1. IRAN OFFERS AID TO HAMAS-LED PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY… Iran has offered to provide aid to the Palestinian Authority. The offer was expected following threats by the United States and the European Union to cut off support when Hamas assumes control of the P.A. The announcement was made by ‘Ali Larijani, secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, after a meeting in Tehran with Hamas political leader Khalid Mash’al: “The United States proved that it would not support democracy after it cut its aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won the elections. We will certainly help the Palestinians.” The Israeli government immediately reacted by saying it would exercise all legal means to block the Iranian support for “a terrorist leadership.”
2. FIVE QASSAM ROCKETS LAND IN ISRAEL… Five more Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning. The launch came from an area that was the Israeli community of Dugit prior to Israel’s unilateral pullout from Gaza last September. The Qassams fell near several Israeli communities in the northern Negev. No injuries or damage was reported.
3. MUBARAK ASKS U.S. TO CONTINUE AID TO PALESTINIANS… Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has asked the United States to continue its support to the Palestinian Authority while a government is formed and while it is seen whether Hamas will accede to a series of demands set forth by P.A. Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas. Mubarak called for Israel to avoid anything that could be seen as a collective punishment of the Palestinian people. As examples, he listed withholding the transfer of tax money Israel collects on behalf of the P.A. and the cutting-off of financial aid.
4. ISRAELI ACTING PRIME MINISTER DISAGREES WITH INTEL-HEAD ON HAMAS THREAT… Two days after Yuval Diskin, the head of Israel’s domestic security agency termed Hamas a “strategic threat to Israel,” Israel’s acting prime minister disagreed. Ehud Olmert told the Knesset (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday that while “I highly value the Shin Bet head…I do not agree with his view.”
5. IRANIAN PRESIDENT: IRAQI SHRINE DESTROYED BY ISRAEL, U.S… Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad has accused Israel and the United States of being behind the bombing of one of Iraq’s most important shrines. The dome of the Al-‘Askariyya Shrine in Samara collapsed after explosive charges were set off inside the mosque, triggering what some believe could lead to civil war in Iraq. Speaking to a throng of thousands in southwestern Iran on Wednesday, Ahmadi Nejad charged that the bombing was an act “of a group of defeated Zionists and occupiers who intended to hit our emotions.” He said they “oppose God and justice.”