Schalit deal may boost Fatah-Hamas unity

BY JONATHAN SCHANZER, JPOST— Pundits are painting news of Gilad Schalit’s dramatic release as a blow to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who watched from the sidelines, and a win for the rival Hamas faction, which negotiated the release of more than 1,000 Palestinians in exchange for just one captured soldier. But rather than stoking…

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US Republican candidates rebuff aid cut to Israel

BY JTA— US Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain pushed back against a proposal by Ron Paul to cut funding to Israel. Paul, a Texas congressman, during the GOP debate Tuesday in Las Vegas repeated his proposal to cut foreign aid, including the $3 billion Israel receives annually in defense assistance. “That foreign…

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Arab Users tweet: Israel cares about its citizens

BY ELAD BENARI, ARUTZ 7— The release of Gilad Shalit has attracted worldwide attention, including that of Arab users of the Internet, who have used the Twitter social network to share their thoughts on the exchange deal with the world. Israel’s Channel 10 News on Wednesday presented some of the tweets written by Arab users…

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Noam Shalit: Gilad underwent difficult things in captivity

BY JPOST— Noam Schalit on Thursday responded to a Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claim that his son Gilad was treated well in captivity, saying, “he underwent some difficult things.” “It’s true that in the later stages his conditions improved,” he noted, but warned that Hamas statements should be taken with a grain of salt, speaking…

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Man spends 30 years creating model of Temple

BY The Telegraph— Alec Garrard, 78, a retired farmer has spent more than 30 years building an enormous scale model of Herod’s temple. And get this – it’s still unfinished!  He dedicated a massive 33,000 hours to constructing the ancient temple, which measures a whopping 20ft by 12ft.  He hand-baked and painted every clay brick…

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Mobile Sukkah: Bringing holiday cheer to on-duty soldiers

BY ROTEM ELIAV, IDF NEWS— “Plug in the speakers, Kaplan,” says Master Sgt. Gabriel Cohen, inspection NCO of the Military Rabbinate to his soldier Pvt. Eliyahu Kaplan, and the first Sukkot celebration is underway. Every holiday the IDF makes sure to give the soldiers spending the celebration guarding at military posts and away from their…

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Prisoners deported under Shalit deal arrive in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Qatar

BY AVI ISSACHAROFF, HAARETZ— Forty-two released Palestinian prisoners arrived in Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Qatar on Tuesday after being set free as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. The prisoners are considered the most notorious of 1,027 Palestinians and Israeli Arabs being released by Israel in exchange for abducted Israel Defense…

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The Hamas Factor

BY SAMARA GREENBERG, JEWISH POLICY CENTER— Last month’s Palestinian Authority (PA) ploy at the United Nations to gain recognition of statehood represents the continuing Palestinian strategy to avoid negotiating a peace agreement with Israel. While it would be unfortunate and unhelpful to reward bad behavior, there is an even more fundamental reason why members of…

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Noam Schalit: Gilad's conditions were harsh, improved later

BY JPOST— Noam Schalit briefly shared some details of his son Gilad’s captivity and release at a press conference outside his family’s home in Mitzpe Hila Tuesday night after Gilad’s arrival. Gilad said that at the beginning he was held in difficult conditions, Noam recounted, adding that his conditions later improved. He said Gilad was…

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