Today's Situation

A KILLER'S WORDS, October 23, 2007

According to the Hebrew calendar, Tuesday night marks the 12th anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by Yigal Amir.

To coincide with the anniversary, the police yesterday released a videotape of Amir's first interrogation just hours after the murder, in which the assassin detachedly and calmly describes how he planned to kill the prime minister and how he carried out his plan.

Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv both lead their Tuesday editions with the Amir videotape, both quoting the assassin's answer when asked whether he regretted his actions: 'God forbid.'

Defense Minister and Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak told a meeting of his party's Knesset faction, that they would lead the opposition against any efforts to shorten Amir's life prison sentence.

Ceremonies marking the anniversary begin Tuesday evening with a candle-lighting at the President's Residence. The official ceremony takes place Wednesday afternoon on Mt. Herzl. President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik and Supreme Court president Justice Dorit Beinisch will attend.

The prime minister, meanwhile, continues with his brief European tour, traveling to London to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown after meeting President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris yesterday.

In its lead story, Haaretz says that Sarkozy told Olmert at their meeting that Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a Palestinian state, not in Israel. That one statement encapsulated what is seen as a revolution in France's relationship with Israel.

Among the other headlines to come out of Olmert's visit to France were Sarkozy's demand that Israel make some gestures in negotiations with the Palestinians and an agreement that is unacceptable to both France and Israel that Iran be armed with a nuclear weapon.

The two leaders also discussed the U.S.-hosted conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland in November or December.

Olmert also used his press conference after meeting with Sarkozy to deny that his coalition government was at risk of collapsing because of the Annapolis summit. His comment comes after coalition partners Eli Yishai (Shas) and Avigdor Lieberman both threatened to pull out over discussions on dividing Jerusalem.

The prime minister said that he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have told negotiating teams to draft a joint document for the conference that addresses so called final status issues.

According to Israel Radio, Olmert also criticized International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohammed ElBaradei for his remarks in a newspaper interview in which he said that Iran's nuclear program does not represent a clear and immediate danger. ElBaradei said that Iran needs at least three to eight years to develop its first atomic bomb.

However, Ynet provided some backing to ElBaradei, in the unlikely shape of Kadima MK and former head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, who claimed that 'an atomic bomb of the type being developed by Iran can't destroy Israel, period.'

Nonetheless, the lawmaker added that 'a nuclear Iran is an intolerable threat to Israel - and Israel must do everything so that Iran will never have such a bomb.'

Haaretz also reports on growing concerns in Israel that Egypt has adopted a policy of backing Hamas. This follows reports that Egypt has allowed nearly 100 terrorists to cross into Gaza the past several months. The terrorists who have entered Gaza include bomb making experts and those who underwent training by Hizbollah in Iran and Lebanon. Following the disengagement, Israel signed an agreement by which Egypt would take control of security along the border with Israel, including the Philadelphi Route. Ministers have expressed disappointment with Egypt's failure to act against terrorism, and Cairo recently has tried to blame Israeli soldiers for collaborating to help terrorists cross the border in exchange for money.

Arutz 7, meanwhile, reports that according to military sources, the PA has released dozens of Hamas members who were being held in the Tul Karm prison. Israel has officially complained about the 'revolving door' policy ever since Abbas claimed three years ago he was cracking down on terror.

On the Gaza front, six Qassam rockets were fired at targets in Israel on Tuesday morning, with one exploding near a strategic site in the port city of Ashkelon. Officials did not release details but said there was no damage.

Ashkelon is home to a huge electricity generating station and oil and gas pipelines. Terrorists occasionally have fired Qassam rockets on the city, whose distance from northern Gaza is about the maximum limit of the range of the rockets. However, Arab terrorists recently fired a longer-range Katyusha rocket, which can easily reach Ashkelon.

In Washington, Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On met with World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Monday and asked him to stop economic cooperation with Gaza. Bar-On explained that the World Bank should 'strengthen the moderates' by assisting the Palestinian Authority with projects, but that 'there is no room to include Hamas.'

Finally, News First Class reports exclusively that the Winograd Committee's final report will include harsh criticism of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whose order for a hasty withdrawal from Lebanon when he was Prime Minister is cited as leaving a vacuum for Hizbollah to exploit

Winograd Committee member Prof. Ruth Gabizon reportedly said that there was a direct link between the withdrawal in 2000 and the subsequent stockpiling of weapons by Hizbollah. The committee has said it will release its final report by the end of the year without laying blame on individuals for the failures of the government and military in the Second Lebanon War.

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