[intl] Mideast Update for Weds.....10-10

[mutter]

morning everyone....

[thread fair use for educational purposes]


Iraq is next US target



Iraq is next on the list of American targets in the recently launched war on terrorism, according to London newspaper reports.

The United States will purportedly use any excuse to launch an attack on Saddam Hussein's regime in an effort to destroy targets that survived the 1991 Gulf War.

US President George W. Bush passed a harshly worded message onto the Iraqi leader warning him that Baghdad will pay a heavy price if it attempts to exploit the current international crisis.

Bush's warning was passed from the American ambassador at the United Nations to his Iraqi counterpart, according to Army Radio.

In a letter circulated in the Security Council, US Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte warned the world body that the US might take action against terror groups and terror-supporting nations outside Afghanistan.

 

[mutter]

Gas mask centers extend hours



Gas mask distribution centers are opening for extended hours today.

The IDF Home Front Command has decided to open centers around the nation today from 10:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. in an effort to accommodate the increasing number of Israelis seeking to renew their gas mask kits.

The public is apparently ignoring security establishment reminders that there has been no change in the regional situation in the wake of American attacks on Afghanistan.

"The citizens of Israel can sit quietly; we are not part of this war," Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said.

The defense establishment is trying to calm jittery public nerves, repeatedly saying the US-led campaign against Afghanistan does not affect Israel.

 

[mutter]

Last update - 10:24 10/10/2001


PA girds for new pro-bin Laden protests after killings

By Amira Hass and Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondents, and Ha'aretz Service


As grass-roots pressure mounted on Yasser Arafat to sack his Gaza police chief Razi Jibali, Palestinian security forces prepared Wednesday to confront fresh pro-Osama bin Laden demonstrations, following two days of unrest in which Palestinian Authority police killed at least two Gaza protesters.

The killings were the first deaths of Palestinians at the hands of their own forces since the beginning of the uprising more than a year ago. Israel's Army Radio said Wednesday that the actual death toll may have been as high as six, but that exact information was difficult to obtain in the face of a partial news blackout by the Palestinian Authority.

The Authority has promised that a commission of inquiry will determine who was responsible for giving the order to open fore on the demonstrators, but many Palestinians are demanding that immediate action be taken against Jibali and other security officials.

The Authority will demand that all demonstrations in Palestinian-controlled territory in favor of suspected terror chieftain bin Laden receive prior approval from PA officials, Army Radio reported.

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof said the tough stance Arafat had shown regarding the pro-bin Laden demonstrations was a sign that the Authority might be taking a more active posture toward militants in its midst.

"We are seeing signs of willingness on Arafat's part to put down the outbreaks of the Hamas, and I think that we need to aid, and to discern that there is .... here a certain opportunity for us to enter into an accelerated process of dialogue with the Palestinians."

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat played down suggestions that the protests would snowball into civil war. Ereket told the radio that the great majority of Palestinians opposed the terror strikes that led to the U.S. and U.K. air strikes against targets in Afghanistan.

"You saw one million Palestinian kids standing up to denounce the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. We are normal people."

During Tuesday funerals held for two of the casualties - one of them, a 13-year-old youth - hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza City and the Nuseirat refugee camp set PA police stations ablaze, shattered public telephone booths and vandalized electricity poles.

The main flash point of Monday's internal Palestinian violence was the Islamic University in Gaza City. An anti-American, pro-Afghanistan rally began at the campus on Monday morning, at around 10:30. At the height of the violence on the campus, pipe bombs and stun grenades were reportedly thrown at the police. There were also reports of shots being fired.

Referring to the Islamic University incident, Jibali said that about 100 policemen had been injured, one of them seriously. Independent sources, however, could not corroborate this claim, placing the number of police hurt at about 25.

An official PA spokesmen said that "suspicious" masked men had fired at the policemen; but the university's administration denied that any gunmen had opened fire from within the grounds of institution.

The Islamic University is located in an area of Gaza City that is filled with other educational institutions. Up to 25,000 children, teenagers and higher education students could have been in the area at the time of Monday's demonstration.

As the protest got under way, PA police lined the street outside the campus, preventing demonstrators from heading toward the building of the PA's Legislative Council. Eyewitnesses who did not take part in the rally told Ha'aretz that demonstrators had made the first move, hurling rocks at the policemen. The police, the eyewitnesses said, had retaliated by striking students with clubs.

The demonstrators were pushed back into the grounds of the university and stone-throwing and scuffling then ensued on the campus. The Palestinian police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators and reportedly beat protesters after they were detained. With rocks flying in all directions, the first shots were fired around 12:30 P.M., reliable sources reported.

One teacher on the scene said that panic-stricken students asked him whether "Jews [had] entered Gaza City."

Sustained gunfire lasted for about 15 minutes, during which time demonstrators scrambled for cover. PA police stopped press crews from photographing the clashes, made attempts to confiscate film and broke the video cameras of one Gaza-based media crew. At certain stages during the clashes, Jibali banned foreign and Israeli press crews from entering Gaza City.

 

[mutter]

08:00 Oct-10-01, 23 Tishrei 5762

Increased Security Worldwide for Israeli & Jewish Offices

(IsraelNationalNews.com) As the US-led offensive in Afghanistan continues, Israel has ordered increased security for Israeli government offices and Jewish institutions worldwide. Intelligence community officials warn against possible attempted attacks in response to the US offensive.

Terrorists have already threatened the United States with additional terrorist attacks in the form of plane hijackings in response for America’s continued support for Israel.

 

[mutter]

Oct-10-01, 23 Tishrei 5762

Arafat Accuses Israel

(IsraelNationalNews.com) PLO leader Yasser Arafat, during his speech at the Conference of Foreign Ministers of Islamic States in Qatar, attacked Israel, saying that it was cynically using the suffering of the American people to further and deepen the “occupation.” In light of Israel’s increased aggression, the PLO leader said, it is even more urgent that international observers be sent to the region. He further accused Israel of trying to lay the blame for international terrorism at the feet of Islam.

He thanked President George W. Bush for his public support for a Palestinian state and called on the nations of the world to facilitate the creation of that state “while protecting [our] holy places.”

Arafat also had words of criticism for Osama bin Laden. He accused him of trying to “hijack” the Palestinian issue.

 

[mutter]

this article should be read very carefully, as it holds many hints of the mindset of tptb im the mideast as well as where we will be in the coming months and years.....tic toc



October 10, 2001

Islamic Body Wants UN Meeting on Terrorism, Limited US Strikes on Afghanistan


US strikes on Afghanistan must be "limited" to those who carried out the terror attacks on the United States, Qatar's emir, the chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said Wednesday.

The assembled foreign ministers said they definitely opposed any US-led military action against any Arab country.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the OIC chairman, called on the United Nations on Wednesday to convene a conference on terrorism.

"It is important that the United Nations organizes an international conference to draw up an international agreement with an aim of fighting against terrorism, which affects all its member states," Sheikh Hamad was quoted by AFP and reports as saying.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose government has officially backed US strikes against Afghanistan, has repeatedly called for an international conference to address the issue and reach a definition of terrorism.

The Qatari leader, who also announced that his country would donate $10 million to an Islamic fund for the Afghan people, said the anti-terror fight must be "carried out under the aegis of the United Nations," he said, stressing that the agreement must "define terrorism and differentiate between this phenomenon and the fight of peoples against occupation."

As expected, the Palestinian issue is also topping the agenda, with the term “state terrorism” as key word in the ministers’ speeches.

According to AFP, Sheikh Hamad blasted the "state terrorism carried out by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people and its attempts to aggravate the situation in the region by exploiting (anti-US attacks) to create new realities in the Middle East."

"State terrorism gives birth to terrorism by organizations and there is no other choice but to break this vicious circle by giving the Palestinian people their legitimate rights."

He described US President George W. Bush's implicit support for a Palestinian state as a "very important positive step," calling on Washington to "make use of this position quickly within the framework of UN resolutions."

However, the US-led war against Afghanistan “must be limited to the authors of the attacks and no one else, so that the innocent do not have to pay the price," said the sheikh.

OIC members, including Iran, Pakistan and Oman, called for the meeting on the attacks, which Tehran said had been exploited as a pretext to reinforce anti-Muslim sentiment in the West.

In a meeting here Tuesday night, Arab foreign ministers voiced support for the international fight against terrorism, but gave a muted response to the US-led military reprisals.

"We are all against international terrorism and we will not tolerate this phenomenon being linked to Islam," Arab League chief Amr Moussa was quoted as saying.

The Arab ministers failed to come up with one unified stand, but the official Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA) said they had agreed on 15 points.

"The UN should be the pivot of the fight against terrorism," Moussa added at the end of informal consultations among the ministers of the 22-member group.

Asked about the league's response to the military strikes on Afghanistan, Moussa said they "should be limited to what they (the Americans) consider to be military bases" and should "spare civilians" – Albawaba.com

 

[mutter]

HEADS-UP!



Palestinian commander: We'll reignite northern front



The commander of Palestinian forces in Lebanon's Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp has threatened to reignite the border region between Israel and Lebanon if the American-led military coalition attacked refugees there, The Daily Star reported.

Colonel Mounir Maqdah was reacting to reports that the United States has sent the UN Security Council a message notifying the world body that its campaign to stamp out terrorists might not be limited to Afghanistan.

Washington has identified Esbat al-Ansar, an extremist group ensconced in Ein al-Hilweh, as one of the affiliates of Osama bin Laden. Esbat al-Ansar officials have denied "organizational" links to bin LadenÕs Al-Qaida network, but that their bonds to the group were "religious and ideological."

Maqdah pledged: "We are ready to face up to any aggression against the Palestinian camps. This means reopening the old fronts against Israel in the South."

Maqdah urged supporters of Afghanistan and bin Laden to back the Palestinian intifada.

Referring to Bush, he said: "This new Pharaoh, who is playing judge, jury and executioner, should expect no peace from the Palestinians."

A senior Hizbullah figure, in response to the American designation of Hizbullah as a terror group, said his organization is prepared for any possibility.

Last week, Hizbullah launched a mortar and missile attack on Israeli positions in the Mount Dov area. The attack was slammed by both international and internal Lebanese figures.

Ein el-Hilweh, which lies outside the southern city of Sidon, is home to 75,000 Palestinians.

 

[mutter]

you know, there is a prophesy that keeps running though my min....it goes: "....in the west the war is prepared. the following year the pestilence comes. so great that neither human nor animal.......

wonder why?


Israel prepares for chemical, biological attacks



Israel is preparing for chemical and biological missile attacks launched by Iraq or Iran.

Brig.-Gen. Arnon Ben-Ami, head of the nation's emergency economy board, said the committee is preparing for an attack on Israel's home front.

Ben-Ami is reportedly in favor of gas mask distribution at post office branches and supermarkets. He initially made this proposal during the 1991 Persian Gulf War but, due to budgetary limitations, the plan was never implemented.

The emergency economy board prepares Israel's infrastructure and civilian labor force for wartime situations.

 

[Synap]

There is more real support for terrorists in that glass shark tank in NYC than any other one place in the world. Putting this action under UNi control would be tatramount to licensing/legitimizing terroristic activity. They would become "privateers" in blue. The army the UNis have been coveting. Perhaps they already are.

Syria being given a seat on the Security Council nails down the track that body is traveling.

It would also give added legitimacy to their courts being above national sovereignity...mainly the USA's. Simple truth..those who agree to play by an opponent's rules get screwed. BTDT. I don't do that anymore. Israel, for instance, has gotten totally bolixed by playing UNi rules. Hasn't helped the PA or that whole ME situation, either. The USA has a tendency to "play by the rules". Methinks there is an awakening in the nation to change that. Hope so anyway. If the US PTB don't wanna go along with that change...well..TS..we're not as dumb as we look.

 

[HeliumAvid]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,566500,00.html

Arafat crushes revolt

Hamas bows to pressure to restore order

Suzanne Goldenberg at Erez crossing, Gaza
Wednesday October 10, 2001
The Guardian

Radical Palestinian groups bowed beneath the weight of Yasser
Arafat's iron fist yesterday by stepping back from an open revolt
against their leader's support for Washington's war on
Afghanistan.

A day after two Palestinians - one a 13-year-old boy - were shot
dead by their own police after rioting in support of Osama bin
Laden, the Islamist group Hamas and Mr Arafat's officials were
working in tandem to restore order in Gaza City.

The borders of the territory remained sealed to foreign journalists
yesterday, and schools and universities were closed to stifle any
prospect of Palestinians taking to the streets with posters of
Washington's greatest enemy.

It was the first time Mr Arafat has banned the international press
from Gaza.

By yesterday afternoon, an uneasy calm prevailed. The security
forces had retreated to their barracks. Hamas and other radical
groups were struggling to put the episode behind them.

"I think the shooting by police yesterday was a mistake," said a
Hamas leader, Abdul Aziz Rantissi, using deliberately mild
language to describe the killing of his followers. "I do not think it
will happen again. We in Hamas have called on our people to
calm the situation."

As they buried their dead - the first victims of Palestinian guns
since the start of the intifada - many Gazans said they were
afraid of inviting a civil war that would play into the hands of the
Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.

"Instead of fighting the Israelis, I am afraid we will be fighting
each other, and this is one of Sharon's plans," said Wafa
al-Ifranjy, at a mourners' tent for her teenage son, Abdullah. "I
never thought the Palestinian police could do something like this
which is totally against our national unity. But we must not allow
our people to be divided."

The fury of Monday's protests were fuelled by Mr Arafat's efforts
to impose a ceasefire on the Palestinian revolt - which
Washington sees as crucial to its designs of enlisting the
support of Arab states for its war.

The clashes were the most serious challenge to Mr Arafat's rule
since 1994. During that unrest, police shot dead 11 Islamist
protesters only months after his Palestinian Authority came to
power.

Mr Arafat's resort to force has provided the strongest evidence to
date that he wants the ceasefire to work. "There is no doubt that
the Palestinian Authority today feels more strongly than any
time before that it wants the ceasefire to succeed," said Khalil
Shikaki, a Palestinian analyst in the West Bank city of
Ramallah.

However, he warned that Mr Arafat could reverse his enthusiasm
for a ceasefire if Israel takes advantage of the world's
preoccupation with the war on Afghanistan by escalating military
action in the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr Arafat's zeal in stifling demonstrations of support for Bin
Laden extended to Nablus in the West Bank yesterday, where
foreign journalists were barred from covering an anti-war rally by
1,500 protesters.

Palestinian loyalty to Washington has its price, however.
Analysts believe Mr Arafat would not have ordered the
crackdown on protests unless he believed Washington would
reward his efforts once the war in Afghanistan is over by putting
pressure on Mr Sharon to return to negotiations.

"Arafat believes that if he gives America what it wants from him
now, he might get something in return," said Ghassan Khatib, a
Palestinian analyst in Arab East Jerusalem.

 

[Warren Bone]

Thanks mutter

Thanks for the continuing reports, mutter!

You and I have no real idea of the number of people who check in here daily to read the latest news, including the reports from Israel.

I'm expecting Israel to launch its own attack at some point...it may just take one more terrorist attack on Israelis.

Thanks again,
warren.

 

[mutter]

Arafat meets Saudi king



Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat held talks yesterday withÊthe Saudi Arabian King Fahd bin AbdulazizÊin Riyadh.

Arafat briefed Fahd on developments in the Palestinian territories, the WAFA Palestinian news service reported.

ArafatÊalso met with Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the Saudi National Guard Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

Saudi Arabia recently forbid American military forces to use its territory as a launching pad for strikes on Afghanistan.

 

[Maggie]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAWV6N9NSC.html

Israeli Cabinet Decides Not to Allow Arab Israelis to Return to Pre-1948 Villages

By Laurie Copans Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 10, 2001

JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet decided Wednesday not to allow families from two Arab villages evacuated during the 1948 Mideast war to return despite residents' claims they were promised at the time they could go back.
The Supreme Court is slated to rule in the coming weeks on the case, which has been pending for years. First the court will hear arguments from attorneys for the state based on the Cabinet decision.

Last year, the court asked the previous government of Ehud Barak to make a decision on the issue, but Barak was voted out of office in February before deciding.

Sharon opposed the return of the families for fear it would be seen as a precedent for some 4 million Palestinian refugees, who demand they be allowed to return to homes they were driven from or abandoned during the war.

The refugee issue was a major point of contention in peace talks that broke down last year under the government of Barak, who was ousted in a February election.

The residents of the villages of Ikrit and Baram said they were very disappointed by the Cabinet decision after years of waiting. Barak's government had indicated it would approve the return of the families to the communities, whose ruins are located along Israel's northern border.

"We are very, very frustrated by this decision and the degrading way we have been treated," said Tuama Ihsan, the head of a committee of village residents.

The residents live inside Israel and are Israeli citizens, but have not been allowed to return to their prewar communities.

Yossi Beilin, justice minister under Barak, said Sharon was breaking a promise made by Jewish forces, who told the Arabs in these two villages in 1948 that they would be allowed to return after a few days.

Beilin said a decision in favor of the residents would not have constituted a precedent for other Palestinian refugees. The case of residents in Ikrit and Baram was unusual, because they received an explicit promise that they could return.

Palestinians demand that refugees and their descendants, who number about 4 million according to U.N. figures, be allowed to return to homes in areas now under Israeli control. Most of the refugees live in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, as well as the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel Koenig, an official with the Interior Ministry, said no promise of return had ever been given to the families in Ikrit and Baram.

Wednesday's decision comes at a time of tensions between Jewish and Arab Israelis. Thirteen Arab Israeli citizens were killed in anti-government riots last fall.

Arab Israelis account for more than 1 million of Israel's 6.5 million citizens.

AP-ES-10-10-01 1112EDT

 

[Chance]

So LET'S just tell them that they are on our 'hit' list - this just urks me! I'm sure they'll just sit their waiting to be next - like bad kids waiting to be spanked! Get real! We're talking about countries with chemical, biological, nuclear weapons here. You don't just go around poking these countries with a big stick. I see Global War from this. Please read the third and fourth paragraphs very carefully - this could easily escalate beyond all imagination. (Apologize if this has already been posted.
Saw a reply above that said Israel preparing for WMD attack from Iraq or Iran......certianly can see Iraq, Iran, Syria going after our ally, Israel, in response to our threats. Very disturbing.)

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001 12:27 p.m. EDT
Senators Predict Iraq, Iran Will Be Next

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. John McCain predicted Tuesday that America's war on terrorism will soon target other states beyond Afghanistan that have sponsored terrorist acts in the past.

"I don't think we can avoid that," Daschle told CBS News. "If indeed we are going after a worldwide network, we have to treat this issue and this challenge in a worldwide way."

McCain concurred, saying, "I think you'll see an expansion." Possible targets include Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Sudan, he explained.

"All of those countries are well-known to have not only sponsored terrorism but to have supported organizations that have already inflicted death and damage to American people and assets."

Daschle and McCain offered their predictions after the Bush administration warned Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein against trying to assist Afghanistan's Taliban government.

"There will be a military strike against you, and you will be defeated," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte reportedly told Iraqi envoy Mohammed Douri on Monday.

Baghdad gave the U.S assurances it had no plans to aid the Taliban, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

 

[mutter]

Chance, fwiw: i see Glodal War [WWIII] outta this too! tho i pray to God i am wrong........as for the article below. it sends me the message of a leader rah rahing the troops before sending them to war.


Wednesday, October 10, 2001

AMERICA STRIKES BACK

Blair in Gulf to meet UK troops, appeal to Arabs


DOMINIC EVANS of REUTERS in Muscat


Updated at 1.52pm:
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Mr Blair arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday to meet British soldiers on exercise in the Omani desert and try to win over sceptical Arab opinion to Washington's war on Osama bin Laden.

Mr Blair, who has given military support to the US strikes on Afghanistan, was due to address soldiers taking part in Britain's biggest troop deployment since the 1991 Gulf War.

He was also expected to hold talks with Oman's Sultan Qaboos on the second leg of a diplomatic tour aimed at shoring up Arab support for the military action against bin Laden's al Qaeda organisation and its Taleban hosts in Afghanistan.

Mr Blair said that a statement by al Qaeda, broadcast on Qatar's al-Jazeera television, that hijacked plane attacks on the United States would continue showed that the Saudi-born dissident and his organisation must be stopped.

''The developments overnight confirm what we have been saying all the way through, which is unless we stop bin Laden and his terrorist network they will continue to hijack and to kill innocent people,'' Mr Blair told Britain's GMTV upon arrival.

''We have always said Osama bin Laden and the Taleban are working hand in glove and this proves it,'' he said, referring to the statement. ''Anyone who doubted the nature of our action in Afghanistan, I hope has had their doubts removed.''

The United States and Britain blame bin Laden for September 11 suicide hijack attacks which killed up to 5,600 people in New York and near Washington.

Mr Blair has emerged since the attacks as President George W. Bush's staunchest international ally, making the case for a military response and lobbying Arab rulers to support the fragile international alliance of recent weeks.

Nearly all Arab states condemned the attacks, but Washington's attacks on Afghanistan triggered disquiet in the Arab and Muslim world.

In a rare display of public anger in the Gulf, where political freedoms are restricted, Omani students protested for two days this week, shouting ''America is the enemy of God''.

Trying to address that anger, Mr Blair said on Tuesday the conflict was ''nothing to do with the West versus Islam and everything to do with acts of terrorism.''

He also rebutted bin Laden's attempt to link the attacks to the Palestinian struggle for independence, saying the militant leader had no right to speak for Palestinians.

''They do not want his fanaticism any more than the people of Afghanistan want the fanaticism of the Taleban,'' Mr Blair told Abu Dhabi Television after talks in Geneva with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan.

''I say to him and those who follow him that the determination to defeat him is total, and we shall prevail.''.

Mr Blair, on a 48-hour tour during which he will meet three Arab leaders, was due to visit later on Wednesday the desert military command and control centre where over 20,000 British troops are taking part in Exercise Swift Sword II.