Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Advanced weapons for Gaza terrorists turn security heads about retreat

A new missile threat has compelled Shin Bet Director Avi Dichter and IDF chiefs to openly challenge prime minister Ariel Sharon's plans for the accelerated removal of Israeli settlements, residents, and forces from the Gaza Strip.

The Luna-2 short-range ground-to-ground missile, based on the Soviet-era Frog-2, has already extended Hizballah's missile range from the north to cover Israel's coastal cities of Haifa and as far south as Netanya and Hadera.

With Tehran already playing a direct role in leading military operations of Hamas in Gaza, it is believed likely that these missiles eventually will be transferred to the Strip, especially if Israel retreats and loosens its grip on the border crossing with Egypt and Mediterranean Sea approaches. This would bring all of southern Israel, including the Tel Aviv metro region, within striking range.

Israeli intelligence sources believe that Syria has fitted the Lebanon-based missiles with chemical warheads, which can be attached in hours.

In July, Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi ('Farkash'), head of Israeli military intelligence, said that Hizbullah possesses around 13,000 short-range rockets, some 500 of medium range and a few dozen long-range rockets capable of traveling 70 to 134 miles. The rockets appear to have granted Hizballah a strategic parity with Israel along the Blue Line, deterring the Israeli army from launching large-scale military operations against the group for fear of major strikes against northern Israel.

Hizbullah has already penetrated deep into terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli officials say Hizbullah plays a key role in providing funds, guidance and training to Palestinian terrorists there. In August, Yediot Aharonot daily quoted a senior army officer as saying that Hizbullah was involved in 75 percent of Palestinian military operations in the West Bank. 'The involvement of Hizbullah in Palestinian operations is no longer a secret matter, but is common knowledge and it is increasing and expanding,' he said.

Security chiefs fear that the Hizballah, working with Iran, is already shipping and prepositioning missiles in northern Sinai, anticipating the 'morning after' and Israeli retreat. Egyptian security authorities, who are concerned by the arrival of heavy weapons from Iran on their territory, have reportedly seized one shipment of Katyusha rockets before they could be smuggled into the Gaza Strip. But military intelligence sources believe that some such weapons have already reached their intended destination.

Iran and Syria have reportedly instructed Hamas to veto any Egyptian or other programs to secure the Gaza Strip after Israel's planned retreat. Senior security officials in Israel and Egypt have concluded that the implementation of Sharon's plan will transform Gaza into a second missile front against Israel's heartland, a 'South Lebanon to Israel's South, as one put it. "

Bush's UN speech goes easy on Palestinians, tough on Israel

In what could be interpreted as a sharp rejection of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's 'unilateral disengagement' plan and a slap at Israel and its leader, President George W. Bush on Tuesday said that the Jewish State must avoid 'unilateral actions that prejudice final negotiations.' He also accused Israel of 'daily humiliations' of the Palestinians. There were no positive statements about Israeli policies.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly at its opening session, Bush mildly encouraged Palestinians to adopt peaceful means to achieve the rights of their people. Bush said nothing about the need for Palestinians to fight terrorism or any other concrete step.

Without naming names, he suggested that 'world leaders should withdraw all favor and support from any Palestinian ruler who fails his people and betrays their cause.'

Bush was much tougher on Sharon's government. 'Israel should impose a settlement freeze, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and avoid any actions that prejudice final negotiations.'

Coming at a time when Sharon is encountering great domestic resistance on his unilateral plans, the President's remarks may send a message that the Americans are growing increasingly nervous at a one-sided Israeli move that might bring sudden chaos in its wake.

Sharon has argued to the Israeli public that retreating from Gaza would enable Israel, with the support of the United States, to maintain large settlement blocs and enable them to grow naturally. He has argued that a unilateral pullout would encourage American flexibility on other issues. Bush's speech did not support Sharon's argument. "

Syrian Professor: 'Terrorism Nests within Us as Muslims and We Must Exorcise It" (MEMRI)

Mundir Badr Haloum, a lecturer at a Syrian University, wrote a column in the Lebanese daily Al-Safir stating that Muslims today are responsible for terrorism around the globe, and calling for Islamic religious reform in order to bring Muslims back onto the stage of history not through suicide attacks, but rather by other means. The following are excerpts from the column:(1)

'Ignominious Terrorism Exists, and One Cannot but Acknowledge its Being Islamic'
'Twelve Nepalese citizens are slaughtered - Islam. A metro station is bombed - Islam. Civilian aircraft crash - Islam. A school is taken and the souls of 50 children [are lost] for the soul of [each] terrorist - Islam. A bus is bombed here, a railway train there, and before that there were hospitals and theaters, etc ... all of them Islamic acts. [Behind] the color green are exposed rivers red with blood, flowing in the streets and public squares. And Muslims everywhere.

'Islam is in the names of all of the organizations that decapitate using knives, all the while saying the Fatiha [the first chapter of the Koran, said as a prayer] before the slaughter. The victims are butchered in the Islamic way ... Christians, Buddhists, and Jews... After all, they are only infidels, fuel for the blaze, enemies, or potential enemies, or the friends of enemies, or their neighbors, and so on. The soul has no value and the body parts are laid out and displayed on the tables of Islam ... Islam ... Islam. The Islamic press searches for something that will absolve 'Islam' of the crimes of the Shahada [martyrdom]... It is Islam that adorns television screens with body parts... Islam - whether those who praise its mercies like it or not - is the foul odor of the putrefaction of Islamic history and its stench, as well as [being] other things that are honorable, which some people like and others do not...

'Ignominious terrorism exists, and one cannot but acknowledge its being Islamic. Anyone who is unable to bear its ignominy and wishes to absolve himself of the ugly mark of terror which is stamped in our soul ... must scrutinize the recesses of his mind and search out there the terror that conceals itself behind pretty and misleading names...'

'What Gets Passed on from One Generation to the Next is the Belief in Legal Rulings that Forbid Thought and Permit Killing'
'Self-examination ... would result in favor of abandoning Islam ... yet what gets passed on from one generation to the next is ... the latest version of Islam - Algeria, Afghanistan, Moscow, and New York, the version of the planes and the buses, the metro stations, the theaters and the residential complexes. What gets passed on from one generation to the next is the faith of Jihad that takes lightly the spilling of others' blood. How easy it is to shove someone into the category of the enemy. What gets passed on from generation to generation is the belief in legal rulings that forbid thought and permit killing... Religious Muslims prepare an offering to heaven - a fresh bit of human flesh, meant to be evidence of the truth and the proof of Jihad for the absolute truth.

'Indeed, we as Muslims produce terrorism, succor it, and praise it. We condemn it only when forced to. Motivated by considerations of power, interests, and diplomacy, we wear a pained expression on our faces but in our hearts we rejoice at the brilliant success - a large number of casualties. Unfortunately, in this black reality it does not matter if it is an American, Israeli, or Russian mind who is responsible for certain terrorist operations ... or whether those who kill themselves are poor, ignorant, or destitute ...'

'Reform is the Only Path to Our Return to History as Muslims and Not as Terrorists'
'This is a reality that must be acknowledged as a first step toward a non-terrorist Islam ... an Islam that teaches the values of truth and justice... Islam as a religious establishment is today in need ... of a precise definition of its position between earth and heaven, between this world and the next. If it chooses the earth, it must accept the laws of politics that regulate earthly affairs, and must leave the holy to those who occupy themselves with the affairs of heaven. If it chooses heaven, it must leave politics and earthly affairs to those who find interest in them. He who cleaves to both realms undoubtedly [chooses] terrorism and certain death...

'Islam is in need of true reform. Islam's need [for reform] - or, to be precise, our need for Islam's reform - is not less than the need for reform in the Arab political regimes... This is the need for people who are capable of fearlessly acknowledging that terrorism nests within us as Muslims and that we must exorcise it... Unfortunately, the meaning of delay is more death... The reform will take a long time and the price will be high, but it is the only path to our return to history as Muslims and not as terrorists...'

Endnote:
(1) Al-Safir (Lebanon), September 13, 2004.

Palestinians still support Arafat

In spite of the growing state of lawlessness in the Palestinian territories and the criticism of senior Palestinian leaders such as Muhammad Dahlan, a new poll reveals that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat continues to enjoy a widespread popularity among his people.

The poll, which was conducted by the Bir-Zeit University among 1,197 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, was held ahead of the municipal elections that are expected to take place in November.

The participants were asked to choose their preferred leader out of a list of 11 names. 46% supported Arafat, while convicted Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti came in a distant second with 12%.

Other senior leaders such as Dahlan, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and even Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei (Abu Ala) won single digit support. Only half a percent voted for former PM Abu Mazen.

Among the senior leaders from the Islamic movements, Hamas chief Mahmud al-Zahar received the support of 9%, while another senior Hamas leader Isamail Haniya settled for 8%.

12% said they did not support any of the 11 candidates on the list.

U.S. to sell Israel 5,000 smart bombs

The United States will sell Israel 5,000 smart bombs, for $319 million, according to a report made to Congress a few weeks ago.

The funding will come from the U.S. military aid to Israel, and the bombs range from airborne versions, guidance units, training bombs and detonators. The bombs are guided by satellite, in a system already in the Israel Defense Forces arsenal. The guidance unit receives a signal from a satellite, correcting the bomb's course to the target.

The Pentagon told Congress that the bombs are meant to maintain Israel's qualitative advantage, and advance U.S. strategic and tactical interests.

Among the bombs the air force will get are 500 one-ton bunker busters that can penetrate two-meter-thick cement walls; 2,500 regular one-ton bombs; 1,000 half-ton bombs; and 500 quarter-ton bombs.

To Profile or Not to Profile?

by Daniel Pipes, New York Sun*
September 21, 2004

Should law enforcement profile Muslims?

Amnesty International USA answers emphatically no. It asserts in a report issued last week that "law enforcement's use of race, religion, country of origin, or ethnic and religious appearance as a proxy for criminal suspicion" has harmed some 32 million persons in the United States. It even claims that this practice "undermines national security."

Law enforcement, of course, categorically denies any form of profiling. But I agree with Amnesty that profiling takes place. Specifically, it has held terrorist suspects for whom there is no probable cause to arrest by calling them "material witnesses" to a crime.

Consider the case of Abdullah al Kidd, an American convert to Islam was held by American authorities as a material witness for two weeks in early 2003, then released. Asked why he was held, Norm Brown, an FBI supervisor, cited three "red flags":

* Mr. Kidd's having listed on a Web site jihad as an interest; the FBI interpreted this as a reference to a holy war.
* Mr. Kidd's having "sold tapes and books containing the teachings of radical sheikhs" when he lived in Idaho.
* Mr. Kidd's owning a video that "had to do with the hijacking and terrorist events on September. 11, 2001."

But I, a specialist on militant Islam, engage on a routine basis in all three of Mr. Kidd's "red-flag" activities. My website discloses a keen interest in jihad; I have personally and institutionally disseminated the teachings of radical sheikhs; and I have assembled an archive of materials about 9/11. As a non-Muslim, however, these activities have (so far) not aroused suspicions.

Clearly, Mr. Kidd was held in part because of his Islamic identity. Nor was he the only Muslim in America whose religion was a factor in his arrest.

*

Ayub Ali Khan and Jaweed Azmath, two Indian Muslims, were men arrested on 9/12 while riding a train and carrying about $5,000 in cash, black hair dye and boxcutters were detained for a year on suspicion of being part of the 9/11 operation. Eventually exonerated and freed, they claimed to have been profiled. This is self-evidently correct: Had the two not been Muslim, the police would have had little interest in them and their boxcutters.
*

Brandon Mayfield: the FBI had fifteen fingerprints that it thought might match the one sent from Spain and connected to the bombings there on March 11, 2004. Of the 15 potential suspects, it zeroed in on the Muslim, namely Mr. Mayfield, perhaps because of his multiple connections to Islamists and jihadists. Mr. Mayfield was released after 16 days in prison, when the fingerprint match proved faulty.
*

Abdallah Higazy: suspected with owning an air-to-ground transceiver found in a hotel across the street from the fallen World Trade Center, he was detained for a month before a pilot claimed the transceiver.

More broadly, Anjana Malhotra notes that of the 57 people detained as material witnesses in connection with terrorism investigations, "All but one of the material witness arrests were of Muslims." In the murky area of pre-empting terrorism, in short, it matters who one is.

So, yes, profiling emphatically does take place. Which is how it should be. The 9/11 commission noted that Islamist terrorism is the "catastrophic threat" facing America and, with the very rarest of exceptions, only Muslims engage in Islamist terrorism. It would therefore be a mistake to devote as much attention to non-Muslims as to Muslims.

Further, Amnesty International ignores that some instances of preemptive jailing have worked. It has foiled terrorism (Mohammed Junaid Babar, Maher Hawash, Zakaria Soubra, James Ujaama) and dealt with other crimes (Mohdar Abdullah, Nabil Almarabh, Omar Bakarbashat, Soliman S. Biheiri, Muhammad Al-Qudhai'een).

Plenty of material witness cases have yet to be decided, such as those of Ismael Selim Elbarasse, Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, Jose Padilla, Uzair Paracha, and Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, and could lead to convictions.

Amnesty International has laid down the gauntlet, placing a higher priority on civil liberties than on protection from Islamist terrorism. In contrast, I worry more about mega-terrorism – say, a dirty bomb in midtown Manhattan – than an innocent person spending time in jail.

Profiling is emerging as the single-most contentious issue in the current war. Western governmental authorities need to stop hiding behind pious denials and candidly address this issue.

Eurabia - Interview with Bat Ya'or

Interview with Bat Ye'or

Excerpt from FrontPage interview:

FP: Tell us about the Prodi project where Tariq Ramadan and others have collaborated.

Bat Ye'or: Prodi's project is the fulfillment of Eurabia. It is called the "Dialogue between Peoples and Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Area."

It was requested by Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission, and accepted at the Sixth Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Affairs Ministers in Naples on 2-3 December 2003. It represents a strategy for closer Euro-Arab symbiosis to be implemented by a Foundation that will control, direct and monitor it. Last May the European ministers of foreign affairs accepted the creation of the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue of Cultures with its seat in Alexandria, Egypt. Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, murdered by an insane man, was a key advocate of the Palestinian cause and the boycott of Israel. Lindh was known for her criticism of Israeli and American policies of self-defense against terror. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was a close friend, calling her a "true European."

The Foundation will endeavor through numerous means to reinforce links of mutuality, solidarity and "togetherness" between the Northern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean, that is, Europe and the Arab countries. The authors of the project carefully avoid such characterizations since -- in the spirit of Edward Said -- they are judged anathema and racist. This is explained in the report's text, but I use them for clarification. It is the Eurabian context, representing a totally anti-American and anti-Zionist culture and policy, that explains the strong reaction against the war in Iraq -- itself integrated into the war against Islamic terrorism. A terrorism that Eurabia has denied, blaming Israel's "injustice and occupation" and America's "arrogance" instead. Eurabia has transformed Islamic terrorism into a cliche: "America is the problem" in order to consolidate the web of alliances that support its whole geostrategy.

FP: What is the significance of Solana's declaration?

Bat Ye'or: Solana is strongly implicated in the EU Arabophile and pro-Palestinian policy conducted intensively under Prodi as a European self-protective reaction to the American war against terror. If one examines the EC/EU declarations since 1977 on the Arab-Israeli conflict, one notices that they espouse Arab League decisions and positions: the 1949 armistice lines imposed on Israel, although never recognized as international boundaries; the creation on those boundaries of a Palestinian state not mentioned by UN resolution 242; the acknowledgement of the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and of Arafat as its leader, with the obligation for Israel to negotiate exclusively with him; and initially the refusal of separate peace treaties. The EU adopted all these Arab League requests as well as repeated threats of economic and cultural boycott against Israel, constantly demanded by the Europeans' close Arab allies and their powerful lobby, the Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Cooperation. On 3 March 2004, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, when asked about U.S. proposals to requested democratic reforms in Arab states, declared:

"The peace process always has to be at the center of whatever initiative is in the field. . . Any idea about (reform of) nations would have to be in parallel with putting a priority on the resolution of the peace process, otherwise it will be very difficult to have success." (Reuters, "Solana: Mideast peace vital for Arab reforms"; see also Neil MacFarquhar "Arab states start plan of their own Mideast", International Herald Tribune, March 4, 2004.)

Solana just repeated the opinion of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after his meeting with him. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa shared this opinion and refused to consider any reforms in Arab countries before the settlement of the Arab-Palestinian conflict¨Da settlement whose overall conditions imply Israel's destruction. Hence, any democratization and change of Arab societies demanded by the West are linked by the Arabs to its participation in Israel's demise. This link was rejected by Senior U.S. State Department official Marc Grossman when visiting Cairo on 2 March 2004. He said that the democracy plan should not depend on a settlement of the Middle East conflict. But Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, answered him:

"Egypt's position is that one of the basic obstacles to the reform process is the continuation of Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the Arab people."

According to Reuters, Amr Moussa, speaking at the opening session of a regular ministerial meeting, declared:

"The Palestinian cause...is the key to stability or instability in the region, and this issue will continue to influence in all its elements the development of the Arab region until a just solution is reached."

Eurabian notables, whether Chirac, de Villepin, Solana, Prodi, or others, have continuously stressed the centrality of the Palestinian cause for world peace, as if more European vilification of Israel would change anything in the global jihad waged in the US, in Asia, and from Africa to Chechnya the latest horrendous tragedy in Ossetia is but one example. In such a view, Israel's very existence, not this genocidal jihadist drive, is a threat to peace. The Euro-Arab linkage of Arab/Islamic reforms to Israel's stand is spurious and only demonstrates, once more, Europe's subservience to Arab policy. Numerous Arab and Islamic Summits have imposed the centrality of their Palestinian policy on the world and requested that all political problems should be subordinated to it. The EU likewise.

How 9-11 was commemorated on Arab TV

Aside from the occasional denunciation of the attacks, the murder of 3,000 Americans is often observed in the region's government-controlled TV with statements made by leading professors, religious leaders, government officials, and even Muslim-Americans that are often conspiracy theories stating that Arabs and Muslims were not involved and that the US government or Jews are the true culprits.

Many reasons are given as to why the US government would attack its own country.

Syrian researcher Tayyeb Tizini, interviewed on Iran's al-Alam TV on August 16, claimed that an intifada against globalization had broken out, and that in order to thwart it America attacked itself on 9/11:

'According to American and European documents, including the investigation of President Bush and his aides about 9/11, I'd like to say that 9/11 was an American action. These Americans began to understand that the new order must be marketed by a great event that would create new dangers for the world. 9/11 was for this purpose .'

Former dean of humanities at Egypt's 'Ein Shams University, Mustafa Shak'a was interviewed by Iqra TV on June 16, where he attributed the 9/11 attacks to the US and the Jews:

'To this day, we don't know who attacked the US on September 11. Why is the attack attributed to [Osama] bin Laden although it has not been proven that he was involved in the operation? It is way above his capabilities.

'Those who created him have made him a legend. The operation was 100% American, and this is not the place to elaborate, but what proves the operation was a Jewish one is that five Jews climbed up a high building and filmed the first attack of the first plane .'

At the Al-Shahid Mosque in Khartoum, Sudan on August 27, the imam 'Abd al-Jalil al-Nazir al-Karouri, discussed 9/11 during a Friday sermon that appeared on Sudan state TV:

' Let's say in brief, that whether the events and the destruction of the two famous buildings in the US were carried out by Israel's enemies, as the US claims, or by Israeli agents, as we claim, the outcome is the same: The Jews are the cause. These Jews hasten America's death.

'The US must beware. We offer this advice via the TV channels so they won't wake up when it is too late.'

Another common conspiracy has been to state that al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden are puppets of the US.

Iraqi political analyst Kazem al-Qurayshi spoke on the Iranian channel Sahar1 TV about 9/11 and terrorism on July 18:

'Al-Zarqawi, bin-Laden, and Mullah Omar, and all the leaders of the Salafi movement, are tools created by the British Freemason movement 200 years ago. With these tools they wanted to create a new religion for us, to confront Islam. They filled this new religion with Jewish poison, the Masonic poison. Their religion is manifested by a long beard, a short garment, and killing Muslims."

Russia makes first defense purchase from Israel

Hebrew daily “Yediot Ahronot” reports that Russia has made its first defense procurement from Israel. Aeronautics Defense Systems has signed a contract to sell unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to Russia's Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies, & Natural Disasters.

Yavne-based Aeronautics Defense Systems signed the contract with Russian company Irkut (RTS; MICEX:IRKT), the manufacturer of the advanced fighter-bomber Sukhoi Su-30 and other aerospace products. The contract is reportedly worth several million dollars. Aeronautics Defense Systems VP marketing Idan Shimon confirmed the report.

Russia bought the company's Aerostar UAV, which has also been sold to Angola, Ivory Coast and other African countries. Aerostar is used to defend oil installations and other facilities.

Aeronautics Defense Systems recently achieved another milestone, signing a cooperation agreement for UAVs with General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD). The agreement has already led to one contract: the US Navy has bought several of Aeronautics Defense Systems' products. The Aerostar is manufactured in the US, which Shimon says enables the IDF to use US military aid to buy the system.

In order to expand its share of the UAV market, Aeronautics Defense Systems bought most of the shares of Italian UAV engine-maker Zanzottera Technologies early this year. Zanzottera is now developing more powerful engines for Aeronautics Defense Systems larger UAVs now under development.

Israel surveillance drones are thought to be armed

Recent Israeli airstrikes against militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have raised Palestinian speculation that it is arming its surveillance drones with missiles for track-and-kill missions.
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'I saw a small plane and then a flash of light, then I heard a huge explosion and a car went up in flames,' said Abdel Karim Abdel of Jenin, recounting how three militants were slain by Israel while driving through the West Bank city on Monday.
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Israel will not say whether its unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have offensive capabilities. But mounting testimony from the occupied territories as well as foreign reports suggest the country is a leader in this high-tech field of weaponry.
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'The Israelis almost certainly have armed UAV programs on the go right now,' said Robert Hewson, editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons.
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'The UAVs offer an ideal 'closed loop': spotting the target and then hitting it from the same platform,' Hewson said.
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The United States already uses an attack drone, the Predator, one of which rocketed a car in Yemen in November 2002, killing six people suspected of being Al Qaeda militants.
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The advantages of using unmanned aerial vehicles for such lightning strikes, analysts say, are obvious. Being propeller-driven and capable of altitudes of up to 3,000 meters, or 10,000 feet, they make none of the giveaway rotor or jet noise of conventional combat aircraft. Lacking pilots who get tired, and with low fuel consumption, unmanned aerial vehicles can cruise for hours, their cameras relaying live images to operators on the ground, which allows an almost instant 'fire' order once a target is spotted.
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The Web site of Northrop Grumman, a U.S. avionics firm, says the company has rigged its Israeli-designed Hunter drone with missiles that are completely silent, coasting out of the sky onto their targets by using glider fins rather than a propulsion system.
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Hewson said Israel had its own UAV-fired munitions, adapted from tank shells and rockets. 'We are positive Israel has developed specific low-collateral guided weapons for these platforms,' he said.
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Israeli officials do not discuss the tactics of their policy of assassinating militant leaders, which has been in force since 2001.
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But they insist that efforts are made to reduce noncombatant casualties."

Israel terror news update

Israel Defense Forces troops in Jenin on Tuesday arrested Abdel Rahman Zubeidi, the brother of Tanzim commander Zakariya Zubeidi. According to Palestinian sources reported that the leading militant's brother is not involved in terrorism but was nevertheless arrested by Israel in order to place pressure on Zakariya Zubeidi. Two of Zubeidi's cousins were also arrested.

IDF soldiers arrested 36 wanted Palestinian militants in the West Bank overnight Monday, 13 of them in a predawn arrest raid in the Jenin refugee camp.

In the Jenin-area village of Silat al-Khartiya, Nahal Brigade soldiers arrested a Palestinian woman suspected of planning to assist the two female Palestinian students from Al-Najaf University who intended to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Palestinians fired four Qassam rockets at Sderot and into an open area in the western Negev region on Tuesday morning. The rockets were launched from the Beit Hanun area of the northern Gaza Strip. There were no casualties and no damage was caused.

A Qassam landed in Sderot on Monday, striking an abandoned structure and evading a radar early warning system designed to warn residents of an impending attack.

Four Israelis were treated for shock, and a number of houses were damaged. Two more rockets hit the western Negev on Monday causing neither damage nor casualties.

Children in Sderot on Monday evening participated in a demonstration demanding the government stop the rocket fire on their community. Sderot, located about a kilometer-and-a-half from the Gaza Strip has been hit hard and two people, including a 4-year-old boy, were killed by rocket fire there in June. Many of the homemade Palestinian rockets have fallen into fields near Sderot, while others have damaged homes and cars.

Three residents of the Palestinian village of Budrus were wounded in clashes with security forces Tuesday morning during a protest against the construction of the West Bank separation barrier.

Five left-wing Israeli activists were also detained for questioning in the village, located north of the Jerusalem-Modi'in road.

Several dozen demonstrators showed up at the village Tuesday morning in order to hinder construction of the barrier which started in the area about a year ago but was halted due to changes in the route.

The demonstrators clashed with Border Police forces, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Earlier Monday night, IDF soldiers exchanged gunfire with Palestinian militants near the central Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom. No casualties or damage were caused as a result of the incident.

An Israel Air Force helicopter missile strike tore apart a jeep in Gaza City on Monday evening, killing two senior Hamas militants.

The two men, Rabah Zakut and Nabil al-Saidi, were riding in a jeep in the Rimal neighborhood in the city.

German Minister Justifies Israeli Barrier

Interior Minister Otto Schily said the controversial West Bank barrier is effective because it has led to a drop in attacks on Israel. He also rejected comparisons between the Israeli fence and the Berlin Wall.

'Those who draw comparisons with the Berlin Wall are wrong, because it does not shut people in and deprive them of their freedom,' Schily told Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday. 'Its purpose is to protect Israel from terrorists.'

German Interior Minister Otto Schily
Schily, who is currently in Israel for an international conference on terrorism, said the security barrier was the result of decades of failed efforts to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from crossing the border and attacking Israel.

'All the efforts undertaken over many years, even decades, have unfortunately failed to bear fruit,' he said. 'So it is understandable that Israel should try to erect a protective barrier, which furthermore has shown it works, and I think that the criticism is far from the reality.'

In the radio interview, Schily also insisted the security barrier should be referred to as a 'fence' and not a 'wall,' as it is often called in Germany.

Palestinians demand explanations

On Tuesday, Palestinian authorities demanded a thorough explanation for Schily's statements. Cabinet Minister Sajeb Erekat said the German minister's statements were 'very strange and unusual,' and not in keeping with the official German position on the barrier.

A Palestinian couple walks through the fence Israel built to separate Israel and the Palestinian territories, near the city of Qalqilya.
Only recently German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had criticized the barrier as 'barely understandable' from a security point of view. But a spokesman for the German foreign ministry on Tuesday insisted there was no contradiction between the two ministers' remarks. He said that while the German government recognizes that every state has the right to defend its borders, it is still concerned over the route of the barrier, which at times cuts deep into Palestinian territory."

Berlin bans Arab-Islamic Congress

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Berlin
The Berlin state government has banned an Arab-Islamic Congress due to be held in the German capital next month to rally support for 'resistance and intifada' in Iraq and Israel.

Henrike Morgenstern, a spokeswoman for the Berlin interior ministry, said Monday an advertisement for the event published in English on the Internet expressed approval for suicide attacks against Israel and the United States.

'That significantly oversteps the limit of what can be allowed in terms of opinion-forming,' she said.

Interior Minister Otto Schily said last week the government believed the event was a threat to security and public order and he would work with the foreign ministry to try to stop would-be participants entering the country.

At the weekend, police said a Lebanese man who was one of the organizers of the congress had been deported to Beirut.

The conference was announced on the Internet at http://www.anamoqawem.org/berlincall.htm and was scheduled to take place on October 1-3.

On their Web site, the organizers urge Iraqi and Palestinian resistance and advocate 'the liberation of all the occupied territories and countries in (the) struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation.'

In a letter to Schily, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre -- an international Jewish human rights group -- described the meeting as 'a political platform for radical Jihad and a market for potential European youth recruits to the ranks of terrorism.'"

Al Qaeda seen planning for 'spectacular' attack

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded recently that al Qaeda — fearing its credibility is on the line — is moving ahead with plans for a major, "spectacular" attack, despite disruptions of some operations by recent arrests in Britain and Pakistan.
Officials said recent intelligence assessments of the group, which is blamed for the September 11 attacks, state that an attack is coming and that the danger will remain high until the Nov. 2 elections and last until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
"They [al Qaeda] think their credibility is on the line because there hasn't been a major attack since 9/11," said one official familiar with intelligence reports on the group.
A second official said: "There isn't reason to believe that the recent arrests have disrupted their plans."
Authorities in Pakistan and Britain recently arrested key al Qaeda leaders, but the group uses tight "compartmentation" of its operations. The process, used by intelligence services, keeps information about operations within small "cells" of terrorists to protect secrecy.
Thus, details of the possible attack remain murky, but analysts say it is planned to be bigger and deadlier than the September 11 attacks, which killed 3,000 people.
Potential targets include the White House, Pentagon, U.S. Capitol and congressional buildings, as well as landmarks and business centers in New York, the officials said. The officials said that there is no specific information about targets.

U.S. Says Saudis Repress Religion

Duh.:
The United States for the first time named Saudi Arabia yesterday as a country that severely violates religious freedom, potentially subjecting the close U.S. ally to sanctions.

'Freedom of religion does not exist' in Saudi Arabia, the State Department said in its annual report on international religious freedom. 'Freedom of religion is not recognized or protected under the country's laws and basic religious freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned version of Sunni Islam,' the report said, adding that 'non-Muslim worshippers risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation and sometimes torture.'"