Agriprocessors Reacts To ICE Raid

Press Release: Agriprocessors Addressing Challenges Following Worksite Enforcement Action
By Becky Ogann, KCRG
Story Created: May 15, 2008

This press release comes to TV9 from Jim Fallon who works in public relations counceling for CMA.

POSTVILLE, IA (May 15, 2008) – Agriprocessors, Inc., continues to make meaningful progress in addressing the challenges presented by the worksite enforcement action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies on May 12, 2008.

According to Chaim Abrahams, a company representative, Agriprocessors is concentrating its efforts on production.

“We were able to bring the plant back into operation the next day, and even though we’re not running at full capacity, we are able to resume production,” Abrahams said. “We are in the process of replacing workers so we can avoid any interruption of meeting customer needs for high quality products.”

Abrahams also noted that the company was in the process of enhancing its immigration compliance procedures.

“We are working with experts in immigration compliance to help us bolster our compliance efforts to employ only properly documented employees,” he said. “We have signed up for a government electronic verification program, and are working with our consultants on additional compliance measures that will enhance our hiring process.”

Agriprocessors also has launched an independent investigation into the circumstances which led to the worksite enforcement action, and is cooperating fully with the government.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families whose lives were disrupted and wish them the best,” Abrahams said.

---

Slaughterhouse launches own investigation - JTA

The U.S. kosher slaughterhouse raided by federal immigration agents has launched its own investigation.

Agriprocessors, the largest kosher meat producer in the country, announced Thursday that it was conducting a probe into the circumstances leading to Monday's raid. The company, located in Postville, Iowa, also said it was taking steps to improve compliance with federal immigration standards.

Agriprocessors was the target of what is being called the largest workplace raid in U.S. history, when federal agents surrounded its plant and took away 390 workers on immigration violations. A smaller number are being charged with criminal offenses as well, including identity fraud and using fake Social Security numbers.

"We are working with experts in immigration compliance to help us bolster our compliance efforts to employ only properly documented employees," said Chaim Abrahams, a company representative, in a statement.

Rabbi Moses Weissmandel, the top supervising rabbi at Agriprocessors, told JTA Thursday that the government allegations were categorically false. He was addressing claims in an affidavit that the drug methamphetamine was being produced at the site and that rabbinic supervisors had abused plant workers, the bulk of whom are Mexican and Guatemalan.

"I categorically say it's false, it's not true, it's a lie," he said.

Weissmandel did not address claims that the workers were illegal.

"That's not my department," he said.

---

Its nice to see Agriprocessors taking positive steps to address the problems and the negative publicity from the ICE raid. To recap, hundreds of illegally hired workers were engaged in employment for Agriprocessors, many of them making victims of American consumers. This is the basic definition of employment identity theft and the results of this sort of fraud cause American tax payers headaches and out of pocket expenses in order to correct their wage earnings reports with the IRS and to straighten out the record held by the Social Security Administration. Add to that the time and money spent by both of these agencies in dealing with fraud and the bigger picture starts to become clear.

In terms of worker verification programs, most of these are based upon verifying original documentation and screening a combination of name, Social Security Number and date of birth. (see USCIS E-Verify, the program Swift was using). If an illegal worker has been provided a full set of PII (personal identification information) of a consumer, a successful verification will be made. Rarely, likely almost never, does anyone verify the verification. Employment data is sent to the SSA which never attempts to account for discrepancies.

Rabbi Weissmandel can provide adequate cover for the kashrus aspects but not the legality or lack thereof in the policies followed by the HR department of Agriprocessors.

Bush: No Appeasement - Obama: Did He Say That? Did He Really Say That?

Obama accuses Bush of smearing him as appeaser
Associated Press
'It is sad President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack,' says leading contender for Democratic nomination, believing US president's speech contained veiled criticism of his policies. White House: World does not revolve around Obama

Democrat Barack Obama accused President George W. Bush on Thursday of launching a "false political attack" with a comment about appeasing dictators.

The Democratic presidential candidate interpreted the remark as a slam against him but the White House denied that the comment was in any way directed at Obama.

In a speech to Israel's Knesset, Bush said that "some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along ... We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Responding with a statement, the Obama campaign seized on Bush's remarks even as it was unclear to whom Bush was referring.

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," Obama said in the statement.

"George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."

The White House said Bush's comment wasn't a reference to Obama.

"It is not," Press secretary Dana Perino told reporters in Israel. "I would think that all of you who cover these issues and have for a long time have known that there are many who have suggested these types of negotiations with people that the president, President Bush, thinks that we should not talk to.

"I understand when you're running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you. That is not always true. And it is not true in this case."

Obama, citing past US diplomacy with the Soviet Union and China, has said that as president he would personally negotiate with Iran and offer economic incentives and a chance for peaceful relations if Iranian leaders would forgo their pursuit of nuclear weapons and their support of terrorists.

At the same time, he has said he would strongly reject Iran's development of nuclear weapons, its anti-Semitic rhetoric and terrorist support.

---

For a lame duck, President Bush still can play the political game. It is of course true that the Bush remarks which caused the Barry H.O. campaign to lash out were aimed squarely at Barry. But to whom the Bush comments and Obama lash outs actually help is uncertain. While the Bush comments demonstrate consistency of thought for the administration and give some footing for John McCain to continue the WoT, the Obama people were probably chomping at the bit to take another shot at the president. Both sides may have scored some useful points in this episode.

Clearly Barry must know that his policy statement to enter negotiations with the enemies of the US is an appeasement based policy and at best appeasement-lite. And it is not at all a stretch to say that he was waiting for this opportunity. President Bush for his part is bearing the brunt for campaigning against the Obama policy and thereby doing McCain a favor insulating him from the attack politics of the Obama posse. This is, of course the same Obama team which never cowers from a contradiction in the most fashionable liberal style (Ex. Wright being a mentor but not knowing what he really believes all the while ridiculing Geraldine Ferraro for observations of race-politics.) Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable to say that the illusion of Pres. Obama would be a strong President, thwarting aggressors all the while having kumbaya with the enemies of America.

Any realistic observer of arabia and islamic fundamentalism knows that seeking negotiations without a crushing victory is a sign of weakness and is interpreted as a kowtow. Yes, Barry you would be a hero for Paul Tsongas's pander bear fantasies. And yes, my holy Jewish friends, Obama would be a disaster for Israel.

FOLLOW UP TO AGRIPROCESSORS RAID - THE SECRET CABAL OF KOSHER SLAUGHTER

May 13, 2008
Hundreds Are Arrested in U.S. Sweep of Meat Plant - NYT
By SUSAN SAULNY

In the biggest workplace immigration raid this year, federal agents swept into a kosher meat plant on Monday in Postville, Iowa, and arrested more than 300 workers.

The authorities said the workers were suspected of being in the United States illegally or of having participated in identity theft and the fraudulent use of Social Security numbers.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not say how many people had been rounded up beyond the initial 300 or whether the management and owners of the plant, AgriProcessors, would face criminal charges.

The plant has 800 to 900 people and is the country’s largest producer of meat that is glatt kosher, widely regarded as the highest standard of cleanliness.

The plant shut temporarily.

The agents set up a perimeter around the 60-acre plant, in northeastern Iowa, and entered on the morning shift, carrying out two search warrants, federal authorities said. An affidavit filed in court before the raid by the Homeland Security Department cited “the issuance of 697 criminal complaints and arrest warrants against persons believed to be current employees” and to have acted criminally.

The affidavit said a former plant supervisor had told investigators that a methamphetamine laboratory had operated at the plant and that some employees had carried weapons to the plant. The former supervisor, the affidavit said, estimated that 80 percent of the employees were in the United States illegally.

A spokesman for Representative Bruce Braley, Democrat of Iowa, said the number of arrests was expected to increase, perhaps even double, as the investigation continued.

Federal officials leased an expansive fairground area in nearby Waterloo to process and house the arrested workers. Among people at the fairgrounds and in Postville, “there is a lot of fear,” said Prof. Mark A. Grey, who focuses on immigration at the University of Northern Iowa.

“It’s absolutely devastating to the local economy,” Professor Grey said.

In a news release, Matt M. Dummermuth, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, called the sweep “the largest operation of its type ever in Iowa.”

Federal authorities have been conducting workplace raids across the country in recent years, with the pace accelerating since the failure of immigration legislation last year in Congress.

The raid had been planned for months and was conducted in coordination with local law enforcement, according to the news release, released jointly by Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for the ICE regional office in Bloomington, Minn.

Calls to AgriProcessors, a global giant in the kosher meat market and the major employer in Postville, a town of 2,200 people, were not answered. A lawyer for the plant did not return a call.

According to a company Web site, Aaron Rubashkin, whose family controls the plant, bought a defunct meat factory in Postville in 1987 and turned it into the present plant.

According to Menachem Lubinsky, the editor of Kosher Today and a marketing consultant, AgriProcessors provides 60 percent of the kosher retail meat and 40 percent of the kosher poultry nationally, and most retail chains depend on it for supply. Mr. Lubinsky said the company was also the sole American packing plant whose products are accepted in Israel.

The raid was not the first moment in the national spotlight for the plant. In 2004, it was asked to change its slaughtering methods after an animal rights group secretly documented workers cutting the throats of living steers and letting them bleed to death.

The company has also been a target of environmental pollution complaints.

---

As of today, the Postville meat plant is supposedly back to production and a story carried on VIN squashed rumors that the OU is withdrawing it's hechsher.

My real question is how you lose so much of your labor and continue production without either a loss of volume or quality? The employees that were taken away were likely the non-skilled labor (in kashrus) and support staff. So even if the numbers of "shochets" haven't changed, who will do all the labor to support the slaughter operations?

The units likely impacted (my best guess) is animal movers, cleaning, packaging, shipping, custodial, etc. If so, who is going to make sure that meat is processed and stored correctly and in a timely fashion, packaged correctly and not contaminated waiting to be worked on? I am not familiar with kashrus plant processing operations so I am asking these questions as a concerned consumer. Certainly the USDA will be watching, so some of this concern may be mitigated.

In any event, if the reader made it through the NYT article above you should be laughing. Did you catch this gem:

In 2004, it was asked to change its slaughtering methods after an animal rights group secretly documented workers cutting the throats of living steers and letting them bleed to death.

For those not familiar with kosher slaughter you may not be smiling now. For the rest of us, a good laugh after this embarrassing story doesn't hurt.

Agriprocessors Inc Raided by ICE - from Yeshiva World News

BREAKING: Agriprocessors Raided By US Immigration Police, 700 Estimated Arrested

According to The Des Moines Register, US Immigration officials are currently raiding the nations largest Kosher meat-packaging plant, Agriprocessors Inc., located in Postville, Iowa. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday issued criminal search warrants for aggravated identify theft and fraudulent Social Security numbers.

Agency spokesman Tim Counts told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that civil search warrants also were issued for illegal immigrants, and agents and medical professionals are evaluating those who have been arrested.

Immigration officials told aides to U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley that they expect 600 to 700 arrests. About 1,000 to 1,500 people work at the plant, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

Earlier this morning, a helicopter hovered over the scene, and a number of agents formed a perimeter around the Agriprocessors facility. Vehicles from ICE and at least eight cars and vans from the Iowa State Patrol were at the plant. There were also reports of two moving vans at the scene, along with an ambulance and two black Chevrolet Suburbans. Additionally, four Homeland Security buses with U.S. Immigration and Customs tags on them have entered the Agriprocessors Inc. complex.

Further details will be posted by YWN as soon as an offical statement is issued.

---

With a sense of shame I ask, what is a good definition of Chillul HaShem? I can defend Agri against the PETA idiots. I can brush off comments about working conditions. I cannot ignore allegations of facilitating identity theft. One of the APRPEH blog missions is to educate about ID Theft. There are far too many people whose PII (personal identifying information) is being used to facilitate identity theft. I surely hope that Agri can be cleared here, but given the Swift meat raids in 2006, still in the courts, Agri is looking at significant legal bills and possibly jail time for executives or managers.

Not all ID theft is related to new account fraud. Actually according to the FTC (FTC data), only about 20% - 25% of ID Theft is related to fraud one would uncover reading a credit report. Employment fraud is a troublesome sort of ID Theft to clear up. A victim becomes aware of this type of fraud usually by the IRS after receiving a notice of failure to report earnings along with a notice to pay what they owe along with a penalty. I have assisted consumers through this mess of IRS and Tax Payer Advocate contacts a number of times. Consumers can continue year after year having to deal with this problem which often delays refund checks and forces the consumer to spend hours on the telephone talking to the IRS, visiting offices, making copies and mailing off disputes. Usually, the problem is correctable provided a consumer knows what to do or has professional assistance. In terms of Agriprocessors Inc, the least worst scenario is that someone or job company was feeding "pre-screened" employees to them.

The second to worst scenario is that Agriprocessors Inc is providing the IDs to these workers or can be shown to be giving a wink and nod to the practice essentially helping to facilitate fraud. The third worst scenario, (or in combination) is the voluntary giving over of IDs by select consumers for Agriprocessors Inc.'s use. This is pure theorizing on my part only and I have NO inside knowledge as to what is occurring at Agri nor is it intended by me to appear that I do or as Loshon Hara. I am merely sharing my professional experience of cleaning up the mess of employment based ID Theft.

Agriprocessors Inc., if guilty of facilitating ID Theft may be finished, which is shame and definite loss to the kosher consumer.


Des Moines Register story 'largest in Iowa history'

Shamis story

Encouraging News for Yom HaAtzmout

Poll: Most Israelis see themselves as Jewish first, Israeli second (Ynet)

Happy Anniversary Israel. I often hear "Happy Birthday" Israel but this seems to be inaccurate. After all, this most recent Jewish commonwealth in the land of Israel is technically speaking number 3 and B'Ezras HaShem we will not have to keep counting. Unless, that is when the future redemption (may it come speedily) arrives and we realize that what was there before is so different than what it will be at that time that we conceive that a "4th" in label only, is needed.

The Ynet article below is encouraging. Often we hear primarily from the secularists and non-religious about how Israel is different, that it is not necessary to be "religious" there. "Its in the air" we have long heard. This stereotype is outdated and maybe it has been inaccurate for much longer than we realize.

It is easy to talk about Israel, in theory, from the US. It is probably easier though to talk about the diaspora, in theory, from Israel. Where religious Jews have an advantage I believe and certainly have less doubt (no matter where they reside) is in talking about Judaism, not as theory but as reality. It is this religious sense, that Jews in Israel or anywhere else are uniquely tied together in a spiritual bond of holiness which comes from Torah that makes Israel, the people and the land, special.

Torah teaches all of us as one people, one law - one people. There are however exceptions based upon the location with which you live. There are laws pertaining only to the land of Israel itself (or better laws only applicable in the land) and laws based upon Temple avodah. It is an interesting study to follow the ascension of holiness through Yisroel, Levi, and Kohain (by privileges), through all the lands, Israel, Jerusalem, and finally Har HaBayis. Yet, all Jews are still Jews no matter where they live.

What is nice to see about the Ynet story is that Israelis like Americans like British, like 'wherevers', see themselves as Jews in Israel in greater numbers than Israelis who happen to have Jewish ancestry. This can be interpreted from the data:

According to the IDI's Guttman Center, which published the data Tuesday, 94% of the Jewish population in Israel thinks of itself as part of the worldwide Jewish community – 68% think Jews living in Israel share the same destiny as those living in the Diaspora.

American Jews have tried to explain this idea of people hood within an American context for quite a long time. It is our own failure to adequately share our worldview which has sometimes opened the door to the dual loyalty claim. (albeit it is exactly this 'worldview' which threatens some people unwilling to accept it from religious bias). Non-Jews are challenged with the notion of relating "Americanism" to Jewish people hood. America, as they say is a melting pot, a cholent of sorts (with the Jews, of course being the kishke, dissolved within but definitely noticeable for coloring and influencing the whole cholent).

It is not a mental challenge for Levine to be every bit as loyal as Smith and still retain the Jewish people hood concept in its fullest. Why? Because HaShem selected us to be his shluchim to the world. As the Rebbe would say, {paraphrased} - every Jew is like an only child of HaShem. And even though we are like an only child, we have siblings for whom we care about greatly. And as a family, we have a unique inheritance from our Father for which we must share, not only in good times but in difficult times as well (may there be only simchas). It is most satisfactory that our family caretakers of the land part of the inheritance understand this too. Now if only for the Torah part.....

---

Poll: Most Israelis see themselves as Jewish first, Israeli second (Ynet)

Israel Democracy Institute releases special survey probing Israelis' perception of identify, says 94% of Jewish population in Israel believes it is part of worldwide Jewish community

Kobi Nahshoni

Sixty years after Israel was established as the Jewish state and the polemic is at its peak – are we Jewish first and Israeli second or vice versa?

An ongoing study preformed by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), published for the first time on Ynet, reveals that 47% of the public sees itself as Jewish first and Israeli second, as apposed to 39% with consider themselves first and foremost Israeli.

According to the IDI's Guttman Center, which published the data Tuesday, 94% of the Jewish population in Israel thinks of itself as part of the worldwide Jewish community – 68% think Jews living in Israel share the same destiny as those living in the Diaspora.

The majority of the study was bases on an ongoing survey, taken by the Guttman Center among the Jewish sector in the country.

Those taking part were asked to rate the way they perceived their identity according to importance, and so 47% said they were Jewish, 39% said they were Israeli, 10% based their identity according on their religious affiliation and 4% according to their ethnic denomination.

A closer look at the religious sectoring showed that the more devout the sector – the stronger the Jewish definition: Some 78% of those identifying themselves as haredim and 73% of their religious counterparts chose the Jewish persona over the Israeli one, with 0% and 16% (respectively) choosing to define themselves as Israelis.

Among those who said they were traditionalist, 55% saw themselves Jewish and 35% as Israelis. Within the secular sector, 49% said they saw themselves as Israeli first and 34% said they were Jewish first – Israeli second.

As for the Arab sector, the polling data showed that the majority of Israeli Arab see themselves as Palestinian or as Arab, and only a minor percentage of the sector see themselves as Israeli: Forty-five percent said they were Arab, 24% think of themselves as Palestinians, 19% define themselves by their religious affiliation and only 12% said they were Israelis.

The second part of the study takes a closer look at the current data in comparison to similar surveys taken in 1991 and 1999.

The data showed that the overall feeling of belonging to a "greater community" among Jews has remanded unchanged despite a certain decline in the belief in a common destiny with Diaspora Jews.

The Guttman Center goes on to quote a poll taken in 2007, which said that 76% of Jews living in Israel felt they shared the same destiny as their brethren abroad; 2008's poll pegged the number at 68%.

Rabbi Belsky, Mishpacha Magazine and Chabad

Background and commentary to this story can be found on the Life of Rubin blog. The short version is that Mishpacha Magazine ran an interview with Rabbi Belsky (and Rav Miller, Rav Heinemann) where Rabbi Belsky made some very disparaging remarks about Chabad using broad generalizations and sterotypes. (The remarks, in full appear at the bottom of the post as they were published on Shmais)

The following letter was received by Shamis News Service

---

Bs"d
SHMAIS.COM EXCLUSIVE: 11 questions for Rabbi Yisroel Belsky

Tuesday, May 06, 2008
FROM THE SHMAIS.COM EMAIL INBOX

B”H

Not a week had passed since Pesach, and already Rav Belsky, Rosh Yeshivah in Torah VoDaas and official Posek for the OU causes us to ask so many new questions.

1) Why, so soon after celebrating the birth of Am Yisroel, are we trying to break our nation further apart?

2) Why, barely two weeks into Sefiras HaOmer, when we mourn the passing of Rabbi Akiva’s Talmidim because they were not noheig kavod ze bazeh, are we fanning the flames of Sinas Yisroel?

3) Why, just as we begin our preparation for Matan Torah, is such blatant disrespect being shown to an entire community of Yereim Ushleimim, including the strongest Marbitzei Torah in the world?

4) Why, Davka in the week that we learn in the first Perek of Pirkei Avos “Chachomim Hizoharu Bedivreichem”, would the popular Mishpacha magazine irresponsibly publish inflammatory statements not based on fact?

I will only challenge Rav Belsky’s careless dismissal of Lubavitch as a whole having no place in Yiddishkeit and that present-day Chabad “has nothing to do with bringing the masses back to Judaism”. (Every angle of “the Moshiach issue” has already been discussed and regurgitated).

5) Is Rav Belsky really not aware of the work of Chabad-Lubavitch around the world?

6) Does Rav Belsky not know of the Shiurei Torah given by Shluchim every day in Tanach, Halacha, Hashkafa, Daf Yomi, and more?

7) Is Rav Belsky oblivious to the fact that dozens of Chabad Shluchim serve as reliable, dependable Mashgichim for the OU, in many cases because they are available, having devoted their lives to helping their fellow Jews in the remote areas? Are all those Mashgichim Pasul? Does that, by extent, place the reliability of the OU in question?

8) Is Rav Belsky not aware of the thousands of Lubavitcher Yeshiva Bochurim who spend their free time on Friday afternoon being Mezake fellow Yidden with some Divrei Torah, Tefillah, and chance to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu by putting on Tefiolin?

9) Is Rav Belsky not aware that once a week hundreds of Lubavitcher Yeshiva Bochurim spend time with Jewish children in New York City who are currently in public school, teaching them how to say Brachos, about Torah, and encouraging their parents to send them to Jewish schools?

10) Does Rav Belsky not know of the hundreds of Lubavitcher yeshiva Bochurim who gave up their Bein Hazmanim to assist Shluchim in conducting public Sedorim, being Mezakeh hundreds of Yidden, kein yirbu, with fulfilling the Mitzvos of Pesach?

11) Does Rav Belsky not know this from his own Talmidim who rely on Chabad Shluchim for a place to stay for Shabbos, a Minyan, and Kosher food when they travel “on business”?

Anyone wanting to know what Chabad-Lubavitch is doing today, can easily visit www.Lubavitch.com or www.chabad.org/news, the official websites of Chabad-Lubavitch. Would it not be a reasonable thing to do before publishing such incendiary remarks?

And whatever reason or excuse one might find for Rav Belsky’s skewed view of Chabad-Lubavitch today, is there any reason that Mishpacha magazine saw a need to publish this?!

Is there really nothing more pressing to the Chareidi community today?! Is the Jewish periodical market so competitive, that Mishpacha must resort to such controversial sensationalism to engender sales, at the cost of the irreparable damage this will do?!

At a time when so many barriers between communities have been removed, as Chassidim of all stripes, Yeshivishe, Yekke, Litvishe, Ashkenazim and Sefardim etc. etc. work together on so many issues of common concern (youth at risk, Shalom Bayis issues, Chinuch, Kashrus, safety in our communities, and all types of Chessed organizations) was it really necessary?!

The basic answer to the Mah Nishtanah is “Avadim Hayinu”. Isn’t it time to free ourselves?!

Name withheld upon request

---

Rabbi Belsky's comment as it appears on Shmais.com:

The Clock Ticking Down on the Bush and Condi Championship Game

Rice: Young Palestinians Losing Hope For Deal With Israel
Heading Back To Mideast, Rice Says Young Palestinians Are Losing Hope For Deal With Israel

WASHINGTON, May. 6, 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(AP) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told an American Jewish audience Tuesday that young Palestinians are losing hope for an agreement with Israel.

"Increasingly, the Palestinians who talk about a two-state solution are my age," Rice, 53, said in a somber speech to The American Jewish Committee at its 102nd annual meeting.

Insisting that the Bush administration will never yield to dealing with Hamas militants, Rice said, "What you don't want is that the hopelessness and the vision of the extremists have no counter."

Set to leave early Thursday for more jawboning with moderate Arabs and Israeli leaders, after talks in London designed to raise more economic support for the Palestinians, Rice called on Israel to make "difficult decisions" to provide the Palestinians with the dignity of statehood.

In fact, she said, "we have a chance to reach the basic contours of a settlement by the end of the year" _ a scaling back of President Bush's initial hope for a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians before he leaves office.

Rice also poured cold water on any prospects that Israel and Syria could negotiate peace terms.

The two sides, working partly through Turkey, have shown some renewed interest. The basis would be Israel swapping the Golan Heights for a peace treaty with its Arab neighbor.

Rice said the Bush administration had tried to interest Syria in peacemaking, with such moves as an invitation to a Mideast conference last November in Annapolis, Md.

"It is hard to see there is a Syrian regime receptive" to negotiations with Israel at this point, she said.

"Syria is like Iran's sidecar," she said, aligning itself tightly with a country that threatens Israel's existence. And, she reminded the American Jewish Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobby and foe of intolerance and anti-Semitism, "you know about Syria's nuclear program."

Rice referred to a nuclear facility built with North Korea's cooperation and then wrecked by Israeli jets last September.

The central theme in her 15-minute speech and 20-minute question-and-answer session was that the Bush administration would not give up trying to steer Israel and the Palestinians toward a settlement that provides the Palestinians with a state.

And, the administration would have no dealings with Hamas or other Palestinian extremists that war with Israel and refuse to recognize the Jewish state.

"Either you are a political party or a terrorist group," Rice said. "You cannot be both."

Once again, Rice criticized former President Jimmy Carter for holding talks with Hamas leaders. "I don't see the point of trying to negotiate with people who are determined to destroy the foundation of peace," she said.

---

Dr. Rice is talking like a basketball coach watching the clock tick away with her team down in the championship game and realizing that with every day of 2008 sliding by, the chance of making a comeback is increasingly unlikely. Then again, maybe these statements are yet another example of the Bush Administration's arabian "end run", not meaning for any true, permanent, resolution to the conflict between the arabians and Israel, just attempting to finish the game in good form.

Her comments lead me to believe there is confusion on her part as to the reason for talks, or is it after all an attempt to stall? If the youth are not interested in peace, who are the guarantors of any agreement? If Hamas cannot be a "political party" how is that Fatah/PA can be a partner for negotiations? The trouble with such logic as hers is that it leaves the door open for one day accepting Hamas as a party to negotiations. Why, all you have to do is say you are a "political party" and ta-da, welcome to the White House.

What is it with this age issue after all? The arabians have been saying since the re-establishment of the Jewish homeland that a war of "liberation" was the only way to expel the Jews. This message has been taught for generations now in "palestinian" and arabian schools. The official PA educational curriculum and press still de-humanizes Jews and Israel. How can it be that only now, the youth of "palestine" do not talk of a "two-state solution"? The only arabians talking two-state solution are the PA on the US and European payroll. Nothing has changed in this regard.

In fact the idea of modernizing, democratizing, de-militarizing the PA is contradicted by Condi's words. It is fair to say that the PA arabians have secured more compromises, promises and diplomatic success than any effort to destroy Israel did in previous generations. An American President has called for the creation of an independent "Palestine" and the sitting Prime Minister of Israel (for the time being that is) is ready to hand over as much land of Judea and Samaria as needed with part of Jerusalem as its capital for the erstwhile new Pali homeland for a people who never had one. None of this was achieved by war, only through talks.

How is it then that younger arabians are not interested in "two-states"? Maybe it is because the older arabians are not really interested in "two-states" either and like the Bush administration may be doing, just walking the walk. So, after President Bush is gone, PM Olmert is gone and very possibly Abu Mazen is gone, then who picks up the pieces of the "failed" negotiations? When will the lesson be learned that just as when road blocks are removed Jews die, chas v'shalom, that when talks fail Jews die, chas v'shalom?