Nathan Guttman

The United States has begun its final deployment for the attack on Iraq, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered thousands of additional American troops, dozens of strike aircraft and two more aircraft-carrier battle groups to the Gulf for possible war with Iraq.

`Window' of possible dates opens at end of Jan.

15,000 medical and military personnel already inoculated against smallpox as part in preparation for possible U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Eliot Abrams has risen to prominence in a second Bush administration.He is opposed to the Oslo Accords and believes that, "Israel is surrounded by enemies that want the destruction of the state." And: "The plain fact is that the Palestinians and other Arabs still do not accept Israel's right to exist."

The latest semi-annual State Department report on the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization explicitly states - for the first time - that the PA's failure to rein in terror raises questions about the Palestinians' recognition of the state of Israel's right to exist.

Iraq yesterday officially handed over to the United Nations its arms declaration in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1441. The 12,000 page report denies that Iraq has any banned weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. plans to station special forces in Jordan in case of a war with Iraq, in order to hunt down missile launchers aimed at Israel in the western Iraqi desert, American sources said this week.

WASHINGTON - The conventional wisdom among policy-makers in Israel and the United States is that if there is one front on which Israel enjoys a clear advantage in the international arena, it is hasbara - information and public relations - in the United States.

WASHINGTON - Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon has told a closed session of a Washington-based Middle East research institute that both the Israelis and Palestinians know that "at the end of the day, most of the settlements will be evacuated."

WASHINGTON - Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon has told a closed session of a Washington-based Middle East research institute that both the Israelis and Palestinians know that "at the end of the day, most of the settlements will be evacuated."

IDF chief says his remarks on settlements before closed U.S. forum were 'completely distorted'.

The United States this week fired a test launch of a Scud missile in the presence of Israeli representatives, with the aim of studying the projectile's trajectory to improve the means of defense. The test was held two days ago at Vandenberg Air Force base in California.

Ya'alon, who is on trip to U.S., will also focus on preparations for possible American strike on Iraq.

Israeli officials yesterday delivered to their American counterparts a request for special U.S. aid featuring loan guarantees worth $10 billion as well as another $4 billion in assistance.