SUICIDE BOMB, ISRAELI AIR STRIKES CAUSE NEW CARNAGE
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SUICIDE BOMB, ISRAELI AIR STRIKES CAUSE NEW CARNAGE

May 18, 2001

JERUSALEM (Reuters - 18 May) - A suicide bombing followed by retaliatory Israeli air strikes killed 16 people and injured 200 on Friday in one of the bloodiest days since a Palestinian uprising erupted nearly eight months ago.

In its biggest escalation since the latest cycle of violence began, Israel sent its warplanes on missile attacks in Palestinian-ruled areas for the first time.

The Israeli strikes, which killed at least nine people and wounded 90 at Palestinian security headquarters in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, came as reprisals for a suicide bombing that brought carnage to an Israeli shopping mall just hours earlier.

The bomber, a 21-year-old member of the militant Islamic group Hamas, killed six people and himself and wounded 110 in the seaside city of Netanya, just north of Tel Aviv, when he detonated explosives attached to a belt around his waist.

In the aftermath of the blast, mangled body parts littered the area along with shattered glass and twisted metal. Bloodied survivors screamed for help and witnesses wept.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing at a rally in Gaza and said it was in response to the killing of five Palestinian paramilitary policemen on Monday in the West Bank. An attack Israel has since called a mistake.

The bomber was identified as 21-year-old Mahmoud Ahmed Marmash, a resident of West Bank town of Tulkarm. His mother said he had been a devout Muslim who gave her a bag of sweets before setting off on his suicide mission.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon immediately summoned senior cabinet ministers to an emergency meeting.

ISRAELI RESPONSE

Just hours later, Israeli warplanes launched a series of raids against what the army called "terrorist targets."

At least eight Palestinians were killed and 54 wounded in an attack on a security outpost in the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian rescue workers said. All of the dead were policemen.

In a simultaneous strike, missiles slammed into a building housing members of President Yasser Arafat's Force 17 security apparatus in the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses said.

The body of at least one victim was pulled from the rubble, and 14 people were injured, the witnesses said. More than 20 more were hurt in attacks on Gaza and Tulkarm, the suicide bomber's home town.

"We warn against this serious escalation against our people and we urge the international community and especially the United States to immediately intervene to halt Israeli aggression," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Raanan Gissin, Sharon's spokesman, said Israel's response "matched the severity" of the Netanya bombing. "It's part of Israel's ongoing fight against those who direct terror," he said. "The fingerprints of the Palestinian Authority are all over it."

Israel's use of its F-16 fighter planes marks a major ratcheting-up of its military campaign against the uprising.

The Middle East's most powerful army has already been criticized internationally for using excessive force in an effort to crush what has been called the second Intifada.

It has resorted to live fire against stone-throwing Palestinian demonstrators, used even more advanced weaponry against lightly armed gunmen and made regular incursions into Palestinian-controlled territory.

But Israeli officials says the tactics are needed to protect its solders and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli driving near a Jewish settlement close to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, the Israeli army said. A woman was seriously wounded.

Troops wounded five Palestinian youths throwing stones in the Gaza Strip in protests that flared after Friday Muslim prayers, Palestinian hospital officials said.

President Bush condemned the "new level of intensity" in Middle East violence and urged leaders to speak out clearly against violence.

U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen called urgently for political dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, saying "the situation is on the verge of escalating to uncontrollable levels."

SCENES OF DESTRUCTION

The explosion in Netanya tore down the front facade of the modern indoor mall, creating panic among shoppers who had packed stores ahead of the Jewish Sabbath.

An abandoned pram stood upright among the rubble. The baby survived but was in serious condition. Israeli onlookers gathered nearby, chanting: "Death to Arabs."

Members of Jewish burial societies, who are called to the scene of bomb attacks to meet the strictures of Orthodox law, turned to the grim task of recovering body parts.

"I got here two minutes after the attack and saw the guts and intestines and internal organs of people scattered all over," said Yossi Rosen, one of the burial officials.

The death toll in Friday's blast was the highest in any bomb attack since the Palestinians began their revolt. But officials said it could have been even higher had a security guard not become suspicious and barred the bomber from entering the mall.

Netanya has been targeted in recent months by Islamic militants who have vowed to carry out bombings in Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian uprising.

The overall death toll since the Palestinians began their uprising against Israeli occupation last September includes at least 435 Palestinians, 87 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs.

ISRAEL ESCALATES VIOLENCE TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS

[The Palestine Monitor - May 18, 2001]:Earlier this evening the Israeli government acted in a totally unprecedentedmanner, seriously escalating an already dangerous and violent situation inthe Palestinian Territories.

Israeli warplanes - F16 fighters, have fired many missiles on thePalestinian towns of Ramallah and Nablus in the West Bank. 10 people havebeen killed and at least 80 Palestinians have been injured as a result ofthese attacks.

Many of the injured were people in a prison in Nablus, unable to evacuatewhen the bombing commenced. The deliberate targeting of defencelessprisoners is a reprehensible act, and is in effect executing the deathpenalty against them.

Because of the action of one individual Palestinian, a whole civilianpopulation is terrorized by a state. Palestinians are largely unprotected;they have no army, and no air defence.

At the time of writing Israeli planes continue to attack the town ofTulkaram in the West Bank, and in the Gaza Strip F16's and helicopter gunships are attacking 10 areas simultaneously.

Attacking a civilian population under military occupation with fighterplanes is unprecedented; the question we must ask is what is next? Carpetbombing the entire West Bank and Gaza strip or nuclear weapons seem to bethe only means of escalating the situation further.


May 2001


Magazine



FEISAL HUSSEINI - DEAD AT 60 IN KUWAIT
(May 31, 2001)
Feisal Husseini will be buried tomorrow in Jerusalem with great circumstance. However whatever else he was, and many think he was a good and committed man, he was a fairly simple man and he certainly was not a great man.

SHARON SHOULD SURRENDER TO HISTORY
(May 25, 2001)
Like many nation states born out of war, Israel must re-evaluate its past in order to move forward, argues Mark Mazower*

THE GAZA GHETTO/PRISON
(May 25, 2001)
The "Gaza Strip" is a huge ghetto; created of course by the Israelis. In a sense it is also the largest prison in the world as the great majority of those who reside in Gaza are unable to leave and return through any of the handful of Israeli army checkposts which control who comes and goes.

APARTHEID ISRAEL
(May 24, 2001)
"There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies -- not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy."

WATER WARS
(May 24, 2001)
In the end its not really the "settlements" that will determine which civilization will prosper in the once Holy Land now so fought over by the descendants of Abraham. Control and use of WATER is even more at the heart of the conflict between the two competing societies.

CONTINUE THE INTIFADA
(May 23, 2001)
It's a terrible deal for the Palestinians actually -- they expected to give up their very justifiable struggle against the occupier in exchange for another promise to "freeze settlements". Gee...it was just last year that Yasser Arafat was proclaiming ad infinitum that no matter what there would be a Palestinian State by the end of the year!

WHAT THE "MITCHELL COMMISSION REPORT" REALLY SAYS
(May 23, 2001)
"Here's your lifeline Yasser, Nabil, Jabril, and all you Palestinian VIPs -- and you better grab it because it may be the last one you get".

THE MITCHELL COMMISSION REPORT -- A LONG SORDID HISTORY
(May 22, 2001)
The big fix is on of course with the "Mitchell Commission Report". Other madmen desperately scampering from one TV studio to the next are "Ambassador" Dennis Ross, now back at the Israeli/Jewish lobby from whence he came, and of course Senator Mitchell, himself retired from the most pro-Israeli political body on the planet ...

ARAFAT AND THE WORLD FORCED TO DANCE TO SHARON'S WAR TUNES
(May 21, 2001)
The Israelis are pushing their lies, schemes, deceptions, and brutality more than ever these days. It's all designed of course to demoralize and confuse the Palestinians, to twist and torture them into submission.

BREAKING NEWS - RAJOUB HIT
(May 20, 2001)
Jibril Rajoub is a favorite of the CIA, the headquarters of which he has personally visited numerous times in recent years on his visits to Washington. His force is the main one trained by the CIA in order to keep the Arafat Regime in power ...

TRUE MARTYRDOM
(May 20, 2001)
Mahmoud Ahmed Marmash -- 21 and now departed -- never knew anything other than Israel's brutal military occupation. He never knew anything other than Arab "client regimes" and the Arafat "Authority". He never knew anything other than a savage Israeli army, fueled by an increasingly racist ideology, armed and financed by America.

ISRAEL - APARTHEID IN THE MIDDLE EAST
(May 20, 2001)
A little trip back in history's lane will result in all kinds of close connections between Israel and South Africa in the days of Apartheid. And during that trip one will discover that Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin were at the top of the list of those promoting those relations.

THE ARAB AMERICANS and their "CLIENT ORGANIZATIONS"
(May 19, 2001)
There are many desperate and depressed people out there these days, especially among Palestinians, their friends, and the Jewish left that is mortified to awaken to find itself with Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister, the hoped for salvation of the Oslo "Peace Process" destroyed, and one of their false prophets, Shimon Peres, at Sharon's side.

SUICIDE BOMB, ISRAELI AIR STRIKES CAUSE NEW CARNAGE
(May 18, 2001)
A suicide bombing followed by retaliatory Israeli air strikes killed 16 people and injured 200 on Friday in one of the bloodiest days since a Palestinian uprising erupted nearly eight months ago.

ISRAEL'S ARMY - A NEW, PERHAPS DANGERSOUS, FREEDOM
(May 18, 2001)
TRIGGER-HAPPY troops set loose? Questions about the response of Israeli soldiers facing Palestinian demonstrators are being asked, and not just by Palestinians. But suspicions about individual behaviour are less relevant than the clear fact that the army, given its head by Ariel Sharon, has made a deliberate decision ...

SEVEN KILLED, OVER 50 INJURED IN SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK
(May 18, 2001)
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the Hasharon shopping mall in the center of the coastal town of Netanya at around 11.30 A.M on Friday morning. Seven people were killed in the blast, one of them most likely the bomber himself.

ISRAELI ARMY ON THE RAMPAGE
(May 17, 2001)
The Israelis are more and more specifically targeting children, journalists, and Palestinians at all levels. The goal is to create such fear, such intimidation, such apprehension, that ...

MORE BLOOD AND MEMORIES FLOW ON "DISASTER DAY"
(May 16, 2001)
Yesterday was the 53rd anniversary of what the Israelis believe was the start of their independence and the Palestinians believe was the start of their ongoing and tortuous "disaster", the "nakba".

"SCHOLARS, INTELLECTUALS, EXPERTS BETRAY THEIR VOCATIONS..." - MER FLASHBACK
(May 15, 2001)
The recent orgy of 'activism' surrounding the new "Har Homa" settlement has given 'peace groups' and various Arab Americans groups something to do again.

THERE WERE WARNINGS THEN, THERE ARE WARNINGS NOW
(May 15, 2001)
It's 53 years now since Palestine was fractured, a Jewish State was born, the Palestinian refugee crisis created. There were warnings from both Arab and Jewish leaders what would result if a "Jewish State" were declared when the British withdrew from Palestine in 1948.

NO JUNITY, NO ALLIES, NO FUTURE
(May 14, 2001)
Let's get right to the bottom line here first. Those American Jews, and whoever else for that matter have been looking to what is called "JUNITY" (that's "Jewish Unity For a Just Peace" so they say) ...

AN AFFRONT TO CIVILISATION
(May 13, 2001)
I was on my way to Khan Yunis, a desperately poor Palestinian refugee town in the Gaza Strip, when we learned it was under heavy bombardment. Please, urged my Palestinian guides, could I postpone my visit to the next day?

IN MEMORY OF PROF. CHARLES BLACK
(May 12, 2001)
"Against hugh odds...they decline to submit, and instead go out on the streets and pick up stones. They are beaten without let or mercy. They are imprisoned under obscene conditions, after kangaroo trials, or no trials at all.

THREATENING WRITERS AND MORE ASSASSINATIONS
(May 12, 2001)
Of course what the Israelis are doing in so many areas to many classes of people is dastardly and deserves widespread condemnation. The first article details what the Israelis are doing to Palestinian writers who are citizens of Israel; the second to Palestinian activists who are struggling against Israel's occupation.

HASHEMITE COLLUSION AND REPRESSION
(May 11, 2001)
The Hashemite Regime of King Abdullah the Second is running more and more scared; and for good reason. After all, the collusion of this regime with the Israelis, going way back to the beginning of the conflict...

MAHMOUD DARWISH ON 53RD NAKBA ANNIVERSARY
(May 11, 2001)
Next Tuesday, 15 May, is the 53rd Anniversary of what the Palestinians call the Nakba, the "Disaster", and what the Israelis call their Independence. In a very unusual move some 250 Arab Professors and Intellectuals have issued a call for their own countries to finally join in a serious way the Palestinian struggle.

FROM HERZL TO SHARON - STEALTH DISPOSSESSION
(May 10, 2001)
"The removal of Arabs bodily from Palestine is part of the Zionist plan to 'spirit the penniless population across the frontier' by denying it employment... Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly."

THE POLITICAL PROSTITUTION OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN PALESTINE
(May 10, 2001)
We're talking here about political prostitution; for it too is an age-old profession and it too leads to many other vices.

THE POPE GOES VISITING
(May 9, 2001)
With the creation of a "Jewish State" in the Holy Land, in a sense a new era began twisting the modern-day concept of nationality back to one of ethnic and religious identification.

FROM HELL WITH LOVE
(May 8, 2001)
Ironically, in the early years of this ignoble "Peace Process", Dr. Sarraj himself -- a dignified psychiatrist and recipient of the Physician for Human Rights Award -- was arrested three times, tortured, and threatened with death...not by the Israelis but by the forces of the Arafat "Palestinian Authority".

ISRAELIS SEE THROUGH GLOSS OF LIFE AMID ORANGE GROVES
(May 7, 2001)
When the real estate sharks of California began to coax Americans to Los Angeles early in the last century, they stuck oranges on the trees to make the desert more alluring. The oranges are real enough in the groves on the hills around Jerusalem, but the hard selling is just the same.

WE ARE ACCUSED OF TERRORISM
(May 7, 2001)
The incomparable Nizar Qabbani was buried in Damascus earlier this week. "We Are Accused Of Terrorism" was one of his last poems first published a year ago; key excerpts from that poem follow.

GUNNING DOWN ISRAEL SHAMIR - Part II
(May 4, 2001)
Previously we outlined how the regimes-sponsored Arab American establishment, using the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to try to control everyone as usual...

SHARON'S RISE TO THE PINNACLE OF POWER - HELPED BY THE ARABS THEMSELVES
(May 3, 2001)
Ariel Sharon's becoming Prime Minister of Israel didn't happen overnight. He pursued the job for a very long time and whatever one thinks of his person and policies he carried out a masterful political coup.

GUNNING DOWN ISRAEL SHAMIR
(May 3, 2001)
The worst thing that happened to the people of the Middle East in recent history was the imposition on them by the Western powers of the "Client Regimes" -- those who read MER regularly know what we are talking about...

ARAB REGIMES COWER AND BEG; ISRAELIS CONTINUE TO KILL AND DESTROY
(May 2, 2001)
Shimon Peres runs around the world, especially to the gullible American media, and especially to CNN and PBS, with soothing rhetorical jibberish while his Generals further demolish Palestinian homes making fools of those who believed in the "Oslo Peace Process" and its associated "agreements".

FORMER SHIN BET HEAD TALKS SOME SENSE IN PUBLIC....BUT WHY?
(May 2, 2001)
Motives are of course a very important aspect of life and politics...as is timing. And when it comes to someone who has been head of the Shin Bet, like Ami Ayalon, and who is saying these things now, at this particular crucial and sensitive time, there are good reasons to have many suspicions, and many questions, and many doubts.

EXTINGUISHING THE INTIFADA
(May 2, 2001)
A major effort is underway to somehow smother and snuff out the Intifada, one way or another. Those heading up the effort, in order of importance, are:

ARAFAT'S FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE THE INTIFADA BEGAN
(May 1, 2001)
Yasser Arafat often describes his struggle as a "long march" to the "spires and minarets" of Jerusalem, capital of his Palestinian state-to-be.




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