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Search ArticlesFound 1232 articles Middle East Efforts by Rice, Carter Spark More ViolenceMay 3, 2008, 9:48 PM (GMT+02:00) 
While Syrian president Bashar Assad talked about an exchange of messages with Israel through a third party – Turkey and Norway – Sunday, April 21, elsewhere in Damascus, Syrian and Iranian intelligence officers were meeting secretly with Hamas leaders and promising them every support for stepped up rejectionist violence.
In particular, they backed Hamas up in its ultimatum to Egypt (and indirectly Israel) to open the border crossings and end the blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza as the sine qua non for a lull in attacks on Israel and terms for Gilead Shalit’s release. The impasse reached in Hamas-Egyptian truce talks, the failure of former US president Jimmy Carter’s mediation bids with Hamas and Syrian leaders, together with the presence in the region of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, all contribute to the scaling up of violence.
Tehran and Damascus believe that warfare - not only on the Gaza-Israel border, but also in Iraq and Lebanon – will work best for their interests at two important Middle East encounters this week at which Secretary Rice will be present. Who Put “Deep Throat” up as Olmert’s Nemesis?May 3, 2008, 9:47 PM (GMT+02:00) 
What brought the unnamed accuser from America to the door of the Israeli police at this time? According to an Israeli paper, he laid before police investigators strong evidence of a new and grave corruption charge against prime minister Ehud Olmert, the fifth case opened against him thus far – all predating his two-year term as prime minister.
The attorney general Menahem Mazuz found the material substantial enough to order the police to question the prime minister under caution within 48 hours, raising one of the many questions on which a court gag order has condemned the public to ignorance. Israeli politicians are in a dither but treading on eggs until they too find out what it is all about, why now and whether Olmert can weather the new scandal. The Olmert government was stripped down to a fragile majority of 64. In the view of DEBKAfile’s political sources, Olmert’s anonymous accuser was put up to opening his can of worms by a party seeking to cloud Israel’s forthcoming 60th anniversary celebrations to which a glittering gallery of invited foreign guests, led by US president George W. Bush, is invited.
That party, whether domestic or foreign, wants to get rid of Ehud Olmert. Washington Opens Diplomatic Door to TehranMay 3, 2008, 9:43 PM (GMT+02:00) 
Former Ambassador Thomas Picker swings back on the diplomatic trail
Certain prominent Americans have undertaken secret colloquy with Tehran and may be preparing to go public and make it official, with the administration’s blessing. DEBKAfile’s Washington sources name them as Thomas R. Pickering, former ambassador to Moscow, the UN and Israel, William Luers, former envoy to Venezuela and the Czech Republic, and Jim Walsh, a New York Republican Congressman. They have been quietly encouraged by Rice, defense secretary Robert Gates and influential quarters in the US military and intelligence elite, who are anxious to avert a US-Iranian military clash in the eight months remaining to the Bush presidency and cut the ground from under a possible US or Israel attack on Iran.
But none of this activity has set to rest the Washington cliffhanger over whether the president will opt for military action against Iran after all, before he leaves the White House, or stick to quiet diplomacy and relegate the Iran nuclear headache to his successor.
Abbas Goes on the Warpath, Tries to Steal the Show from HamasApril 28, 2008, 7:00 PM (GMT+02:00) 
1948 Palestinian refugees arrive in Jordan
DEBKAfile publishes here for the first time details of the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ master plan for wrecking Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. The project is called the “2008 Return”
Its highlights are disclosed here with DEBKAfile’s comments. The Palestinian leader has circulated guidelines for three million Palestinians to leave their homes on the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon on May 14 and march on Israel’s borders, including the Green Line. The march is to take place a week after Israel’s Independence Day on May 8, 2008. If Israel obstructs their passage, they will strike camp and live in tents until Israel surrenders and lets them through. DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources report that Mahmoud Abbas intends to submit his ambitious master plan to the summit of Arab rulers meeting in Damascus March 29.
There is no knowing how much support he will win from Arab governments or whether the different Palestinian communities will rise to his call. The whole plan may simply fold for lack of response – or not. Abbas’ main objectives appear to be to upstage the warlike Hamas and throw a wet blanket over Israel’s anniversary celebrations.
US Military Option on Iran Is Back on the TableApril 28, 2008, 7:00 PM (GMT+02:00) 
Cheney with US troops at Balad air base, Iraq
“Iran has got to be very high on that list,” said a senior aide ahead of the talks US Vice President Dick Cheney will hold during his 10-day tour of the Middle East and Turkey, which began Monday, March 17 in Iraq. Singling out Oman, the aide noted that the US and Oman are co-guardians of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. “The Omanis, like a lot of other people,” he said “are concerned by the escalating tensions between the rest of the world community and Iran and by some of Iran’s activities, particularly in the nuclear field, but outside its borders as well.”
According to DEBKAfile, the official was referring to Tehran’s meddling in Iraq, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Our military, Washington and Gulf sources report that US Vice President Dick Cheney is again talking about possible US military action to shut down Iran’s covert nuclear program. Kabul Shambles Makes Sorry Spectacle for US, NATOApril 28, 2008, 9:51 AM (GMT+02:00) 
Some serious stock-taking in the Afghan capital and US-led NATO command has followed the Taliban’s success in breaking up the Afghan army parade in Kabul Sunday, April 27. Scheduled for the 16th anniversary of the Soviet Army’s defeat and expulsion from Afghanistan, it was staged to showcase the progress made by Hamid Karzai’s regime and its US-led NATO allies in the war against the country’s ousted Taliban rulers and their al Qaeda partners. The bodyguards moved so swiftly to whisk their charges off the platform, that officers leading the marching soldiers found themselves saluting rows empty chairs abandoned by the president, the ambassadors and Afghan and Western commanders.
Not a single military or political figure stayed on the platform to take command of the chaos, curb the stampede and organize an effective counter-attack to let parade go on. Lack of Intelligence Enables First Armored Terror Attack on Regular ArmyApril 28, 2008, 9:25 AM (GMT+02:00) 
Hamas APC blown up by IDF
Once again, after two previous successes, Hamas proved Saturday, April 19 it was capable of ramming through Israel’s border defenses against the Gaza Strip. This time, Israeli troops acted expeditiously and boldly enough to prevent a major Palestinian breakthrough at the Kerem Shalom crossing and fatal casualties. Thirteen members of the Southern Command’s Bedouin Desert Patrol Battalion were injured, none of them seriously.
These troops performed their mission of foiling a Hamas killing-cum-kidnap rampage, although they were not armed with advance warning or the anti-tank weapons for dealing with the Palestinian group’s two armored personnel carriers and two explosives-packed jeeps.
The attack testified graphically that Hamas’ movements and plans in the Gaza Strip are a closed book for the Israeli army’s operational intelligence. Ahmadinejad in Baghdad’s Green ZoneApril 28, 2008, 9:18 AM (GMT+02:00) 
During his 2-day visit to Baghdad, March 2-3, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Iraqi hosts did a good job of ignoring the ubiquitous US military presence in Iraq - except for the Iranian president’s ritual anti-American blast. His welcome by Iraqi president, the Kurdish Jalal Talabani, and Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was played up as a bilateral event. Contact between the visitors’ retinue and the US military was nil. Yet in Tehran, DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report, the president’s excursion into US-occupied territory was counted as a step forward in its seven-month old secret Saudi-mediated dialogue with Washington. This dialogue has advanced in give-and-take steps on a broad set of issues. The quid pro quo runs like this: Tehran is bidding for an understanding with Washington on its nuclear program, while the US is after Iran’s help to preserve the status quo in Iraq.
The quid pro quo runs like this: Tehran is bidding for an understanding with Washington on its nuclear program, while the US is after Iran’s help to preserve the status quo in Iraq.
Merkel Recognizes Israel’s Capital – But Opposes Military Steps against IranApril 22, 2008, 3:18 PM (GMT+02:00) 
German-made Dolphin submarine
Some unusual aspects stand out in the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s four-day official visit to Israel starting Sunday, March 16. One is her arrival with seven of her top ministers, including foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and defense minister Franz Josef Jung. Both will hold bilateral talks with their Israeli counterparts.
Angela Merkel’s perspective on Israel can be summed up in a word: A genuine commitment to a secure Israel, a willingness to assist in its armament for possible war with Iran and a wish to develop bilateral strategic relations. But she has no intention of giving up Berlin’s strategic ties with Tehran.
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