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The Media Line Daily News Focus

1. ISRAEL KILLS TERRORIST IT CLAIMS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR LAST WEEK’S SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK… Israeli military sources say its troops shot and killed two Islamic Jihad operatives in the village of Qabatiyya on Sunday, one of whom the Israelis say was involved in planning last week’s suicide bombing in Hadera that left five Israelis dead and thirty injured. Jihad ‘Uweidat died in a gun battle that erupted after Israeli troops surrounded the house where he was hiding. Earlier, Islamic Jihad had issued a statement saying that it would stop firing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip if Israel ended its military operations there. Following the raid, the terrorist group issued another statement, this time threatening that “after this crime, there will be no security for residents of Sderot and Ashqelon (two Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip and in range of Palestinian rockets).” Israeli officials maintain that Israel is not party to any agreement with individual terror groups and deals only with the Palestinian Authority. Notwithstanding Israel’s continued military assault on Gaza-based terror, it reopened the Karni crossing, a main point of transfer for commercial goods between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

2. AHMADI NEJAD: ‘IT’S NOTHING NEW’… Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad appears to be taken aback by the outpouring of criticism for his remarks reiterating the late Ayatollah Khumeini’s call for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Speaking to a militia on Sunday, Ahmadi Nejad said, “We only repeated the words of the last 27 years which were the stances of the Imam, and the supreme leader and Islamic nation. It was very clear.” He called recognition of Israel “an unforgivable crime.” Criticism of the Iranian president came not only from Western nations, but from the Arab world as well. A number of Muslim critics called Ahmadi Nejad’s remarks counterproductive, saying it brought world sympathy to Israel. [Listen to The Media Line’s “Mideast Media Review” [1] for a look at the Muslim response to the remarks.]

3. SECURITY COUNCIL MINISTERS SET TO APPROVE SYRIA RESOLUTION… Following a number of revisions taking into account Russian and Chinese opposition to sanctions, foreign ministers of U.N. Security Council members will meet in New York on Monday to vote on a resolution demanding Syrian cooperation with the investigation into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri. The final draft alludes to sanctions by referring to Article 41 of the United Nations charter, which allows the use of economic and diplomatic sanctions to enforce U.N. decisions. The resolution requires Syria to detain anyone identified as a suspect by the U.N. investigators, prohibit travel and freeze that person’s assets. The resolution needs the approval of nine of the fifteen Security Council members with none of the five permanent members exercising its veto.

4. LONDON NEWSPAPER: PRINCE CHARLES TO TELL BUSH AMERICA NEEDS TO BE MORE TOLERANT OF ISLAM… Prince Charles will “plead the case for Islam” when he visits the United States this week according to the British Daily Telegraph newspaper. The prince leaves on Tuesday for an eight-day tour of the U.S. that will include lunch and dinner with President and Mrs. Bush on Wednesday. The Telegraph says that key to his agenda will be to tell the Americans that they are too intolerant of Islam since 9/11 and that the U.S. is “too confrontational” towards Muslim nations. Charles and Camilla, now the Duchess of Cornwall, will visit New York, Washington and San Francisco during his first American visit since their marriage.