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Newsletter : 1fax0719.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN July 19, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 122
Extra Israeli Forces in West Bank
By VOA News
Israel has sent extra troops and tanks into the West Bank as a warning to the Palestinians, but denies any imminent plans to invade areas under Palestinian control.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, on a visit to London, said Israel has no intention of reconquering Palestinian-controlled areas. Other Israeli spokesmen say the concentration of troops is meant as a deterrent and a clear message to Palestinians to stop anti-Israeli violence.
In Gaza, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat called for a special Arab summit to confront what he called Israel's dangerous military escalation, which he said included assassinations, blockades and the destruction of Palestinian homes.
Israel's security cabinet met to discuss its handling of the conflict. Israel Radio said the ministers decided to continue a policy of intercepting terrorists, a euphemism that covers pre-emptive strikes like The ministers also approved an action plan to boost security in the area between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile, Palestinian mourners and masked gunmen filled the streets of Bethlehem Wednesday, demanding revenge for the four people killed Tuesday by an Israeli air strike. Israeli helicopter gunships targeted a local leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas who Israel said was planning a major terrorist attack.
Crack Iranian Troops Target Rockets on Israel
By Uzi Mahnaimi, (London Sunday Times-July 8)
Small groups of elite Iranian soldiers who have infiltrated southern Lebanon are preparing for rocket attacks on Israel. They have come closer to their avowed enemy than any Tehran forces since the shah was toppled more than 20 years ago.
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, has been told by military intelligence that the Pasdaran, or Revolutionary Guards rocket unit, has trained long-range Fagr-5 rockets on cities in northern Israel.
Sharon expressed concern about the development to the French and German governments during a whistlestop European tour, and has also warned President George W Bush. At home Sharon told Maariv newspaper of "an unprecedented airlift to Lebanon of long-range rockets that can strike the center of Israel." Confirmation of the Iranian advance came when a Pasdaran soldier defected to Israel demanding political asylum. His reasons for fleeing were unclear and the Israeli authorities have refused to give details of his interrogation. But the defector, known by his surname of Mehrabi, is understood to have confirmed that the Pasdaran unit is operational.
One intelligence source said the rockets were "strategic weapons to deter Israel from launching a large-scale military onslaught against the Palestinians" and feared they could be used if Sharon carried out a threat to bring down Yasir Arafat's Palestinian authority.
Menashe Amir, an Iranian-born Jewish commentator, said Pasdaran troops had been deployed at 20 outposts along the Israeli border. "In some cases the distance between the Iranian and the Israeli troops is not more than a couple of hundred meters," he said. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards' involvement in Lebanon dates back to 1982 after Sharon - then defense minister - led its invasion.
The Iranian deployment has alarmed a military establishment still humiliated by its retreat from Lebanon. "Personally, I believe the rockets are Iran's doomsday weapon to deter Israel," said Gen. Shimon Shapira, military secretary to Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister.
Sharon is adamant that the Iranian presence could not have been established without Syrian permission. "Syria allowed Iran to use its airfields for the arms airlift to Lebanon," he said.
Danny Leshem, a defense expert, said the 240 mm Fagr-5 rockets are carried on mobile launch platforms and have a range of about 50 miles, sufficient to strike the port city of Haifa. "They were made by the Iranians with North Korean and Chinese assistance," Leshem said. The rockets are far from accurate, with a "circular error probability" of about half a mile at the limit of their range.
New Book Details U.S. Culpability in Wallenberg's Betrayal
By Israel Faxx Staff
A book containing new and controversial material about Raoul Wallenberg, a hero of the Holocaust, has been published. "A Conspiracy of Indifference: The Raoul Wallenberg Story" reveals that for half a century the United States, which had recruited Wallenberg, abandoned the Swedish diplomat.
Research by author Alan Gersten specifies that, through inaction and subversion, the U.S. and Swedish governments let Wallenberg languish in the camps of silence, known as the Gulag Archipelago and that America, which sent Wallenberg on one of World War II's most hazardous missions, betrayed this man who achieved the unachievable to rescue 100,000 Jews.
To order the self-published book on the web, go to the main page on www.xlibris.com. Click on Bookstore on the left side of the screen and then on Search. Then use the author field or the title field to purchase a copy at the retail price of $16.
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