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1. New Survey Indicates Large Oil Field Buried Under Negev Sand
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A new preliminary geological survey indicates 26 million barrels of recoverable oil—worth $2 billion—may be sitting underneath the sandy soil in the area of two kibbutzim in the Western Negev, near Gaza.
Energtek announced it has received a geological survey on the Nir-am—Sa'ad block, “identifying the potential for exploitable oil and natural gas reserves.” Its subsidiary Energtek Products has the exclusive license to explore and exploit the resources in the area.
The firm added, “Current estimates will need to be confirmed by additional studies. Additional seismic analysis, modeling and further verifications are required to compile more accurate data on the fields and to provide more accurate reports on actual recoverable reserves.”
Besides the estimates of oil at a depth of 2,000 meters, or approximately a mile and a quarter, the preliminary survey also reports an additional estimate of 12 million barrels of recoverable oil at depths of up to 4,000 meters, worth $900 at current prices.
The area is adjacent to the small Heletz oil field, which so far has produced more than 16 million barrels of oil. If the new field is drilled, it will be the first deep-well drilling in the area in decades.
The announcement of the possible new field comes one day after Israel entered a new era with the beginning of drilling of the huge Leviathan natural gas and oil field off the northern Mediterranean Coast.
Drilling and exploration over the next five months will cost $150 million, according to Delek Energy, the parent of Delek Drilling and partner Avner Oil. American-based Noble is also part of the consortium.
“The drilling is intended to examine the potential of the Levantine basin,” according to Delek chief executive officer Gideon Tadmor, chief executive officer. “If this drilling project turns out to be a success, it will significantly strengthen Israel’s energy independence.”
Noble also operates the nearby Tamar gas field, which it said may hold twice the reserves of reserves in Britain and can supply Israel with enough gas for decades.
2. Moroccan Royal Snub Nixes Visit by Peres
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Moroccan King Mohammed VI says President Shimon Peres is a welcome friend—but some other time, and hints that Peres would be more welcome if Israel agrees to freeze building for Jews.
The king cancelled a planned visit by the President, who then cancelled his entire trip to Morocco, which is considered by many to be Israel’s closest friend in the Arab world. President Peres’ visit was to include a meeting at the World Economic Conference.
"President Peres decided to turn down the invitation from the Forum after being informed that King Mohammed VI would not meet with him at this time over the ongoing political situation with the Palestinians," a presidential spokeswoman told the French news agency AFP.
"The king let the president know that he is welcome to visit Morocco to participate in the Forum but that he would prefer to meet under other circumstances," she added.
The ”other circumstances” refers to the efforts by the Arab world to bring international pressure on Israel to renew the freeze on building new homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria. An unprecedented 10-month freeze, designed to satisfy Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s condition for resuming direct talks with Israel, expired last month without the PA agreeing to honor its original promise. Abbas argued that the freeze was only partial.
Although Morocco and Israel do not have formal diplomatic ties, Israeli officials frequently visit, and the country treats Jews better than other Muslim countries.
Morocco once was home to more than 100,000 Jews, almost all of whom have moved to Israel, with approximately 5,000 remaining. Moroccans in Israel freely visit their native country, and Casablanca hosts a Jewish organization representing the community.
Former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin visits Morocco in1993 after he signed an agreement with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
After the outbreak of the Oslo War, also known as the Second Intifada, 10 years ago, two Moroccan youth tried to vandalize a local synagogue. King Mohammed said he would not tolerate mistreatment of the country’s Jews, and the youth were arrested, convicted and sentenced to jail.
3. Special Bus Service Taking Worshipers to Rachel's Tomb
by Gil Ronen
Rachel, the Biblical Matriarch who was the Patriarch Jacob's most beloved wife, was buried on the road between Bethlehem and Efrata and not in the Cave of the Patriarchs as were the other three Matriarchs. The Midrash states that this is so the Jews would pass her grave on their way to exile and she would entreat G-d to spare them. In Jeremiah 31, the prophet says: " A voice is heard in the heights, the sound of lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel is mourning for her children and refuses to be comforted for they are gone." And the prophet continues with G-d's promise: "Refrain from your crying and dry your eyes from their tears, because there is a reward for your efforts, your sons will return from the lands of their enemies, they will return to their own boundaries."
Rachel's tomb therefore symbolizes the pain of exile and the return from exile of the Jews. This fact and the tribulations of her life that included barrenness for many years and death in childbirth have led the Jewish people to identify with her and pour out their hearts at her grave.
The bridal gown of Navah Appelbaum, who was murdered with her father by terrorists the night before her wedding when they went out for a talk at a Jerusalem cafe, is used as part of the hangings in the women's section of the site.
The Egged bus service will be operating a special bus service to Rachel's Tomb in the outskirts of Bethlehem until Tuesday evening. The service is ferrying thousands of devout Jews to the Tomb for the Eleventh of Cheshvan, the yarzeit (Yiddish for “the anniversary of the passing”) of the Biblical Matriarch. Organizers estimated the number of visitors will be much larger than last year.
The special bus service began Monday and is scheduled to continue until 1:00 AM, then resume at 7:00 AM Tuesday. Buses can be boarded in Jerusalem at Binyanei Ha'Uma (the 15 bus toward Har Nof) and on Malchei Yisrael Street opposite the Rozhin Yeshiva. Round trip tickets cost NIS 8.50.
Security forces have decided to block entry of private cars to the Tomb. Cars cannot go past the Gilo checkpoint, where people can park their cars and board a shuttle bus service to the Tomb. The shuttle service will operate nonstop through the night until Tuesday evening.
Those leaving the Tomb need to first board a shuttle vehicle that will take them to the Gilo checkpoint, then board the bus they need. A round trip on the shuttle service costs 4.80 NIS for people who came by car to the checkpoint and is free of charge for those who come by bus.
Rachel's Tomb came under heavy enemy fire in the early 2000s, during the peak of Yasser Arafat's terror war against Israel. Security forces constructed a high wall around it and strictly limited visits. Increased visits to the Tomb have been allowed in the last few years as the general security atmosphere has improved and the grave is always crowded with busloads of visitors..
4. Reform Rabbi Intervenes in Olive Harvest
by Hillel Fendel
Reform Rabbi Arik Asherman was in the center of a dispute regarding Jewish olive harvesting in Samaria Monday. Some say he caused the dispute.
Erez Ben-Saadon of Rechelim, between Shilo and Ariel, who planted trees in the area in question 13 years ago, told Arutz-7 what happened:
“We were harvesting our olives peacefully as we have been doing for 13 years, when suddenly Asherman happened by – and then everything blew up. He started making phone calls to the Civil Administration, and the police, and to Arabs, persuading the latter that the land was theirs and that they should protest… In the end, they all agreed that the trees were not theirs and that they did not plant them, but they said the land was theirs. We asked them to show us deeds, and they said the land belongs to someone else… Finally they said it belonged to their nearby village of Kariyut, and not to any specific person… The Civil Administration people said that since there was no dispute about the trees, we could continue to harvest the olives.”
The incident occurred a day after Ben-Saadon arrived at the site to find that 50 of his olive trees had been harvested and then destroyed, apparently by Arabs.
Asherman, who heads the Rabbis for Human Rights organization, had a slightly different version of today's events. He was contacted today by Arutz-7, and the following is the spirit of what he said:
“A year ago, I happened to be driving by the area, and I saw Jews harvesting olives. I called the Civil Administration, and it was decided that both the Jews and the Arabs would have to bring proof of their ownership of the land, if such existed, within two weeks. Neither of them did so. Today I was driving by again, and again I saw the Jews harvesting. Again I called the Civil Administration and Arabs from Kariyut. No one among the Arabs claimed that it was their land.”
Asked if he encouraged the Arabs to claim that the land was theirs, he said he did not. Later, however, he acknowledged that he encouraged the Arabs to produce proof of purchase.
Reminded that the Arabs had failed to do so a year earlier, and that there was therefore no basis for assuming that private Arab property was being taken by Jews, and asked why he felt the need to intervene, Asherman said that it is very likely that it is in fact Arab land, but the Arabs do not trust the Israeli legal system and therefore don’t bother to produce proof of ownership. He was obvously not aware of the lawfare being waged by the PA and leftist organizations who use local Arabs to file suits constantly in the Israeili Supreme Court.
Asked if this was not a classic case of the Jewish People claiming a piece of their historic homeland that is not owned by any private interests, presenting a "win-win" situation of "Jewish land returning to the nation, without harming private interests," Asherman said that this does not jibe with most interpretations of international law on the issue, and said again that he believes that the plot is owned by Arabs even though they did not produce proof when asked to do so.
He dismissed the response that Israel's legal system has produced many victories for Arab land claims, beginning back in the mid-1970’s, and that therefore this was not likely to be the reason that the Arabs in this case did not produce proof of ownership.
David Hi'Ivri, director of the Liaison office of the Regional Council official in Samaria, told Arutz-7, “He calls himself a peace activist, but in fact he does the opposite, stirring up controversy where there is none. Asherman is a provocateur...”
Asherman was further asked: “If it happens that Israel leaves Judea and Samaria, will you then continue your struggle to seek out Arab owners of land in Tel Aviv and other areas in which they lived before 1948?” Asherman introduced his response with remarks about compromise, but the phone connection was lost and the conversation could not be resumed.
Ben-Saadon said that he heard that earlier in the day, before the above-mentioned incident, Asherman had been at the site of a fire in Eli, “and Civil Administration officials told me that Asherman said that Jews started it.” Asherman categorically denied this, adding that possibly someone in his office had said as much.
Ben-Saadon mocked claims by the Arabs that they would never harvest the fruits of trees that were not theirs: “Just this past Sabbath, we woke up to find our olives stolen…”
Jews’ attempts to claim plots in the Land of Israel not privately owned have also been successful of late in Gush Etzion.
5. UN Message on Negotiations was a Veiled Warning to PA
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A diplomatic United Nations warning, interpreted by pro-Arab media as aimed at Israel, also was a veiled message to the Palestinian Authority not to try to ask the international body to declare the PA as a country.
Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco told the UN Security Council on Monday that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes “if the door to peace closes it will be very hard to open.” However Taranco added—in statement that was not as widely quoted—that “there is no alternative to a negotiated settlement resulting in the creation of an independent and viable” PA state.
News agencies, such as the Associated Press, told readers that direct talks between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu are stalled because of the issue of building for Jews in Judea and Samaria. The news agency added, "Ban has called those settlements illegal.”
Taranco's remarks as warning to Abbas as well as Israel was noted by the Yemen News Agency SABA, which said his statement was “an apparent attempt to dissuade the PA from unilaterally declaring an independent state or from seeking support to do so from the Council or the General Assembly, as stated by Palestinian officials last week.”
Such a declaration implicitly would have to include borders, whose determination is one of the main objectives of talks with Israel.
Nevertheless, most media and the pro-Arab bloc have concentrated on Monday’s United Nations Security Council condemnation of Israel’s approval for 238 new residential units for Jews in Jerusalem. Egypt suggested that the international community may have to impose conditions for a PA-Israeli agreement.
South Africa declared, “The Security Council has to shoulder its responsibility for ending the Israeli occupation and [for] ensuring the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination is met.”
Despite his warning, Taranco left no doubt that he considers a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria and united Jerusalem as contradictory to peace. He also ridiculed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence that Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish nation. Israel is using the issue “to evade responsibilities in the peace process and to sabotage the process," he argued.
U.S. Ambassador Brooke D. Anderson, Washington’s Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs, was critical of both Israel and the PA. While reiterating the Obama administration’s “disappointment” over continuation of new building for Jews in areas of Jerusalem claimed by the PA, he added, “We also urge President Abbas to resume negotiations."
6. Netanyahu Agrees to Amend Loyalty Oath
by Gil Ronen
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has agreed to amend the proposed bill that would require new citizens to pledge loyalty to a “Jewish and democratic State of Israel.” While the bill approved by the cabinet last week only requires non-Jews to swear loyalty upon receiving citizenship, the amended bill would require Jews who become citizens to recite the pledge, too.
The Prime Minister has asked Justice Minister Ya'akov Ne'eman to prepare a new version of the bill that would include Jews. Ne'eman had come out in favor of this change in the cabinet meeting last Sunday, but the cabinet did not immediately accept his proposal and voted in favor of the previous version, that exempted Jews from the oath.
Jewish people gain automatic citizenship in Israel, based on the Law of Return. Israel was established as a Jewish State after nearly 2,000 years in which the Jews were stateless. Therefore, citizenship of the new state was based on Jewish identity, but eligibility for the Law of Return was not limited to those who were Jewish halakhically, as established by the Jewish religion. Judaism is defined as both a religion and nationality.
Some analysts said that Netanyahu made the decision to change the bill after the original measure came under criticism within Israel and outside it. Netanyahu's bureau denied this, however, and explained that he had favored Ne'eman's proposal from the get-go.
Thousands of Arabs and leftists marched against the original bill in Tel Aviv Saturday night and called it racist. However, not just left-wingers and Arabs opposed the bill. MK Michael Ben-Ari, who is among the Knesset's most right-wing members, also opined that Jews should be required to take the oath. The march in Tel Aviv only proved this point, he said: "Today they march against the loyalty oath and tomorrow they will march against the national anthem and call it racist."
7. ADL Includes Jewish Group on anti-Israel List
by Elad Benari
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published last week its list of the ten most influential and active anti-Israel groups in the United States. The groups listed are ones that organize mass demonstrations featuring extreme anti-Israel and anti-Zionist messages, spread malicious propaganda against Israel, and pursue boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against Israel.
Among the groups on the list are Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), The Council on American-Islamic Relations, If Americans Knew, the Muslim American Society, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
As ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman explained: “While there are hundreds of groups that organize and participate in various anti-Israel activities, we have identified the largest and most well-coordinated anti-Israel groups. These groups are not promoting peace, they are spreading propaganda to assault Israel's legitimacy. We want to Americans to know who these groups are and what it is they really stand for, which is to delegitimize the Jewish state.”
In what some may see as surprising, the ADL’s list also included a Jewish organization, the Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization which, according to its website, “works to achieve a lasting peace that recognizes the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination.”
The group boasts of offices in New York and California, 100,000 online activists, chapters across the country and an Advisory Board comprised of numerous prominent Jewish thinkers and artists. Some of its activities, according to the website, include conducting global campaigns to defend and free Israeli and Arab human rights activists, supporting the growth of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement through divestment from companies that profit from what they call “the occupation”, and even supporting “alternative Jewish rituals that include Palestinian narratives.”
Recently, the Jewish Voice for Peace organized a petition signed by more than 150 theater and film professionals, many of them Jews, in support for counterparts in Israel who are boycotting the new theater in the town of Ariel, home to 20,000 Israelis. The petition was signed by four Pulitzer Prize winners, several recipients of Guggenheim Fellowships, a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Medal of Honor and scores of recipients of the highest U.S. acting honors, including the Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Obie and Drama Desk awards. In Israel, the boycott was criticized by all sides of the Jewish political spectrum and the theater companies all said they would ignore it.
The Jewish Voice for Peace refuted the claims by ADL. In a statement the organization released, it claimed, among other things, that the organization is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Zionist and that it does not use its Jewish identity to protect anti-Semites.
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