Another News Roundup

I haven't blogged the news in a while, so here is a quick roundup of events in the region:

Iran is talking out of both sides of its mouth, regarding its nuclear enrichment program. From Yahoo News:

An Iranian nuclear agency official has denied claims made by a top lawmaker that the Islamic Republic had begun installing 3,000 centrifuges at an uranium enrichment plant...

Hossein Simorgh, spokesman of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization public relations department, said "no new centrifuges have been installed in Natanz," referring to the nuclear facility in central Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Earlier Saturday, lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iran was currently installing the 3,000 centrifuges, underlining that the country would continue to develop its disputed nuclear program despite U.N. sanctions.

It was not immediately clear why the two officials made contradicting statements. Iranian officials have in recent weeks said the country was moving toward large-scale enrichment involving 3,000 centrifuges, which spin uranium gas into enriched material.

"Not immediately clear," hey? Well, I'll venture a guess: The Iranians are just trying to throw up a smokescreen, and confuse the West. It just another tactic, like the barring of 38 UN inspectors, to keep the civilized world guessing as to what they really want to do. We cannot let it fool us.

Here in Israel, the Knesset passed an important bill through First Reading last week (a bill must pass 3 readings to become law). This bill is the start of electoral reform here; it will limit the executive cabinet to 18 ministers (Olmer's gov't currently has 25 ministers). From the Jerusalem Post:

...a whopping Knesset majority -78 to 7- voted in first reading last week to re-impose size limitations on the government.
...
All too many existing ministries are artificial and superfluous creations.
...
These are all examples of the spendthrift inventiveness to which our politicians resort -at our expense- to satisfy extortionist demands from coalition partners and thereby secure parliamentary majorities.

I have blogged before about the need for systemic reform of the Israeli government; you can find the post here, I think it makes very good reading. I believe that limiting the size of the Cabinet is a good first step towards an effective reform. The next steps should be:

To set up an electoral districting system for the Knesset;

To increase the size of the Knesset to at least 200 seats;

To adopt legislative approval of Cabinet appointees;

To adopt executive vetting, and legislative approval, of Supreme Court appointees; and,

To require that MKs give up their Knesset seats to accept a Cabinet ministry.

Most Israelis are in favor of some sort of electoral reform, but as a friend (and fellow Anglo oleh) was telling me earlier today, it always seems to be the Americans who suggest workable reforms...

And speaking of governments that need reform, let's take a brief look at the PA territories. It seems that they are getting upset with the IDF's restraint, and to keep the number the palestinian casualties up, they have resorted to killing each other... From the Jerusalem Post again:

The number of Palestinians killed in fierce fighting between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip over the weekend rose to 25 on Saturday night, with dozens more wounded in the clashes. At least six of the victims died on Saturday.

Among the casualties was two-year-old Yehya Abu Bakreh, who was killed when Fatah gunmen fired at his father's car. Fatah gunmen and Palestinian Authority policemen also attacked a mosque in Gaza City, killing a number of worshipers.

Some things I want you to notice: First, that the PA "police" were attacking alongside the Fatah forces... If these are the cops, why are they working with a known terrorist group? And second, that the Fatah/PA forces killed a two year old and attacked a mosque, actions which, had Israel done it, would have attracted instant and scathing scorn worldwide, but which are scarcely noticed when palestinians do it...

Also from this article, it seems that the average palestinian is far more realistic about the situation in the PA than the mainstream media:

A public opinion poll published Saturday showed that more than half of Palestinians believe that a civil war has begun. Sixty-six percent expressed pessimism regarding the general situation in the PA-controlled territories, while more than 88% said they no longer felt secure.

Remember now, the fighting in the PA these days is between Fatah and Hamas. Let's see how long it takes for them to blame Israel.

And, to finish out the news roundup, YNet News reports that not all of the palestinians were busy with internecine violence over the weekend:

Anonymous persons desecrated the tombstones of three graves in a Sephardic cemetery in the Jewish settlement in Hebron.

Considering the way palestinians have treated Jewish sacred sites within their reach, I think it is safe to assume just who damaged the cemetary. This is par for the course...