Death in Gaza

The 18-year-old boy who burned himself to death, the agony of his mother ‒ and a savage reminder of the reality of life in Gaza

Called mother to beg for forgiveness before pouring a bottle of petrol over himself and setting himself on fire
Bystanders rushed to his aid with water and blankets but it wasn't enough

By MATTHEW KALMAN

MAIL ON SUNDAY 9 September 2012

Al-Shati refugee camp is a miserable place: 90,000 Palestinians are packed into less than one-third of a square mile on the northern beach of Gaza City. The narrow, twisting alleys are littered with rubbish and adorned with graffiti and the laundry of the residents. Water and electricity supplies are intermittent at best.

Ihab Abu Nader was born into this crushing poverty on July 9, 1994, the second of six children. Ihab’s ambition was to finish school, get a job and save up enough money to buy a motorcycle.

He loved Real Madrid and dreamed of joining the thousands of Palestinians who have escaped the stifling poverty of Gaza to work abroad in one of the nearby Arab states.

Mourning: Raeda Abu Nader with a picture of her son who set himself on fire due to the ongoing problems in his homeland of Palestine

But Ihab’s dreams came to a brutal end last week when, after an anguished telephone plea begging his mother for forgiveness, he doused himself in petrol in the middle of a Gaza street and set himself on fire.

Bystanders extinguished the flames with water and blankets and rushed him across the road to the city’s Shifa Hospital, but it was too late. Ihab died last Sunday morning after four days in a coma on life-support, succumbing to the crippling third-degree burns that covered 85 per cent of his body.

We could hear the rattle of small-arms fire as we passed through the grim, barbed-wire corridors of  the heavily fortified Erez border crossing, the only pedestrian access between Israel and the Gaza Strip.The Palestinians of Gaza are not strangers to death. On the day we visited Ihab’s grief-stricken family, three Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli forces as they tried to attach a bomb to the border fence.

Suicide victim Ihab Abu Nader (right) with his friend Mohaamed Jaber last winter

The night before our arrival, three other Palestinians were killed by an Israeli air strike as they drove near the Al-Bureij refugee camp, apparently on their way to fire rockets at homes in southern Israel.

But even among the war-weary population of Gaza, the self-immolation of Ihab Abu Nader has triggered shockwaves of soul-searching.

Gazans wonder aloud whether Ihab’s suicide by fire, the first here, would have the same effect as the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia in December 2010 that triggered the Arab Spring.

In the week that followed Ihab’s death, two more Palestinians tried to set themselves on fire at anti-government demonstrations but were saved by passers-by.

‘It’s a huge tragedy which should really open the eyes of the rest of the world about the situation of Gaza under the blockade,’ said Karl Schembri of Oxfam’s Gaza office.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas-appointed prime minister of Gaza’s unofficial government and a resident  of Al-Shati camp, came to pay his respects to Ihab’s father Sufian and mother Raeda Abu Nader, during the family’s three days of official mourning.

Haniyeh invited them to his home and promised them a small plot of land, a job for their oldest son, Mohammed, and a £1,200 grant.

 

A giant poster of Ihab is seen on the wall in the family's home in the overpopulated Al-Shati Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza

Sufian told The Mail On Sunday: ‘I don’t believe my son wanted to kill himself. The people who tried to save him said he was screaming at them to put out the fire. I think it was a cry for help. I hope that other young people will take his suffering as a warning.’

He went on: ‘I don’t know what I will do without him. I feel as though I have lost my arms and my legs.

‘Haniyeh is the only Palestinian official who has given us any support, but it’s still not enough. I have £5,000 of debts. After I pay my rent and service the loans I have taken out, I have just £30 a month left for food and everything else. How will I manage?

‘If I could, I would leave here tomorrow. I am ready to take my family and go to any other country that will take us as refugees. I see no future here. There is no work. I don’t want to lose the rest of my children because of this terrible poverty.’

The main room of the Abu Nader home where his family received visitors last week has no windows or heating.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Islamic group Hamas paid his respects to the parents of Ihab Abu Nader

The only natural light creeps in through the wide gaps where the plastered cinder-block walls fail to meet the bare, corrugated iron roof, which leaks in the winter and bakes in the long hot summer.

One corner of the room is dominated by a water tank – empty because the pump that sucks up the water from the mains is broken.

There are only two bedrooms – one for Sufian, his wife and their nine-year-old twin boys Bassem and Bassam, and another which the family’s daughter, 14-year-old Samah, is forced to share with her two older brothers. The tiny kitchen is also the bathroom. There is no door to the toilet, just a flimsy curtain.

Ihab was doing well at school but decided to leave in the summer of 2011 and forego his final year of studies, hoping to find a job and help support his family. But there were no jobs to be had. Unemployment in Gaza is 38 per cent. The area used to export furniture, clothing and other goods to Israel, but trade crashed with the outbreak of the intifada uprising in 2000.

After the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 and a 2007 coup in which Hamas seized control, Israel and Egypt clamped an economic embargo on Gaza. An Israeli invasion in 2008 put more pressure on the depressed economy.

Today, the blockade is easing and the economy is slowly expanding but the UN reported last week that gross domestic product per capita in Gaza in 2011 was still ten per cent below its 2005 level. Half of all Palestinians remain below the poverty line.

Three hundred trucks a day pour into Gaza from Israel carrying food, clothing, building and medical supplies and aid from foreign donors, but refugee families like the Abu Naders scrape by on minimum wages and handouts from the UN.

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit saluting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he disembarks from an army helicopter

After he left school, Ihab eked out a few pennies by selling packets of crisps outside mosques every Friday, but he had no licence and was chased away by police. He ended up owing money to the wholesaler. During Ramadan, he secured a job earning £3.50 a day working 14 hours a day for two days a week making falafel, the fried chick-pea patties that are a Gaza fast-food staple.

‘Once he had a job, he woke up happy every morning. He loved to work,’ said his father.

But when Ramadan ended, so did the work. Realising he would never get a proper job, Ihab decided to go back to school, but the principal wouldn’t allow him to return.

Ihab’s mobile phone hinted at his despair. Its wallpaper portrayed a man holding his head in his hands with the title ‘Father of suffering.’ A caption read: ‘I swear to God: We’re sick, we’re bored.’

On Tuesday, August 28, he left home, saying he was trying once again to find work. He didn’t return by nightfall. His mother, who had given Ihab her phone so he could keep in touch, went to a neighbour to call and ask where he was.

‘I’m not in all of Gaza. I’m not in this world. In a couple of hours you will hear my news,’ he said ominously, using an Arabic phrase that refers to the report of someone’s death.

Palestinian doctors at Shifa Hospital in Gaza have seen some terrible things

‘Forgive me, mother,’ he begged. ‘I am sick of life. There is no work. Forgive me.’

Ihab was in a park with a neighbour, Mohammed Jaber. ‘He was carrying a plastic bottle of petrol,’ said Mohammed. ‘I thought it must be for the generator. He distracted my attention and jumped in a taxi. I didn’t know where he had gone.’

The family scoured Gaza City all night trying to find him. The following morning, his mother and a neighbour went to the hospital, fearing he had been in an accident. Police there said a young man had tried to set himself on fire.

Sufian said: ‘I blame the Israeli occupation and the siege for our situation. I blame the divisions between the West Bank and Gaza.

‘But I say to young Palestinians: don’t do what Ihab did. It was a mistake. Keep looking, keep learning. Education is the only future.

‘We need more support for social clubs, for unemployment programmes and job opportunities that will give our young people hope.’

WIDOWS DEMAND JUSTICE OVER MUNICH KILLINGS

SUNDAY EXPRESS
Sunday September 2, 2012

By Matthew Kalman

WIDOWS of Israeli athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics by Palestinians are demanding answers after newly declassified documents exposed massive government incompetence and later collusion with the terrorists.

Eleven members of the Israeli team were killed after eight Black September terrorists broke into their apartment at the Olympic village in Munich in 1972.

Two Israelis died initially, nine more were taken hostage and killed during a botched rescue attempt.

Government records published by German magazine Der Spiegel last week reveal the West German government “maintained secret contacts with the organisers of the attack for years afterward and appeased the Palestinians to prevent further bloodshed on German soil”.

Ankie Spitzer, widow of murdered fencing coach Andre Spitzer, demanded: “The German government should open all the documents it has been hiding, reveal all its failures and draw conclusions, so that justice is finally served.”

Ilana Romano, widow of weightlifter Yossef Romano, said: “There was chaos and irresponsibility.”

Her husband was shot, tortured and bled to death in front of his bound teammates.

“There is no other way but for Germany to stand up and admit to its mistakes. It is time for it to open its Pandora’s box and tell the world about its errors,” she added.

Der Spiegel reveals that West Germany declined to ask for the extradition of Mohammed Daoud Oudeh, the Munich mastermind, when he was later arrested in France. The Bonn government also gladly surrendered the three PLO terrorists captured in Munich when a Lufthansa plane was hijacked a few weeks after the Olympics.

From contacts now revealed between German diplomats and Black September leaders, there are suspicions that the Lufthansa hijacking was staged with the tacit connivance of Bonn.

The magazine reports that within months of the Olympics massacre, there was “active but secret diplomatic communication between Germans and Palestinians.

“West German representatives were talking to men like Abu Youssef, Ali Salameh and Amin al-Hindi, all of them masterminds of the Munich murders.”

Black September was revealed to be a front for Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group in the PLO. The financier of the operation was Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat’s deputy and now president of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority.

Meanwhile, Israeli Cabinet documents and other material declassified last week reveal the agonising drama unfolding, minute by minute, via cables and phone calls from Munich and growing frustration among Israeli officials at the Germans’ incompetence.

The kidnappers agreed to fly in two helicopters with the hostages to a nearby military airfield to board a plane to Cairo.

The plane was manned by undercover Bavarian police. The plan was to draw the kidnappers into the open at the airfield where they would be shot by snipers but events went tragically wrong. When five terrorists emerged from the helicopters, the snipers opened fire. The terrorists set alight to one of the helicopters with the hostages inside and shot the others dead. A German police officer also died.

Mossad chief Zvi Zamir flew to Germany to help direct the rescue. In a bitter report to the Israeli government, he said he saw “confusion and inaction”.

Most chilling was the complaint by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir about Israeli criticism of his decision to release the three surviving terrorists after the Lutfhansa hijacking that October. “There was no other choice,” he wrote. Yet according to documents, diplomats were making a deal with the PLO. Says Der Spiegel: “Any contact with West German representatives, even in secret, upgraded the PLO’s status as an institution.

“In return, the government of then Chancellor Willy Brandt... hoped to protect Germany from further attacks.

“But the price they had to pay in return appears to have been high.”

Citizen Adelson - On The Media

CITIZEN ADELSON

NPR ON THE MEDIA

Friday, August 31, 2012

Enlarge

(Mike Clarke/Getty/Getty)

Turns out Sheldon Adelson, casino magnate and, as of late, Mitt Romney supporter, also owns Israel’s most popular daily newspaper, Israel HaYom. Freelance Jerusalem-based journalistMatthew Kalman says the free, aggressively pro-Netanyahu paper has quickly come to dominate the market while its competitors downsize and slash staff.  

GUESTS:

 Matthew Kalman

HOSTED BY:

 Brooke Gladstone

Israel court rules it was not at fault in 2003 death of U.S. activist killed by army bulldozer

By MATTHEW KALMAN

DAILY MAIL, 28 August 2012

An Israeli judge has ruled that the death of pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza in 2003 was an accident
An Israeli judge has ruled that the death of pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza in 2003 was an accident that she had brought on herself by entering a closed military zone at the height of the second intifada.
Corrie was 23 when she was killed in March 2003 as she and other members of the International Solidarity Movement acted as human shields to prevent the bulldozing of Palestinian homes in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border.
The Israeli army said the buildings were being used to attack Israeli soldiers and as covers for entrances to weapons smuggling tunnels beneath the border.
Judge Oded Gershon dismissed a civil lawsuit brought by Corrie’s family against the state of Israel claiming symbolic damages of $1. 'I reject the suit,' the judge said. 'There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages.'
Reading from his 162-page verdict, the judge told the Haifa District Court that Corrie’s death was a 'regrettable accident' but could have been avoided if she had obeyed warning signs and a travel ban on the Gaza Strip issued by the US to its citizens.
The area had been formally declared 'a closed military zone' by the Israeli army, banning all civilians from entering.
'She did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done," he said.
He rejected the claim of negligence, saying the driver of the bulldozer could not see her. 'She consciously put herself in harm’s way,' Gershon said.
The driver testified that he did not see Corrie or even know he had hit her until after the accident.
The judge slammed the International Solidarity Movement, saying it 'abuses the human rights discourse to blur its actions which are de facto violence.'
The judge continued: 'This included an army of activists serving as 'human shields' for terrorists wanted by Israeli security forces, financial and logistical aid to Palestinians including terrorists and their families.'

Activist: Rachel Corrie is seen confronting an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah in 2003
Her mother, Cindy Corrie, who was in court to hear the verdict with her husband and surviving daughter, said the family would appeal to Israel’s high court.
'I am hurt,' Mrs Corrie said after the verdict. 'We are deeply saddened and troubled by what we heard today in the court. This was a bad day, not only for us, but for human rights, humanity, the rule of law and the country of Israel.'
'We believe Rachel Corrie was seen. Everything through this process confirmed at least one soldier saw her.
'We believe the bulldozer driver had the ability and responsibility to see what was in front of his machine,' she said.
The Corrie family said the judge had effectively whitewashed an earlier military investigation that was not the 'thorough, credible and transparent' probe promised by the Israeli government.
US diplomats, who were in court to hear the verdict, had also complained that the Israeli army had failed to properly investigate the incident.
'We believe the decision does not comply with international law,' said the Corrie family’s lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, vowing to appeal the verdict to Israel’s highest court.

Israeli inquiry into Rachel Corrie death insufficient, US ambassador tells family

US government does not believe military inquiry was 'thorough, credible and transparent', as family await verdict in civil suit

• 
  
• 
  

• Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 24 August 2012 15.45 BST

Rachel Corrie died trying to stop an Israeli army bulldozer from destroying Palestinian houses in Rafah in 2003. Photograph: Denny Sternstein/AP

The US ambassador to Israel has told the family of an American pro-Palestinian activist who was killed in Gaza in 2003 that the US government remains dissatisfied with the Israeli army's decision to close its official investigation into the incident.

Rachel Corrie, 23, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was crushed to death as she tried to stop an Israeli army bulldozer from destroying Palestinian houses in Rafah, on the Egypt-Gaza border.

In 2005 Corrie's family filed a civil suit in the Haifa district court against the Israeli government over the incident. A verdict is expected on Tuesday.

At a meeting at the US embassy in Tel Aviv last week, the ambassador, Dan Shapiro, told Corrie's parents and her sister that the government did not believe the Israeli military investigation had been "thorough, credible and transparent", as had been promised by Israel. The investigation concluded that Corrie's death was an accident and that she had endangered herself by entering a combat zone.

"The lawsuit is just a small step in our family's nearly decade-long search for truth and justice," said Craig Corrie, Rachel's father. "The mounting evidence presented before the court underscores a broken system of accountability.

"We're responsible as a family to do whatever we can to get at the truth of what happened to Rachel and to try to get some accountability. It's been a very difficult process for us. The testimony by the defence witnesses has been erratic. Their stories never agreed with each other. We hope the judge will reach a reasonable conclusion."

Casino Mogul Sheldon Adelson accused of bringing 'ruin' to newspaper industry in Israel

Loyal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yisrael Hayom (Israel Today) is bringing competitors to their knees. Iconic Ma'ariv close to bankruptcy and Yedioth Ahronoth had laid off dozens

BY MATTHEW KALMAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012

CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP

Billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson's free daily newspaper Yisrael Hayom has been accused of bringing ruin to Israel's newspaper industry.

JERUSALEM — Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul who is one of the largest donors to Mitt Romney and the Republican party, has been accused of bringing “ruin” to Israel’s newspaper industry.

The American owner of the Sands Casino in Las Vegas has poured money into a free daily newspaper called Yisrael Hayom (Israel Today) that shows a slavish loyalty to Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu.

Aggressive marketing and popularity among Netanyahu supporters has rocketed the paper to the top of Israel’s newspaper industry, bringing competitors to their knees.

The iconic Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv is close to bankruptcy — and is likely to soon become an online-only publication except on weekends.

Another paper, Yedioth Ahronoth, which used to command about 60% of the Israeli market, recently laid off dozens of its staff.

Haaretz, the left-leaning intellectual broadsheet, announced 70 layoffs this month.

“Yisrael Hayom has finished Ma’ariv, and it is now finishing Ha’aretz,” a senior Yedioth Ahronoth executive told the Israeli financial daily Globes. “The fact that a billionaire has come here and pours money on to the streets, destroying newspapers like Ma’ariv and Ha’aretz is an issue that has not received sufficient discussion. Adelson has simply brought ruin to the Israeli newspaper market, and the Israeli politicians who benefit from its flattering coverage have allowed this unprecedented phenomenon to occur.”

Sensing the danger in 2009, politicians of all stripes — encouraged by Yedioth and Ma’ariv — united in a failed bid to disqualify foreigners from owning a controlling stake in an Israeli newspaper.

“I don’t know what his motives are, but he’s touching Israeli democracy’s holy of holies — he’s molding the face of Israeli society,” said Daniel Ben-Simon, a Labor Party legislator. “Personally, I feel badly that a man who made most of his money in casinos or by means of casinos, who doesn’t know a word of Hebrew and doesn’t live here, should hold such a key.”

The bill was also supported by Miri Regev, a leading member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, who said it was essential “to preserve pluralistic discourse in the media and in the public.”

Executives at Yisrael Hayom declined to comment.

A spokesman for Adelson did not respond to a request for comment.

Israel accused of interfering in Palestinian affairs after letter to EU

Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli foreign minister, wrote calling for elections to replace the president, Mahmoud Abbas

• Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 August 2012

Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, accused the Palestinian president of having a 'weak standing' among his own people. Photograph: Gent Shkullaku/AFP/Getty Images

Palestinian leaders have accused Israel of interfering in internal Palestinian affairs and launching "a deliberate campaign of distortion, hatred and incitement", after the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, called for elections to replace the Palestinian president,Mahmoud Abbas.

In a letter to EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, and other members of the Middle East quartet, Lieberman accuses Abbas of heading "a despotic government riddled with corruption" and "personally acting to undermine attempts to renew the peace process, despite Israeli gestures and confidence building measures."

Lieberman accuses Abbas of having a "weak standing" among his own people and being "uninterested or unable … to reach an agreement which would bring an end to the conflict".

"General elections in the PA [Palestinian Authority] should be held, and a new, legitimate, hopefully realistic Palestinian leadership should be elected," Lieberman writes.

The letter, dated 20 August, was published on Wednesday by the Israeli daily Haaretz, sparking a storm of protest from Palestinian officials.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh described the text as "incitement" liable to create an "atmosphere of violence and instability".

"Lieberman's comments regarding elections in the PA constitute meddling in internal Palestinian affairs," he added.

Hanan Ashrawi, an executive committee member of the PLO, which handles diplomatic contacts with Israel, said the letter demonstrated Israel's "arrogance, manipulation of facts, and outright racism. Rather than complying with international law and signed agreements, the Israeli government has launched a deliberate campaign of distortion, hatred and incitement."

Israel has complained previously about Abbas's refusal to restart peace talks over the continued expansion of Israeli settlements, but he has always been described as a potential peace partner.

Officials representing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly distanced him from his foreign minister's remarks. An aide to Netanyahu told the Guardian that the prime minister was not aware of the letter before it was sent.

"The letter by the foreign minister does not reflect the view of the prime minister, nor of the government as a whole," said the official. "Palestinian president Abbas has created difficulties preventing the restarting of negotiations, but Israel nevertheless remains committed to continuing to try to engage with the Palestinians and of course we don't interfere in the election cycles of others."

Observers of Israel's byzantine coalition politics said it was possible that the letter was released for internal political purposes, to boost the government's rightwing credentials and domestic popularity ahead of an imminent general election.

"This letter was not written overnight," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of politics at Bar-Ilan University. "The letter says very explicitly what Lieberman has been saying to Israeli audiences, and what many Israelis believe. Lieberman has often played the role of saying things that Netanyahu may think but as prime minister is reluctant to say."

But Steinberg also recalled that differences between prime ministers and foreign ministers are a long-standing Israeli tradition.

"This is very much part of Israel's political system," he said. "The most blatant example was when Shimon Peres as foreign minister promoted the Oslo peace process behind the back of the prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin."

Building Bridges, A9 TV, Turkey

Building Bridges program with WTPN with their guest Matthew Kalman, Jerusalem correspondent for the London Daily Mail (August 20, 2012)

Israel 'planning to attack Iran before US election'

PM could order strike on nuclear targets within weeks

• Iranian TV announces upgrades to short-range missiles and more powerful naval engine

• Fateh-110 missile with range of about 180 miles included in upgrades

• Israel has said it is contemplating air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites

By MATTHEW KALMAN and TIM SHIPMAN

DAILY MAIL 21 August 2012

Israel is planning a military strike against Iran’s nuclear programme before November, security sources in Israel have claimed.

British officials say prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has begun a process of ‘sounding out’ his voters to gauge support for airstrikes and build a case for military action.

Alon Ben-David, the well-informed military correspondent for Israel’s Channel 10 News, claimed on Monday that the country was ‘closer than ever’ to a strike against Iran.

  

Iran unveiled upgrades to six weapons today, including the Fateh-110 missile, which boasts a range of about 180 miles

He said Nr Netanyahu was ‘determined’ to attack Iran before the US election on November 6 – just 11 weeks away.

Israeli leaders believe that President Obama, locked in a close election battle with Republican Mitt Romney, would be forced to back an Israeli strike – even though US military chiefs are against it – for fear of alienating Jewish voters in key swing states such as Florida.

Tensions grew yesterday when Iranian leaders displayed a new arsenal of Fateh-110 short-range missiles designed to destroy targets within 180 miles, including US warships in the Persian Gulf.

Western intelligence agencies are watching the regime in Tehran closely after senior figures described Israel as ‘a cancer’ that should be ‘wiped off the map’ at the weekend.

The hardware was presented at a ceremony attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Yesterday Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: ‘I have no doubt that our defensive capabilities can stand up to bullying and put a halt to their plans.’

Mr Netanyahu has described the Islamist country’s nuclear ambitions as ‘an existential threat’ that could be used to destroy the Jewish state.
But British and American security chiefs believe military action would spark a lethal Middle East conflict.

Last week, US defence secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,  Martin Dempsey, held an unprecedented briefing at the Pentagon to warn against an Israeli strike.

‘They could delay but not destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities,’ General Dempsey said. This week he added that the US and Israel had reached ‘different conclusions’ about the imminent threat from Iran.

British diplomats and intelligence chiefs believe Mr Netanyahu is preparing the ground for possible military action but stress they have no foreknowledge of any attack.

‘We would not expect to know anything about it in advance,’ one official said. ‘It is not even clear whether they would tell the Americans until very close to the act itself, or possibly slightly after it.’

Western intelligence agencies doubt whether an Israeli strike alone would be enough to destroy the Iranian nuclear programme, but they acknowledge that Israel believes even delaying it might be a price worth paying.

‘It looks like Netanyahu is having a very vocal conversation about this to build the case for action or to test the ground with his own electorate, or possibly both,’ the official said.

Iran has also threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, the neck of the Gulf through which 40 per cent of the world's sea-borne oil exports pass

President Obama has sent a series of senior officials to Israel in recent months, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to try to persuade Mr Netanyahu that the crippling sanctions regime now in place will force Iran to abandon its nuclear programme.

The UK has also sent the message that an escalating roster of economic sanctions against Iran should be used to encourage them to back down.

Even senior Israeli defence and intelligence figures, including the recently-retired head of the Mossad spy agency, have opposed an Israeli attack.

Military analysts have warned that, without US bunker-busting bombs and other vital armaments, Israel cannot destroy Iran’s well-defended nuclear installations.

But Mr Netanyahu appears determined to strike.

‘From the prime minister’s point of view, the time for action is getting ever closer,’ Ben-David said.

Behind the scenes, a shadow intelligence war appears to be escalating. Key Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated or disappeared and Iran’s computer networks have been infiltrated by a series of sophisticated viruses apparently designed to sabotage control systems at its nuclear research facilities.

West Bank facing blackout over unpaid £63m electricity bills

Matthew Kalman
Saturday, 18 August 2012

Electricity supplies to the West Bank could be cut off next week unless the Palestinian Authority pays the Israel Electric Corporation more than £63m in unpaid bills.

The debts include more than £12m owed by the Palestinian Authority itself, and £38m from consumers in refugee camps.

A stay of execution until after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which ends the Islamic holy month of Ramadan this weekend, was agreed in an emergency conference call earlier this week between the Israeli company, the president of the Palestinian Power Authority and the director of the Palestinian-controlled Jerusalem District Electricity Company, Hisham al-Omari.

Mr al-Omari warned there would be a "real crisis" for electricity supplies in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho if the Palestinian Authority did not pay its debts to Israel. The bills from Hamas-controlled Gaza have been paid. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency pays for water, education and health in the refugee camps, but does not pay for electricity.

Last week, the Israeli Electric Corporation announced it would begin procedures to cut off electricity supplies and start legal measures to take control of the Palestinian company's assets and bank accounts unless the debts were paid.

Mr al-Omari warned that power cuts would all but halt the struggling Palestinian economy and are liable to trigger severe political unrest and even violence against both the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

Israel supplies electricity to the Palestinian Authority under the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. It has experienced its own power problems this year with the repeated bombing of a gas pipeline supplying gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan and unusually hot weather that has sent domestic demand soaring to nearly 95 per cent of Israel's total generating capacity.

Israeli PM 'backs Jewish settlers'

Matthew Kalman

Thursday, 16 August 2012

Israeli settlers in the West Bank dismissed reports yesterday that the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was planning to bury a controversial report urging the legalisation of unauthorised outposts in the territory seized from Jordan in 1967.

The report was not discussed at a meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs on Tuesday, raising suggestions in the Haaretz daily that the Prime Minister "has decided to bury the Levy report".

A committee chaired by Edmond Levy, a retired Supreme Court judge, concluded earlier this year that Israel's presence in the West Bank was not "occupation" in the accepted legal sense and that the relevant provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention regarding transfer of populations did not apply to the 350,000 settlers there. The report, warmly welcomed by Mr Netanyahu, was harshly criticised by legal experts and others in Israel and abroad, including the Obama administration.

David Ha'ivri, a settler spokesman, said he was unaware of any indications that Mr Netanyahu was trying to distance himself from the report.

Egypt's problems in Sinai: IBA News, August 8, 2012

Steinitz-Fayyad agreement

STATE OF ISRAEL

MINISTRY OF FINANCE 

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT

July 31, 2012

Press Release

Israeli Finance Minister Steinitz and Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad Conclude Arrangements regarding Transfer of Goods and Related Tax Procedures

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "The new arrangements are part of our overall stated policy to support the Palestinian society and to strengthen their economy, and will hopefully further our relations with the Palestinians in other areas as well."

Israeli Minister of Finance, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, and Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr. Salam Fayyad, concluded today arrangements with respect to the transfer of goods between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and related tax procedures. The arrangements are the result of professional consultations conducted between the parties over the past few months, and are intended to facilitate the implementation of previous agreements in the economic sphere, and in particular the "Paris Protocol".

The objective of the arrangements is to introduce mechanisms that better facilitate the movement of goods between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and that support both parties' efforts in reducing illegal trade and tax evasion. The arrangements will further assist in enhancing the Palestinian tax system and thus aid in strengthening the economic base of the Palestinian Authority.

According to the arrangements, the tax clearance mechanism regarding Value Added Taxes (VAT), purchase taxes and import taxes will be based on the actual and accurate transfer of goods between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, replacing the current practice of calculating such tax clearances on the reported transfer of such goods. To support these efforts, the Israeli and Palestinian tax authorities will enhance the exchange of information regarding the actual transfer of goods. Further, in order to improve monitoring and ensure efficiency in the movement of goods, advanced technologies will be employed, Palestinian storage facilities will be established, and the transfer of goods will be generally conducted via designated Israeli crossings. In addition, pipelines for the safe and exclusive transfer of petroleum products from Israel to the Palestinian Authority will be constructed.

The implementation of the new arrangements will commence on January 1, 2013, and will be monitored by a joint team of experts, comprising of representatives from both parties.

The Israeli Finance Minister Steinitz commented on the new arrangements: "This is an important step in strengthening the economic ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The cooperation between our two tax authorities will assist in fighting tax evasion, in increasing the revenues of the Palestinian Authority from the proper collection of taxes, and in reducing illegal trade. I am delighted that our consultations have been concluded successfully, and wish to express my gratitude to Prime Minister Fayyad for his forthcoming and constructive approach. I also wish to express my gratitude to Prime Minister Netanyahu for his ongoing support."

Following the conclusion of the new arrangements, Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad remarked: "I am certain that the arrangements concluded will help to strengthen the economic base of the Palestinian Authority, through bolstering our tax system and increasing revenue from the proper collection of taxes.  I am pleased to say that these arrangements will also improve the economic relations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. I wish to convey my appreciation and gratitude to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli Finance Minister Steinitz for their efforts in working towards these arrangements."

Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the conclusion of the new arrangements and added that they represent another component of his overall policy to support the Palestinian society and strengthen their economy. He expressed hope that the conclusion of the arrangements will help to further the relations between the parties in other areas as well.

Migrants in Israel: IBA News, July 29, 2012

Romney makes a stand in Jerusalem

U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is pictured in front of the Old City of Jerusalem as he delivers foreign policy remarks at Mishkenot Sha'ananim.
(Jason Reed/Reuters)

The Globe and Mail

Sunday, Jul. 29 2012

MATTHEW KALMAN

JERUSALEM — In a major foreign policy address in Jerusalem, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney staked his claim to the pro-Israel vote in the November election with a tough warning to Iran and a hint that as president, he would support an Israeli military strike to stop that country acquiring nuclear weapons.

“No option should be excluded,” Mr. Romney said on Sunday. “We recognize Israel’s right to defend itself and it is right for America to stand with you.”

Mr. Romney spent the day demonstrating his long friendship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, implicitly contrasting his warm reception with President Barack Obama’s often frosty relations with Mr. Netanyahu.

Mr. Romney also promised as president not to join critics of Israel, as Mr. Obama has on some issues. And he directly challenged White House policy by declaring Jerusalem “the capital of Israel.”

Mr. Romney’s message, delivered against the symbolic backdrop of the Old City of Jerusalem, ruled by Israel since 1967 and still disputed, was directed not at his Israeli hosts but at voters back home, designed to attract the tiny Jewish vote in swing states like Florida and Ohio. Mr. Obama made a similar trip to Israel as a candidate almost exactly four years ago, but has not returned as president.

Mr. Romney was hoping to duplicate the effect when the then-Democratic hopeful won the hearts of Israelis and their U.S. supporters by standing in shirtsleeves before a stack of exploded rockets in the bomb-scarred town of Sderot near Gaza to declare support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Palestinian attacks.

Since becoming president, Mr. Obama has been perceived as leaning away from Israel in an attempt to forge new relations between the United States and the Arab and Muslim world.

“Obama is considered a hostile president who supports the Arab side, while Romney is a ‘friend’ and even more,” noted Shimon Shiffer, diplomatic analyst for the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

Mr. Romney wants to demonstrate that he will be a better friend to the Israelis and he hopes that will win him support among pro-Israeli Jewish and Christian evangelical voters back home.

Tracking polls published last week by both Gallup and Rasmussen showed him steadily gaining on Mr. Obama’s slim lead, but a Gallup poll showed Mr. Obama’s Jewish support steady at around 68 per cent.

Following Mr. Romney’s Olympics debacle in London on the first leg of his foreign tour, Sunday’s visit was less about diplomacy than damage control. “As a direct result of his hapless British sojourn, Romney’s visit to Israel has assumed critical importance, but its main objective has changed: This is no longer about campaigning for American Jewish votes or bolstering Evangelical support; Romney’s main effort is now aimed at preventing any further mishaps that might cause the Republican candidate irreparable harm,” wrote Chemi Shalev in Haaretz.

However, the trip ran into trouble even before it began. Mr. Romney arrived on Tisha B’Av, a solemn day of fasting and mourning that recalls the destruction of the Temple and other disasters. Invitations to a $50,000-a-plate fundraising dinner on Sunday night – the first time a U.S. presidential candidate has held such an event in Israel – were hurriedly switched for an early-morning breakfast on Monday morning. But the gaffes continued. Mr. Romney went ahead with a photo-call at the Western Wall, site of the ancient Temple, with an entourage of media and security guards marching through the mourning congregation. “Vulgar? Very,” noted Atlantic columnist Jeffrey Goldberg.

David Ha’Ivri, a settler spokesman, said he was “very disappointed” at Mr. Romney’s decision to visit the Western Wall with a throng of photographers on such a solemn day. “I can’t figure out what Romney is doing in Israel on Tisha B’Av. We would like to help him but this is major disrespect,” he said.

Undeterred, Mr. Romney declared he was pleased to be in Israel on the day of fasting, linking the ancient disaster marked by Tisha B’Av to modern violence and more recent threats against the Jewish people and Israel.

Without publicly criticizing Mr. Obama while abroad, Mr. Romney suggested that the president was not pushing hard enough on the Iranian nuclear issue. Unlike Mr. Obama, a senior aide explained that Mr. Romney would “respect” an Israeli decision to attack Iran in self-defence.

“When Iran’s leaders deny the Holocaust or speak of wiping this nation off the map, only the naive – or worse – will dismiss it as an excess of rhetoric,” Mr. Romney said in his foreign-policy address.

“It would be foolish not to take Iran’s leaders at their word,” he said. “We have a solemn duty and a moral imperative to deny Iran’s leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent intentions.”

“We must not delude ourselves into thinking that containment is an option,” he said, adding that the United States should “employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course.”

He also obliquely challenged the Obama administration for its public rebukes to Israel, primarily over West Bank settlements.

“Standing by Israel does not mean by military and intelligence cooperation alone,” said Mr. Romney. “We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel voice their criticisms, and we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens our adversaries.”

Zehava Galon, leader of the left-wing Meretz Party, accused Mr. Romney of harbouring “an extremist, dangerous, war-mongering agenda.”

“True friends, as Israel and United States are, tell each other the truth and don’t pretend there are no disagreements, as I’m sure Mr. Romney will do if he gets elected,” said Ms. Galon, who was not invited to meet Mr. Romney.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians and wider Arab world are unimpressed by Mr. Romney’s close ties to Mr. Netanyahu and the backing they share from casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has pledged $100-million to the Romney campaign and finances a free national daily newspaper in Israel that extols the virtues of the Netanyahu government.

This is also the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. In 2008, Mr. Obama made the symbolic journey to Ramallah, the effective Palestinian capital, to meet president Mahmoud Abbas. Yesterday, the only Palestinian on Mr. Romney’s schedule was the pro-Western prime minister Salam Fayyad, who was summoned to meet the candidate under Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.

Romney arrives in Israel to pledge support for the Holy Land and meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu

Presidential candidate is putting his gaffe-filled visit to London behind him as he arrives for the main event of his international trip: Israel.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: SATURDAY, JULY 28, 2012

BY JONATHAN LEMIRE AND MATTHEW KALMAN IN JERUSALEM / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP

Romney and wife Ann arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday.

Mitt Romney will pledge his support for Israel - and make his pitch for Jewish voters back home in America - during a closely-watched visit to the Holy Land Sunday.

Romney, likely grateful to put his gaffe-filled stop in London behind him, arrived in Tel Aviv late Saturday a day before he is set to meet with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A day full of meetings will also include a sitdown with Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, as Romney attempts to bolster his thin foreign policy credentials.

His situation is reminiscent of another presidential candidate who made a similar trip to Israel four years ago: Barack Obama.

Obama, then an Illinois Senator with little international experience, was lauded for voicing unwavering support for Israel as it was pummeled by Palestinian rocket attacks.

But Obama, who has not visited Israel since, has experienced somewhat frosty relations with Netanyahu - and Romney is trying to take advantage of a possible opening with Jewish voters, particularly those in the swing state of Florida.

In a move likely timed to Romney’s trip, Obama pledged more military aid to Israel during a bill signing Friday.

And while it would be difficult for Romney to suffer as many flubs in Israel as he did in the United Kingdom, his scheduling team did make one embarrassing error.

A $50,000 a plate fundraiser with Americans living in Israel was originally scheduled for Sunday, which is Ninth of Av, the solemn day of mourning and fasting that marks the destruction of both Temples in ancient Jerusalem.

After Romney’s advisors realized the conflict, the fundraiser was switched to a breakfast Monday morning.

NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE VIA AMAZON

My authoritative story on the James ossuary trial in Jerusalem for The Jerusalem Report is now available on Kindle via Amazon. Click HERE

A GOLDEN AGE OF JEWISH MEDIA

HONEST REPORTING, JUNE 20, 2012

By MATTHEW KALMAN, editor in chief of The Jerusalem Report

When I was invited to become editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Report last January, I didn’t realize the challenges would be quite so intense.

The Jerusalem Report was founded in 1990, only the second major English-language news publication from Israel after the Jerusalem Post. Its proud boast to cover “Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World” made it just about unique. At the time, there was almost nothing published in English from the Middle East, and The Report was almost alone in trying to bridge the gap between Israel and Jews around the world.

It was also launched in the days before cable television, let alone the internet. CNN only took off the following spring, with the 1991 Gulf War. The Web was still several years away. YouTube was a pipe dream.

More than 20 years on, the magazine that began as a lively upstart challenger to the crusty Jerusalem Post had itself become something of an old-timer, outpaced by the web-savvy offerings from Israel and around the Jewish world. Is there really a future for classic long-form print reporting on Israel-centered subjects in this mobile, cloud-based era?

We seem to have entered a golden age of Israel and Jewish-interest journalism. Just after I took over at The Report, a former editor of the magazine, David Horovitz, launched The Times of Israel, an exclusively web-based news site that seems to point the way forward for Israel news.

Horovitz’s site poses direct competition to the website of theJerusalem Post, which he edited until last summer. The Post was Israel’s first English website, and one of the first global internet news sites, and remains one of the most popular in the world, with millions of hits each month. Haaretz went online a decade later, after the launch of the English-language print edition, followed by Ynet News, the English version of the online edition of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s near-monopoly Hebrew daily. A similar move by Maariv, Yedioth’s closest competitor, failed miserably – probably because the publishers branded the site as “NRG” instead of Maariv, rendering it meaningless to readers abroad.

Arutz 7, the mouthpiece of the national religious and pro-settler movement, also provides news and analysis online in English, completing the political sweep from Israeli left to right.

In 2011, the free daily giveaway Israel Hayom came up with a slightly different concept with the launch of a daily English-language newsletter emailed to subscribers. In May, The Times of Israel announced its own daily newsletter – adding to a growing arsenal of social media that includes a Facebook page linked to readers’ comments and a blog-hosting service modelled on the Guardian’s “Comment is Free.”

But my challenge in positioning The Jerusalem Report is not limited to Israeli publications. Readers around the world can now access high quality reporting from and about Israel via the websites of diaspora publications. The Forward and The Jewish Week are just two of the excellent news sites operating from the US. From Britain, the Jewish Chronicle has also developed a strong web presence.

In addition to these traditional newspapers, there are several new Jewish websites like Tablet,Jewish Ideas Daily and Algemeiner that only exist online – following the model of Slate and Salon – offering excellent coverage, quality writing and expert commentary.

Then there is the whole new world of blogs unattached to any broader publication.

On the left, the Israeli site +972 offers penetrating and sometimes censorship-busting commentary that takes readers far beyond the kind of material available from mainstream Israeli and Jewish sites. It often breaks stories that are then picked up by the established press and provide important examples of “citizen journalism” in action that must be rattling the establishment.

Another totally new phenomenon is Peter Beinhart’s “Open Zion” Blog on the Daily Beast – an online forum in a mainstream digital publication devoted entirely to discussion of issues around Israel.

Amid this flood of exciting new, instantly accessible material, it has been interesting to work out where an old-fashioned print publication like The Jerusalem Report fits in. Gone are the days when we could claim to be the only English-language publication from Israel, let alone the Middle East. And why would someone wait to receive the print edition of The Report when the same stories are instantly accessible online from a dozen different sources?

We are launching a raft of social media access points from Twitter to Facebook, as well as a blog and a new website.

But we don’t intend to compete with the breaking news sites. Instead, we will set our own journalistic agenda rather than following the news. While other sites rush to post stories online and beat the competition, we take a step back and deploy experienced and talented writers to research issues and carefully collect exclusive information.

Readers of The Report in the past few months have enjoyed a series of exclusive interviews with major figures – from Amos Oz to Moshe Feiglin to Salam Fayyad to Lord Jacob Rothschild – that simply are not available anywhere else. Our coverage of Israeli business and high tech is unparalleled in both its depth and range. Allowing writers a week or two to work on a single story has allowed us to set the pace in reporting such diverse issues as the revival of the Kibbutz, the plight of the Falash Mura in Ethiopia, the launch of a new Palestinian women’s police unit, and the harassment of women reporters covering the Arab Spring. These are just some of the stories that have been covered in depth in recent months only in our pages.

Our strength is in our style: long-form, well-written, well-informed journalism accompanied by excellent photography and graphics that provides readers with an informative and entertaining experience that allows them to relax – far away from the insistent demands of the computer screen.

For more about The Jerusalem Report, see its blog site or Like the magazine’s Facebook page.

ARCHAEOLOGY IN A HOLE

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR / MATTHEW KALMAN
From The Jerusalem Report, issue dated July 2, 2012

Nearly 10 years have passed since the world learned of the discovery of a 1st century burial box bearing the words “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” and a black stone tablet with an inscription that brought to life a passage from the Second Book of Kings describing repairs to Solomon’s Temple by King Jehoash around 800 BCE.

Both items, if authentic, would be the first physical artifacts ever found from the family of Jesus and the First Temple. It’s no wonder they caused a worldwide sensation, and that their subsequent exposure as fakes and the arrest of Oded Golan, a Tel Aviv antiquities collector accused of forging them, sparked international interest, even outrage.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), with the Israel Police, gathered testimony around the world and seized hundreds of suspect artifacts. The treasure trove included ancient stone lamps, engraved jugs, pottery shards inscribed in ink, seals and seal impressions known as bulae. Golan, we were told when he was indicted with four others in December 2004 and accused of masterminding an international forgery ring, was falsifying history for personal gain.

UNDER SUSPICION: Oded Golan at home with his treasures

“I believe we have revealed only the tip of the iceberg. This industry circles the world, involving millions of dollars,” said IAA director Shuka Dorfman. “Beside this, Indiana Jones looks small.”

But it wasn’t true. No one else was arrested. The zealotry of the IAA came unstuck when the case against Golan and his remaining co-defendant, antiquities dealer Robert Deutsch, collapsed in spectacular fashion at the Jerusalem District Court in March. Judge Aharon Farkash cleared them of all forgery charges and had some harsh words for the police, prosecution and the IAA.

The Israel Antiquities Authority came unstuck with the collapse of the case against Oded Golan and Robert Deutsch

Farkash said the police forensics laboratory had contaminated the ossuary by blundering through tests that proved nothing and left the inscription scientifically useless for future research. He said the prosecution had failed to prove a single one of the forgery or conspiracy charges brought with such fanfare against Golan and Deutsch. His jaw dropped in disbelief when prosecutor Dan Bahat refused to return the items to Golan, Deutsch and two more collectors. Now the prosecution and the IAA must present a detailed case for confiscating each item.

But Farkash was careful to say that the not guilty verdict did not mean the items were authentic.

The IAA continues to hold by its theory that they were forged by an Egyptian craftsman, Marco Ghatas, who worked with Golan in Tel Aviv. The IAA blamed their failure on the refusal of Ghatas to testify, but the judge said the prosecution evidence simply did not stand up to scrutiny.

The updated story is told in this issue for the first time. I was the only reporter in the courtroom throughout the 120 sessions of the seven-year trial. I heard most of the 12,000 pages of testimony, listened to most of the 126 witnesses and saw most of the 200 exhibits. But I still can not say for certain whether the items are genuine or not.

Even those who are convinced that the items are fake are distressed at the increasingly bizarre actions of the IAA and its publicity-seeking director Dorfman.

I was the only reporter in the courtroom throughout the seven-year trial. I heard most of the 12,000 pages of testimony and listened to most of the 126 witnesses. But I still can not say whether the items are genuine

The IAA’s most egregious mistake was the arrest in 2005 of Hanan Eshel, a Bar-Ilan University archaeology professor who rescued several parchment scroll fragments from the Bar Kochba era that he bought from a Bedouin trader. The IAA charged him with criminal conduct.

“Hanan discovered pieces of biblical Judean scrolls, acquired them, looked after their restoration in the Israel Museum, published them and presented them to the IAA,” says David Jeselsohn, a prominent collector and leading donor to Bar-Ilan who provided the purchase money. “It was the first and only time that the State of Israel was given such a gift. Instead of thanking Hanan, he was detained by the IAA, was presented to the media as a criminal and Shuka Dorfman even had the audacity to bring charges against Hanan at court.” Jeselsohn tells me he thought it was “a bad joke” when he heard that Bar-Ilan was giving its prestigious Guardian of Zion Award to the IAA and that Dorfman would be accepting the prize.

Jeselsohn believes that the Jehoash tablet is a fake, but he describes the prosecution as “a bizarre and hallucinatory trial” against “an imaginary ring of antiquities forgers.” He says the IAA “acted imprudently, senselessly, foolishly and regrettably, with malice.” He called on the IAA to compensate and apologize to Robert Deutsch, Golan’s co-defendant who was acquitted on all charges.

With the IAA still refusing to hand back the artifacts, the case could drag on for some time. I will continue to follow it in the pages of The Jerusalem Report and in a special blog: http://www.jamesossuarytrial.blogspot.co.il/