Palestinians sign bilateral accords with Russia in breach of deals with Israel

:Palestinians sign bilateral accords with Russia in breach of deals with Israel 

Debka 25-Jan-14 

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Palestinian Authority foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki signed in Moscow Friday bilateral agreements, including cooperation in customs, police and health, as part of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s four-day official visit to Russia and talks with President Vladimir Putin. Those agreements conflict with accords in force between the Palestinians and Israel on the same fields. 

 Bombing attacks continue in Cairo 

    One person was wounded in a bomb blast near a police academy in Cairo early Saturday, the 3rd anniversary of the Tahrir Sq. revolution, after a string of bombing attacks killed 6 people and injured more than 60 in the Egyptian capital Friday. 

Israel re-evaluates Syrian war neutrality over al Qaeda 30,000-strong buildup 

25 Jan. In a special briefing to foreign correspondents Friday, Jan. 24, a high-ranking Israeli intelligence officer reported that Israel is rethinking its strategy of neutrality in the Syrian civil war following the buildup of more than 30,000 al Qaeda-linked fighters there. Many are massed closed to its borders and openly threaten to turn their sights on Israel after toppling Assad. debkafile: To fight this terrorist army, the IDF would have to study US combat tactics in Afghanistan, rewrite its war doctrine and build large commando units for protracted warfare. But Israel would have to decide if it was worth doing when its intervention would ease the pressure on the Assad regime and its Iranian and Hizballah allies. 

January 26, 2014 Briefs 

    Netanyahu believes Jewish settlers should stay in Palestinian state 

    An official in the Israeli prime minister’s office said Sunday Binyamin Netanyahu believes Jewish settlers should have the option of staying in a future Palestinian state. In Davos, he told the World Economic Forum Saturday that he did not intend to uproot any Israelis in a peace deal. The prime minister sees no reason why a Palestinian state should be “ethnically cleansed.” 

    Four Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai 

    Four Egyptian soldiers were killed and nine wounded in attacks in the restive Sinai Peninsula Sunday. Egyptian security officials said the assailants fired on a bus transporting soldiers as it drove near a military post in North Sinai which came under simultaneous rocket attack. 

Secret Iranian team in Beirut to counter suicide attacks, upgrade HIzballah intelligence 

26 Jan. debkafile Exclusive: Iran has undertaken to urgently rebuild Hizballah’s intelligence and security mechanisms following the ravages inflicted by suicide attacks on its strongholds in Beirut and the Beqaa valley since joining the Syrian war. A secret Iranian Al Qods-Ministry of Intelligence team assigned to the task arrived secretly in Beirut last week, after a top-level Iranian-Hizballah conference concluded that the Lebanese group’s security and intelligence can’t take much more battering without folding. The Iranians will also build Hizballah’s fighting units in Syria a new field intelligence arm. 

January 27, 2014 Briefs 

    US warns Erdogan against violating sanctions in Tehran visit 

    Monday, the day before Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Tehran, he was warned by David Cohen, Undersecretary for Terrorism of the US Treasury Department, that “Iran is not open for business. Sanctions remain in place and… businesses that are interested in engaging with Iran really should hold off.” 

    US Senate panel approves Apaches sale to Iraq 

    The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved the sale of 24 Apache helicopters to Iraq after receiving assurances from Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki that their use would be restricted to fighting al-Qaida terrorists and not crackdowns against the opposition. 

    West Bank 2013 terror attacks more than double 2012 figure 

    The Shin Bet General Security Service report just released shows a rise in Palestinian terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria in 2013 – 1,271, compared with 578 in 2012. Six Israelis were killed on the West Bank as opposed to 10 fatalities from terrorist attacks in 2012 - all in Israel. Half were stabbed to death, two killed by snipers and one, the soldier Tomer Hazan, was kidnapped and strangled. Most attacks took place in the last quarter of 2013. Seventy percent of the 44 injuries were caused by lobbed rocks or fire bombs. 

    Israeli Air Force resumes Lebanon over-flights 

    Lebanese sources report that Israeli Air Force jets are again carrying out low-flying surveillance missions over parts of Lebanon. The IDF has denied a Hizballah claim that an Israeli soldier was injured in an explosion near the Western border fence. No Israeli soldiers were hurt, said the IDF spokesman. 

    US drone strikes kill terrorist leader in Somalia 

    At least five al-Shabaab fighters, including a senior commander, were killed in a drone strike in southern Somalia Sunday. 

    UN Secretary leads International Holocaust Remembrance Day 

    Memorial services and ceremonies take place at the UN, led by the UN Secretary, in Britain, the EU and other parts of the world Monday, Jan. 27 for international Holocaust Remembrance Day on the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet forces. 

    Fifty-four Israel Knesset Members lawmakers head to Poland Monday for the joint Israeli-Polish ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau, to be joined by 24 survivors and lawmakers from France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Poland and the UK. The US delegation was led by House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), who was joined by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) and Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina). Canadian Minister for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney also attended.