Israel Update for May 2010

Israeli military officials revealed during May that yet another powerful type of missile is being smuggled into Lebanon from Syria. Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, who heads the IDF's military intelligence research department, told a Knesset parliamentary committee that medium-range M-600 solid fuel rockets are now in Hizbullah's deadly arsenal. The rockets are pattered after an Iranian rocket known as the Fateh-110. It can deliver a half ton warhead to a distance of well over 200 miles, meaning most Israeli cities and military bases are well within striking distance of the Syrian rocket. More ominously, the rocket can also reach Israel nuclear reactor in Dimona, near the Negev Desert city of Beersheva.

Baidatz said Syria's transfer of even more powerful Scud D missile parts to the Iranian-funded Lebanese militia was only the "tip of the iceberg" of what amounts to a very dangerous ongoing smuggling operation over the western Syrian border with Lebanon. He confirmed media reports that the Syrians have been cleverly disassembling the large missiles and then secretly spiriting them into Lebanon in food trucks and other civilian vehicles. Once the missile parts are delivered to Hizbullah militiamen, they are reassembled by Syrian and Iranian experts.

A report published by the American Time magazine during May maintained that Hizbullah forces are itching for a new fight with Israel. The article said that "Recent conversations with Hizbullah fighters reveal an organization at the peak of its military powers, with an army of well-trained, disciplined and highly motivated combatants wielding advanced weaponry, cultivating new tactics and brimming with confidence."

In light of increasing talk of a possible large-scale military conflict in the Middle East in the coming months or years, military and medical exercises have been held in Israel every month this year. One of the latest drills featured a simulated nuclear attack on Tel Aviv. The IDF's Home Front command staged the exercise at the large Sheba Medical Center to test the hospital's readiness to treat victims suffering from various radiation injuries. Participating doctors and nurses used radiation monitors to help rid the volunteer "victims" of simulated radiation poisoning.

Home Front commanders said the exercise was very successful, helping both the military and the health system to prepare for a possible future nuclear attack. A week-long nationwide military exercise involving all branches of the IDF aided by local police forces, government officials and medical personnel is currently underway. Hizbullah officials said they were mobilizing their forces, claiming the drills might be a cover for an imminent IDF attack.

Meanwhile, notorious Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, told reporters on May 19 that, "If the Zionist regime attacks Iran, the Zionists will have no longer than a week to live." Israeli analysts said this might be a hint that Iran already has some sort of nuclear warheads aimed at Israel-probably relatively small ones controlled by Iranian Revolutionary Guard units operating in Lebanon. The ominous statement came just two days before a major American naval strike force set sail from Virginia to the Persian Gulf under orders from President Obama. Officials said at least four aircraft carriers will be in the area by late July. For the first time ever, a German frigate will join the force under direct US command.

Cutting Ties With Hamas

Egyptian newspaper reports said that the government headed by President Hosni Mubarak has decided to cut off all contact with the radical Palestinian Hamas movement. Egyptian diplomats had been negotiating with Hamas leaders in an attempt to breach the deep rift between the group and the Palestinian Authority, which was violently ousted from the Gaza Strip by Hamas fighters in June 2007. An unnamed senior Egyptian official quoted by the Egyptian newspaper Al-Mesryoon said the decision to sever all ties was in response to "the organized media campaign that Hamas officials are waging against Egyptian figures, by defaming them in Arab satellite television stations and in Arab media." Hamas officials complain that Egyptian soldiers have been preventing needed commercial goods from crossing into Gaza from the nearby Egyptian-ruled Sinai Peninsula. Egypt says its efforts are aimed at preventing more Iranian-supplied weapons from being smuggled into the Gaza Strip via illegal tunnels dug under the international border. Hamas leaders also alleged that some 30 Hamas detainees are being tortured in Egyptian jails.

Israeli diplomats warned Turkey and several European countries that a planned Mediterranean Sea aid convoy scheduled to sail to the Gaza Strip will not be allowed to pass Israeli naval vessels that regularly patrol coastal waters. Pro-Hamas activists from Turkey, Greece, Ireland and Sweden are planning to accompany the aid, packed on several large boats.

Naor Gilon, who heads the European desk at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said the planned mission was "provocative" in that it deliberately ignored longstanding government regulations for the transfer of foreign aid into the Gaza Strip. "Israel has no intention of allowing these sailboats to land in Gaza," he told journalists. Gilon added that several European diplomats had expressed sympathy for his position, saying they would try to prevent their country's citizens from participating in the planned trip. Israeli officials did allow over 30 tons of construction materials to enter the coastal zone during May, designed to help rebuild a hospital that was heavily damaged in the Cast Lead military operation in January 2009. Hamas fighters had used the hospital's grounds as a launching pad for Kassam rockets during the conflict.

Israeli officials rebuked the Kremlin for "coddling" Hamas leaders, saying that Russia should know better than to lend its prestige to a known terrorist group. The officials pointed out that Russian civilians have been repeatedly attacked by Muslim terrorists, mostly from Chechnya, just as Israeli citizens have been the victims of many Hamas assaults. Russian officials have been calling for Hamas to be formally included in peace talks with Israel despite the fact that the radical Iranian-backed group has expressed total opposition to the peace process and continues to formally call for Israel's complete destruction.

Turkish officials announced that they will allow Russia to construct four expensive nuclear power plants in their country. Costing over 20 billion US dollars, the four power plants will be built along Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast. Russia will own and run the plants, selling electricity to the Turkish government to pass on to its citizens. Russia has also announced its desire to build similar facilities in Syria and Iran. During his visit to Damascus, Russian President Medvedev said his government is hoping to construct a nuclear power plant in Syria, a proposal that Israel is expected to vigorously oppose.

An unnamed Israeli diplomat was quoted in the local media stating that the Russian nuclear deal with Turkey "is obviously not something that people here are overjoyed about." However he added that Russian reactors in Turkey are not "nearly as worrisome" as Iran's rogue nuclear programme, which has also received Kremlin assistance over the past few years.

Indirect Peace Talks Begin With The PA