Roundup

Israel Warm To
Extended Freeze
JERUSALEM (JTA)
-- Israel was prepared
to extend a West Bank
construction freeze, but
the United States with-
drew the idea, Israeli
Benjamin
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu
Netanyahu said.
"The United States
asked us to consider extending the freeze
by three months, and the truth is that we
were prepared to do so," Netanyahu report-
edly told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee on Monday.
"At the end of the day, the United States
decided not to go in that direction, rightly so
in my opinion, and moved on to outlining
talks on closing gaps, so that the core issues
can be discussed:'
The Obama administration pressed Israel
to implement a three-month extension of a
10-month freeze on construction on West
Bank Jewish settlements in order to keep
the Palestinians at the negotiating table. The
freeze ended in late September, one month
after the Palestinians agreed to restart nego-
tiations.
In early December, the Obama adminis-
tration announced that it would stop press-
ing for the freeze after offering Israel several
inducements, including 20 F-35 stealth
fighter planes and security guarantees, as a
reward for continuing the freeze.
"I told Obama that I am prepared to
go with this to the Cabinet and that I will
be able to enforce the move, but then I
received the surprising phone call from the
Americans who said they no longer demand
that Israel extends the freeze Netanyahu
reportedly said.
Netanyahu said that U.S. officials are
scheduled to arrive in mid-January in an
effort to restart peace negotiations.
On Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet
that he was willing to hold continuous nego-
tiations with Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas until an agreement is
reached. He was responding to a statement
made a day earlier by Abbas in which the
president said a peace deal could be reached
in two months if Netanyahu showed "good-
will."

Israeli Natural Gas Field
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A natural gas field
discovered in Israel's territorial waters con-
tains an estimated 16 trillion cubic feet of
the natural resource.
Electrical log tests confirmed the size
of the natural gas field, which was dis-
covered in drilling earlier this year off the
Mediterranean coast near Haifa and dubbed
Leviathan. Noble Energy Inc. announced the
results of the tests on Dec. 29.

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January 6 • 2011

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Leviathan is almost double the size of
the Tamar field, which was discovered off
Israel's Mediterranean coast in 2009.
"This discovery has the potential to posi-
tion Israel as a natural gas exporting nation','
said David L. Stover, president of Noble
Energy.
The field is said to be the largest discov-
ery in the history of the Houston-based
company, which has a controlling interest in
the field.

Palestine National Orchestra
RAMALLAH (JTA) -- The Palestine
National Orchestra performed for the first
time in the Palestinian Authority and in
Israel.
The orchestra made its debut in
Ramallah, and then performed in eastern
Jerusalem over the weekend and in Haifa on
Sunday night.
"Today an orchestra, tomorrow a state,"
Suhail Khoury, director of the Edward Said
National Conservatory of Music, wrote in
the program, according to the French news
agency AFP.
Said, a Palestinian American and an
advocate for the Palestinian cause, was a
professor at Columbia University. He died
in 2003.
"Today we are witnessing the birth of the
Palestine National Orchestra at a time when
the Palestinian struggle for independence is
passing through one of its most critical and
difficult moments," Khoury also wrote. "We
musicians truly believe that a state is not
only about buildings and roads, but most
importantly, it is about its people, their val-
ues, their arts and their cumulative cultural
identity."
Each concert began with the Palestinian
national anthem, AFP reported.

British Terror Group
LONDON (JTA) -- A terror group arrested in
Britain was said to be targeting two British
rabbis and their synagogues, in addition to
popular tourist attractions, the U.S. embassy
and London's mayor.
The nine suspects who were arrested last
week by British police were indicted on Dec.
27. They will be jailed until a court appear-
ance in January, according to police. They
were charged with intending to plant explo-
sive devices devised from instructions taken
from the Internet.
The addresses of the two targeted rab-
bis and their synagogues appeared on a
list of six targets found by police. The list
also included the London Stock Exchange,
the mayor's office, the U.S. embassy and
the dean of St Paul's Chapter House. The
suspects were also seen studying the tower
of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London
Eye and the Church of Scientology, accord-
ing to reports.

Israel Advocacy Tutorial
A four-part series for young adults kicks off next Wednesday, Jan. 12, 7-8:30 p.m. at
the Max M. Fisher Federation Building, Bloomfield Township. The program, Truth,
Lies and the Z-Word: Everything You Need to Know About Advocating for Israel and the
Jewish People, will feature noted lecturers and global Jewish leaders.
The cohort will learn about Judaism, Jewish history, Israel, Zionism and the anti-
Zionist movement and engage in discussion as to how to ask (and answer) the tough
questions we face as Jews.
The sessions are open to those ages 21-41; the cost is $18 for the entire series or
$10 per session. Each session goes from 7-8:30 p.m.
Programs include Don't Ask, We'll Tell: Everything You Need to Know About Jewish
History But Were Afraid to Ask, with Professor Howard Lupovitch; So You Think You
Know Judaism? A brief introduction to everything you forgot (or never learned) in
Sunday School, featuring Rabbinic Associate Keren Alpert; Zionism, Anti-Zionism
and Everything in Between: Understanding the Nuances of Support For and Criticism
Against Israel, featuring Z-Word Editor Ben Cohen; and Tough Questions, (Somewhat)
Easier Answers: A Panel Discussion with David Bernstein of The David Project and
other leaders.
The program is co-sponsored by AJC ACCESS–Detroit; Federation's Young Adult
Division; Hillel of Metro Detroit; CommunityNEXT: Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit's SAJE (Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment); and
Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education FedED.
Program chairs are Alicia Blumenfeld Chandler and Liz Beresh, and the host com-
mittee includes Erika Bocknek, Lauren Gibbs, David Kramer, Ryan Liabenow, Illana
Stern, Noah Stern, Joshua Terebelo, Kevin Toll and Rachel Wright.
To register and for further information, visit www.jewishdetroit.orgitruth or call
AJC Detroit at 248 646 7686.

Oldest Ancient Teeth
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Eight teeth found in
a cave in central Israel are reportedly the
earliest remains of Homo sapiens ever dis-
covered.
The teeth, discovered in a cave near Rosh
Haayin, east of Tel Aviv, have been estimated
to be about 400,000 years old. If the initial
findings are confirmed, it would overturn
accepted scientific theory that Homo sapi-
ens, the direct descendent of modern man,
evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago
and migrated north.
The find, discovered by a team of inter-
national archeologists under the auspices of
Tel Aviv University, was announced on Dec.
27.
The study was funded by the government
of Spain, the American Museum of Natural
History, the Israel Science Foundation and
philanthropic groups, including the Irene
Levi Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation
and the Leakey Foundation.

More Israeli Immigrants
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- More than 19,000
new immigrants arrived in Israel in 2010, a
16 percent rise over last year.
The Jewish Agency for Israel and
the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption
announced the increase in aliyah, the
second year in a row following 10 years of
declining numbers, in a statement released
on Dec. 28.
Some 16,465 immigrants arrived in Israel
in 2009 and 15,452 in 2008.

"I am very pleased to see the statistics
pointing to a rise in aliyah from almost
everywhere in the world, particularly in light
of the campaign of delegitimizing Israel
happening around the world:' said Natan
Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency.
"Many of the new immigrants are young
people from free countries who feel that
they belong to the State of Israel and chose
to build their lives and the lives of their chil-
dren here
The number of new olim from North
America rose 6 percent over that of last year
— from 3,767 to 3,980.
At the end of 2010, Israel had about 7,300
new immigrants from the former Soviet
Union, compared to 6,820 last year and
5,880 in 2008, according to the release.
Latin American aliyah rose 19 percent —
from 1,200 in 2009 to 1,470 this year. This
includes a 280 percent increase in aliyah
from Venezuela — from 38 olim in 2009 to
150 in 2010.
Other areas of dramatic increase include
260 olim from Australia and New Zealand,
up 48 percent from 175 in 2009, and a 63
percent increase in new immigrants from
Belgium — from 152 in 2009 to 250 in
2010.
More of the new immigrants, an estimat-
ed 2,397, settled in Jerusalem this year. The
oldest olah for 2010 is 99 years old.
"Successful aliyah and absorption have
always been and always will be the core of
the Zionist enterprise and a guarantee of the
growth of the Jewish state," said Minister of

Roundup on page 10