Posted on 11/17/2002 6:48:47 AM PST by SJackson
The Islamic Jihad terrorists who carried out Friday night's deadly attack in Hebron received financial and material aid from Iran, according to Palestinian Authority security sources.
According to one official, Iran has been channeling millions of dollars in funds to Islamic groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, particularly Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Even if Hamas and the PA agree to suspend suicide attacks inside the Green Line, Islamic Jihad would never accept a compromise, he said.
"Iran's goal is to torpedo any attempt to reach a cease-fire," said the official. "The PA may be out, but Iraq and Iran are already in."
The attack took place while representatives of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were busy in another part of the city, handing out large sums of money to families of Palestinians killed during the intifada.
At an event organized by the pro-Iraqi Arab Liberation Front (ALF), four families each received a check for $10,000 in honor of their sons who were killed by the IDF.
The four, Attiyeh al-Mashni, Ala Ayaydeh, and brothers Hisham and Husam Halaykeh, all from the village of Shayukh, were shot dead by soldiers last September. The IDF said at the time they were on their way to carry out an attack, but Palestinians described them as innocent laborers who were on their way to work.
Speakers at the event condemned the US for threatening to wage a war against Iraq, and Israel for escalating its military offensive in the West Bank.
Abbas Zaki, a top Fatah leader and Palestinian Legislative Council member from the Hebron area, said: "The aggression on Palestine and Iraq is the same. The link between Palestine and Iraq, which has been consolidated by the leader Saddam Hussein, is inseparable."
Rateb al-Amleh, the ALF representative in the Hebron area, told the families that Iraq under Saddam would never relinquish its national duty of supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.
According to Palestinian sources, at least 50 families from the Hebron region have thus far benefited from Saddam's generous handouts. But Saddam is not the only player.
All that is left of the PA in Hebron is its symbols, visible on signs hanging outside official institutions. Hebron has always been a stronghold of Muslim fundamentalism and some of the most dangerous Hamas cells emanated from the city.
That is perhaps why Iran's ayatollahs have encountered no difficulty in establishing bases of power in Hebron, the sources said.
http://www.irna.com/en/head/021117174652.ehe.shtml
Jewish settlers calls for slaughter of Palestinians following guerilla attack
Al-Khalil, Nov 16, IRNA -- Messianic Jewish settlers bent on expelling non-Jews from what they describe as their God-promised land have urged the Zionist regime and army to kill Palestinians en mass in retaliation for Friday's Palestinian resistance attack in al-Khalil that killed 13 Israeli soldiers.
The call was made Sunday by Jewish settler leaders in the West Bank as well as by some Israeli cabinet ministers who demanded that Palestinian population centers be bombed out and Palestinians deported.
''The army must end the existence of those who stand against the Jews,'' said settler leader and former Zionist minister Benny Elon.
Elon, who advocates the expulsion of non-Jews from Palestine, added that ''those who don't accept our rule here should be killed.''
Heeding the settlers' call for further persecution of Palestinians, the Israeli occupation army on Sunday destroyed six Palestinian homes in al-Khalil and the nearby towns of Yatta and Dura.
The ruthless demolitions rendered more than sixty Palestinian men, women and children homeless.
In addition, Zionist Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared during a brief visit to the town Sunday that hundreds of Palestinian homes ought to be destroyed to create what he called ''demographic Jewish continuity'' between the settlement of Kiryat Arba'a and the small Jewish enclaves in the city.
Sharon said Israel should take advantage of ''current atmosphere'' to strengthen Jewish settlement activity in the city.
Meanwhile, the Zionist chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, who also visited the city, ordered his troops to step up acts of repression against the inhabitants of Hebron.
Ya'alon reportedly instructed the Israeli army to destroy more homes and open fire on any Palestinian violating the collective house arrest imposed on the inhabitants of al-Khalil.
Al-Khalil was placed under a hermetic curfew for the past 48 hours and Palestinians seen in the streets are shot at by Israeli soldiers patrolling the city aboard armored personnel carriers with heavy machineguns mounted on them.
Moreover, army snipers have been posted on strategic rooftops, ostensibly to ''enforce the curfew.''
So far, the Israeli army carried out mass arrests and indulged in widespread acts of vandalism and ransacking.
Jewish settlers were also ''granted time to vent their anger and frustration'' by attacking Palestinian civilians and vandalizing their businesses and property.
Initially, Israeli officials and media sought to mislead the world public opinion by falsely claiming that Palestinian guerillas had attacked Jewish worshipers.
However, after the deliberate disinformation had its public relations effect, the Israeli press, including the settler press, admitted that the Islamist guerillas had targeted only crack Israeli soldiers and paramilitary settlers.
Israel considers all forms of Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation and apartheid acts of terror irrespective of whether the people targeted are soldiers, armed settlers or civilians.
Palestinians argue that they have an inalienable right to resist the Israeli military occupation with all means at their disposal.
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