Upcoming from MER: Most Palestinians disenfranchised and
will not be allowed even to vote even in the rigged 'election'.

MIDDLEEAST.ORG - MER - Washington - 12 December:
Days after 9/11 we predicted that the American-Israeli "crusade" would now begin in earnest and would quickly expand beyond Afghanistan with no end in sight for the foreseeable future. Now there are preparations under way, led by the senior Washington neocons who finally have near-total control of all the political and military institutions of the American empire, to bring about "regime change" one way or another in Iran, Syria, and North Korea and to intervene in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and elsewhere should the American sponsored at risk 'client regimes' in one or more of those countries collapse.
More than two years ago we predicted that after the upcoming U.S. invasion of Iraq the fighting would go on and on and escalate, contrary to all the reassurances from top government officials that the Americans would be welcomed as "liberators" by the people of Iraq.
A year ago we predicted, again contrary to repeated assertions by government officials, that the trial of Saddam Hussein would not take place anytime soon, that it would be put off and off and defininitely not occur in 2004 before the American election.
A few weeks ago we clearly reported, many days before any other organization and even as top Palestinian officials kept insisting to the contrary, that Yasser Arafat was already all but legally dead, that he had been 'stealth assassinated by poison' by the Israelis with inside assistance, and that frantic efforts were underway to coverup what had happened and quickly bury Arafat without autopsy and investigation.
Now, this weekend, two new developments. First the long-time Palestinian U.N. Representative, for the first time in public, has now declared that Arafat died of 'unnatural causes' and finally himself has called for a full investigation. The current investigation, by the way, organized and controlled by the very people who participated in the coverup, is clearly much too little much too late and much too uncredible. And second, in the first attack declared to be revenge for the "assassination of Yasser Arafat", four Israelis were killed and many others injured earlier today in Gaza.

GAZA (Reuters - 12 December - By Nidal al-Mughrabi) - Palestinian militants blew up explosives in a tunnel near an Israeli army post on the Gaza-Egypt border on Sunday in a coordinated attack that Arabic Al Jazeera television said killed four soldiers.

Jazeera said eight soldiers were wounded and a ninth was missing in addition to the four dead. Israeli sources said there were 12 casualties.

After setting off a 3,300-pound bomb, militants lobbed mortar bombs and opened fire at Israeli troops evacuating the wounded, sparking a fierce gun battle that lasted for over an hour.

Hamas and a group known as the Fatah Hawks claimed responsibility. They said they had burrowed for 600 yards to reach an Israeli post at the Rafah border and set off the massive bomb.

Israeli media said two Palestinian bombers and a gunmen were believed to have died in the attack. The Israelis were being treated by medics and would be evacuated to hospital by military helicopters, radio stations said.

A spokesman for the Fatah Hawks said the attack was in revenge for the "assassination" of Arafat, who died on Nov. 11 of an undisclosed illness at a French hospital.

Rumors swept the Palestinian territories that he died of poisoning, although French officials have vehemently denied it and Palestinian officials said there was no evidence that he was killed.

It was a month ago today, the day Arafat was being rush buried from Paris to Cairo to Ramallah, that MER published the following article with links to the key articles published during the previous historic days. It is now more clear that these historic developments are hardly over; the ramifications in fact may only be beginning.
Adding to this short track record summary, way back when MER began in the heyday of the last 'peace process' declared by nearly all at the time to be 'irreversible', we predicted -- very clearly on the record, in print and on Television -- that what was then called the "Oslo Peace Process" was a huge deception built on political quicksand, was going to inevitably collapse of its own contradictions, and was really leading to much worse bloodshed and hatred.
Now, looking ahead, the historical stakes have become much higher, the costs in bloodshed and treasure already far greater, and the new 'peace process' already considerably more convoluted with even greater ominous implications for all in the international community of nations.