Posted on 12/29/2005 8:21:41 AM PST by jmc1969
WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda operatives are establishing a base in Gaza for launching attacks against Israel and neighboring pro-American Arab regimes, current and former Israeli security officials say.
Officials in Jerusalem and Washington are following this development with concern, Israeli and American sources said. They see the move as part of Al Qaeda's long-term plan to attack U.S. interests in the region. Using Gaza as a base of operations, Al Qaeda would be able to launch attacks against Israel, as well as against Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Israeli and American terrorism experts say.
Israel has become a more attractive target for Al Qaeda with the growing influence of the organization's leader in Iraq, Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, who places a higher priority than Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden did on attacking Israeli and Jewish targets, as the Forward first reported last year.
"Zarqawi has been saying for some time that after the battle in Iraq is won, the next phase will be the liberation of the Al Aqsa," the mosque in Jerusalem that is Islam's third holiest site, said Yoram Kahati, a former Israeli intelligence officer.
"The battle for Palestine, as Zarqawi sees it, is the ultimate one," said Kahati, now a research fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism of the Israel Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
(Excerpt) Read more at forward.com ...
You have just given me a good chuckle, and some comfort too, thank you, I have been so angry over them giving into those evil creeps,{Gaza strip}...but this maybe is a good thing after all,...yep, "fishies in a barrel", good thinking.
You gotta' love Israel, and I hope it happens while GW is in office. That damned Zarqawi is so full of himself, but this is good,when your head is so "swollen", you become careless!!
It's another result of our road map to Europe's heart.
That's probably why a family was recently kidnapped there...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.