Israel

Remains of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon

bad@netvision.net.il — Wed, 05 Feb 2003 12:36:56 GMT

NASA informed Israeli authorities early Wednesday that remains of Colonel Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut and a member of the crew of the shuttle Columbia's calamitous final flight, have been positively identified.

Ramon's remains will be flown to Israel next week and will be buried in a military funeral.

"A few minutes ago, NASA officially announced that Ilan Ramon, of blessed memory, had been identified, and we can bring him for burial in Israel within a few days," said Air Force Brigadier-General Ronnie Falk, IAF liaison to the United States. "The identification is certain, and was carried out by NASA experts, with the participation of a member of the IDF rabbinate, at our request."

According to Jewish law, if remains are not found, a funeral is not possible. Falk said that as a result of the identification, and the fact that a burial would now take place, "There is a certain degree of relief being felt by all of us here, including the close family."

The IDF rabbi who accompanied the identification process, Lieutenant Colonel Zvi Black, said Wednesday that "There is not a shadow of doubt regarding the professional and scientific knowledge of the American laboratories that carried out the tests, and we therefore accepted the identification as absolute."

The NASA announcement came less than 12 hours after a memorial was held Tuesday for the seven men and women who perished in the shuttle disaster. The memorial began with a Hebrew prayer read by a U.S. navy rabbi.

Thousands of people, led by U.S. President George W. Bush, gathered at the home of NASA's Mission Control to honor the seven - six Americans and Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon - who were killed as the shuttle broke up over Texas on Saturday during its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

Bush spoke of each astronaut in turn, telling their families that their sacrifice was not in vain and vowing that American space exploration would go on. He described Ilan Ramon as "a patriot, the devoted son of a Holocaust survivor, who served his country in two wars."

The president said that Ramon "also flew above his home. He said 'the quiet that envelops space makes the beauty even more powerful and I only hope that the quiet can one day spread to my country'."

Ramon's body was one of four sets of remains that have been positively
identified, Israel Radio reported. The DNA and jaw bone of Ramon's body were checked to ensure that they were indeed his, the radio said.

Finance Minister Silvan Shalom, representing Israel at the Tuesday memorial, presented the president with a personal letter from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in which the premier said it was Israel's right to be a partner to the American space program, as the two countries worked together on other projects on Earth.

After the ceremony, Bush told Shalom that there would be ongoing cooperation between Israel and U.S. in the space program, the radio reported.

The president and First Lady Laura Bush were accompanied at the ceremony by Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon. Former senator and astronaut John Glenn and his wife, Annie, also attended, as well as NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and a delegation of congressional figures.

"We also have a tremendous duty to honor the legacy of these fallen heroes by finding out what caused the loss of the Columbia and its crew, to correct the problems we find and to make sure that this never happens again," O'Keefe told those gathered at the ceremony.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that top investigators of the shuttle disaster were analyzing a photograph taken by an amateur astronomer from a San Francisco hillside "that appears to show a purplish electrical bolt striking the craft" as it passed over California during re-entry.

It said the photograph was taken at 5:53 A.M. Saturday, as sensors began showing the first indications of trouble aboard the craft, which broke up in flames over Texas seven minutes later.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration estimated the crowd gathering in a plaza known as the Mall at between 10,000 and 15,000 people. Mourners spilled beyond the square and crowded around a pond. They stood among the trees and on the lawns - waiting to hear the presidential eulogy.

picture 1: The family of Ilan Ramon attending the memorial service for Columbia's crew at Houston space center Tuesday.

picture 2: A homemade sign at the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Monday, near a condolence book for Ilan Ramon.

Columbia crew killed after shuttle breaks up

bad@netvision.net.il — Sun, 02 Feb 2003 00:09:45 GMT

The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the skies over Texas on Saturday, killing all seven crew members, including Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, just 16 minutes before its scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors," President George W. Bush told a press conference, five hours after contact was first lost with the shuttle as it flew over Texas.

The Columbia with the seven astronauts on board, including Ramon, 48, who was the first Israeli to go into space space, lost contact with NASA at around 1400 GMT as it came in for landing. Debris was scattered over a wide swathe of Texas.

"The loss of this valiant crew is something we will never be able to get over," NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe told a news briefing. "This is indeed a tragic day".

The last contact with the shuttle, which was ending a 16-day scientific research mission, was at 4 P.M. Israel time. The astronauts' family members were taken to an isolated area away from journalists.

Shortly after it was confirmed the shuttle had broken up, the American flag next to its countdown clock was lowered to half-mast.

Columbia was at an altitude of 60,210 meters (200,700 feet), traveling at 20,113 kph (12,500 mph), when mission control lost contact. There was no further communication and no further tracking data.

Fifteen minutes after the expected landing time, and with no word from the shuttle, NASA announced that search and rescue teams were being mobilized in Dallas and Fort Worth areas in Texas.

One focus: Possible damage to Columbia's protective thermal tiles
The cause of the tragedy was not immediately known. An independent commission was appointed to investigate. One potential focus: possible damage to Columbia's protective thermal tiles on the left wing from a flying piece of debris during liftoff.

Investigators trying to figure out what destroyed the shuttle immediately homed in on the left wing and the possibility that its thermal tiles were damaged far more seriously than NASA realized during liftoff.

The shuttle is essentially a glider during the hour-long decent from orbit toward the landing strip. It is covered by about 20,000 thermal tiles to protect against temperatures as high as 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,648 degrees Celsius).

NASA said the first indication of trouble Saturday was the loss of temperature sensors in that wing's hydraulic system.

Along with Ramon, the shuttle - which was on its 28th mission - carried commander Rick Husband, pilot Willie McCool, mission specialists Dave Brown, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla and payload commander Mike Anderson.

Ramon's presence on the flight resulted in an increase in security, not only for Columbia's January 16 launch, but also for its landing. Space agency officials feared his presence might make the shuttle more of a terrorist target.

But officials were quick to rule out the possibility of terrorism. "There is no information that this was a terrorist incident," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department. "Obviously the investigation is just beginning but that is the information we have now."

"There's no reason to believe there are any links to terrorism at this point, but we are fully investigating the situation," said a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One senior government official said that at the altitude the shuttle was flying when it broke up, it was out of range of any surface-to-air missile.

In an interview with the daily Ma'ariv last month, Ramon said: "The chances an accident would happen in space are very
small. As far as safety is concerned, I'm not concerned at all ... I'm sorry, but I'm not afraid."

"During takeoff you are sitting on a barell of explosives that contains two million liters of fuel. The shuttle consumes 4,000 liters a second during the first eight hours of takeoff, until it starts orbiting around the earth," Ramon explained.

"In NASA, safety takes precedence over everything else. The shuttle has backup upon backup upon backup."

'I heard a big bang and the windows shook'
A senior law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been some intelligence that raised concerns about a previously scheduled flight of Columbia, which was to have carried the same crew.

The intelligence, related to Ramon, was termed not credible, but the flight was postponed for other reasons. There had been no troubling intelligence regarding this flight, officials said, and they do not believe terrorism was involved.

Local witnesses reported hearing a loud boom where the craft appeared to break up, around 100 miles south of Dallas and television footage showed multiple trails that could reflect a shuttle breakup.

NASA mission control in Houston said, "Any debris that is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth vicinity should be avoided and may be hazardous due to the toxic nature of propellants used on board the shuttle and should be reported to local law enforcement authorities."

Gary Hunziker in Plano said he saw the shuttle flying overhead. "I could see two bright objects flying off each side of it," he told The Associated Press. "I just assumed they were chase jets."

"I was getting ready to go out and I heard a big bang and the windows shook in the house," said another local resident. "I thought it was a sonic boom."

"The government of Israel and the people of Israel are praying together with the entire world for the safety of the astronauts on the shuttle Columbia," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said in a statement shortly after it emerged that contact with the shuttle had been lost.

"The State of Israel and its citizens are as one at this difficult time."

NASA earlier ordered flight controllers to pull out emergency procedures and ordered them to retain all their records.

The crew completed all of their 80-plus experiments in orbit. They studied ant, bee and spider behavior in weightlessness as well as changes in flames and flower scents, and took measurements of atmospheric dust with a pair of Israeli cameras.

The shuttle flight was the 113th in the shuttle program's 22 years and the 28th flight for Columbia, NASA oldest shuttle.

First accident in descent to earth in 42 years of U.S. spaceflight
The horrific end of shuttle mission STS-107 was a devastating blow to the
nation's space program; the Challenger explosion led to a 2-year moratorium on launches, and Saturday's accident could bring construction of the international space station to a standstill.

Shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore said "there was no indication of any impending threats to the vehicle." Then there was a loss of data from
temperature sensors on the left wing, followed by a loss of data from tire pressure indicators on the left main landing gear.

The final radio transmission between Mission Control and the shuttle, at 9 a.m., (1400 GMT) gave no indication of any trouble.

Mission Control radios: "Columbia, Houston, we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last."

Columbia's commander, Rick Husband, calmly responds: "Roger, buh ..."

For several seconds, the transmission goes silent. Then, there is static.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, in her Dallas neighborhood, said she heard a "boom, which I thought was the breaking of the sound barrier" - and it may have been just that, because the shuttle was traveling at 12,500 mph (20,112 kph), 18 times the speed of sound.

"The barn started shaking and we ran out and started looking around," said Benjamin Laster of Kemp, Texas. "I saw a puff of vapor and smoke and saw big chunk of material fall."

On the edge of downtown Nacogdoches, 135 miles (217 kilometers) northeast of Houston, a National Guardsman stood watch over a steel rod with silver bolts that landed in the grass outside a yard. People streamed up to take photos of the debris.

Dentist Jeff Hancock said a metal bracket about a foot long had crashed
through his office roof. "It's all over Nacogdoches," said James Milford, owner of a barber shop in downtown. "There are several little pieces, some parts of machinery. ... There's been a lot of pieces about three feet (one meter) wide."

In 42 years of U.S. human spaceflight, there had never been an accident during the descent to Earth or landing.

picture 1: The space shuttle Columbia breaking up over Texas on Saturday.

picture 2: Ilan Ramon (1st R, front row) speaking during a press conference on board the space shuttle Columbia last week.

At least 20 dead in double suicide bombing in south Tel Aviv

bad@netvision.net.il — Sun, 05 Jan 2003 16:55:07 GMT

At least 20 people were killed and 35 others wounded in a double suicide bombing at around 6:30 P.M. Sunday evening at the Old Central Bus Station in south Tel Aviv.

The two suicide bombers blew themselves up within less than a minute of one another, at the corner of G'dud Ha'ivri and Neve She'anan streets in south Tel Aviv.

Seven of the wounded were in very serious condition, a Magen David Adom official said.

"To my sorrow there are deaths... It seems according to evidence in the area that we are talking of two suicide bombers. Two explosions happened in parallel streets... It's a place where there are many foreign workers," Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon told Army Radio.

Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack, the West Bank correspondent for Lebanon's Al-Manar television station said.

But an official in the Palestinian militant group said there had been no official statement.

Abdullah Shami, an Islamic Jihad leader, told Reuters: "When there is no statement we cannot say it was by Islamic Jihad."

He added, however, that the bombing "is normal resistance against Israeli crimes of incursions and daily killings. When the occupation continues, all our options are open and resistance will continue wherever our hand can reach."

Police officers were reportedly chasing a black Honda Civic that was seen fleeing the site of the attack, apparently heading toward the West Bank. Two Palestinians were believed to be in the car.

The entire area, home to many of Israel's foreign workers, was closed to traffic.

Channel Two television reported that foreign workers in Israel illegally had been wounded in the attack but were hiding for fear of deportation.

Television stations read police announcements in English, assuring illegal foreign workers that they would not be deported if they sought treatment or searched for friends and relatives in hospital.

The wounded were taken to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, but heavy traffic was making it difficult.

PMO: Israel has no choice but to fight terror
An official at the Prime Minister's Office, David Baker, condemned the attack, saying that Israel had no other choice but to fight terrorism with "a fury."

"The Palestinian terrorist campaign of carnage has struck at innocent Israelis in Tel Aviv," he said. "Israel will not yield to Palestinian terror and will fight it with a fury. We have no other choice."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will convene a security meeting at 9 P.M., which will be attended by Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security officials. defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will meet with the heads of the security establishement at 11 P.M.

U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the attack, saying that he would not allow this to bring recent peace moves to a halt.

"He condemns this in the strongest possible terms," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. "There are those who want to derail the peace process. But the president will not be deterred. Innocent people have a right to live in safety."

'I realized there would be many casualties'
"I heard the explosion, I felt the shockwave. I realized there would be many casualties. We looked for people who were breathing. I called over to them. I counted quite a few seriously wounded. People were lying there," Alon Oz, an eyewitness, told Army Radio.

Other witnesses said there was extensive destruction of nearby buildings and even some people inside houses and shops were among the wounded. A woman living several blocks away from the site of the explosion reported that her building shook from the impact of the blast.

Yitzhak Teva, a local barber, who was slightly injured, said he was busy cutting hair when the blast went off. "Half the wall fell on me and I was covered in broken glass," Teva said. "I shut the shop and then there was the next explosion."

Sunday's suicide bombing was the first in an Israeli city since November, when a suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem, killing himself and 11 passengers.

On July 17 2002, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance to the Neve Sha'anan Quarter, killing three people and wounding forty individuals. The two bombers were killed in that double attack. 32 people were wounded in a suicide blast on Neve Sha'anat street on January 25, 2002.

Hodaya's body found; father is top suspect

bad@netvision.net.il — Wed, 11 Dec 2002 14:13:42 GMT

The body of Hodaya Kedem-Pimstein, the toddler who has been missing from her Jerusalem home since Saturday morning, was found yesterday in a forest near two moshavim - Ora and Aminadav - just outside Jerusalem.

Police discovered the body, which was buried in a pit and covered with dirt, following an intelligence tip. Hodaya's father, Eli Pimstein, had been arrested an hour earlier on suspicion of murdering the 22-month-old girl.

Police investigators are now trying to determine whether the murder was premeditated.

Pimstein continues to insist that he is innocent. He told the police that on Saturday morning he went to the bathroom for a minute and when he returned, the girl was gone; he assumed she had somehow opened the apartment door and gone out into the street.

But police were suspicious of this story from the start, saying it seemed unlikely that a girl her age and size would have been able to open either the heavy door at the entrance to the building or the heavy gate at the entrance to the surrounding courtyard.

Furthermore, none of the neighbors reported having seen her.

However, the police's intensive efforts to get evidence against Pimstein - including tailing him, tapping his phone, searching his house and poring through his computer files - bore no fruit, nor did Pimstein's story ever waver during repeated interrogations. A polygraph test yielded inconclusive results.

The breakthrough occurred yesterday morning, when an intelligence tip led the police to arrest Pimstein and then search the forest near Ora and Aminadav. Within a few minutes they had located the makeshift grave, and when they began to dig, they soon found Hodaya's body.

The head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, Prof. Yehuda Hiss, was promptly summoned to perform an autopsy, but the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court yesterday imposed a comprehensive gag order on all details of the investigation in order not to disrupt the ongoing search for evidence. Soon after finding the body, police broke the news to Hodaya's mother, Roni Kedem. Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy then called a press conference to announce the discovery. He told reporters that police still do not know exactly when Hodaya was killed, but she was definitely alive Saturday morning, as she left a message on her mother's answering machine. The discovery of Hodaya's body put an end to a massive manhunt in which thousands of volunteers also participated.

Search for Nur continues
Meanwhile, the search continued for another Jerusalem girl who has been missing since Saturday: five-year-old Nur Abu Tir of the village of Umm Tuba in East Jerusalem.

Nur's father, Ahmed Abu Tir, underwent a polygraph test yesterday as part of police efforts to get to the root of a clan dispute they believe may be related to Nur's disappearance. However, police declined to say what the test revealed.

In addition to Nur's father, who was questioned for several hours, police also interrogated 12 other Palestinians about relationships within the Abu Tir clan. Police believe Nur may have been kidnapped as a result of an ongoing vendetta sparked by a several-year-old dispute between Ahmed, one of his brothers and another relative. Ahmed himself has repeatedly insisted that Nur was kidnapped.

picture: A police investigator carrying the body of Hodaya Kedem-Pimstein out of the woods near Jerusalem yesterday.

At least ten people killed, dozens hurt in J'lem bus explosion

bad@netvision.net.il — Thu, 21 Nov 2002 08:30:44 GMT

Ten people were killed and dozens were injured in a suicide bombing on a crowded Egged bus traveling through the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood in Jerusalem during morning rush hour Thursday.

One of the victims of the attack is a 13-year-old girl.

Eight people were seriously injured in the attack, and over 40 casualties were taken to hospitals in Jerusalem, according to Magen David Adom.

Many school children were on the bus, officials
said. Children's sandwiches and schoolbooks lay scattered in the street around the devastated bus, Yaron Enosh, an Israel Radio reporter said, noting that the bus exploded at a time when children go to school.

"There are students among the wounded," Yeruham Mandola, spokesman for the Magen David Adom paramedics' service, told Israel Radio. He could not say how many of the wounded were school children.

"The explosion was so loud I thought the roof had come off," said Ariel Gino, a resident of the Kiryat Menahem neighbourhood where the blast occurred.

"I rushed out and saw people lying on the street. Some were screaming, some were crying. There were about five or six people still in the bus. They weren't moving. Some on the street had blood on their faces, others had burns," he told Reuters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the first in Jerusalem since August.

David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, condemned the attack. "Palestinian terrorists continue to cling to the bloodshed agenda and they are satisfied only when innocent Israeli lives are taken," Baker told The Associated Press.

Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishky said that the suicide bomber blew himself up in the front of the bus shortly before it arrived at a bus stop.

"It was a bus travelling from Kiryat Menachem to the centre of the city. Apparently a suicide bomber got on the bus, we don't know when, and exploded himself," Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy told Israel Radio.

"As a result there are dozens of wounded and a few dead," he said. "The bus was full."

The explosion occurred on Mexico Street in a neighborhood not far from Jerusalem's largest hospital, Hadassah Ein Kerem.

Police had no prior warnings of a terror attack in the areas, Israel Radio reported.

picture: The Egged bus on which a suicide bombing took place Thursday morning.

Israel angered by EU's call to end terror attacks 'inside Israel'

bad@netvision.net.il — Mon, 11 Nov 2002 08:37:26 GMT

Senior officials in the Foreign Ministry have expressed their anger at attempts by the European Union to persuade radical Palestinian groups to halt suicide attacks inside Israel, Israel Radio reported Sunday.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction and the Islamic militant group Hamas have been holding talks in Cairo this week, aimed at ironing out tensions between them as part of efforts to promote the creation of a Palestinian state.

Fatah officials had said the Cairo meeting followed mediation by European states and Egypt, who want Hamas to agree to end suicide bombings and gun ambushes, viewed by many Palestinians as harmful to the cause for statehood.

But sources in Jerusalem have criticized the Europeans, whom they say are granting implicit approval of attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, by failing to demand that they are also stopped.

The EU initiative was put forward by Alister Crook, representing the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. In the past, Crook has been involved in negotiations with Fatah over an end to suicide missions inside Israel.

Knesset panel to decide Monday on date for early elections

bad@netvision.net.il — Mon, 11 Nov 2002 08:36:03 GMT

The Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee will set the date for general elections during a session to be held Monday.

The early elections, sparked by the collapse of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's untiy government over the past twop weeks, are expected to be held between January 20-28.

During committee deliberations last week, the secular-centrist Shinui party, the far-right National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu, and the United Arab List backed a January 14 date.

Cabinet Secretary Gideon Sa'ar, a close aide to Sharon, also supported holding the elections as early as possible.

By contrast, the Labor Party, the ultra-Orthodox Shas, the dovish Meretz and the rightist National Religious Party advocated elections according to the date specified by election regulations, January 28.

Sharon, Netanyahu agree to Likud chief elections on November 28
Elections for the chairman of the Likud, who will stand as the party's prime ministerial candidate, will take place on November 28, according to an agreement reached late Saturday night between the aides of Sharon and those of Foreign Minister and party rival Benjamin Netanyahu.

The vote for the party's candidate list will be held on December 8. The sides also agreed that a meeting of the Likud central committee on Tuesday will have two chairmen, MK Yisrael Katz, from Netanyahu's camp, and Uri Shani, an ally of Sharon.

The prime minister's promise to appoint Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to the same role in the next government was accompanied by the condition that the Defense Ministry would remain in the hands of the Likud. If a unity coalition is formed, it is assumed that the defense portfolio would be given to a senior Labor minister. Sources close to the prime minister confirmed this information.

Due to the fact that Sharon has declared that if he wins the primaries and the elections he would act toward establishing a unity coalition with Labor, it is possible that the defense portfolio will no longer remain in the Likud's hands and Mofaz may find himself out of the ministry after the elections.

Meanwhile, MK Haim Ramon, who is vying for the leadership of the Labor Party, is reconsidering his intention to step down from the race due to a comprehensive poll which showed that 90 percent of his supporters - some 12,000 of the 107,000 Labor members - expect him to stay in the race to the end.

Ramon is to consult with MKs who support him on the matter, but his aides do expect that he will eventually pull out of the race.

Five dead in Fatah terror shooting in Kibbutz Metzer

bad@netvision.net.il — Mon, 11 Nov 2002 08:35:11 GMT

Five people were killed and three injured when a terrorist late Sunday infiltrated Kibbutz Metzer, near Israel's pre-1967 border with the West Bank, killing two small children in their beds, their mother, and two other adults.

The Al Aqsa Brigades of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attack, in which the gunman penetrated the security fence, entering a house and killing the children and their mother, then shot dead two adults he encountered outside the dwelling.

The victims were identified Monday as Revital Ohayoun, 34, her sons Matan, 5, and Noam, 4, Dor Yitzhak, 44, who served as the secretary of the kibbutz, and Tirza Damari, 42, of Elichin, who had come to the kibbutz for a visit.

The kibbutz, founded by the leftist Hashomer Hatzair movement, was known for vigorous advocacy of reconciliation with its Arab neighbors, and support for a future peace including an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

The killings came amid reports that the Fatah movement, officials of which had foresworn attacks within Israel proper, was holding meetings with militant Hamas figures for a wider cease-fire within the pre-1967 war borders, the Green Line.

Security forces ordered kibbutz residents to remain in their homes all night, with a total blackout imposed on the kibbutz as police searched for the attacker. Only after 7 A.M. were residents allowed to leave their homes, after police announced that the gunman had apparently fled the area of the kibbutz, located on the Israeli side of the Green Line, north of the Palestinian city of Tul Karm.

First-aid teams who rushed to the scene of the attack were barred from entering Metzer for more than an hour by security forces who feared that the terrorists might still be inside the kibbutz.

During the attack, which lasted some 20 minutes, the security coordinator at the kibbutz spotted the terrorist and opened fire, but failed to hit him.

Israel police chief Shlomo Aharonisky said Monday that there had been "countless warnings" of such an attack taking place in the area, which is close to a favored entry point for terrorists en route to attacks in Israel.

Large numbers of police and Border Police, who used flares to light up the area, searched the kibbutz through the night, with the help of a helicopter, but by first light it had been determined that the terrorist or terrorists had succeeded in making their escape.

Officials in the defense establishment suspect that the shooting may have been carried out by members of the same cell which tried to penetrate Israel earlier in the day, near Kibbutz Metzer, in order to carry out a suicide attack.

In that incident, two Palestinians were killed when their car exploded after they were stopped by a Border Police patrol.

"The Palestinian terror machine doesn't miss a beat," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, after troops had foiled the attack.

Also Sunday, the army said it arrested a 15-year-old youth from the West Bank city of Nablus on his way to carry out a suicide attack and a senior Hamas member from the West Bank town of Hebron.

Border Police sappers on Sunday defused two explosive devices, weighing 160 kilograms found in hothouses in the Gaza Strip settlement of Morag.

IDF responds with rockets in Gaza
IDF helicopters fired rockets into a large metal workshop in downtown Gaza City early Monday, a little over two hours after terrorists infiltrated a kibbutz in northern Israel and killed five people.

Israel Radio reported that the workshop was used to manufacture mortar shells.

The helicopters shot at least eight rockets into the workshop, which was believed to be empty when the attack took place shortly before 2 A.M. Monday.

The IDF has frequently targeted such workshops in the past, which have been used by Palestinian militants to manufacture weapons.

During the initial phase of the 2-year-old Palestinian uprising, Israel responded to Palestinian attacks with air strikes.

However, under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel has largely halted the practice and instead has relied on troops who have reoccupied Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank for the past several months, carrying out daily arrests of militants.

Police: 5 killed as terrorists open fire in Kibbutz Metzer

bad@netvision.net.il — Mon, 11 Nov 2002 08:33:34 GMT

Five people were killed and three injured when terrorists infiltrated Kibbutz Metzer, near Israel's pre-1967 border with the West Bank, close to midnight Sunday and opened fire.

Police sources said that the bodies of three adults and two children had been found.

According to initial reports, it appeared that the terrorists entered a home and opened fire, after first firing on kibbutz members walking from the dining room to their homes. Israel Radio later reported that three people were killed in a home and two near the dining room.

The security coordinator at the kibbutz spotted at least one of the terrorists and opened fire, but failed to hit him.

Large numbers of police and Border Police, who used flares to light up the area, searched the kibbutz after midnight, with the help of a helicopter, but it appeared that the terrorists had succeeded in fleeing the kibbutz.

Residents were confined to their homes and security forces imposed a blackout on the kibbutz, which is located on the Israeli side of the Green Line, north of Tul Karm.

"We are all closed up in our houses. We heard the shots and turned off the lights and shut the doors," kibbutz resident Oded Shahar told Channel Two television.

First-aid teams who rushed to the scene of the attack were barred from entering Metzer for more than an hour by security forces who feared that the terrorists might still be inside the kibbutz.

Initial reports had first spoken of one terrorist having infiltrated the kibbutz, but northern police chief Ya'akov Borovsky later told Israel Radio that based on the number of shots fired and the ballistics of the bullets, it was likely the attack had been carried out by more than one gunman.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the attack in phone calls to news agencies.

There have been a number of warnings recently of plans to carry out an attack at Metzer and security forces recently held a drill with residents there.

Officials in the defense establishment suspect that the shooting may have been carried out by members of the same cell which tried to penetrate Israel earlier in the day, near Kibbutz Metzer, in order to carry out a suicide attack.

In that incident, two Palestinians were killed when their car exploded after they were stopped by a Border Police patrol.

"The Palestinian terror machine doesn't miss a beat," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, after troops had foiled the attack.

Also Sunday, the army said it arrested a 15-year-old youth from the West Bank city of Nablus on his way to carry out a suicide attack and a senior Hamas member from the West Bank town of Hebron.

Border Police sappers on Sunday defused two explosive devices, weighing 160 kilograms found in hothouses in the Gaza Strip settlement of Morag.

IDF pulls out of Jenin after senior Islamic Jihad militant killed
Earlier Sunday, the IDF pulled back to the outskirts of Jenin, two weeks after troops backed by heavy armour swept into the West Bank city in search of militants behind suicide attacks in Israel, witnesses said.

The army left the city center a day after soldiers in Jenin killed Iyad Sawalhe, who topped Israel's most-wanted list. He was killed during a gun battle with IDF troops Saturday afternoon, after the soldiers entered his home in an effort to arrest him. Three soldiers from the Golani Brigade were lightly wounded in the exchange of fire.

The army said that with his death, the majority of the IDF's goals in the Jenin operation had been achieved. Some 200 Palestinians were arrested in the operation, Israel Radio reported.

A senior IDF commander said that the army demolished more than 10 homes belonging to militants and their families during the Jenin operation.

An IDF commander who was part of the operation told Army Radio on Sunday that the terror infrastructure in the city had been dealt a severe blow.

The Islamic Jihad leadership vowed, however, that it would not be deterred by IDF moves to cripple the militant movement.

"This operation and crime will not break our strength and our resistance and our jihad will continue," Sheikh Abdallah Shami, an Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, told Reuters. "The Islamic Jihad will respond to this crime and our strike will be even more painful."

Soldier killed Saturday in Gaza blast laid to rest
Sergeant-Major Madin Grifat, who was killed Saturday by an explosion close to the Gaza Strip settlement of Netzarim, was laid to rest Sunday at 2:30 P.M. in the cemetery at his home village of Beit Zarzir, in northern Israel.

The 23-year-old tracker was critically wounded and an IDF officer sustained moderate injuries in the explosion, which targeted troops from the Givati brigade operating in the area.

Grifat later died of his wounds in hospital. The officer, a Givati company commander, was taken to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva.

Islamic Jihad took responsiblity for the attack, saying it was in response to Sawalhe's death.

At least 3 Arabs seized near Ben-Gurion Airport, foiling suicide bombing

bad@netvision.net.il — Wed, 06 Nov 2002 12:55:21 GMT

Police arrested at least three Palestinians near Ben-Gurion International Airport early Wednesday at the height of an intense dragnet for terrorists planning to carry out an attack in the Coastal Plain region.

One of the men was arrested outside the airport, foiling what police believe was a planned suicide bombing. He was caught near the El Al Junction off the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway at one of the many roadblocks set up by police at the entrance to towns and on major highways.

The others were apprehended in an apartment in the nearby town of Lod, after police interrogated the suspected bomber.

The manhunt caused portions of the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway to be closed for several hours overnight, creating severe traffic jams.

Police refrained from disclosing details of the suspect's destination, saying that he intended to strike a target inside Israel, Israel Radio reported.

The high alert status, which began Tuesday, followed security assessments that a terrorist cell may have penetrated southern Israel earlier in the day, and managed to make its way to the Coastal Plain region in the evening hours.

Also Wednesday, three mortars landed in a settlement in the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip without causing injuries, Israel Radio reported.

Two Palestinians shot dead, 19 injured, by IDF in Rafah
Two Palestinians were shot and killed and 19 were injured, two critically, by IDF troops in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to the army and Palestinian officials.

The army said that the troops killed the two Palestinians, Ayad abu Tah, 20 and Adham Hamdaan, 18, after they approached a military outpost near Rafah, along the border with Egypt, and opened machine gun fire at the soldiers.

Palestinians, however, said that the two were killed after IDF troops, accompanied by bulldozers, entered the refugee camp and opened fire on youths throwing stones.

Palestinian security forces said IDF troops also demolished a house and tunnel in Rafah. Israel has done this on many occasions, saying the tunnels are used to smuggle in weapons from Egypt.

The army said it discovered an explosive device on a road near the border, which was connected to a house by a wire. The army also reported that several grenades were thrown at the soldiers during the operation.

At least four seriously wounded in explosion at Kfar Sava mall

bad@netvision.net.il — Mon, 04 Nov 2002 16:38:52 GMT

Dozens of people were wounded by an explosion Monday evening in the Arim mall in Kfar Sava.

Magen David Adom spokesman said at least four people were seriously injured in the blast and were being evacuated to the hospital for treatment.

It was not clear if the blast was caused by a suicide bomber or a bomb planted at the scene.

Emergency and rescue personnel were on their way to the mall.

Israel Radio reported that the blast occurred in an electronics store.

Maccabi opens season with 85-79 loss to Tau

bad@netvision.net.il — Sat, 12 Oct 2002 03:29:51 GMT

Maccabi Tel Aviv yesterday lost its opening game in this season's Euroleague, going down 85-79 to Tau Vitoria in Spain.

Maccabi led for the entire game only to relinquish the lead in the final minute of an exciting encounter as the hosts avenged their 29-point defeat at home to the Israelis last season.

Maccabi playmaker Beno Udrih, who was doubtful for the encounter after twisting his ankle during training, played for most of the game scoring only eight points and turning the ball over five times, which allowed the hosts to take full advantage.

Maccabi opened a slim advantage at the start, and then led 18-14 and eventually 33-23 at the end of the first quarter as Udrih orchestrated Maccabi's moves.

Vitoria's defense proved an easy obstacle for Maccabi in the second quarter, allowing Maccabi to open up a 42-29 lead, Israel's larget lead in the game, before ending the half with a four-point advantage at 46-42.

The 9,000 Spanish fans cheered their team on in the second half, despite some promising signs that Maccabi would hold on. In the closing seconds, the pressure took its toll on Maccabi as Vitoria completely wiped out the lead and opened up a comfortable cushion, finishing the game up by six points.

One killed, 29 hurt in foiled bus bombing

bad@netvision.net.il — Sat, 12 Oct 2002 03:29:25 GMT

One woman was killed and 29 people were injured in a suicide bombing in Bnei Brak yesterday - but police say the courageous actions of a bus driver and a passenger averted a far more serious attack.

The dead woman is Sa'ada Aharon, 71, of Ramat Gan. Of the wounded, one was seriously injured and two were moderately injured; the rest were lightly injured.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The perpetrator was identified as Rafik Hamad, 31, a father of four from the village of Habla near Qalqilyah.

The attack took place at 7:50 A.M. at a bus stop near the Bar-Ilan overpass. The bomber initially tried to board the number 87 bus via the back door, but driver Baruch Neuman, who thought he was just someone trying to sneak on board without paying, shut the door in his face. The man then fell backward, and Neuman, thinking he was hurt, promptly stopped the bus and got out, along with two passengers, to administer first aid. Only then did they see the five-kilogram bomb strapped to his body.

At that point, Neuman and another passenger, Yonatan Direktor, grabbed the bomber's arms to keep him from detonating the explosives and ordered everyone in the vicinity to run. When they judged that the area had been cleared, they released the bomber and fled themselves - whereupon the bomber ran toward the nearest group of people and blew himself up, killing Aharon and wounding the others.

Police said that Neuman and Direktor undoubtedly saved lives, as many more people would have been killed had the bomber blown himself up inside the bus as planned. Major General Yossi Sedbon, commander of the Tel Aviv police, rejected criticism that the two should have held on to the bomber until the police or army arrived, saying it was unreasonable to expect untrained civilians to behave as trained professionals.

Analysis / Arafat calls for calm between Fatah and Hamas

bad@netvision.net.il — Sat, 12 Oct 2002 03:28:54 GMT

Against the backdrop of continued tension between Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has ordered his representatives in Gaza to make every effort to avoid further clashes with Hamas activists. Notwithstanding Arafat's decision to transfer several high-ranking PA police officers from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, ahead of a possible conflict, the chairman stressed this week that he is keen to avoid a clash. Arafat made the comments at a meeting in his Ramallah headquarters between Fatah leadership, the PA cabinet and the Palestinian Liberation Organization's executive committee.

In contrast to Arafat's call for calm, there have been vocal calls from Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip for decisive action against Hamas. Among those leading the calls are: Mohammed Dahlan, Arafat's security adviser; Rashid Abu Shabak, head of the Gaza preventative security apparatus, whose men attacked Hamas activists after the assassination of a senior PA policeman; and Ahmed Halas, general secretary of the Fatah in the Gaza Strip. Many Fatah members are claiming that Hamas has amassed too much power in Gaza and that if the PA and Fatah do not show a display of power, those loyal to Arafat could find themselves ousted from their positions of power in the Strip.

On Thursday, the funeral was held in Gaza for Abu Lahiyeh, the policeman who was killed. Around 1,000 armed officers policed the funeral, which had all the characteristics of a state funeral. No untoward incidents were reported. The Palestinian press carried obituaries for "the holy martyr who fell while carrying out his duty," and the PA leadership said that in the days following the assassination, there had been no violent incidents between the sides.

In addition, meetings have been held in several parts of the Gaza Strip between various public bodies, in an attempt to find a solution to the crisis. The main problem seems to be that Hamas is unwilling to hand over the killers of Abu Lahiyeh. Hamas members are in effect continuing to protect the killers and are even refusing to try and persuade them to give themselves up under some form of plea bargain deal.

"We are continuing our contacts with our brothers in Fatah," said senior Hamas figure Ishmael Haniya on Thursday. Dr. Zechariah Al-Ara, a leading Gaza Fatah man and a member of the PLO's executive committee, says that his men have still not received unequivocal answers from Hamas to the request to hand over the killers.

An official Fatah statement calls on the organization's leadership to issue a resolute condemnation of the murder, while an official Hamas statement calls on "our brothers in Fatah to refrain from becoming embroiled in an internal rift, given the national need to stand united against the aggression of our common enemy."

A group of Palestinian National Council members met in Gaza to discuss the issue and convened a seven-member reconciliation committee, with representatives of the various factions. Among the members are two former cabinet ministers - Farah Abu Madin, the former PA justice minister, and Dr. Sa'adi Al-Karnaz, the former finance minister - as well as Nahad Al-Rais, former deputy chairman of the PNC.

Sources in Gaza said Thursday that Arafat's demand not to hound Hamas members and to reach some sort of agreement will calm things down for a while. But Fatah activists believe that within a short period of time, the Palestinian leadership will have no alternative but to confront Hamas head on, since Hamas' power and influence in Gaza have already exceeded that of Fatah.

Abdullah: Jordan closed to Palestinian refugees if war on Iraq

bad@netvision.net.il — Sat, 12 Oct 2002 03:28:25 GMT

AMMAN - Jordan said on Friday it was determined to block any flood of Iraqi or Palestinian refugees onto its territory in the event of a U.S.-led war against Iraq.

King Abdullah, whose country was swamped by Palestinian refugees when Israel was created in 1948 and by 1.5 million refugees after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, said in a television interview that steps were being taken to stop any new influx.

He told Saudi-owned MBC satellite television that Jordan would prevent any Israeli attempt to exploit chaos from any war in Iraq - threatened with a possible U.S. strike because of its alleged development of weapons of mass destruction - to trigger an exodus of Palestinians to his kingdom.

"Jordan will not receive any refugees.. neither Iraqis or others and will not allow the setting up of any camps for any refugees from Iraq whether they were Iraqis or any other nationalities on Jordanian territory," he said, according to an interview transcript issued before it was to be aired on Friday.

Jordan, wedged between Israel to the west and Iraq on its eastern border, would not even contemplate a transit role similar to 1990 for non-Iraqi refugees fleeing Iraq.

"If you are talking about passage of refugees back to their countries through Jordan then there should be camps for these travellers inside Iraq...and they would not be allowed to stop or stay on Jordanian soil," he added.

"We in Jordan realize the enormity of Palestinian suffering ...and our duty to support their steadfastness and their presence on their soil...and so our borders are firmly sealed against every effort to push Palestinians or expel them from their land."

Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher earlier confirmed Jordan had already toughened existing travel restrictions on entry of Palestinians to the country across the Jordan River's Allenby bridge, their only gateway to the outside world.

"We do not want to see a situation where the Israeli government might make use of a war on Iraq to transfer Palestinians into Jordan," Muasher told reporters, adding Amman did not trust Israeli assurances to the contrary.

New Gulf war?
Officials in Jordan, most of whose population is Palestinian, fear another major refugee problem caused by a bloody and prolonged new Gulf war.

Officials privately say contingency plans discussed with disaster relief bodies provide only for logistical support to facilitate passage of aid from Jordan to refugees inside Iraq.

King Abdullah also urged the West to compensate his country if conflict ruptures the flow of cheap Iraqi oil, the only source of energy for the kingdom that has saved its aid-dependent economy billions of dollars for a decade.

"In the event of a military action that ends in rupturing Iraqi oil to Jordan there should be an international arrangement that ensures supplies to Jordan," he added without elaborating.

The monarch again ruled out any use of Jordanian bases for U.S.-led military operations against Iraq.

Officials privately say Jordan, a major regional ally of Washington rewarded by hefty economic and military aid for its pro-U.S. policies, could be used as a search and rescue base in any future military operations in eastern Iraq.

Lod Mayor and ex-MK Maxim Levy dies of massive heart attack

bad@netvision.net.il — Sat, 12 Oct 2002 03:27:51 GMT

Lod Mayor and former MK Maxim Levy died Friday night at Assaf HaRofeh Hospital in Tel Aviv ater suffering a massive heart attack.

Levy, the brother of former foreign minister David Levy, was in critical condition when a Magen David Adom ambulance brought him to the hospital. After several attempts to resuscitate him at the hospital, which lasted about an hour, he was pronounced dead.

Levy, 52, served as a member of Knesset for the Gesher movement until a few months ago, when he resigned after being elected mayor of Lod, a position he had held previously. A law bars politicians from serving as both a mayor and a Knesset Member.

Levy was first elected to the Knesset in 1992 as a member of the Likud Party, but he, and his more politically-seasoned brother, David Levy, left Likud in 1993 to found Gesher. At the time they left, Maxim Levy was chairman of the Likud Central Committee.

In the 1996 elections, the Levy brothers again were part of the Likud list, but they maintained their status as members of Gesher. On the eve of the 1999 elections, Gesher joined Ehud Barak's One Israel list, and as a result, the two brothers were again elected to the Knesset without having to compete for a place on a political party's list. After David Levy resigned from his position as Barak's foreign minister, Gesher became an independent movement in the Knesset.

Following the 2001 elections, Maxim grew apart from his brother, who was not appointed a minister in Ariel Sharon's government, and as a result cut his ties to Likud and the prime minister. But Maxim elected to return to Likud and Sharon, with the goal of running as the party's candidate for mayor of Lod. This caused a rift between teh siblings, and on Knesset votes, David Levy often voted with the opposition when his brother was considered part of the Likud.

Suicide bomber nabbed next to U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv

bad@netvision.net.il — Sat, 12 Oct 2002 03:27:10 GMT

A major terror attack was averted in Tel Aviv on Friday night when a Palestinian suicide bomber was apprehended near the United States embassy before he could detonate the explosive belt he was wearing.

The bomber apparently intended to blow himself up in a nearby cafe on the popular Herbert Samuel beachfront promenade, which is lined with bars, restaurants and high-rise hotels and is usually packed on Friday night.

"At first the terrorist tried to enter the Hatayelet cafe. It's a very large cafe," said Shlomit Herzberg, chief spokeswoman for police in Tel Aviv.

"The security guard at the entrance to the cafe searched him and when he found the explosive vest, the man ran away and the guard chased him while calling for help from security personnel of the American embassy," she said.

The U.S. embassy, a prominent three-story brick building on the promenade, has both Israeli and American security guards.

Israeli security guards overpowered the man and called police. Herzberg said a bomb squad removed the man's explosive vest and it was being "neutralized."

The guard at the cafe was identified as Michael Sarkisov, a 30-year-old resident of Bat Yam. He immigrated to Israel about a year ago from Turkmenistan. A former soldier and policeman, Sarkisov said about 35 people were in the cafe when the man walked up to him. "He tried to come in and I checked him with a metal detector and he beeped."

"I asked him, 'What's that?' And he said, 'It's mine.'

"I said, 'I didn't ask whose it was, I said what is it?'" Sarkisov recalled.

"He put his hand in his pocket. I know what a bomb is. I was an officer in the Russian army."

Sarkisov said he grabbed at the attacker's hand and the man ran off toward the U.S. embassy. "I yelled, 'Terrorist!' and ran after him," he said.

Sarkisov said that embassy guards joined the chase and they caught the man just past the embassy, in front of a hamburger restaurant. Sarkisov said he grabbed the man's arm and shoved him against a car, which had a cracked windshield after the incident. "His head hit the windscreen," Sarkisov explained.

"We've had back to back days of terror activity against Israel," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office. "The Palestinian terrorists' steady stream of terror continues to flow into Israel and this averted attack in Tel Aviv tonight is ample proof."

The suspect, whose identity was not immediately available, was taken to a police station for questioning.

Attempted bombing comes one day after Israeli killed in suicide attack
The incident comes a day after one Israeli was killed and 29 injured in a suicide bombing on the Geha highway near Bnei Brak. If not for the courageous actions of the bus driver and another passenger, that bombing could have claimed many more lives.

The Geha attack took place at 7:50 A.M. at a bus stop near the Bar-Ilan overpass. The bomber initially tried to board Dan Bus No. 87 via the back door, but driver Baruch Neuman, who thought he was just someone trying to sneak on board without paying, shut the door in his face. The man then fell backward, and Neuman, thinking he was hurt, promptly stopped the bus and got out, along with two passengers, to administer first aid. Only then did they see the five-kilogram bomb strapped to his body.

At that point, Neuman and another passenger, Yonatan Direktor, grabbed the bomber's arms to keep him from detonating the explosives and ordered everyone in the vicinity to run. When they judged that the area had been cleared, they released the bomber and fled themselves - whereupon the bomber ran toward the nearest group of people and blew himself up, killing 71-year-old Sa'ada Aharon and wounding the others.

Police said that Neuman and Direktor undoubtedly saved lives, as many more people would have been killed had the bomber blown himself up inside the bus as planned.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The perpetrator was identified as Rafik Hamad, 31, a father of four from the village of Habla near Qalqilyah.

Tel Aviv District Commander, Major General Yossi Sedbon, said following Thursday's Bnei Brak bombing that police have received many warnings of plans to carry out terror attacks.

Abu Nidal reported dead in Baghdad

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:37:12 GMT

Abu Nidal, the Palestinian renegade whose attacks on Fatah leaders far outnumbered his attacks on Israelis and Jews, and whose name became a byword for international terrorism, was found dead in his Baghdad apartment over the weekend. It is unclear, however, whether he had been killed by a rival or by his Iraqi patrons, or had taken his own life, Palestinian sources said.

His body was found three days ago with gunshot wounds which apparently pointed to a suicide. Abu Nidal has spent years fighting cancer, a bad heart, and, according to some reports, an addiction to painkillers that he had taken to fight symptoms of leukemia.

The chain-smoking schoolteacher-turned-terrorist struck targets from Paris to Pakistan. His followers bombed airliners, mowed down travelers in airports, machine-gunned sidewalk cafes and synagogues and blew up hotels.

His most notorious - but not most fatal - attacks were twin assaults on El Al's ticket counters at Rome and Vienna airports on Dec. 27, 1985. Eighteen people were killed and 120 wounded in the two incidents. In another Abu Nidal attack, 21 people were killed at Istanbul's Neve Shalom synagogue.

The terrorist's group is not known to have ever attacked inside Israel and never maintained a significant presence in the West Bank or Gaza.

His most famous attack on an Israeli came in June 1982, when three gunmen seriously wounded then-ambassador Shlomo Argov in London, giving Menachem Begin's government the excuse it needed to implement then-defense minster Ariel Sharon's plan to invade Lebanon and push the PLO out of Beirut. Told it was Abu Nidal's men, not Arafat's, who shot Argov, then-chief of staff Rafael Eitan was reported to have said, "Nidal, Shmidal, they're all the same."

But since the early 1970s, Abu Nidal's real cause has been to fight Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, particularly Fatah, whom he charged had softened the struggle against Israel. The terrorist sometimes even accused Arafat of being a Mossad agent - something, in fact, many Palestinians believed of Abu Nidal, since his gunmen had killed a number of Arafat's most trusted lieutenants over the years.

The most famous Palestinian victim was Abu Iyad, who was murdered in the early days of the Gulf War in Tunis, and Issam Sartawi, who, with Arafat's approval, undertook secret dialogue with Israeli leftists such as Uri Avnery and the late Maj. Gen. (res.) Matti Peled in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Abu Nidal has been reported dead of cancer and of heart failure in the past. There have also been confirmed reports of his being hospitalized in East Germany before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, as well as being treated for leukemia in Cairo.

Born Sabri al-Banna in Jaffa in 1937, he was the son of a wealthy grove owner who was out of the country in 1948 and lost his property; the family's Jaffa house has since served as an IDF military court. The family moved to Nablus, and Abu Nidal eventually enrolled in a Cairo university at the same time as Arafat. Though he was not among Fatah's original founders, despite intimating that he was, Abu Nidal was one of the group's earliest members.

If indeed he has died, he took many of the darkest secrets about the financing of terrorism throughout the Arab world to his grave.

Bethlehem test starts as IDF pulls out

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:36:45 GMT

The "Bethlehem-and-Gaza-First" plan began yesterday with Bethlehem seeing Israel Defense Forces troops leaving the city and its suburbs of Beit Jalla and Beit Sahour south of Jerusalem in the morning and armed Palestinian police patrols arriving with Palestinian Police Commander Gen. Haj Ismail in the evening.

Israel now awaits action by the Palestinian Authority security forces in Gaza against the shooting and mortar incidents, which continued yesterday, before it begins implementing its easing of conditions there.

As of last night, Bethlehem residents said they thought they were still under curfew, but in effect, the IDF had pulled out of the center of the city, where it had not taken up any major positions over the past several weeks. Troops, however, remain outside Bethlehem, keeping a tight lid on possible attempts by terrorist to leave the city.

According to the agreement, hammered out on Sunday night at a Tel Aviv meeting between Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, accompanied by top army officers, and Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, Israel will allow the Palestinian security forces to take over security control in the city and if violence subsides, Israel will undertake significant moves to ease living conditions for the residents. These include issuing more permits to allow workers to enter Israel for work purposes, the easing of trade restrictions, and other measures aimed at making life easier for the city's residents.

The U.S. welcomed the move, which Israel regards as a test of Palestinian credibility.

On the Palestinian side, Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives slammed the agreement, saying it was a surrender on the part of the PA that would perpetuate the occupation. They vowed to step up their attempts to carry out terror operations inside Israel.

On the Israeli side, Minister Effi Eitam (National Religious Party) said the plan had been worked out "behind the government's back" and threatened to leave the government, saying Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Ben-Eliezer had "lost their leadership roles." He accused Ben-Eliezer of exploiting the army for internal Labor Party political reasons and warned that if Sharon didn't start including the NRP in his decision-making process, its two ministers would quit the coalition government.

In Bethlehem yesterday evening, Israeli and Palestinian officers met for several hours to work on the details of the Israeli departure and the entry of the Palestinian forces. Gen. Haj Ismail arrived with 14 armed policeman and went into a series of meetings with leaders of the various armed groups in the town.

The defense establishment now expects to see what it is calling "the start of Palestinian activity" against terrorist groups in Bethlehem. Israel has not laid down specific goals for the PA security officials, other than a "reduction in violence," but has made clear that Israeli moves to ease conditions will be conditioned on real efforts on the part of the Palestinians to reduce the violence from the town and its environs. Israel has also stressed that any terror attack originating from the city could bring back Israeli troops.

The Palestinians are calling the Bethlehem move, which Israel says will be followed by similar moves in Gaza if violence there subsides, "an opportunity" to reach wider calm throughout the territories. Security sources in Israel said they have heard "encouraging talk from the Palestinians."

"But we still have to wait to see what happens on the ground," the sources added.

According to a statement yesterday by Palestinian Labor Minister Hassan al Hatib, "The opportunity presented by the Bethlehem-and-Gaza-First deal will be a chance for the Palestinians to see if Israel is serious and withdraws as it promised, and ends its military moves in the territories, including the assassinations."

Speaking to an Itim news agency reporter, Hatib said that the understanding was "a positive move for forwarding the peace process and calming the territories."

In other developments, a government source in Jerusalem claimed that on Friday, ahead of the Sunday meeting, Ben-Eliezer had met with Muhammed Dahlan, the former head of Preventive Security in Gaza and now security advisor to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. The source said that Dahlan had attended alongside Yehiyeh and top PA security officials from the Bethlehem area. Ben-Eliezer's office in Tel Aviv denied there had been a Friday session.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the international task force to advance the reforms in the PA and provide humanitarian assistance to the residents of the territories will convene in Paris. For the first time, at the request of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the task force will meet together with Israeli and Palestinian representatives. Attending for Israel will be Yossi Gal, deputy director-general for economic affairs at the Foreign Ministry, while Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayad will attend for the PA.

A week later, David Satterfield, the United States' Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs arrives in the region for an assessment of the state of the reform efforts in the PA.

Peres visits Oslo, says no regrets since receiving Nobel Prize

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:36:09 GMT

OSLO - Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Tuesday shrugged off criticism from a member of the Norwegian Nobel committee and said he did not regret anything he had done since receiving the 1994 peace prize.

Earlier this year, committee member Hanna Kvanmo said she wished the award to Peres could be revoked after Israel launched a West Bank military offensive in March following a series of Palestinian suicide bombings.

On a visit to Norway, the home of the five-member committee, Peres also said he understood the reasons why the Nobel panel chose to share the award eight years ago with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

"I never asked for the Nobel prize. I never worked in order to get the Nobel Prize," Peres told reporters after talks with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen in Oslo.

"I would do exectly the same things if I did not get a Nobel prize," he said when asked about Kvanmo's criticism.

The controversy sparked by Kvanmo prompted the committee to issue an unprecedented news release in May saying that awards, once made, cannot be withdrawn.

The 1994 prize, which Peres shared with late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat, was controversial from the start, and caused one pro-Israeli committee member to quit in protest against the award to Arafat.

But Peres, Israel's leading dove, said Arafat deserved the award. "(Arafat) got the Nobel peace prize for reasons I can understand," Peres said. "He was the first Palestinian leader who told his people 'let's depart from terrorism, let's go for dialogue.'"

The peace prize, worth 10 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million), went to the United Nations and its Secretary-General Kofi Annan last year, the 100th anniversary of the first award. The prize is announced in mid-October.

CNN: Iraqi official says Abu Nidal dead, conspired against Iraq

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:35:28 GMT

According to a senior Iraqi government official, Palestinian guerilla leader Abu Nidal conspired against the government in Baghdad and in recent days committed suicide in the capital after he was confronted by security officials regarding his activities, CNN reported Tuesday.

According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Iraq suspected Abu Nidal of conspiring with opposition forces as well as Kuwait against the Iraqi government, the report said. He did not specify the nature of those activities.

The source said that about one year ago, Abu Nidal snuck into the country from neighboring Iran, using a fake passport, and was placed under house arrest a short time later.

Earlier Tuesday, a spokesman for Abu Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council said that the guerilla leader, who was reported Monday to have died in Baghdad, was "not dead."

The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The news is fabricated by the enemies' intelligence" - a reference to Israel and the United States.

"Abu Nidal is good health and continues to carry out his mission", he told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, in the Mar Elias Palestinian refugee camp at the outskirts of Beirut.

"It is not the first time the enemy services try to create such rumors," the spokesman said angrily. The FRC would issue an official statement regarding the matter, he added.

On Tuesday, the leading daily An Nahar and the London-based Al Hayat also quoted FRC officials who did not wish to be named as denying the news about Abu Nidal's death.

Palestinian media had reported Monday that the internationally-wanted Abu Nidal, 65, was found dead in his Baghdad flat. The Al-Ayyam newspaper in Ramallah reported he had apparently committed suicide. The Arabic news television network al- Jazeerah also said Abu Nidal was dead.

Quoting "well-informed Palestinian sources" they reported it was believed that an Iraqi force tried to arrest Abu Nidal, who then shot himself. However, the report did not exclude that the terrorist was murdered.

The Fatah Revolutionary Council split from Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1974 and is believed to be responsible for numerous terrorist attacks, killing or injuring almost 900 people.

Some sources believed Abu Nidal, whose original name was Sabri al- Banna, had been living in Iraq since the late 1980s, with reports in the past coming out that he was dead.

In another scenario, the Palestinian militant was said to have fled Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War for fear of capture by the United States.

Iraq blames Israel for Berlin embassy takeover

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:34:51 GMT

Iraq said Tuesday that the occupation of its embassy in Berlin earlier in the day was "terrorist aggression" by mercenaries of the Israeli and U.S. intelligence services.

A little know group of Iraqi dissidents calling themselves the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany, said they had taken control of the embassy in a statement faxed to news agencies.

German police authorities said that the Iraqi ambassador to Germany and an unknown number of other people were being held hostage inside the embassy.

"Armed terrorists from the mercenaries of the American and Zionist intelligence services attacked our embassy in Berlin, hurting an employee and holding the rest of the employees inside the building," the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Police said there had apparently been shooting during the takeover but that it was unclear whether real firearms or gas pistols had been used. Berlin's Info-Radio reported several exchanges of gunfire.

The group, which seized the embassy, could number up to 10, police said. A reporter from Germany's Deutsche Welle radio who contacted the hostage-takers by phone said they claimed to number 20.

Two people were injured during the takeover of the building but police said they were not seriously hurt and had not suffered gunshot wounds. Both escaped and were treated by emergency medical services at the scene.

Police said the Iraqi ambassador, Shamil A. Mohammed, was among at least four to six hostages being held in the embassy located in western Berlin's Zehlendorf district. A German diplomatic directory lists eight diplomats accredited to the Iraqi embassy in Berlin.

Armored police vehicles and special operations forces surrounded and sealed off the embassy in the leafy and normally quiet suburb favored by government officials and diplomats.

Police said they were seeking to negotiate with the hostage-takers but it was unclear what their demands were.

In the statement claiming responsibility for the takeover the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany said: "In the name of the Iraqi people and their legitimate leader, the Iraqi opposition, we declare that the liberation of Iraqi soil has begun today."

"We are taking over the Iraqi embassy in Berlin and thus taking the first step toward freeing our beloved homeland," said the statement.

The group said in its statement that the takeover was meant to take place in a peaceful manner and that it would only be for a limited duration.

No concrete demands linked to ending the embassy takeover were mentioned in the letter. Other Iraqi dissident groups in Germany said the takeover did not appear to be the work of mainstream movements working to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"These are 100 per cent not relevant forces in the Iraqi opposition," said Hans Branscheidt, a spokesman for the Coalition for a Democratic Iraq, adding that the hostage-takers were likely a splinter group of ex-members of the Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath party.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder announced earlier this month that Berlin would not supply troops nor funds for any military action against Baghdad.

Schroeder has since been presented on Iraqi state television as an example of how the west is split over a possible war.

Last week the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Daniel Coats, went to the chancellery to raise concerns about Germany's new position regarding strikes on Iraq.

There was speculation that Schroeder's "no" to joining any war against Iraq may have prompted the choosing of Berlin as the venue for Tuesday's embassy takeover.

PA arrests Palestinian suspected of helping IDF kill Hamas chief

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:34:22 GMT

A Palestinian university student gave Israel information that led to a Gaza air strike last month which killed a top Islamic militant and 15 other Palestinians, a senior Palestinian security official said on Tuesday.

Announcing the student's arrest, Rashid Abu Shbak, director of the preventive security force, said the suspected collaborator was recruited by Israeli intelligence two years ago and ordered to spy on Hamas military chief Salah Shehada.

Abu Shbak said the student, a resident of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, moved into Gaza City's Daraj neighbourhood to keep tabs on Shehada.

A one-ton bomb dropped by an Israeli F-16 in Daraj killed Shehada, his deputy and 14 other Palestinians, including nine children, on July 23. Israel said it had not intended to kill non-combatants.

Abu Shbak told a news conference that Israel launched the air raid after receiving a elephone call from its agent reporting Shehada's whereabouts.

He said the suspect would soon face trial. Relatives of those killed in the raid called at the news conference for the Palestinian Authority to execute the student.

Since assuming control of parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under interim peace deals with Israel, the Palestinian Authority has executed two men on grounds of collaboration with Israel. At least 20 have been gunned down by militants.

"The Israelis never stopped their attempts to recruit collaborators even when the peace process passed its best conditions," Abu Shbak said.

Soldier killed in Gaza; Ben-Eliezer warns PA to stop violence

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:33:39 GMT

Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Tuesday, after an IDF soldier was killed in heavy exchanges of gunfire in the Gaza Strip, that if the Palestinians do not stop the violence in Gaza, the army will.

"I told senior Palestinian officials about what happened (in Gaza) and said, 'If you don't take care of it, we will,'" Ben-Eliezer said. "If they want to live in peace, if they want to live in prosperity, if they want to open our gates to work in Israel...it is up to them."

Sergeant Kevin Cohen, 19, from Petah Tikva, was killed in heavy fighting between IDF troops at the Yakinton post and armed Palestinians near the Neveh Dekalim settlement. He was seriously wounded in the gunfire and later died of his wounds at the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva. Cohen's funeral will be held Tuesday evening at the military cemetery in Petah Tikva.

A 15-year-old Palestinian youth, Ayman Zua'rub, from Khan Yunis was also killed in the gunfight, Palestinian sources said.

The military wing of the Hamas movement said one of the group's snipers had opened fire from the Khan Yunis refugee camp in central Gaza and "hit the target," a soldier at an IDF post near the settlements of Gadid and Neve Dekalim.

A military source said there had been sporadic shooting at
the army post during the night and troops returned fire. The soldier was fatally wounded when shooting resumed from the direction of the camp after daybreak.

In the morning, an armed Palestinian was killed and another was injured in an exchange of fire between IDF troops and Palestinians in the Tul Karm refugee camp. The army said the dead Palestinian was a senior Tanzim member who was involved in several terror attacks, including dispatching suicide bombers to Israel, Israel Radio reported.

Troops entered the West Bank city of Tul Karm and took over its refugee camp early Tuesday, one day after the IDF pulled back from Bethlehem, beginning the implementation of Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer's "Gaza First" plan.

Soldiers were conducting house-to-house searches in the camp and IDF helicopters assisted the troops.

Israel Radio quoted IDF officials as saying there was an extensive terror infrastructure in Tul Karm, responsible for many terror attacks.

In the village of Al Yamun, near Jenin, IDF troops discovered a building with 25 pipe bombs. The IDF detonated the bombs and arrested two Palestinians.

PA police patrolling Bethlehem, build roadblocks in Strip
Palestinian security forces completed early Tuesday morning their deployment in Bethlehem, and Palestinian policemen were patrolling near Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

In the Gaza Strip, PA policemen built roadblocks on roads leading to settlements and examined Palestinian drivers' papers and vehicles. PA sources said the measures were taken to prevent Palestinians from firing mortars

The Fatah military wing on Monday joined Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in objecing to the 'Gaza and Bethlehem First' plan.

The plan began Monday with Bethlehem seeing IDF troops leaving the city and its suburbs of Beit Jalla and Beit Sahour, south of Jerusalem, in the morning and armed Palestinian police patrols arriving with Palestinian Police Commander Gen. Haj Ismail in the evening.

Israel now awaits action by Palestinian Authority security forces in Gaza against the shooting and mortar incidents, which continued Monday, before it begins implementing its easing of conditions there.

As of Monday night, Bethlehem residents said they thought they were still under curfew, but in effect, the IDF had pulled out of the center of the city, where it had not taken up any major positions over the past several weeks. Troops, however, remain outside Bethlehem, keeping a tight lid on possible attempts by terrorist to leave the city.

According to the agreement, hammered out on Sunday night at a Tel Aviv meeting between Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, accompanied by top army officers, and Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, Israel will allow the Palestinian security forces to take over security control in the city and if violence subsides, Israel will undertake significant moves to ease living conditions for the residents. These include issuing more permits to allow workers to enter Israel for work purposes, the easing of trade restrictions, and other measures aimed at making life easier for the city's residents.

The U.S. welcomed the move, which Israel regards as a test of Palestinian credibility.

On the Palestinian side, Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives slammed the agreement, saying it was a surrender on the part of the PA that would perpetuate the occupation. They vowed to step up their attempts to carry out terror operations inside Israel.

On the Israeli side, Minister Effi Eitam (National Religious Party) said the plan had been worked out "behind the government's back" and threatened to leave the government, saying Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Ben-Eliezer had "lost their leadership roles." He accused Ben-Eliezer of exploiting the army for internal Labor Party political reasons and warned that if Sharon didn't start including the NRP in his decision-making process, its two ministers would quit the coalition government.

Troops in Ramallah kill brother of PFLP leader Ahmed Saadat

bad@netvision.net.il — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:32:58 GMT

Elite IDF troops in Ramallah Tuesday killed the brother of Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The soldiers, from the Duvdevan brigade, entered downtown Ramallah, in all liklihood in order to arrest Mohammed Saadat, but Saadat opened fire, wounding two of the soldiers. The troops returned fire, killing him. The injured soldiers were taken to Hadassah Hospital, Mount Scopus in Jerusalem for treatment.

Ahmed Saadat has been under Palestinian detention since May 1, part of a deal that ended a 34-day Israeli siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. Israel holds Saadat responsible for planning the assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi in a Jerusalem hotel on Oct. 17, in retaliation for Israel's killing of Abu Ali Mustafa, Saadat's predecessor as head of the PFLP, on Aug. 27, 2001.

After the siege was lifted, Saadat and five other Palestinians were escorted by British and U.S. officials to a Palestinian prison in Jericho.