Joel Leyden, David Marcus working on iSiT fact checking software

Joel Leyden, David Marcus working on iSiT fact checking software.

Netanyahu Speaks Out for Jerusalem, Against Islamic Jihad In, Near Capital

Netanyahu Speaks Out for Jerusalem, Against Islamic Jihad In, Near Capital

By MATTI FRIEDMAN (AP)

JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister acknowledged Wednesday that his government has yet to iron out its differences with the U.S. over Israeli construction in east Jerusalem, a dispute that has stalled American efforts to restart Mideast peace talks.

Benjamin Netanyahu said both countries are still working to find a solution but staunchly defended his government's contentious settlement plans in the disputed holy city, calling them a long-standing Israeli policy.

"There are things we agree on, things we don't agree on, things we are closing the gap on," Netanyahu said of his talks with Washington. "We are making an effort."

The worst crisis in U.S.-Israeli ties in years erupted last month when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, drawing sharp condemnation from Washington and calls to cancel the construction.

The announcement also derailed U.S.-mediated indirect peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians just before they were slated to start.

The Obama administration has pressured Israel to halt construction in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state, and has also pushed for a broader building freeze in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

In November, Netanyahu agreed to a 10-month freeze on most West Bank construction in order to get peace talks started, but refused to include east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967 and considers part of its capital.

Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed talk of a crisis with Washington and accused the media of blowing the disagreement out of proportion — despite the tension in U.S.-Israeli ties.

"What is being published doesn't fit what we are talking about," he said. "Apparently the discussion between us is more serious and more to the point than what is generally believed."

The Palestinians, meanwhile, are wary of Netanyahu and his hawkish coalition partners, and have refused to resume direct negotiations until Israel halts all construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim those territories, along with the Gaza Strip, for their future state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did, however, agree last month to return to the negotiating table for indirect talks, only to back off after Israel announced the new construction plans in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu, however, blamed the Palestinians for the delay in negotiations, saying the Palestinians "simply climbed up the tree on the first day (of talks) and said, 'We're not coming to negotiations, we're setting all kinds of conditions'".

He also said his government has taken steps to boost conditions in the West Bank, removing dozens of military checkpoints and roadblocks in the territory to help revive the Palestinian economy. He also endorsed the concept of Palestinian independence for the first time last year, although with conditions the Palestinians say are unacceptable.

Netanyahu, who leads the hard-line Likud Party, took office in March 2009 on pledges he would take a different approach to peacemaking than his predecessor, Ehud Olmert. The more dovish Olmert has said he offered a broad pullout from the West Bank and some Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

Peace talks broke down in the waning days of Olmert's term, after Israel launched a bruising military offensive in the Gaza Strip to halt rocket fire coming from the territory.

Also Wednesday, Israel expressed outrage after a report on Israeli TV showed that a street in the West Bank administrative center of Ramallah was named after Yehiya Ayyash, a master Hamas bombmaker blamed for attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis.

The Israeli statement called the decision "an outrageous glorification of terrorism by the Palestinian Authority." Ayyash was killed in 1996 in a blast assumed to have been set off by Israeli agents.

Israel Info 2010 Technology Networking Conference Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Israel Info 2010 Technology Networking Conference Celebrates 25th Anniversary

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem ---- April 5, 2010 …. . Israel Minister of Science, Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz, will open the "Israel Info 2010" Annual Technology and Information Conference Exhibition - the largest digital information industry event in Israel.

The Israel Technology, Social Networking, Data Management Information and Web 2.0 Conference and Exhibition will take place on May 3 - 5 at the Tel Aviv Hilton.

Teldan Information Systems, Israel's leading supplier of scientific, technological and business information, will host Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, Israel's Minister of Science and Technology at the "Israel Info 2010" Annual Conference and Exhibition, which will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary.

Organized by Teldan Information Systems, the conference is the most prestigious annual event in the information industry and hosts dozens of professional seminars, attended by leading local and international lecturers. Last year the conference was attended by more than 1,600 professionals.

The Israel Minister of Science will welcome the 2010 conference participants in the morning plenary session and proceed to visit the professional exhibition showing the latest innovations in information and electronic content.

The Minister's visit is on the occasion of a special seminar "Digital books, Electronic Readers - towards the Breakthrough". Purchasing eBooks via the Internet, and the possibility to carry thousands of books and documents on various mobile devices, make the electronic readers (e-book readers such as Amazon's Kindle) an inescapable reality.

The seminar will discuss issues such as the position of several different digital consumer spaces, survey the various devices for reading e-books, examine the copyright issues of this medium and discuss the role of libraries in light of this reality.

Springer, the world's largest scientific publisher, will host and lead in this seminar a panel and discussion with the participation of senior Israeli researchers whose works have been published by Springer, as well as other researchers and writers in the field of electronic publishing.

The "Israel Info 2010" Conference and Exhibition will provide a wide variety of unique and innovative seminars exposing participants to new products, technologies and tools. The event is held with the participation of Israel's universities, public and private colleges as well as high-tech companies and startups.

Among the notable seminars to be held at Israel Info 2010: mobile platforms - content and information on mobile devices, e.g.- cellular phones, the required technologies and the social implications.

Knowledge Management in the Medical Sector - solutions and tools for managing knowledge and information as implemented in Israel's HMOs (Clalit and Maccabi Health Services).

Personalization of Knowledge - Web 2.0 and 3.0 techniques for tailoring content to individual preferences, based on the users' activities on the web, in social networks, with smartphones and offering appropriate recommendations.

Social Networks - the various types of social networks including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yahoo and Google groups, searching information, moving from information to knowledge and the databases behind these networks.

Information Overload - addressing the phenomenon including how to effectively handle electronic mail, social networks including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, organizational IO, information filtering systems and recommendation engines.

Among the participating organizations: Google Israel, Yahoo Israel, IBM, STKI, the Israel Internet Society, Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Maccabi Health Services, Clalit Health Services, Israel Museum, Dead Sea Works, Elbit El-Op, Bynet Software Systems, Delta, Israel Archives and Information Association, the Yad Vashem Library, Keren Kayemet LeIsrael, Reuters Israel, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, Bar Ilan University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Open University, Weizmann Institute of Science, the National Library, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Mofet Institute, Holon Mediatheque Library, IsIt Software and the Leyden Internet Marketing, SEO and Digital Pr Group.

Established in 1978, the Teldan Group is a leading supplier of business, scientific and technological information, offering a full range of information products and services to libraries, information centers , universities, corporations, R&D, hospitals and medical centers, industrial companies and government and defense organizations. Teldan's subsidiaries produce databases, content and information management tools, eResource Access and Management systems, with activities in 15 countries.

The Israel News Agency, which is accredited by Israel Government Press Office, was the first on line news organization in Israel. The INA reaches up to 60 million readers through Google News and Internet social networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from New York, London, Moscow and Paris to Toronto, Los Angeles, China and India. Leyden is presently launching the United States News Agency using the INA as a successful working model.

The above news content was edited and SEO optimized in New York, London and Israel for the Internet by the Leyden Communications Internet Marketing PR SEO Group London SEO Pr New York SEO Pr Israel SEO Pr Israel, London, New York.

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