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BRIEFLY NOTED: May 13 (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States, Israel and Britain on Tuesday of being responsible for a mosque explosion in Iran last month that killed 14 Iranians.


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Also on Monday, Palestinian terrorists fired two military-grade rockets at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, causing light damage but no casualties.It was the first time in almost two months that a Palestinian rocket salvo had reached so deep into Israel. It came as Egypt pressed the Olmert government to considr a truce with the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers.

U.S. President George W. Bush, former British prime minister Tony Blair and media mogul Rupert Murdoch are among the 13 heads of state, 14 former heads of state and a number of other distinguished guests that have arrived, or will arrive Wednesday, to attend President Shimon Peres' Presidential Conference in Jerusalem. The conference, which begins Tuesday, is being held in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary.
Bush will arrive on Air Force-1 with 15 journalists on Wednesday. On a separate plane there will be another one hundred members of the press. Bush and his wife, Laura, will stay at the King David Hotel. Former U.K. Prime Minister and Quartet envoy Tony Blair will be staying in a suite at the Inbal Hotel as will former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who asked for the penthouse suite.
In total, seven suites have been added to the 25 that already existed at the 5 star hotel.
All 250 Inbal hotel employees will be on call to cater to the distinguished guests that will also include former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, who will be arriving with his daughter and is the only Muslim invited to the conference.
Other guests include at the Inbal are former Ukranian President Leonid Kuchma, who asked for special security, Albanian President Bamir Topi and his wife, former Slovenian President Danilo Turk and his wife and Latvian President Valdis Zatlerswho asked for five more rooms for his entourage.
(Washington Times, May 12) Hizbullah's dramatic gains in Lebanon are just part of a regional process that began last year in Gaza and will continue in Jordan and Egypt, Sheikh Yazeeb Khader, a Ramallah-based Hamas political activist and editor, said in an interview. "What happened in Gaza in 2007 is an achievement; now it is happening in 2008 in Lebanon. It's going to happen in 2009 in Jordan and it's going to happen in 2010 in Egypt." "We are seeing a redrawing of the map of the Middle East where the forces of resistance and steadfastness are the ones moving the things on the ground."
His remarks highlight a growing alliance linking Hamas, Iran and Hizbullah. The notion of new countries falling under Islamist influence reflects a goal of Hamas' parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood, of replacing secular Arab regimes with Islamist governments.


















The section on Israel’s history has been upgraded to include links to Biblical History; the division of land among the 12 tribes is shown in several formats for the convenience of those who may wish to use these depictions in their own presentations.
There are also maps showing Israel up through the years of Roman control. These will be found on our “Israel and Jewish History” webpage; to go directly there from here, click on this link.


