Free Republic

Ahmed Kawasmeh, one of the two suicide bombers who carried out Tuesday's attacks in Beersheba, was released recently from a Palestinian Authority prison, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Sources in Hebron said Kawasmeh, 22, was arrested several months ago by the PA security forces in the city on charges of membership in Hamas and planning attacks against Israel. They said Kawasmeh was held for several weeks before he was released. It's not clear why he was released or if he had been questioned about his plan to carry out a suicide attack. A PA security source said he was not...

Gaza Palestine Satellite TV Channel in Arabic, official television station of the Palestinian Authority, carries at 0950 GMT on 30c April 2004 a live sermon from Shaykh Zayid Al Nuhayyan mosque in Gaza. Shaykh Ibrahim Mudayris delivers the sermon that he devotes to the prophet's birthday. But, he also alludes to the predicament of the Palestinians and blames Arabs and Muslims for not making a single move. The imam continues with the same theme in the second sermon. He praises the prophet and Islamic message, saying: "We are advocates of peace. We do not fight for the sake of fighting....

Farouk Kaddoumi, the PLO's hard-line "foreign minister," said Thursday that when Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat talks about the need to pursue the struggle against Israel, he is referring to the armed struggle. Kaddoumi said the armed struggle was the only way to force Israel to accept the demands of the Palestinians. Kaddoumi's remarks were made in an interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab. He admitted that the PLO charter, which denies Israel's right to exist, was never changed. In response to a question what does Arafat mean when he talks about the continuation of the struggle, Kaddoumi, who is...

An attack using AIDS-infected blood was among several planned suicide attempts, two by women, that security forces thwarted over the Passover holiday, which ended Monday night. One of two Tanzim activists caught at the end of March told interrogators the group that sent them had planned a series of other attacks, including one with a device to which blood infected with AIDS would be attached. Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security sources, however, agree that the plan had not reached a practical stage. Another planned attack was a triple suicide bombing by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip. Sa'id...

Thousands of people took part in dozens of demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the weekend in support of the armed uprising of the Shi'ites and Sunnis in Iraq against the U.S. and coalition forces. The military wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah used the demonstrations as an opportunity to call for an escalation of the intifada. The largest demonstrations took place in the Gaza Strip. At one protest, senior Islamic Jihad member Mohammed al-Hindi called for participants to "learn the lesson of the Iraqi intifada and the determination of the groups in Iraq to expel...

Translation from Hebrew to English by me The head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Rouhi Fattouh, have given legitimacy to the revenge terror attacks of the Hamas movement, which ever they may be, in response to the elimination of the leader of the movement, Sheik Ahmad Yassin, 3 weeks ago. In a press conference he convened yesterday, Fattouh said that it is the right of the Hamas movement to respond on the elimination of its leader and founder, "The Sheik is a jihad fighter and the symbol of the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic struggle," and in his words "no man...

Thousands of Palestinians staged pro-Iraq rallies Friday to mark the first anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, calling on Iraqis to rise up against the United States in a holy war. Following Friday prayers, thousands of protesters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip burned Israeli and US flags and chanted slogans against US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In Gaza City, about 2,000 Islamic Jihad supporters, including children holding the militant group's black flags, chanted "Death to America," and burned effigies of Bush and Sharon. "Our message to the world, to our brothers in...

(IsraelNN.com) In an interview with the Israeli website Ynet (Yediot Acharonot newspaper online), the wife of the head terrorist of the Islamic Jihad in Samaria declared that the Jihad will continue. Nawal Sa'adi, wife of imprisoned Islamic Jihad leader Bassam Sa'adi, told Ynet that Islam commands Jihad. For the purpose of "liberating Palestine" and "liberating Al-Aqsa mosque," Mrs. Sa'adi said, she would not hesitate to sacrifice all of her children. She said that she is proud of those of her children who have already died as "martyrs" (shaheed).

Hundreds of Palestinians marched in the streets of Ramallah on Wednesday to condemn the US and express their support for the resistance attacks against the coalition forces in Iraq. The protesters carried placards denouncing American "massacres" against the Iraqi people and shouted slogans calling for retaliatory attacks against the US. They expressed their full support for the insurgents in Iraq who are waging a war of attrition against the US-led coalition forces, pointing out that the Iraqis and the Palestinians were fighting the same war against the powers of evil. Representatives of various Palestinian factions – including Fatah, Hamas and...

WEST BANK & Ramallah Voice of Palestine, official radio station of the Palestinian Authority, on February 6, 2004 at 1000 GMT carries a 24-minute live sermon from Al-Aqsa Mosque. Shaykh Yusuf Abu-Sunaynah delivers the sermon. After praising God, the messenger, and his companions, he calls on "the servants of God" to worship and obey God and to help one another, reminding Muslims of the Hereafter and God's punishment. Turning to the Palestine question, the imam discusses the Saudi peace initiative, which, he says, was based on two main points for putting an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He says: "The...

The US on Thursday condemned the Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed 10 and wounded dozens and urged Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Ala to deal with terrorist activity. "We condemn it thoroughly," Secretary of State Colin Powell said after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. "Once again, terrorists have killed innocent people and at the same time they have struck a blow, once more, against the aspirations of the Palestinian people to have a homeland of their own." "This kind of action has got to stop. And I once again implore the Palestinian leaders, and especially Prime Minister Abu...

In the shadow of the horror of this morning's suicide terror in Jerusalem, PMW is distributing an op-ed article that gives insight into the mind of the suicide terrorist. The article was published today in the Jerusalem Post. All TV quotations cited below in the article have been posted on PMW web site and can be seen by clicking the link below. Jerusalem Post Op-Ed: January 29, 2004 It's Aspiration, not Desperation Understanding the Death Worship of the Palestinian Suicide Bomber by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook "I always wanted to be the first woman who sacrifices her life for...

Loud explosion heard on Balfour Street in central Jerusalem (Haaretz)

Fox News just reported a bus boming in Tel Aviv, Israel. News comes from Reuters monitoring of Israeli radio. No word on if it was a remote bomb or suicide bomber.