Shorts: Mideast

Israeli linked to suicide bombing

jerusalem (jta) | A Jewish Israeli is suspected of complicity in last month's Netanya suicide bombing.

The Shin Bet security service revealed this that two Israeli Arabs also were arrested on suspicion of smuggling the Islamic Jihad terrorist from the West Bank on July 12. Five Israelis were killed in the attack.

Kfir Levy said he did not know he was transporting a bomber and may have thought the man was an illegal worker, but he and the two Israeli Arabs are to be charged with manslaughter. A Palestinian, believed to be the terrorist's handler, also was arrested.




Iraqis draft constitution with anti-Israel clauses

jerusalem (jta) | The Anti-Defamation League urged the State Department to push for the removal of anti-Israel passages from Iraq's draft constitution.

"We hope the United States will encourage the drafters of the constitution to remove this objectionable, blatant anti-Israel discrimination in the draft text," the ADL's national director, Abraham Foxman, wrote July 27 to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "We are all hopeful that a democratic Iraq will be protected by a constitution that is free from bias and discrimination and will serve as a model for the entire region."

One article of the constitution states, "Any individual with another nationality (except for Israel) may obtain Iraqi nationality," while another article states, "Any Iraqi may have more than one nationality as long as the nationality is not Israel."




'Masada' at sea?

jerusalem (jta) | A group of settler youths reportedly is considering mass suicide to protest the upcoming Gaza Strip withdrawal.

Ha'aretz reported this week that between 10 and 12 youths from Gaza settlements, all of them surfers, have discussed drowning themselves at sea after the evacuations begin later this month.

The report drew comparisons to the Roman-era mass suicide of Jews in Masada and sparked uproar among Israeli officials.

"The implementation of the disengagement plan has nothing in common with the story of Masada, so suicide as a tool of resistance should not be part of the protest arsenal," said Ehud Yatom, a Likud Party lawmaker.




Israel switches to sand bullets

jerusalem (jta) | The Israeli army is replacing its rubber bullets with sand bullets for controlling riots.

The sand bullets are considered less dangerous than rubber bullets, because the sand bullets don't penetrate the skin.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem praised the move, but questioned why it has taken the army so long to make the change, Ha'aretz reported.




Palestinain militants promise to halt rocket attacks

jerusalem (jta) | The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad promised this week it would fire no more rockets at Israelis with the approach of Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this month, after a barrage accidentally killed a 5-year-old Palestinian boy.

Islamic Jihad's statement was a sign that the pullout might proceed calmly. The group and its larger militant counterpart, Hamas, denied firing three rockets toward an Israeli demonstration across the Gaza fence late Tuesday, Aug. 2. One of the rockets hit a Gaza house and killed the child, wounding nine other people.