwait faces a greater energy crises than its Arab neighbors.

'Kuwait’s need to develop its power infrastructure is greater than other Arab countries' Murakami said. 'Summer power shortages are severe.'

The Kuwaiti government has been taking a number of steps over the past few months to boost there alternative energy capacity. In April, Kuwait signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with France. This week, Bishara signed an additional cooperation agreement with Japan to enlarge Kuwait’s long term nuclear capacity.

The agreement will bring with it lucrative contracts for Japanese firms. Kuwait is the second Arab country over the past year to sign a nuclear deal with an Asian state, following a deal signed between the United Arab Emirates and South Korea last December.

Arab countries have taken a number of initiatives in recent years to expand their alternative energy sources. Saudi Arabia made plans in July with two firms in the United States and one from Japan to begin construction on what will be the nation’s first nuclear power plant. Following suit, in August Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced the site of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant along the Mediterranean coast.

Oil exporting nations have a vested interest in finding alternative sources of energy so as to maximize their oil exports. By investing in alternative energy now, Arab states hope to see gains in oil exports in the future." (source)

(NEWS) IMF: Israel Keeps Palestinian Economy Booming

"Local IMF chief says Israel's easing of controls has contributed to a continued economic boom in 2010.

Israel’s decision to relax controls on movement in the Palestinian Territories has allowed the Palestinian economy to continue to boom in 2010, with growth rates of 14 percent in the Gaza Strip and 11 percent in the West Bank, the International Monetary Fund has said.



Dr. Oussama Kanaan, the IMF’s chief of mission and resident representative for the West Bank and Gaza, said the easing of Israeli controls on the movement of Palestinian goods and people, coupled with internal reforms in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and an improvement in the security situation on the ground, have allowed for the Palestinian economy to grow at unprecedented rates.

'Real GDP [Gross Domestic Product] growth in the first quarter of 2010 [compared to the first quarter of 2009] is estimated at 11 percent for the West Bank and 14 percent for Gaza,' he told The Media Line.

'In the West Bank, private sector confidence continued to be bolstered by good management and reforms by the Palestinian Authority supported by donor aid, improvements in security conditions, and more relaxed controls on internal movement of goods and people than in early 2009.'

Dr. Kanaan said the loosening of Israeli restrictions on imports into the Gaza Strip has boosted the coastal territory’s economic recovery.

'The recovery in Gaza was driven by less stringent controls on imports of consumer goods,' he said. 'Since July 2010, the government of Israel has adopted a more liberal trade policy toward Gaza that lifts restrictions on imports of consumer goods and inputs for internationally-supervised public investment and reconstruction projects, and expands the import capacity of border crossings.'

'In the West Bank, the government of Israel has continued in the first half of 2010 to remove roadblocks and other barriers to movement within the West Bank, which further reduced transportation costs and facilitated internal merchandise trade,' Dr. Kanaan said.

Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev said Israel has taken the initiative to try to improve the economic situation in the Palestinian Territories.

'The government of Israel has consciously taken a decision to take a series of steps designed to help grow the Palestinian economy,' he told The Media Line. 'This is being done because in our view a more healthy economic situation in the West Bank is conducive to a better atmosphere in the peace process. There is no substitute for a political agreement, but a better economic situation can be conducive to achieving such an agreement.'

But the local IMF chief warned that the economic boom in the Palestinian Territories would be short lived if Israel does not continue to lift the various restrictions that suppress Palestinian trade.

'The sustainability of the strong growth performance for the remainder of 2010 and beyond is uncertain due to persisting restrictions on movement and access that have distorted the pattern of growth,' Dr. Kanaan said.



'Given the uncertainties on the prospect for a further easing of restrictions in the remainder of the year, real GDP growth for the West Bank and Gaza in 2010 is conservatively projected at 7 percent.'

Dr. Kanaan also warned that the most serious problem facing the Palestinian economy is the lack of manufacturing.

'The growth pattern continues to be heavily skewed toward services, while activity in sectors that depend on investment inputs and export markets, notably manufacturing, continues to be subdued,' he said. 'Especially worrisome is the continued decline in the share of manufacturing in total output from 20 percent in 1994 to 11 percent by end-March 2010.'

The local IMF chief said that Israel would need to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip further for the coastal territory’s economic recovery to continue.

'Given Gaza’s limited domestic market, especially in view of its separation from the West Bank, the high economic growth hitherto recorded is unlikely to be sustained for long without a further relaxation of the blockade to enable a recovery of private investment and exports to Israel,' he said. 'The [Israeli] policy maintains the restrictions on imports of capital goods and raw materials destined to the private sector, as well as the ban on exports and on the movement of Gazans across external borders.'

Hanan Taha Rayyan, a Gaza-based member of the Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade), argued the IMF was too quick to credit Israel.

'I think it’s too early to judge the effects of this relaxation in the Gaza Strip,' she told The Media Line. 'The underground tunnels are still working, there are still no exports allowed out of the Gaza Strip and the amount of raw materials allowed into the Gaza Strip is very limited, so it’s very hard to give any credit to the Israeli government on this issue. This is not a government that is trying to help the private sector in the Gaza Strip.'

Sari Bashi, director of Gisha, the Israeli Legal Center for the Freedom of Movement, argued that Gaza would see no long-term economic recovery until Israel allows exports out of the territory.

'Forty percent of Gazans are unemployed, 80 percent are dependent on International aid, two thirds live in poverty,' she told The Media Line. 'Easing restrictions on the imports of goods into Gaza and somewhat expanding the capacity of the crossings into Gaza has been helpful, but there has not been and will not be any significant recovery without allowing exports.'

Last week a United Nations report found that Israeli policies of closure and blockade of the Palestinian Territories is costing the Palestinian economy some $800 million a year and leading to a deepening of poverty.

The report found that despite the economic growth over the last year, poverty rates continued to worsen in the Palestinian Territories, with the per capita GDP still 30 percent below what it was 10 years ago and at least 30 percent of the Palestinian workforce still jobless. Some 80,000 jobs are lost each year due to Israeli closure and blockade policies, the report found." (source)

(NEWS) Family Feuds And Tunnel Fatalities Bring Death To Gaza

"New report by human rights group calls on the Hamas government to crack down on illegal weapons.

Human rights organizations in Gaza are calling on the Hamas government to crack down on illegal weapons held by civilians, following the high number of deaths caused by family feuds.

Salama Al-Nabahin, 30, a resident of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza was brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir Al-Balah on Monday and soon after pronounced dead. Shot three times, Nabahin was the victim of an ongoing family feud, in which his brother was killed by a cousin in 2006.



Al-Dameer, a Gaza-based human rights organization, reported Nabahin to be the eighth fatality as a result of family feuds in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of 2010. A statement issued by the organization blamed Hamas for the escalating internal violence.

'Al-Dameer is surprised by the inability of governmental authorities in Gaza to deal firmly with small arms when used in family disputes or crimes,' the statement read.

'The continuation of security chaos and attacks against the rule of law continue to impede the implication of the rule of law in the Gaza Strip.'

Attorney Samer Mousa, the legal advisor of Al-Dameer, said that his organization recorded a total of 82 deaths from unnatural causes in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year.

'Security anarchy still exists, mostly due to the existence of illegal weapons in the hands of unauthorized people,' Mousa told The Media Line. 'We have appealed to the government to solve the problem, but haven’t yet noticed any tangible change.'

Ahmad Youssef, a political advisor for Hamas Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyya, claimed the accusations by Al-Dameer were Fatah-led anti-Hamas propaganda.

'There is no security chaos in Gaza,' Youssef told The Media Line. 'Just because two families fought this does not mean chaos. Everybody here abides by the law, and the people responsible for the recent violence were brought to court.'

'Is this really a phenomenon or just a single event?' Youssef rhetorically asked, 'How many cases of violence occur in the West Bank?'



An attorney in the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights speaking to The Media Line on condition of anonymity said that over the past six months his center has noticed an increase in the use of firearms in family feuds in Gaza.

'Before, people would use sticks. Now they have switched to firearms and knives,' he said.

'Throughout Ramadan there has also been an increase in feuds,' the attorney added. 'Over the last few days hospitals in the city have reported a feud injury almost every hour. During the fast people are agitated and more prone to lose their temper.'

An upcoming report by Al-Dameer will cite death inside smuggling tunnels leading into Gaza as the primary cause of unnatural death, with 29 cases recorded in 2010.
These deaths are usually caused by tunnel collapse or electrocution following power malfunctions.

Mousa of Al-Dameer said his organization has tried to convince the Hamas government to pressure merchants who profit from illicit tunnel trade to stop.

'We know how difficult it is under the current circumstances to completely stop trade via the tunnels,' Mousa said, 'but we try to convince them to at least provide proper work conditions and increase safety in the tunnels.'

Mousa added that the increased flow of products into the Gaza Strip since Israel’s decision in early June to relax its ban on incoming products has reduced the number of Palestinians working in the tunnels.

In 2009, according to data collected by Al-Dameer, 19 Palestinians were killed in Gaza as a result of family feuds whereas 64 were killed in tunnels, comprising 33 percent of the total 198 unnatural deaths in the Gaza Strip in 2009, excluding the Gaza War." (source)

(BLOG) Iranian Trade With The West Soars Despite Sanctions

"New data shows that trade between Iran and Western powers is rising despite the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

Trade between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council has soared despite a newly imposed round of international economic sanctions on Iran, the semi-official Iranian news broadcaster Press TV has claimed.

A Press TV report claimed that while Iranian imports from the U.S. and the U.K. have suffered under the new sanctions regime, exports to both countries rose by 76 percent and 61 percent, respectively, over the last four months. Trade with China, by many account’s Iran’s most important trading partner, saw a 50 percent rise in exports and a 40 percent rise in imports, the news agency found."

(BLOG) Arabs Distance Themselves From Ground Zero Mosque

"Arabs debate the 'ground zero' mosque, and skepticism is the name of the game.

The recent statement by US President Barack Obama supporting the right of Muslims to establish a mosque and cultural center in lower Manhattan has stirred much debate in the United States.

But what do Arab Muslims think about the so-called 'ground-zero mosque'?"

(TECH) Israeli Technology Clears Landmines In Angola

"Digital photography helps detects land mines in Angola.

Airborne sensors developed in Israel are helping to detect land mines in Angola, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

While the civil war in the east African nation ended in 1994, the loss of life and limbs continue till this day because of the estimated millions of land mines left behind. Detecting them has been cumbersome and labor intensive. But now, an Israeli company has introduced a special camera that picks them out without having to touch the ground.

'What I do is perform a chemical analysis of a spectrum,' said Avi Buzaglo Yoresh, director general of Geomine, the Israeli company which developed the system."

(BLOG) 'Israel' Not Welcome In Egypt

"An Egyptian political candidate is opting to omit “Israel” from her name, due to the negative connotation the Jewish state bears in the minds of Egyptians.

Dr. Su’ad Israel Saad, who is running for office in the governorate of Luxor, removed election posters bearing her middle name, replacing them with others bearing only Su’ad Saad.

She told the Egyptian daily Al-Yom A-Sabi’ she had decided to do this following conversations with many friends where they advised her that Egyptians found the word Israel shocking.

'Despite the fact that the name Israel appears in the Quran as the name of the prophet Jacob, some simple citizens tie the word Israel to the State of Israel which incites animosity in them,' Saad told the newspaper."

(TECH) Israeli Scientists Increase Computer Memory Capabilities

"Hebrew University researchers claim they’ve found a way to make digital memory chips even smaller.

Israeli scientists believe they have discovered a way to reduce the material size of a computer’s memory, while increasing its capacity using protein from the poplar tree.

Over the last decade memory chips used in everyday technology have become smaller and smaller, while the necessary capacity has been increasing. In the past, industry experts warned that physically there is a limit to how tiny a memory chip could be using current standard manufacturing methods."

(NEWS) Israel Puts “Pedal To Metal” Over Lost Property Of Middle Eastern Jews

"The Israeli government has set up a special department to manage the legal claims of Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern descent who lost their property when they left countries throughout the region.

Set up by Israel’s Ministry of Pensioners Affairs, the new department will help identify, locate and seek compensation for the assets of the more than one million Jews who came to Israel from Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria.

The initiative follows a bill passed earlier this year by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, requiring the compensation of Jews from Arab countries and Iran to be included in any future peace negotiations. The move is seen as an attempt to offset claims resulting from the 1948 expulsion and flight of some 800,000 Palestinians from what became the modern state of Israel in 1948."