After Lebanese reports of an impending deal between Israel and Hizb’Allah terrorists to exchange captives and detainees, Israeli security sources have confirmed that Jerusalem is continuing to try various channels in an effort to find a solution.
With less than four weeks left in office, US President Bill Clinton is holding to a Wednesday deadline for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to agree to accept his “outline of principles” for resolving their differences. The short time fuse has intensified debate in Israel over surrendering parts of Jerusalem, especially the Temple Mount, and forced PLO chief Yasser Arafat into a critical decision concerning the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.
A new political tempest erupted in Israel after it was learned that representatives of Likud prime ministerial candidate Ariel Sharon secretly met in Vienna on Thursday with a key economic adviser to PLO chief Yasser Arafat, raising the ire of Prime Minister Ehud Barak and even members of Sharon’s own Knesset faction caught off guard by the meeting.
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.
A Palestinian womens’ group has demanded that the Palestinian Authority stop using children as cannon fodder in its intifada against Israel.
US President Bill Clinton’s hopes of brokering a last-minute, face-saving peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is hanging by a thread as he prepares to meet with PLO chief Yasser Arafat on Tuesday in Washington. In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak all but threw in the towel today, suspending all contacts with the Palestinians and tightening an IDF closure on PA areas following a terrorist car bombing in Netanyahu that wounded more than 50 civilians.
In a decisive showdown in the Sinai on Monday, key regional and world leaders will goad Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO chief Yasser Arafat to meet face-to-face to discuss terms for ending the lethal Palestinian uprising over the past two weeks. There appears to be little reason for optimism that a truce can be concluded quickly, or that the Oslo peace process can be revived anytime soon.
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.
Not even heavy rains were able to dampen the Palestinian uprising, as Tuesday saw widespread terrorist shootings against Israeli targets and today was marked by an intense nine-hour gun battle in southern Gaza.
The renewed Palestinian intifada appears headed towards a new spiral of violence, as armed Palestinian factions are vowing to revenge Israeli hits on militia commanders and Fatah attempts to mark the anniversary of its founding. Meanwhile, Israelis are trying to act with restraint following the murder of a Jewish hard-liner on Sunday morning and yet another terrorist bombing inside Israel yesterday.
With just three days left of the Clinton presidency’s hand in Mideast diplomacy and an Israeli election only three weeks away, Prime Minister Ehud Barak has decided to finally put peace negotiations with the Palestinians on the back burner for now.
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.
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.