TOP STORIES DEBKAfile Special Report March 10, 2009, 2:58 PM (GMT+02:00) The central bank governor, Stanley Fischer, recommended a very modest $1 bn budget deficit (6 percent) as first aid for Israel's deepening recession. His plan, published Tuesday, March 10, would spread the extra outlay on stimulating the job market and exports and investing in new infrastructure projects. Estimating that unemployment will rise to 8 percent this year in all fields, Fischer proposes raising unemployment benefits and extending the period of entitlement. March 9, 2009, 9:32 PM (GMT+02:00) The aid-for-Gaza convoy from London led by far-left British lawmaker George Galloway started out on the wrong foot in mid-February. Sunday, March 8, it was stranded at the northern Sinai town of El-Arish by 1,000 Egyptian police who refused to grant them entry to Gaza. Clashes left 24 members of his pro-Palestinian group injured. Monday, the Egyptians finally gave the fiercely anti-Israeli British MP and his activists permission to enter Gaza. DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 9, 2009, 10:30 PM (GMT+02:00) Saudi King Abdullah anxious to heal rift with Syria's Assad The summit conference planned in Riyadh for Wednesday, March 11, between the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria - and possibly Qatar - may be the Obama administration's first Middle East breakthrough, according to DEBKAfile's Washington and Middle East sources. They hope it will usher in a parting of the ways between Syria and Iran as a result of their overtures to Damascus and signal Syrian ruler Bashar Assad's reacceptance into the moderate Arab camp. DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Analysis March 10, 2009, 3:17 PM (GMT+02:00) Word of the Saudi-Egyptian-Assad summit taking place in Riyadh Wednesday, first revealed by DEBKAfileMonday, has blazed across the Middle East. The coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly, out Friday, examines the first impact of Barack Obama's first Middle East initiative in one country after another. Will it work? Or is it a flash in the pan? Don't miss these rapid-fire insights. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weeklyclick HERE . DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive 385 Updated by DEBKAfile March 9, 2009, 10:42 AM (GMT+02:00) Taliban in Afghanistan: Talking and fighting On Feb. 20,DEBKA-Net-Weekly385 disclosed that from late December, agents of Saudi intelligence chief Prince Mogrin Abdul Aziz paved the way for Richard Holbrooke's mission to Afghanistan and Pakistan as Barack Obama's special envoy. This initiative also laid the groundwork for US president Barack Obama's hint at possible talks with moderate Taliban elements to The New York Times Sunday, March 8, a month after he approved another 17,000 troops for Afghanistan. To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weeklyclick HERE . DEBKAfile Special Report March 8, 2009, 10:31 AM (GMT+02:00) On March 4, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy published a paper with two important disclosures: Iran has enough fissile material available for making up to 50 nuclear bombs and Tehran can go from low enriched uranium to weapons-grade uranium in a relative brief period of time, perhaps a year or so. Israeli officials, while evading action to curb a nuclear-armed Iran, now go about suggesting that the Jewish state can live in its shadow. Bank of Israel stimulus plan focuses on falling job market
More...Egypt opens Rafah to far-left UK MP Galloway to Gaza, but routes his aid convoy through Nitzana
More...Saudi-Egyptian-Syrian summit in Riyadh Wednesday - first Obama ME breakthrough
More...Bid to end Saudi-Syrian feud has regional knock-on effect
Obama's outreach to Taliban backed by intensive Saudi-brokered contacts
More...Washington experts: Iran has fissile material for 50 nuclear bombs
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Tuesday, 10 March 2009
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