Shorts: Mideast

Palestinian minister: Barghouti will drop candidancy

jerusalem (jps) | Kadoura Fares, the Palestinian Authority minister of state, said that jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti may abandon his plan to run in the Jan. 9 election for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority.

Knesset member Talab al-Sana, who visited Barghouti in prison, confirmed that Barghouti was considering dropping his candidacy in order to prevent a split in Fatah, which unanimously chose PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas as its candidate.

Fares, who is closely associated with Barghouti, said he was sure that Fatah would eventually present one candidate on the day of election.

He added that Barghouti's decision to reconsider his candidacy came in light of negative reactions from many sectors in Fatah. "Marwan is keen on preserving the unity of Fatah," he explained, saying he was hoping to meet with Barghouti in the coming days to persuade him not to run in the election.




'Iranian spy' busted

jerusalem (jta) | An Israeli Arab is suspected of spying for Iran. Muhammed Ghanem, 56, was arrested last month and confessed to having been recruited by Iranian intelligence on a recent pilgrimage to Mecca, the Shin Bet said this week.

According to the security agency, Ghanem, a resident of the Israeli Arab village of Baka Al-Gharbiya, was told by a Syrian liaison to gather information that could be used for Iranian-backed terrorist attacks in Israel. Ghanem faces felony charges of espionage and illegal contacts with an enemy agency.




Technology leads to healthy baby

jerusalem (jta) | A baby was born at an Israeli hospital to a mother who underwent both genetic disease screening and in-vitro fertilization.

The mother of the baby born last week at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem has a condition called myotonic dystrophy.

A screening of her eggs allowed doctors to identify those that were free of the disease, and she then underwent in-vitro fertilization. The baby was born healthy, the hospital announced.




Settler jailed for arms cache

jerusalem (jta) | A West Bank settler was jailed on terrorism offenses.

An Israeli court sentenced Shachar Zelinger-Dvir to eight years in jail this week in connection with roadside ambushes that killed several Palestinians since 2001. Zelinger-Dvir was found to have stockpiled stolen rifles, used in the shootings, in a cave near his home settlement of Adei Ad.




Astronaut's home burgled

jerusalem (jta) | A thief broke into the home of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon and stole his personal computer.

Ramon's widow, Rona, appealed for the return of a laptop containing the astronaut's letters, which was stolen from the family home in Ram Gan overnight.

"I am sure that the people who broke into our home were not aware of the contents of that computer, nor whose home they had broken into," Rona Ramon told Israel Radio.

Ramon, an Israel Air Force colonel, was killed in the Columbia space shuttle disaster in February 2003.




Dangerous Israeli draftees?

jerusalem (jta) | One in five Israeli soldiers has anti-Arab sentiments, a top general said.

According to a briefing given last week by the Israel Defense Forces' manpower chief, Maj. Gen. Elazar Stern, 20 percent of draftees do not have proper regard for Palestinian life, and are more liable to abuse Palestinians at military checkpoints.

But he also accused some left-wing watchdogs of playing down the risks troops face.




Palestinians surreptitiously surf

jerusalem (jta) | The Israeli navy arrested two Palestinians trying to enter a forbidden area on a surfboard.

The Palestinians were paddling toward an area of the coast of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the southern Gaza Strip last week, according to the Ha'aretz newspaper, and may have been trying to check the alert system.




Reward offered for Arad info

jerusalem (jta) | Israel offered $10 million for information on missing airman Ron Arad.

Arad's family announced the reward in a last-gasp effort to obtain fresh testimony on the Israeli air force navigator who bailed out of his crippled jet over Lebanon in 1986, was captured by Shi'ite militiamen and is believed to have been handed over to Iran.

Arad was left out of a landmark prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah in January.

The Lebanese militia, like its Iranian patrons, denies having information on his whereabouts or condition. Information on the reward can be found at http://www.10million.org.




Vanunu says Israeli nukes escalate arms race

jerusalem (ap) | Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu said last week that Israel's atomic weapons are pushing other countries in the Middle East to develop similar arms.

He also said that tensions over Iran's nuclear activities were linked to the Israeli arsenal.

"Iran tried to put pressure on the world to deal with Israel," Vanunu told Sky News TV, defying an Israeli government order that bans him from talking to the media. "Iran doesn't need, I think, atomic bombs, Iran doesn't want to fight any state with atomic bombs," he said. "But because the world [is] ignoring Israel, that pushes Iran and other states to try to be equal with Israel."