Hamapatz Hagadol (Safire)

Israel must brace for 'big bang'

WASHINGTON -- In Hebrew, physicists call the theory about the formation of the universe the hamapatz hagadol -- the "big bang." In Israeli politics, that phrase is used today to describe the potential realignment of parties and power.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from Palestinians now under the spell of terrorist leaders brought this simmering pot to a boil.

Sharon's plan calls for completing a security fence to protect almost all Israelis and pulling back into the well-defended territory the remainder of those now most vulnerable in Gaza and the West Bank.

Once a divisive figure, the former general is supported in this plan by an overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens. Like him, they are realists: Israel needs defensible borders and cannot absorb Palestinians nearby.

But 7,000 deeply religious and courageous Jewish settlers -- who live amid the 1.2 million Arabs in Gaza -- see this as a double-cross. Within the Likud Party that Sharon founded three decades ago, they are an admired force of pioneers. As a result, though Arik wins landslides in national elections, he loses to supporters of settlers in referendums within his rightist party.

The day of decision in the Knesset to adopt his disengagement plan is near. (Coincidentally, it will be in the first week in November, as elections are held in the United States.)

The level of fury and viciousness is worse than in the days before the assassination of Yitzak Rabin. Sharon, the lifelong embodiment of Israeli security, is being reviled as a traitor and threatened with death. Members of the Israeli Defense Forces are urged to disobey orders to dislodge settlers when moving day comes. Febrile minds in the settler minority even warn of civil war.

At a moment like this, Sharon expects members of his coalition Cabinet to speak out for his plan. They vote his way -- 9-1 in the Cabinet this week to richly compensate the settlers being moved -- but some of the Likudniks are keeping mum, lest they upset the hardest-line members of their own party.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who as Sharon's finance minister is becoming the Jewish Alexander Hamilton, has found a way to hedge. On one hand, he votes in the Cabinet for disengagement, even as his family denounces it; on the other, Bibi proposes delaying the November disengagement vote until a national referendum can be held.

That straddle has Sharon seething. He knows the momentum of battle, and sees delay as destructive. A referendum requires legislation, with lengthy debate, a probable filibuster and a wrangle over whether Arabs can participate. He believes that deviation from his timetable -- surrendering to threats of violence from within -- would mean six months of paralysis and a loss of the initiative.

I sent in a single query to Arik about Bibi's suggestion. An aide passed back his response: "I hear all sorts of suggestions, but not one word from him about the incitement to civil war. Not one word."

I think there will be no referendum or election before the Knesset vote to disengage. Sharon's plan will carry with the support of either the Shimon Peres or Ehud Barak faction of Labor, the centrist Shinui Party and Arik's followers.

Now let's consider the possibility of a political big bang. That convergence of forces on the disengagement vote could be the genesis of "New Likud." The anti-Arik faction of Likud would go its own way, hitching up with several of the religious parties.

My unsourced guess is that Bibi would choose the New Likud, which would reflect the Israeli majority. After Arik retires, like Cincinnatus, to his farm -- and with a new Palestinian leader ready to become a partner in creating a peaceful neighborhood -- the Hamiltonian Bibi would compete for leadership with the Sharon loyalist Ehud Olmert, former mayor of the still-undivided Jerusalem.

Thus, the Israeli system would have the gall to divide into three manageable parts, with the center party making deals for a majority with left and right. Not a bad way to run a parliamentary democracy.

Having had the chutzpah to predict the coming hamapatz hagadol, let me wish a peaceful Rosh Hashana to all.

William Safire's e-mail address is safire@nytimes.com

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Israpundit: freemuslims.org Speaks Out

By Andrew L. Jaffee; netwmd.com

People from all walks of life keep asking me the same question: “Are there moderate Muslims?” I know myself that there are, but… Many of the moderates are faced with intimidation by militant Muslims (“Islamists”). Muslims also have to contend with their own old cultural habits, hateful religious leaders, a bigoted press, and schools that teach hatred and homicide bombings. As usual, just as things seem the darkest, I happen upon something that brightens my spirit -- at least a little. Last week, FOXNews mentioned the organization “Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism” (FMCAT). I immediately went to their website, and was surprised at what I found.

When posed with the “Are there moderate Muslims?” question, I often react as eminent Middle East expert Daniel Pipes taught me:

…I dutifully provide lists of names and organizations, then confess that they [moderate Muslims] are largely fractured, isolated, intimidated, and ineffectual.

The press has done a disservice to moderate Muslims by editing news about terrorism and pumping up Islamists as "mainstream." While moderate Muslims are rare, I'm hopeful when they do raise a voice of reason. I don’t want to celebrate too soon -- boy, have I been burned in the past -- but let’s start out taking FMCAT at face value.

What struck me most about the Free Muslim Coalition’s website was their headline story, “We are so Sorry for 9-11.” This isn’t an admission of collective guilt, nor is it a whitewash of Muslim involvement in 9/11. Rather, it is a well-written rebuttal of the Muslim victim mentality and blame-game that is all too prevalent nowadays:

After September 11, many in the Muslim world chose denial and hallucination rather than face up to the sad fact that Muslims perpetrated the 9-11 terrorist acts and that we have an enormous problem with extremism and support for terrorism. Many Muslims, including religious leaders, and “intellectuals” blamed 9-11 on a Jewish conspiracy and went as far as fabricating a tale that 4000 Jews did not show up for work in the World Trade Center on 9-11. Yet others blamed 9-11 on an American right wing conspiracy or the U.S. Government which allegedly wanted an excuse to invade Iraq and “steal” Iraqi oil.

After numerous admissions of guilt by Bin Laden and numerous corroborating admissions by captured top level Al-Qaida operatives, we wonder, does the Muslim leadership have the dignity and courage to apologize for 9-11? If not 9-11, will we apologize for the murder of school children in Russia? If not Russia, will we apologize for the train bombings in Madrid, Spain? If not Spain, will we apologize for suicide bombings in buses, restaurants and other public places? If not suicide bombings, will we apologize for the barbaric beheadings of human beings? If not beheadings, will we apologize for the rape and murder of thousands of innocent people in Darfour? If not Darfour, will we apologize for the blowing up of two Russian planes by Muslim women? What will we apologize for? What will it take for Muslims to realize that those who commit mass murder in the name of Islam are not just a few fringe elements? What will it take for Muslims to realize that we are facing a crisis that is more deadly than the Aids epidemic? What will it take for Muslims to realize that there is a large evil movement that is turning what was a peaceful religion into a cult?

Will Muslims wake up before it is too late? Or will we continue blaming the Jews and an imaginary Jewish conspiracy? The blaming of all Muslim problems on Jews is a cancer that is destroying Muslim society from within and it must stop.

The author, Kamal Nawash, president of FMCAT, advocates some concrete steps Muslims can take before “it is too late:”

Muslims must look inward and put a stop to many of our religious leaders who spend most of their sermons teaching hatred, intolerance and violent jihad. We should not be afraid to admit that as Muslims we have a problem with violent extremism. We should not be afraid to admit that so many of our religious leaders belong behind bars and not behind a pulpit. Only moderate Muslims can challenge and defeat extremist Muslims. We can no longer afford to be silent. If we remain silent to the extremism within our community then we should not expect anyone to listen to us when we complain of stereotyping and discrimination by non-Muslims; we should not be surprised when the world treats all of us as terrorists; we should not be surprised when we are profiled at airports. Simply put, not only do Muslims need to join the war against terror, we need to take the lead in this war.

As to apologizing, we will no longer wait for our religious leaders and “intellectuals” to do the right thing. Instead, we will start by apologizing for 9-11. We are so sorry that 3000 people were murdered in our name. We will never forget the sight of people jumping from two of the highest buildings in the world hoping against hope that if they moved their arms fast enough that they may fly and survive a certain death from burning. We are sorry for blaming 9-11 on a Jewish or right wing conspiracy. We are so sorry for the murder of more than three hundred school children and adults in Russia. We are so sorry for the murder of train passengers in Spain. We are so sorry for all the victims of suicide bombings. We are so sorry for the beheadings, abductions, rapes, violent Jihad and all the atrocities committed by Muslims around the world. We are so sorry for a religious education that raised killers rather than train people to do good in the world. We are sorry that we did not take the time to teach our children tolerance and respect for other people. We are so sorry for not rising up against the dictators who have ruled the Muslim world for decades. We are so sorry for allowing corruption to spread so fast and so deep in the Muslim world that many of our youth lost hope. We are so sorry for allowing our religious leaders to relegate women to the status of forth class citizens at best and sub-humans at worse.

The Free Muslim Coalition is headquartered in -- where else – the good old USA (Washington, DC). The group will be physically safer in the U.S. It will enjoy protection from anti-free-speech zealots like those in the Canadian government. Unfortunately, Nawash’s words will be considered blasphemy even by many American Muslims as Islamists have “taken over 80 percent of the mosques” in the United States. Nonetheless, FMCAT is here and takes many “controversial” (i.e., sensible) positions.

FMCAT rejects the Islamist party line requiring strict adherence to the Koran and universal/forced conversion of the world’s populace to Islam:

The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism does not seek to change the tenets of the religion. However, the Coalition believes that the Koran only provides general principals of governance which leaves the faithful with substantial flexibility to modernize popular Muslim practices and beliefs.

The Coalition seeks to encourage discussion among Muslims about every aspect of their religion as it applies to modern times. The unwillingness of the Muslim religious establishment to consider modernizing the faith has relegated most Muslims to third world status and in many instances to a medieval existence.

Those who seek change are often afraid to speak out because of the aggressive and violent nature of those Muslims who reject change. The silence of peaceful Muslims has resulted in the hijacking of Islam by extremists and terrorists. This must change.

FMCAT “believes that there can NEVER be a justification for terrorism,” instead of hocking the usual “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” mantra. The Free Muslim Coalition believes that democracy and economic development will be the cure for terrorism:

…that if more people in the Middle East were given an opportunity to play a role in their governance then they will be less likely to resort to terrorism as a means to effect political change. ...

Equal access to economic opportunities for all people regardless of ethnicity, gender, marital status or religion is a democratic value that should be nurtured in the Muslim world as well as in Muslim communities in the West. The Coalition integrates the value of economic equality into our message in order to stop terrorism by destroying its base of support.

The Free Muslim Coalition rejects Islamist anti-Jewish rhetoric (“Don't Blame the ‘Jews’”) and implicitly supports Israel's right to exist. Because of FMCAT's positive view of democracy and capitalism, I would venture to believe that they've noticed how the Israelis, with a tiny population of 6.5 million, have built a $122 billion economy [1] -- only 2.46% of which is U.S. aid. But FMCAT goes soft on the problem of Palestinian terrorism. They do state that Muslim terrorist groups have cynically used the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to justify terrorism. While they don’t explicitly equate Israel’s democracy with the terrorist chaos that rules Palestinians, FMCAT’s proposed solutions to the conflict are half-hearted at best. For example, the Free Muslim Coalition states,

We understand why President Bush does not want to work with Yasser Arafat. However, President Bush’s refusal to work with Arafat does not mean we should do nothing. The United States can work with the Palestinian Prime Minister instead. If Arafat fires the Prime Minister, the United States should work with the prime minister that replaces him. …

Hundreds of innocent Palestinians and Israelis have been killed. The Killing of innocent civilians must stop. At the end of the day, the Palestinians and Israelis want freedom and peace. The Palestinians and Israelis want normal lives, want to be employed, want their children to become engineers, doctors and lawyers and we should do everything we can to help them achieve this goals.

While rejecting Arafat is a good thing, advocating negotiations with his front-men is useless. We all know what happened to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) first prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. He was fired because he tried to limit some of Arafat’s absolute power. Arafat and his PA are in too deep with the terrorists. FMCAT’s conclusion about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is just feel-good fluff. If they’d done their homework, FMCAT would remember that Israel tried to negotiate with the Arabs in 1918, 1949, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1993, and 2000, and gave up territory for peace in 1957, 1974, 1975, 1982, 1988, 1994, 1995, and 1998. If FMCAT really is a “Coalition Against Terrorism,” it should explicitly call for the destruction of all Palestinian terrorist groups and the removal of Arafat as PA president.

Will FMCAT have staying power? The group already has reported that its members have been threatened for straying from the Islamist party line. Is FMCAT for real? I hope so. I haven’t had enough time to follow the group, but I will and shall regularly report on their activities. FMCAT has 9 local chapters in the U.S., and one office in New Zealand. Their website collects reports on “Muslim extremism or support for terrorism.” They also have a newsletter (see their homepage).

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BBC : Israeli city says barrier is 'working'

The frequency of attacks by suicide bombers in Israel seems to be slowing, with many Israelis saying the reason is obvious - the barrier separating the West Bank from Israel is keeping out the suicide bombers.

One of the places benefiting from this is the Israeli seaside city of Netanya.

Svid Sacks, from Netanya's city council, says: "In 2001, we had about six attacks here in Netanya.

"In 2002, we had four attacks in Netanya. In 2003, we had one attack in Netanya and in 2004 we had no suicide or no bomb in Netanya."

For him, these figures mean something very clear: Israel's barrier is working.

He and his colleagues have watched as the barrier has been built and suicide attacks in their city have stopped.

Mr Sacks said the barrier was a very positive thing. But he added: "It changes the Palestinians' life and I'm terribly sorry about it because they've got to lose much more than we've got to lose."

'Back to life'

The central promenade here on the coast in Netanya used to be a pretty terrifying place for most Israelis.

This is the place that Palestinian suicide bombers often tried and succeeded in attacking.

But now Israel's built its barrier and this central promenade has come back to life.

There are dozens of cafes all around me with plenty of people sitting outside and enjoying the sun.

What you really notice is that there are very few security guards around and that there are no fences stopping you from getting into the cafes.

In Jerusalem at the moment, when you try to go to an outdoor cafe, you have got to get past a fence, past plenty of security guards, having your bags checked and so on.

But here everything is open and it wasn't like this before the barrier was built.

The busy tables are a pleasant sight for a smiling man called Maurice. He's French-Israeli and his cafe, La Creperie, is doing much better than it used to.

"There is a big difference. People feel much safer, people are going out much more these days and it's all thanks to the barrier," he says.

A British tourist from Reading sitting happily at Maurice's cafe also thinks the security is very good.

"If you're going to come to the Middle East, then it's probably got the best security of anywhere." he says

"I was here in 2000 and 2001 - there has been a noticeable drop in bombings which is obviously brilliant."

Tourists coming back

And it is not just coffee drinkers in the sun who feel much safer nowadays.

The common view in Netanya is that everyone is better off because of the barrier and people are coming back.

Over the summer hotels were fully booked. Carol Shaw, who lives in Netanya and works as an estate agent, says the lack of any recent bombing gave her a nice relaxed feeling.

"I can walk around freely without looking at everybody that's passing me to see if he's an Arab or not an Arab, he's got explosives underneath his clothes or not."

From the edges of Netanya, you can look out and see the West Bank hills on the horizon.

But you can't make out the fences and the walls that Israel has built on the ground.

And in this city there's no great debate about the barrier's legality or about the confiscation of Palestinian land and the encirclement of nearby Palestinian towns.

For Israelis here the equation is simple: the barrier has gone up and life has got better.

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Palestinian TV: Kill the Jews

Twice in three days on PA TV:

PA religious leaders call for genocide of Jews

By Itamar Marcus & Barbara Crook, PMW

Twice in three days, PA religious leaders have openly called for the genocide of Jews. Broadcast on official PA TV, both called for the murder of Jews until the Jewish people are annihilated. Both presented the killing of Jews not merely as the will of Allah, but also as a necessary stage in history that should be carried out now. To support these mandatory killings, both cited the same Hadith - Islamic tradition attributed to Mohammed - expressing Allah’s will that Muslims will kill Jews, before the “Hour” of Resurrection.
The words of the Hadith:

"The Hour [Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews, and kill them. And the Jews will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, this is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!"

Numerous times in recent years Palestinian religious leaders and academics have taught publicly that this particular Hadith applies today. This teaching may well be a dominant motivating factor that drives terror against Israeli civilians, because it presents the killing of Jews as a religious obligation, not related to the conflict over borders, but as something inherent to Allah’s world.

Note also the defining of Jews as "the brothers of the monkeys and pigs" in Maadi's religious lesson. PA religious leaders teach, based on a story in the Quran, that Jews were cursed by Allah and turned into monkeys and pigs. This is consistent with the PA teaching that the Jew's have inherent and unchanging character defects.

The following are the texts of these broadcasts:
Sheik Ibrahim Madiras Friday sermon, PA TV Sept. 10, 2004:

"The Prophet said: the Resurrection will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them. The Muslims will kill the Jews, rejoice [in it], rejoice in Allahs Victory. The Muslims will kill the Jews, and he will hide The Prophet said: the Jews will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim this is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!. Why is there this malice? Because there are none who love the Jews on the face of the earth: not man, not rock, and not tree everything hates them. They destroy everything they destroy the trees and destroy the houses. Everything wants vengeance on the Jews, on these pigs on the face of the earth, and the day of our victory, Allah willing, will come."

Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Maadi on his weekly TV show, Sept. 12, 2004:

"We are waging this cruel war with the brothers of the monkeys and pigs, the Jews and the sons of Zion The Jews will fight you and you will subjugate them. Until the Jew will stand behind the tree and rock. And the tree and rock will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

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Bicycling Palestinian suicide bomber wounds two Israeli soldiers

QALQILYA, West Bank (AFP) - At least two Israeli soldiers were wounded when a bicycling Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in the north of the West Bank, Israeli military sources said.

The attack, which was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, took place between the town of Qalqilya and the nearby village of Habla, which are linked by a tunnel.

The attacker set off the charge he was carrying near an army jeep as it was passing through a gap in Israel's separation barrier which enables Palestinians to gain access to their fields.

The cyclist had been asked by soldiers to identify himself. He then dismounted, ran towards the soldiers and blew himself up, the sources and witnesses said.

Palestinian security sources said that two Palestinians were also wounded in the attack.

In a phone call to AFP's offices in the main northern West Bank city of Nablus, an anonymous caller said the attack had been carried out by Yussef Taleb Ighbariyeh, 26, who comes from Qalqilya.

Three members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Fatah (news - web sites) movement, were killed Monday in an Israeli helicopter strike on a car in the flashpoint northern West Bank town of Jenin.

The caller said that the attack was 'a first response' to Monday's air strike, which local Brigades leader Zakaria Zubeidi had promised would be avenged within 24 hours."

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The real 'root cause' of global terror

By EVELYN GORDON

Apologists for terrorism like to seek its "root causes." And they have a point: The terror now sweeping Russia and Iraq was not born in a vacuum. Where they err is in identifying these "root causes" as the military campaigns in Iraq and Chechnya, when thousands of similar campaigns have not sparked similar terrorist responses. If today's campaigns do, it is primarily because the world – and Russia and America above all – has taught the terrorists that murdering women and children is an effective way to advance political goals.


Most of the tactics now being used by Iraqis and Chechens were invented by the Palestinians. It was the PLO that invented airline terrorism, with a wave of hijackings in the 1970s; it was Hamas that turned suicide bombings into standard practice; even the grisly Chechen takeover of a school in Beslan this month aped the PLO's takeover of a school in Ma'alot in 1974. But such acts, far from discrediting either the perpetrators or their cause, turned Palestinian statehood into an international cause celebre.

When the PLO was founded in 1964 – with the goal, incidentally, of a Palestinian state instead of Israel, which did not yet have the territories – no one was talking about such a state. Even after Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt, nobody advocated a Palestinian state in those territories; the world expected Israel to keep part of this land (that is why, according to its drafters, UN Resolution 242 demands the return of "territories" rather than "the territories") and return the rest to Jordan and Egypt.

Forty years later, a Palestinian state in every inch of the West Bank and Gaza has become an international consensus. And this achievement was not in spite of Palestinian terror but because of it: Many peoples with equal or better claims to statehood, from Tibetans to Iraqi Kurds, have sought independence without resorting to terror; yet their aspirations at best elicit lip-service support from the world, and often outright opposition. The Palestinians' success lay in persuading the international community that peace depends on meeting their demands.

Not only did the world adopt the terrorists' cause, but it also adopted the terrorists themselves. The PLO has official observer status at the UN and diplomatic legations worldwide. And Hamas, which does not even pretend to aspire to peaceful coexistence with Israel, is banned by only a handful of states.

Russia's responsibility for the success of Palestinian terror is obvious: In its former incarnation as the Soviet Union, it was the terrorists' main sponsor and financier. It supplied money and arms to states such as Syria and Egypt in full knowledge that some would be given to the PLO. It also used its superpower status to push the Palestinians' demands in forums such as the UN, thereby granting them successes they could never have achieved on their own. Today, the material aid has halted, but the knee-jerk diplomatic backing continues.

America, in contrast, never openly abetted terror. Yet as the world's second – and today, only – superpower, it determined the success or failure of Palestinian terror in a way that far greater panderers, such as Europe, never could. And it chose to crown it with success.

In 1988, America formally recognized the PLO as "the official representative of the Palestinian people" and allowed it to open a diplomatic legation in Washington. True, the PLO said it would "renounce terror" – but it was headed by the same people responsible for the Ma'alot school massacre, the Munich Olympics massacre, numerous airplane and bus hijackings, and other atrocities. Nor had the Palestinians ever democratically chosen the PLO as their representative. It was Washington's choice to reward the perpetrators of 24 years of murder and mayhem with diplomatic recognition and backing for a state instead of declaring them beyond the pale.

Five years later, after the Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority – headed by that same PLO leadership – Palestinian terror against Israel reached new heights. Most, admittedly, was perpetrated by Hamas, but it was the PA that refused to arrest the perpetrators, crack down on their funding, or even stop lauding the suicide bombers as "martyrs." But the US, rather than withdrawing diplomatic recognition or halting funding, instead pressed Israel to offer further and faster concessions.

Nor did this policy cease even in 2000, when the Palestinians responded to Israel's offer of a state in more than 90% of the territories with a full-blown terrorist war. Bill Clinton rewarded the terror by pressuring Israel to raise its offer yet again (to 97%, including the Temple Mount). And his successor, George W. Bush, rewarded it further by making Palestinian statehood, for the first time, an explicit US foreign policy goal.

Even today, while the Bush administration boycotts Yasser Arafat, it holds talks with PA officials who answer directly to him. The PA and PLO still have diplomatic legations in Washington, even though a major terrorist group, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, is openly affiliated with Fatah, the ruling movement in both. And Washington continues to back the PA's territorial demands through the road map, while condemning Israeli efforts to fight terror in the PA's stead.

Iraqi and Chechen terrorists both have clear political aims: The Chechens want Russia out so they can establish an Islamic dictatorship in Chechnya; the Iraqis want America out so they can establish either a Ba'athist or Islamic (there are two competing groups) dictatorship in Iraq. And in an age of global communications, neither Iraqis nor Chechens can help noticing that each new round of Palestinian terror has led to greater international pressure on Israel to accede to Palestinian demands. The conclusion is obvious: To succeed, they should adopt Palestinian tactics.

Only by proving that terrorism does not pay can the US and Russia reverse this eminently logical conclusion. And they can do this only by finally penalizing Palestinian terror rather than rewarding it. Otherwise, expect to see ever more terrorism worldwide – because that has proven to be the winning tactic.

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Israel: American pressure on outposts is fading

The US is reducing pressure on Israel to dismantle unauthorized settlements in order to facilitate the evacuation of settlements in Gaza and northern Samaria under the disengagement plan, a senior Israeli official said Saturday night.

The official was responding to reports that the Prime Minister's Office has pushed off the date by which Talia Sasson, a former Justice Ministry official charged with presenting a report on the legal issues involved in dismantling the unauthorized settlements, was to present her report.

Sharon appointed Sasson last month to navigate the legal issues involved in removing the outposts.

The visit by a US team to monitor the status of the unauthorized settlement outposts and settlement construction, a visit that was originally planned for the beginning of September, has also been postponed.

According to Israeli officials, there is a growing understanding in the Bush administration that the emphasis now should be placed on planning and preparing for disengagement, and that dealing with the outposts now is a 'sideshow' that would detract from the 'main event.'

'The settlers want to use the outposts to create a major flare-up before disengagement,' the official said, and 'to show how difficult it will be to carry out disengagement, if there is so much opposition to removing a few mobile homes.'

The official said that the government wants to avoid a major confrontation with the settlers over a 'relatively minor issue. If there is to be a major confrontation with the settlers, let it be on the main issue and not on the side one,' the official said.

The official said that Israel will honor its commitment to the US and dismantle the outposts, but 'at the right time.'

'The settlers want to turn every outpost into Masada,' the official said. "

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Shin Bet smashes Hamas terror cell

The Shin Bet security service recently uncovered an eight-member Hamas terror cell operating in the villages of Rantis and Beit Likiya, west of Ramallah.
The cell members, seven of whom were recently taken into custody, were involved in two suicide bombings last September 9 - at the entrance to an army camp at Tzrifin, and at Jerusalem's Cafe Hillel - killing 16 people. Cell members also set off a bomb that killed a female soldier near the old Tel Aviv bus station on July 12.

The cell members include a number of East Jerusalem residents and Palestinians living in Israel, some illegally.

The eighth member and the network's head, Salah Mussa, was arrested last September. He admitted his part in the Jerusalem and Tzrifin attacks, but concealed the existence of others operating under his command, who later carried out the Tel Aviv attack.

Some 30 kilograms of explosives were captured along with the members of the cell.

Over the last few months, the Shin Bet has also arrested nearly 200 Hamas activists in the Hebron area, but the group's leader, Imad Kawasmeh, has not been caught. Security forces believe Kawasmeh is responsible for dispatching the double suicide bombers to Be'er Sheva two weeks ago.

In Nablus yesterday, a Palestinian woman was arrested on suspicion of planning a suicide bombing.

Some of the Hamas members in Hebron were caught with stolen Israel Defense Forces weapons, including the rifle belonging to one of three soldiers killed in an attack at a junction east of Hebron in January 2003. Those arrested were in the initial stages of planning to kidnap Rabbi Moshe Levinger, leader of Hebron's Jewish settlers.

The Hamas cell had been planning a number of suicide attacks in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which did not take place. The cell's operatives sent a suicide bomber to Jerusalem's Cafe Caffit, but he changed his mind and left the area. Two other terrorists who were to blow themselves up at the same location also changed their minds. Cell members were also responsible for drive-by shootings and the throwing of grenades at cars in the Hebron area in recent months, injuring two Israelis.

Both the Hebron and Ramallah terror cells were in contact with Hamas abroad, particularly with the organization's headquarters in Damascus, headed by Khaled Mashal. The leadership abroad sent money and general directives but did not deal with the specifics of the planned attacks. "

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Al Qaeda threatens Turkey over Israel, US ties

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — A suspected leader of a Turkish al-Qaeda cell told a court Monday that last year's suicide bombings in Istanbul were part of al-Qaeda's global campaign and warned of more attacks if Turkey continues to support U.S. policies or maintains close ties with Israel.

Defendant Harun Ilhan told the court that he and two other suspected ringleaders who remain at large — Habib Akdas and Gurcan Bac — were behind the November truck bombings that left 61 people dead. Ilhan said most of the 69 suspects charged in the case were not directly involved in the bombings.

"I accept that I am an al-Qaeda warrior," said Ilhan, who opened his testimony with a brief prayer and at times refused to stand during the trial.

Ilhan, a bearded man who wore blue jeans and sports shoes to the hearing, also praised the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and warned that while Osama bin Laden is mortal "jihad (holy war) is eternal."

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Jailed Sheik: Kill the Jews

September 13, 2004 -- A blind terrorist sheik was able to issue an order to his militant Islamic followers from prison — calling for the "killing of Jews" everywhere just a year before the Sept. 11 attacks — thanks to help from a Staten Island postal worker, Manhattan jurors were told.

Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman is serving a life sentence for conspiring to blow up city landmarks. He's barred from contacting anyone except his wife and legal team.

But Ahmed Abdel Sattar, the postal worker who also serves as Abdel-Rahman's paralegal, delivered the sheik's chilling fatwa, or edict, to terrorists over the phone and via e-mail, according to calls intercepted by federal authorities. The phone calls were transcribed and viewed by jurors.

Sattar is on trial in Manhattan federal court for participating in terrorist activity. Two other defendants, Abdel-Rahman's radical lawyer, Lynne Stewart, and his interpreter, Mohammed Yousry, are also charged with aiding and abetting terrorist activity by helping smuggle the sheik's messages out of prison. Federal prosecutors said Sattar delivered the sheik's messages directly to terror supporters in Afghanistan and London, and through Arabic and Mideast Web sites, according to the wiretaps.

Sattar, with a copy of the sheik's fatwa in his hand, excitedly tells Yassir Al-Sirri based in London during an Oct. 4, 2000, phone call, "Do you want to listen to it?" Al-Sirri answers yes.

Sattar reads the fatwa: "A statement to the nation, the old and the young . . . calling on the Islamic nation to mandate the killing of Jews wherever they are." The sheik's edict said it is the "duty of every capable Muslim to wage the jihad against them . . . until the Jews are driven to their graves . . . either killing them as individuals or by targeting their interests and their advocates, as much as they can, adding, "assassinate them."

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Iraqi National Congress Member Fired for Visiting Israel

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress has fired one of its most senior members for visiting Israel, a spokesman for the group said Monday.

During an emergency meeting, the leadership of the former exile group decided to 'fire Mithal al-Alusi from the Iraqi National Conference,' spokesman Haidar al-Mousawi told The Associated Press.

Al-Alusi's visit to a terrorism conference angered his colleagues, who said they learned about the trip from the media. A part of Chalabi's inner circle, al-Alusi headed the de-Baathification Committee, which fired thousands of members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from their jobs.

Israel's daily Haaretz quoted al-Alusi as saying that many elements in Iraq are interested in diplomatic ties with Israel.

'His statements, which were carried by the media, do not represent the Iraqi National Congress' point of view,' an INC statement said."

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IDF changes definition of 'ticking bomb' to include terrorists training

The IDF has changed the definition of 'ticking bombs' and will now target Palestinian gunmen engaged in terrorist training, military sources have confirmed.

The new definition expands the criteria usually met for staging a targeted interception and indicates improvements in field intelligence.

The missile strike last week by an IAF attack helicopter against a large group of Hamas members in a Gaza Strip field was the first example of this change. Fifteen Hamas terrorists were killed and about a dozen wounded.

While the IDF does not see that strike as a classic 'targeted interception' it acknowledged that the rules have been changed. A senior military source described the decision as one aimed at pre-empting Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers at all stages.

Until now, targeted interceptions usually were directed against terrorist group leaders or 'ticking bombs,' indicating that they were already on their way to an attack and their bombs were primed.

A senior IDF commander said that the decision to use the attack helicopter was new, but recalled days when IDF engagements with Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip had much higher body counts.

'We have staged raids in the Gaza Strip where our snipers have killed over a dozen gunmen or we clashed with them and their death tolls have been higher,' said the senior officer. 'Do you think it matters to them if they are killed by a sniper or by a rocket fired from an attack helicopter?'

Another IDF source said that the idea of 'ticking bomb' was expanded to include not only those on their way to an attack, but planning and training for one.

Speaking at a conference on terrorism, National Security Adviser Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland revealed that the IDF had four criteria that had to be met to carryout a targeted interception.

The first was that there was no way to arrest the person. He indicated that targeted interceptions were very rarely used in the West Bank, where the IDF pretty much has free reign in the past few years. Eiland also noted that during this time security forces had arrested over 1,500 people.

The second condition, Eiland said, was that the interception would only be approved when the intelligence was completely reliable, and no mistake could be made about the intended target's identity.

Eiland, who was head of the Operations Division during much of the recent conflict with the Palestinians, said the IDF carried out about 150 attempted interceptions in the past four years.

'There was not one single case of mistake in identity. Sometimes we missed or caused damage beyond what we expected. This is a 100 percent record,' said Eiland.

The third condition, he explained, was that the target was 'important enough.' The fourth condition was that it had to be done with the minimum probability of causing innocent casualties.

'There have been dozens, if not hundreds of times that we had good operational opportunity to do something but did not because it did not meet all four conditions,' Eiland said.

Human rights organizations have condemned the practice of targeted killings as extra-judiciary assassinations.

As fare as Eiland saw it, Israel did not have any such policy of targeted killing. He said that was a mistaken perception. The action was related to an increasing level of reliable intelligence, which was able to detect terrorist intentions earlier and earlier."

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Senior Iraqi Official in Israel

For the First Time: Senior Iraqi Official in Israel - Smadar Peri (Yediot Ahronot-Hebrew, 13 Sep 04)
Last Friday, Mithal al-Alousi, a senior official in the new Iraqi government in Baghdad, boarded an El Al aircraft in Ankara and flew for the first time in his life to Israel.
Al-Alousi was invited to speak at an international conference of the Anti-Terrorism Institute in Herzliya.
On Sunday he found himself to be the guest of honor at an address by the chief of staff of the Israeli army, Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon.

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PA Paid $2,000 to Father of Dolphinarium Suicide Bomber

On June 1, 2001, Said Hassan Houtari, a Hamas suicide bomber, attacked the Dolphinariuim discotheque in Tel Aviv, killing 21 Israelis, most of them teenagers, and wounding 83.
It has now been disclosed that the Palestinian Authority transferred $2,000 to Houtari's father, who resides in Jordan, on June 18 of that year.
German television reported that Arafat sent the bomber's father a note praising the attack by his son.

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Six Egyptian students planned terror attack in Israel

Six Egyptian students from Cairo, who were caught after they crossed the Egyptian border near Nitzana on August 25 carrying 14 knives, black camouflage attire, backpacks, binoculars, communications equipment, and maps of Israel, were indicted today at the Beer Sheva District Court.

According to the charge sheet, the Egyptians planned to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to negotiate the release of Palestinian security prisoners. The Egyptians also planned to take command of an IDF tank and rob a bank in Mitzpe Ramon, in order to finance future terror attacks.

The students, ages 25 to 30, were arrested after they had made their way some three kilometers into Israel, media sources reported. Originally it was thought that they were members of the Egyptian intelligence services who had been collecting information about IDF security procedures along the Israeli-Egyptian border.

Border Police commander Roni Ohana spoke with ynet of the success of his soldiers in tracking down the Egyptian infiltrators. 'From the moment we identified that a cell had crossed into Israel from the Sinai, we launched a manhunt after them that lasted about six hours until early morning,' Ohana said. Ohana added that the moment the Egyptians were discovered with detailed maps of Israel, he knew that they were not ordinary infiltrators, trying to smuggle tobacco into Israel or find jobs in the country.

'They told us that it was their intention to harm us or any Israeli security force that they came across, and after that civilians,' Ohana said. Ohana said the group planned to kidnap Israeli soldiers and bring them back to Egypt where they would be held in ransom for the release of Palestinian security prisoners.

A senior security official told Maariv that the IDF's constant pressure on the Palestinian terrorist organizations and the relentless search for tunnels in the Rafiah area used by the terrorists to smuggle illegal weaponry into the Gaza Strip had led to efforts by the terrorists to cross the border further south.

'The long Israeli-Egyptian border has become fertile territory for terrorist activities,' the official said.

Last week, the prime minister's counter-terrorism bureau issued a warning to Israeli travelers not to visit the Sinai peninsula due to 'concrete information' about possible terror attacks directed at tourists there. "

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