Nearly three weeks later, the Iranian- and Syrian-backed terrorist group in Lebanon, Hezbollah, entered Israel, killed eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others. The terror group then launched over 1,400 rockets into Israel during the first five days of the conflict and even struck an Israeli ship with a missile ? showing more capability than experts assumed.

The European Union urged Israel to show restraint, expressing great concern "about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks by Hezbollah on Israel." France's President Jacques Chirac said, "One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon. ... I find honestly ? as all Europeans do ? that the current reactions are totally disproportionate." The Vatican issued a statement saying, " ... [T]he Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation. ..."

Restraint? Hezbollah threatens to exterminate Israel and to defeat America. Hamas accuses the Israelis of "stealing" the Palestinians' land. The Hamas Covenant, Article 3, describes the duty of all Muslims: "... [To] fear Allah and raise the banner of jihad in the face of the oppressors." Article 11 clarifies their belief "that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [property that generates revenue for mosques and religious schools] consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day." Article 13 flatly states, "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad."

WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah, an Arab-American, years ago wrote a column titled "The Jews took no one's land." The Holy Land, writes Farah, was described as a vast wasteland in the 19th century. Beginning in the mid-1800s, Jews were the majority ? often an overwhelming majority, especially around Jerusalem. When Jews began to return to their "promised land" early in the 20th century, the desert literally began to bloom under their industry. Arabs followed, coming in large numbers for the jobs and prosperity. In 1948, when the United Nations partitioned the land into separate Arab and Jewish states, the surrounding Arab states immediately declared war. The Jews urged the Arabs to stay and live peacefully. Many Arabs chose to leave, to be rejected, used and virtually imprisoned by Arab power brokers.

Joan Peters, in "From Time Immemorial," a wonderful book about the history of the Israeli/Arab conflict over Palestine, quotes Khaled Al-Azm, Syria's prime minister after the 1948 war. Years later, Al-Azm wrote, "Since 1948 it is we who demanded the return of the refugees ... while it is we who made them leave. ... We brought disaster upon ... Arab refugees, by inviting them and bringing pressure to bear upon them to leave. ... We have rendered them dispossessed. ... We have accustomed them to begging. ... We have participated in lowering their moral and social level. ... Then we exploited them in executing crimes of murder, arson and throwing bombs upon ... men, women and children ? all this in the service of political purposes. ..."

Peters also quotes King Hussein of Jordan, who, in 1960, said: "Since 1948 Arab leaders have approached the Palestine problem in an irresponsible manner. ... They have used the Palestine people for selfish political purposes. This is ridiculous and, I could say, even criminal."

Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 and pulled completely out of Gaza in August 2005. Following the withdrawal from Gaza, Israel weathered some 700 rocket attacks launched from the former occupied territory. So much for the notion that this crisis turns on the withdrawal from "occupied" territory.

Bombay. Bali. Madrid. London. Cairo. Washington, D.C. And New York, and New York again. Spanish authorities foiled a terrorist attack on its National Court, Spain's center for prosecuting terrorists, after the Spaniards agreed to withdraw from Iraq following Madrid's train bombings. Much of the world, and unfortunately, much of America, refuses to get it. This is World War III.

Islamofascism seeks our destruction ? not accommodation, not conciliation, but complete and total destruction. Islamofascism does not end with the "recapture" of "historic Palestine." Our very existence ? democracy, freedom, religious tolerance and gender equality ? threaten Islamofascism.

If the Europeans don't get it, at least some of the so-called "moderate" Arab states do. In a dramatic departure from the past, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and several Gulf states blame Hezbollah, not Israel, for starting the war. Former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu notes that the terrorists call Israel "little Satan," and America the "great Satan." But, Netanyahu warns, sooner or later the Europeans will realize that terrorists consider them the "middle Satan."

Nothing short of civilization is at stake.

Why does this war break out this week, all of sudden with little warning? Because this is the exact week the Jewish people are trying to decide whether the gay pride parade should take place in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv," Pinchas Winston, a noted author, rabbi and lecturer based in Jerusalem told WND.

Winston is one of many rabbinic leaders here to blast the World Pride Parade, a mass international gathering of homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people scheduled Aug. 6-12.

The week-long homosexual celebration will feature a parade down the streets of central Jerusalem, a beach party, health conference and a "Youth Day" to take place in the Knesset, Israel's main legislative government building.

The festival is being run by an organization called World Pride, which seeks to promote an atmosphere of "love without borders," according to group's website.

Yet many religious leaders believe the Israeli government's decision to allow a world homosexual parade in Jerusalem is having real-life consequences.

"This [parade] is an attack against God himself," Winston said. "God has told the Jewish people, 'If you are not going to fight for my honor, you will be forced to fight for your own honor.'"

Winston points to the clashes that broke out after Hezbollah staged a raid last week in which two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and eight more soldiers were killed. Israel has been retaliating inside Lebanon while the Lebanese terror group has fired hundreds of deadly Katyusha rockets at northern Israeli population centers, killing 18 civilians and wounding hundreds, some seriously.

On a second battlefront, Israel also recently sent ground troops into Gaza following the kidnapping by Hamas of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas and other Gaza-based Palestinian Arab terror groups have launched hundreds of rockets into Jewish communities near Gaza, including Ashkelon, home to Israel's major power stations and strategic oil and gas pipelines.

Lazer Brody, an author and dean of the Breslov Rabbinical College in Ashdod, Israel, concurred with Winston.

"When God's presence is in the camp, nothing can happen to the Jewish people," Brody stated. "But If the Jewish people bring impurity into the camp of Israel, this chases away God's presence."

Brody contends the "removal of God's presence" led to the recent violence here, but he said he still feels the Jewish state is being protected.

"Over 1,000 Katyusha rockets have been fired thus far, and the damage has been equivalent to scratches," Brody said.

Before becoming a rabbi, Brody served for many years in the Israeli army, where he fought in combat missions in Beirut during Israel's incursion into Lebanon in the early 1980's. He said the public display of homosexuality in Jerusalem "soils the camp of Israel with impurity, and pushes away the divine presence and protection."

He cites Deuteronomy, [23:13-15]: "For the Lord, your God, goes along in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to deliver your enemies before you. [Therefore,] your camp shall be holy, so that He should not see anything unseemly among you and would turn away from you."

"The Torah is the ultimate book of human rights, giving each individual the right to free choice," said Brody. "What a person does behind closed doors is at one's own risk; but to partake of that behavior in public spreads the impurity to the entire camp."

The Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a worldwide coalition of over 1200 rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis released a statement this week asking Israelis to "increase the holiness" of the country while it was at war by praying and among other thing cancelling the World Pride event.

The World Pride event previously was held in 2000 in Rome, where it attracted about a quarter of a million participants. Images of the Rome festivities, featured on various homosexual websites, show throngs of shirtless men in shorts and bikini briefs congregated on the streets, some of them holding hands.

Earlier this year, the Israeli Supreme Court granted tacit support for the event. The Israeli police department has thus far supported the parade, although some security officials have stated an upsurge in national violence can bog down police forces and force the event to cancel.

The police also are worried about violent protesters at any Jerusalem homosexual parade. Last year, at a smaller, local homosexual pride parade, three males were stabbed shortly after fellow paraders were seen kissing outside Jerusalem's Great Synagogue.

Despite Judicial support, a recent poll shows that nearly 70 percent of all Jerusalemites oppose the march. Mayor Uri Lupolianski, an orthodox Jew, has filed a petition to prevent the event from taking place. About half of the Knesset's 120 legislatures signed a petition against holding a homosexual parade in Jerusalem.

But activists from World Pride claim the event will "bring a new inner-faith message of equality and tolerance" to Israel's populace. Event organizers say the parade in Jerusalem has been suited to the city's nature in respect to the local religious population.

Hagai El-Ad, Executive Director of Jerusalem Open House, the main organizer of World Pride, is upset by attempts to move or cancel the weeklong event.

"An orchestrated campaign to sabotage Jerusalem World Pride has been launched by those who propagate the fallacy that only they have a right to claim faith as their mantle," El-Ad said.

"This campaign will fail, as it has in previous years," El-Ad stated, "but the news that the mayor of Jerusalem has signed a petition calling for the cancellation of World Pride, accompanied by reports that extremist Jewish preacher Amnon Yitzhak is planning a so-called 'humility march' in opposition of World Pride, should be troubling to anyone who believes in Jerusalem as a welcoming city for all people."

Meanwhile, Yehuda Levin, a member of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, has come to Israel specifically to prevent the homosexual celebration from taking place. He said a homosexual parade is akin to a parade of "prostitutes promoting prostitution, or adulterers encouraging others to try adultery at least once in their life."

"Israel is the Holy Land, not the homo-land," Levin told WND.

Levin has been posting signs across Jerusalem urging citizens, politicians and Israel's chief rabbinate to use all legal means to prevent the festival.

"We'll use our bodies if we have to," Levin says.

Sharon Kleinbaum, North American co-chair of the Jerusalem World Pride event, stated in response to Levin's activities, "I am both outraged and saddened by American Rabbi Yehuda Levin's efforts to undermine and threaten World Pride, its organizers and participants."

Kleinbaum said, "Levin's use of religion as a weapon of bigotry and violence is offensive to all who care about God and religion and morality. He blasphemes God's name when he says that Jerusalem does not belong to all of us.

"Jerusalem was chosen as the site for World Pride because it represents a center of tolerance, pluralism and love for all humanity," Kleinbaum added. "The thousands of World Pride participants, from Israel and all over the world and of diverse faiths will be the best answer to Levin' display of intolerance and unholy values."

World Pride organizers also are concerned about the current violence between Israel and Lebanon. A statement on the organization' website reads, "Our hearts go to all the people affected by the violence, as we continue to hope that peace will prevail. As Jerusalemites, we are acutely aware of the complexities of the reality that we face in our city and in the region. We feel that these days optimistic messages speaking for tolerance and against violence, as are indeed the core messages of the Jerusalem World Pride events, are even more significant than during calmer times."

Like some other rabbis here, Levin believes that there is a direct correlation between the homosexual parade scheduled to take place in Jerusalem and the recent onslaught of rockets raining from Lebanon and Gaza.

Citing Leviticus [18:22-28], Levin said the Torah relates to Israel' current conflict.

Leviticus states, "You shall not lie down with a male, as with a woman: this is an abomination. For the nations, whom I am sending away from before you, have defiled themselves with all these things. And the land became defiled, and I visited its sin upon it, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. ? For the people of the land who preceded you, did all of these abominations, and the land became defiled. And let the land not vomit you out for having defiled it, as it vomited out the nation that preceded you.'"

Said Levin, "The terrorists, the leaders of Israel's enemies are working for the destruction of Israel, to wipe the Jewish people off the map."

Levin believes their efforts are succeeding due to what he calls sexual promiscuity in the land of Israel.

"Lebanon is a part of biblical Israel, and we were forced to evacuate there," he said. "Gaza is a part of biblical Israel, and last summer the land spit out over 8,000 Jewish residents."

Levin notes that holding a gay pride parade in Israel is not a new idea.

"For years, local gay parades were held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem," he said. "This is like boiling water in a pot. First the water starts to simmer, and eventually it boils over."

Last summer, according to Levin, the pot did indeed boil over. In August 2005, the international World Pride organization sought to hold its yearly event in Jerusalem. After giving initial approval, Israeli police were forced to cancel the event due to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli police would have been unable to carry out the forced expulsion of Jewish residents from the 21 communities of Gush Katif and at the same time provide the required protection for the tens of thousands of participants scheduled to take part in the Jerusalem parade.

Levin said the part of the event he finds most despicable is the "Youth Day," which he charges is intended to present homosexuality as a viable life option to kids and young adults.

"Last time I checked, sexual contact of any nature with a minor under the age of 18 is illegal," Levin stated.

"Homosexuality is wrong," Levin said. "This is something every school kid knows."

The letter reproduces in an annex the words the Pope spoke last Sunday at the Angelus. The archbishop recalled that the [Pontiff] prayed for the victims and reminded "political leaders of the need and urgency to return to the path of reason and dialogue."

Echoing the Pontiff's words, the letter appeals to local Churches to pray that "the Lord will illuminate spirits so that concord and peace will reign in this region of the world rent by injustice and hatred."

He concluded assuring that "the universal Church joins our Church in the Holy Land to implore the Lord's help in this very difficult moment."

"In the coming five years, China will on the basis of its Moon probes actively plan deep space exploration, focusing on lunar and Mars exploration," Xinhua said in a brief report.

China expects to launch its first lunar probe next year, state media has said. It will spend a year orbiting the moon to collect three-dimensional images and data on the moon's surface and environment.

The satellite, which Xinhua said has a budget of 1.4 billion yuan ($175 million), is part of a three-stage project first approved in 2004 that includes a lunar vehicle by 2012 and a module to collect rock samples by 2017.

President Bush in 2004 unveiled plans for a human mission back to the moon by 2020 and an eventual trip to Mars and other planets in the solar system.

China's space program has prompted worries in some quarters about a possible arms race in space, but Beijing insists its plans are peaceful.

China became the third country to successfully send a man into space in 2003 and regularly sends up research satellites as part of an ambitious space program.

The Assembly Line Begins on Marco Polo Bridge and Continues to Beijing Friendship Hospital

The former policeman, Sun Liyong, said that he enrolled in the Beijing Police Academy in 1979 and after gradation was assigned to the Dongcheng Police Department in Beijing, where he worked until1987. There were 650 students who graduated with him and they were assigned to various public security and legal organizations in Beijing, including enforcement teams responsible for executing prisoners. Classmates kept in touch with each other and exchanged information.

One of Sun Liyong's classmates worked in the organization responsible for executing prisoners. That's how Sun Liyong was able to find out that, back then, Beijing Friendship Hospital was the only hospital in Beijing that could obtain organs from executed prisoners. The process was as follows: Beijing Police Department would first confirm the date of a prisoner's execution and then inform both Beijing Friendship Hospital and the courts. The hospital staff would go to the detention centre to carry out blood tests before the prisoner was executed in order to find compatible organs. The No 7 section of the Beijing Police Department was responsible for this.

Vehicles from the police department, law courts and Friendship Hospital would arrive at the scene of the execution. A red cross sign was hung on the hospital's vehicle and the people inside couldn't leave. An operating table, knives and scissors would all be ready in the vehicle.

The execution site for carrying out death sentences in Beijing is usually at the Marco Polo Bridge. The prisoner would kneel in a hole dug in the ground and would be shot through the head. Because his organs would be removed, he couldn't be shot in the heart.

After the prisoner was shot, he would collapse forward into the dug out hole. The coroner would check that he was dead and then place his body in a large plastic bag, tie it up and dump it in the vehicle with the red cross sign.

Staff in the vehicle would immediately begin removing the organs as the vehicle drove back to the hospital. At the same time, the organ recipient would be in the hospital, anaesthetized, and ready for the transplant operation.

Sun Liyong said that, as far as he knew, people who have been sentenced to death have their organs taken regardless of whether they consented or not. There is no choice when the Chinese Communist regime is involved to them, harvesting people's organs is perfectly justified.

Safavi, continuing his other-worldly perspective on global events, taunted Israel with promises of "disgraceful defeat" if that nation persists in defending itself against terrorist attacks by Hezbollah, which is a terrorist organization supported by Iran and Syria.

"The problem of the usurper regime of Israel is that it is facing a powerful and invisible army called the Islamic resistance Hezbollah of Lebanon. It is better if the Zionists end their attacks on the Gaza Strip and against Lebanon and release Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners to reach a ceasefire before they face a disgraceful defeat", Safavi said.

Safavi also accused the United States of giving permission to Israel to carry out its military attacks against Lebanon, claiming "the U.S. created this event to cover up its defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq."

"We have 2,000 volunteers who have registered since last year," Hezbollah spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli told Reuters yesterday. "They have been trained and they can become fully armed. We are ready to dispatch them to every corner of the world to jeopardize Israel and America's interests. We are only waiting for the supreme leader's green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War III we welcome it."

The "supreme leader" is Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei.

Hezbollah and Iranian officials are known for their hyperbolic rhetoric, but U.S. officials say it would be a mistake to dismiss them categorically.

FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed earlier this spring that Hezbollah agents were caught trying to enter the country illegally through the Mexican border.

Likewise, James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February that "Ahmadinejad who is close to Hezbollah, says that he knows of the 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and the West, which he has spied out and is ready to attack in order to, quote: 'End Anglo-Saxon civilization."

In May long before the recent escalation of conflict with Israel more than 100 "martyrdom-seeking volunteers" affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps gathered to warn the U.S. they would blow up American interests around the world if their country's nuclear installations came under attack.

Mohammad-Ali Samadi, spokesman for a government-orchestrated campaign to recruit suicide bombers, said more than 55,000 volunteers had been registered, according to Iran Focus.

The group called the Headquarters to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement was established in 2004 to carry out suicide attacks against three targets: "The infidels occupying Iraq," Israel and author Salman Rushdie.

In February, it launched a new recruitment drive to fight "global blasphemy."

Iran estimated then that Israel would strike Tehran's nuclear facilities within a year and has been planning retaliatory attacks against Israeli, American and British interests, according to senior Lebanese political sources who spoke to WorldNetDaily on condition of anonymity.

The sources said while Iran is expecting lone Israeli military action, Iranian intelligence estimates the Jewish state is coordinating a planned attack with the U.S.

The recent attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel -- with the active political, financial and military support of Iran and Syria -- are just the latest acts in this war. It is a war that pits civilization and the rule of law against the dictatorships of Iran and Syria and the terrorist groups of Hezbollah and Hamas that they support. It is also a war that pits civilized nations against Islamic terrorist groups around the world, including, most significantly (but not exclusively), the al Qaeda network.

In the United States, we refer to this struggle as the "Global War on Terror". Yet, I believe this label fails to capture the nature and scale of the threat faced by civilization.

The nature of the threat -- with Iran at the epicenter -- is at its core ideological. The threat to the United States is an ideological wing of Islam that is irreconcilable to modern civilization as we know it throughout most of the world. The United States and her allies face a long war with this irreconcilable wing of Islam.

While I have addressed the nature of this threat before, I believe the deadly attacks that have recently been carried out across the globe and the plots of mass murder that have been uncovered recently in our own country and abroad reflect a scale of challenge much larger than we currently recognize. So much so that I think an analogy to the two world wars of the last century more accurately explains where we find ourselves today.

The Iran-Syrian-Hezbollah-Hamas Terrorist Alliance

It is necessary to connect the dots to understand the scale of the challenge we face. These are not isolated events: Whether operationally connected or not, these attackers and plotters are connected in their ultimate aim to destroy the values of freedom, security and religious liberty that sustain civilization in the modern age.

Here's a list of the attacks, provocative acts and uncovered plots that have occurred in just the past seven weeks:

-An Iran-Syrian-Hezbollah-Hamas terrorist alliance is waging war against Israel in both southern Lebanon and Gaza. Hezbollah has launched more than 1,000 rockets into northern Israel in the past few days alone.
-Seven bombings in Mumbai, India, killed more than 200 people.
-North Korea, which is in public contact with Iran, launched seven missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the West coast of the continental United States, in deliberate contempt of repeated warnings from the American and Japanese governments and the United Nations Security Council.
-Seven Americans were seen on video tape in Miami pledging allegiance to al Qaeda.
-A plot to bomb New York City subways and tunnels was discovered.
-Eighteen Canadians, plotting terror, were arrested with twice the explosive force used in the Oklahoma City bombing and a plan to blow up the Canadian parliament.
-The British government reported that it has uncovered more than 20 "major conspiracies" by Islamic terrorists, and as many as 1,200 potential terrorists now live in the United Kingdom.
This is only a recent list. It is in addition to the deadly bombings we witness on an almost daily basis in Baghdad, and previous attacks in New York, Washington, London, Madrid, Bali, Beslan, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Sharm-el-Sheikh, New Delhi, Amman and many other cities.

Are We For Civilization or Appeasement?

Some actions are clarifying because they force people -- and nations -- to choose sides. The increasing number of attacks, provocations, and plots of this Third World War similarly force us to make a decision. We must have a national debate -- indeed, a worldwide debate -- between those of us who believe we're in a war to defend civilization (and therefore must defeat terrorists and their state sponsors) and those who are made uncomfortable by the price of defeating terrorists and their state sponsors.

This is a fundamental choice upon which will hinge our future liberties and possibly our very lives. New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin described the war like this:

"While it is often a war of loose or no affiliation, and sometimes just amateur copycats, the similar goals of destruction add up to a threat against modern society. ... Islamic fascists are the driving force, but anti-American hatred is a global membership card for any and all who have a grievance and a gun."

So which are we for? Defending civilization and America? Or making excuses for those who threaten us and burying our heads in the sand?

"The mission will have to be far more specific and clearer, and the force employed will have to be far greater," he told reporters at the end of the Group of Eight summit of world leaders on Monday.

"This will obviously take time to put together," he said, warning that the force "cannot operate except in conditions where there has been a cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

The final hours of the G8 summit of wealthy nations were supposed to focus on Africa and global trade talks, but minds were still very much on the Middle East and the fear of all-out war.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the United Nations needed time and space "to make sure we have the troops -- well-trained, well-equipped troops -- to go in quite quickly."

He said a UN team in the region would report to the Security Council toward the end of the week.

The current UN monitoring force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, was set up in 1978 to oversee an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon that finally took place 22 years later.

It is made up of 2,000 soldiers from China, France, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy and Poland but is largely powerless militarily.

Israel reacted cautiously to the idea of an international force. "At this moment it is too early to discuss this possibility," foreign ministry official Yigal Palmor told AFP.

"First of all we need to implement the United Nation resolutions and the G8 decisions."

Annan flew to Saint Petersburg a day after the G8 group -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, host Russia and the United States -- proposed the deployment of a force.

The G8 group also called jointly for a halt to "extremist" attacks on the Jewish state, an end to Israel's military operations in Lebanon and Gaza, and the release of captured soldiers and detained Palestinian ministers.

Israeli forces have been relentlessly pounding targets in Lebanon since the middle of last week after Hezbollah captured two soldiers, while the militant movement has retaliated with rocket attacks on Israeli cities.

Some 200 people, according to an AFP count -- more than 170 in Lebanon and 24 Israelis -- have been killed in the violence, which has brought widespread appeals for restraint.

US President George W. Bush said shortly before flying out of here that the G8 statement would help restore "calm," adding that "for the first time we've really begun to address with clarity the root causes of the conflict."

"I'm most pleased that the leaders came together to say, 'Look, we condemn violence, we honor innocent life'."

Later, however, Bush was caught on an open microphone giving his succinct assessment of who he thought was to blame for the violence.

Chatting with Blair over lunch, he said that "the irony is, what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over," without specifying who "they" are.

The US leader also suggested that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to the Middle East "pretty soon".

While the crisis has dominated the entire agenda of the summit in Russia's second city, Monday was meant to focus on trade talks between the eight powers and leaders from five emerging market economies -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The consultations come two weeks after ministers failed to agree on how to reduce barriers to enable the developing world to taste the benefits of free trade.

Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva offered hope that deadlocked negotiations could be salvaged, saying his government was prepared to "show flexibility."

He said the Doha Round of trade talks, launched in 2001, was facing "a political crisis. It is a crisis due to the lack of leadership

Most of these are relatively short-range systems, generically known as Katyushas, capable of striking targets out to about 25km (16 miles).

But the Hezbollah missile strikes on Israel's northern port city of Haifa demonstrate that it also has an unknown quantity of longer-range systems in its arsenal.

Most of these are Iranian-manufactured systems like the Fajr-3, with a 45-km range; the Fajr-5, with a range of some 75km; and the more potent Zelzal-2 with a range of up to 200km.

This would bring much of Tel Aviv - Israel's largest population centre - within range.

None of these are guided or accurate systems but if the target is an urban area, accuracy is not needed.

In addition, as the successful attack on an Israeli naval vessel demonstrates (an Egyptian freighter was also hit and abandoned by its crew), Hezbollah also has relatively sophisticated Iranian-supplied anti-shipping missiles at its disposal.

Air war limitations

This missile build-up has worried the Israeli military for some time.
No surprise then that Israeli leaders have taken the opportunity of the Hezbollah raid which captured two of their men, to set about the full-scale weakening of Hezbollah's infrastructure.

Headquarters, television stations, and missile storage bunkers have all been hit.
But the Israelis have also sought to blockade Lebanon - closing Beirut's airport, striking the Beirut-Damascus highway, and hitting various key transport links, especially bridges.

The Israelis explain all this by saying that they are acting to prevent Hezbollah bringing in or moving up additional missiles to the border. Inevitably, such attacks, however precise, cause civilian casualties.

Israel's long-term goals are obvious. It wants to end the cross-border missile threat to its towns and cities by applying a blunt lesson in deterrence.

It would like to see Hezbollah disarm and the Lebanese Army extend its control down to the international frontier. That is what UN Security Council Resolution 1559, of 2004, also demands - but it is hard to see how it can be enacted.

Israel's tactics are to some extent puzzling. The bludgeoning of Lebanon's transport infrastructure will hinder, but will probably not stop, missile movements.

Indeed, Hezbollah has shown remarkable resilience, and the rockets are still flying across Israel's northern border. It is very hard to deliver a body blow to Hezbollah from the air.

So is this all a prelude to some significant Israeli incursion on the ground?

On the face of things Israel has not yet mobilised sufficient troops for such an operation. And a comprehensive assault on Hezbollah would require a move into the strategically important Bekaa Valley, a step that would send alarm bells ringing in Syria, risking an even wider confrontation.

Dangers of complacency

Israel's own military performance raises several questions.
Even Israeli commentators have pointed to the fact that the capture of Israeli soldiers, first by Palestinian militants and now Hezbollah, shows clear signs of laxness and a lack of vigilance on the part of the reserve units involved.

Hezbollah has clearly signalled its desire to carry out such operations and it has attempted similar things in the past. Has reserve training been reduced too far? Has a certain complacency set in?

The attack on the Israeli missile boat - one of its most sophisticated warships, a Saar-5 class corvette - also raises many questions. It was hit by a Chinese-made, radar-guided C-802 missile. Did Israeli intelligence not know that these anti-shipping missiles had been given to Hezbollah by Iran?

Israel's naval electronics and defensive systems are among the best in the world, defensive systems intended to counter just such a threat. Some reports suggest that they were not even operating on board the vessel that was hit.

Proportionality

But most of all there is the question of the new Israeli government's relationship with the military.

Much has been made of the limited military experience of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz.

Mr Olmert is in a tight spot. He has to act to protect Israel's citizens. But ask a general what action can be taken in response to a threat and he will generally supply a long list of targets.

Israel seems to be working through just such a list. But the real strategic calculation is to weigh up military advantage against wider political and diplomatic considerations.

Has Israel got the balance right?

Clearly there are many views. But the overwhelming international consensus - not least from the G8 summit in St Petersburg - is that disproportionate military force has been used.

President George W Bush - who has strongly backed Israeli action - nonetheless put this point rather neatly.

"Defend yourself," he said, "but be mindful of the consequences."

Even though the Discovery mission suggested that Nasa had finally licked the fuel tank problems which triggered the 2003 Columbia accident, the shuttles' days are numbered.

After 16 scheduled missions to complete construction of the $100bn ISS, Nasa plans a 2010 retirement date for the space shuttle fleet.

Russian Soyuz and Progress ships will continue flying to the station, as they have been since the programme began. The capsules and cargo vessels were the only vehicles to fly to and from the station during the years Nasa grounded its shuttle fleet for post-Columbia safety upgrades.

But next year, if all goes as planned, there will be a new vehicle on the orbital scene.

The European Space Agency's (Esa) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is scheduled for a debut flight to the station.

Restraining hole

In all, Esa has promised five ATV cargo ships to the space station project through to 2015.

With the shuttles' retirement, that may not be enough. Nasa already is looking into transferring cargo originally earmarked for the shuttle to other carriers, including the ATV, which was designed to dock at the station's Russian ports.

Japan also is building a space station cargo carrier called the H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV).

"We're figuring out how to integrate the ATV and the HTV into our plans," said Joy Bryant, the space station programme manager for Boeing, Nasa's prime contractor on the project.
The ATV can haul about 7,000kg (15,000 pounds) of cargo to the ISS, but payloads are largely limited to items that go inside the station.

They must be small enough to pass through its hatch, which is a bit bigger than shoulder-width. Some items earmarked for addition to the outside of the station could fly on the ATV, but they would have to be taken out through an airlock during spacewalks, adding time and complexity during what already is among the busiest times of station operations.

Nasa plans to use ATVs, HTVs and possibly even commercial vessels well before the shuttles' retirement.

And Columbus, too

Nasa consolidated its shuttle manifest to reduce the number of station assembly flights as much as possible, with the intention of finishing construction by the time the shuttles retire.

There are no other vehicles that can carry to orbit and assemble the station's trusses, power modules and laboratories.

As a result, there is little room to spare on most flights for carrying spare parts and extra cargo to the outpost, a need Nasa hopes to fill by buying rides on other spaceships.
The ATV's biggest contribution is likely to be fuel. The shuttle cannot carry propellants used by the station to maintain itself in orbit, so it is solely reliant on Russian Progress ships for resupply.

Once ATV is operational, the partners will have a choice of using a Progress or an ATV for deliveries.

Though Nasa plans an extensive and extended checkout before allowing an ATV to dock, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, who is scheduled to begin a six-month station mission in September, expects no problems with the vehicle.

"I think people make too much [of it]. The [system] is much safer than what people would expect. The motion control system is made of proven technology. I have no concerns," Tyurin said in an interview.

Europe has another station debut planned next year as well. The Columbus laboratory module is scheduled for launch aboard the shuttle shortly after the ATV's first mission.

If that doesn't give investors enough to worry about, here is one more thing. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is set to appear before congressional committees on Wednesday and Thursday to testify about the Fed's semiannual monetary policy report.

Two major U.S. economic reports, notably the Producer Price Index and the Consumer Price Index for June, will be released this week, along with the minutes of the Fed's most recent policy-setting meeting. Economists polled by Reuters expect that the PPI and the CPI rose in June, in the overall figures and the core indexes, excluding food and energy.

Wall Street will watch the PPI and CPI reports for signs of whether the pace of inflation is picking up, and comb through the Fed's minutes for clues on when the central bank might take a break from raising interest rates.

The violence in the Middle East, though, will keep Wall Street on edge.

"The real concern is not so much Israel going to Lebanon, but it's whether Israel is going to threaten Syria," said Steve Goldman, a market strategist at Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"With Iran's backing of Syria, that would bring up a whole new issue. It's this lingering concern, which makes it tougher for stocks to rebound at this juncture."

Last week, Israel launched a military assault against targets in Lebanon after two of its soldiers were seized and eight killed.

The assault drove the price of crude oil up on Friday to a record $78.40 a barrel in electronic trading, fueling concerns that U.S. consumers may cut spending as their gasoline bills soar.

For the past week, the Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) dropped 3.1 percent, while the S&P 500 index (SPX) shed 2.3 percent, while the Nasdaq (IXIC) lost 4.4 percent.

HOPING FOR A Ceasefire
Analysts said if there were any signs over the weekend that the Middle East tensions might ease, then earnings will take center stage in the week ahead. That could give the market a catalyst to crawl back up out of its slump.

"The geopolitical risks are a stiff headwind," said Joseph Quinlan, chief market strategist at Banc of America Capital Management in New York.

"Over the weekend," he said, "we do need to see a ceasefire ... Hopefully the G8 can craft some kind of deal that lowers the temperature," he added, referring to the Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations, which meets through Monday in St. Petersburg, Russia.

But "if things continue to boil, oil prices could break through $80 a barrel, and that would weigh on the stock market early on Monday.

How did the current crisis start?

The Hezbollah raid into Israel, in which eight Israeli soldiers were killed and two were captured, was a stunning and provocative attack.

Some have argued that Hezbollah wanted to test new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is an unknown quantity as far as military crises go.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah has said that the soldiers were captured to pressure Israel to release the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in its jails.

The raid is clearly a gesture of solidarity towards the Palestinian militants in Gaza who have been holding an Israeli soldier since 25 June.

Hezbollah may also have had an eye on its own situation in Lebanon where there has been increasing pressure for it to disarm.

How has Israel reacted?

The result of the raid is that Israel is fighting on two fronts. Israeli officials have cast the Hezbollah raid as an act of war and responded with air strikes, shelling and a sea blockade, threatening operations that will "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years".

The aim seems to be, as in Gaza, to build up massive pressure on the Lebanese government and the Lebanese population. Civilian casualties in Lebanon have been high and the damage to civilian infrastructure wide-ranging.

The Israeli strikes on targets other that Hezbollah installations are at least in part punitive - power installations, roads and the international airport have been hit.

This has drawn some international criticism and calls for restraint, but Israel is unlikely to care too much about the criticism while Israelis are being killed by Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel.

What can the Lebanese government do about the situation?

Ordinary Lebanese may well be the main victims. The country is dealing with an Israeli land invasion for the first time since 2000, when Israel ended a 22-year occupation of the south.

Israel has made it absolutely clear that it holds the Lebanese government responsible for the kidnapping of its soldiers by Hezbollah.

Many analysts see this as unfair.

Even though Hezbollah is operating from Lebanese territory and the militant group has two ministers in the Lebanese government, central government is almost powerless to influence the militant group.

It is the Hezbollah militia that is deployed in southern Lebanon, not the Lebanese army.

The group is also very popular in Lebanon and highly respected for its political activities, social services and its military record against Israel.

Most Lebanese may believe that Hezbollah's capture of the two Israeli soldiers is deeply irresponsible. There is anger that the country is again being pitched towards war, but this is unlikely to translate into widespread anger towards Hezbollah.

Is there any way out of this crisis?

Israeli officials have insisted that there will be no direct negotiation with Hezbollah or Hamas over the return of its soldiers, and no Palestinian prisoner releases.

In the past, Israel has negotiated with Hezbollah and released hundreds of prisoners, but Israeli officials are now talking about a changed situation and new rules.

In both Gaza and Lebanon, the Israeli military appears to be taking advantage of the crisis to damage Hezbollah and Hamas as military organisations.

All sides are for now taking hardline positions, but it's difficult to see how the Israelis are going to get their soldiers back without some kind of ceasefire followed by negotiations that will almost certainly involve prisoner releases.

Will the conflict spread?

We're not yet at the stage of a regional conflict.

Much will depend on whether Israel extends its military operations to take in Syria and Iran, Hezbollah's sponsors and supporters. Officials have already laid much of the blame for the escalating crisis on Damascus and Tehran.

Iran and Syria are also the states that can influence Hezbollah more than anyone else.

Inevitably the role of the US, in restraining Israel and pushing the various parties towards some kind of ceasefire may at some later date be crucial.

Washington's stance in its "war on terror" may mean that its contacts with Syria, Lebanon and Hezbollah, and its ability to influence them, may be limited.

The first signs of an international diplomatic intervention emerged when the UN's Kofi Annan and British PM Tony Blair called for the deployment of an international force in Lebanon.

But this may be some way off, if it gets off the ground at all.

Meanwhile, questions surrounding the disarmament of Hezbollah, as demanded by the UN Security Council, have been pushed way into the background for now. As are Mr Olmert's big plans for disengaging from parts of the West Bank.

It now has an important presence in the Lebanese parliament and has built broad support by providing social services and health care. It also has an influential TV station, al-Manar.

But, it still has a militia that refuses to demilitarise, despite UN resolution 1559, passed in 2004, which called for the disarming of militias as well as the withdrawal of foreign (i.e about 14,000 Syrian) forces from Lebanon.

As long ago as 2000, after Israel's withdrawal, Hezbollah was under pressure to integrate its forces into the Lebanese army and focus on its political and social operations.

But, while it capitalised on its political gains, it continued to describe itself as a force of resistance not only for Lebanon, but for the region.

Syria

The Islamic Resistance is still active on the Israel-Lebanon border. Tension is focused on an area known as the Shebaa Farms, although clashes with Israeli troops occur elsewhere.

Hezbollah, with broad Lebanese political support, says the Shebaa Farms area is occupied Lebanese territory - but Israel, backed by the UN, says the farms are on the Syrian side of the border and so are part of the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Another casus belli cited by Hezbollah is the continued detention of prisoners from Lebanon in Israeli jails.
The movement long operated with neighbouring Syria's blessing, protecting its interests in Lebanon and serving as a card for Damascus to play in its own confrontation with Israel over the occupation of the Golan Heights.

But the withdrawal of Syrian troops in Lebanon last year - following huge anti-Syrian protests in the wake of Lebanese ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination - changed the balance of power.

Hezbollah became the most powerful military force in Lebanon in its own right and increased its political clout, gaining a seat in the Lebanese cabinet.

Analysts say Hezbollah has adopted a cautious policy since the Hariri assassination crisis erupted on 14 February 2005 - an event widely blamed on Syria, but which Damascus has vigorously denied.

Hezbollah leaders have continued to profess its support for Syria, while not criticising the Lebanese opposition. They have also stressed Lebanese unity by arguing against "Western interference" in the country.

Starting out

Hezbollah was conceived in 1982 by a group of Muslim clerics after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

It was close to a contingent of some 2,000 Iranian Revolutionary guards, based in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, which had been sent to the country to aid the resistance against Israel.
Hezbollah was formed primarily to offer resistance to the Israeli occupation.

It also dreamed of transforming Lebanon's multi-confessional state into an Iranian-style Islamic state, although this idea was later abandoned in favour of a more inclusive approach that has survived to this day.

The party's rhetoric calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. It regards the whole of Palestine as occupied Muslim land and it argues that Israel has no right to exist.

The party was long supported by Iran, which provided it with arms and money.

Passionate and demanding

Hezbollah also adopted the tactic of taking Western hostages, through a number of freelance hostage taking cells.

In 1983, militants who went on to join Hezbollah ranks carried out a suicide bombing attack that killed 241 US marines in Beirut.

Hezbollah has always sought to further an Islamic way of life. In the early days, its leaders imposed strict codes of Islamic behaviour on towns and villages in the south of the country - a move that was not universally popular with the region's citizens.

But the party emphasises that its Islamic vision should not be interpreted as an intention to impose an Islamic society on the Lebanese.