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Newsletter : 2fax0611.txt
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Senior Terrorist Nabbed in PA Ambulance
By IsraelNationalNews.com
A Palestinian Authority Red Crescent ambulance inspected at an IDF checkpoint in Gush Katif was found to be carrying a senior wanted terrorist disguised as the patient.
'Israel has a Right to Defend Herself,' says Bush
By Paula Wolfson (VOA-White House)
President Bush said Monday that he understands Israel's need to defend itself, but urged the Israelis to consider the long term consequences of their actions. Bush made the remarks during talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as Israeli forces surrounded the Ramallah headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat.
Israeli troops took up positions around the Arafat compound in the West Bank city hours before the White House talks began. Bush responded carefully to questions about the Israeli action. He told reporters that there are people who want to use terror to stop the peace process, an apparent reference to the suicide bombers who have claimed many Israeli lives. "Israel has a right to defend herself," he said. "And at the same time as Israel does so, the Prime Minister is willing to discuss the conditions necessary to achieve what we want, which is a secure region and a hopeful region."
But as he sat with Bush in the president's office, Sharon made clear he had no intention of dealing with Arafat. "Of course, we must have a partner for negotiations," he said. "At the present time, we don't see yet a partner. We hope there will be a partner there with whom we will be able to move forward to achieve a durable peace."
During their talks at the White House, they discussed the need to reform the Palestinian Authority. Bush, while sidestepping questions about Arafat's role in the peace process, said he still lacks confidence in the Palestinian leader. He said more reforms are needed before conditions are right for a Middle East peace conference. "And so first things first, and that is what institutions are necessary to give the Palestinian people hope and to give the Israelis confidence the emerging government will be someone with whom they can deal."
This was the sixth Bush-Sharon meeting in 15 months, and it followed a series of discussions between the president and Arab leaders. Among those who have met with Bush in recent months are Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president wanted to hear from all sides before coming up with his own Mideast proposals. "The president has had very productive conversations with the Arab nations," he said. "The president has now had another constructive conversation with Prime Minister Sharon. I think the president wants to do a little thinking, he is going to talk to his advisors, and the president will think about if there is an appropriate time or moment to have any further reflections. And that is where he is."
Arafat Lends New PA Government's Pro-Iraqi Tilt
By Gamla News Service
Yasir Arafat unveiled his new government with loud fanfare Sunday in advance of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's talks with U.S. President George W. Bush in the White House Monday. No one expected much more than cosmetic reforms as a sop to international pressure.
However, according to DEBKAfile's intelligence sources, the new reforms are far from cosmetic. They are meant as a resounding slap in the eye for Bush - and a two-handed punch for Sharon.
Arafat's most important action was the least conspicuous: the appointment of retired General Abdel-Razzaq al-Yahya as key interior minister and head of the newly-streamlined security force. The 73-year old retired army man lives permanently in Amman, is very close to the heads of Iraqi military intelligence in Baghdad and hobnobs frequently with Iraqi agents based in the Jordanian capital.
In view of his pro-Baghdad inclinations, DEBKAfile's intelligence sources in Tel Aviv and Amman see no obstacle to the new interior minister working in close harness with Tawfiq Tirawi, Arafat's most trusted West Bank security chief and commander of the Fatah's al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - particularly when Tirawi maintains a strong working relationship with Iraqi military intelligence agents operating in the West Bank.
Al-Yahya's appointment will therefore strengthen the pro-Baghdad faction in the Palestinian leadership, which consisted until now of only one minister, Azzam al Ahmad, who stays on as minister for public works. Al-Ahmad is in fact Arafat's liaison man with Saddam Hussein and one of the few Palestinians whom the Iraqi ruler trusts implicitly.
Our sources also report that in the last few days, a new arrival has joined Arafat's innermost circle, Samir Rochah, head of the Arabian Struggle Front, a stooge of Iraqi military intelligence. Nothing in the Palestinian leader's milieu is ever fortuitous. Rocha's turning up is another signpost to the Palestinian Authority's pro-Baghdad tilt under Arafat's lead.
Jewish Group to Conduct Armed Anti-Terror Patrols
By DPA
A rabbi has organized volunteers armed with baseball bats and pistols to defend two predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, N.Y. from terrorism, The New York Times reported Monday.
The "Jewish Defense Group" of Rabbi Yakov Lloyd has 55 volunteers ready to patrol the neighborhoods of Borough Park and Flatbush every night from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. The defense is in response to a report that those responsible for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in which six people were killed had originally targeted Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of New York City. This alternative 1993 terrorist attack was revealed earlier this month in an Iraqi television interview with accused terrorist Abdul- Rahman Yasin, who is currently wanted by the FBI.
