28 September 2000 (Newsroom) — Dozens of Christians have been killed in renewed attacks by extremist Muslim warriors in Indonesia’s eastern province of Maluku. At least 32 people died in an attack on the Ambon island village of Hative Besar, according to news reports.
LAGOS, Nigeria, 27 August 2000 (Newsroom) – U.S. President Bill Clinton, during what may be his last official visit to Africa’s most populous nation, urged Nigerians to learn to live together despite their religious differences.
During his whirlwind “listening tour” to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Colin Powell is finding his efforts to urge Arab leaders to re-enlist in an American-led alliance against resurgent Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is complicated by increasing hostility towards Israel and the US.
A key United Nations agency has lent its support to a Palestinian Authority Ministry of Tourism map that completely obliterates Israel, CNSNEWS.com reported.
Intifada violence continued throughout the territories over the weekend, with over 30 incidents involving gunfire, including several running gun battles between Palestinians and IDF soldiers in Hebron and the surrounding area.
It looked like smooth sailing, but the bid by Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon for a quick national unity government has run into rough waters due to sharp divisions within the Labor party over outgoing PM Ehud Barak’s decision to stay on as defense minister.
Following the US-British air strikes on Iraq’s air defense system Friday night, Baghdad threatened to retaliate, intensifying not only its anti-US rhetoric, but also its continued campaign to eliminate the Jewish state.
QUOTES FROM SHARON SUPPORTERS:
“[The Oslo Accords were] illusions that one-sided concessions to an authoritarian regime, who is ready to use terror as the leverage on us, can really bring peace. Ariel Sharon will no doubt try to build the government which will be based on the broad consensus and to negotiate, to negotiate on the basis of reciprocity.” – Natan Sharansky, noted Soviet refusenik and head of the Yisrael B’Aliyah party.
Hizb’Allah claimed on Monday to have captured a high ranking Israeli officer. ISRAEL RADIO reported later in the day that an Israeli citizen named Hanan Sheinbaum has indeed been kidnapped by the Lebanese terrorists. A Hizb’Allah representative interviewed by a foreign TV station said that the kidnapped Israeli is a Mossad agent.
With elections only a week away, the biggest concerns in the Likud camp of front-runner Ariel Sharon have less to do with what will happen on election day, and more about how Sharon can ensure a stable government once he is elected.
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad concluded his first official visit to Tehran on Thursday by agreeing with his Iranian hosts that Israel and her US ally currently are in a period of weakness that should be exploited on behalf of the Palestinians.
On Thursday evening, a Jerusalem man became the fifth Israeli civilian in the past two weeks murdered by armed Palestinian gangs targeting Jews over the Green Line.
US banking giant Citibank appealed to the US Treasury Department Tuesday for guidance on how to handle Israeli concerns it is being used to funnel money to Hamas terrorists in Palestinian areas.
Fresh eye-witness accounts indicate the Muslim Waqf has added a new tunnel accessing the ancient Hulda Gates corridor to its growing list of “archaeological crimes” on the Temple Mount.
Just as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were reporting serious progress in the marathon Taba talks, a double murder of two Tel Aviv residents shopping in Tulkarm prompted Prime Minister Ehud Barak to suspend the intensifying effort for an election-eve peace deal. The move appears to be temporary, however, as the two sides are set to meet back in Taba on Thursday, once the terror victims are in the ground.
The gnawing debate inside Israel’s peace camp about whether arch-dove Shimon Peres should replace Ehud Barak as the Labor party’s candidate for prime minister seemed less relevant on Friday, as the latest polls showed Likud chairman Ariel Sharon now defeating either one come February 6.
Senior leaders of Israel’s peace camp refuse to call it quits – even during the throes of an election campaign they appear certain to lose – pressing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to enter marathon peace talks with the Palestinians in hopes of reaching a framework accord before the February 6 balloting for a new premier.
In a sign of spiraling mistrust and lawlessness in Palestinian areas over the past week, two Palestinians were summarily executed for alleged collaboration with Israel, three more were secretly murdered by militants, another two have been sentenced to death, and at least five others have been arrested as suspected informers. And in Gaza on Wednesday, the head of Palestinian TV was shot dead by masked gunmen in an unexplained hit.
Talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on security cooperation and final-status issues made little headway over the weekend, and were suspended on Monday when an Israeli citizen was found murdered in Gush Katif and the IDF renewed its tight closure on the Gaza Strip.
MEDAN, INDONESIA (November 7, 2000) — Dr. Benjamin Munthe, an Indonesian pastor who was involved in a September 17 brutal attempt on his life in which his driver Caleb was killed, has spoken about that fateful day.