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Footage shows terrorists using UN-marked vehicle
THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 1, 2004

The Israel Defense Forces released video footage Friday taken by an unmanned aircraft showing what appeared to be Palestinians in the Gaza Strip loading rockets into a vehicle marked "U.N."

The black-and-white footage, taken by a drone - or unmanned aircraft - flying over the Gaza Strip, showed the militants driving off in the white van, with "U.N." marked in black on its roof.

The IDF is furious at the United Nations representatives in the Gaza Strip, "who continuously stress that they are an international organization and of course is not in any way involved in terrorism," Channel 1 TV quoted IDF officials as saying.

Israel has often accused terrorists of using United Nations vehicles and headquarters to launch attacks. U.N. officials were not immediately available for comment.

Israel has also accused officials of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, responsible for caring for thousands of refugees in the Gaza Strip, of turning a blind eye to terrorist activities in their vicinity, and of clear bias against Israel.

Israel uses drones to monitor activities in the crowded Gaza refugee camps. The footage provides soldiers and pilots real-time pictures of what is happening on the ground.

Friday's footage was released while the army launched a widescale operation in the Jebaliya refugee camp and nearby towns in an attempt to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on towns in Israel. Those rocket attacks killed two Israeli preschoolers Wednesday.

Thirty-five Palestinians have been killed in the army operation.

Further footage showed other Palestinians loading a rocket into the back of an unmarked van. The terrorists drove off in the vehicle, and then an Israeli missile fired from a helicopter hit the van and blew it up. The incident occurred early Friday, according to the army.

htp://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1096611627649

From a Virtual Shadow, Messages of Terror

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 2, 2004; Page A01

SAN FRANCISCO -- He calls himself Abu Maysara al Iraqi, or father of Maysara the Iraqi, and he's a master at being everywhere and nowhere in the virtual world, constantly switching his online accounts and taking advantage of new technologies to issue his communiqués to the world.

American Internet sleuths know next to nothing about him, whether Abu Maysara is his real name, whether he's an Iraqi or even whether he's in Iraq. What is clear is that he is one of the most important sources of information from the country's insurgency, getting his message out through the Internet, and U.S. authorities are trying to silence him.

His updates, terse and business-like, are released several times a week on radical Islamic Web sites. Acting as a spokesman for Abu Musab Zarqawi, the most-wanted guerrilla leader in Iraq, he variously reports attacks on U.S. soldiers and killings of hostages. His words and images reach millions of people when they open their newspapers, turn on their TVs or go online in search of news.

"There's no way of stopping it anymore," said Evan F. Kohlmann, a counter-terrorism consultant. "It's extremely frustrating. They can send out quality videos to millions of people uncensored." (snip)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1570-2004Oct1.html