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AMERICANS NOW BUILDING BASES FOR ISRAELI MILITARY , PALESTINIAN MUSLIM INSTITUTIONS RAIDED IN THE US
September 6, 2001
MID-EAST REALITIES © - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - 9/06/01: Some eighty Federal Agents descended on Richardson, Texas, yesterday striking a blow against Muslim organizations raising funds for Palestinians groups not approved by the USA and thus accused, largely by those associated with the Israeli/Jewish lobby, of "terrorism". Membership records, contributions amounts, and contact information were seized in a lightning raid from a company providing internet, mail, and record-keeping services; possibly dealing a major blow to many Muslim groups in the USA. In Washington today representatives of the mostly weak and confused groups made a statement, but all the past threats about sit-downs and non-violent demonstrations have proved hollow and lack of significant reaction by the various Arab and Muslim "client organizations" has cast further doubt on their credibility. Ironically, on the same day the Israelis and Americans were holding a ceremony in the Middle East to mark the groundbreaking for building projects being actually undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Israeli Army! In the immediate years ahead more than a quarter billion dollars worth of military facilities and to be built and supplied by the Corps for the Israeli military under guise of the Wye River Agreement. Of course one of the big deceptions for a long time now has been that somehow the Americans are other than totally on Israel's side in this historic conflict. And indeed, some of the very groups now meakly protesting have been among those co-opted or used to give this very impression. The actions of 5 September, even while the Durban Racism conference is still underway after the joint pull-out of the U.S. and Israeli delegations, should further help dispell such a masquerade by the Americans once and for all. As for the Wye River Agreement which is being used to justify these latest steps it should be remembered that one of its architects was non other than Ariel Sharon, then Foreign Minister. The American President, the CIA Director, and toward the end the dying King of Jordan were all major endorsers of that particular charade. And now we see that the only lasting thing that has come out of it is much greater CIA involvement in controlling the Palestinians along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers going to work directly for the Israeli military.
-BUILT BASE WILL ALLOW IDF TO SHIFT FROM TERRITORIES
[Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem, 9/6/01] - Senior IDF officers and US officials participated in the cornerstone-laying yesterday for a $40 million, ultra-modern emergency supply base being constructed by the US Army Corps ofEngineers.
The base, near Kibbutz Nahshonim east of Ben-Gurion Airport, is the second of five the US has pledged to build so that the IDF can redeploy out of the territories.
This is part of the $266 million project to set up alternatives to IDF bases in the West Bank under the 1998 Wye River Memorandum, in which the US agreed to fund infrastructure costs. The original idea was for the IDF to free up land for possible transfer to the Palestinians. The base building has continued on schedule, regardless of the current violence with the Palestinians.
Attending the ceremony was US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, as well as Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelesoff, Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron, and OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Itzik Eitan. Also on hand was the deputy commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The base will contain more than 100 structures, which defense officials said will be built with ultra-modern climate control. They will be used to store weapons and supplies for a reserve division.
Planners of the base said it was designed to quickly equip combat units in an emergency call-up. The US Army Corps of Engineers is the main contractor. Local companies will perform the bulk of the work.
Last May, the US Army Corps of Engineers started building a massive paratrooper training base in the northern Negev. It also constructed the Uvda air base near Eilat as part of the Camp David Accords with Egypt.
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| Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/9/380.htm |