Free Republic

A panel of parliamentarians plans to head to the abandoned Shadma army base in Gush Etzion on Wednesday to weigh in on an IDF plan to hand portions of it over to the Palestinian town of Beit Sahur southeast of Bethlehem for a medical center and a park. The plan has already been hotly opposed by area residents including Gush Etzion Council head Shaul Goldstein and activists who question the wisdom of handing the Palestinians hilltop land that overlooks the new Tekoa road between the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa and the Herodian archaeological site. MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud)...

Arab Muslim Palestinians' Persecution of Christians DHIMMITUDE, ISLAMIC APARTHEIDArab "Palestinian" Christians have been suffering and STILL suffer from Arab "Palestinian" Muslim majority.Just like the Arab Christian Lebanese in "Damour" (Yasir Arafat´s Planned Christian Genocide http://www.chretiens-et-juifs.org/article.php?voir%5B%5D=594&voir%5B%5D=3532 , Hobeika - Damour http://www.free-lebanon.com/LFPNews/hobeika_damour/hobeika_damour.html), where "Palestinian" Muslims massacred Christians senselessly, which brought the reprisal by Arab Christians upon Arab "Palestinian" Muslims in Sabra & shatila. The Islamization of Bethlehem that has started by Yasser Arafat has forced Christians out.The "Palestinian" Christians are forced to join the senseless criminal violence against Israeli victims, otherwise they are threatened. Some Arab "Palestinians" that might be Christian won't...

June 28, 2008, was a defining moment in my life. It was the day I shot and killed a man in the defense of my life and the lives of others. We all have defining moments. They might not be as tragic as taking another man's life, but they are events that change the way we look at things -- or even, perhaps, how we live our lives. Before that muggy Saturday evening in June, I would have said my defining moments were many: graduating from high school; enlisting in the Army; getting married; having children; getting run over by...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a 2006 decision by the Jerusalem District Court according to which the Palestinian Authority is immune from lawsuits filed by private individuals because it has the elements of a sovereign or quasi-sovereign entity. In doing so, the court accepted an appeal by the Society of the Eilon Moreh Seminary, whose lawsuit against the PA was rejected two years ago by the Jerusalem court. The 2006 ruling came in the wake of a lawsuit lodged earlier that year by the Society, an organization established to purchase land in the West Bank. The seminary sued the...

Manager Of Business Shot Robber, Police Say MANHEIM, Pa. -- A would-be robber picked on the wrong victim in Manheim early Tuesday, according to police. Kevin Smith, 19, of Lancaster City was shot twice in the chest and died hours later at a local hospital. The botched holdup occurred just after 5 a.m. when two men followed the operations manager of Power Pro Battery into his office. Police said knowing he was about to be robbed, the manager pulled out his own handgun, turned and fired twice, hitting one of the robbers. The other man got away. Police are now...

Five open carry activists in Pennsylvania have filed two separate federal civil rights lawsuits against Dickson City police Officers Anthony Mariano and Karen Gallagher, and Chief William Stadnitski in the aftermath of a May 9 incident in which the plaintiffs were confronted and detained even though they had broken no laws. Gun Week first reported the incident in the June 15 edition. The first complaint, filed in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleges that Gallagher and Mariano "illegally threatened, harassed, detained and/or accosted" plaintiffs Richard and Judy Banks, Roger McCarren and Larry Meyer while they were...

And now a fifth person has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Borough of Dickson City and members of the Dickson City Police Department over the “Dickson Dozen” incident. The plaintiff, Edward Kraft, Jr., of Clifford PA, seeks compensatory and punitive damages as a result of civil rights violations suffered during the police response to a call about a group of people peaceably eating dinner, some of whom were openly carrying holstered handguns. Kraft's action, filed in United States Federal District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, follows a similar lawsuit filed by four other patrons on...

How much you want to bet if this story involved Republicans the story would be all over the national nightly news? Scandal in the statehouse: 12 Democrats face corruption charges A SORDID TANGLE of corruption, cash and sex rocked the Statehouse yesterday in a political scandal that left one current and one former legislator and 10 current and former staff members facing criminal charges. Among the accusations leveled by two state grand juries: Former top legislative staffer Mike Manzo got his lover, a twenty-something former rural beauty queen, a $29,000 job and $7,000 bonus mostly for doing her schoolwork. State...

HARRISBURG - As part of an ongoing public corruption investigation, agents from the Attorney General's Office today filed numerous theft charges, as well as criminal conspiracy and conflict of interest charges, against 12 suspects, including a state representative from Beaver County, a former House Democratic Minority Whip and four current House Democratic staffers. The investigation has uncovered the illegal use of millions of dollars in taxpayers' funds, resources and state employees for political campaign purposes. Attorney General Tom Corbett said the charges are part of an ongoing grand jury probe into bonuses paid to employees of the Pennsylvania Legislature along...

Church Youth Leader Accused Of Touching Girl, 13Group Leader Was Helping Girl With Sacrament Classes   NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- A youth group leader from a local church has been arrested, accused by prosecutors of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl. Video Report Members of the Carmel Presbyterian Church found it difficult to believe an employee there was arrested.   "I'm surprised, a little disappointed if it is true," Denise Bottinger, a church member, said.  Montgomery County prosecutors charged 61-year-old Norman Brooks with indecent assault. Investigators said Brooks inappropriately touched a 13-year-old girl.  Investigators said Brooks was the girl's church youth group leader...

West Chester - To commemorate Flag Day tomorrow the Chester County Victory Movement will sponsor a U.S. Flag Day rally outside the West Chester Court House. The rally is in support of the flag and the United States Army, which celebrates its 233rd birthday tomorrow. "This is a day when all Americans should fly the American flag in honor of all the great things in our country, for all the freedoms we have," said Rich Davis, Chester County Victory Movement founder. "We want to do our part to honor Old Glory." The Chester County Victory Movement was formed in reaction...

(IsraelNN.com) The anti-Jewish and anti-Israel propaganda found in Palestinian Authority textbooks in the past two years is worse than before, a committee has found. According to a report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education and the American Jewish Committee, textbooks used in PA schools improved somewhat after the death of former PA head Yasser Arafat, but the progress was quickly reversed following the 2006 Hamas win in the PA elections. After Arafat died, the committee found, textbooks used in the eleventh grade showed maps that included Israel’s pre-1967 borders and included a mention of...

The Boy Scouts of America's Philadelphia chapter has sued the City of Philadelphia in federal court to block the city's May 31 deadline for the scouts to open membership to gays and atheists, or vacate their historic 1928 headquarters off Logan Square. The civil rights lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Center City, contends that the city's ultimatum violates the scouts' rights under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions. "The City has imposed an unconstitutional condition upon Cradle of Liberty's receipt of a benefit that Cradle of Liberty has enjoyed for nearly eight decades, and that many other organizations that...

Stretching through the rural countryside with limited access and no speed limit in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was built to resemble Germany's autobahn. Now thanks to a $12.8 billion dollar offer, it may soon become Spain's. According to a report in the Philadelphia Daily News, Gov. Ed Rendell has announced that Abertis Infraestructuras of Barcelona has offered the top dollar bid to the state of Pennsylvania for the rights to manage the toll road under a 75-year lease. The highway could become just the latest in a string of U.S. infrastructure landmarks to be operated by foreign companies. In 2004,...

Penn State wins first NCAA volleyball title in 14 years By Associated Press 8:04 PM CDT, May 3, 2008 IRVINE, Calif. - Top-ranked Penn State won its first NCAA men's volleyball championship in 14 years, rallying for a 27-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-23 victory over second-ranked Pepperdine on Saturday night. Matt Anderson had 29 kills for the Nittany Lions (30-1), who beat UCLA in 1994 for their last NCAA men's volleyball title. Anderson, the national co-player of the year, was selected the NCAA tournament's most valuable player. Teammate Luke Murray added a career-high 12 digs, tied a season best with 63...

Friday, April 25, 2008 This week’s outrage comes courtesy of Philadelphia Police Commissioner, and former Washington, D.C. police chief, Charles Ramsey. As we recently reported, the Philadelphia City Council passed five gun control measures, which were subsequently signed by Mayor Michael Nutter in direct violation of Pennsylvania’s state preemption law. A Philadelphia County court granted NRA’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the new gun control regulations and ruled that Philadelphia is barred from enforcing the ordinances and moving forward on promulgating regulations. But the City opposed the injunction, saying they believed that the ordinances are both necessary and...

Team, Thanks to a lot of hard work on the part of a lot of campaign volunteers and Peg Luksik’s organizational and team building skills, it looks like we are back on the ballot. Thank you all for all the enthusiasm, phone calls, footwork, and prayers. It would not have been possible without you! We needed 1000 votes to be listed on the ballot for the General Election in November. Here are the preliminary and partial reports so far: Washington County 764 Greene 381 Allegheny 24 Armstrong 412 Somerset 26 Cambria unavailable Westmoreland unavailable Fayette unavailable Indiana unavailable TOTAL TO...

The metaphors in the title above are decidedly mixed and somewhat mordant. So were the results from yesterday’s Pennsylvania Primary. Unless you believe the popular theory here on the Right that Hillary is one of the undead; she lived to fight another day. But rational people can certainly feel entitled to ask her why. Hillary will amuse the armchair philosophers of Blogistan by aggressively affirming the consequent. She will argue that Democratic candidates able to win the Presidency carry Pennsylvania with regularity. She will remind us with her customary subtlety that she just took the Keystone State. We will be...

7:48PM - With just over 10 minutes until polls close, a PA Common Pleas Court judge has rejected a request to extend Philly polling hours. Elsewhere, Obama is scheduled to touch down in Indiana at 9:45 tonight. Good sign, bad sign -- no sign? We'll see shortly. - BLAKE DVORAK

An historic spike in Democratic voter registrations in Pennsylvania could help Barack Obama cut into Hillary Clinton’s vote in Tuesday’s primary, robbing her of the big victory margin she needs to justify continuing the primary fight. The changing party demographics also are contributing to an overall bluing of the Keystone State that could dim Republican John McCain’s hopes of competing there in the fall. A county-by-county analysis by Politico suggests that the hard-fought primary between Obama and Clinton has accelerated an ongoing partisan shift in Pennsylvania that could soon move it out of the battleground presidential states and ripple across...

(IsraelNN.com) "When Israel's ideology will collapse, and after we take Jerusalem, Israel's ideology will collapse altogether, and then we will proceed with our own ideology, inshallah [if Allah wills], and we will throw them out of all of Palestine." So said Abbas Zaki, the Palestinian Authority's ambassador to Lebanon on Lebanese television last week, according to a translation by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute). Expressing strong support for terror attacks against Israel, Zaki said, "We believe wholeheartedly that the Right of Return [of millions of Arabs and their descendants who left Israel in 1948 and 1967 -ed.] is guaranteed...

In San Francisco last week, Senator Barack Obama, Democrat candidate for President, made a certain statement about people who live in small towns in Pennsylvania. He is about to undergo a primary in that state against Senator Hillary Clinton, the other remaining Democrat candidate for President. Why should a comment made by a candidate in San Francisco about people who live in Pennsylvania be of the slightest interest to the people who live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina? Simple. Almost half of the people here, in the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina, also live in...

<p>You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them...And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.</p>

Nutter defiantly signs five gun laws Council's measures appear to fly in the face of state law and legal precedent. The NRA says it will sue. By Jeff Shields Inquirer Staff Writer Mayor Nutter likened himself and City Council members yesterday to the band of rebels who formed this country as he signed five new gun-control laws that defy the state legislature and legal precedent. "Almost 232 years ago, a group of concerned Americans took matters in their own hands and did what they needed to do by declaring that the time had come for a change," Nutter said as...

Watching the Democrat Presidential candidates swing through the state of Pennsylvania, it's as if the state all of the sudden had an epidemic of "lifelong Republicans", going through a change of heart and switching over to the Democrats. Not to take part in their primaries, but due to ideological reasons. Obama seemed to be the major, perhaps the only, beneficiary of all these former "lifelong Republicans", now Democrat voters. It seems that we are dealt this left wing propaganda every election, every primary year. Hordes of "lifelong Republicans" who tell us that they are now Democrats. In reality, the vast...

2 in GOP Eye Lost House Seat From Pa. By MICHAEL RUBINKAM DALLAS, Pa. (AP) — If U.S. Rep. Chris Carney feels like he has a target on his back, it's for good reason. Republicans view the freshman Democrat's 2006 election as a fluke — he rolled to victory after his GOP predecessor became embroiled in a sex scandal — and see his House seat as ripe for the taking. Two wealthy businessmen with similar campaign pitches are vying for the April 22 Republican nomination to challenge Carney in November, dipping into their own personal fortunes as they try to...

April 07, 2008 © 2008 WorldNetDaily A group of concerned citizens has been raising alarms about the Islamic elements planned for the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, Pa., for years. And a member of Congress has demanded the National Park Service make changes in its plans. But there's been no substantive response, and now the activists say it's time for the American people to let officials know whether they want to pay for and have installed in the memorial a crescent that points to Mecca to make up a "mihrab," the foundational point for every Islamic mosque, a tower that...

(IsraelNN.com) Arab affairs correspondent Avi Yissacharov, who works for several media agencies including Army Radio, published an interview with the veteran commander of Fatah’s Al-Aksa Brigades terrorist group. Writing in Haaretz, Yissacharov describes a downtrodden demoralized Zakariya Zubeidi – once the brazen chief of Yasser Arafat’s terrorist arm. He confirms that under Arafat, despite the Oslo Accords, he was receiving clear instructions from the terror chief. "Everything that was done in the Intifada was done according to Arafat's instructions, but he didn't need to tell us the things explicitly. We understood his message,” Zubeidi reminisced. “Back in [Arafat’s] day, we...

CNN: Republicans Become Dems in PA, But Not Due to Rush’s ‘Dark Strategy’ By Matthew Balan | March 28, 2008 - 19:14 ET CNN’s Carol Costello highlighted Pennsylvania Republicans who became registered Democrats on Friday’s "The Situation Room," and brushed aside the possibility that Rush Limbaugh’s "Operation Chaos" strategy to meddle in the Democratic primaries might be a partial explanation for the change. Costello, featuring two former Republicans who are now voting for the Democrats, said of the couple, "[I]f you think either Conrad is switching because they buy into Rush Limbaugh's dark strategy to weaken the Democratic party...."Peggy and Charles Conrad, the...

HARRISBURG -- With a section of a Pittsburgh bridge dropping 8 inches and an Interstate 95 support pillar cracking in Philadelphia, Gov. Ed Rendell is turning up the heat under the Legislature to provide infrastructure repair funds more quickly. Mr. Rendell sent a letter to all 253 legislators yesterday urging quick passage of a $240 million "supplemental debt authorization." His program of borrowing would enable state officials to fast-track repairs on some of the state's 6,000 bridges classified as structurally deficient, along with fixing ailing highways, repairing "state-owned, high-hazard dams" and beginning flood mitigation projects. Also yesterday, Mr. Rendell called...

The Palestinian Authority won a major legal victory when a federal judge, in a ruling made public yesterday, agreed to set aside a judgment of nearly $200 million awarded to American victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel and allow a new trial. Such rulings are rare, and the judge, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, said that he would vacate the previous legal victory only if the Palestinian Authority put up a $192.7 million bond to ensure that it does not default again if it loses in court. In a ruling Wednesday, he also ordered the Palestinians to reimburse the...

Fishing advocate shuttles between two campuses for best fly fishing Thursday, March 27, 2008 By Nicholas Tolomeo, Tri-State Sports & News Service John Hayes/Post-Gazette Heather Seitz is a freshman from Hampton who attends Pitt-Greensburg. She also is an international fly fishing competitor.A University of Pittsburgh freshman, Heather Seitz chooses to attend classes at both the Oakland and Greensburg campuses. To most students, the Oakland campus has more to offer. But for Ms. Seitz, 19, trips to Westmoreland County present an opportunity that Oakland does not -- good fly fishing. Ms. Seitz, who competes in international fly fishing events, drives 45...

Last Edited: Thursday, 27 Mar 2008, 6:06 PM EDT Created: Thursday, 27 Mar 2008, 4:43 PM EDT An armed man continues to keep authorities at bay on the Walt Whitman Bridge. The Walt Whitman Bridge between South Philadelphia and Gloucester City, N.J., has been closed since about 4:30 p.m. New Jersey State Police Capt. Al Della Fave says troopers tried to stop a vehicle for a minor speeding violation, but the driver wouldn't pull over. He says troopers stopped the pursuit after a few minutes because the man was driving erratically and police feared someone would get hurt. After that,...

A Philadelphia restaurant has been cleared of a discrimination complaint triggered by the owner's sign telling patrons, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English." "This is a great victory," owner Joey Vento told WND today after the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations ruled his sign could stay in the window of Gino's Steaks South Philadelphia landmark store. The controversy began in October 2005 when Vento put up a small bumper-sticker size sign. On June 12, 2006, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations launched on its own initiative a discrimination case against Vento. It alleged the sign violated the city's...

HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania religious leaders are ramping up pressure on the Legislature to approve a statewide smoking ban. Their aim is to protect all people from secondhand smoke, which is known to cause cancer, heart attacks and respiratory illnesses. "I'm not asking everyone to stop smoking -- although I wish they would. I'm asking that they not expose people [to their smoke] in public places," said Mary Hafer, president of the Greater Harrisburg chapter of Church Women United. She was among a handful of religious leaders who held a news conference in the Capitol rotunda yesterday. Some are expected to...

TEL AVIV — New population data have some Palestinians contemplating an unorthodox formula for Middle East peace — a single democratic nation of Arabs and Jews, in which Palestinians would be the majority. "If Israel wants to call it Israel from Jordan to the Mediterranean, I accept it. So we'll be equal to them," said Saeb Erekat, a negotiator who has been at the center of negotiations to set up a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "And with the majority, I will change the name of the Knesset to Parliament and the name of Israel to...

Thon raises $6.6 million for cancer By Dena Pauling- dpauling@centredaily.com It’s a new record: $6,615,318.04. Great Links:CDT PicturesPSU Football Team Video With the Kids

<p>1. Russians Suspected in Shooting of Kremlin Critic Near D.C.</p> <p>One year ago, Kremlin critic Paul Joyal was gunned down in the driveway of his suburban Maryland home. The case remains unsolved — but some see the hand of Russia in the shooting.</p>

Palestinian Christians live in constant fear National Post, Canada ... The problem is not their behaviour but, in the eyes of the violent Islamist jihadists, their very presence. They must simply live in hope that some faraway event does not inflame the anti-Christian wrath of their neighbours. Is it any wonder that Christians in such situations desire to emigrate? Could anyone judge harshly the few thousand Christians in Gaza if they were to leave entirely?... and the fact that it [the YMCA attack] was not big news, illustrates the dire situation faced by many Christians living in the Palestinian territories....

PA glorifies Dimona terrorists | Jerusalem Post, PA glorifies Dimona terrorists. By YADID BERMAN ... granting them Islam's highest honor, clearly contradicts Abbas's condemnation of the terror attack. ... The terrorists who perpetrated Monday's suicide bombing in Dimona were glorified in three newspapers controlled by the Palestinian Authority, including the official Al-Hayat al-Jadida which is controlled by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Media Watch reported Wednesday. "The perpetrators of the operation died as shahids ... an Israeli was killed and eleven were wounded in the Dimona operation," Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on February 5... http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1202246334919&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

T.S. Eliot wrote memorably in The Hollow Men: Between the idea / And the reality / Between the motion / And the act / Falls the shadow. In the case of the peace process and all the great ideas for fixing everything in Arab-Israel relations, the shadow has been Palestinian leaders' unwillingness - and now also inability - to make a compromise agreement ending the conflict. Close examination of the movement's ideology, organization and structure shows why this is true. Many, or most, of the young guard prefer a deal with Hamas to one with Israel, and a return to...

(IsraelNN.com) A British taxpayers advocacy group has published a report slamming England’s continued funding of the Palestinian Authority’s Jihadist hate curriculum in PA school textbooks. “How British taxpayers are funding hate education and violence in the Middle East,” was the title of the paper published by the TaxPayers' Alliance. “'Funding Hate Education' reveals disturbing evidence showing how British taxpayers’ money has been spent helping to fund hate education and promote violence in the Middle East,” the report states (Click here to download full report in .pdf format). “In order for a [peace] deal to stick over the long term, it...

A short-lived "honeymoon" between Fatah and Hamas ended abruptly Saturday when the Islamist movement accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's office of being behind an attempt to assassinate Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Photo: AP [file] The charges came just as Fatah and Hamas appeared to be close to launching negotiations over solving their dispute. Relations between the two parties warmed up after Abbas phoned Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar last week to offer his condolences over the death of his son, Husam, in an IDF operation in Gaza...

Estranged Fatah leader Farouk Kaddoumi is demanding an inquiry into the fate of $2b. that allegedly went missing after the death of former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat, sources close to Kaddoumi said over the weekend. Kaddoumi, who is based in Tunis, has long been at loggerheads with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and most of the Fatah leaders in Ramallah. The sources quoted Kaddoumi as saying that at least five top Fatah leaders were responsible for the disappearance of the $2b., but did not name them. Kaddoumi's charges came amid growing turmoil in Fatah, which is witnessing renewed bickering between...

Hamas security foiled an attempt to plant an explosive in a rally attended by their leader in the Gaza Strip, they said. Forces at a Hamas rally earlier in the day found 4 kilograms of TNT in the backpack of a man during a search after he was stopped at the entrance to the gathering, Hamas security spokesman Ihab Ghussein said. The suspect tried to enter the rally as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was speaking but it was not clear if he was the target, Ghussein said. "He confessed that there were other accomplices," Ghussein said. "They are now being...

4,000 PA "security men" will provide security for U.S. President George Bush's visit to Ramallah Thursday. The PA gunmen will spread out in the roads leading to the place where Bush and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas will meet. The commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Noam Tibon, and the head of the Civilian Administration, Brig. Gen. Yoav ("Poli") Mordechai, met with the heads of the PA "security" apparatuses in Judea and Samaria. PA sources said that the meeting dealt with arrangements for President Bush's visit to the PA Thursday. The meeting between the Israeli and PA officials...

Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams will be instructed to start talking about core issues such as Jerusalem, the refugees and the contours of a future Palestinian state, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided after a meeting in Jerusalem Tuesday. "The two leaders decided to allow negotiating teams to conduct direct talks on all core issues," Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said. "We expect that the process will begin shortly." Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced earlier this week that he would quit the government and pull Israel Beiteinu out of the coalition if core issues were...

During IDF activities in Nablus, soldiers uncovered a laboratory with two Qassam rockets inside. The rockets were in the advanced stages of preparation. IDF forces are expected to detonate the rockets in a controlled explosion. IDF operations in the city are ongoing.

Palestinian security forces in the West Bank recently arrested a Hamas cell that planned a suicide attack in Israel, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Monday. A videotape showing a suicide bomber detailing his intentions to blow up an Israeli target was also seized, Malki said at a news conference. The announcement came a week before US President George W. Bush visits the region to promote peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians are eager to prove they are cracking down on militants which is a central demand of the negotiations. "We confiscated huge amounts of mercury...

The IDF and Shin Bet uncovered 6.5 tons of potassium nitrate hidden in sacks that were disguised as aid from the European Union, the army announced on Saturday.