I wondered how secure the President’s security detail felt with the Palestinain police and who knows how many other “security” organizations in charge of making Ramallah safe. (Shira bat Sarah wondered too.)

Well apparently, the Secret Service felt that the Palestinians needed some help.

US snipers will take up positions on rooftops and local traffic will be barred from some downtown districts as part of unprecedented security precautions during US President George W. Bush’s visit this week, Palestinian security officials said Tuesday. 

Bush is expected to travel to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Ramallah headquarters, known in Arabic as the muqaata, by helicopter on Thursday.

Apparently not even a number of show arrests alleviated American anxiety over the state of Palestinian security.

Nine top Fatah gunmen from Nablus on Tuesday surrendered their weapons to the Palestinian Authority security forces out of fear of being targeted by Israel.

And it is the PA security forces that Israel will once again be asked to trust its own security to, even though they can’t even secure a single building in advance of the President’s visit.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

At the end of 1998, then-President Clinton visited Gaza to oversee the fictional revocation of the clauses in the Palestinian Charter that call for the destruction of Israel. It’s not surprising that on the eve of President Bush’s to the Middle East some people recall his predecessor’s trip a little more than nine years ago.

Clinton, who felt (and probably still feels) everyone’s pain and he didn’t miss an opportunity when he visited the Middle East to commiserate. The International Herald Tribune recounts:

Nihad Zakout was 11 when she met Clinton in 1998. She was one of four Palestinian youngsters with fathers in Israeli jails who had been selected to deliver a plea to the U.S. leader to seek the release of Palestinian prisoners, one of the most emotionally charged issues in the conflict. 

Today, Zakout is a cynical 20-year-old, deeply disappointed in the U.S. as her father remains locked up… She says she has few expectations of Bush.

“There is nothing he can do,” she said.

A day after meeting Zakout and the other Palestinians, Clinton also met with young Israelis whose fathers had been killed by Palestinians.

Clinton said at the time that both groups of children brought tears to his eyes, and that “we have to find a way for both sets of children to get their lives back and to go forward.”

I edited something out of the quoted article. The full sentence should read “Today, Zakout is a cynical 20-year-old, deeply disappointed in the U.S. as her father remains locked up for killing an Israeli.”

It’s bad enough that the reporters consider the jailing of convicted murderers as an “emotionally charged issue.” How is it for the other side? If Zakout’s father was released, how would the relatives of his victim feel? That’s not explored.

But the then-president of the United States equated a child of a murderer with the children of murder victims! “Get their lives back?” Again, what about the victim of Zakout’s father? Would he ever get his life back?

At the Spine Martin Peretz (or, if Bloglines is correct, James Kirchik) writes

And the fact is that most Israelis knew Bill Clinton as a lover — but as an unfaithful lover. They go back in memory to the fall of 2000 when Clinton steamrolled Ehud Barak into concessions that were unwise and perilous but nonetheless did not entice Arafat into a deal but into starting the Second Intifada. Since I’ve been here I’ve spoken with three top security veterans who actually were terrified that, if Hillary were president, she’d send her husband as a mediator in the Israel-Palestinian conflict where, at best, he’d do well-intentioned damage.

When, in the name of peace, you conflate the murderers with their victims, there is no surer way to inflict well intentioned damage.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad.

Israel’s economic classification is due to change this year and is expected to be included as a developed market rather than an emerging market.

Times Online writes:

“British investors have tended to ignore Israel, but its stock market will be thrust into the limelight this year when it is promoted from emerging to developed market status.” This is referring to the fact that Israel is up for OECD membership, and if accepted — and it looks like it will happen — Israel will join the prestigious organization and be considered a “developed country.”

BloggingStocks notes:

Some pundits have argued that admission into the OECD will actually hurt Israeli stocks as Israel is about 2% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, and its share in the global investment pie would fall to 0.2% if Israel is admitted to the developed markets index. What they neglect to mention is that there is a heck of a lot more money under management in developed markets than in emerging markets. So Israel’s weighting may drop, but the amount of money available to invest will be substantially more.

Despite the conflict Israel’s economy continues to boom.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Al-Qaeda finances seem to be in disarray, according to this:

Al-Qaida video messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri can now be downloaded to cell phones, the terror network announced as part of its attempts to extend its influence.

Influence - shminfluence, come on, folks, let’s not mince the words. If you are using that Adam Gadahn creep as your chief salesman (when it is widely known that the only sale he made in his life was his candidacy for the Al Qaeda spokesman job), your cash situation is not good, let’s be straight about this, at least.

And selling clips of the poorly staged speeches by your various cave dwellers can never compete with such luminaries of freedom as Laure Manaudou, Noelia, Pamela Anderson and many others. So keep dreaming.

On the other hand, a free clip of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s last 30 seconds, accompanied by some easy elevator music… Hmmm…. let me think about it…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.

Thanks, UN! Thanks, EU! Thanks, America! Thanks, Olmert! All of you together have managed to make a deadly army of terrorists even more deadly than they were before.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that Hizbullah has improved its capabilities by acquiring higher-quality rockets with longer ranges than those fired in the Second Lebanon War. He spoke during a meeting of the Council for Peace and Security in Tel Aviv.

During his remarks, Barak said that Hizbullah’s rocket inventory had grown by a large margin from its size before the previous war and currently includes upgraded rockets capable of reaching further distances. He added that Hizbuallah seems to be operating north of the Litani River and has fortified its positions through the use of “nature reserves” – a euphemism for military bunkers.

According to Barak’s gloomy portrayal, there is a currently free passage of arms between Syria and Lebanon.

But–but–how can that be? Hafez Assad wants peace! Senators and Congresspeople have told us so!

You don’t suppose they could have been snookered by the Dorktator, do you?

Shyeah. Now that’s sad.

Looks like Hamas is all about equality for women, so long as they’re carrying out terrorist attacks.

Two armed Palestinians were shot and killed by IDF soldiers Monday after they approached an army post near the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip and opened fire at the force.

The IDF is still looking into the gunmen’s identity, but Palestinian sources confirmed to Ynet that one of them was a woman, Asma Abu Fanuna, a resident of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

According to the IDF, the two were spotted moving towards the post holding hands, in an apparent attempt to look like an innocent civilian couple. When they got to a distance of about 50 meters from the soldiers, they began shooting at them.

The soldiers responded with fire, hitting the two terrorists. Searches conducted in the area after the incident revealed that the two were carrying weapons and an explosive device.

Just when you think they can’t get much more depraved, you find out how very wrong you are. Although I have to admit, holding hands and strolling near the border fence is not the brightest idea.

Following on Backspin’s recent listing of the 18 Most Asked About Israeli Sites let’s go over some of the best pro-Israel think tanks out there. (Before I get to the think tanks, here’s one more Israeli government site that’s probably worth being familiar with: MASHAV, where you can learn about the good works Israel does for countries who routinely condemn Israel in the UN.)

Part of the impetus for listing the think tanks is the recent re-design of GLORIA. GLORIA or Global Research in International Affairs (Center) is run by Prof. Barry Rubin and is affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya. Also affilated with the IDC is the ICT or the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

I highly recommend the GLORIA site for up-to-the-minute papers on current topics concering the Middle East. I am not as familiar with the ICT website, but I’ve occasionally found good material there as well.

There is also the The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), which is affiliated with Tel Aviv University. Its output appears to be very much within the mainstream of Israel’s political world.

The Saban Center looks like it produces pretty standard leftist research. Like the INSS it appears to have strong ties to newsmakers, though not geared as exclusively to Israel as the INSS.

Another think tank that I rely on is the Jerusalem Council for Public Affairs. Run by Dr. Dore Gold, a former advisor to PM Netanyahu, it produces papers by academic and military experts. It also runs Daily Alert a daily report with “clippings” from major news stories regarding Israel. Daily Alert is available by e-mail.

The Middle East Forum is run by Daniel Pipes and features a number of related organizations. It’s experts are mostly academic and they produce essay for the Middle East Quarterly as well as op-eds for the media. A number of its offerings - including weekly columsn by Dr. Pipes - are available via e-mail.

The one final think tank that I’ll mention is the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It’s run by Robert Satloff and its most famous member is Dennis Ross, advisor to presidents. It features a wide array of experts and its members often contribute op-eds or magazine length essays.

It’s probably unfair to refer to these thank-tanks as pro-Israel, although most of them do produce work is considered pro-Israel. They do, however, focus on the Middle East. They all produce work that can be useful in supporting your work.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.