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Newsletter : 1fax0913.txt
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>JN Sept. 13, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 150
Israeli Forces Enter Jericho
By VOA News
Israeli forces have entered the West Bank city of Jericho, hours after similar incursions into other Palestinian-ruled communities. The Israeli soldiers in Jericho are meeting armed resistance from Palestinian militants.
At least 10 Palestinians and an Israeli settler were killed in other clashes earlier Wednesday. Most of the Palestinians were shot dead after Israeli troops stormed into the town of Jenin and three villages.
Palestinian medical sources say the dead from Wednesday's raids include three militants targeted by Israel, three Palestinian security officers and a nine-year-old girl.
Israeli tanks destroyed a police headquarters in Jenin before withdrawing to positions encircling the town. The Israeli army said troops arrested several people suspected of hostile activity. Late in the day, Palestinians shot dead an Israeli settler as she drove near the Palestinian town of Qalqilya.
Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke by telephone with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Powell says he urged them to do all they can to get the process of cease-fire meetings started. Senior Palestinian officials charged that Israel is exploiting the world's horror over the terror strikes in the United States to step up attacks against Palestinian targets.
Arafat Was Connected With First WTC Bombing
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Israeli intelligence had evidence that Yasir Arafat was involved in the planning of the World Trade Center bombing in New York in February of 1993.
Moshe Peled, Israel's Deputy Education Minister in the Netanyahu government, declared in early 1997 that he has information connecting Arafat to the Sudanese terror network responsible for carrying out the WTC bombing. CIA representatives met in Israel with Peled to discuss his information.
Similarly, E-Kihan, the official Iranian government newspaper, accused Arafat of responsibility for the first WTC bombing. The Jerusalem Post reported in March 1997 that Yonah Alexander, a Pentagon consultant on terrorism, said, "Arafat continues to maintain a training base in Sudan where the Fatah people work closely with the regime and with Iran. If there hadn't been an agreement with Israel, then Fatah would definitely have been on the U.S. list of terror organizations."
The FBI later arrested two Sudanese diplomats in connection with planning the attack, in which six people were killed. Arafat pushed off his meeting with Syrian President Assad, which was scheduled for Wednesday, by a few days.
Israeli Leaders Warn Against Weapons of Mass Destruction
By Ross Dunn (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli political leaders and analysts are calling for joint international action to prevent terrorist groups from gaining weapons of mass destruction, in the wake of the catastrophic attacks in New York and Washington. At the same time, Palestinian leaders and commentators are distancing themselves from television footage showing groups of Palestinians rejoicing over the tragedy.
The specter of barbarians outside the gates of Western civilization who may strike next time with weapons of mass destruction, not just hijacked airliners, has now become a real threat. This is the warning that has emerged from Israeli political leaders and counter-terrorism experts in the wake of the spectacular surprise attacks that shook the United States on Tuesday.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg is a strategic expert at Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University. He believes that some extreme Palestinian groups may be emboldened to carry out daring terrorist missions against Israel because of the spectacular nature of the attacks in the United States.
"There will be some copycat activities but there will also be a great deal of greater security and awareness in efforts to prevent those from taking place," he said. "That has been the history of terrorism and counter-terrorism."
Steinberg says that it is crucial now for Western nations to stop Islamic militant groups - which he presumes are responsible for the terror attacks in the United States - from gaining weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear devices. "I think we will see a much closer relationship between the U.S. and Russia and China on these issues, because all three powers are all equally threatened by this kind of nuclear proliferation problem."
Meanwhile, Palestinian political leaders and analysts have been at pains to distance themselves from television footage showing some groups of Palestinians dancing in delight over the catastrophe.
Hanan Ashrawi is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. "I think this is entirely misleading. I know that before people understood the implications of what was happening, some people reacted, and a minority, children - people who do not understand - once people understood the magnitude and understood what actually did happen."
But despite such assurances, Israeli commentators have said that the Palestinian leadership should finally declare whether it is really serious about stopping all forms of terrorism.
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