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Sniper Kills 10 More Israelis
Las Vegas Sun ^ | 3 March, 2001

Posted on 03/03/2002 3:24:51 PM PST by Jhoffa_

Sniper Kills 10 More Israelis


JERUSALEM- Taking aim from a hilltop, a sniper killed 10 soldiers and civilians at a checkpoint Sunday in the deadliest of a two-day string of Palestinian attacks that killed 21 Israelis.

Israel sent tanks and helicopters on retaliatory raids that hit several Palestinian Authority security targets, killing four Palestinian policemen, while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Cabinet weighed additional military action.

Following the weekend bloodletting, Sharon huddled with senior government ministers and security officials and his office issued a statement just before midnight saying that the inner security Cabinet had approved military plans for ongoing attacks on Palestinian targets.

"Ministers approved an operational program presented by the army to apply constant military pressure on the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian terror organizations," the statement said. "Its object is to halt Palestinian terror." It gave no further details.

Recent days have seen some of the worst carnage in months, and bitter comments by both sides pointed to further confrontations.

"There is no alternative but to put an end to (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat's rule," Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Naveh said in remarks that are expressed with increasing frequency in Israel.

Speaking during an official visit to Mexico, Israeli President Moshe Katsav also denounced Arafat and called on Palestinians to question his leadership.

"The Palestinian people should ask which achievement their president brought to them in the last 18 months," Katsav said in Mexico City. "He must, he should do something to stop the violence."

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for three of the four lethal attacks carried out in a 12-hour period from Saturday night to Sunday morning, including the checkpoint shooting.

Militants had vowed to strike after Israeli forces pushed into two Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank last Thursday in search of militants believed responsible for earlier violence. During the incursions, 23 Palestinians were killed in three days, including gunmen, policemen and civilians.

"The Palestinian leadership considers the recent Israeli escalation ... to be aimed at destroying peace and security in the whole region," the Palestinian Authority said in a statement.

The Sunday morning shooting occurred at the military roadblock near the Palestinian village of Silwad. The army described it as an ambush carried out by a single sniper.

The gunman had a clear view from a hill overlooking the checkpoint. After the first Israeli was struck by gunfire, soldiers began climbing the steep hill toward the gunman and more were hit, witnesses said.

An army helicopter soon reached the area, but the assailant had escaped, said Hezi Tsur, a paramedic at the scene.

The dead included seven soldiers and three civilians. Six people were injured, the army and rescue services said.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades circulated a leaflet saying the shooting was in response to Israeli army actions in the two refugee camps.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a group of soldiers early Sunday along a road that runs on the Israeli side of the fence between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.

One soldier was killed and four soldiers were wounded, the army said. The military wing of the radical group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for that attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press.

The pair of Sunday morning attacks followed a suicide bombing by a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Saturday night in a crowded ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem. The bombing killed nine Israelis and wounded dozens.

The dead included two babies, one seven months and the other 18 months, and children ages 3, 7, 12 and 15.

"I searched the streets like a mad person, street by street - it was crowded with people and I just screamed and screamed," said Aviva Nachmani, who eventually found her three children unharmed.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades also said it shot dead an Israeli police detective riding a motorcycle Saturday night along a desert trail in the West Bank, near Jerusalem.

Israel says Arafat bears responsibility for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and could halt their attacks if he was serious about ending the Palestinian violence.

Palestinian leaders denounced the suicide bombing and again said they oppose violence against civilians. But they say they cannot tell Palestinians to put down their weapons at a time when the Israeli military is regularly operating in Palestinian areas.

In retaliatory action Sunday, Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian intelligence office south of Nablus, and the Palestinians said a policemen was killed.

Palestinians also reported a policeman killed when Israeli forces shelled a police installation outside Ramallah in the West Bank.

Two more policemen died when Israeli troops fired on a police post in the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, the Palestinians said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces on Sunday pulled out of the Balata refugee camp on the edge of Nablus, where troops had searched for militants and weapons since Thursday.

In the Jenin refugee camp, about 20 miles away, the Israeli forces pulled out Saturday, but sent at least eight tanks back into the camp on Sunday afternoon, camp residents said.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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To: American in Israel
Freepmail....
181 posted on 03/03/2002 10:42:14 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma
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To: Jhoffa_
Oh my gosh, I guess this means Israel needs to pull back or maybe get really mean and upset and bomb an empty building. That'll show em.
182 posted on 03/03/2002 10:58:40 PM PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: wirestripper
The U.S. is largely responsible for holding the Israelis back. They have not yet loosened the ropes.

Don't blame the United States. Sharon recently said that Colin Powell had just told him in a phone conversation that the U.S. understands and fully supports Israel's need to defend itself. Sharon's problem is that his support among the Israeli public is slipping dramatically. The Likud wants him to drive the Palestinians back across the Jordan. But if he does Labor will pull out of his coaltion, the government will fall and he'll have to call for new elections, which, if the polls are any indication, he'll easily lose to Netanyahu. So to stay in power, Sharon does enough to satisfy the right wingers but not so much as to offend the left. It's not much of a policy and it prevents him from taking any bold action to settle this once and for all (including taking risks for peace).

Sharon's only hope (I've said this before) is for the U.S. to attack Iraq. Saddam will retaliate by firing SCUDS at Israel. The Palestinians will go wild with joy and stage massive attacks on Israelis. Sharon will send in the IDF, ostensibly to stop the violence but actually to drive the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank at a time when the eyes of the rest of the world are on the U.S. war with Iraq.

But Sharon can't do anything till the U.S. attacks Iraq. That's why he's so frustrated. He won't have the moral capital to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians till the U.S. attacks Iraq and Saddam in turn attacks Israel. In the meantime, he just has to sit there and take it.

183 posted on 03/03/2002 11:16:03 PM PST by DentsRun
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To: DentsRun
Interesting! You give me food for thought. This kinda stuff is way over my international relations pay grade. However, the U.S. stopped them before. We got our friggin lightweights over here too. See what Dashole is doing? Makes my head hurt thinking about it.
184 posted on 03/03/2002 11:27:30 PM PST by Cold Heat
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To: ckilmer
likely that sniper wasn't palestinian but rather some guy right off the boat from afghanistan

_______________________

This could well be. Israelis should have taken cover. Very stupid what they did to charge up the hill after him. This won't happen again.

185 posted on 03/04/2002 1:08:02 AM PST by dennisw
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To: Jhoffa_
Ben-Eliezer answered: "It's an easy question. We thought that they would behave themselves."
186 posted on 03/04/2002 2:32:39 AM PST by American in Israel
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To: PhilDragoo
And I keep reading and hearing from friends that the CIA trained them.

Psalm 137:8

187 posted on 03/04/2002 2:34:36 AM PST by Jeremiah Jr
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To: Jhoffa_
Hmmm, I oops'd it. This one should work.

Link to sniper article

CIA Trained PA Snipers With Israeli Knowledge

(DFJ-Sep/Oct '01) Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer acknowledged on July 1, 2001, that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) trained PLO death squads in the United States with the approval of the Barak Government and Mr. Shimon Peres, currently Foreign Minister in the Sharon Government and formerly Minister of Regional Cooperation in the Barak Government.

Ben-Eliezer was asked by a reporter if 40 Palestinian Police sent to the US for advanced CIA sniper, marksmanship and advanced weapons training, with Israeli knowledge and permission, are now using this skill to inflict harm on Israelis and Palestinian "collaborators."

Ben-Eliezer answered: "It's an easy question. We thought that they would behave themselves."

188 posted on 03/04/2002 2:36:39 AM PST by American in Israel
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To: dennisw
The OSLO accords enabled the setting up of a Palestinian "police" force of 18000. Arafat covertly increased the number to over 40,000 and trained them as an army. The CIA trained and equiped a number of Palestinian policeman as snipers to enable them to deal with the terrorists. These same policeman by day join the terrorists at night tp practice their craft.
189 posted on 03/04/2002 2:54:31 AM PST by anapikoros
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To: PhilDragoo;dennisw
CIA Trained PA Snipers With Israeli Knowledge

(DFJ-Sep/Oct '01) Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer acknowledged on July 1, 2001, that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) trained PLO death squads in the United States with the approval of the Barak Government and Mr. Shimon Peres, currently Foreign Minister in the Sharon Government and formerly Minister of Regional Cooperation in the Barak Government.

Ben-Eliezer was asked by a reporter if 40 Palestinian Police sent to the US for advanced CIA sniper, marksmanship and advanced weapons training, with Israeli knowledge and permission, are now using this skill to inflict harm on Israelis and Palestinian "collaborators."

Ben-Eliezer answered: "It's an easy question. We thought that they would behave themselves."

Reference: "Israel Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer acknowledges CIA trained PLO Death Squads with Shimon Peres’ Approval" questions by Aryeh Gallin at Foreign Press Association conference 7/1/01

190 posted on 03/04/2002 3:09:33 AM PST by anapikoros
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To: Congressman Billybob
Keep in mind these 10 dead in proportion to total population would be 200 dead in the US

Israel's Jewish population approx 5 million.

USA population (mid 2001) 285 million

Israel:US = 1:57, 10 Israeli deaths = 570 in US.

Since this intifada started over 230 Israelis killed, equivalent to over 13,000 in US. That's how many Sept 11's?

191 posted on 03/04/2002 3:22:25 AM PST by anapikoros
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To: Brusensky
Average sniper is quite effective in the 600 meter range. Good snipers to 800 and the stars out to 1000+. So 300 is probably easy shooting for a marksman let alone a sniper.

from http://www.vpc.org/studies/sniper.htm "The longest confirmed sniper kill of the Gulf War was reported to have been made by a Barrett Model 82A1 sniper rifle at a range of 1,800 meters—nearly 2,000 yards, or almost 10 times a deer hunter's maximum effective range. Numerous engagements with large, 50 caliber guns during the war took place at 1,600 meters (about 1,750 yards). From the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, this range would allow accurate firing as far as the Smithsonian Metro station on the Mall. "

192 posted on 03/04/2002 3:44:29 AM PST by anapikoros
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To: ppaul
They're little children. They are doing what their parents tell them to do. The evil is in the parents not in these children.
193 posted on 03/04/2002 3:50:52 AM PST by Illbay
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To: Rustynailww
(LOL)I've noticed. Once they kill everyone there will be peace through Islam.
194 posted on 03/04/2002 3:53:48 AM PST by kickme
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To: TigerLikesRooster
EU will cry foul.

If Israel decides to blow its nose the EU will cry foul. Their opinion just doesn't matter to me anymore. I pity effeminate socialists.

195 posted on 03/04/2002 4:45:45 AM PST by rdb3
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To: alphadog
Give the Truth a break? Not me, never.

Pro 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

196 posted on 03/04/2002 5:07:07 AM PST by Aquamarine
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To: wcbtinman
Large cajones to shoot children? Too bad someone doesn't step on yours punk.
197 posted on 03/04/2002 5:20:29 AM PST by willyone
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To: neutrino
And GW wants to legalize and encourage millions more to come. Before the fat lady sings those cheap workers and Dem. voters are going to prove very expensive. Very expensive.
198 posted on 03/04/2002 5:25:14 AM PST by willyone
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To: Ciexyz
When we contemplate our military actions, we should remember the simple philosophy:

W.W.G.L.D?

What would General LeMay do?

199 posted on 03/04/2002 5:38:27 AM PST by ScholarWarrior
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To: Brusensky
I agree with your assesment. As an aside, I've got 2 "store bought" rifles in .308 that are this capable. The problem is with the shooter and the lack of time to practice, practice, practise. I've also got an old Russian M44 with a hundred dollar scope and a modern stock that will shoot almost this good.
200 posted on 03/04/2002 6:31:54 AM PST by wcbtinman
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