The news of the day that matters more, but is less noticed for its lesser impact on the $$$$$:


PM at final cabinet meeting: Greater Israel is no more

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday reiterated his view that the vision of Israel retaining the West Bank and Gaza Strip is finished.

"Greater Israel is over. There is no such thing. Anyone who talks that way is deluding himself," Olmert told the cabinet during its weekly meeting.

Olmert offers Palestinians 98% of 'West Bank'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will offer Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas 98 percent of Judea and Samaria when the two meet later this week, Israel's Channel 2 News reported on Sunday.

The report came just hours after Olmert told his cabinet that "the vision of Greater Israel no longer exists," and blasted anyone who clings to Israel's biblical and historical right to the area known as the "West Bank" as "delusional."

Olmert: Binational state is alternative to peace deal with Palestinians

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that the price of an agreement with the Palestinians would "move us very close" to an exchange of equal amounts of territory, and that this must be stated "honestly and courageously." The alternative to an agreement is a binational state, an idea, he said that "ever-growing segments of the international community are adopting."

Speaking at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Olmert said the agreement now being formulated would give the Palestinians 100 percent of the West Bank, or territory of a similar area.

Olmert: Israel prepared to express sorrow for Palestinian refugees

Israel is prepared to express sorrow for the plight of Palestinians who became refugees when the country was created, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday.

"We will participate in expressing sorrow for what happened to them," Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, adding, "but also for what happened to us, the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Jews who were driven out of Arab countries."

Tutu Accuses Israel of War Crimes

(IsraelNN.com) Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave a report to the United Nation's Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, suggesting that Israel committed war crimes in 2006 when the IDF shelled terrorist positions in Beit Hanoun in Gaza in response to rocket fire on nearby Israeli towns. Those who attacked Israeli towns may have committed war crimes as well, Tutu said.

I think I'm going to hurl.

Meanwhile, in Britain, sharia courts have become official.




Revealed: UK’s first official sharia courts

ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.

The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.

Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court.

Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.

It has now emerged that sharia courts with these powers have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester with the network’s headquarters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Sharia courts operating in Britain

Five sharia courts have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

The government has quietly sanctioned that their rulings are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court. Previously, the rulings were not binding and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.

Lawyers have issued grave warnings about the dangers of a dual legal system and the disclosure drew criticism from Opposition leaders.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: "If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so."

Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, added: "I think it's appalling. I don't think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state."

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