| Europe |
| Top German MP upset over Israeli claims on Hizbullah |
| 2006-11-11 |
| A leading German legislator voiced anger over baseless Israeli allegations that Lebanon's Islamic Hizbullah resistance is continuing to smuggle arms from Syria into Lebanon, the weekly Der Spiegel news magazine said yesterday. The report referred to last week's meeting between Israeli Justice Minister Meir Shitrit and the head of the German parliamentary faction of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party, Volker Kauder in which Shitrit alleged that he had proof about secret arms shipments for Hizbullah. When asked by Kauder as to why Shitrit would not showcase the proof and evidence, the minister claimed he could not do that because of "political reasons." Kauder replied by saying, "I am not convinced." As a consequence of the latest groundless Israeli allegations, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has urged his minister during the weekly cabinet sessions, not to speak any longer of evidence or proof in the case of Hizbullah. "There are only hints about suspicious trucks and flights from Iran. We have no proof," Olmert corrected his ministers. |
| Link |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| New US Supply Line Through Jordan |
| 2005-09-14 |
| DEBKA, yes, but just a pinch o'salt, I think. DEBKAfileâs Exclusive sources in Eilat report that a new US fuel supply line to Iraq began operating through Jordan last month. Every few days, a US supertanker puts in at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba and transfers the oil to escorted overland convoys cutting through the Hashemite Kingdom to US forces in different parts of Iraq. Jordan provides the port installations (built with financing from the defunct Saddam Hussein regime); Israel, the port tugboats and a naval-aerial protective umbrella. Our Eilat sources report that the Israeli tugboats are fitted with state of the art navigational electronic gear for guiding the supertankers into harbor for unloading and then out to sea. They access Jordanian port waters for this operation. However the Israeli naval-air force umbrella provides environmental protection without entering Jordanian air space or waters. Our sources report that Israeli transport minister Meir Shitrit paid an unpublicized visit to Eilat last week to inspect the protective shield for the new US oil route. According to DEBKAfileâs counter-terror sources, the July 23 al Qaeda Katyusha attack on Aqaba and Eilat was planned to disrupt this route by blowing up the first US supertanker due to enter Aqaba port the night before. The two US warships which the rockets missed were there to escort the tanker. *NaCl* LHD and LSD as escort? I dunno. Port security, maybe, or setting up security along the land route. This attack held up the start of the new route until the new protective measures were put in place in September. Except the one (possible) error I noted, I think the article is correct. The Katyusha attack now fits. And it's a Big Deal, for two reasons. 1.CENTCOM is confident enough of its control over al Anbar province to set up an Main Supply Route that runs through it. 2.CENTCOM now has an alternate MSR. There's been an uptick in bomb/mortars/what have you around Basra. I think Tehran's getting frisky again. It would be much harder for Iran to interdict an West to East supply line than a South to North. There's also Hormuz to consider. The important thing about this isn't the volume moving through Aqaba, not immediately. The important thing is the fact that King Abdullah is willing to allow coalition supplies to move through Jordan. |
| Link |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Israel shields US oil tanker supply route through Jordan |
| 2005-09-13 |
| DEBKAfileâs Exclusive sources in Eilat report that a new US fuel supply line to Iraq began operating through Jordan last month. Every few days, a US supertanker puts in at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba and transfers the oil to escorted overland convoys cutting through the Hashemite Kingdom to US forces in different parts of Iraq. Jordan provides the port installations (built with financing from the defunct Saddam Hussein regime); Israel, the port tugboats and a naval-aerial protective umbrella. Our Eilat sources report that the Israeli tugboats are fitted with state of the art navigational electronic gear for guiding the supertankers into harbor for unloading and then out to sea. They access Jordanian port waters for this operation. However the Israeli naval-air force umbrella provides environmental protection without entering Jordanian air space or waters. Our sources report that Israeli transport minister Meir Shitrit paid an unpublicized visit to Eilat last week to inspect the protective shield for the new US oil route. According to DEBKAfileâs counter-terror sources, the July 23 al Qaeda Katyusha attack on Aqaba and Eilat was planned to disrupt this route by blowing up the first US supertanker due to enter Aqaba port the night before. The two US warships which the rockets missed were there to escort the tanker. This attack held up the start of the new route until the new protective measures were put in place in September. |
| Link |
| Israel-Palestine | |||
| Palestinian Envoy Dismisses Israel Pullout | |||
| 2005-05-20 | |||
A Palestinian official Thursday dismissed Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza as a "recipe for continuing Palestinian suffering" as long as Israel continues to build settlements on the West Bank and there are no negotiations for an overall peace accord.
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| Link |