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ISRAEL THREAT TO INVADE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES IS REAL

August 3, 2001

THE MILITARY, POLITICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BALANCE OF POWER

"It is illogical to consider a summit every time something happens. What use would a summit be now?" Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (8/03/01)

MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 8/03: The Palestinians and their allies and supporters are extremely ill-prepared for what is happening. Israeli military might remains overwhelming, and political support remains amazingly strong, especially in view of today's situation with Ariel Sharon Prime Minister, the "peace process" undergoing slow and tortuous cremation, and Israel attacking Palestinians in the occupied territories with tanks and gunships heretofore reserved for real warfare between armies. Furthermore when it comes to the crucial USA, the Israelis continue to have overwhelming political support on Capitol Hill, so much so that they could block if need be any attempts by other arms of government to thwart their designs. Even in the midst of all this fury the Israelis are actually formally requesting permanent training facilities for their airforce in the USA and further increases in American monies and supplies! The Palestinians and those who claim to be their allies in the USA still lack even one single professional publication and have nothing that could even be termed a "lobby" of any consequence in Washington.

The Stratfor Intelligence assessment is not all that comprehensive and its gets a few crucial things wrong, at least in terms of emphasis. For instance, Sharon is not being pushed against his will into a war to dismember the Arafat regime and completely terminate the "Oslo peace process". That has been his goal all along both in and out of power and Sharon is craftily making sure the provocations Israel provides are so massive and so constant that Palestinian rage will sooner or later give him the excuse he is waiting for. Sharon has played much the same game before, most notable in the lead-up to the Lebanon War in 1982 -- but the corporate media is remarkably forgetful and naive when it comes to such matters (and Sharon's knows that as well). Most importantly though the Stratfor report also doesn't look ahead at the likely reverberations into the future of what the Israelis and the Americans are doing today; just as it doesn't look back a bit to see how Israeli and American policies brought about today's explosive situation. Most suspicious of all however is that the Stratfor report concludes with a thinly veiled plea to send "international observers" -- which nicely dovetails with precisely what the US Government is arranging allowing it and the Europeans to claim they are doing something, helping let the Arabs of the hook, preventing any moves at the U.N., and in the end the Israelis (with secret American complicity of course) will twist the whole thing into further infiltrating and controlling the Palestinians and ending the Intifada (among the main goals of the CIA in the first place).

Meanwhile, the Israelis have actually announced plans for more home demolitions and assassination attacks in the immediate days ahead and it appears no one is going to do anything serious and real to stop that -- and by the time they might claim they are, as with settlements, the Israelis will have already accomplished most of their goals. The pathetic Arab League isn't even going to meet, though Arafat personally has been running from one ruler to another begging; and Hanan Ashrawi should be terribly ashamed she has let herself be used once again in such a miserable way. But then Arafat has no real credibility with anyone anymore; not even those on his extensive payroll.

PALESTINIANS ILL-PREPARED FOR ISRAELI OFFENSIVE
NABLUS, West Bank, July 28 (AFP) - Even if the threat of an outright offensive by the Israelis is to be taken seriously, there is virtually no evidence of Palestinian preparedness for such a move. "We are not left with many options. All we can do is stock food, medicines and get our emergency units ready", Nablus governor Mahmud al-Allul told AFP. "We have given instructions to our forces posted at the entrances of the autonomous zones to redeploy in case of an attack" in order to retreat to safer sectors, said Allul, a high-ranking civil and military official.

"We can fight against Israeli infantrymen, but it will be a lot more difficult to resist tanks, helicopter attacks or shooting coming from the hills which overlook the city", the governor pointed out. Yet in Nablus, as in all West Bank cities and towns, it is difficult to detect any sign of preparations to face a major military offensive. Nothing has been done to replace or even beef up the simple defence of sandbags around Palestinian posts: no concrete shelters, not even any trenches.

Colonel Abdel Hai Abdel al-Wahed, in charge of civilian security for the whole of the West Bank, complains of "a total lack of coordination between the various civilian and police services". A high-ranking West Bank security official told AFP that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority "does not even have a plan taking into account the various scenarios" of an Israeli attack.

When an outright offensive seemed imminent six weeks ago, the National Islamic Forces -- a Palestinian coalition of 13 movements including Arafat's Fatah, as well as Islamic Jihad and Hamas -- called on Nablus residents to prepare Molotov cocktails with which to attack Israeli tanks. Hamas even urged volunteers to prepare explosive belts to be used in suicide attacks against the occupying forces.

Last week, the same coalition distributed flyers calling on the population to "be on alert and ready to defend its land", while giving no guidance or instructions to that effect. The makeshift defence strategy coupled with the calls for mobilisation leave more than one West Bank Palestinian bemused. "I suggest we prepare stocks of stones, it'll be more effective", says a sarcastic refugee from the Dheisheh camp near Bethlehem.

On several occasions Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ruled out an all-out offensive against the Palestinian Authority, because of the international complications it would create for Israel and because it is not in the Jewish state's interest to reoccupy Palestinian urban centres. On this point many Palestinians agree with the hardline Israeli leader, including those directly involved in the conflict that has torn the region apart since last September.

"I am expecting the Israeli army to carry out repeated incursions, to create buffer zones (where it may shoot on sight), to step up assassinations (of Palestinian activists), but not to launch a global offensive", said an anonymous member of the Fatah's armed wing in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

ARAB ACTION AGAINST ISRAEL UNLIKELY
The Palestinians are largely on their own

By Caroline Hawley and Frank Gardner in Cairo

[BBC - Sunday, 29 July]: Officials from around the Arab world have been meeting in Damascus to discuss a revival of the economic boycott against Israel. The move follows widespread Arab anger with Israel for its continued occupation of Arab land and for its handling of the 10-month old conflict with the Palestinians. There have already been calls by religious leaders and Iraq's President Saddam Hussein for a jihad, a holy war, to liberate Palestine. Yet an economic boycott is impractical and unlikely to achieve much, and the Arab world remains reluctant to go to war to help the Palestinians. Ahmed Khazaa, who heads the all-but-defunct Central Office for the Boycott of Israel, said renewing economic sanctions against the Jewish state was a form of peaceful resistance. The office, an offshoot of the Arab League, has not met since 1993, the year the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace agreement with Israel. Many businessmen say businesses are now simply too intertwined to make a secondary boycott - against companies that do business with Israel - effective. And many important Arab states, including Egypt and Jordan - which have peace treaties with Israel - have not even sent representatives to the Arab League meeting. If economic action against Israel is unlikely, full-scale military confrontation is even less probable. The first and most compelling reason for not going to war with Israel is the military equation. Put bluntly, it is not in the Arabs' favour. The Arab states have massive military manpower, but most of their leaders know, in their heart of hearts, that they cannot defeat Israel on the battlefield. Israel's military machine has an enormous, qualitative advantage over the Arabs. Israeli soldiers are better trained and better equipped, factors that have allowed them to defeat their Arab enemies in almost every conflict in Israel's violent, 53-year history. Israel also has access to the weapon of last resort - nuclear warheads, about 200 of them at the last estimate. The Arabs don't. Of course, Arab forces could still inflict a lot of pain on Israel. The prospect of a surprise attack, involving Syrian or Iraqi Scud missiles raining down on Tel Aviv, perhaps spreading poison gas or plague, still frightens Israeli military planners. But the response would be devastating and Arab rulers know it. Israel, if it chose to, could obliterate several Arab cities. There are also economic reasons not to go to war: A full-scale Middle East war would have a catastrophic effect on Arab economies. Already plagued by corruption, nepotism and bureaucracy, they would nose-dive, plunging millions into poverty. This is also why the prospect of waging wholesale economic warfare against Israel has never been taken seriously. Calls by Palestinians for their oil-rich fellow Arabs to stop supplying oil to Israel's ally, the US, have been dismissed with a smile. An Arab oil embargo, although painful in the short term, would prompt the West to look for alternative suppliers and other sources of energy. Ultimately the Gulf states themselves would be the losers, with their oil-dependant economies risking collapse. Finally, Arab rulers are unlikely to risk losing their thrones or presidencies by going to war for the Palestinians. There is plenty of simmering discontent at home in the Arab world, and any ruler who sent his people to war has to take into account that when they came home, probably defeated, they could decide to march on the palace. Only a life-or-death scenario would cause Arab rulers to mobilise their armies and send them to fight Israel. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is serious and it risks escalating. But it has not yet reached the stage where Arab rulers will risk everything to save the Palestinians.

ISRAEL: THREAT TO INVADE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES IS REAL

Summary

[Stratfor Intelligence Group; Austin, Texas; 31 July 2001]: Amid the violence of the Palestinian intifida, the Israeli government has said it will restrain itself. But in reality, it is poised for a major military strike that would seize portions of the territories and destroy the Palestinian leadership. Israel is exhausting its last options before going to war.

Analysis

In recent weeks, efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process have resumed. The Bush administration has begun to back the notion of deploying international monitors to the West Bank and Gaza. And Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said last week that he will stick to the U.S.-brokered cease-fire. But signs indicate Israel has already begun a countdown to a major military intervention in the Palestinian territories. Fourteen Palestinian leaders have been assassinated in the past month; although Israel has not acknowledged responsibility for all of them, it does have a policy of targeted assassinations, and such actions are often the prelude to a conventional military operation. Israeli forces are testing their avenues of ingress into Palestinian-controlled areas and probably gathering tactical intelligence.

The larger diplomatic and political atmosphere indicates the Sharon government is exhausting its last diplomatic options. It has announced the possible call-up of reservists abroad in order to generate international attention. And the Bush administration is scrambling to draw up plans to quickly deploy monitors to head off conflict.

The Israeli government also appears increasingly convinced that it can mount a messy, but ultimately successful, military operation. Arab militaries are weak. Following the assassination campaign, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will likely seal off the territories and surge into so-called Areas A, now held by Palestinian security forces. Subsequent operations would focus on cleaning out leaders and arms caches while securing a foothold in the largest urban areas. Such an operation would destroy the Oslo accords and in effect, though not officially, redraw the Israeli border eastward.

The Balance of Forces

In a conflict, Israel would have the military advantage: The IDF enjoys superiority not only in numbers, training and equipment but also would face split Palestinian forces.

The Israeli military has an active duty force of 172,500 soldiers, with another 425,000 in available reserves. The IDF is the best-equipped force in the region, with advanced capabilities in intelligence and combat systems. The force includes 446 combat aircraft, 3,900 main battle tanks, 133 armed helicopters and a well-outfitted navy used to stop infiltration and arms smuggling.

By comparison, the Palestinian Security Services are a limited paramilitary force. Estimated to number between 35,000 and 40,000, the personnel have had little advanced military training. Nevertheless, many are former members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and its militant faction, the Palestinian Liberation Army. Notably, their irregular training is perfectly suited for urban war.

The Palestinians would face disadvantages, however. First among these is the split between the regular security forces and the approximately 1,000 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants. These forces, already divided by different politics and leadership, are already operating in cells that would tax Israeli sweeps.

The PSS has a limited number of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. The Palestinians have a total of 400 anti-tank weapons, 50 SA-7 man-portable surface-to-air missiles, 50 light armor vehicles, 60 81mm mortars, 40 ZPU 14.5 mm anti-aircraft guns, land mines and hand grenades, according to AFI Research.

Israel's economic advantage also gives it military superiority. Israel's annual defense budget was about $7 billion in fiscal year 2000, backed by $3 billion in aid from the United States. In contrast, the Palestinian Authority spent $500 million in 1999 and $300 million in 1998 on security -- although these figures do not reflect funds spent on weapons smuggled in.

Military assistance from the United States to the PSS totaled only $100 million last year, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Logic of the Conflict

The chief targets of an Israeli operation would be five to six major areas now under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

These areas comprise the so-called Areas A, the main urban Palestinian areas, that Israeli forces have increasingly probed in recent weeks. These include Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron in the West Bank as well as most of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government is probably emboldened by the fact that no Arab military is in a position to come to the rescue of the Palestinians. The Egyptian military, the region's largest, has serious problems with readiness, making it difficult for the Egyptian army to even threaten Israel across the Sinai Peninsula. The Syrian military is weak, too.

The IDF would first seek to seal off the territories, blocking refugees and terrorists. Sealing off the Green Line, the legal international border, would consume a significant number of troops backed by limited amounts of armor. Conventional forces would move into the West Bank and Gaza to establish perimeters so special operations forces could sweep for leaders, operatives and weapons caches. Israeli security would have to blunt terrorist attacks.

But such a primarily urban conflict would begin to wield its own logic, threatening to exponentially increase the number of Israeli troops involved. During the first intifada beginning in the late 1980s, the number of Israeli forces deployed in the occupied territories jumped from no more than 20,000 before Dec. 8, 1987, to an estimated 150,000 soldiers by 1990, according to the Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs.

In a new operation, Palestinian Security Services as well as militants would quickly devolve to a cell structure in order to conduct operations without being detected. As was the case in the last uprising from 1987 to 1993, Israel would have a hard time achieving a clear-cut victory. Three million Palestinians live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

More recent urban conflicts, such as Russia's battle for Grozny in Chechnya, underscore the fact that tactics and terrain can hamper a modern, well-equipped military. Urban terrain presents a number of dangers; the close proximity of opposing forces results in more brutal, bloodier fighting. Streets channel the movement of both troops and vehicles, leaving advancing forces open to ambush and blunting the advantage of armor. Buildings provide ample opportunities for sniper fire and limit line of sight.

Moreover, the Palestinians have reportedly established arms caches and supply houses throughout Areas A, according to Israeli news reports and think tanks. These warehouses hold ammunition, weapons, food, water and other supplies. To dismantle the Palestinian Authority, Israel would need to destroy these caches. Special operations forces are the likeliest candidates.

But the process would consume valuable time. Each passing day would give the Palestinians opportunities to retrench or escape into neighboring Arab countries. By sustaining a low-level conflict and trapping Israel into occupation, the Palestinians gain an advantage since they can fight only a guerrilla-type war. Israel's aversion to casualties would also weigh heavily on any operation.

Even if Israel achieves the complete destruction of the Palestinian Authority, it would leave these areas lawless. To prevent anarchy, Israel would need to guarantee security, precluding an exit strategy.

Other Security Considerations

Protecting Jewish settlers in the territories would also present a military challenge. An estimated 200,000 settlers are dispersed throughout the West Bank and Gaza territories today. The Israeli government has long used the advancement of settlements as a line of defense. Though these settlements are well-guarded, Israeli politics require the defense forces to protect settlers. But the wide dispersal of settlements would require help from the IDF. Illustrative of the problem, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer recently called for dismantling the farthest outlying settlements so as to avoid straining the military, according to Israeli news reports.

Where It Ends

The Sharon government has avoided making any direct threats about reoccupying the territories.

But continued Palestinian attacks against Israelis are undercutting the Israeli government. Going to the peace table now, with terrorist attacks underway, would be seen as rewarding terrorism. Sharon has personally warned that he will not continue to tolerate terrorism.

And Sharon's philosophy predisposes him to seek a dramatic solution. When he masterminded the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s, he sought to break the back of the Palestinian guerrillas there. Sharon has hesitated to send troops into the West Bank and Gaza because he knows the cost Israel paid for the Lebanon campaign.

The Israeli threat is real.

The quick deployment of international monitors is likely the only alternative to conflict.


August 2001


Magazine






IDEOLOGICAL CEASE-FIRE OR SELL-OUT AT DURBAN?
(August 31, 2001)
It's not likely this is the end of it, but indications are that the Arafat crowd -- as of the moment still in the pay of the U.S., Israel, and the despicable Arab "client regimes" -- has found a way to back away from the badly needed ideological confrontation, with the help of non other than that slimmy man for all seasons who never misses an opportunity to interject himself Jesse Jackson.

ASHRAWI SPEECH IN DURBAN
(August 31, 2001)
Hanan Ashrawi is no real hero, and she's made some terrible hard-to-forgive political mistakes in the "peace process" years in her search for the limelight and VIP status.

DURBAN AND ROBINSON AND ANNAN
(August 31, 2001)
A pamphlet distributed at the United Nations anti-racism conference in South Africa equating the Star of David with a swastika has prompted the UN human rights commissioner, Mary Robinson, to declare at an official dinner: "I am a Jew".

"GO BACK IMMEDIATLEY OR WE ARE GOING TO SHOOT" - MARY ROBINSON COMES OUT JEWISH
(August 30, 2001)
Talk about humiliation. When the U.N.'s top human rights official was in occupied Palestine last year her car was shot at by Israeli settlers -- the Israeli army doing nothing to stop them. Now we learn that the very same Mary Robinson is herself Jewish and has been using her position to head off the urgently needed world censorship of Israel for its racist and apartheid-like policies.

HABASH AND CARLOS HAVE THEIR SAY
(August 30, 2001)
Aging guerrilla leader Carlos the Jackal called from his French jail cell Wednesday for worldwide attacks on Israel and the United States in support of the Palestinian uprising.

A LAND WITHOUT HOPE
(August 29, 2001)
Gaza is the largest prison in the world. Most of its one million plus inhabitants, in a sense inmates, have never been let out. Whether the term be "ghetto" or "concentration camp" or just "prison", the historical parallels are all too damning.

THE U.S. MAKES IT ALL POSSIBLE
(August 29, 2001)
What we should all be thinking when the U.S. State Department spokesman gets in front of the cameras is -- "You've Got To Be Kidding!" Instead, the American government with its super sophisticated PR apparatus dishes it out. The gullible, or should we say complicitous, corporate media then broadcasts it -- not just CNN, also the rest of the networks along with PBS followed up by the big daily newspapers and newsweeklies --all lemming-like.

TIME TO SUSPEND ISRAEL FROM U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
(August 28, 2001)
The American President and Vice-President both are giving public expressions of support to the Israelis; while the American CIA, military and Congress make Israeli policies possible with a continual flow of money, guns, and information.

"INVITING HELL TO BREAK LO0SE" - PFLP LEADER ASSASSINATED TODAY
(August 27, 2001)
The Israelis are clearly planning to totally crush the Palestinians -- Minister Uzi Landau is publicly saying as much -- probably thinking they can buy themselves still more years to consolidate their grip on the occupied territories and probably scheming for the opportunity to push as many Palestinians as they can across the Jordan and into a Hashemite Kingdom that will eventually, sooner or later, implode into a Palestinian State.

A MOST COURAGEOUS AND DEDICATED ISRAELI JOURNALIST
(August 26, 2001)
If we had an award for Middle East Journalist of the year, the Israeli writer Amira Hass would be very high on that list. A few years ago, long before it became politically correct to term Israeli policies "apartheid like", especially in Jewish and American circles, Amira Hass was doing just that in her writing and speaking.

ISRAEL WINNING PROPAGANDA WAR - MASSIVELY
(August 26, 2001)
The terribly weak, confused, and co-opted Arab regimes, Arafat's included, are miserably losing the "propaganda war". Sure, the Israelis have suffered in some quarters in some ways; but nothing compared to the Palestinians.

THE LATEST FROM GAZA GHETTO
(August 25, 2001)
About 400 fanatical "settlers" have forced their way into homes in the middle of Hebron, a city of 120,000 Arabs. About 6000 fanatical "settlers" contnue to occupy about 35% of the Gaza Strip, amidst more than 1 million Palestinians.

ISRAEL'S IDEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
(August 25, 2001)
If you want to understand what the Israelis are doing, and why, you have to understand the ideological underpinnings of what is called "Revisionist Zionism". This article was published many years ago in The Washington Post by Mark Bruzonsky, today the Publisher of MER.

JUST IMAGINE, A MILLION + INJURED IN A YEAR
(August 24, 2001)
If adjusted for differing population sizes, these would be the dead and casualties figures if a foreign military power occupied the United States and did to Americans what Israel, with U.S. money and arms, is doing to the Palestinians. And that's just in the past year or so.

WITH ARAFAT AND COMPANY IN COMMAND, THERE IS NO HOPE.
(August 24, 2001)
As usual there is no serious introspection and self-criticism here. Arab and Palestinian Americans have failed miserably over a very long period of time to even establish viable organizations and publications. Moreover they have no lobbying and professional presence even worth discussion in the crucial capital of Washington, DC, even today.

SUICIDE BOMBERS - MADE BY ISRAEL AND THE USA
(August 23, 2001)
It didn't begin this way. A few generations ago Arabs and Jews lived together in the same neighborhoods of the once Holy Land. In the 40's the famous Arab mayor of Haifa Hassan Shukri's only son married a Jewish woman.

ISRAELIS "DEBATE" BOTH "SEPARATION" AND "DEPARTURE"
(August 23, 2001)
Two rather insightful articles follow about how confused and insecure many Israelis have become, even though this often comes across to others as heightened arrogance and self-centeredness. In the first from Ha'aretz some Israelis are hedging their bets and wondering just what the future holds. There is a deep down awareness, not quite conscious for many, that what they are doing to the Palestinians could possibly in the future backfire in an orgy of hatred and recriminations far beyond today's situation.

KILLING AND DESTROYING - THE ISRAELI WAY
(August 21, 2001)
Even as the U.N. Security Council gathered to demonstrate once again how badly it has been neutered and cast aside when it comes to the Middle East, the Israelis are further unleashing their basic policy of killing, destroying, repressing. General Barak, the previous PM, is busy taking credit for having "exposed" the Palestinians and "fathered" the concept of "unilateral separation" (i.e., apartheid forever).

UN NOW AND THEN
(August 20, 2001)
Today's United Nations is pretty much an "appendage of the (U.S.) State Department". And that's not our phrase, it's one used by a senior U.N. official not that long ago in one of those quiet unpublicized off-the-record Washington discussions.

THE "PEACE PROCESS" FRAUD AND CONSPIRACY
(August 20, 2001)
Professors Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Tanya Reinhart -- Jewish American, Palestinian American, and Israeli -- all have explained this month why the "Peace Process" was a fraud, a deception, a conspiracy, from the start.

PLEADING FOR PEACE; ANALYSIS IS WAR
(August 18, 2001)
Everything stops for tea in Britain, or so they say. So when Angie Zelter and her fellow foreign protesters found their way from Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem to Jerusalem blocked by Israeli soldiers and police on Saturday, Zelter ever so politely ventured a few words of advice.

A SUICIDE BOMBER'S WORLD
(August 18, 2001)
In a sense, a very important sense, the "Suicide Bombers" now so much in the news should have stamped on them "Made in Israel, Encouraged by USA". There were few if any "Suicide Bombers" just a few years ago. The phenomena first arose out of Israel's destructive invasion of Lebanon in and before 1982, then the occupation of about 10% of that country which only ended last year.

DATELINE WASHINGTON: ONE ARAB DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER
(August 17, 2001)
Months ago now the relatively new group of Muslim "client organizations" headquartered in Washington repeatedly promised at one press conference after another a wave of civil disobedience throughout the U.S. in view of what Israel and the U.S. are doing to the Palestinians.

ANTI-US/ISRAEL DEMOS IN SOUTH AFRICA
(August 17, 2001)
The pathetically weak and terribly mislead Arab and Muslim groups in the US aren't doing any protesting worth mentioning about this or anything else; but thousands of South Africans are doing the work for everyone...and "internationals" are on the way.

WHY WE HAVE ALL BECOME SUICIDE BOMBERS, DR EYAD SARRAJ-MER FLASHBACK
(August 16, 2001)
A few weeks ago I said that the struggle of Palestinians today is how not to become a bomb and that the amazing thing is not the occurrence of the suicide bombing, rather the rarity of them.

HAVE WE A PREDICTION HERE? YASS?
(August 16, 2001)
Beneath that thick Israeli arrogance, many Israelis are really far more confused, and far more fearful, than they are going to admit. Theirs' is a complicated psychology especially as the scars of the Holocaust remain deeply buried and only occasionally visible.

DEATH IN BETHLEHELM, MADE IN AMERICA
(August 15, 2001)
While the Israeli Army surrounds Bethlehem and many of the "autonomous Palestinian population centers" created through the Apartheid-style "peace process", it is American weapons and money that make the brutal military occupation possible.

ISREALI STORM TROOPERS BEAT, SHOOT, TORTURE, KILL
(August 14, 2001)
How ironic that the Jewish Israelis are acting like modern-day storm troopers, perpetrating ongoing Crystal Nachts, their victims akin to dark images from the Warsaw Ghetto of yesteryear...and so many "Good Israelis", so sadly reminiscent of the "Good Germans" of their own terrible past when they themselves were powerless victims, are cheering with mindless hatred

USED "PEACE PLAN" FOR SALE CHEAP - CAVEATE EMPTOR!
(August 14, 2001)
Gee..isn't this interesting. With the legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel -- i.e. Zionism -- about to be challenged by much of the world in Durban; and with the "peace process" itself about to be finally condemned as a "new form of apartheid" -- just as so many of the independent experts have been saying for years now -- the Israelis are embarking on a major international public relations campaign whose top dogs are none other than soft barkers Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin, chief architects and salesmen of the very same.

SALAMI ESCALATION
(August 14, 2001)
The Israelis are preparing everyone psychologically for more. Rather than everything at once, Sharon's tactics are a war version of "triangulation" which has become so famous in American political infighting. In this way he gets to be called "restrained" by many, creates the climate of confusion and anticipation that he wishes, uses Peres and Eliezer to confuse world opinion and even some of the more gullible Arab "leaders", and craftily prepares for that day when the tanks will roll in and roll over...and not just leave after a few hours of death and destruction.

NOW RUSSIANS PREDICT MID-EAST WAR SOON
(August 13, 2001)
The Israelis have been trying for years now to "reconfigure" the Middle East to their further advantage. That's really what the war for Lebanon that erupted most fiercely in 1982 was all about; and its what the various responses to the Intifada have always been about as well -- most especially the disengenous "peace process" which has now worse than collapsed.

A PEOPLE CRUSHED, DISPOSSESSED, TORTURED...
(August 13, 2001)
"His was not an act of 'mindless terror', the words Israeli spokesmen use. He was the logical product of a people who have been crushed, dispossessed, tortured and killed in terrible numbers." Fisk on the 'Suicide Bomber'

ON TO DURBAN...WITHOUT THEM - PART II
(August 12, 2001)
Well we weren't expecting United Nations officials to heed our advice about Durban and get on with things, with or without the constantly threatening and vetoing Americans (see Part 1 published yesterday). In recent years some of their colleagues at the very highest levels of today's U.N. have in fact resigned in moral disgust -- and even said so in public.

EGYPT MIGHT MOVE ARMY INTO SINAI?
(August 12, 2001)
It's not likely to happen -- Egypt's Third Army moving into Sinai for the first time since 1973 -- but it could. And in the Middle East there are historical precedents that this is sometimes the way big wars start with an initial bombardment of threats, bluffs, feints, and then the confusion takes on a life of its own.

SYMBOL OF PALESTINE CAPTURED AND RAPED
(August 11, 2001)
"Israeli riot police on horseback yesterday charged into protesters sitting outside Orient House, the barricaded mansion that serves as an unofficial Palestinian capital, reopening the battle for Jerusalem. The occupation of Orient House, headquarters of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in Jerusalem, by the Israeli army is one of the biggest acts of aggrandisement since the intifada began 11 months ago."

ON TO DURBAN...WITHOUT THEM
(August 10, 2001)
Conclusion first: Let the Americans and the Israelis stay home. So be it. There's been enough blackmail and bribery and vetoing for such a very long time now. The Americans and the Israelis have been two against the whole world so many times when it comes to the international community of nations. It was just a few years ago that the U.S. single-handedly black-balled Boutros Ghali and sent him packing.

SHARON OF ISRAEL - DANGEROUSLY CUNNING
(August 10, 2001)
Ariel Sharon has a terrible history of brutality and murder, and indeed by the usual definitions these days he is at the very least indictable as a war criminal. Even so, especially now in his new role as Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon is an extraordinarily crafty and sophisticated strategist as well as tactician.

ISRAEL FLAG FLIES OVER ORIENT HOUSE
(August 10, 2001)
They never ever let Yasser Arafat come to Jerusalem. And Arafat missed his moment on the day of Feisal Husseini's burial earlier this summer when he could have, and should have, called their bluff. Now the Israelis, commanded by General Sharon, have done what they have been planning to do for some time, using the excuse of yesterday's terror bombing on Jaffa Road -- they have closed Orient House, the very symbol of things Palestinian in East Jerusalem, as well as many other organizations associated with the PA.

ORIENT HOUSE CLOSED - STRATEGIC BLOW AGAINST PALESTINIANS LIKELY
(August 9, 2001)
NEWSFLASH -- 8/09/2001, 9:30pm -- For first time Israel has closed down Orient House in Jerusalem along with nine other offices associated with the Palestinian Authority

USS LIBERTY - ABANDONED AT SEA AND AT HOME BECAUSE?
(August 9, 2001)
Tonight at 8pm (ET) on the History Channel part of the story about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty on 8 June 1967 is going to be told. But from preliminary indications, just part, and not necessarily the most important historical parts which really involve top secret intrigue at the highest levels of the CIA, NSA, and White House complete with super secrets of state the Americans continue to want to keep out of sight out of mind.

THE REAL USS LIBERTY STORY
(August 9, 2001)
The real questions -- and answers -- have been avoided for a very long time by the American Government, and in this case also by the "free and independent" American media. And from the preliminary indications, tonight's History Channel documentary about the USS Liberty doesn't actually answer the key questions (as it could) nor even deal with the key subject of the crucial role of the CIA (as it should).

THE CRUCIAL ISRAELI-TURKISH-US MILITARY ALLIANCE,THE ARABS ARE SURROUNDED
(September 9, 2001)
It was just a few years ago that in all likelihood the Mossad and CIA helped the Turk's capture Kurdish Leader Abdullah Ocalan after first pushing him out of exile in Syria, the Moscow, then Greece, and then grabbing him in Nairobi. It was three years ago last month that MER first published an article about the great importance of the new military alliance that has developed between Israel and Turkey -- "New U.S./Turkey/Israel Alliance Circumvents and Bottles Up The Arabs." And it was two years ago that the prolific and courageous British journalist, Robert Fisk, first gave us some of the details behind the new strategic military relation Turkey actually courted with Israel.

WITH THE HELP OF U.S. ARMS MANUFACTURERS, THE CIA, CONGRESS, AND THE PENTAGON
(August 8, 2001)
The Israelis are controlling, repressing, dispossessing, and assassinating the Palestinians not on their own. They are doing so with the constant and considerable help of American arms manufacturers, the CIA, and of course the U.S. Congress (which of course is supposed to represent the will of the American people) which constantly appropriates billions yearly for Israel and sanctions (or the threat thereof) against Israel's foes

HIZBULLAH ON A ROLL
(August 7, 2001)
Israeli security forces have completely shut down access in and out of five large Palestinian towns following the killing of a pregnant Jewish settler, Israeli public radio said Monday, quoting security officials. The army sealed off the West Banks towns of Nablus, Tulkarem, Jericho, Ramallah and Qalqilya, the radio said, adding that it had partially closed the towns of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jenin.

WILL THE REAL YOSSI BEILIN PLEASE STAND UP
(August 4, 2001)
Like in the movie LION OF THE DESERT, those who profess sympathy and understanding can often cause the most harm. The well-meaning Lieutenant Colonel who befriends Omar Muhktar, lures him into deceptive "peace negotiations" in the desert, and then salutes him as his own involvement leads to Muhktar's being hanged from the gallows, is an illustrative symbol from the past.

SHARONS PUBLIC RELATIONS WAR
(August 7, 2001)
One thing about countries that have democratic features and most especially a professional and independent press -- sometimes insightful even amazing little tidbits result either from leaks or investigations. Like today's story about how Ariel Sharon himself is also the Commanding General in Israel's public relations war, shaking up and countermanding his troops in this arena as well.

ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE PROJECTS WAR IN 2002
(August 6, 2001)
Israeli sources said military intelligence has drafted a report that warns of the increasing likelihood of regional war in 2002. The report said the war could be sparked by either an Israeli offensive against the Palestinian Authority or an escalation in tension along Israel's border with Lebanon

TARGET EVERYONE EVERYWHERE
(August 5, 2001)
It has not happened yet, but it is now the direction things are heading. Soon the Palestinians may start responding to Israel's increasingly brutal military occupation, unprecedented anywhere else in the world of our day, by targeting Israeli political leaders and maybe Zionist leaders outside of Israel.

EGYPT IN THE ERA OF THIEVES
(August 5, 2001)
The Egypt of Hosni Mubarak and associates has terribly betrayed itself. It is a regime of sadistic torture and omnipresent corruption. It is a country of gross repression and escalating fear. And to a certain extent all this is at least in part the legacy of the Camp David agreement Egypt was tricked and bribed into signing two decades ago, and for which Anwar Sadat was assassinated by his own soldiers on military parade.

IRAEL ENFLAMES PALESTINIANS- HATRED WILL LAST LONG INTO THE FUTURE
(August 5, 2001)
In the past week the Israelis have substantially escalated the conflict with the Palestinians and risked enflaming not only the Palestinians but Arabs and Muslims around the world. Now senior Palestinian political leaders are being targeted.

ASSASSINATION POLICY EXPANDED- EXPECT A NEW LEVEL OF CLANDESTINE WARFARE
(August 4, 2001)
In a sense it would be like the going after the associates of Jerry Adams and his Sein Fein colleagues in Northern Ireland. It was a policy followed to a lesser extent by the White South African government when it tortured and murdered persons associated with the ANC, almost in fact secretly poisoning Nelson Mandela in his prison cell

"SECRET PLAN" TO SEND OBSERVERS TO ISRAEL
(August 3, 2001)
The very idea that the Americans and the Brits, after their long history of treachery and deception in the Middle East, are now going to do something other than continue on in that tradition is rather ludicrous. All the current talk at the moment -- especially from the Europeans and the usually gullible "peace" and "human rights" NGOs -- about helping the Palestinians by sending them "observers" is indeed a fitting CIA response to the predicament the American government finds itself in at the moment.

ISRAEL THREAT TO INVADE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES IS REAL
(August 3, 2001)
The Palestinians and their allies and supporters are extremely ill-prepared for what is happening. Israeli military might remains overwhelming, and political support remains amazingly strong, especially in view of today's situation with Ariel Sharon Prime Minister, the "peace process" undergoing slow and tortuous cremation, and Israel attacking Palestinians in the occupied territories with tanks and gunships heretofore reserved for real warfare between armies.

11 YEARS, 1.5+ MILLION DEAD, SEETHING HATRED EVERYWHERE
(August 2, 2001)
Eleven long bloody years. In the years just before the Gulf War there was the destruction of Lebanon, the terrible bloodletting of the U.S.-instigated Iran-Iraq orgy, the Kissinger-legacy of the Kurdish sell-out.




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