The northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo. Israel's decision to build 1,600 more apartments there has brought international condemnation, even from the US.

‘Stage 3’ of settlement freeze to begin

 Biden Embraces Then Condemns Israel

JERUSALEM - Vice President Joe Biden told Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, Wednesday, they deserve an independent state.

On day three of his Middle East tour, Biden also said the U.S. is committed to brokering a peace deal with Israel.

Yet, just hours after pledging that support, Israeli officials announced a new building project in East Jerusalem -- putting a cloud over pending peace talks.

Israel's decision to approve hundreds of new housing units drew sharp criticism from the U.S. and the Palestinians.

Biden condemned the building announcement in a statement saying it is "precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel."

The Israeli move came this week after the U.S. announced indirect Israeli-Palestinian negotiations would begin after a 14-month stalemate.

Palestinian officials said they appreciated the strong U.S. condemnation of Israel.

"We appreciate the condemnation we had from the international community and hope they take the extra step, extra mile of having the Israeli government revoke these orders," Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Ramat Shlomo is an existing Jewish neighborhood in the eastern section of Jerusalem that Palestinians hope will one day become the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said Israel has taken unprecedented steps to get the peace process moving.

"We're currently in the middle of a 10-month moratorium and to get the peace process back on track," he said. "But I want to be clear in the Israeli position. We make a clear distinction in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our capital and it will remain as such."

Israel: We Will Continue to Build in Jerusalem

Iran, Syria: Axis of Nuclear Power?

JERUSALEM - On the sidelines of an international conference on nuclear energy this week, Syria's deputy foreign minister said his country is pursuing "alternative energy sources, including nuclear energy."

"The peaceful application of nuclear energy should not be monopolized by the few that own this technology, but should be available to all," Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad said in Paris on Tuesday, without further elaboration.

But Syria's nuclear aspirations, like Iran's, are neither new nor necessarily restricted to energy production.

Israel believes that Syria has been building covert nuclear facilities, with technical and logistical support from North Korea and Iran, for several years.

The facility destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in September 2007 was a nearly completed nuclear reactor of North Korean design intended to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Association) reported that the collection of uranium particles found at the site in June 2008 was evidence of nuclear activity there. Syria has not allowed the IAEA to return to that site or any other since then.

Iran also insists that its nuclear program is strictly for energy production, but neither its rhetoric nor the facts on the ground support its claims. The same is true of Syria.

By their own admission, the two countries are tightly aligned with one another.

"We are brothers. We have mutual interests, as well as common goals and enemies," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a joint press conference in Damascus with Bashar Assad, his Syrian counterpart, on February 24.

Both countries would like to see Israel wiped off the map and both finance and support Islamic terror groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which they refer to as the "resistance."

"The Zionist entity will eventually disappear…With Allah's help, the new Middle East will be a Middle East without Zionists and imperialists ," Ahmadinejad predicted.

Other Middle Eastern countries, besides Iran and Syria, are increasingly interested in building nuclear power plants, which would provide them with the technology to develop their own nuclear weapons to counter a nuclear-armed Iran.

Last month, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spent two days in Moscow shoring up details of a nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia. The visit followed an announcement last October that Egypt planned to build several nuclear power plants. 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Morocco in February, where he promised to help them develop a nuclear energy program.

Syria and Turkey announced plans to develop a joint energy company, which would include nuclear power plants. Turkey is accepting bids for building its first plant and is laying the groundwork for a second one.

Since 2006, about a dozen Middle Eastern countries have decided to pursue nuclear power, with Saudi Arabia, Libya, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman jumping on board this past year.

And what about Israel, surrounded by a sea of less-than-friendly Arab countries?

At the Paris conference, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said Israel, which uses coal and natural gas to produce electricity, was also considering nuclear energy production.

"Israel has always considered nuclear power to partially replace its dependence on coal," Landau said.  

Unlike its neighbors, all signatories of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel has maintained a low profile for years, neither affirming nor denying its nuclear arms capabilities.

Nor has Israel caved in to pressure to sign the NPT, which would require disclosure and disarmament of any weapons it may have. Successive Israeli leaders have managed to convince their U.S. ally of the need to retain military superiority in the region.

D.C.-based political analyst Guy Ziv believes that Israel's "policy of ambiguity has been a key factor in limiting Arab aggression."

In a recent article entitled "Washington, Israel and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," published in The Jerusalem Post, Ziv concluded that "the Obama administration has come to understand that, at least for the time being, Israel's ambiguous nuclear policy, along with its refusal to join the NPT, is a force that promotes regional stability."

 Americans Sue Israel over Daughter's Death in Gaza

(IsraelNN.com) The parents of American pro-Gaza activist Rachel Corrie have filed a civil suit against Israel over the death of their daughter in Gaza in 2003. Corrie died after sustaining injuries when she was hit by a pile of dirt and debris while lying down in front of a D9 bulldozer. The bulldozer was driven by IDF soldiers searching for terrorist weapons-smuggling tunnels.

The case opened this week in the Haifa District Court.

In its opening defense statement, the state asked that the suit be dismissed. Corrie deliberately put herself at risk, state attorneys argued. The incident has been thoroughly investigated, and it has been proven that the IDF soldier driving the bulldozer had no intention of injuring Corrie, but simply could not see her, they said.

"Rachel Corrie was injured as a result of her prohibited action, for which she is solely responsible, due to her considerable negligence and lack of caution,” the state argued. “She willingly took part in hostile and violent illegal activity, and intentionally and willingly put herself at risk, while she was in the Gaza strip in general, and along the Philadelphi Corridor, in particular, which were combat zones at the time and had been declared a 'closed military zone.'”

The bulldozers used in Gaza had a limited field of vision, due to the need to protect drivers from snipers and other forms of attack. Polygraph tests showed that the driver who pushed debris onto Corrie was telling the truth when he said that he was unable to see her, defense attorneys said.

The driver stopped when Corrie's friends ran into his field of view and signaled that someone had been hit, the state noted.

In an editorial this week, Professor Steven Plaut accused the extreme left of using Corrie's death to further their anti-Israel agenda.

Internationals to Challenge IDF on Gaza Barrier
As the case opened, Gaza Arabs and international activists began another campaign aimed at challenging IDF security zones along the Gaza barrier. Groups of Arabs and internationals plan to walk toward the Gaza security barrier, into the no-go zones near the barrier, according to the Palestinian Authority-linked Maan news agency.

The IDF created the no-go zones in order to prevent terrorists from approaching the barrier and attacking soldiers or infiltrating Israel. The zones also aim to prevent terrorists from planting bombs along the barrier, or digging tunnels into nearby Israeli towns to carry out attacks.

Gaza Arabs say they want to use the no-go zones for agriculture.

 Jewish Activists: 'Arabs Gaining Control of Gush Etzion'