1. REPORTS: NEW ANTI-MISSILE SYSTEM UNDER U.S., ISRAELI DEVELOPMENT…Reports from Israel suggest the American and Israeli governments are putting the final touches to a system that will shoot down the short-range missiles being used by the Palestinian terror organization Hamas. The laser-based Nautilus will seek and destroy Qassam missiles that currently have a range of just a few miles. The reports speak of tests carried out in New Mexico two months ago. Two Israeli civilians were killed by a Qassam rocket earlier this month.
2. ISRAEL SAYS FOUND NEW MISSILE IN GAZA…The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has discovered one of the newest Hamas rockets in Beit Hanoun at the northern end of the Gaza Strip. The Na’sir has the same range as the Qassam II but carries a larger payload. The weapon was found during the ongoing IDF mission in the town. Many of the rockets fired on Israeli towns and villages in the western Negev Desert region have been launched from Beit Hanoun.
3. IDF: BOMBING ATTACK PREVENTED…Israeli soldiers say they arrested three men in the West Bank village Tubas. They say they also discovered 35-pounds of explosives in a belt ready for use.
4. WEEKEND OF VIOLENCE IN THE PALESTINIAN AREAS…Groups of Palestinians continued to protest against the lack of reforms in the Palestinian Authority over the weekend. Some protesters burnt down a police station in Gaza City, while members of the Aq’sa Martyrs Brigades took over the governor’s office in Khan Younis. They demanded 50 of their colleagues in the organization be given back their jobs in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces. The brigades is under the umbrella of Yassir Arafat’s Fatah organization.
5. DAHLAN DENIES BEHIND REVOLT…The former head of the Palestinian forces in Gaza, Muhammad Dahlan, says he is not the power behind the violent demonstrations in the Gaza Strip. Dahlan made the comment in an interview published on Sunday in the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayyat. Dahlan is seen by many as a likely successor to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat, and his main rival. However, in the interview Dahlan denies he is at odds with Arafat, but rather those corrupt people that surround the Palestinian leader.
6. ISRAELI POLICE UP SECURITY AROUND TEMPLE MOUNT…There is renewed concern in Israel that far-right Israelis may be planning an attack on Muslim sites on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Some in the Internal Security Ministry are expressing the fear that extremists may try to target the area in order to scupper Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza-withdrawal plan. However, some far-right spokespeople say while they believe there is justification in attacking the holy sites, now is not the time to do so.
7. ISRAEL’S FM HOSTS ANTI-GAZA WITHDRAWAL CONFERENCE…Hundreds of senior members of Ariel Sharon’s Likud party are expected to participate in a conference on Sunday night that is aimed at fighting against Sharon’s Gaza-withdrawal plan. The gathering will be hosted by Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom and ministers without portfolio Uzi Landau and Natan Sharansky. Officials in Sharon’s office say they are angry that the country’s foreign minister is leading a meeting that is in direct conflict with official government policy.
8. ISRAELIS LINK FOR GAZA PRESENCE…It will take some 90,000 people to do it, but Israel’s political right remains confident it will build a human chain from the Gaza Strip to the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Sunday night. Throughout the 50-mile plus route protestors will express their opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza-withdrawal plan.