Israel Bombs Syria
Warplanes hit suspected training camps used by Palestinians
By Mohamad Bazzi
MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT
October 6, 2003
Beirut, Lebanon -- Israeli warplanes bombed a target
just miles from the Syrian capital yesterday, in the first
Israeli military attack inside Syria in 30 years. Israel
said the site was a training camp used by Pales- tinian
militants responsible for deadly attacks against
Israelis, but Syria said it was a civilian area and
warned of a "grave escalation" in violence.
The air strike - in apparent retaliation for a Palestinian
suicide bombing Saturday that killed 19 Israelis, came
on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Yom Kippur
War, in which Israel held off Arab armies. The attack
brought condemnation from many Arab governments
and heightened fears that Israeli-Palestinian fighting
could spread to neighboring countries. The Bush
administration appeared to have been taken by
surprise, with officials saying that Israel did not give
Washington any advance warning of the attack.
The administration urged both countries to show
restraint, but added a pointed criticism of Syria, saying
Damascus "must cease harboring terrorists and make
a clean break from those responsible for planning and
directing terrorist action from Syrian soil." Washington
has been pressuring Syria for months to cease its
support for Palestinian militant groups and to seal its
borders with Iraq, where Syrians have slipped in to fight
U.S. troops. Last month, administration officials
suggested that they might impose sanctions on Syria.
With Israel's far superior military, Syria has little option
for retaliation. Instead, Syrian leaders looked for
international support yesterday, calling for emergency
meetings of the United Nations Security Council and
the 22-member Arab League. In a letter to the UN,
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al- Sharaa said the attack "threatens security
and peace in the region and could aggravate the situation into dire consequences
that would be hard to control."
Israeli officials said they would pursue Palestinian militants wherever they are.
"Any country who harbors terrorists, who trains them, supports and encourages
them, will be responsible to answer for their actions," said Israeli government
spokesman Avi Pazner.
Even if Syria does not retaliate directly, the raid signals a dramatic shift in
Israel's response to Palestinian suicide attacks. Since the start of the current
Palestinian uprising three years ago, Israel has confined its retaliation to the
West Bank and Gaza Strip. Now, analysts say, Israel could expand its strikes
into Syria and Lebanon, where Palestinian groups operate.
"This is the beginning of a new phase of retaliation, because now nothing can
stop Israel from hitting Palestinian targets inside Syria or Lebanon," said Farid
el-Khazen, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut.
"There is no military deterrence to Israel in the region. The only deterrence is the
United States, and it does not seem to object strongly to this new Israeli
strategy."
Syrian analysts said Damascus would not abandon the Palestinian groups,
which are one of its last potential bargaining chips with Israel.
"Israel's message to Syria today was that Damascus will pay for anything that
happens inside Israel and the occupied territories," said Imad Shueibi, a politics
professor at the University of Damascus whose views often reflect the
government's position. "But Syria cannot be intimidated into withdrawing its
support for the Palestinian resistance groups."
By making such a dramatic raid, analysts said, the Israeli government might
have forestalled public demands for the expulsion of Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat, a move strongly opposed by the United States.Israeli officials said the
targeted camp - about 12 miles northwest of Damascus - was used by Islamic
Jihad, the group that claimed responsibility for Saturday's suicide bombing in the
Israeli port city of Haifa. While several leaders of Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other
Palestinian militant groups are based in Damascus, they all deny having any
training camps on Syrian territory. Villagers near the targeted site told reporters
that Palestinian guerrillas had used it in the 1970s but that it had been
abandoned for many years. Syrian officials quickly closed off the area yesterday
and prevented journalists from photographing it.
To buttress its case, Israel distributed undated video footage said to have been
taken at the camp by Iranian TV. The footage shows a man in a camouflage
uniform conducting a tour of underground tunnels packed with arms and
ammunition. In one room, dozens of pistols, machine guns and grenades were
displayed on a table.
A small, radical Palestinian group based in Damascus said it once used the area
but that it had been deserted for years. The Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine-General Command said two civilian guards were injured in the air
strike.
The last time Israel struck inside Syrian territory was during the October 1973
war.
During the past 30 years, military confrontations between Israel and Syria have
taken place in neighboring Lebanon, which is politically dominated by
Damascus. Syria has more than 20,000 troops in Lebanon. In April 2001, Israeli
warplanes destroyed a Syrian radar station in Lebanon, killing three Syrian
soldiers. That strike came in retaliation for an attack on Israeli troops by
Hezbollah, a Lebanese guerrilla group backed by Syria and Iran.
Yesterday's attack prompted speculation that Syria would retaliate indirectly by
having Hezbollah launch attacks from Lebanon's southern border with Israel. A
senior Hezbollah official said the group, which fought an 18-year guerrilla battle
that drove Israel out of south Lebanon in 2000, has taken steps to fortify its
positions along the border. But the official hinted at Hezbollah restraint, saying
the group "would not take any steps to enable further Israeli aggression."
In recent months, Syrians have been worried about becoming Washington's next
target for "regime change."
Syrian leaders are convinced that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not
negotiate a return of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the
1967 Middle East War, and that the Bush administration will not broker a peace
deal between the two countries. That is why Damascus sees little incentive to
entirely cut its support to Palestinian militant groups and to Hezbollah.
(newsday)
Arafat Declares New Emergency Cabinet Headed by Qurei-Move Vital For PNA
to Control Security, New PM Says 06/10/2003
[IMRA: "Control security" doesn't mean disarm the terrorists. At most it
means coordinating their activity)
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1072
Palestine Media Center- (PMC)(Official PA website)
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat issued a presidential decree Sunday
night declaring a state of emergency in the occupied territory and a new
eight-member cabinet headed by Prime Minister-designate Ahmad Qurei.
Qurei, better known as Abu Ala, said the emergency cabinet he will head
was necessary in light of the exceptional circumstances in the area, most
notably after Israel heightened its threats to "remove" the Palestinian
President and following a bombing in Haifa, which claimed the lives of 20.
Accordingly, Abu Ala stressed the need for such a cabinet to enable the
Palestine National Authority (PNA) to maintain a grip over a deteriorating
security situation.
"Taking into consideration the difficult situation of the Palestinian
people and the necessities imposed by the situation, President Arafat
issued a presidential decree by which he declared a state of emergency,"
Qurei told AP.
According to the Palestinian Basic Law, the emergency cabinet can function
for a period of up to thirty days, and can be extended for another thirty
days only after the approval of two-thirds of the Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) members.
Unlike previous cabinets, this emergency government does not require PLC
ratification.
Qurei was named Prime Minister last month following the resignation of
caretaker premier Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) on September 6. He had planned
to present a larger cabinet - a 12-member one - to parliament for approval
later this week.
However, Arafat's decision seems to be influenced by the worsening
security situation.
"We have a deterioration of the security situation and we need to assert
control over security," the new premier said.
He added that the new government will be sworn in on Tuesday and will
immediately hold its first meeting.
The cabinet includes many of the familiar faces such as Salam Fayyadh and
Nabil Shaath, who will retain their posts as ministers of finance and
interior affairs respectively. It will also include some new figures such
as Nassre Yousef, who will become interior minister and will attain
responsibility for the security apparatus.
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il
Text: Ambassador Dan Gillerman Warns Security Council: God is watching
Ambassador Dan Gillerman Permanent Representative of Israel to the United
Nations http://www.israel-un.org/sec_council/gillerman_051003.htm
Emergency Session of the Security Council (5 October 2003) The United
Nations New York
Mr. President,
I wish to congratulate you on the assumption of the Presidency of the
Security Council. Let me also express to you my regret that your first
meeting is of this nature and taking place on this day. I wish also to
express to Sir Emyr Jones-Parry my great appreciation for his able and
fair stewardship of the Security Council last month.
This meeting of the Security Council is being convened within hours of Yom
Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest Day of the Jewish
calendar. I deeply regret that the Council could not meet after this most
important religious day, so as to allow Israel to participate fully in the
debate. I will, unfortunately, have to leave this meeting after I make my
statement to observe this Holy Day.
Yesterday, a Palestinian suicide bomber entered a crowded beachfront
restaurant in the port city of Haifa, murdering 19 innocent civilians and
wounding at least 60 others. The restaurant, a symbol of Arab-Israeli
co-existence was frequented by both Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel,
and among the victims were four Israeli Arabs, and 3 children and a baby
girl. Five victims were members of the same family, and three were members
of another family. Whole families were wiped out by this horrendous act.
Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization that operates freely from
Palestinian Authority territory and has headquarters in Damascus, Syria
proudly claimed responsibility for this massacre. Islamic Jihad is an
organizations committed to the destruction of Israel through holy war and
engages in the deliberate and widespread murder of innocents to that end.
It opposes moderate Arab governments and actively supports terrorist
attacks against Western targets. There could not be a more obvious example
of a terrorist organization.
The massacre in Haifa, is the latest in over forty terrorist atrocities
committed by Islamic Jihad in the past few years. Among the attacks
perpetrated by this organization is the massacre of 21 teenagers at a
discotheque in Tel-Aviv on 2 June 2001; the bombing of 5 June 2002 at the
Meggido Junction which killed 18 Israelis; the bombing of a commuter bus
on 21 October 2002 which killed 14 citizens; the attack on a shopping mall
in the Israeli town of Afula on 19 May 2003, in which 3 civilians were
killed and over 70 wounded; and the attack on March 30, 2003 where a
suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a cafe in Netanya wounding 58
civilians.
Mr. President,
The encouragement, safe harbor, training facilities, funding and
logistical support offered by Syria to a variety of notorious terrorist
organizations is a matter of public knowledge. Among the many terrorists
group that operate and benefit from the auspices of the Syrian
dictatorship are Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hizbollah, and The Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine. It is well known that the Secretary
General of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Abdallah Shallah is one of several
terrorist leaders that operates freely in Damascus and receives immunity
and support from the Assad regime.
Allow me to briefly detail, for the benefit of the Council, the extent of
support that Syria, as well as the regime in Iran, affords to terrorist
organizations such as Islamic Jihad who are engaged in the deliberate
massacre of innocent civilians:
1) Safe harbor and training facilities are provided throughout Syria for
terrorist organizations such as Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hizbollah, both
in separate facilities and in Syrian army bases. The Ein Saheb base, which
was targeted in Israel's measured defensive operation today, is just one
of these facilities sponsored by Syria and Iran. Recruits at camps such as
Ein Saheb come from Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other terrorist groups. They
are taught how to assemble bombs, conduct kidnappings, prepare suicide
belts, gather intelligence and establish terrorist cells. Some have also
received aviation instruction. Recruits training at these camps are slated
to return to Palestinian Authority territory and other areas to set up
cells and conduct terrorist operations.
2) Syria has itself facilitated and directed acts of terrorism by
coordination and briefings via phone and internet and by calling activists
to Damascus for consultations and briefings. Three such operatives, for
example, Tarek Az Aldin, Ali Saffuri and Taabat Mardawi have been
identified under investigation as specifically designated liaisons for
relaying instructions between officials in Damascus and terrorist cells in
the West Bank and Gaza. Mr. Mardawi has admitted involvement in many
attacks including a bus bombing in Haifa in May 2001, a suicide attack at
a restaurant in Kiryat Motzkin in August of that year and a bus attack
near Nazareth in March 2002. Another example comes from an intelligence
report provided by the Head of the Palestinian Preventative Security
Apparatus on 31 October 2001, which asserts that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and
Hizballah were meeting in Damascus "in order to increase their joint
acitivity.with the aid of Iranian money". Instructions are also given to
halt terrorist activity when it suits Syrian or Iranian interests to avoid
the spotlight, such as following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 in the
United States.
3) Iran, through the use of the Syrian and Palestinian banking systems
sustains a systematic money transfer system, and large sums of money have
been transferred to Islamic Jihad as well as other terrorists
organizations through Damascus for the planning and perpetration of
attacks. Mr. Shallah himself, the secretary-general of Islamic Jihad, is
known to have transferred funds in the hundreds of thousands of dollars
from Damascus to the individual accounts of Islamic Jihad operatives, such
as Bassam al-Saadi, who is responsible for Islamic Jihad financing in
Jenin.
4) Syria uses its state run media and official institutions to glorify and
encourage suicide bombings against civilians in restaurants, schools,
commuter buses and shopping malls. To mention but a few examples, Radio
Damascus, in a broadcast of 9 May 2002, lauded "The wonderful and special
suicide attacks which were executed by some of the sons of the Palestinian
nation". In another State-run announcement of 1 January 2002, Damascus
radio declared that "The entire world knows that Syria, its political
leadership, and its Arab people.have turned Syrian Arab soil into a
training camp, a safe haven, and an arms depot for the Palestinian
revolutionaries". And on 13 May 2002, President Bashar Assad himself
announced in reference to so-called acts of resistance "If I had not been
President of Syria I wouldn' t hesitate to participate in them". This was
not said by Osama Bin Laden or even Saddam Hussein, these words were
uttered by a President of a member of this council! Syria has also played
host to a number of conferences in which senior terrorist operatives from
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other organizations meet.
5) Syria has facilitated the transfer of arms to Palestinian terrorist
organizations such as Islamic Jihad, by allowing the transfer of
sophisticated weapons from Iran to Hizbullah through Syrian territory.
Hizbullah, itself a viscous terrorist organization, has then sought to
smuggle these arms to Palestinian terrorist groups, as was evidenced in
the Karine A arms shipment and similar incidents.
Mr. President,
These are just a few examples of the extent and nature of the involvement
of the Syrian regime in the deliberate murder of innocent civilians. Each
and every one of these acts constitutes a grave violation of international
law and Security Council resolutions, as well as a threat to international
peace and security. There are few better exhibits of State-sponsorship for
terrorism than the one provided by the Syrian regime.
Security Council resolution 1373 adopted under Chapter 7 of the Charter,
which in an act of the highest hypocrisy Syria itself voted for, makes
absolutely clear that States must prevent acts of terrorism, and refrain
from any form of financing, support, safe harbor or toleration of
terrorist groups. Syrian complicity and responsibility for suicide
bombings is as blatant as it is repugnant. The membership of this
arch-sponsor of terrorism on this Council is an unbearable contradiction
and an embarrassment to the United Nations. For Syria to ask for a debate
of the Council, is comparable to the Taliban calling for such a debate. It
would be laughable, if it weren 't so sad.
And yet, Members of the Council and the United Nations can hardly be
surprised at this shameless act of hypocrisy by the Syrian regime. This is
the same regime that speaks so often of "occupation" while it brutally
occupies the neighboring territory of Lebanon It is the same regime that
speaks of international law and human rights while it subjugates its
people under a repressive and primitive dictatorship, violating countless
international obligations. It is the same regime that supported the Saddam
Hussein regime in Iraq in violation of Security Council resolutions, and
to this day facilitates the infiltration of terrorists to attack civilian
and military targets in Iraqi territory. And it is this same despotic
regime that speaks so freely of double standards at the United Nations.
Syria would do well to take a hard look at the mirror, and count itself
fortunate that it has not yet, for unfortunate reasons, been the subject
of concerted international action as part of the global campaign against
terrorism. Not yet!
The Syrian delegate speaks a great deal about so-called resistance.
Perhaps he can tell us precisely, without his familiar diplomatic word
games and misrepresentations, how exactly the murder of children and
babies in a restaurant is an act of legitimate resistance. Or perhaps he
could tell us how the Syrians themselves have dealt with resistance, such
as in the case of Hamas in which some 10,000 civilians were murdered by
Syrian Armed Forces.
Mr. President,
Israel's measured defensive response to the horrific suicide bombings,
against a terrorist training facility in Syria, are a clear act of
self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter. These actions
come after Israel has exercised tremendous restraint despite countless
acts of terrorism that have claimed hundreds of innocent lives for which
Syria bears direct and criminal responsibility. It comes after Israel, and
the international community as a whole, has called repeatedly on Syria to
end its support of terrorism and finally comply with international law.
And it is designed to prevent further armed attacks against Israeli
civilians in which Syria is complicit, with a view to encouraging Syria to
resolve its dispute through bilateral negotiations in accordance with
Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, as it is legally required to do.
May I ask what any other country sitting around this table would do in the
face of the callous murder of hundreds of its civilians? This is not a
hypothetical question. Many states in this organization, and in this
Council, have been faced with terrorism of far less intensity and have
responded with far less restraint and far less concern for human life. And
yet, the Security Council has not seen fit to scrutinize their conduct.
Indeed, on certain occasions the Council has specifically endorsed such
defensive measures.
If there is a double standard in this Organization it is that while some
states are afforded the right to protect their citizens, Israel too often
is sent the message that its citizens are not worthy of protection. If
there is a double standard, it is that some states are able to support
terrorism with impunity, while those defending against it are called to
account. If there is a double standard it is Syria sitting at this table,
and raising one hand to vote against terror and the other to perpetrate
and initiate terror! For the sake of peace and the reputation of this
Council, let there be no such double standard today.
In the face of the rejectionism, aggression and terrorist sponsorship of
the Syrian regime, together with Iran and the Palestinian Authority, what
would the international community have us do? Like any state faced with
such a critical and prolonged threat, Israel must exercise its inherent
right and obligation to defend its citizens. What can we tell the Arab and
Israeli mothers of children murdered in this weekend's attack in Haifa? We
could have prevented the death of your son or daughter? We could have
stopped a terrorist from walking into your town, your school, your home,
your bedroom, but our hands were tied? Israel remains committed to a
peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict, and is ready to make
painful compromises to that end. But no peace can come while terrorism
prospers. No negotiations can bring progress, while our citizens die on
the streets.
Today, on the very eve of the Day of Atonement and the thirteenth
anniversary of the Egyptian-Syrian aggression that initiated the Yom
Kippur War, we call on members of the Council to come to the aid of the
victims of terrorism, not their sponsors. Syria deserves no support for
its complicity in murder and the Council would commit an unforgivable act
of moral blindness were it to act otherwise. The time has come for the
Council which adopted resolution 1373, and which has been at the forefront
of the global counter-terrorism campaign, to hold to account a brutal
dictatorship that is world-renowned for adopting terrorism as its primary
tool. The world is watching. And today, more than on any other day, God is
watching too!
Thank you, Mr. President.
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il
50th Annual Red Mass for Supreme Court Justices, Judges and Government Officials
October 04, 2003
The 50th annual Red Mass for Supreme Court justices, judges, attorneys and senior
government officials will be held the Sunday before this year’s Supreme Court session
begins:
Sunday, October 5, 2003, 10:00 a.m.
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle
1725 Rhode Island Ave., NW, Washington, DC
The Red Mass invokes God’s blessings and guidance in the administration of justice
under the power of the Holy Spirit, and is a tradition that dates back many centuries to
Rome, Paris and London. The name comes from the color of the vestments worn by the
celebrants and the color of fire, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, will be principal
celebrant. The homilist will be Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, an internationally-recognized
theologian, author and lecturer. Born in New York in 1918 to John Foster Dulles,
Secretary of State under President Dwight Eisenhower, and Janet Pomeroy Avery
Dulles, he was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1956. Cardinal Dulles has written 700 articles
and 22 books on theology and served on the faculty of Woodstock College and The
Catholic University of America. Currently, he is the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of
Religion and Society at Fordham University, a position he has held since 1988. Cardinal
McCarrick and Cardinal Dulles knew each other as students at Fordham; Cardinal
McCarrick served Cardinal Dulles’ first Mass as a priest and the two were elevated to
the College of Cardinals together in February 2001.
The Red Mass is sponsored by the John Carroll Society, a Washington area
organization that provides spiritual, intellectual, charitable and social opportunities for
Catholic professionals. This year marks not only the 50th anniversary of the Red Mass,
but also the restoration of St. Matthew’s Cathedral and, in November, the 40th
anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s funeral at the church.
(Archdiocese of Washington)