Posted on 07/30/2002 3:38:02 PM PDT by flamefront
DichterAvi Dichter, head of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, warned Tuesday of an expected wave of suicide bombing attacks in the near future. He disclosed that there are 60 current warnings of Palestinians intending to carry-out suicide attacks against Israel.
Speaking before the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, Dichter reported that 12 attacks were thwarted in the last few days. Dichter was quoted as saying that if there were a buffer zone in the West Bank, like the one between Israel and Gaza Strip, the Israeli army would be able to withdraw from areas under full Palestinian security and civil control. According to Israel Radio, Dichter said that 91 suicide bombings had been carried out since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, with 86 of the bombers coming from the West Bank.
Dichter said that the assassination of Salah Shehada last week in the Gaza Strip had been ?successful,? but that the operation itself had been a failure. According to Dichter, "The damage that Shehada caused to the state of Israel does not pale in comparison to the damage that bin Laden caused the United States."
According to him, 2,259 Palestinians were being detained by Israel, 138 of whom were suspected of planning to perform suicide bombings. Dichter also spoke out against any plans to exile Yasser Arafat from the occupied territories, as is advocated by right-wing Israeli elements. "His presence in the West Bank is problematic, but his expulsion to a foreign country would be even worse for Israel," Dichter commented.
Meanwhile, Hamas rejected Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's latest efforts to broker a halt to its attacks against Israeli civilians. "A ceasefire from the Palestinian side will only whet the appetite of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon to strike us and attack us again," Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas spokesman from the Gaza Strip, told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite news channel.
"What point is there in a dialogue between Palestinians that is aimed only at giving the Israeli entity concessions for free?" the Hamas leader asked.
"Why has the world not opened a dialogue with the Israeli entity with the goal of obtaining an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories, a halt to the aggression and the lifting of the blockades," he added. And Zahar reiterated Hamas' call for revenge in response to the July the killing of Shehade and 14 others, including nine children.
"The retaliation ... must give comfort to the parents of the victims in Gaza," he said. "The moment of the reprisal is not so important. What counts is the result," Zahar added.
In a related development, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, is planned to meet US Reverend Jesse Jackson on Wednesday, Hamas officials said. "The US leader asked to meet leaders of Hamas during his visit to Gaza tomorrow and Sheikh Yassin welcomed this idea," Ismail Haniya, a Hamas official in Gaza City, told AFP Tuesday.
Yassin will accept Jackson at his home, where the American human rights activist will also meet other top officials from Hamas, Haniya said. "We said yes to this public meeting to permit us to explain our point of view. We will tell him of the suffering endured by our people and we will affirm our right to resist the occupation in conformity with international law," Haniya conveyed. (Albawaba.com)
Target Rich Environment. . . God I prey Jessie is bugged and tracked to the Hamas Lair.
Folks when I say Hymie Town, Old Yassa, he be knowin what I means!!!
Maybe because the world sees a world of difference between agression or blockades and blowing up innocent teenagers and old people.
I should point out that, in Palie-speak, refraining from sending hails of screws and nails to rend the flesh of your children and your grandmothers is considered a major "concession".
What is he doing as head of internal Israeli security sending out these alarms? How did he get there?
BINGO !
A present from Yasser. It be stylin'!
The Israeli entity huh?
I do not understand why the Israelis are holding back, but if they are waiting for the "big" one, I hope we, the USA, deliver before they needlessly endure another vile, inhuman attack, in the vain hope of UN support, which will never come.
PS, as a strictly personal favor, I would consider myself in Israels debt if JJ happens to become accidental victim of, ahem, collateral civilian damage...
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