Five Palestinians on Thursday were shot dead and two IDF soldiers were wounded in fighting that occured during an operation in the West Bank city of Nablus.

In the first incident, a clash broke out in the Dahia neighborhood when a military jeep got stuck and Palestinians threw firebombs and rocks at the troops.

One of the soldiers opened fire at the group of Palestinians, killing Ibrahim Said, 19. Said's relatives said that he was shot three times, despite being unarmed.

According to the IDF, Said had hurled firebombs at the troops.

In a separate incident Thursday, Naim Abu Saris, 24, an Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades militant, was shot dead by troops in the Balata refugee camp. He was apparently armed.

Three other Palesinians were shot dead in other incidents during the raid.

IDF troops have been operating in the Nablus area since Sunday. Earlier this week, residents of the Balata refugee camp complained that the three-day curfew had led to a shortage of food and water.

Five Qassams rockets land in Israel

On Thursday morning, Five Qassam rockets were launched at Israeli territory from the evacuated northern Gaza Strip settlement of Dugit. Two of the rockets landed near the community of Netiv Ha'asarah, north of Gaza; three others landed in the vicinity of Karmiya and Yad Mordechai. No injuries or damages were reported. The rockets were launched from the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip security fence, which the Israel Defense Forces has declared off limits to civilians. Full story

Naveh to make formal apology to Jordan

IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz met Thursday with IDF generals and called for military officers, especially senior ones, to demonstrate caution and sensitivity

in every public remark they make.

"A careless remark could be misinterpreted and taken out of context," Halutz said, something that could drag the IDF into an unnecessary public debate and misrepresent Israel's and the military's policy and position.

OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh was expected Thursday to apologize formally to Jordan for saying Wednesday night that King Abdullah II risked being toppled by an "Islamist axis" and could be the last king of Jordan.

Following Naveh's remarks, Jordan threatened to cut back its official ties with Israel.

The Foreign Ministry believes a diplomatic crisis with Jordan was averted by Naveh's forthcoming letter and a conversation between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and her Jordanian counterpart, Army Radio reported.

"Hamas is gathering strength and a dangerous axis starting in Iran, continuing through Iraq and Jordan is in the process of formation," Naveh told a closed meeting of journalists and diplomats, including the Jordanian Counsel General,

at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Wednesday night. "I don't want to be

a prophet but I am not sure there will be another king after King Abdullah."

Naveh continued: "Already now, 80 percent of the population [in Jordan] is Palestinian. Let us try and imagine that the entire [Hamas] movement from the West Bank will continue to flow across the bridges into Jordan together with Hamas ideology and leadership. The family ties are taking on Hamas characteristics and this means that in a few years Hamas will become stronger

in Jordan."

The Jordanian Charge d'Affairs in Israel Omar Nadif condemned the top IDF officer's prediction, threatening that the remarks could have a "negative effect"

on Israeli-Jordanian relations.

"We strongly condemn and reject this irresponsible remark made by Maj.-Gen. Naveh," Nadif told The Jerusalem Post. "We expect the Israeli government to take appropriate action against the officer who made the remark, which indicates both a lack of discipline and a lack of understanding. Such an unfriendly remark may, if it is not corrected, have a negative impact on Jordan-Israel relations." Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz distanced themselves from Naveh's remarks, which officials said were under investigation.

"Mofaz and Halutz wish to clarify that the remarks associated to Naveh do not represent Israel's official position," the statement read. "Israel sees Jordan as a strong and stable country with a glorious tradition and a promising future.

Israel wishes to express respect and appreciation to the Hashemite kingdom's vital contributions to the stability and peace in the region."

Military officials said that Naveh's remarks were misunderstood by the Jordanians who were in the crowd and listened to the talk through simultaneous translation to English. The remarks about Jordan, they said, were part of a larger idea that focused on the dangers Israel and Jordan faced from the creation of an Iranian-Hamas axis. Naveh, the officials said, made his remarks with the intention of praising King Abdullah and the cooperation between Israel and Jordan.

JCPA President Dr. Dore Gold said he interpreted Naveh's remarks to be referring to the growing Islamic terror threats both Jordan and Israel were beginning to face.

"Naveh was concerned with the threats that both Israel and Jordan face in the new strategic climate emerging to Israel's east," Gold said. "Specifically he added that Hamas not only posed a potential threat to Israel but also to the Hashemite Kingdom." Full story

Bibi 'concerned' after meeting Olmert

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meet Thursday; following session, Bibi says: I came out of meeting concerned, Hamas threatens Jordan's stability and wants to wipe Israel off map.

Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu says he is 'concerned' after meeting with Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Thursday in Jerusalem.

"I can say I came out (of the meeting) concerned," Bibi said. "From everything we heard from Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin and IDF generals it is completely clear Hamas threatens Jordan's and Egypt's stability and is interested in wiping Israel off the map."

“We need to stop this internal cancer, not in four years, but rather, today," Netanyahu said. "There's a disagreement between me and Olmert, who doesn’t view Hamas as a strategic threat on the region, and in order to see this we need leadership that sees the problem."

"Yet in the absence of experienced leadership, I'm skeptical we can do this,"

he said.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu and Olmert engaged in a verbal clash during a meeting of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.

Olmert said he was proud Israel allowed east Jerusalem Arabs to vote in the Palestinian elections "so that the world knows Israel did not thwart democratic elections." The two figures then engaged in a lengthy argument over the issue and regarding Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's intensions on the subject.

At one point, Olmert said: "Nobody will tell me what Sharon intended to do.

I spoke to him and if you wish, I'll prove it to you using written records."

Later Netanyahu referred to former Army Chief Moshe Yaalon's remarks regarding his objection to the Gaza disengagement and asked Olmert whether the comments made him think twice about the utility of unilateral withdrawals.

Olmert responded: "I want to remind you that in another interview, Yaalon suggested we go back to the 1967 borders. Is this part of your doctrine, Bibi?"

Business is blooming for Israeli flowers

By Sara K. Eisen

High-technology know-how is fueling Israel's ascendancy in the cut-flower industry, where export accounts for 90 percent of growers' crops of peonies, anemones and other species.

Only 15 minutes from Beit Shemesh, on a tiny moshav called Sdot Micha, thousands of crimson and yellow roses and red anemones grow in neat, muddy rows under the watchful eyes of Beni Sharoni and his employee, a farm worker from Thailand.

Cardboard-packed bunches of 100 cut flowers are taken to the airport at Lod

each morning by truck from Sharoni's freezing-cold packing house, which is a tiny, rundown shack in back of his rose greenhouse and small tarp-covered anemone field.

The anemones can grow in winter without temperature control, and from November through March there is a daily crop of these poppy-like buds. The picking, packing and distribution process is so streamlined that German and British direct-order clients receive flowers via temperature-controlled jet within two days of plucking.

Sharoni's export operation is remarkably straightforward and businesslike.

It is also incongruously cosmopolitan given its humble size and appearance. While most of Israel's flower growers operate outfits that are exponentially larger than Sharoni's, many do have similar set-ups.

In aggregate, Israel's flower, plant and propagation-material export brings upward of $200 million into the economy annually. The country is third only to the Netherlands and Kenya in supplying the European Union with its flowers. Each year 1.5 billion stems are exported, double from only 10 years ago - while the number of growers engaging in export has dropped by 75 percent. The system, along with the growers, has simply become more efficient.

"Flower export works nicely with the special characteristics of Israeli export and agriculture," says Zvi Alon, director general of the Ministry of Agriculture's Foreign Trade Center, himself from a farming family. "[Even] the small family farm model, a small area yielding a lot of produce; with superintensive farming and using technology, [about five acres] can be adequate."

Israel's total agricultural yield, including agriculture-related technology and other nonedible products, is about 2 percent of the gross national product -

Source: Israel Line - prepared by Yuval Lion at the Consulate General