[31/August/2010]

Occupied Jerusalem, August 31 (Saba) On the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's departure for Washington to relaunch direct peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman earlier on Sunday, Israeli media organs revealed here on Tuesday, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

Ehud Barak also conferred with Jordanian Monarch Abdullah II at his palace on Sunday and then returned to Israel to brief Prime Minister Netanyahu on the outcome of such meetings.

During their meeting, Barak and Palestinian President Abbas discussed easing security conditions in West Bank as confidence building measure.

An Israeli security source said that Barak who has close relations with Palestinian Government Chief Sallam Fayyad met him at King David Hotel here of late pending to launching the direct negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides.

Yedioth Ahronoth: Hamas Develops Advanced Rocket
Islamic Hamas movement has completed a series of experiments on its advanced Fajar rocket, which has a range of almost 80 kilometers (roughly 50 miles) and can as far Kfar Saba, northeast of Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli daily (Yedioth Ahronoth(.

In a few months, Hamas will be able to begin manufacturing the rockets, Yedioth Ahronoth reported, adding that the progress made by the Gaza group on the rocket front is huge, considering that Hamas' original Qassam rockets had a range of around 1.5 km (roughly 1 mile.) The long-range rockets acquired by Hamas are of the Fajar-5 type, and it is believed that they arrived in the Strip via the Sinai peninsula, the paper reported.

According to the paper, Israel believes that the rockets were developed by scientists working for Hamas and for research institutes located in Arab countries in the region that have been working non-stop to arm Hamas in Gaza.


Saba