The sources said that the media blackout on the details of the investigation against Olmert would be partially lifted by Tuesday, "in accordance with developments."

The sources said the findings collected thus far will "shake the country when they are revealed."
In response to a request by Israeli media to allow them to publicize details of the latest criminal investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said Sunday night, "We will closely and constantly follow the new investigation of the Prime Minister, and we will publicize details as early as possible."

The media request cited the "public's right to know," but Mazuz, together with the State Prosecutor and the Chief Detective of Israel Police, decided that a successful investigation is more important.

"True," the three wrote, "a situation in which the Prime Minister is questioned by police under caution, but the public is not given even general information about the suspicions and suspects, arouses difficulties from a public standpoint, as well as a legal standpoint. This is clear."

"At the same time," they continue, "it is important to clarify that, as opposed to the public's right to know, there is also the vital public interest of not harming the chance to get at the truth."

Police Chief Dudi Cohen said the same on Sunday afternoon: "What is good for the investigation takes precedence over the public's right to know.  The special team that is investigating the Prime Minister must be allowed to work quietly in order to thoroughly complete the process."

The Yediot Acharonot daily newspaper, Israel's largest, is reportedly facing a police investigation of its own, after it published details of the investigation on Friday morning.  Various reports have hinted that it concerns suspicions of illegal campaign donations or bribery from an American businessman.  Olmert himself has called the various reports "vicious rumors."  Olmert’s long-time close aide, Shula Zaken, was questioned on Sunday under caution for the third time; she has maintained her right to remain silent all three times, and is being held under house arrest until Friday. Channel 2 Television News quoted senior sources Sunday night as saying that the case was moving quickly toward an indictment.

The announcement by Mazuz and colleagues stated, "The unusual circumstances of the present case necessitated an urgent investigation of the Prime Minister and a gag order on all its details.  The court issued the order after it was convinced of its necessity."

"In light of the obvious sensitivity," the statement continued, "and in light of the legal and public ramifications of this investigation, a special effort is being made by all those involved to hurry it as much as possible."
 

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, State Attorney Moshe Lador, and Maj.-Gen. Yochanan Danino, who heads the Police Investigations and Intelligence Department, published a statement Sunday evening saying the gag order imposed on the investigation must remain in place - for now.  They promised that they would "continue to closely follow developments with the aim of making it possible to give the public additional information, as long as this can be done without impeding the investigation."

Observers noted that the harsh steps taken by Mazuz, including Zaken's house arrest, the gag order and the short (48 hour) warning given the Prime Minister before his interrogation Friday, indicate that the inve
Olmert: "When matters are checked fully by the proper authorities, they will be placed in their proper proportion."
stigators feel they have a strong case against Olmert.

'Mean and Vicious Rumors'
At the start of Sunday's cabinet session, Olmert gave a short account of his interrogation Friday, at his residence. "The investigators behaved in a proper and respectable manner," he said. "Unfortunately, due to circumstances that do not depend on me, the country is being flooded by a wave of rumors regarding the investigation. I promise that when matters are checked fully by the proper authorities, they will be placed in their proper proportion and their proper and accurate context, and this will put an end to the rumors." 

Some of the rumors being spread are "mean and vicious," Olmert said. "I promise that when things clear up the suspicions will be removed and the cloud will clear."

'64 Remaining MKs'
"Indeed, a state of things in which a serving Prime Minister is interrogated under warning... creates difficulties in the public and legal spheres."

Likud Knesset faction chairman, MK Gidon Saar, joined other parliamentarians in voicing support for early elections, in the face of Olmert's troubles. The fact that three Pensioners MKs left the coalition added to Saar's optimism. "There are 64 MKs remaining in the coalition and it doesn't look like any more will join it," Saar told Arutz Sheva radio. "There are several no-confidence motions and when we estimate that there is a chance to pass a resolution to bring down the government, we will do so." 

Saar reminded the listeners that a no-confidence measure which is struck down cannot be re-submitted for an extended period of time.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni made her first public reference Sunday to the new, secret probe against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"We need to wait and see," Livni said. "The right thing that we can do at this point is to allow the investigative bodies to do their job," she added. Livni said she has full confidence in the law enforcement agencies and voiced hope that the investigation would end soon. She spoke to reporters after her meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Gaydamak to Join Government?
Meanwhile, billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak launched his new faction, Justice for the Pensioners, and held a press conference Sunday with its three Knesset members, who broke off from the Pensioners party. Gaydamak spoke of the possibility that the three MKs would rejoin the coalition as a separate faction and receive a government ministry which he would presumably head.

"I am convinced that the Justice for the Pensioners party MKs will be in charge of a ministry that will take care of the social subjects in the government," Gaydamak said. When asked if he would be willing to be Minister for the Diaspora he said, without hesitation, "if they offer it to me, then yes."

Regarding the post of Diaspora Minister, Gaydamak said he has experience with the subject of the Jewish community. He also mentioned the possibility of becoming a Minister for Jerusalem.

Arutz-7's defense correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that the three are: Between Ramallah and Beit El; the southern entrance to Hevron; and north of Shechem.  Each has its own story, as follows.

The Beit El - Ramallah Checkpoint
 One of the three is between the large PA-controlled city of Ramallah and the entry road leading to Beit El, home to nearly 7,000 Jews, including students of all ages in its various schools.

The IDF expressed strong objections to the removal of this checkpoint.  IDF Central Region Commander Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni and Judea/Samaria Region Division Head Brig.-Gen. Noam Tivon explained to Barak that the removal would allow free and unhindered Arab traffic on the old north-south highway to Shechem - adjacent to IDF bases and homes in Beit El. 

The IDF officials reminded Barak, to no avail, that shots were fired at Beit El in the past from this highway.  They also told him that the nearby intersection between Ramallah and Beit El was the site of violent Arab riots when the Oslo War broke out in late 2000, and at least two separate lynchings were attempted against Jews there. 
IDF Officials: Removing even one more checkpoint will lower the security level below the "red line" of risk.

Huberman reports that the reason the local Arabs want the checkpoint removed is not for their convenience, because another north-south road is available just dozens of meters to the west.  Rather, they have a symoblic need to have their "capital" city of Ramallah to be as open as possible.

"The checkpoints are a most significant factor in the war against Palestinian terrorism," a top IDF officer told Huberman, "in thwarting attacks, in catching wanted terrorists, and in intercepting weapons... The number of checkpoints in Judea and Samaria at present is the absolute minimum necessary for Israeli security.  Taking off even one more will lower the security level to 'below the red line' of risk."
 

Northern Exit from Shechem - Open
The second critically strategic checkpoint removed by Barak's orders was Checkpoint 408, dismantled on Monday at the northern entrance to the north-Shomron city of Shechem (Nablus).

Barak told the IDF that he needed one checkpoint removed from the Shechem area, and that the IDF should choose which one.  The IDF chose, as the least of the evils, the only checkpoint that is not situated on a road leading directly to a Jewish town.  Thus, the Hawara checkpoint - whose removal the Palestinian Authority has long demanded - remains in place, protecting the Jews of Yitzhar and nearby towns.  Similarly, the checkpoint near Shavei Shomron has not been touched.

However, the removal of the northern Shechem checkpoint effectively ends the IDF's encirclement of Shechem, which is known as one of the PA's top terrorism centers.  The encirclement prevented the terrorists from leaving the city freely, and was an important factor in the decrease of Shechem-based terrorism.  Terrorists can now travel freely from Shechem to Jenin via Tubas, as well as throughout most of the vast expanses of the northern Shomron. 

IDF vehicles traveling east-west between Shavei Shomron and Mt. Eval will now encounter unchecked potential terrorists traveling on the north-south route, Huberman notes. 

Yata-Hevron Road - Open
A third checkpoint that is about to be removed, at Barak's orders, is located just south of Hevron, at what is known as Kvasim Junction near the hostile Arab village of Yata.  Though the army did not oppose the opening of this intersection, it should be remembered that in early 2003, three soldiers were murdered by terrorists who escaped to Yata via the unprotected Yata-Hevron route.

The Defense Minister gave the order to remove the checkpoints in accordance with Secretary Rice's wishes - but in defiance of clear IDF warnings that shooting attacks against Israeli citizens and soldiers are likely to be renewed as a result.  Senior Central Region officers told Barak directly that checkpoint removals in the past have led to significant increases in attacks.

A total of nine Kassams hit the northern Negev on Sunday, including six in the afternoon bombardment, which began at 1:45 PM.  One rocket hit a supermarket in Sderot, causing no physical injuries but sending six people to be treated in a nearby emergency health center for shock.

Another rocket hit a house, damaging a wall and a bedroom, and sending one person to be treated for shock.  A resident of the apartment took cover in the sheltered room when the Color Red alert went off, thus saving his life.  

A third Kassam rocket smashed into the town's cemetery, causing damage to eight gravestones.  No one was hurt.

Terrorists in Gaza fired another nine rockets early Monday, causing light injuries to four people and damaging at least one building.  One rocket landed near a school.

Ex-Public Security Minister Dr. Uzi Landau called on the public to continue to visit Sderot and support its shopkeepers and businesses.  Landau heads the Eretz Nehederet association, which organizes weekly shopping trips to Sderot from around the country.

Hamas Takes Fuel From Residents
It was announced today that Hamas had confiscated, for its own use, millions of liters of fuel transported into Gaza as part of Israel's humanitarian assistance to the residents. 
 

The Web Yeshiva (WebYeshiva.org) is a fully interactive Torah-study institution available online. Using video-chat and voice-over-IP web conferencing technology, students gather in a virtual classroom – seeing each other and the teachers clearly and even raising their hand with a question at the click of the mouse.

 

“I’ve been teaching Torah all my life and the audience has always been a live audience,” explained Rabbi Chaim Brovender, the Rosh Yeshiva [yeshiva dean] of WebYeshiva.org. “It occurred to me that there has to be a way to reach people who can't come to the yeshiva, who can’t come to the shiur [class] where it is given. What we have developed is the ability to teach a real class - with preparation, homework and interaction – over the Internet. As you see it is happening. You can ask questions, you see the page of Talmud being studied. And aside from the initial difficulties of launching any web-based project, it is working very well. There are real students all week long, from 5 in the morning onward.”

Offline, Rabbi Brovender heads the HaMivtar Yeshiva in the Gush Etzion town of Efrat, as well as Jerusalem’s Midreshet Lindenbaum, a seminary for women.

The idea behind the Web Yeshiva is not to create a database of classes for individual study – something that is available in an ever-growing volume on various Jewish web site. The idea is instead to harness newly available technology to bring Jews from around the world together to participate in the give-and-take of a traditional Torah-study academy from the non-traditional setting of their own home, at hours of their choosing – sometimes beginning as late as 11 PM or as early as 5 AM.

 

It was initially assumed that most of the interested students would hail from “New Mexico or New Zealand,” says Web Yeshiva Director Rabbi Yedidya Rausman. “But as it turns out, we are getting many people who in fact live in very concentrated Jewish areas who simply want to participate in yeshiva-style Torah study at a set time each day. Some are at their computers all day anyway for work and are able to fit in more Torah-study time by avoiding a commute to the closest yeshiva.” That said, there are students hailing from Latin America, Europe, Thailand and even New Zealand.

Rabbi Rausman says the fact that the classes are based in Israel is also a factor. “People want to learn Torah from the Land of Israel, even if they are not physically here,” he said. Another group of interested students includes those who studied in the past with Rabbi Brovender or the other teachers involved and wish to reconnect. “Some people who have not seen their rabbi in 30 years are suddenly able to once again learn Torah with him face to face,” Rausman marvels.

Rabbi Brovender has big plans for the future. “We are looking to developing programs in Russian, French, Spanish and in Hebrew, of course – all the languages Jews happen to speak today,” he said. “We also have very serious plans about entering the high school market. There are a lot of high school kids in America, England and even Israel who don’t live in religious centers – who go to good secular schools but don’t get the opportunity to receive a quality Jewish education.” He hopes that the Web Yeshiva will be used as a supplement for such an education.

In addition, practical skills such as being a Jewish scribe can be taught through the Web Yeshiva, Rabbi Brovender believes. “It is very visual and you will get the best teacher. It will be offered as a course, beginning to end, in becoming an expert scribe and you can see how everything is done along the way.”

An even broader application of the technology is causing a buzz among perspective olim (immigrants to Israel) as the Lamdeni individualized Hebrew-teaching service finalizes a partnership with the Web Yeshiva. It is hoped that a program will be developed that will provide the opportunity for ulpan (Hebrew immersion courses) to be offered to every new immigrant before he or she even arrives in Israel. “Even people coming on Aliyah often don’t have the time to go to an ulpan program prior to coming here,” Rabbi Brovender explained. “The ability to take ulpan at their convenience in their home and for every student to get to speak Hebrew one-on-one with someone for a hour a week and test your own progress – these things are invaluable.”

The second semester of the Web Yeshiva is scheduled to begin Tuesday, May 6. With a total of 46 weekly classes running through August 10, subjects include the standard yeshiva fare of the Babylonian Talmud, Bible and Jewish Law. In addition, classes on prayer, Jewish Business Ethics, Women and Jewish Law and the philosophies of Maimonides, Rabbi Chaim Luzzato and Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik are also being offered.

In addition, local lecturers whose classes pack homes and study halls alike are now available to an audience where there is room in the front row for everyone. The famed Leah Golumb of Moshav Modiin, for example, is giving her class on the weekly Torah portion over the Web Yeshiva.

Full-time and part-time students pay a tuition fee that includes lifetime access to archives of the classes they have attended, but the Web Yeshiva regularly offers seminars and study days open to the general public, free of charge. The next one will take place on Independence Day, which is observed this year on May 8.

In recent years, some Jews have made clandestine visits to the holy site, while occasionally official mass visits are organized and protected by Israel's security forces.

Joseph's Tomb is located in the middle of a residential section of Shechem. Just 30 years ago, however, before the city began to expand after it was liberated by Israel Six Day War, it was surrounded by empty fields.  Over the years, Shechem has also developed into a hotbed of terrorist activity

In other Yesha news, the Hazon David synagogue in Kiryat Arba was destroyed by IDF and Border Guard forces late Saturday night - and was rebuilt just several hours later by Jewish residents.  Supporters note that this was the 31st time that the synagogue has been destroyed and then rebuilt.  It was first built in memory of two Jews who were murdered near the site by Palestinian terrorists: David Cohen of Beitar Illit and Yechezkel Mualem of Kiryat Arba, who were killed in two separate attacks on the same day in July 2001. 
 

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Caleb and Joshua were the only two of the 12 spies sent on a reconnaissance mission to Israel (Numbers, Chap. 13) who brought back a positive report about the Land to the nation.

The tombs, which are located 20 miles east of Tel Aviv in the Arab village of Timnat Haras, are open to Jews only three or four times a year. Thursday corresponded with the 26th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan which is the anniversary of Joshua's death.

Thousands of Jews, secular and religious, flocked to the site in order to recite psalms and prayers of gratitude at the tombs.

See Photo feature on Joshua's Tomb

This winter's rains raised the level by a total of only 60 centimeters (24 inches) – and 25 percent of that gain has already been lost.

This is the fourth straight year that there has been a less than average rainfall in the country, leaving the underground aquifers throughout the country in worse shape than they have been for more than a decade.

The current water level in the lake is 1.145 meters (3 feet, 9 inches) lower than it was a year ago. It is expected to drop as much as two meters (6 feet, 7 inches) this year, leaving the lake dangerously close to the level at which the water is considered unhealthy to drink.

Water Rationing on the Table
The Water Authority announced in March that it would restrict the amount of water allowed per household, but no limits have been suggested for farmers and industries.  New sanctions will prohibit watering lawns during the day, and will ban new gardens.

These measures might still not be enough to ward off one of the worst water crises to hit the country in decades, however. The director of the Water Authority, Uri Shani, warned the Knesset Interior Committee at a special session in March, "I have no doubt that the level of the Kinneret will drop this coming July below the red line, and water will not be able to be drawn."

The height of the lake reflects Israel's water supply, because heavy rains and water stream down from the northern mountains into the Kinneret. The "red line" is 213 meters below sea level, below which ecological damage such as duckweed infestation and salinization is considered a serious possibility.  If, on the other hand, the water level climbs to 208.8 meters below sea level, the dams must be opened to prevent Tiberias and Ein Gev from being flooded.  This last occurred some 17 years ago.

Short Rainfall Not the Only Cause
There are a number of reasons for the looming water crisis. Pollution from car factories has destroyed some of the water sources that feed underground water aquifers.

Accumulations of dust particles in the atmosphere due to sandstorms coming in from the Sahara desert, which block precipitation, are another cause.

Global warming might also be a contributing factor, reducing the flow from Israel's mountain acquifer that feeds other important water sources, such as the Yarkon and Taninim Rivers. 

A similar crisis is affecting the Dead Sea as well, endangering the ecology and tourism in the east and south of Israel. The water level in the Dead Sea has been dropping for decades, plummeting more than 25 meters in the past 20 years.

With the Dead Sea currently at 419 meters below sea level, the water level at the lowest spot on earth is continuing to drop at the alarming rate of a meter each year. If immediate steps are not taken to remedy the situation, the mineral-rich water will drop to 440 meters below sea level by 2025, and another 25 meters by 2050.

The document, more than 400 pages long, showed how British diplomats around the world warned that the British Empire would face a public relations nightmare as a result of its decision to pander to Arab sensibilities.

Britain was loath to allow the thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing the ashes of post-war Germany to immigrate to the incubating Jewish State. Rather than allow the more than 4,500 Holocaust survivors to enter Palestine on the ship Exodus in 1947, for instance, the British officials decided to force the exhausted Jews back to German refugee camps.

On the other side of the debate, however, many of the officials were also concerned over the negative publicity they would cause by sending Jews back to the British-controlled zone in Germany so soon after the Holocaust had ravaged the Jewish People.

The cable they received in August 1947 from a British diplomat in France regarding the Exodus was clear: "You will realize that an announcement of decision to send immigrants back to Germany will produce violent hostile outburst in the press."  Then, as now, however, spin-meistering only went so far in terms of being able to manage damage control. A recommendation to deny that the Jews would be returned to former concentration camps, a telegram that German guards would not be present and that British guards would be removed once the Jews were screened, were of minimal value.  

Within a week, warnings were received of possible terror attacks by the Irgun and the Stern Gangs.  The two Jewish groups were both conducting special operations at the time against the Arabs and the British occupiers. They were determined to prevent the Jews' forced deportation by any means possible.

The Stern Gang, led by Avraham Stern, was called "Lehi" – Lohamei Herut Israel, or Israel Freedom Fighters. The Irgun, led by Menachem Begin, was known as the Irgun Zva'i Leumi B'Eretz Yisrael – National Military Organization in the Land of Israel. Begin eventually became Prime Minister of the State of Israel.

Eventually Britain did indeed manage to force the boat back to Europe, in a move that officials saw as an operational success but as a military failure, according to the documents. 

The refugees returned a year later, after the creation of the modern State of Israel.