Posted on 03/29/2002 9:57:13 PM PST by GeronL
48 Hours of Bloodshed - 31 Killed, Over 150 Wounded
(29 March – 15:31) Since the beginning of the Passover holiday on Wednesday night, 31 people have been killed in Oslo War battles and terrorist attacks, and over 150 wounded.On Wednesday night at about 7:30pm, a bomber detonated an explosive device in the dining hall of the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya. 22 persons were killed and over 130 wounded. Many remain in serious condition at this time.
On Thursday night, a terrorist succeeded in infiltrating into the Shomron community of Elon Moreh. He murdered four people.
On Friday morning, two were murdered in a knife attack in the Gush Katif community of Netzarim.
IDF officer Second Lt. Boaz Pomerantz was killed by PA gunfire this morning during the army incursion into PA-controlled Ramallah. Three soldiers were wounded.
At 1:55pm Friday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in a SuperSol supermarket in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood of Jerusalem. Two were killed and over 25 wounded.
Security forces nationwide remain on heightened alert due to ominous intelligence community warnings of imminent attacks. Police have called on citizens to carry their side arms with them when leaving home, including to synagogue for Sabbath and holiday services. The army has begun a call-up of standing forces, ordering them to return from holiday leave, and reservists from combat units are also being activated as the war against PA terrorism expands.
Yesha (Judea, Samaria, & Gaza) communities remain on heightened alert against attacks over the holiday week. The government during the night gave its approval for activating up to 20,000 army reservists.
Amen.
ALL of you are in my prayers.
To bed now.
Arafat has managed to put himself on TV tonight as the victim.
It's VERY scarey.
http://www.aish.com/wallcam/Window_on_the_Wall.asp
Although "isolating Arafat" is the public reason given by the Israelis for crashing into his HQ, I'm pretty sure the real reason they went in was precisely for what you described: intelligence on the many terrorist groups Arafat is connected with and controls. The Israelis aren't lying, though, when they say they want to isolate him, because doing so to the extent they have will disrupt these groups -- mainly their money supply.
You can be sure Arafat is being even more closely monitored now than ever before, and now he can't use couriers to sneak messages past the Israeli perimeter. That means he has lost the most important tool he has ever had: secrecy. Any activities he directs now are subject to easy interception and analysis by Israel's excellent intelligence agencies. Using this and other methods, they will be able to quickly hunt down and eliminate large numbers of terrorists, and scare most of the rest away. The halcyon days of easy terrorism by the Arabs in Israel may finally be coming to an end.
The Israelis have reportedly seized significant quantities of documents and weapons, and probably a lot of terrorist payroll money, since Arafat has tightly controlled the purse strings of his minions in Force 17, Fatah, Tanzim, etc. Needless to say, cutting off at least part of the money supply to the terrorist groups will not make them happy, and there will be a spike in violence. However, if the Israelis continue to do what they appear to be resolved to do, these groups will start falling apart, and bribe money for informants on terrorist activities will go much farther than it already does (which is pretty far already).
It is a dangerous and winding course the Israelis must negotiate to end Arafat's reign of terror, but if they're doing what I think they're doing, they will prevail on all fronts.
Imal
However, they are smarter than that: what they say and what they think is different, and every Arab understands that. This kind of "sophistry" is, in fact, viewed as wisdom there.
To an Arab, things are arranged very simply. Against a non-Mulsim, a Muslim can do no wrong.us, whatever the issues discussed in relation to Palestinians, and Arafat in particular, vs. America, Israel, and Europe, there will be not a negative word about them. Kill the elderly srtuggling to wak to the supermarket. Kill a child entering his teens during the celbration of that even. Kill a bride during a wedding. Nothing is off limits.
Once we step into the inter-Muslim relations, a new rule applies, strikingly, with the same completeness andextremism: Against a Muslim non-Arab an Arab can do no wrong. In any disagreement between an Arab and a Turk, therefore, the Arab is always right. No matter what he does; this may include all of the above things that the Arabs do against Jews and Christians. The same,of course, applies in conflicts between Arabs and Persians in Iran.
Finally, we step into the inter-Arab relations. Here the tribalism kicks in, and ancient perceptions dominate as to who is "civilized" and who is not; who is the true reinforcer of the Caliphate and who is not; etc. In this regard, Palestinian Arabs are kept at the bottom of the pecking order and treated accordingly. Just read about the treatment the Saudis afford them. THreat how Jordanians deal with then. CNN tries not to remind us of that, but Arafat's "fighters" destroyed Lebanon in the 1970s after they were kicked out from Jordan: they have staged a takeover attempt, which was suppressed in blood, with about 30,000 killed in a matter of weeks. Not a word of dismay from any of the Arab countries at the time. Why? Oh, but we are talking about Palestinians! Incidentally, the now disputed land was aunder the Jordanian control before the 1967 war. Not a word about the Palestinian state at the time! And when Arafat tried to take subvert and over Jordan by force --- mass killings transpired, not "excursions" with tanks as Israeli do. No demolishing of buildings wither: swift retribution with tens of thousand dead. Not a word from the rest of the Arabs. Why? But we are talking about the Palestinians.
As you see the rules are simple. It is not hard to understand them intellectually. What is hard for us in the West is that, by relying on Judeo-Chrisitan morality, we think in terms of issues and what is rigth vs. what is wrong, whereas the Arabs take sides with the actors, not issues.
This is as old as the world itself. If it is going to change, the process will take centuries. WHat we have to do is (i) fully understand the degree of divide and (ii) not be fooled by what Arabs say. But we fall for its every time and excuse, time and time again, when they backtrack on their own words, when we catch them in their most blatant lies and double --- nay, triple, quadruple --- standads.
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