HBendor

What is Jihad ~by Daniel Pipes December 31, 2002 http://www.danielpipes.org/article/990 http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/65859.htm What does the Arabic word "jihad" mean? One answer came last week, when Saddam Hussein had his Islamic leaders appeal to Muslims worldwide to join his jihad to defeat the "wicked Americans" should they attack Iraq; then he himself threatened the United States with jihad. As this suggests, jihad is "holy war." Or, more precisely: It means the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims at the expense of territories ruled by non-Muslims. The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power (faith, of course, often follows the flag). Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe. Jihad did have two variant meanings through the centuries, one more radical, one less so. The first holds that Muslims who interpret their faith differently are infidels and therefore legitimate targets of jihad. (This is why Algerians, Egyptians and Afghans have found themselves, like Americans and Israelis, so often the victims of jihadist aggression.) The second meaning, associated with mystics, rejects the legal definition of jihad as armed conflict and tells Muslims to withdraw from the worldly concerns to achieve spiritual depth. Jihad in the sense of territorial expansion has always been a central aspect of Muslim life. That's how Muslims came to rule much of the Arabian Peninsula by the time of the Prophet Muhammad's death in 632. It's how, a century later, Muslims had conquered a region from Afghanistan to Spain. Subsequently, jihad spurred and justified Muslim conquests of such territories as India, Sudan, Anatolia, and the Balkans. Today, jihad is the world's foremost source of terrorism, inspiring a worldwide campaign of violence by self-proclaimed jihadist groups: * The International Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: Osama bin Laden's organization; * Laskar Jihad: responsible for the murder of more than 10,000 Christians in Indonesia; * Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami: a leading cause of violence in Kashmir; * Palestinian Islamic Jihad: the most vicious anti-Israel terrorist group of them all; * Egyptian Islamic Jihad: killed Anwar El-Sadat in 1981, many others since, and * Yemeni Islamic Jihad: killed three American doctors on Monday. But jihad's most ghastly present reality is in Sudan, where until recently the ruling party bore the slogan "Jihad, Victory and Martyrdom." For two decades, under government auspices, jihadists there have physically attacked non-Muslims, looted their belongings and killed their males. Jihadists then enslaved tens of thousands of females and children, forced them to convert to Islam, sent them on forced marches, beat them and set them to hard labor. The women and older girls also suffered ritual gang-rape, genital mutilation and a life of sexual servitude. Sudan's state-sponsored jihad has caused about 2 million deaths and the displacement of another 4 million - making it the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our era. Despite jihad's record as a leading source of conflict for 14 centuries, causing untold human suffering, academic and Islamic apologists claim it permits only defensive fighting, or even that it is entirely non-violent. Three American professors of Islamic studies colorfully make the latter point, explaining jihad as: * An "effort against evil in the self and every manifestation of evil in society" (Ibrahim Abu-Rabi, Hartford Seminary); * "Resisting apartheid or working for women's rights" (Farid Eseck, Auburn Seminary), and * "Being a better student, a better colleague, a better business partner. Above all, to control one's anger" (Bruce Lawrence, Duke University). It would be wonderful were jihad to evolve into nothing more aggressive than controlling one's anger, but that will not happen simply by wishing away a gruesome reality. To the contrary, the pretense of a benign jihad obstructs serious efforts at self-criticism and reinterpretation. The path away from terrorism, conquest and enslavement lies in Muslims forthrightly acknowledging jihad's historic role, followed by apologies to jihad's victims, developing an Islamic basis for nonviolent jihad and (the hardest part) actually ceasing to wage violent jihad. Unfortunately, such a process of redemption is not now under way; violent jihad will probably continue until it is crushed by a superior military force (Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, please take note). Only when jihad is defeated will moderate Muslims finally find their voice and truly begin the hard work of modernizing Islam.

Dennis Miller on Israel "For those who don't know, Dennis Miller is a comedian who has a show called Dennis Miller Live on HBO. He recently went on a rant about the situation: "A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need. Don't thank me. I'm a giver. Here we go: The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Before the Israelis won the land in war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, and there were no "Palestinians" then, and the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no "Palestinians" then. As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the Palestinians," weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation." So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living. That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course -- that's where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel. Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth, you know that's really saying something. It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Mideast. Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one. Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding. My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death. Mr. Bush, God bless him, is walking a tightrope. I understand that with vital operations coming up against Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of supermodels who've just had their drugs taken away. However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After September 11 our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day) start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint. If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan. (Hey, wait a minute, that's actually not such a bad id . . . ooh, that is, what a horrible thought, yeah, horrible.)" jidea@netvision.net.il

THE FOURTH (IV) REICH & THE GRAND

Shin Bet documents terrorists' misuse of UNRWA facilities By HERB KEINON The Jerusalem Post 11 December 2002 A secret Shin Bet report documenting how UNRWA facilities are used by terrorists was prepared long before UNRWA worker Iain Hook was killed by the IDF during clashes with Palestinian gunmen in Jenin last month, senior Israeli officials said. One diplomatic official said the IDF's investigation on the circumstances surrounding the death of Hook will be passed on to UNRWA and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan within a few days. The official denied speculation the Shin Bet report was prepared recently to deflect UNRWA criticism of the IDF stemming from the Hook incident. According to the report, the facilities of UNRWA the UN body charged with running the Palestinian refugee camps have been used both to hide terrorists and aid terror activity. The report stated that a number of Palestinians who have been arrested say that they have used UNRWA facilities and vehicles to plan and carry out attacks. For instance, the report stated that Muhammad Ali Hassan, who was arrested in February, used an UNRWA school near Nablus for target practice and to store ammunition. The report also documented the use of a UNRWA club in the Jabalya refugee camp and a social club in the El Aroub refugee camp as meeting points for Tanzim members. In addition, the report stated that numerous UNRWA schools were used to hide suspected terrorists. According to the report, Nidal Nazal, an UNRWA ambulance driver arrested in July, admitted that his ambulance was used to transport ammunition between terror cells. Other detainees admitted that UNRWA vehicles were used by terrorists on their way to attacks. As a result of these incidents, the IDF recently issued a new directive restricting the movement of UN vehicles throughout the territories. According to the order, soldiers are to prohibit official UN vehicles from passing army roadblocks unless at least three UN or UNRWA personnel are inside. This is a temporary order resulting from intelligence information that terrorists may be attempting to infiltrate by hiding in official UN vehicles. Israeli officials say the Shin Bet document was prepared three months ago. Even before that, Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker took the case of misuse of UNRWA facilities to the State Department and US Congress in June, arguing that the camps UNRWA operates contained weapons factories and terrorist training camps. Baker told reporters at the time that Israel expects UNRWA to ensure that their camps "fulfill the humanitarian function... and not the opposite." Israeli officials said the information contained in the Shin Bet report is being put to use in discussions with UNRWA and the US Congress regarding the organizations' activities. -------------------------------------------- IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il

Two killed in terror shooting in Hebron News from Hebron The Hebron Press Office Thursday December 12, 2002 1. Two killed in terror shooting in Hebron At six o'clock tonight Arab terrorists shot and killed two people, a man and a woman, in Hebron. The killing occurred at the bottom of the hill leading from Kiryat Arba into Hebron, called, in Hebrew, "ikul 160." The two people killed were shot in the head from a corner building. The terrorist or terrorists shot from a third floor window. Bullet casings were found on the ground outside the building and inside the building. Israeli security forces at the scene searched the building, but did not find anyone. Israeli security forces are searching the area. A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement: This was an attack fully expected. Blood is cheap in Hebron. It has been a mohnth since twelve men were killed by terrorist gunfire, less than 2 kilometers from tonight's attack. What did the government do? No buildings were destroyed, the incitement continues and the inciters have not been apprehended. The terrorist's arms have not been confiscated. The new neighborhood linking Hebron and Kiryat Arba has not yet been approved. Such negligence only encourages terrorists to murder, again and again. *********************************************** Pictures of the scene of tonight's attack: www.hebron.org.il/news.htm *********************************************** We demand immediate action, harsh action. The government must reject pressures exerted by the left and by the Americans. 1. The building from which the murderous terrorist shots were fired must be destroyed. 2. Other houses in the area must be emptied of all their occupants. 3. Permits for construction of the Hebron Heroes' neighborhood must be granted immediately. 4. Permits for a new Jewish home, at the site of tonight's murder, must be granted immediately. Should the government bow to pressures and refrain from these acts, the next terror attack may not even be a month away, G-d forbid.

For a Palestinian State - in Saudi Arabia ~by Jack Engelhard The Saudis are rich. The Palestinians are poor. The Saudis have a country. The Palestinian Arabs don't. So why shouldn't there be a Palestinian state - in Saudi Arabia? Let's rewind for a minute and ask: Why are the Saudis rich? They have oil. This is obvious. Not so obvious is this question: Why are the Palestinians poor? Month after month, the Palestinian Authority keeps being fed millions of dollars through the generosity of the European Union, the United States and fellow Arabs, namely, in fact, Saudi Arabia. This money could have been used to enrich the lives of Palestinians living in lands that had been awarded to them through the Oslo accords. Oslo gave them half of the West Bank and most of Gaza and would have given more, had they not resorted to terrorism. That's it in a nutshell. They did resort to terrorism. Rather than use those millions to build an economic infrastructure, Arafat and company opted for a terrorist infrastructure. Instead of building homes, they built bombs. The Saudis? Why shouldn't they be replaced, as the Taliban were replaced from Afghanistan? No amount of double-talk can obscure the fact that the Saudis are the enemy - the enemy to all that is Christian, Jewish and civilized. The Saudis - the Saudi 15 - gave us 9/11. The Saudis gave us Osama bin Laden. Saudi schools and mosques promote hatred of all that is Christian, Jewish and Western. Saudi princes raise millions to support Palestinian terror by means of American-style telethons. Over the past few months, Congress has listenined to testimony from bereaved American mothers whose daughters have been kidnapped, brutalized, raped and enslaved in Saudi Arabia. They ask, "The Saudis are supposed to be our friends." They say, "But they're our biggest enemies." Is oil that thick? Is Saudi oil thicker than American blood? Talk about a homeland for the Palestinians always centers around Israel. Why Israel? There never was a Palestinian state within Israel, not when it belonged to the Turks, not when it belonged to the Europeans, and not even when it belonged to the Arabs. Why all of a sudden now? Because it's in the hands of Israel, and the Jews turned it from a swamp into an oasis? Talk about a capital for this Palestinian state always centers around Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem? Jerusalem was never the capital of any nation except Israel, from the days of King David. But - it keeps being said - the Palestinians want Jerusalem for their capital. On what basis? They want even more, according to a recent survey. Seventy percent of the Arabs polled want all of Israel. They want it all to themselves, cleansed of Jews. Seventy percent. Given that they refuse to live with Jews as neighbors, they ought to be much more at home with fellow Arabs. Hence, Saudi Arabia. The Saudis won't even have to leave - though, given their criminality and war crimes they really should be cowering in caves along with their Taliban brothers. But that may be too much to ask. They do have all that oil, and therefore all that influence. Besides oil, however, they also have room, plenty of room to accommodate a Palestinian homeland. This kind of a deal makes sense. First, Yasser Arafat would no longer merely be Chairman Arafat. He'd become Prince Arafat, or maybe even King Arafat. Second, if Jerusalem is holy to Islam, Mecca is even holier. That's in Saudi Arabia. The Palestinian Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Has a certain ring to it, huh? -------------------------------------------------------- Jack Engelhard is the author of the international bestseller Indecent Proposal, a former radio and newspaper editor covering the Mideast and a former American volunteer in the Israeli Defense Forces. His columns can be read online at http://www.comteqcom.com/jackcolumn.php. He can be reached at JackEngelhard@ComteQcom.com.

CHANUKAH AND JEWISH HISTORY Will We Be Maccabees Or Victims? ~By Bernard J. Shapiro The year is 70 C.E. and a young Roman legionnaire stands on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. While he watches it burn, he says to his comrades in Latin, "Judea Capta Est" (Judea is conquered).Yet like the legendary phoenix, rising from the ashes of its own destruction, Israel burst onto the world's stage 2000 years later, with the cry of a lusty infant yearning to breathe free. Five Arab armies tried to destroy that new life before it could take hold. With blood and fire, including the sacrifice of one per cent of its population (6000 of its best young people), besieged Israel secured its independence. Just nine short years earlier, European Jewry had faced its most devastating experience, the Holocaust. In the areas under Nazi occupation, the Jewish death rate was 90%. Despite revolts in dozens of camps, and heroic resistance with the partisans of free Europe, the Jews were unorganized, unarmed and ultimately became victims. During both the Holocaust and Israel's War of Independence, the world and its leaders were indifferent, if not hostile, to the fate of the Jews. Jews in their own land, with their G-d, have great power, much more than the sum of arms and men. During Chanukah we should recall the legacy of the Maccabees. Remember how two "Hellenized Jews," Jason and Menelaus tried to destroy Judaism and force assimilation on the Jewish population. For generations we have taught our children about the evil Antiochus and his attempt to suppress the Jews. In reality, there were traitors among our own people who led the way for Antiochus. Today in Israel, a similar situation has developed. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Yossi Beilin Shimon Peres led a left wing coalition that was blatantly hostile to everything Jewish. They planned to give away the heartland of Eretz Yisrael, promised in perpetuity to Abraham and his descendants by G-d. The educational system in Israel was being revamped to eliminate the study of Jewish sources like the bible. They cultivated hatred of all things Jewish and especially religious Jews. Units of the Israel Defense Forces are being recruited from the non-religious population for the sole purpose of suppressing and possibly destroying the religious villages of YESHA. Barak and Peres, anxious to win favor with the Arabs, much like Jason and the Greeks, plan to give away Israel's strategic assets. Territory is not important if your new god is economics. While the Israeli government under Rabin, Peres and Barak renounced anything Jewish, including Holy Sites, the Arabs seek strength and comfort in a revived Islam. Nothing portrayed the difference better between the Arabs and the Jews than how each views his religion. Young Arab men, promised paradise, cry "ali Akbar" (G-d is Great), then sacrifice their lives to kill Jews in one great jihad. Some Jewish soldiers were uncertain about their open-fire instructions, demoralized by a government which lied to them about the advent of peace. Let us be Maccabees again. Let the IDF go into battle with the Maccabee cry, "All who are with G-d, follow me!" With the words: "Who is like unto Thee O G-d (the acronym of which spells out he word Maccabee in Hebrew) inscribed on their flags, the G-d inspired Jewish army swept the much larger enemy from the field in a great victory. It is this victory for which we celebrate Chanukah and not just the miracle of the oil burning eight days. There is a simple but crucial lesson for us all in the above events. If we as Jews turn our backs on our religion and our G-d, we can expect disaster. Like Judah Maccabee, angered by the treason of Jason and Menelaus, and outraged by Antiochus, we must revolt against the Israeli left. We must let the glow of the Chanukah lights inspire us to return to our roots as a proud, strong and fearless nation. ======= Bernard J. Shapiro is the Executive Director of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies and the editor of The Maccabean Online and the freemanlist. ========== FREEMAN CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES freemanlist@aol.com

Palestinian lies, Israeli truths... ~BY MARTIN SHERMAN The Jerusalem Post, November 29, 2002 Since the time of Dr. Goebbels [head of the Nazi propaganda machine] there has never been a case in which continual repetition of a lie has borne such great fruits... Of all the Palestinian lies there is no greater or more crushing lie than that which calls for the establishment of a separate Palestinian state in the West Bank... (Excerpt from "Palestinian Lies" by former Meretz minister of education, Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, in Ha'aretz, July 1976) A Palestinian state would be a deadly threat to Israel. This is not an empty political slogan, but a well-founded strategic truth. Accordingly, any sign of support for - or even reluctant resignation to - the eventual establishment of such a state is inconsistent with the preservation of Israel's vital national interests. Any ambivalence on this issue - any policy other than resolute rejection of the very notion of an Arab state on the fringes of the Greater Tel Aviv area having total topographical control over the urban sprawl in the coastal plain, and full hydrological control over a third of the country's water resources - is a grave strategic error. The approach that Israel should refrain from repudiating the idea too sharply - lest it be branded "extremist" by world opinion - is badly misguided. For this means sacrificing long-term strategic values for short-term tactical expediency. It means subordinating vital security considerations to diplomatic convenience. It means transferring the burden and the responsibility for safeguarding the national interest from diplomatic representatives in well-pressed suits in foreign capitals, to the combat soldiers in sweaty battle fatigues on the front line. This is a total inversion - indeed perversion - of the proper order of things. After all, diplomacy is supposed to be a tool to serve and promote national policy, not a constraint which dictates this policy. In this regard, there is ample reason for severe reprimand of those who have administered Israel's foreign policy in recent years. The grave dangers involved in the transfer of Judea and Samaria to sovereign Arab rule are so stark, so tangible and so blatant that is seems inconceivable that any foreign service worth its salt (and taxpayers' money) could not be capable of conveying to the world that the establishment of a Palestinian state would constitute an unreasonable, and hence unacceptable, risk for Israel. No country that wishes to survive can be expected to acquiesce to such a measure; no leader who cannot repel pressures for its implementation should be allowed to continue to govern. The fact that the idea of a Palestinian state has gathered widespread international support does not testify to the merits of the idea or the inevitability of its eventual implementation. Rather it testifies to the quality - or the lack thereof - of the performance of those charged with promoting Israel's interests abroad and the necessity for their rapid replacement. THE DEADLY threats that would confront Israel in the event of the establishment of a Palestinian state manifest themselves along every conceivable dimension: width, length, height and depth. Width - because Israel will be left with less than the minimum territorial depth required for the deployment of a modern military defense system to protect the coastal plain in which 80 percent of the country's population and 80% of the economic activity are located; length - because Israel will have to contend with the creation of a permanent border, hundreds of kilometers long, on the very approaches of the Dan region and adjacent to the nation's major urban centers; height - because from the highlands of Judea and Samaria, the Palestinians will have total topographical control over all the infrastructure (civilian and military) in the low-lying coastal strip, including airfields, seaports and power plants; depth - because the Palestinians will have hydro-strategic control over crucial groundwater sources, creating a situation in which Israel's water problem could be transformed from a grave but manageable crisis to an insoluble catastrophe. Detailed explication of these dangers go beyond the above points. However, it was none other than Shimon Peres who encapsulated their essence, in the following apt, articulate and accurate warning (in his book, Tomorrow is Now): "If a Palestinian state is established, it will be armed to the teeth. Within it there will be bases of the most extreme terrorist forces, who will be equipped with anti-tank and anti-aircraft shoulder-launched rockets, which will endanger not only random passersby, but also every airplane and helicopter taking off in the skies of Israel and every vehicle traveling along the major traffic routes in the coastal plain." (my translation - M.S.) Is it possible the present leadership of the Likud has forgotten what the past leadership of the Left once knew? Indeed, in this regard, the "National Camp" would do well to adopt the proud, assertive position, expounded in the past by a prominent member of the left wing, Prof. Amnon Rubinstein. In a 1976 Ha'aretz article, Rubinstein, a foremost expert on constitutional law, said: "The claim that the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael have the right to determine for themselves how to organize their political [sic] must be rejected. Israel has a right and a duty to state its own position - and to take measures to have this position adopted." His words were valid then. They are still valid today. The writer is a senior research fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya. ================= FREEMAN CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES freemanlist@aol.com

Terror Attacks in Mombasa, Kenya - Press Conference by Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Jerusalem, November 28, 2002 [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] We've had a terrorist attack against Israelis in Africa, in Kenya. We know at the moment of two dead children, others that are hurt. We are taking emergency action to provide medical assistance to the wounded and to bring back the rest of the Israelis to Israel. There was in addition to this terrorist attack another attempted downing of an Israeli civilian aircraft in Kenya by shoulder-fired missiles. This is a very serious escalation of international terrorism. I want to remind you that, in the 1970s, in the late '60s, the rash of hijackings that came from Arafat's PLO was first directed against Israel and then spread as a worldwide epidemic. The fact that the forces of terror - terror organizations and the regimes that back them - have shoulder-fired missiles that can down civilian aircraft is known. The fact is that they are using them, and the weapons that they are using against us are growing in their ferocity and their ability to murder us. This could have resulted today in the death of 150 Israelis. Today this is directed against Israeli planes in Mombasa, tomorrow they could be directed at Israeli planes from a Palestinian state, from Tel Aviv, and may I say that if the forces of terror and the terrorist states are not dismantled, they will be directed at the planes of states and countries and nationalities worldwide. This has to be brought down today. The terror network has to be stripped, the terror regimes have to be dismantled, the terror organizations destroyed. If we don't destroy them, they'll destroy us. Q: Mr. Netanyahu, who do you believe is behind this? Do you have any information? A: We have our suspicions. We don't yet have concrete information. There are several possibilities, but I don't want to make a definitive statement, because we don't know yet. We will know. I'm being told right now that the number of dead has gone up to three. Q: Is the assumption that the Palestinians are involved in this? A: No, I don't know who specifically is involved in this, but yes, Palestinian organizations have been trying to get shoulder-fired missiles to direct at Israeli aircraft for quite some time. Hizbullah has been very active in this effort. When you have regimes like Iran and Syria and others, and Iraq, that are supporting these terrorists, they have shoulder-fired missiles. So as long as this network is around, it's just a question of time before they'll get these weapons. It's just a question of time before they'll down civilian aircraft. And may I say it always begins with Israel; it never ends with Israel. So this is not just our battle: it's a common battle against this global terror network, that President Bush set out to unite the civilized forces against. We're merely at the cutting edge. We have to bring down this terror network before it brings us down, brings our planes down. Q: What measures should be adopted by the Israeli government in response to this morning's attack and by the international community? A: There are defensive measures that can be taken to protect our aircraft. There are obviously warnings that we can give to the terrorists. But I have to say that whatever defensive measures we can have, we cannot put an armed guard next to every tourist. We cannot protect every plane that takes off or lands in every airfield in the world. It's simply impossible. There are defensive measures that are and will be intensified, but at the end of the day to win this battle you have to defeat the forces of terror. And defeating them means that you have to take on not only the organizations, but the regimes that make the organizations' work possible. This is the most important part of defeating international terror. Q: Have you been in contact with the Americans, and what did they say? A: We've been in contact first with the Kenyan government and we've been in close consultation with them about medical assistance and logistics. We're in contact with other governments as well. Of course we're talking with the American government and many other friendly governments, but at the moment our efforts are primary launched at getting immediate medical assistance to the wounded, because there are different degrees of injury there, and we're trying to save lives. This is the most important thing. ... We're talking about the future of Israel and we're talking also about the future of our battle against international terrorism, and I think this is what is at stake right now. Because you have to understand that unless we defeat terror, it will defeat us. These are people who have no limitation, no inhibitions, no moral compunctions. They will use any weapons they have. If we give them the political and military power to be independent, to be not under our control, they will use those powers to kill as many of our citizens as they can. Not only the citizens of Israel, but the citizens of many many lands. There is no compromise; no possibility of compromise with the forces of terror. They either destroy us, or we destroy them. It's about time that we woke up to this simple reality. Thank you very much. -------------------------------------------- IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il

But back at the farm... :butbut: Arafat Funds Arms Deal IDF Spokesperson 27 November 2002 A top secret document approved on December 15, 2002 was confiscated from the PPS compound in Gaza. The document reveals an approved acquisition of 250 Kalachnikov rifles bought on behalf of the PPS. The deal was signed for in Arafat's main office on December 15, 2001, the night Arafat declared a cease-fire. It was the same night that the infamous Karine "A" made it's way to Gaza from Iran. (A ship laden with explosives, discovered by IDF Forces). The document confirms Arafat's involvement in the purchasing and trafficking of weaponry for Palestinian militias. Arafat and his associates' involvement extends from 'minor' arms deals such as the purchase of 250 Kalachnikov's to a shipload (Karine "A") of strategic warfare equipment. Following is the document found in the PPS compound in Gaza: http://www.idf.il/newsite/images/1127-2p1.gif Palestine Liberation Organization Urgent The Palestinian National Authority Top Secret The Presidents Bureau To the President (Yasser Arafat) Blessing of the Homeland, There is a consignment of Kalashnikov assault rifles for sale at a secret location through middle men. We are talking about 25O Kalashnikovs. The sum requested for the entire consignment is 2600 Jordanian Dinars (for each rifle). This is the minimum price. So far nothing has been purchased. It should be noted that the Hamas and [other] organizations want to purchase any quantity for a sum of 4000 Dinar for each weapon. Please your instructions to purchase the [above] amount for the Police and the Preventative Security. Yours, The Head of the Preventative Security Mohammad Dahalan (signature) 15.12.2001 Police Commisioner Ghazi Aljabali (signature) (remark in Arafat's handwriting): Alshubaki (at the time the document was written: head of the General Security's finance authority ) It is authorized. -------------------------------------------- IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il

'No Christmas this year,' says Arafat. ~By KHALED ABU TOAMEH Nov. 28, 2002 Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Wednesday ordered Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem canceled, to protest the IDF presence in the city. Speaking to reporters at his Ramallah office, Arafat called the army's decision to declare Bethlehem a closed military zone until the end of the year a "crime." "These [israeli] measures mean that there is no Christmas this year," Arafat said. His announcement is seen as an attempt to pressure Israel to pull its forces out of Bethlehem, where he claimed that soldiers had prevented Christian worshipers from entering the Church of the Nativity for prayers last Sunday. Palestinian sources said Arafat's decision would be rescinded if the IDF leaves the city. Palestinian journalists reported Wednesday that soldiers showed them a document declaring the Bethlehem area a closed military zone through the end of December. Also on Wednesday, the PA issued a statement saying the IDF had demolished eight houses in the Bethlehem area in the past 10 days. The statement described the Israeli closure of Bethlehem as a grave violation of the freedom of worship. The PA appealed to Pope John Paul II to intervene, and also urged the United Nations and the international community to condemn the Israeli invasion of Bethlehem, and to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from the city.

Who Are the Palestinians? ~by Yashiko Sagamori 25 November 2002 A rebuttal: If you are so sure that

The Arabs in the Holy Land - Natives or Aliens? Dr. Harry Mandelbaum Unknown to most of the world population, the origin of the "Palestinian" Arabs' claim to the Holy Land spans a period of a meager 30 years - a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of years of the region's rich history. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were practically no Arabs in the Holy Land. When General Alenby, the commander of the British military forces, conquered Palestine in 1917/1918, only about 5000 Arabs resided there. They did not call themselves "Palestinians". The concept of a "Palestinian" to describe the local residents has not yet been invented; neither was there ever in history a "Palestinian Arab" nation. None of today's Arabs have any ancestral relationship to the original Biblical Philistines who are now extinct. In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, an executive member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), said in an interview to the Dutch newspaper Trouw: "The 'Palestinian people' does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel." Mark Twain - Samuel Clemens, the famous author of "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer", took a tour of the Holy Land in 1867. This is how he described that land: "A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A silent, mournful expanse. We never saw a human being on the whole route. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country." Here is a report that the Palestinian Royal Commission, created by the British, made. It quotes an account of the conditions on the coastal plain along the Mediterranean Sea in 1913: "The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track, suitable for transport by camels or carts. No orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reached the [Jewish] Yabna village. Houses were mud. Schools did not exist. The western part toward the sea was almost a desert. The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. Many villages were deserted by their inhabitants." The Arabs who now claim to be natives of the Holy Land have migrated to Palestine after 1918, from neighboring Arab countries, predominantly from areas now known as Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. None of these countries existed as nations prior to 1913. They were nothing but a disorganized collection of tribes, constantly terrorizing each other, trying to seize land from their neighbors. Unfortunately, those Arab immigrants, imported into the Holy Land their age-old culture of terrorizing neighbors to seize land. Many of them were social outcasts and criminals who could not find jobs in their own countries so they searched for their luck elsewhere. They were accepted by the British regime as a source of cheap labor and were allowed to settle on unoccupied Jewish land in Palestine. Even Yassir Arafat, the leader of the PLO, is not a native of the Holy Land. He was born in 1929 in Cairo, Egypt. He served in the Egyptian army, studied in the University of Cairo, and lived in Cairo until 1956. He then moved to Saudi-Arabia and founded the Al-Fatah terror organization, the precursor to the PLO, in Kuwait in 1958, together with his Saudi-Arabian friends. Lewis French, the British Director of Development wrote about the Arabs in Palestine: "We found it inhabited by fellahin (Arab farmers) who lived in mud hovels and suffered severely from the prevalent malaria... Large areas were uncultivated... The fellahin, if not themselves cattle thieves, were always ready to harbor these and other criminals. The individual plots changed hands annually. There was little public security, and the fellahin's lot was an alternation of pillage and blackmail by their neighbors, the bedouin (Arab nomads)." The grandparents of the author's wife were born in the Holy Land in the 19th century. They saw with their own eyes how empty the land was at the time. They also lived through and experienced first-hand the British conquest and the Arab immigration that followed. This immigration ended in 1948 with the evacuation of the British from the land and the declaration of the state of Israel. The real problem facing those Arabs today is not the lack of a homeland. The historical root-cause of their problem and frustration is the fact that the countries they came from have not agreed to accept them back in. This is why so many of them live, up until today, in refugee camps, in neighboring Arab countries, lacking fundamental civil rights. In their frustration they feel that the only hope and choice they have is to try and steal a country. Many of the vehicles and the agricultural equipment in the Palestinian Authority have been stolen from their Israeli neighbors. For a while, Israel suffered the highest rate of automobile thefts in the world! Most of these stolen vehicles were later found in towns and villages of the Palestinian Authority. If stealing vehicles is so easy, why not try and steal the country too? In their propaganda, the Arabs who now call themselves "Palestinians" consistently demand that Israel and the world recognize their pre-1948 rights. That's about 54 years ago. Mysteriously, they are never willing to add another 54 years to their "historical" claims on the Holy Land. They know very well that doing so will send them back to where they came from - Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Years ago, during negotiations with the, so-called, Palestinians, someone in Israel proposed to revise a mention of their claim to pre-1948 rights and replace it with pre-1917. The "Palestinians" vehemently opposed. Now we know why. The Muslim religion was invented by Mohammed in the 7th century AD, in Saudi Arabia. He never visited Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and did not consider it important enough to be mentioned in the Koran even once. By comparison, the land of the Jewish Holy Temple in Jerusalem was purchased by King David, for the Jewish people, approximately 850 years BCE, and the deed, the name of the previous owner, and the purchase price were recorded in the Bible (See Samuel II Ch. 24 and Chronicles I Ch. 21). Some Arabs consider themselves the descendants of Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish nation. Ironically, if not for Mohammed's thorough study of the Bible, the Arabs would not have known of the existence of Abraham. Mohammed studied the Bible in order to be better equipped in his attempts to persuade the Jews to follow his newly invented religion. When the Jews refused, he wrote the Koran - the Muslim bible, and filled it with his own imaginary accounts of Biblical events. He even took the liberty to change the God-given day of rest, Saturday - the Sabbath. Since Sunday was already taken by the Christians, he picked Friday as the next-best Muslim day of rest. Today the Muslim "Palestinians" claim to own Temple Mount, the site of the Jewish Holy Temple in Jerusalem. They claim it is "their" holy site. Does anyone in the rest of the world know which way the Muslims in Jerusalem face when they pray? When the Muslims in Jerusalem pray in their mosques, even in the "Al Aktza" mosque built on the edge of Temple Mount, they actually stand with their back turned to Temple Mount. And, when they bow down in their prayers they show their behind to Temple Mount. How consistent is that with considering it a holy site? Visit any mosque in Jerusalem to see it for yourself. The fact is that Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran, while Mecca and Medina, the only two Muslim holy cities, are mentioned hundreds of times. The Jewish Holy Temple stood on Temple Mount long before the Muslim religion, or any other current world religion was conceived. Even when the founders of the Christian religion walked around in the streets of ancient Jerusalem there were no mosques nor churches there - only the Jewish Holy Temple and nothing else. Can any Muslim in the world produce any credible evidence for their connection to this holy site, other than in Mohammed's dream? Believe it or not, the one and only source for the Muslim's claim to Jerusalem and the site of the Holy Temple, is a mention in the Koran of a dream that Mohammed had about an unknown "place far away". Perhaps this "place far away" is the site of the White House in Washington DC? There is only one possible solution to the "Palestinians" desire for a homeland. If helping them go back to where they lived 54 years ago is their own definition of justice, then helping them go back to where they lived 108 years ago is, by the same definition, a better justice - double the justice. Let's all help them get the better justice they deserve. Dr. Harry Mandelbaum, May 2002 www.geocities.com/harrymandelbaum harrymandelbaum@yahoo.com

WHO SAYS THAT ALL ARABS ARE NOT LIARS Subject: Zahir Muhsein: The Palestinian people does not exist (1977) In an interview with the Dutch newspaper "Trau" (March 31, 1977), PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein said: "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism. IS THERE ANY DOUBTS YET IN YOUR MINDS?