U.S. Envoy to Israel Says Nation Is Ready on Iran

Seems like this is inevitable

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Iran denounces Western support for Israel

A former Iranian president warned the West on Friday that its support for Israel would backfire, as hundreds of thousands of people staged rallies in support of Muslim claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is still considered influential in Iranian politics, said the U.S., Britain and France back Israel — and this is dangerous.

"They will put themselves in trouble, eventually," Rafsanjani said during a Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran marking "Al-Quds Day." Al-Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem.

Israel could "take tougher and more offensive action" than the United States against Iran and the Arab world, warned Rafsanjani.

State-run television also aired clips on Friday featuring hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York. The president, who is in the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly meeting, said Israel does not have support among ordinary people in America.

He also chided hundreds of demonstrators who protested against him during his trip, calling it a "big failure for them."

The latest anti-Israel remarks by Iranian leaders come as hundreds of thousands rallied in cities across the Persian country to protest Israel's continued hold on Jerusalem, the city where Muslims believe Islam's Prophet Muhammad began his journey to heaven.

In the capital, Tehran, demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" to commemorate "Al-Quds Day." Some protesters also burned American and Israeli flags.

Tehran's Jewish community also participated in the rally, according to a statement by the Tehran Central Jewish Committee, a copy of which was made available to The Associated Press.

Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran has observed the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as "Al-Quds Day," as a way of expressing support to the Palestinians and emphasizing the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims.

Rallies were also held in the Syrian capital of Damascus to mark Al-Quds. More than 3,000 people gathered at the Yarmouk refugee camp carrying Palestinian flags and anti-Israeli banners. The rally was attended by several officials from Syria-based Palestinian factions, including Ahmed Jibril from the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General-Command.

"This day is a day of popular anger in the Arab and Islamic nations. It is directed toward all those who are colluding against Palestine and Jerusalem," Jibril said, in apparent reference to Arab nations that have relations with Israel.

Hamas says PA cracks down on West Bank charities

The Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday said the Palestinian Authority (PA) was maintaining a campaign to shut down charities and local aid organizations in West Bank.

The PA's "frantic campaign has targeted many charities and service organizations by storming, closing and confiscating the belongings of these organizations," Hamas said in a statement.

The statement said that the organizations are targeted "without any legal justification, just under the claim that they were close to Hamas. In many cases, the campaign targeted private businesses under a shameless accusation that the owners receive money from Hamas."

The PA forces last week shut down four charities and two printing houses in West Bank city of Hebron for sponsoring factional activities for Hamas.

The closure comes as Israel also launched a similar crackdown against Hamas institutions in West Bank, mainly in Nablus city, in an effort to end the Islamic movement's civil infrastructure.

But in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Hamas closed dozens of civil organizations it considered affiliated with Fatah after it accused President Mahmoud Abbas' party of being implicated in a beachside blast that killed a girl and five Hamas members.

The explosion took place last month and Hamas continued arresting Fatah supporters and closing their organization in the toughest crackdown against the movement in months.

Last year, Hamas took control of Gaza Strip after routing pro-Abbas forces and driving out Fatah leaders to West Bank.

Hamas warns of uprising against Palestinian security forces, Israel

The Islamic Hamas movement warned Tuesday that it would wage a new Intifada, or uprising, against Israel and Palestinian security forces in the West Bank if arrests against Hamas activists continued.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in a statement sent to reporters that "Hamas warns of a new Intifada against the occupation and its supplementary tools in the West Bank if the arrests continue."

He accused Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of cooperating with the Israeli army for carrying out "mass arrests and awful crimes against Hamas movement's activists in the West Bank."

"The continuation of the arrest campaigns and raids carried out by Abbas security forces in the West Bank is serving the goal of the Israeli occupation to uproot the movement there," said Abu Zuhri.

Since Saturday, Abbas security forces arrested more than 150 Hamas-affiliated members and activists, including deputy mayor of Nablus, municipal council members, academics and intellectuals, said Hamas.

Meanwhile, Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip arrested around 200 Fatah members and closed down dozens of charities and civil institutions.

Rival Fatah and Hamas began a verbal war and arrest campaigns against each other following a mysterious blast targeting a Hamas militants' car in Gaza late Friday.

Hamas blamed Fatah movement behind the blast which killed five Hamas militants and a child, and wounded around 20 people, but Fatah denied any involvement.

Israel blows up "illegally built" Palestinian home

Israeli security forces blew up a Palestinian four-storey apartment block near East Jerusalem on Monday because Israel said some of the structure had been built without planning permission.

An Israeli police spokesman said security forces had surrounded the structure in the Palestinian suburb of Beit Hanina north of central Jerusalem, before bulldozers began preparing it for demolition. It was blown up in the evening.

"The operation began in the early hours of the morning, the owners were evacuated and the explosion was carried out in the evening once everybody was clear from danger," he said.

Dozens of local residents and their supporters protested against the demolition and called on Palestinian officials for help.

Palestinians complain that Israel unfairly denies building permits to Arabs in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while encouraging Jews to build there.

The police spokesman said the demolition went ahead after a petition the owners had lodged with Israel's Supreme Court had failed.

"About 1,500 people arrived at 4 a.m. and said 'you have two or three minutes to get out, leave everything behind'," house dweller Wael Awida told Israel's Channel 1 television.

Armoured bulldozers have demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes in the past decade on the grounds they have been built without permission.

Israel, Hezbollah prepare for prisoner swap

Israel and Lebanon were making final preparations on Monday for a high-profile prisoner swap, with Hezbollah ready to celebrate what it hails as a major victory over its Israeli foes.

Israel is to free five Lebanese prisoners on Wednesday, including a militant held for three decades over a grisly triple murder, in exchange for two soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a deadly cross-border raid two years ago that triggered a devastating war in Lebanon.

It is also set to transfer to Lebanon the bodies of almost 200 Palestinian and Lebanese fighters, some from Hezbollah, as well as release a number of Palestinians under the swap mediated by a UN-appointed German diplomat.

The Iranian and Syrian-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah plans a hero's welcome for its fighters, with celebratory banners and flags lining the main highway from the Israeli border at Naqura to the southern port city of Sidon.

"We are a people who will not abandon our detainees in prison," reads one banner, taken from a pledge by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. "Thanks to the weapons of the resistance, we will free our prisoners," says another.

The swap, which still requires final approval from the Israeli cabinet, is expected to take place with Red Cross supervision at around 0600 GMT at the Naqura crossing point on the border.

The Lebanese daily As-Safir, considered close to the Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition, said: "In a few days, spring will come back... changing the cycle of the seasons."

Al-Akhbar, another pro-opposition daily, said the released prisoners were to appear in public in combat gear.

In contrast to Hezbollah's celebrations, the mood in Israel ahead of the swap is sombre, reflecting the government's belief that the two captured servicemen -- Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev -- are dead.

An Israeli official said the exchange will take place after military authorities identify Regev and Goldwasser, either dead or alive.

Israeli cabinet ministers are expected to give final approval to the deal on Tuesday after being briefed by security officials on a Hezbollah report on the fate of Israeli airman Ron Arad, who went missing after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 during the civil war.

In its report, Hezbollah said Arad had died in captivity, but Israel remains sceptical.

Israel on Monday transferred four Lebanese detainees -- Khaled Zidan, Maher Kurani, Mohammed Sarur and Hussein Suleiman -- to another prison where they joined Samir Kantar, who is serving multiple life sentences for a brutal triple murder in Israel in 1979.

A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said the ICRC was preparing to oversee the prisoner exchange.

"We will bring 11 Red Cross trucks from Jordan to transport the bodies and we will also interview the detainees before they are transferred to Lebanon," Yael Segev Eitan told AFP.

Lebanon is planning a welcoming ceremony in Naqura, a security official said, adding that President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri would later greet the prisoners at Beirut airport.

Hezbollah is staging its own ceremony in its stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where a speech by Nasrallah is to be broadcast on a giant television screen.

In June, Hezbollah held celebratory ceremonies when Israel freed and then deported to Lebanon a convicted Hezbollah spy, Nessim Nisr, who had served six years in prison.

At the time, the militant group handed over the remains of Israeli soldiers in what was seen as a confidence-building measure.

Iran 'to target Israel, US bases'

Iran will target "the heart of Israel" and 32 US bases in the Gulf if they launch an attack on Iran, an Iranian official has warned.
The Iranian response would come "before the dust from this attack has settled", Mojtaba Zolnour said.



Mr Zolnour is a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the elite Revolutionary Guards.

His comments come amid fears that Iran could be attacked by the US and Israel over its nuclear programme.

They also followed Iranian missile tests capable of hitting Israel early this week.

Tehran denies Western claims that it is seeking to build a nuclear weapon.

It has repeatedly rejected demands to halt enriching uranium, which can be used as fuel for power plants or material for weapons if refined to a greater degree.

The European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran in June.

But it has offered a package of incentives to persuade Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.

Iran has said it is prepared to negotiate with major world powers, but insisted the talks must address Iran's nuclear rights.