Prophecy and Current Events

Palestinians are calling for revenge and world leaders have sharply criticized Israel, after the Israeli helicopter raid yesterday on Hamas terrorist leaders in Nablus. The raid killed two leading members of Hamas, an Islamic terror group, but there was collateral damage'two brothers, aged five and eight, were killed by shrapnel. In all, eight Palestinians died. Thousands of Palestinians called for revenge today at the funerals, shouting "Death to Israel!" Hamas officials have promised suicide bombings and threatened to target Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. "The Israeli people should know that they will pay the price, and our blood is not cheap," said Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction said the cease-fire, which it never kept anyway, is over.

In the wake of the Israeli air raid there have been numerous Palestinian shooting attacks at Israelis. Last night, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at two Israeli cars near Ramallah, north of Jerusalem, wounding a couple and their son. The mother is in serious condition. Two other Israelis were wounded in a shooting a short time later, possibly carried out by the same terrorist cell. Palestinians also opened fire at the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in southern Jerusalem from the nearby village of Beit Jala. A gunbattle ensued. Two Gilo apartment buildings and a car were damaged. The army also reported that 20 mortar shells were fired at Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip. No one was hurt. In Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, three masked men executed a 57-year-old Palestinian with a bullet to the head for alleged collaboration with Israel. In Nablus, a Palestinian Authority (PA) security court condemned three men to death for alleged collaboration with Israel. The crackdown on "collaborators" is aimed at deflecting criticism of the PA for failing to stop Israeli targeted killings. Israel needs excellent intelligence to carry out these attacks, which are an embarrassment to the PA.

Israel is defending the air strike, saying the two senior Hamas officials killed were responsible for a wave of bombings, including the Tel Aviv disco attack that killed 21 young people. The army said Jamal Mansour, 42 and Jamal Salim, 41, were behind 10 bomb attacks since November. While expressing deep sorrow over the killing of the children, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel had no choice but to target the terrorists. "Believe me, the attack on the headquarters saved the lives, maybe, of many hundreds," he said. The office that was hit was used to recruit and train suicide bombers and to plan attacks. It was the first time that Israel has targeted the so-called "political" leadership of Hamas. While targeting the terrorists and bombers who work underground, Israel has until now refrained from hitting the Islamic political leaders who are seen and known in public. In an Israel Radio interview, Cabinet Minister Danny Naveh said Israel has the right to defend itself, especially since Yasser Arafat refuses to arrest Islamic terrorists and allows them to operate freely. Naveh described Arafat's terrorist organization as "a multi-tentacled octopus that has spread throughout Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip." The security Cabinet met today and decided that the policy of targeted killings will continue.

The United States sharply criticized Israel for the attack, calling it "a new and dangerous escalation of violence." "The Israeli action today was excessive. This attack...is highly provocative and makes efforts to restore calm much more difficult," said State Department spokesman Charles Hunter. "We continue to strongly oppose the Israeli policy of targeted attacks, which in this instance has led to the death of innocent civilians. We deeply regret and strongly deplore the killing of civilians." President Bush also commented, albeit more moderately. "The United States will continue to stay actively involved in urging there to be calm and urging both parties to resist the temptation to resort to violence," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office. "All of us have to work together to convince both parties to stop the cycle and obviously we've got a lot of work to do." Bush said he discussed the attack on the phone with King Abdullah of Jordan. Britain, never sympathetic to Israel, also chimed in. "Britain cannot accept the targeted assassination by Israel of Palestinian militants," said Foreign Office minister Ben Bradshaw. "We and our European Union colleagues have repeatedly made clear that such assassinations are wrong and illegal under international law. Justice cannot be meted out by force."

Stung by international criticism over its helicopter strike in Nablus on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended Israeli policy in phone call with Secretary of State Colin Powell. "Israel reserves its right to defend its citizens, just like the US," Sharon said. He explained that since the Palestinian Authority is allowing terrorists to operate freely from its territory, Israel has no choice but to strike at them before they act. He added that the Palestinians have not observed the cease-fire for even one day. Powell, who was interviewed on CNN, continued to criticize the helicopter attack that killed eight Palestinians, including two senior Hamas terrorists and two children. "This kind of response is too aggressive and it just serves to increase the level of tension and violence in the region," Powell said. Israeli Cabinet Minister Ephraim Sneh described the US criticism as hypocritical since the US mercilessly bombed Yugoslavia when its own security was not even threatened. "Our air raid was by far more pinpoint and more surgical than the air raids on Yugoslavia, so no one is in a position to condemn us or preach to us," Sneh told Israel Radio.

The atmosphere in Israel remains extremely tense, as people brace for expected bombings in retaliation for the helicopter attack. Today, police arrested a Palestinian who brought a bomb onto a bus in Beit Shean, near Tiberias. The bus driver was suspicious and asked the 16-year-old Palestinian what was in the backpack he was carrying. When the Palestinian hesitated, the driver pushed him off the bus and two soldiers overpowered him. Police safely dismantled the bomb, and thank God, another tragedy was averted. The bomb was described as "very big." The army chief of staff says the current intelligence warnings about planned bombings are "unprecedented."

Overnight, gunbattles raged across the Palestinian territories. A Palestinian was killed in Hebron during a long exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen. The army said Israeli troops came under Palestinian fire in a dozen incidents. In addition to Hebron, there were firefights in Palestinian-ruled Tulkarm, Nablus and Ramallah. In the Gaza Strip, there was an exchange of fire at the Jewish community of Gadid, and four mortars shells fell in or near the community of Morag. Israeli tanks responded by shelling Khan Younis.

Pope John Paul met today with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Italy and expressed deep concern over the escalating violence in the Middle East. A Vatican statement said the Pope felt the Middle East was mired in "unheard of violence which continues to mow down victims, above all among the civilian and unarmed population. His Holiness...firmly repeated that there is an absolute need to put an end to all types of violence, be they attacks or reprisals, and to get the much hoped for negotiations on the table." The meeting, which lasted 25 minutes, took place at the Pope's summer residence at Castelgandolfo, southeast of Rome. Earlier, Arafat met with Italian leaders in Rome to try to drum up support for an international force to be sent to the Palestinian territories. The Italian Foreign Ministry repeated its support for the Mitchell plan as a way out of the impasse.

Heavy gunbattles erupted in the disputed territories after a leading Palestinian terrorist narrowly escaped an Israeli missile attack. The incident occurred yesterday in Palestinian-ruled Ramallah, when Israeli troops fired missiles at the convoy of Marwan Barghouti, the leader of Yasser Arafat's Tanzim militia in Judea and Samaria. The car next to Barghouti's was hit injuring a terrorist wanted by Israel, but Barghouti wasn't hurt. "This is a failed assassination attempt and this is a cowardly act by Sharon, and a crime. The criminal occupiers will pay for this new crime," Barghouthi said. Barghouthi has been an influential figure in the 10-month-old Palestinian war against Israel. The Israeli army declined to comment officially but military sources denied Barghouthi was the intended target. The sources said the target had been the car carrying Mohanad Abu Halaweh, a member of Arafat's Force-17 presidential guard, who was behind a spate of shooting ambushes in which eight Israelis were killed. Halaweh jumped out of the car and ran for cover when a first missile overshot the vehicle. The second missile scored a direct hit, turning the car into a mound of charred and twisted metal. Halaweh suffered burns to the face and hands. The missiles were fired at the convoy from the nearby Jewish community of Psagot. Israeli officials say the army will continue to target terrorists responsible for attacks on soldiers and civilians.

A few hours after the attack, Palestinian gunmen opened heavy fire at the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in southern Jerusalem. Israeli troops returned fire at the gunmen, located in the Palestinian town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. Tanks fired a number of shells. The gunbattle lasted for several hours and echoed through the streets of Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli helicopter gunships went into action after Palestinians fired 26 mortar shells at Jewish communities in the area. Two Israelis were slightly wounded. The helicopters fired four rockets at Palestinian police headquarters in Rafah in the southern part of Gaza. There were no casualties, but the building was severely damaged. Palestinian policemen said they heard the helicopters approaching and left the building before the missiles hit. In Israel, security remains very tight, especially in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, amid warning that Islamic groups are planning suicide bombings. Several bombings have been thwarted in the past few days.

Meanwhile, Yasser Arafat is continuing efforts to internationalize the conflict and bring foreign observers to the region. He sent urgent letters to this effect to President George W. Bush and leaders in Russia, China and the European Union. Arafat told Bush the conflict has become extremely dangerous and the situation demands urgent American intervention. "From here in the Holy Land we urge you to take up your responsibility regarding the peace process which your father started and to revive the hope of keeping this process alive," Arafat told Bush in the letter. Last night, several thousand Israeli peace activists marched to the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, backing the call for foreign observers and demanding that Israel end the policy of targeted killings. The peace camp has been in dire straits since the intifada, when most Israelis totally lost faith in Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. The peace camp is no longer able to bring large numbers of people onto the streets.

The United Nations has released a report on the controversial video tape connected to the abduction of three Israeli soldiers in Lebanon'an affair that strained relations between the UN and Israel. For months the UN denied that the tape even existed. The report said that the three soldiers abducted in October near the Lebanon border were badly wounded and may be dead. "The quantity of blood found in the cars made it likely that the occupants may have been badly injured and may succumb to their injuries," Gen. Ganesan Athmanathan of India wrote to the force commander at the time of the abduction. However, this report never reached UN headquarters in New York as it should have, said Joseph Connor, the UN official who led the probe. Connor's report concluded there was "poor judgment" by UN officials in New York and among peacekeeping commanders in Lebanon, but he denied Israeli charges of collusion with Hizbollah. "The United Nations did not deliberately mislead Israel," he said. Its failure to keep Israel informed resulted from "lapses in judgment and failures in communication, not from conspiracies." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan immediately announced he would take measures on how sensitive information is handled and said he regretted the UN did not turn over more information to Israel. Israel's UN ambassador Yehuda Lancry welcomed the report, but disputed the assumption that the soldiers are probably dead. "Our assumption, our strong assumption is that our soldiers are alive," he said, adding that Hizbollah itself confirms this.

Thousands of Israeli police deployed in Jerusalem today to prepare for possible riots on the Temple Mount following Friday Moslem prayers. A week of escalating violence which began with a Temple Mount riot and included Israel's deadly helicopter raid in Nablus led to the buildup. "For 10 months, Arafat and his people are trying to drag Jerusalem into the cycle of bloodshed, to cause Jerusalem residents to become active partners in violent acts," Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert told Israel Radio. To prevent violence, all Arabs under the age of 40 were barred from entering the Temple Mount compound. Surprise roadblocks were set up and helicopters hovered overhead. Because the intifada began on the Temple Mount in late September, unrest there can easily ignite all the Palestinian territories. The police weren't taking any chances and it paid off'Friday prayers passed quietly.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is suddenly presenting a "moderate" image after meeting yesterday in Rome with the Pope and Italian leaders, who urged him to condemn violence. "From here in Rome, I ask for a stop to all forms of violence and to dispatch immediately international observers so we can implement the Mitchell plan," Arafat told reporters. "Peace is our strategic choice, both for the Israeli and the Palestinian people." The Mitchell plan, drawn up by a panel led by former US Senator George Mitchell, calls for an end to violence, followed by a cooling-off period, confidence-building measures including a freeze on Jewish settlement activity, and finally, the resumption of peace talks. Israeli officials were skeptical about Arafat's statement to put it mildly. "At this stage I see no change," said Cabinet Minister Danny Naveh. "Arafat has promised to stop violence and terror countless times and in practice we see recently how he is escalating terror."

The Palestinian Authority (PA) also issued a statement through its Wafa news service, calling on Palestinians not to use bombs and guns against Israel. "Use...stones, but don't use lethal" force, the statement said. Respected Israeli analysts described the statement as unprecedented and significant. Arab affairs expert Ehud Ya'ari said it was the first such call by the PA since the uprising erupted and appeared aimed at preventing major bomb attacks in Israel. The statement said stones are more effective than guns and mortars "in our struggle for world recognition of our just cause." However, the statement was not publicized in the Palestinian media, and militiamen appear much less enthusiastic about it than Israeli analysts. An Israel Radio reporter said he talked to several leaders of Arafat's Tanzim militia "and all, without exception, said there is no cease-fire and that Israel will pay dearly for the attack in Nablus."

On the ground, the violence continues. Today, another bombing was averted when police arrested a Palestinian women from Nablus who tried to enter the central bus station in Tel Aviv with a bomb. Security guards challenged her and she dropped the bag in which the bomb was hidden. Police cleared the area and safely defused the device. Last night, a Palestinian terrorist was shot and killed by Israeli troops as he was planting a bomb near Nablus, the army said. The incident triggered a gun battle that lasted for hours. This afternoon, three Israelis including a child were slightly injured by mortar shells that landed in the community of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. Overnight in Gaza, Palestinians fired rifles and grenades at Israeli army positions. Israeli tanks fired shells in response. In Bethlehem, a Palestinian man believed to have "collaborated" with Israeli security forces was found dead. The man, from the Arab village of Sur Baher in Jerusalem, was shot in the face. After a number of successful Israeli attacks, pressure has been building on the Palestinian Authority to root out informers who assist Israel in tracking and killing Palestinian terrorists.

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