Free Republic

Bush forces UN refugee chief to go Israeli pressure backed by conservative and Jewish groups in US stops reappointment of controversial head of relief agency Chris McGreal in Gaza City Thursday January 20, 2005 The Guardian The Bush administration has blocked the reappointment of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency chief, Peter Hansen, after a campaign by conservative and Jewish groups in the US, and the government in Jerusalem which accused him of being an "Israel hater". Some European and Arab governments were keen for Mr Hansen to stay on at the end of his nine-year tenure but the US supported...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2005 -- Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit arrested nine suspected insurgents during operations in western Anbar province today. One of those arrested was part of a group seen setting up an improvised rocket system aimed at a U.S. Marine camp nearby. Marines observed seven individuals emplacing the system near their position and requested close-air support. Three 107 mm rockets, with time-delay devices prepped for launch toward Camp Korean Village, were destroyed. In detaining the one individual at a housing complex nearby, the Marines discovered four AK-47 assault rifles and 2,460 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition....

Arab terrorists Saturday continued to bombard Israel with mortar shelling and rockets, one of which exploded near a major power facility. A Kassam rocket fell Friday south of the Ashkelon power plant, just north of Gaza and within Israel's pre-1967 borders. Critics of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan have pointed out that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would bring the power plant within striking range of Kassam rockets. The Ashkelon facility is Israel's major source of electricity besides the facility near Hadera, north of Tel Aviv. Another Kassam exploded near the community dining room of a kibbutz (collective community)...