Mid-East Realitieswww.middleeast.org

After Afghanistan, U.S. has Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine in its Sights

October 10, 2001

AFTER AFGHANISTAN, U.S. ALREADY HAS OTHERS IN ITS TARGET SITES:

IRAQ, HEZBOLLAH IN LEBANON, HAMAS and ISLAMIC JIHAD IN PALESTINE

MID-EAST REALITIES © - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 10/10: In this case there should be no one saying down the road that they didn't know what was being planned. The Americans have said publicly and in many different ways right from the start of this "new war" that it wasn't going to end with Osama bin Laden, with the Taliban government, or with Afghanistan. And the Israelis have been out there right from the start with their lobbyists and propagandists fanning the flames and pointing fingers in numerous directions, not to mention all they can do behind-the-scenes. Clearly they are manuevering this "new war" to make sure the Americans help them root out all their enemies, all weapons of mass destruction in the region (not in their own arsenals that is), and all groups who will not submit to their dictate -- and they have already made great progress toward preparing to do just that when things in Afghanistan are taken care of.

As for the Palestinians, Yasser Arafat has now sealed up Gaza even preventing the international media from getting in to see the protests, the destruction, and most of all the further heightened repression he, along with (and essentially on behalf of the Israelis and Americans), has begun. No doubt he has been told what is now being planned. No doubt he is desperately maneuvering hoping one more time to be rewarded with a rump Palestinian Statelet we've heard about ad nauseum from him for so many years now; a "State" which for the Palestinian people (rather than his regime) will be considerably worse than the way things were under the occupation before this whole round of "peace process" history began. What Arafat refuses to admit it seems (or maybe he really doesn't understand) is that if and when he proclaims the "Palestinian State" it won't be a reward at all, it will rather be himself being used to legitimize a crafty geo-political design the Israelis themselves have wanted to bring about for a very long time now.

This short article is Israel's leading newspaper yesterday helps explain what Arafat and others in the region are probably now preparing to take advantage of:

DIPLOMATIC SOURCES:
U.S. TO DEAL WITH HAMAS AFTER TALIBAN

By Aluf Benn

[Ha'aretz - 10 October]: Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem said Tuesday that Israel has received word from American sources that the U.S. intends to carry out actions against Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Lebanese guerilla group Hezbollah.

According to the information received, those organizations would "be dealt with" as soon as the United States has completed operations in Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania.

Sources also said Tuesday that the time was fast approaching for Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to impose rule on Islamic militant organizations. According to the sources, the fact that Palestinian police oppressed a pro-bin Laden demonstration was proof that, "when Arafat is pressured, he acts."

However, the estimations in Jerusalem are that Arafat has not yet arrived at a strategic decision to fight the militant organizations under his rule, and that his actions were only cosmetic and designed to show support for the United States.
Mid-East Realitieswww.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/10/453.htm