Olmert to meet with secretary Rice tomorrow

Israel's PM, Ehud Olmert, is scheduled to meet with American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, tomorrow in Jerusalem. Rice is scheduled to meet with Palestinian president Abu Mazen (Mahmud Abas) earlier that same day.
Olmert and Rice are to discuss the way in which the Israeli-Palestinians negotiation may be restarted. Olmert's speech of two days ago in which he expressed that Israel would be willing to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank in return for a full and lasting peace is hoped to become the catalyst of a return to the table between the two sides.
The meeting between Olmert and Rice was not planned in advance as Olmert met with Rice during his visit to the United States two weeks ago.
A meeting between Olmert and Abu Mazen has yet to be scheduled while the ceasefire which was declared in the beginning of the week has already been broken a few times by Palestinian militants

Tzipi Livni appointed as Israel's minister of justice

Local News:
Israel's PM, Ehud Olmert, has decided to appoint Tzipi Livni as Israel's new minister of justice. Former minister of justice, Haim Ramon, resigned from his office due to accusations of sexual misconduct. His trial has reached the summation stage and will be decided during the following weeks. Livni already serves as Israel's foreign minister and will hold both offices. Livni has a perfectly clean public service record and many view her as a potential candidate for the prime ministerhood of Israel. Livni, formerly of the Likud party, followed Ariel Sharon when he left the Likud to establish the Kadima party in late 2005.

Head of Egypt's intelligence service visits Israel

Gen. Omar Suliman, head of Egypt's intelligence service, met today with Israel's security minister, Amir Peretz. The talks dealt primarily with the situation in the Gaza strip and continuing efforts to secure the release of abducted israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Shalit was abducted by palestinian militants of the Hamas organization a few months ago. Haled Mashal, one of the leaders of Hamas, visited Egypt earlier this week. At the moment Hamas is demanding the release of many prisoners in exchange for Shalit, a price Israel is reluctant to pay. Suliman and Peretz also discussed the ongoing smuggling operations taking place between the Siani desert and the Gaza strip. Egyptian forces guarding the border have not been able to seal it and great quantites of weapons and explosives have been smuggled by palestinian militants since Israel's withdrawl from Gaza in the summer of 2005. Suliman is also scheduled to meet with Israel's PM, Ehud Olmert, and the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan. In Israel, many politicians have expressed outrage at Egypt's ineffective control of the border with Gaza and believe that Egypt can do a lot more.

Syrian backed assassination group uncovered

Early today a Lebanese newspaper reported that a 200 member assassination organization was uncovered this week in Lebanon. The organization (still nameless) was established by Syria and its reported goal was to carry out assassinations of 36 prominent Lebanese officials and persons of influence who oppose Syria's habit of meddling in Lebanese affairs. Syria has been an active force in Lebanon for decades and had to withdraw its forces out of Lebanon only last year as a result of pressure by the United States. But Syria's fingerprints can easily be read in great areas of internal affairs in Lebanon, such as its active support for Hezbollah and its relentless interference in Lebanese politics. Syria has also been blamed for the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, last year. This killing provoked great protests in Lebanon against Syria. The recent shooting of Lebanese minister, Pierre Gemayel, is likewise perceived as an action taken by Syria to silence another of its antagonists inside Lebanon. The son of Rafik Hariri, a politician himself, called the Syrian regime: an administration of murder. Many in Lebanon fear that Syria is trying to reassert its control over Lebanon and that the killing of Gemayel will not be the last political assassination in the near future.

29th of November - The Holy Land

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) will increase the level and intensity of training during 2007. This was stated by various military sources and is a direct (and expected) result of the war with Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, which waged during July and August. Many faults were discovered during the war, in which Israel lost over 130 soldiers and had many of its northern towns and cities bombed repeatedly with rockets launched out of Lebanon. Many of these faults were attributed to the decrease in combat training in the IDF over the last few years. Many of the reserve soldiers who took part in the war found themselves to be rusty if not altogether unfamiliar with part of the equipment and weaponery and with coordinated combat procedures. This the IDF aims to change in preparation for another conflict with Hezbollah or even Syria and Iran. The IDF has been promised a massive increase in the budget of 2007 in order to finance this increase as well as the necessary replenishment of its munitions. Several intelligence assessments predict a military conflict as early as 2007 in the northern border of Israel coupled with increased terrorist activities in the Gaza strip.