Currently in Russia, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that we are not pleased with their relations with Hamas. But since they exist..
A senior source in Netanyahu’s entourage said the Israeli leader urged Medvedev not to legitimize Hamas. “We are not pleased with your relations with Hamas,” he quoted Netanyahu as telling Medvedev. “But since they exist, we can relay messages on humanitarian issues. Tell Hamas they won’t get a better offer from us on the [Shalit] deal.”
Meanwhile, Medvedev reportedly promised that Russia will hold off on delivering the advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran. For now.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
6:35PM: Ma’an News reports:
A Palestinian company is planning to bring women-only taxis – a phenomenon already popular in Beirut and elsewhere – to the conservative West Bank city of Hebron.
Hazem At-Takrawi, the director of the Ishraqat training and development firm, said on Monday that his company is already training women to drive the female-only cabs. As in Beirut, the cars would be pink, he told anchor Adel Eghraieb on the television show “On the Table.”
Asked whether Hebron and Palestinians in general would accept the idea, At-Takrawi said the company already commissioned a survey that found that 95% of Palestinians would accept the new cabs.
In addition, he said the program will create jobs, claiming that more than 100 women, mainly university graduates, already applied for positions as cabbies. At-Takrawi said that if the idea succeeds in Hebron, he will expand the business to other West Bank cities.
Women-only taxis are already on the streets in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo, and Tehran.
Whatever you say about the idea, at least the women are allowed to drive.
Meanwhile, the report prompted this telling comment from a Ma’an reader.
3 ) Aurora / Italy
16/02/2010 12:46
I think it’s a good idea women drive and use taxis without men. think about the bad smell of the man and their bad behaviour, or think about women’s security: everybody knows that inside are there only women (also low control at check point?).
11:50AM: According to The Daily Telegraph, British government sources said the three Irish passport-holders accused of taking part in Mahmoud al-Mabhouh’s assassination were most likely Mossad agents carrying false documentation.
6:18AM: Here’s more on the killing of Hamas arch terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai by a squad carrying European passports.
Meanwhile, Ynet’s security affairs analyst Ron Ben-Yishai has written this analysis.
6:10AM: According to a local Fatah source cited by Al-Jazeera, there has recently been an increase in the number of former Fatah members who have joined Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups in Gaza, in order to get revenge on Hamas.
No word yet on any increase in the number of former Fatah members who have joined groups supporting Israeli-palestinian coexistence.
