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Friday March 30, 2007

Shorts: Mideast

Female? Foreigner? Israeli spies want you

Israel’s high-tech secret services have been told to step up efforts to recruit women and foreign Jews.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office announced that he has ordered security services such as the Mossad, Shin Bet and Military Intelligence to try to bring more women into their technology units “in order to better exploit the potential human resources in Israel.”

Olmert further endorsed a recommendation by his national security adviser, Ilan Mizrahi, to seek new ways of persuading “exceptional” Jewish youths in the diaspora to immigrate and serve in the range of science and technology jobs offered by Israel’s defense establishment.

While Israel’s spy services are believed to be world leaders in intelligence technology, they have recently lost many potential employees to the more lucrative private sector. — jta

Olmert backs Peres for president

Ehud Olmert said he backed Shimon Peres for the Israeli presidency despite their differences in opinion over the Lebanon war.

Peres reportedly told a war inquiry commission that he disagreed with the scale of Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah. But Olmert still backs him.

“I have no other candidate for the presidency,” Israel’s Army Radio quoted Olmert as saying. “We will continue striving for Peres to receive the appointment.” Peres is the front-runner to succeed President Moshe Katsav, whose term ends in July but who is widely expected to resign early given prosecutors’ stated intention to file rape charges against him. — jta

Poll: Palestinian divided over ending terrorism

Palestinians are split on whether their government should accept Israel and stop terrorism in order to get more international aid, a poll found.

A study by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 48 percent of Palestinians think the new Hamas-Fatah coalition should renounce terrorism, recognize Israel and accept past peace deals. An equal number believe their government should not accept Israel. The poll, conducted last week, surveyed 1,270 Palestinian.. — jta

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