Only hours before the Israeli Arab sector’s almost blanket boycott of the election for prime minister, an Arab Christian from Galilee was shot by Palestinian terrorists while serving in an IDF unit in southern Gaza.
JERUSALEM (BP)–Arab reaction to the Feb. 6 election of Ariel Sharon ranged from wary to warlike, with moderate states waiting for Israel’s next prime minister to make his first moves and radical states calling his election a declaration of war, CNSNews.com reported Feb. 7.
While Western envoys are pressing Israel to help alleviate raging Palestinian poverty caused by their own violent uprising, Arab states are withholding the bulk of $1 billion pledged towards the renewed intifada because they do not trust PLO chief Yasser Arafat with their money.
Palestinian rioters and terrorists escalated the renewed intifada in recent days throughout Gaza and Judea/Samaria, including Jerusalem, in a move meant to “test†Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon even before he formally assumes office.
In separate statements circulating on Monday, militants in the main PLO faction Fatah threatened to “turn the lives of all the settlers into a living hell†and to kill Israeli reporters covering stories in Bethlehem.
In what appears to be a growing divide between US and European approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the European Union this week expressed support for the Palestinian position that Israeli concessions made since the Camp David talks should serve as the starting point for future negotiations.
As is often the case in the Middle East, the first casualty in the recent wave of Arab-Israeli clashes was truth, which was baldly proven by the flagship print daily in the US this past week.
PLO chief Yasser Arafat has launched another trademark whirlwind tour in search of more international support for the Palestinian intifada, but his latest anti-Israel offensive found little traction this week at the United Nations or Arab League.
ICEJ NEWS – 08/22/2001 Amid approving shouts from spectators, a Palestinian Authority security court in Gaza this week sentenced to death a 24-year-old half-retarded Arab man for suspected “collaboration” with Israel. The condemned man, Khaled al-Oukka, simply smiled as the sentence of death by firing squad was read out, a reaction his father said was due to his retardation. He joins at least six other recently convicted “informers” on death row. At least seven more alleged spies have been slain by vigilante groups in recent weeks, including the body of one found in a garbage dump in the Bethlehem area … Read more
In recent days, Hamas Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has defended Islamic suicide bombings as a “democratic right,” a leading Egyptian newspaper urged Palestinians to kill Israelis everywhere, and Saddam Hussein has called on Jordan to open its borders to Iraq’s 6.5 million volunteer army recruited to “liberate Jerusalem.”
Tensions increased over recent days in the disputed Har Dov region along the Israeli-Lebanese border, after Hizb’Allah forces set up a roadblock just outside the divided border village of Ghajar.
The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday is trying to wind up a heated open debate on the PLO’s renewed demand for an international “protection force” in Palestinian areas, but the measure seems doomed to failure yet again after the US stiffened its opposition to an “unworkable” and “one-sided” resolution.
The prolonged Palestinian intifada continues to fuel a growing wave of anti-Semitism worldwide, as Jew haters are becoming ever more brazen in the build-up to the United Nations World Conference on Racism in Durban next week. The UN conference was originally designed as a forum to address the lingering ills of racial hatred, but has now become a rallying point for those who seek to vilify the Jewish people.
Deputy Commander of “Force 17,” Muhammad Dhamrah,(1) A.K.A, Abu Awdh in an interview with Al-Hayat [London, August 17, 2001]:
“…Independence will be realized only through sacrificing. We have prepared thousands, tens of thousands, martyrs in order to regain our land and for the return of the refugees. I derive my strength from this people, rather than from the security coordination or from promises made by the CIA. I feel safe, as many others do, among my people. I am not worried. I am very optimistic that victory will come.”
In an article published on Monday in the Palestinian weekly AL-MANAR, a leading Palestinian journalist advocates the use of biological or chemical weapons to create a “balance of terror” with Israel.
ICEJ NEWS – 08/15/2001 The leading newspaper of the Palestinian Authority reported on its front page on Monday that “the [Israeli] occupation is using naked women to hunt down intifada youth.” The official PA daily Al-Hayat al-Jadidah claimed that last Friday, during a clash at the Karni Junction in Gaza, a female IDF soldier suddenly appeared on top of a tank. “She started to take off her clothes in front of the demonstrators until she was [nearly] naked. Some of the protesters said they were disgusted by it, while others said the Zionist soldier made rude gestures at them,” the … Read more
Israeli tanks and bulldozers on Monday night rumbled into Jenin, prime breeding grounds for Islamic suicide bombers, in a temporary show of force that furious Palestinian officials branded a “declaration of war.” When the IDF seemed poised to make a similar incursion into the Bethlehem area on Tuesday night to quell incessant gunfire at Jerusalem, it appears PLO chief Yasser Arafat was pressured into ordering his Tanzim militia to cease fire.
During the past few months, numerous Israeli commentators, columnists, academics, politicians, intellectuals, authors and other opinion makers from across the political spectrum, have written articles regarding their disillusionment with the Palestinians in general, with Yasser Arafat in particular, and with the Oslo process as a whole. Most articles pointed fingers at the Palestinian side, and accused it of deceiving and misleading the Israeli public and government.
I only returned to the Lord’s land two days ago after a grueling, but blessed, two month speaking tour in Hong Kong, Australia and the United States. As many of you will recall, it was with great difficulty that I left as we had just experienced a terrible suicide terror attack in the heart of Tel Aviv that left many young people dead and wounded.
In an article in the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, titled “A Chance for the Fighting Negotiator,” Palestinian Information Ministry Director-General Hassan Al-Kashef urged Palestinians not to return to diplomatic negotiations, and to allow the process of war to run its course: