News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) American President George W. Bush has signed a Congressional bill including an amendment that forbids American aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it accepts previous agreements and commits itself to non-violence. Among those previous accords is that signed at last year's Sharm El-Sheikh summit, where the PA vowed to halt incitement and to break down the terrorist infrastructure. The new law requires the PA to demonstrate "its commitment to the principles of nonviolence, the recognition of Israel, and the acceptance of previous agreements and obligations" before it can receive American aid.

--Syria and Iran have widened military cooperation, and Iran has agreed to sell Syria missiles and establish weapons production plants in Syria. Defense ministers of the two countries said their agreement is intended as a move against Israel and the United States.

--State Department spokesman Sean McCormack did not deny a reporter's comment that the European Union (EU) proposal to aid the Palestinian Authority (PA) could be considered a substitute for salaries to Hamas government workers. The EU plan calls for cash assistance for social allowances, and reporters asked if that is any different from a salary. McCormack replied, "I'm not going to get into the detail.... There is a proposal to give a basic allowance for providers of health care services that have not been paid. So there is, you know, again, an allowance there."

--IDF officials have admitted failure in their attempt to stop rocket attacks from the area under jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Olmert administration last week sent harsh warnings to the PA that Israel would strike hard if the assaults against Israel continue. "We sent Hamas the most threatening message possible that we would kill their leaders, and it had no real effect," an official said. "Our deterrence has been seriously weakened."

--Amos Gilad, who is an IDF intelligence officer and now heads the political department of the Defense Ministry, declared that Kassam rocket attacks against Israel are attempted murder. "It is not fire. You can call it an 'attempted murder of civilians,'" he stated. "These are rockets that are fired in order to kill civilians, [or] to put it more correctly, to murder them. This is a very severe thing, something that no state can tolerate in any way."