Israel’s Military Strength Revealed

The Middle East Strategic Balance 2003-2004, recently released by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, gave the public a glimpse into the usually murky order of battle of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to the report, the IDF has 186,500 full-time soldiers. This includes 141,000 in the ground forces, 36,000 in the air force, and 9,500 in the navy. If it calls up all of its reservists, the IDF can field 631,000 troops.

Barghouti- The Intifada Must Go On

The Palestinian people should carry on with the intifada, and the death of Yasser Arafat should not signal the end of the “resistance” against Israel, Marwan Barghouti, the jailed Fatah leader, said in November, after Arafat's death.

UN Council Adopts Anti-Terror Resolution

{image_1} The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously in October for a Russian-initiated resolution that seeks to expand the prosecution and extradition of terrorist groups and individuals, including Chechen separatists. But after challenges from Islamic nations Algeria and Pakistan, Moscow's UN ambassador, Andrei Denisov, considerably softened the original text in an effort to get the 15-0 vote.

Another Possible Parkinson’s Gene Identified

{image_1} Israeli researchers have added another gene to the list of those possibly linked to Parkinson's disease, saying their finding could one day affect the treatment options available to patients.

The gene is one that, in a mutated form, causes Gaucher's disease, a genetic condition in which lipids-blood fats-can't be metabolized properly. There is a high incidence of the disease among Ashkenazic Jews, from Eastern Europe.

Intifada Cost to Israel- US $12 Billion

The Israeli economy has lost some US $12 billion over the past four years as a result of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, credit-risk group Business Data Israel (BDI) said in November.

Molecules Form Nano Containers

{image_1} Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have found a way to coax the self-assembly of minuscule, multi-compartment structures made from molecules, the smallest structures made by man.

Man-Made Spider Webs Stronger than Steel

{image_1} For the first time ever, self-assembled spider web fibers, which are much stronger than silk spun by silkworms, have been created under laboratory conditions outside of the bodies of the arthropods.

Oldest Iron Workshop in Israel Discovered

The Bible relates that the Philistines zealously guarded technologies for producing superior weapons, so that the Israelites could not get their hands on them. But that didn't last forever. A recent dig at tel (mound) Beit Shemesh has found an iron workshop dating back to the ninth century BC, the earliest known in the eastern Mediterranean.

New Head Of Fatah- Follow In Arafat’s Pathtest

Newly appointed Fatah head Farouk Kaddoumi said in November that Yasser Arafat “had joined the tens of thousands of martyrs among the Palestinian nation.” Speaking on the Al-Jazeera television network, he said Arafat had left behind a generation of Palestinians who will “work toward the fulfillment of his dream that a Palestinian boy will fly the Palestinian flag above the walls of Jerusalem.”

“Al-Yasser Rockets Show Our Love”

Fighters in the Gaza Strip are proud to show off the latest addition to their arsenal of homemade rockets—the “Yasser Arafat.”

PA TV Sermon: “We Want to Return to 1919 Borders”

Each Friday, Muslim countries invite noted Muslim clerics to give sermon messages on state-sponsored radio and television. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is no exception. In Sheik Ibrahim Madiras’s Friday sermon on PA TV last December, he called for the borders of the Palestinian state to be those of the British Mandate—at that time, comprising all the land of Israel, the territories, and the Kingdom of Jordan. Incidentally, this land was given to the Jewish people by order of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. Subsequently, for British political interests, chunks of territory were taken from the Jews and given to the Arabs.

Abu MAZEN: “No Peace without JERUSALEM”

Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and Abu Ala (Ahmed Qurei), visited Lebanon last December, reiterating their demand for Jerusalem and the right of millions of Arabs to live in Israel.