"No power in the world can stop the resistance operations that come as a reaction to the Israeli aggression ... we have nothing more to lose." Abdullah Shami, Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza
MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 7/17: Yitzhak Rabin of the "peace process" was always the same "break their bones" Yitzhak Rabin who was the Defense Minister in the government of Yitzhak Shamir, Likud forerunner to today's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Intifada, Gulf War, Madrid, Oslo, White House....remember, all these things happened within a few years. Rabin didn't change. The circumstances he faced changed. The future for Israel changed. The tactics to defeat, demoralize, and "break" the Palestinians changed.
Goal #1 for the Israelis with the "Peace Process" was multifaceted. They wanted first to achieve formal recognition for Israel from the PLO, to get the Intifada ended, and then to get Arafat to sign away as many Palestinian rights as possible while "ending" the conflict on Israelis terms and creating a fictitious and controlled rump Palestinian State. At the same time the Israelis wanted to use the deals with Arafat to legitimize themselves throughout the Arab world and they began rushing to do, Peres even talking about Israel joining the Arab League!
For articles from past years: http://www.MiddleEast.org/archives/merx.htm
But if this most ambitious of goals wasn't accomplished there were other possible desired outcomes from the Rabin "peace process", all of which would help "break" the Palestinians one way or another. Rabin probably expected that Arafat would be assassinated at some point, surely not himself, possibly leading to a chaotic situation; or that the agreements and policies Arafat was being twisted into pursuing would bring about a Palestinian civil war.
Rabin himself was never, not once, on record saying what he expected the "Oslo" agreement to finally lead to. Indeed, Yossi Beilin, then Shimon Peres' deputy at the Foreign Ministry and one of the key architects of Oslo, is on record saying that he never ever even had a single discussion with Rabin about what the outcome of Oslo would eventually be.
Rabin, Sharon, Barak -- all top Generals of the Israeli Army who have spent their lives attempting to "break" the Palestinians one way or another. And now, Sharon top dog among them, the Israelis are pushing and provoking the Palestinians into the very civil war they have always thought among themselves might be a good "solution".
No doubt Arafat has been promised great help from the CIA as well as the Mubarak regime, the Hashemites, and the Saudis. Even so, his great reluctance to take the steps of still further repression and subjugation, especially under today's circumstances, may foretell just how dangerous things have become in his dealings with his own people. It's just that the Israelis may now have managed to succeed to make it even more dangerous for him if he does not.
An Islamic militant group has pledged to carry on with "resistance operations." The move came despite what a Palestinian security official called a firm warning from Yasser Arafat that further suicide bombings in Israel could lead to arrests.
The Palestinian leader issued the warning in a late-night meeting with faction leaders including representatives of Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Last night a suicide bombing claimed by Islamic Jihad killed two Israeli soldiers outside a railway station. Three other Israelis were seriously hurt. It was the first suicide bomb blast since a truce was worked out last month by CIA director George Tenet.
"Arafat gave a clear and firm warning for Islamic Jihad and Hamas that any new operations in Israel mean that they are pushing us into doing arrests of their own activists," the security official said.
Abdullah Shami, an Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza, said: "No power in the world can stop the resistance operations that come as a reaction to the Israeli aggression ... we have nothing more to lose."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has blamed Mr Arafat for the bombing, saying it "shows that the Palestinian Authority has not yet made a decision to fight against terror." Ananova News, 17 July
JERUSALEM, July 16 (AFP) - A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near a crowded train station in Israel Monday, killing two people and wounding six others in a "savage" attack blamed on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The blast ripped through the station in the northern Israeli town of Binyamina, and came a day after Arafat met with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for talks on the surging Middle East violence.
"The suicide attack in Binyamina shows that the Palestinian Authority has not yet decided to fight or act against terrorism," Sharon said at the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah games, or Jewish olympics, in Jerusalem.
He denounced the "savage" attack, the first bomb blast in Israel to claim Israeli lives since 21 people were killed by a suicide bomber at a Tel Aviv nightclub on June 1.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the radical Hamas movement, did not claim the blast but told reporters in the Gaza Strip that the Palestinian armed struggle against the Jewish state would go on.
"While Israeli aggression and Israeli killing and the Israeli siege against Palestinian people continue, our people will continue in their resistance and jihad (holy war) until our land is liberated," he said.
"Resistance is the only way for the Palestinian people to face the Israeli aggression and Israeli occupation," said Yassin, whose group is violently opposed to the peace process between Arafat and Israel.
But Arafat's international cooperation minister, Nabil Shaath, told AFP: "We condemn military operations against civilians, Palestinian or Israeli. It's very bad for the peace process and only helps only the enemies of peace."
A Sharon aide told AFP that Arafat's forces were working in close cooperation with radical groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Hezbollah in Lebanon to forge a "consortium of terror."
"There is no question that Yasser Arafat is responsible for what is going on," Dore Gold said, adding Israel had been subject to 10 similar attacks since a would-be "ceasefire" was declared in June 13.
"Israel carefully weighs its responses with respect to timing and location but what is clear that the international community cannot expect the Jewish people to be butchered on a daily basis," he said.
Sharon has warned that Israel will now respond "on the ground" for every Palestinian attack.
Two Palestinian militants were killed early Friday when they were apparently about to plant a bomb near the Jerusalem stadium where the opening ceremony of the games was taking place.
Arafat told reporters in Gaza after returning Monday from the meeting with Peres that he was pessimistic about any end to the violence, which has left more than 650 people since late September.
Israeli officials have warned they have received word of a series of planned attacks by Palestinian militants.
But Palestinian preventative security chief for the West Bank, Jibril Rajoub, earlier in the day urged a halt to attacks inside Israel.
"I hope that the Palestinian political factions would have a sense of responsibility and maturity regarding actions inside Israel and that these would stop because it is not in our interests, it does not serve us," he told Voice of Palestine radio.
The Maccabiah Games had been threatened with cancellation because of security jitters, but organisers decided at the last minute to go ahead, although there is a large no-show by athletes from abroad.
Peres insisted during his meeting with Arafat that Israel demanded seven days of calm before moving forward with an international peace plan, but said speculation that it was planning to topple him was "total nonsense."
Facing a right-wing outcry, Sharon joined Peres in defending the meeting, the second with Arafat in less than a month, which followed talks between the Palestinian leader and Sharon's son Omri last week.
[Ha'aretz - 17 July 2001] Iran has transfered hundreds of tons of weapons, ammunition and other materials to the Hezbollah through Syria in recent days, according to reliable sources. The deliveries were airlifted in by giant Antonov 124 transport planes that landed at Damascus International Airport.
The equipment was then transported to the storage facilities of the Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, and to the Hezbollah. Security experts estimate that some of the equipment will be smuggled to Palestinian organizations in the territories.
Iranian assistance via Hezbollah to Palestinian organizations that attack Israel, is increasing. In addition to extensive efforts to smuggle equipment, weapons and ammunition, the Hezbollah has also started training Palestinian guerrillas in Hezbollah bases in the Beka'a Valley in Lebanon.
Intelligence also shows that the Hezbollah had direct links with Palestinian cells operating in the territories - in addition to the ties it cultivates with Fatah. One center for such links is the city of Nablus in the West Bank.
It is thought that the guerrilla infrastructure the Hezbollah is setting up in the territories is intended to be deployed to disrupt any future cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The large airlift is believed to be a response to the urgent need of the Revolutionary Guards and the Hezbollah for additional equipment in Lebanon.
The previous route used by the Iranians to airlift equipment to the Hezbollah in Lebanon crossed over Turkey. However, following a request by Ankara that Iranian flights over Turkey en route to Damascus declare the nature of their cargo, the flights were stopped. The current airlift is believed to have crossed over Saudi Arabian and Jordanian airspace on its way to Syria.
The pace of weapons transfers to the Hezbollah in Lebanon was shown in the past to be dictated by security developments in Lebanon. Following the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from south Lebanon in May last year, Iran sought to replenish the military stores of the Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards stationed in Lebanon
According to Israeli estimates, the Hezbollah has some 7,000 Katyusha rockets.