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ISRAELIS STRIKE, NOBODY RESPONDS
March 29, 2001
The Egyptians and Jordanians could and should totally suspend their relations
with Israel; but they do not.
The Arabs could collectively demand Israel be suspended from the U.N. General
Assembly; but they did not decide to do so at their little summit just ended
where they in fact did nothing serious.
The Europeans could take at least some kind of real action suspending their
own extensive dealings with the Israelis; but they prefer to pretend to be doing
something other than actually backing the Israelis, letting them easily get away
with dominating the Middle East region partially on their own behalf.
The Arabs could and should use their economic power, their oil supplies, and
their petrodollars, to at the least help defend the Palestinians; but they are
far too co-opted and pitifully weak to stand up even in such economic ways, not
to mention military ones.
And of course the Americans could tell the Israelis "no"; but instead they
continue to further arm them and veto, both de jure and de facto, action from
anyone else; thus preventing even serious pressure on the Israelis to cease and
desist.
The Arabs as a whole should be ashamed; the Egyptians and Jordanians doubly
so.
The Europeans are use to their supporting role of occasionally saying something
mildly critical to at least look somewhat better than the Americans -- not too
grand a task.
The Americans remain all full of themselves; and the Arab and Muslim American
groupings remain as foolishly naive, simplistically confused, and hopelessly
co-opted as they have always been.
The new millenium is off to a not very auspicious beginning. And the path
we are all on now is one of growing conflict, escalating hatred, rivers maybe
turning into torrents of bloodshed, and even possible regional holocaust in the
years just now coming into distant sight.
ISRAELI FORCES STRIKE WEST BANK, GAZA
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP - March 28) - Israeli helicopters rocketed headquarters
of Force 17, Yasser Arafat's elite guard, in Gaza and the West Bank town of Ramallah
on Wednesday, retaliating for a wave of bombings, including a suicide attack
that killed two Israeli teen-agers.
Red flares lit up the night sky over Ramallah, where two people were killed in
the assault, and flames leaped from burning buildings and cars as firefighters
tried to put out multiple blazes.
Doctors in Ramallah said the dead included a member of Force 17 and a female
civilian. Overall, more than two dozen Palestinians were injured in Ramallah
and Gaza, several critically, doctors said.
The attacks on Palestinian government buildings were the first since last fall
and further eroded the fabric and foundation of the peace agreements that granted
the Palestinians autonomy and self-government.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has repeatedly accused Force 17 of involvement
in attacks against Israeli civilians.
``The purpose is to strike directly at those responsible for terrorism,'' the
Israeli military said in a statement. The military said it hit the Force 17 headquarters
in Ramallah, and four Force 17 targets around Gaza City and Deir al-Balah in
the southern Gaza Strip - including a training camp and an arms depot.
The buildings under attack - all in areas governed by Arafat's Palestinian Authority
under peace agreements - had been evacuated after the Israeli military warned
the Palestinians to leave.
In Gaza City, the low-flying Israeli gunships blasted a Force 17 building that
had been used as a weapons arsenal and is only 100 yards from Arafat's house.
The Palestinians said the building had been empty for some time, but women and
children screamed as they fled nearby buildings. The smell of gunpowder hung
in the salty sea air after the attack.
Arafat was in Amman, Jordan, where Arab leaders wrapped up a two-day summit earlier
Wednesday with pledges of financial aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.
In a summit statement, Arab leaders voiced ``their continued commitment to a
comprehensive, permanent and just peace in the Middle East,'' but also assailed
Israel in language that recalled Arab wars with the Jewish state.
At the United Nations, in its first U.N. veto since 1997, the United States heeded
a call from Israel and killed a resolution backing a U.N. observer force to help
protect Palestinians.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called the Israeli attacks ``a response
to the Arab summit'' and noted that it followed the U.S. veto of a resolution
for a force that the Palestinians had requested.
Erekat described Wednesday's attacks as ``premeditated Israeli aggression which
will escalate drastically.''
The nighttime assault came hours after a suicide bomber detonated nail-filled
explosives strapped to his body near a group of Jewish seminary students waiting
at the roadside near the West Bank, killing two. The previous day, militants
carried out back-to-back attacks, including a suicide attack that injured two
dozen people.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for both suicide
bombings and said more bombers were ready to strike.
Sharon, who had been under growing pressure to respond to Palestinian attacks,
which included three bombings and the shooting death of a 10-month-old girl in
less than 48 hours, called his security Cabinet into session before the Israeli
offensive began.
``We are witnessing grave terrorist activities - terrorist activities that the
chairman of the Palestinian Authority (Arafat) has not been willing until now
to control,'' Sharon said.
Israel says Arafat has released hundreds of Islamic militants from prison in
recent months, and that gunmen of the Tanzim militia affiliated with Arafat's
Fatah movement have killed a number of Israelis in shooting attacks over the
past six months.
Since the uprising began in late September, 443 people have been killed, including
362 Palestinians, 62 Israeli Jews and 19 others.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Amr denied the Palestinian Authority had any
ties to the bombings in recent days.
The Israeli assault began after the Arab summit ended, apparently because Israel
wanted to avoid any retaliation during the gathering of Arab heads of state.
Israel launched a similar helicopter assault in October, striking Palestinian
police buildings in Ramallah and near Arafat's headquarters in Gaza City, in
retaliation for the mob killing of two Israeli reserve soldiers in Ramallah.
The latest suicide bomber targeted a group of teen-agers who had been dropped
off at a gas station Wednesday near the communal farm of Sdeh Hemed, about 15
miles northeast of Tel Aviv near the boundary of the West Bank. The teens were
waiting for a bus to their school in the West Bank.
The assailant, described as a man in his late 20s with black hair and a mustache,
approached the youngsters.
``He looked at them. Then the explosion went off,'' said one of the students,
Rafael Somer, 15, suppressing tears. ``I was hurled backward. When I got up,
I saw one of my friends without hands. Another friend was torn apart.'' Somer
was lightly injured.
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March 2001
SHARON UPSCALES VIOLENCE TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS (March 31, 2001) Yesterday, on Palestinian Land
Day, the Israeli army killed five Palestinians in Nablus and one in Ramallah
during civilian demonstrations protesting the Israeli occupation. 150 Palestinians
were injured, several of them in critical condition.
CHOMSKY ON THE MID-EAST CONFLICT (March 31, 2001) Well, just how dangerous is the crisis in the Middle East? There is a UN Special
Envoy, a Norwegian, Roed-Larson. A couple of days ago, he warned that Israel's
blockade of the Palestinian areas is leading to enormous suffering and could
rapidly detonate a regional war.
FIVE PALESTINIANS KILLED AS WAR OF WORDS FLARES IN MIDDLE EAST (March 30, 2001) Clashes
raged across the Palestinian territories Friday, killing five Palestinians, as
Israelis and Palestinians exchanged fiery rhetoric on the traditionally violent
anniversary of a 1976 Israeli crackdown on Arab demonstrators.
CLASHES ERUPT AMID WAVE OF ANTI-ISRAELI PROTESTS (March 30, 2001) Israeli troops opened fire with live rounds on
Friday to try to halt Palestinians marching in cities across the West Bank and
Gaza Strip to demand civil rights and an end to Israeli occupation.
AN ISRAELI OFFERS HOPE AMIDST THE DARKNESS (March 30, 2001) In the past two weeks, we are witnessing the beginning of a new phase: Israelis
and Palestinians are extending a hesitant hand to each other, across the IDF's
barricades and checkpoints.
A CONFLICT SINKING TO NEW DEPTHS (March 29, 2001) The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has sunk to appalling new
depths with several days of intensified violence that left children on both
sides to form the bulk of the dead.
ISRAELIS STRIKE, NOBODY RESPONDS (March 29, 2001) The Egyptians and Jordanians could and should totally suspend their relations
with Israel; but they do not. The Arabs could collectively demand Israel be suspended from the U.N. General
Assembly; but they did not decide to do so at their little summit just ended
where they in fact did nothing serious.
ASSAD & SADDAM "ATTACK" (March 28, 2001) Lot of rhetoric, more than expected in fact. But mostly a smookescreen for never-ending
impotence and inexcuseable weakness. So much for the Arab Summit in Amman.
Until those Arab "leaders" who have squandered the wealth and heritage of their
countries, and indeed of their once powerful civilization, are replaced; until
the "client regimes" of the Arab world are no more; this tragic spectacle known
as Arab "summits" will continue to be a deep embarrassment and a historic tragedy.
ARAB SUMMITS - RIDICULOUS SPECTACLES (March 27, 2001) Arab "leaders", the "client regimes", and Arab "summits", have been ridiculous
spectacles for a long time now.
Last time they met like this the American armies were descending on Arabia, getting
ready to destroy Iraq and put one of their own, the despicable British-created
Emir, back on his oil throne in Kuwait City.
ARAB SUMMITEERS AND CROCODILE TEARS (March 26, 2001) "They will talk and talk and talk and look important
and remain as always, impotent, indecisive and inactive.
They might pledge a few pennies to the Palestinian dying
or the mortally wounded, they might voice support of the
6-month-old Intifida, but nothing but pomp and ceremony
will come of it all."
TIME TO FORCE A U.S. VETO AND TAKE SERIOUS ACTION AGAINST ISRAEL (March 25, 2001) What the Arab States meeting in summit in Amman on Tuesday should do is not
a mystery: First they should insist on a U.N. Security Council resolution that has teeth;
and if the U.S. vetos so be it.
THE U.N. AND THE ARAB LEAGUE CHARADES (March 25, 2001) The U.N. and Arab League charades have gone on for so many years now. Never
has either body taken serious action when it comes to Israel. Always the U.S.
is there to block the way, to twist things from potentially useful to impotent,
to manuever so that the U.S. remains dominant internationally and Israel remains
dominant in the region.
ISRAELI ARMY BRUTALLY ATTACKS PEACEFUL CIVILIAN PROTEST MARCH (March 24, 2001) Today at 1:00 p.m., the Israeli army fired sound bombs, tear gas, and rubber
coated steel bullets at thousands of peaceful protesters at the Al-Ram
checkpoint.
SHARON MOVING FAST (March 24, 2001) haron and company are now likely to move quickly to further "control"
the Palestinians and establish their hegemonic and war-threatening policies
in the Middle East.
Today in Occupied Palestine (March 23, 2001) Amr Moussa and the Arab political elite representing the "client regimes"
have been deceived and acted foolishingly, as well as selfishly, for quite
a long time now.
AL-JAZEERA - ARAFAT STILL TWISTS TO ISRAELI AND U.S. TUNE (March 22, 2001) Al-Jazeera satellite TV now feeds a hungry Arab world, one starved for
so long that even this carefully-controlled Qatari-financed TV news and
pictures source has met with considerable success.
WHAT SHOULD BE WITH ISRAEL (March 22, 2001) If the Arabs regimes were serious, indeed if they were truly independent,
they would institute a Arab and Muslim regional boycott of Israel at this
point, at least suspend all diplomatic and economic relations with Israel,
and forcefully move to have the U.N. General Assembly suspend Israeli credentials
(as was done with South Africa in the days of Apartheid) as soon as the
U.S. again prevents the Security Council from acting in the days ahead.
ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS IN USA WORSE THAN EVER (March 20, 2001) We were wrong in our analysis earlier today. The Arab and Muslim groups
did not even manage a few hundred protestors at the White House today --
the number was closer to a few dozen at most, including the handful of
fanatical bearded and side-curled Naturei Karta Jews who are encouraged
by these groups to show up these days.
WASHINGTON SCENE: ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS PROVE IMPOTENCE ONCE AGAIN (March 20, 2001) It's depressing, almost pathetic, to watch the Arab and Muslim American
groups "protest" these days. Leaderless and strategyless, though as usual
feverishly combining all of their capabilities together to create even
this, the groups managed to bring maybe five or six hundred persons to
the sidewalk across from the Washington Hilton last evening for a carefully
self-controlled demonstration.
WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING IS "FORBIDDEN" (March 19, 2001) "What is being done in the territories is simply forbidden. To safeguard against such acts, people have established laws and norms; those who wish to return to the norms current a century ago ought not to be surprised when they are treated as pariahs - indeed, as ghosts from bygone days."
ARABS URGE U.N. TO SEND INTERNATIONAL FORCE TO PALESTINIAN (March 16, 2001) The Israelis will insist on a U.S. veto of any Security Council resolution
involving any serious observer force.
And Shimon Peres willingly serving Ariel Sharon as his Foreign Minister
makes it much easier for the Israelis to deflect international pressures.
WE DIDN'T SEE; WE DIDN'T KNOW (March 15, 2001) The Palestinian people have many symbols, and one of them is Bir Zeit
university near Ramallah - the secular intellectual center of the
society.
SHARON COMETH (March 14, 2001) Monday in Washington the various Arab-American groups will stage a protest
demonstration outside the Washington Hilton where now Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon will be talking to the lead organization that makes up the Israeli-Jewish
lobby in Washington.
U.S. MEDIA ESTABLISHMENT HELPS PREPARE SHARON'S WAY (March 13, 2001) Sharon's PR people are working hard preparing his way for a triumphant
visit to the USA in a few days. They choose Lally Weymouth, long a "friendly
journalist", for one of his first major interviews -- published in Newsweek
this week.
ISRAELI CONCENTRATION CAMPS (March 12, 2001) If barbed wire were used, the symbolism would be too much like concentration
camps of old.
BIR ZEIT UNIVERSITY CRIES OUT FOR HELP (March 11, 2001) As usual these days, the Palestinian people are being collectively
tortured into submission with still expanding forms of bondage, oppression,
and brutal force.
PERES FRONTS FOR SHARON AS ISRAELIS PUSH FORWARD MAJOR PROPAGANDA (March 10, 200198) Who is more despicable is debateable these days. But surely Shimon
Peres is deserving of nomination. As Israeli army snipers pick off Palestinians and as Israeli army bulldozers dig trenches around Palestinian towns and cities, Peres fronts for the new Sharon regime telling the world the Israelis are going to "make life better for the Palestinians"!
TRENCH AND SIEGE WARFARE (March 8, 2001) The words, and the acts, go back before the bible itself -- trench warfare
and siege. The Romans built walls and laid siege to Jerusalem and Masada.
Trenches, though for a different purpose, became synonymous with World
War I.
CRIES FROM PALESTINE AND CRIES FROM ISRAEL (March 6, 2001) My sister-in-law just called crying - about 4 hours
ago Al-Bireh had about 3 minutes of heavy gunfire.....
her neighbor, Aida, was walking back home on the Friends
road from Ramallah after shopping for the Eid holiday.
OH MY GOD! CLINTON WON'T LEAVE THE WORLD ALONE! (March 5, 2001) They came to Washington -- the two-for-one power couple -- with the campaign
promise to bring health care to all Americans; they left (but Hillary is
already back on Capitol Hill) with the dangerous corporate for profit HMO's
in power and more uninsured than ever despite the economic juggernaunt.
MIDEAST CONFLICT TEARS AT BROTHERLY BOND (March 5, 2001) Hostilities engulf West Bank siblings,
who remain close despite their split between
Jewish and Muslim faiths.
BOMB BLAST IN ISRAELI COASTAL CITY (March 4, 2001) A powerful bomb exploded during morning rush hour
Sunday in a crowded open-air market in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.
ISRAELIS LAY SIEGE TO PALESTINIAN CITIES (March 3, 2001) Sometime in the future there will be a day of reckoning for the Israelis.
But that day is not yet here while the suffering of the Palestinians is, literally,
more and more as each day dawns.
FIELD OF THORNS (March 3, 2001) The Palestinian uprising in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, which in late September 2000 began as a wave of popular
protest against Ariel Sharon's belligerent incursion into Jerusalem's sacred
Haram al-Sharif, has developed into a full-fledged war of attrition against
the Israeli occupation, which rather ironically paved the aggressive right-wing
leader's path to power.
REGIONAL WAR PREPARATIONS AND PUBLIC OPINION MANIPULATION ESCALATE (March 2, 2001) Iraq responded to U.S. air strikes
on Feb. 16 by deploying thousands of troops from six divisions to positions
near the Jordanian border, triggering military alerts in Tel Aviv, Washington
and in several Gulf capitals.
SHARON AND PERES TEAM UP (March 2, 2001) It was a massacre. Not since Sabra and Chatila
had I seen the innocent slaughtered like this.
The Lebanese refugee women and children and men
lay in heaps, their heads or arms or legs missing,
beheaded or disemboweled.
SHARON GETS READY TO ACT. ARAFAT GETS READY TO LEAVE? (March 1, 2001) Arafat and regime are about collapse -- i.e., the money and capabilities provided
by the U.S. and Israel to keep the PA going are being cut off if Arafat doesn't
shape up!
BLEAK FUTURE FOR BOTH PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS (March 1, 2001) Shimon Peres has many secrets to try to keep, and that explains his desperation
to stay in power practically at any cost. Ariel Sharon knows this.
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