To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Don't Shoot Till You Can See They're Over the Age of 12
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 04:16:13 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Don't Shoot Till You Can See They're Over the Age of 12
Haaretz Daily
www.haaretzdaily.com
He doesn't know how many children have been killed in the violence of
the past two months, but he's sure that the army 'shoots everyone who
needs to be shot.' A day in the life of an IDF sharpshooter.
By Amira Hass
You can find soldiers like him at any military post in the West Bank
or Gaza. But we met in an Israeli city. He is the same age as many of
those who are confronting the Israel Defense Forces. He is smiling,
shy but frank, and tends to favor subjects in the humanities. If he
were out of uniform, you might think he was on his way to India or
South America."Every day, the orders for opening fire change,
sometimes several times a day," he says.
Every day before we go out they define the principles for opening
fire. This also changes from place to place. There are places where
the orders are more lenient than in other places. The orders, wisely,
are that we should be very selective, very precise. Or it depends on
the day. After the lynch, for example, the orders for opening fire
were far more lenient than they had been the day before. But usually
the instructions for opening fire are not permissive at all. There
seems to be an impression that I am eager to open fire, but on the
contrary, I'm glad that the orders for opening fire are moderate."
How do you know they are moderate? What are the criteria?
"Sharpshooters are given precise orders to open fire. On people who
throw firebombs, you aim for the legs, but people who pull out weapons
can be shot straight on."
They gave you video cameras.
"They call this a documentation kit, and see to it that every person
killed is photographed. And then it will be confirmed that he was not
under the age of 12, that he was holding a gun."
That is, the Palestinian figures are false?
"It's hard for me to determine, but I can remember a few cases when we
definitely shot at adults and we prayed that the soldier in charge of
the kit had filmed it because there they will accuse us of having
killed a child. It could be that there are mistaken statements, there
are also errors, and a child was killed because of a soldier's stupid
mistake. And I haven't heard them publicizing this (in the Israel
Defense Forces)afterward."
What is a mistake? That the rifle moved?
"For example, someone says to the other forces that he has identified
someone suspicious - we identified a boy who is making strange
movements, maybe he wanted to pick up a stone or something like that.
The one who identified him strongly requests permission to fire in his
direction. The forward command, the brigade commander, definitely does
not allow it, and he continues to plead, and so the commander says, if
you think he is very suspicious, fire a warning shot, and a warning
shot is 20 meters, and fire into an open area. From the debriefing
afterward, it turns out that that he had seen the person's head
through a telescope, took five meters, and the wind ... The rifle
wasn't aimed so precisely, and he hit him right in the head."
Do you know how many children have been killed?
"No. If we ask, they tell. And there are places where they provide the
figures without us asking."
And do you know how many dead there have been altogether?
"No, I've heard various numbers in different places, but I wouldn't
sign on them."
And children?
"I can't estimate at all the number of children who have been killed."
How do you explain that people have been hit in the upper part of the
body? Do you need skill to be on target?
"The IDF shoots very selectively, shoots everyone who needs to be shot
- or at least in 90 percent of the cases. That is to say, everyone who
throws a Molotov cocktail and can kill someone else - so if he's
holding it [the firebomb], we shoot him. We don't fire at him with an
automatic weapon, but we shoot at him with a sharpshooter's rifle, and
in most cases these aren't long ranges. A sharpshooter, from 200
meters, has no problem hitting the head and certainly if he aims at
the head - the upper part of the body - there's no problem. A firebomb
endangers the soldiers in the Jeeps, who are 25 meters away.
"A sharpshooter is like a pilot, his work is very clean, certain, but
there are also other sharpshooters, and then the work is very
dangerous. The real danger for a sharpshooter is another sharpshooter,
a Palestinian. And they have them. There are even some who are not
bad. If you have the weapons and the sights, unfortunately you have a
50 percent chance of hitting the target. In this war the ranges are
short. A sharpshooter is measured at 500-600 meters, then he's a real
sharpshooter."
And when do you begin to get skillful?
"We as sharpshooters have taken good care to look, even though they
haven't told us to, for places where there could be other
sharpshooters - houses, windows that catch someone's reflection -
because this is what is really scary. What is also scary are stray
bullets. Their firing is not aimed. Especially as the IDF is very
afraid that [Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser] Arafat will decide
to deploy the Palestinian police. At the moment, they are acting of
their own accord sometimes, but if he decides, the IDF will have more
of a problem, because they are simply better trained. The Tanzim are
untrained guys, no one has helped [train] them and sometimes when they
say on the radio 'exchanges of fire,' we laugh. This is not Hezbollah
that the IDF trained in the past, this is not Hamas that Iran has
trained and not even Palestinian policemen who received full backing
for their training. The IDF has watched them train and knows how they
practice. They know how to shoot precisely and they have precise and
reliable weapons. This is what the IDF fears.
"I have to say that the IDF was ready in advance for these
disturbances. I remember that about two months before it all began, I
really wasn't thinking in this direction. I was pleased and optimistic
that [Prime Minister Ehud] Barak had been elected, and that the peace
process was moving forward. We had a discussion with commanders, and
they said that unfortunately the IDF is expecting that there will be
disturbances. Then, they said it was because of Arafat's needs in
advance of establishing a state. They told us that Arafat had learned
from Israel that establishing a state by force and with many dead is a
positive thing; it strengthens the leader, a bit, but they said that
mainly it gives values to the inhabitants, esprit de corps, like we
have.
"This is also the case for the State of Israel, after three wars, when
seven armies attacked us. They expected that there would be something,
only they didn't know whether it would be a war, disturbances,
demonstrations. They were hoping it would be demonstrations, but
prepared for the possibility that it would be a war. There are
contingency plans that set out in astonishing detail what happens if
they decide, and if they decide then within a few days we occupy the
territories we have given to them and set up a military government
like in the 1950s, something like that. Of course this is terrible.
Even I, a simple soldier, have heard about these plans."
Do you remember how it all started?
"My father took the trouble to get very angry at [Likud MK Ariel]
Sharon when he visited there [the Temple Mount]. Then I thought this
was an ordinary event."
Didn't you know that on the Friday, four people were killed at the
mosque and another two near Mukassad Hospital?
"I didn't know, no. I think that after the first day, you become a
soldier. On the first and last day (of service) you go back to being
yourself again, to your political ideas, and afterward you try to cut
yourself off. In my opinion, most of the Jewish settlements beyond the
1967 borders are not important. But at the moment you are a defender,
and one hundred percent a defender, and the people are very important
to you. We as Israelis have to decide on a clear line, because if we
decide that we aren't giving back the settlements then we, the
soldiers, will find it much easier to fight. At the moment I am sure
that Arafat also knows this."
Someone who is about to throw a firebomb is in motion all the time, so
how do you aim when someone is moving all the time?
"It depends on the distances. At 100 meters it's not hard, and we also
practice this, and there are also easy targets, it all depends on the
distance. At 500 meters you already know not to aim at the head but at
the middle of the body, because it's easier, and you also have to take
into account the wind, and the deviation, but at 100 meters it's
almost sterile firing, very easy. In Lebanon a sharpshooter has to be
far more skilled, the distances were from 700 to 1,000 meters. Here,
it's 100 meters."
Is it easy to shoot at the head?
"Yes. The guys there, and also those who throw Molotov cocktails, or
even shoot, have an instinct to stop, a second to think where to throw
or shoot, and this second gives the sharpshooter five or six seconds,
and it's no problem. If he stops, and if you're also far away, the
head is no problem."
Behind the Jeeps there is someone standing with a rifle. Isn't he a
sharpshooter?
"He usually shoots rubber bullets."
And what kind do you shoot?
"A sharpshooter fires a lethal bullet, a bullet bigger than an M-16,
but its quality is superior to a submachine gun bullet."
The Palestinians say that the IDF uses a high muzzle velocity. Is that
what ou do?
"The muzzle velocity for sharpshooters is not that high, less than
that of an ordinary M-16. The question is how critical this is. A
sharpshooter's bullet kills if it hits the body. This is a bullet that
is 'metal jacket' - covered entirely in metal. In a regular bullet,
the bottom part isn't covered, and this interferes with the
aerodynamics. On the part that isn't covered, the air eats the lead a
bit - like air can eat a part of a mountain, and gradually it gets
into the inside of the bullet and distorts its direction. In
sharpshooters' weapons this doesn't happen."
That is, the lead is entirely covered in metal.
"Correct, and it's more aerodynamic. It comes to a point and it is
long. What is also important is the weapon itself, the muzzle, that
nothing be attached to the muzzle. Ideally, next to every sharpshooter
there is someone who aims, standing there with binoculars."
Of course you also see.
"You see through the telescope whether you've hit the person, but you
don't see exactly where the bullet is going. And if there is a person
whose job it is to aim, he can even see this. Through regular
binoculars you can see the reverberations the bullet leaves, the dust,
the tin, and then he says that you hit at two o'clock, 60 centimeters
next to the person. If a sharpshooter isn't accurate with the first
bullet - with the second it's almost a sure thing."
Do they tell you to aim for the head, or is it up to you?
"If they tell a sharpshooter to fire his intention will be to hit the
head. Because if a sharpshooter fires, he fires for certain in order
to kill. Unless there are specific individuals - in this war it hasn't
happened much - whom you're told to shoot in the legs, and they also
ask sharpshooters to do this."
Why haven't there been?
"There was a policy that you only shoot at people who are clearly
endangering lives. This decreases the amount of shooting by the IDF
and the number of wounded, and maybe increases the number killed.
Meanwhile, the IDF is trying very hard not to shoot, not to kill, to
let them demonstrate a bit - maybe also because of what they told us
about two months before it all started, to let Arafat have his
demonstrations without giving him and other countries an excuse to get
into a state of war."
Isn't there a danger that a competition will develop as to who will do
more sharpshooting?
"With us, there is no such thing. Somebody told me that at a place
where he was, some guys went by and the veterans were angry because
the young people weren't restrained.
They were keen to fire. But even I, who before the army said I would
try very hard not to shoot, if you're already there and into the
weapon and you go out on an ambush - it's terrible to say this, but
you hope that something will come of it. You sit there at night and
it's very boring and you're very tired, and the last refuge is that
you really will catch the bad guys and teach them a lesson.
"At one place, the older guys arrived to replace us, and they didn't
believe that the young guys were shooting so much. After they say
'stop' you have to stop shooting immediately. And it took them another
minute. Because of the keenness to shoot. These are things, in my
opinion, that make the IDF stumble, the lack of restraint. There are
even soldiers who fire a rubber bullet but load a regular bullet ahead
of it - it increases the force. It usually kills."
Do you know about investigations of errors?
"Every IDF shooting is reported and investigated."
I've been at those places, those demonstrations, where the Plestinians
open fire.
"Are you trying to say that the Palestinian firing is pathetic?"
Yes.
"Correct. I agree. Usually the Palestinian fire is pathetic."
And the army knew it was pathetic.
"Yes. The shooting is totally pathetic. And until there's shooting,
you know that most of it will be into the air.."
Is this showing off?
"Yes. The IDF knows this."
So why kill, why not just injure?
"If you decide to wound people, more people will get hurt, and the
question is whether this is better. Wounding fans anger even more."
Who told you so?
"This is my opinion. That is, if you wound someone, even the process
of getting hit, when he screams, says that it hurts."
The IDF knew that the Fatah firing was just showing off, and that the
refining of the shooting should be prevented, yet nonetheless
"Palestinian firing has gotten better," that is, the policy of a
severe response hasn't helped.
"I have a friend who's a settler, and for him the firing isn't
pathetic at all. In his opinion, every time they shoot, we have to
warn them by firing back a lot more. If you were to talk to him, this
conversation would be totally different. You are talking to me, and by
my nature I ask myself more whether just to let them shoot, maybe not
fire back. When I am a soldier I don't ask myself; I ask, but there
are orders, and I know in advance that if they shoot, you have to ask
whether I need to shoot again.
"It would be too bad for the IDF if it didn't happen this way. The
mistakes occur because this is not the way it is conducted. One person
decides to shoot, or someone else decides the opposite, not to shoot.
Now I'll be a bit tougher: The IDF shoots because nevertheless there
are cases when soldiers are killed."
Do you feel that this is out of revenge?
"I don't know whether the IDF takes revenge. But every time, after
there's a serious incident, it's political, you can feel it. You as a
soldier know that if in the papers today they have written about a lot
of things that happened to the IDF, then they will allow you to shoot
more. That on that same night I'm going to be shooting more than I did
the night before."
Because you want to, or because they let you?
"Because they let me. I didn't want to shoot that much, though there
are a lot of soldiers who do want to shoot. At first I also wanted to
shoot, and after I shot a few times I said, enough."
You haven't shot children.
"All the sharpshooters haven't shot children."
But nonetheless there are children who were hit, wounded or killed
after they were hit in the head. Unless these were mistakes.
"If they were children, they were mistakes."
Do they talk about this?
"They talk to us about this a lot. They forbid us to shoot at
children."
How do they say this?
"You don't shoot a child who is 12 or younger."
That is, a child of 12 or older is allowed?
"Twelve and up is allowed. He's not a child any more, he's already
after his bar mitzvah. Something like that."
Thirteen is bar mitzvah age.
"Twelve and up, you're allowed to shoot. That's what they tell us."
Again: Twelve and up you're allowed to shoot children.
"Because this already doesn't look to me like a child by definition,
even though in the United States a child can be 23."
Under international law, a child is defined as someone up to the age
of 18.
"Up until 18 is a child?"
So, according to the IDF, it is 12?
"According to what the IDF says to its soldiers. I don't know if this
is what the IDF says to the media."
And children are from 12 down. Is there no order that between 12 and
18 you shoot at the legs and not the head?
"Of course we try to see to it that he really is over 20."
In the 10 seconds that you have.
"In the 10 seconds that I have, I have to estimate how old he is."
And in what direction the wind is blowing, and the deviation here and
there, and which way he'll jump the next moment.
"Yes, but there are hardly any mistakes by sharpshooters. The mistakes
are made by people who aren't sharpshooters."
And it turns out that they happen to hit the children's heads, and all
this is just by chance?
"If you say you have seen children that have been hit in the head a
lot, then it is sharpshooters."
So what you're saying is that our definition of children is different.
"Your definition is different."
Because for you it's someone who is 12.
"Yes."
But a child of 13 doesn't bear arms, no matter what you call him, a
boy or a teenager or an adult.
"He isn't holding a gun but a firebomb, and in certain places it is
possible also to fire on people who throw firebombs."
Do you know how many people were killed yesterday?
"No. To my regret."
>From what you say about the instructions to be cautious that are
>given
to you as sharpshooters, I conclude that all the people who were
killed were armed. But it doesn't look that way to me, because I am
familiar with the events in the field.
"Nor does it look that way to me. There's nothing to be done, if the
IDF decides that it is responding and reacting, a lot of mistakes will
happen and relatively a lot of them will be killed. On the other hand,
a lot more could be getting killed.
I have seen a pamphlet of instructions for opening fire.
"There is no such thing, they don't give them out at all. Everything
is according to orders the commander gives that morning."
I want to persist in the matter of the 12-year-olds. Why was this age
set?
"I have heard that it was important to the IDF to know whether someone
was over 12, so therefore I understood that the age of 12 is a border
line. They haven't told us any age, just that we must not shoot at
children. The IDF doesn't specify ages. We take care not to kill, not
to have incidents with many dead. Six dead is normal, there could have
been a lot more."
What do you mean by normal?
"Because they did shoot at us, and if someone shoots at you, even if
it's pathetic, you have to return fire."
------- End of forwarded message -------
via: 1worldcommunication@topica.com
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974798193/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) BULLETIN: Egypt recalls ambassador from Israel in wake
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 07:42:07 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Send reply to: <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
From: "Ben Yosef"
To: "ben Yosef"
Subject: BULLETIN: Egypt recalls ambassador from Israel in wake of Israeli retalliation for bombing of school bus
Date sent: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 11:51:22 +0200
BULLETIN
GILO, Jerusalem -- Israeli TV and Radio just interrupted their
regularly scheduled programming to announce that the ambassador from
Egypt to Israel, who has been here 16 years, has been recalled to
Cairo.
The order came directly from Egyptian Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak as
Egypt's response to the Israeli retalliation for the bombing of a
school bus in the Gaza yesterday which killed two Israeli school
teachers and injured 9 others, including 5 children who lost feet and
legs, and the bus driver.
Mubarak said the Israeli strikes at Palestinian Authority locations in
the Gaza was the use of "excessive force" in explaining his action.
For the first time, the retaliatory strikes in Rafah, Khan Yunis, Beit
Layiya and the Jabalya refugee camp by the Israeli Air Force and Navy
came without prior warning last night cutting power lines and plunging
most of the GAza into darkness.
Palestinian radio last night reported at least 50 injured but this
morning the casualty list was upgraded to more than 100 injured.
There is no report of any fatalities at this time.
MORE COMING
Shalom Shalom
ben Yosef
------- End of forwarded message -------
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974810561/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Implant monitors heart online
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:49:09 -0500
Implant monitors heart online
DAVE PARKS
News staff writer
11/16/00
Researchers at UAB are studying an implant that allows a doctor to check a
patient's heart over the Internet.
The system is so effective that Dr. Robert Bourge, director of UAB's
division of cardiovascular disease, reported he was able to connect one
heart patient's shortness of breath with eating salty Chinese food.
Bourge discussed the study, which is being conducted at 10 medical
centers including the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Wednesday at
the American Heart Association's 73rd annual Scientific Sessions in New
Orleans.
The small device, called the Chronicle, is implanted in the chest. It monit
ors
pressures on the left and right sides of the heart and in arteries going to
the
lungs. This is critical because these pressures rise when fluid builds up i
n
the body, causing a reaction that can damage the heart. Thus, people with
heart disease are often restricted to low-salt diets because salt retains f
luid
in their bodies. A patient with the Chronicle implant waves a wand containi
ng
a computer chip over the chest. The computer gathers information from the
implant, and the patient sends the data by telephone to a secure Internet
site. A doctor goes to the site and checks on the patient's heart function.
One of the biggest advantages of the Chronicle is its ability to continuous
ly
sense and collect unique and valuable information," Bourge said in a
prepared statement. This is such a milestone because it allows us to
continuously monitor the patient at home; and if their pressures go up, we
can intervene with adjustments in medication before hospitalization is
necessary."
Citing an example of its effectiveness, Bourge said one of his patients was
suffering from shortness of breath every Sunday morning. A readout from the
patient's implant showed a jump in pressure that indicated a buildup of flu
id.
We were able to determine that he and his girlfriend were eating Chinese
food every Saturday night, which has a very high sodium content and caused
the retention of fluid," Bourge said.
The Chronicle is being developed by Medtronic Inc. It is part of a system t
o
help people suffering from advanced heart failure. A study of the implant's
accuracy and safety started in 1999; further study is expected to begin in
2001.
Last year, Medtronic announced the premarket approval by the Food and
Drug Administration of an implantable defibrillator to monitor, detect and
treat
abnormally fast heart rhythms.
=A9 2000 The Birmingham News. Used with permission.
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/Nov2000/16-heart.html
via: isml@egroups.com
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974818737/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Stem-cells bank to be a pioneer in Europe
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:49:09 -0500
STEM-CELLS BANK TO BE A PIONEER IN EUROPE
University Plan Harmonizes Ethics and New Biogenetic Techniques
ROME, NOV. 20, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- Beginning Jan. 1, the Catholic
University of Rome will provide a stem-cells bank which will be used to
regenerate human organs and tissues.
The plan provides for the extraction of stem cells from the blood of umbilical
cords. The program would avoid the grave ethical problems posed by the use
of
cloned human embryos as spare parts.
The blood of the placenta, which has stem cells, will be sent to the bank for
storage. These cells offer extraordinary possibilities for persons whose
umbilical cords have been used, as well as for people of compatible blood
groups. Stem cells are the progenitors of the elements of blood, and, when
developed, can become muscular tissue, cartilage and blood vessels.
News of the stem-cells bank was announced Saturday by Salvatore
Mancuso, director of the University's Institute of Gynecology, during the
congress on "New Frontiers for Bioethics: Biotechnologies," organized for
the 50th anniversary of the scientific journal Medicina e Morale ( see
http://www.centrobioetica.org ).
Mancuso said that the university hopes to demonstrate that it is possible to
make progress in research without having to resort to cloning or to the
indiscriminate use of embryos created solely for this purpose. The bank will
be
the first of its kind in Italy and a pioneer in Europe.
Archbishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life
and
director of the Bioethics Institute of the Catholic University of Rome, told the
Italian newspaper Il Giornale in its Sunday edition that "the techniques to use
stem cells extracted from the umbilical cord represent genuine scientific
progress."
"Above all, because they offer a kind of preventive therapy and constitute a
precious reserve to combat some sicknesses that could arise in the future,"
the
archbishop said, "however, above all because these techniques offer greater
possibilities for success as opposed to those based on the extraction of stem
cells from embryos."
According to Archbishop Sgreccia, "the scientific hypotheses, on which the
measures promoted by the English and U.S. governments are based, lack
the
necessary foundation, both from the ethical as well as the experimental point
of
view. Research rewards the use of stem cells extracted from the umbilical
cord
and proves that it is not necessary to sacrifice embryos."
The archbishop concluded by explaining that "the use of embryos is ethically
unacceptable not only for those who are Catholic."
"It is not necessary to be a believer to recognize, above all, that the embryo
is a human being," he added. "It cannot be tolerated that human beings be
'produced' to be used as simple deposits of cells. This is prohibited by
international codes." ZE00112002
ZENIT News Agency <english1@zenit.org>
Mon, 20 Nov 2000 18:00:50 -0500
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974818737/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Edupage items (11/20/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:49:09 -0500
CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUPS CRITICIZE PROPOSED INTERNET USE LAWS
Privacy advocates are up in arms over the Council of Europe's
international cybercrime laws, which are likely to meet with U.S.
approval. Canada, Japan, and South Africa are also likely to
approve the rules. The rules were drafted in closed meetings,
raising the hackles of the Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC) and the ACLU. The rules are "very much oriented to
increasing government investigative powers at the expense of human
rights and privacy," said EPIC general counsel David Sobel. The
ACLU has characterized the rules as "a significant risk to the
privacy and human rights of Internet users." The rules would force
ISPs to monitor the activities of their customers and give law
enforcement agencies greater access to the data on ISPs'
networks. The laws also crack down on explicitly violent Web
sites but, because of U.S. First Amendment considerations, would
not touch hate sites, which have come under fire in Europe.
(USA Today, 20 November 2000)
POSTAL SERVICE DEFENDS ONLINE BILL-PAYING SERVICE
At least one member of Congress is making noise about limiting
the government's involvement in the e-commerce bill presentment
arena, due to an ongoing dispute between the Postal Service and
bill presentment companies. The Postal Service's eBillPay
service has drawn the ire of the industry, which charges that the
service puts industry players at an unfair advantage. The Postal
Service defended the eBillPay service in a letter to Congress,
arguing that the service is actually beneficial to the private
sector, but Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) was not swayed by the
missive. "The Postal Service in the bill presentment area is
already running afoul of what government policy is, and it's not
good for the country and not good for them," Lofgren said, adding
that Congress may have to be more active on the matter. Several
lawmakers on Capitol Hill would like the government to butt out
of the e-commerce market, Lofgren said.
(Associated Press, 16 November 2000)
SEE. TOUCH. TASTE. CLICK. BUY.
A number of software developers and online retailers are working
to sensualize the Internet shopping experience. One company,
TriSenx, is developing a PC peripheral that "prints" an edible
wafer embedded with FDA-approved chemicals approximating the
taste of a food item for sale online. The goal is to bridge the
gap between the near sensory vacuum of the current online
shopping experience and the in-store experience, where a shopper
can see a product's actual color, feel a fabric's texture, smell
perfume, or taste a cookie. Online retailer Landsend.com, with
Canadian software developer My Virtual Model, offers adult female
customers the option of creating a virtual model with the same
body size and shape, skin tone, and hair color so they can
view--from the front and back--clothing as it would appear on
them. An adult male Your Personal Model is due early next year,
with teenager versions to follow after that. Other online
retailing sensory devices under development include iSmell from
DigiScents, a peripheral that emits the smell of a certain
perfume, or whatever else, and Logitec's iFeel mouse, which can
represent certain tactile experiences.
(Industry Standard, December 2000)
LIBRARIES AROUND THE WORLD TEAM UP FOR NET SERVICE
A group of libraries from around the world began testing the
Comprehensive Digital Reference Service, a free service that
will help users find information on the Internet by directing
inquiries to the appropriate library. The Internet often
provides too many search results or questionable information,
and the libraries hope to bring a higher quality of information
online by providing access to their wealth of research collections
and specialized catalogs. A network will route questions to the
library best suited to provide an answer, based on the libraries'
expertise, hours of operation, and other considerations. Although
the group will initially focus on answering questions in English,
the service should eventually accommodate up to 20 languages. The
group, which expects to launch its Web site officially by June,
has about 60 members, including Yale, Harvard, the National
Gallery of Art, the National Library of Australia, and the Duke
University Divinity School.
(Baltimore Sun, 20 November 2000)
EDUCAUSE <EDUCAUSE@EDUCAUSE.EDU>
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974818736/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Resurrection of girl 'will be cloning turning point'
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:49:09 -0500
Monday 20 November 2000
Resurrection of girl 'will be cloning turning point'
LYNN MOORE
The Gazette
RICHARD ARLESS JR., GAZETTE / Humans are the result of a genetic
experiment by gods, Raelians believe, and Rael says the cloning of a dead
child next year will turn public opinion around.
The spiritual leader of the Raelian movement is accustomed to ridicule; he is,
after all, best known for his belief in extraterrestrials.
But now that a Raelian-sponsored cloning laboratory somewhere in the U.S.
is said to be preparing to clone a 10-month-old American girl, Rael is
generating another reaction.
"Twenty-seven years ago, when I talked about cloning, they laughed. They
don't any more. Now they are afraid," Rael told about 700 people crammed
into the Theatre du Gesu on Bleury St. yesterday.
On hand for the rare conference given by Rael - who claims to be in regular
contact with the gods, known in the movement as Elohim - were a camera
crew from a U.S. television network and a photographer preparing for a New
York Times magazine story.
Duplicate of Daughter
In 1997, shortly after Dolly the sheep was cloned, Rael announced in Las
Vegas the formation of the first human cloning company, Clonaid. Rael and
the firm's director, Brigitte Boisselier, said Clonaid has evolved into a viable
enterprise that has investors, a staff and a list of about 250 clients.
Rael said a wealthy American family, whose 10-month-old child died
because of a hospital error, is providing major financial support for the venture
and will get the first clone, a genetic duplicate of their departed daughter.
The family's contributions include all the money it will get from a wrongful-
death suit against those responsible for the child's death, Rael said. The
second human clone will also go to a wealthy family who is supplying seed
money, he said.
A fund has also been established for legal fees, said Rael, who expects that
legal challenges to human cloning will eventually take the issue to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
But the cloned daughter will be presented to the world via television before
2001 is over, Rael said.
"Public opinion will turn completely ... (and people) will say this cloning is
perfect," he predicted.
Until he was renamed Rael by the aliens he says first visited him in 1973, he
was a sportswriter named Claude Vorilhon. Rael means "the messenger"
and part of the message is that humans were created in the image of the
Elohim as the result of an intergalactic genetic experiment.
Rael said cloning will not only give "genetic codes a second chance," it will
pave the way to eternal life.
Not everyone will appreciate the thought of life eternal nor have the love of life
and spirituality required for a long voyage on Earth, Rael predicted.
Neither the identity of the family nor the location of the lab, where scientists
are now preparing equipment, can be disclosed, Boisselier said in a brief
interview.
In previous published accounts, Boisselier has been quoted as saying the
cloning will cost about $300,000 and that it will cost $3 million to complete
experiments leading to the first cloning.
The hedonistic Raelians, who believe in liberal sex, are said to number about
500,000. The Swiss-based movement has a substantial following in Quebec
and has a UFOland in Valcourt.
From The Montreal Gazette,
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/pages/001120/4900288.html
via: isml@egroups.com
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974818737/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] IDF: Summary of Today's Events (11/20/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:49:09 -0500
IDF Spokesperson: A Summary of Today's (20.11.2000)Events in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip
21 November 2000
The West Bank
An IDF force on pro-active operation in the area of Alfei-Menashe,
identified an armed terrorist cell on its way to attack a bus on the road
leading to the Alfei-Menashe settlement.
The terrorists opened fire at the bus. There were no casualties but the bus
was damaged. The IDF force responded with accurate fire toward the
terrorists, one of the terrorists was killed from the shooting, a number of
terrorists were wounded and fled the area.
In another pro-active operation, an IDF force identified two terrorists
laying an explosive charge on the road leading to Mount Eibal, south of
Nablus.
The force opened fire at the terrorists. A terrorist was killed from the
shooting, another was wounded.
Two Israeli civilians were lightly wounded tonight from stones and firebombs
thrown at their vehicle near the town of Givon, north of Jerusalem. Another
civilian was lightly wounded from stones thrown at the bus in which he was
travelling, near the town of Shilo. The civilians were treated on site and
evacuated for further treatment at a hospital.
Palestinian carried out shooting attacks at the following sites:
Toward the town of Pesagot, north of Jerusalem; toward Mount Eibal; toward
the Jewish settlement in Hebron; toward an Israeli bus and an IDF vehicle
near Tekoa, south of Beit Lehem; toward the town of Ganim and an IDF base
near Jenin; toward Nahal Elisha near Jericho.
IDF forces returned fire toward the sources of the shooting.
Disturbances (throwing of rocks and petrol bombs) took place in the
following locations:
Rama Junction and the Kalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem; Ayosh
Junction, near Ramallah; the Hosen bypass road and the village of Beit Omer
south of Nablus; the Tapoah Junction in Samaria; in the village of Hares near
Kalkillia and in Oja, near Jericho.
The Gaza Strip
Two Israeli civilians were killed this morning, nine were wounded, when an
explosive charge detonated near a civilian bus, heading from Kfar Darom to
the Gush Katif region of the Gaza Strip.
In response, Israeli Navy ships and IAF attack helicopters attacked
installations in the west bank belonging to the PA and its security
apparatus:
1. Headquarters of the Preventative Security and Fatah-Tanzim.
2. Headquarters and a training camp of Force 17.
3. Communications Installations
During the day, shots were fired at an IDF position near the settlement of
Gadid in the region of Gush Katif, toward an IDF position near Neve Dekalim,
toward the southern DCO, toward an IDF force on the Karni-Netzarim road,
and toward a heavy engineering vehicle, near Kfar Darom.
"IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974818737/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Nova presents "Runaway Universe"
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:49:09 -0500
NOVA PRESENTS "RUNAWAY UNIVERSE"
http://www.pbs.org/nova/universe/
Web site premiere: November 20, 2000
Broadcast: November 21, 2000
(NOVA usually airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. Check your local listings.)
NOVA presents the first attempt on television to explore the riddle of
quintessence -- the mysterious repulsive force that some scientists
believe counteracts gravity. The program follows the efforts of two
rival teams of astronomers as they search for exploding stars, map out
cosmic patterns of galaxies, and grapple with the ultimate
question: What is the fate of the universe?
Here's what you'll find online.
History of the Universe
This interactive timeline reveals the evolution of the universe from
the Big Bang to the time when burned-out stars and black holes will
have evaporated.
Birth of a Supernova
What happens when a star explodes? This interactive feature
demonstrates, step-by-step, the sequence of events that results in
Type Ia and Type II supernovae.
Tour the Universe (VRML)
This VRML feature allows you to take an extensive tour of our
local universe. Within this three-dimensional world, you can visit
and learn about 2,000 of the galaxies that surround our own.
Moving Targets (Hot Science)
Find out how astronomers use the Doppler effect and redshift to
determine how fast a stellar object is moving away from or toward
the Earth.
How Big is the Universe?
Cosmologist Brent Tully attempts to answer this question while
discussing some of astronomy's latest developments.
Spin a Spiral Galaxy (QTVRs)
Among severa QTVRs in this feature is an object VR that allows you
to spin a spiral galaxy, revealing how a galaxy can appear to be
elliptical, round, or flat in shape, depending on your vantage
point.
Plus Resources and a Teacher's Guide.
http://www.pbs.org/nova/universe/
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974818737/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] PA TV airs call for confrontation with US interests
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:49:10 -0500
PMW ADVISORY: PA TV AIRS CALL FOR CONFRONTATION WITH U.S.
INTERESTS
PMW SPECIAL ADVISORY NOVEMBER 20, 2000
Palestine Media Watch pmw@netvision.net.il
INTIFADA LEADERSHIP CALL FOR
"CONFRONTATION WITH U.S. INTERESTS USING ALL POSSIBLE
MEANS"
AIRED ON OFFICIAL PA TV IN A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
The umbrella organization of the intifada, "The National and The Islamic
Forces" issued an announcement of planned activities for the coming week.
The agenda includes a call for confrontation with US interests. It was read as
a special announcement on Palestinian Authority TV (Ramallah), today Nov.
20, 2000 at 12:20. The following is from the text:
THE VOICE OF THE INTIFADA IS HEARD OVER ALL OTHERS
[Planned activities for:]
Tuesday November 21
A day of Confrontations and Mass Marches dedicated to:
+ Exposing the extreme American identification with the occupation
+ Demand the shattering of the American monopoly and hegemony
+ Call upon Palestinian, Arab and Moslem masses to boycott American
products and denounce its policies in the region
+ Call upon the Arab world to enter into confrontation with American
interests using all possible means
GLORY TO OUR RIGHTEOUS MARTYRS
THE INTIFADA SHALL CONTINUE TO VICTORY AND DEFEAT OF THE
OCCUPATION
The Monitoring Committee of The National and The Islamic Forces in the
Gaza Strip. November 18, 2000
"IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Tue, 21 Nov 2000 10:48:38 +0200
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974818737/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] The Secret of the Kursk
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:52:45 -0500
THE SECRET OF THE KURSK
Over the past month Norwegian seismologists have detected explosions in
the Barents Sea, in the vicinity of the Kursk. After Norwegian officials
announced the detected explosions, Russia's navy responded with an
explanation which raises more questions than it answers. According to
spokesman Vladimir Navrotsky of the Russian Northern Fleet, the
explosions detected by Norway are "preventive." He further admitted the
existence of a "plan" to provide security for the wrecked submarine. "Any
ship in this area may conduct preventive bombardment," said Navrotsky in a
television interview last week.
Standing guard over the Kursk wreckage is the most powerful missile
cruiser on earth, named Peter the Great. Assisted by aircraft and escort
ships, Peter the Great is said to have advanced submarine detection
capabilities. Apparently, the Russians will not tolerate U.S. or British
submarines in the area. It seems they have something valuable to protect,
and they are making it clear to everyone that intruders will be attacked and
sunk if necessary.
It is well known that the Kursk possessed the most advanced technology
available to the Russian Navy. Obviously, this technology cannot be allowed
to fall into American or British hands. Contrary to what some Americans
may think, the Kursk was not a piece of junk that blew up on account of
obsolescence. This submarine was of recent design and construction, built
with one idea in mind: to demolish a U.S. carrier battlegroup.
As reported in the Russian press last week, the Russian air force is also
obsessed with the idea of demolishing U.S. carrier battlegroups. In fact, the
Russians recently demonstrated this ability by overflying the USS Kitty
Hawk in the Western Pacific. Additional details were provided last week
by Russia's air force chief, Gen. Anatoly Kornukov, who stated that
Russian aircraft not only penetrated the U.S. carrier's airspace on Oct. 17,
but also on Nov. 9.
Despite recent claims that Russia has relinquished its status as a
superpower, the military minds behind Moscow's war machine clearly
remain fixated on fighting a future war against America. This is further
indicated by Russia's recent construction of improved fighter-bomber
engines with greater fuel efficiency, added fuel tanks and inflight refueling
ability. The strategic significance of this must not be overlooked. The
conversion of Russian tactical aircraft into strategic aircraft is no small
affair. Not only can these fighter-bombers carry nuclear warheads over
great distances, they can be outfitted with bolt-on plasma stealth devices as
described in the March 17, 1999, issue of Jane's Defense Weekly. It is
moves like these which should be raising questions among Western military
analysts.
Furthermore, if we are no longer in a Cold War situation then why are the
Russians bombarding the ocean itself in the vicinity of the stricken Kursk?
Whatever secret remains on board the Kursk, we can be fairly sure it is
vital to the Russian Navy's mission against America. To further
demonstrate the aura of mystery and secrecy enveloping the stricken
submarine: notes allegedly recovered from the Kursk's crew have not been
revealed in their entirety. Even more curious, a note found on the body of
turbine room commander Lt. Capt. Dmitry Kolesnikov was not even shown
to close relatives -- for whom the note was written.
As if to justify this cruel Cold War approach, Russia's top naval
commander, Vladimir Kuroyedov, said last Thursday that he was 80%
certain the Kursk was sunk because of a collision with a Western
submarine. British and American officials have strongly denied this claim,
which has often been repeated by Russian officials.
The Kursk sits at the bottom of the Barents Sea, sunk in lies as much as
anything. There are numerous unanswered questions involving the
submarine's fate. Having crashed to the bottom in fairly shallow water, why
have so many difficulties arisen in connection with salvaging it or rescuing
the crew? Why is no radiation leaking from the fractured sub's nuclear
reactors?
In this connection, one analyst has speculated about 2 DELTA IV
submarine hulls which were built and canceled. One of the 2 was publicly
scrapped; the other has simply disappeared. Does anyone know where the
missing DELTA IV hull went to? Could it have been towed to the Barents
Sea to mask a secret maneuver by a Russian submarine named "Kursk" --
a maneuver that will later be trumpeted as a victory for the Russian Navy?
The great thing about these lies and deceptions is that anything might be
possible. Whatever secrets may be hidden beneath the Barents Sea,
whatever the contradictory official statements and naval bombardments are
meant to protect, we will probably never know. (WorldNetDaily)
MICHAEL TURNER
(mykelturner@airmail.net)
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974818739/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Bus Driver's Job At Risk Over Head Covering
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 10:01:05 -0500
November 21, 2000 -- 9:59 am
Bus Driver's Job At Risk Over Head Covering
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CHARISMA) -- A female bus driver in Philadelphia
stands to lose her job because she insists on wearing a head scarf instead
of a uniform cap. Kim Harris, a three-year veteran, says that the head
covering is important to her Christian faith, but public transport official
s have
insisted she must follow the proper dress code.
Harris, 28, started wearing the scarf after being baptized earlier this yea
r.
She told "The Philadelphia Daily News": "If I don't wear it, I'm dishonorin
g
God: First Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 1-16." Her pastor at the Church
of
Christ, Reginald Young, has supported her stand and spoken to officials at
the city transport group, SEPTA.
"I told [them] that they do not have the authority to tell Sister Kim what
the
Scripture means and what she supposed to believe," he said. "Everybody in
SEPTA's a theologian all of a sudden. If Sister Kim was a nun, they'd
respect her rights."
SEPTA spokesman Jim Whitaker told the newspaper that although Muslims
were allowed to wear traditional clothes to work, Harris' argument had not
been accepted because she had not produced documentation that her
beliefs required her to dress as she did. "I could decide to wear something
tomorrow from my personal interpretation of some passages in the Bible that
would overturn our whole uniform policy. I would not be allowed to do that.
"
=A9 2000 charismanews.com
http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00b/20001120c.htm
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974819299/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Prime lunar real estate for sale -- but hurry
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 10:05:26 -0500
Prime lunar real estate for sale -- but hurry
November 20, 2000
By Richard Stenger
CNN.com Writer
(CNN) -- Want to buy a piece of land that promises lots of quiet and great
views of the stars? There's a sale going on that's out of this world. But hurry,
the price will soon rise astronomically.
Hollywood celebrities, ex-U.S. presidents, "Star Trek" actors and NASA
employees have joined in the rush to call a piece of the moon their own.
The brainchild behind the lunar real estate development is Dennis Hope, a
U.S. entrepreneur who asserts he secured legal ownership of the moon and
most other bodies in the solar system.
Hope's celestial ambitions began 20 years ago when he registered with the
U.S. government a claim to the surface of Earth's moon and the eight other
planets and their satellites. The Californian also sent notice of his claim the
Russian government and the United Nations.
'Head cheese' finds loophole
"They had several years to contest such a claim. They never did," said Hope,
who runs the embassy along with six employees from an office in Rio Vista,
California.
Hope, self-anointed "Head Cheese" of the Lunar Embassy, thinks a loophole
in the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty makes his property assertion
legitimate. The agreement forbids governments from owning extraterrestrial
property, but fails to mention corporations or individuals.
Others reject the claim. Martin Juergens of Germany has said his ownership
of the moon dates back to Frederick the Great. The German monarch
bestowed the spherical body on his ancestor in the 18th century, according
to Juergens.
"(Juergens) said his family was given the moon, but he has no paperwork to
prove that case," said Hope of his Old World rival. "He sent me a long letter
in German, which roughly translated said I should cease and desist and
send him all the money I had made."
Experts in space law dismiss Hope's celestial property ambitions as well.
"It's either a hollow claim or a fraud," said Frans Von Der Dunk, co-director of
the International Institute for Air and Space Law at Leiden University in the
Netherlands.
The 1967 outer space treaty said space "was to remain just like the high
seas, free for use by all," he said.
According to Von Der Dunk, the treaty, by forbidding nations from
appropriating territory in space, essentially prevents individuals from doing
the same.
"As soon as you go into private properties rights, you end up in national rule.
The rights of private ownership depend on one national jurisdiction or
another," he said.
Von Der Dunk reasons that without a national system in space, there is no
way for a citizen to authenticate a claim.
Nonetheless, other speculators have laid claim to the moon as well. One in
Texas that peddles moon plots suggests buyers book a ride into orbit aboard
the space shuttle and hitchhike the remainder of the way to the moon.
"Even if you don't want to own your own piece of Lunar real estate, there
must be someone that you would like to see go live on another planet,"
reads the Web site of www.texusa.com.
The Lunar Embassy Web site cautions against such "highly irresponsible"
pretenders:
"You have been luckier. You have found us first. You will not get a fake Rolex
for twice the price. You will get the real thing, at the correct lower price."
The properties are legally considered "novelty gifts," but Hope maintains with
a straight face that his real estate sales are legitimate. Using the novelty
term "can help avoid any frivolous lawsuits from a foreign country," according
to Hope.
Satisfaction guaranteed
Real or not, customers don't seem to mind. More than 300,000 people have
purchased properties from Lunar Embassy.
In addition to their lunar plot, buyers receive a deed, a site map, a copy of
the lunar constitution bill of rights and a copy of Hope's declaration of
ownership filed with the U.S. government. There's also a 30-day money back
guarantee.
New buyers should hurry. The cost of a property roughly the size of
Manhattan, almost 18,000 acres, is currently about $27, including the lunar
tax. But after December 26, Hope will sell only 1-acre plots, for the same
amount of money.
Besides the Lunar Embassy in the United States, prospective customers
can contact authorized ambassadors and agents in a growing number of
countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
Reaching for more than the moon? Hope sells or plans to sell properties on
most all the planets and their moons, with one exception, a moon orbiting
Jupiter thought to possess a vast salty ocean.
"Europa will not be for sale. We're going to create the whole thing as a
celestial reserve."
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/11/20/lunar.land/index.html
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974829886/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] We're studying out thinking
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:40:32 EST
(How you can attribute life to random chance and inter-specie evolution seems
very 'unscientific' in my mind...)
SCIENCE MUSINGS
We're studying out thinking
By Chet Raymo, 11/21/2000
''It is not easy to live in that continuous awareness of things which alone is
true living,'' writes the naturalist Joseph Wood Krutch. And, of course, he is
right. Our brains are separated from the world by a permeable membrane.
Attention flows outward. Sense impressions flow inwards. Of this two-way
traffic we create a soul.
At this moment, as I sit at my desk, I try to be aware. Sunlight streams
across my computer keyboard; eight minutes ago these photons were on the
surface of the sun. A ladybug crawls across the window sill; why so many
ladybugs this time of the year? Outside the window, a congregation of jays
jabber in the trees.
Continuous awareness: It can be exhausting. Which is why, I suppose, that
sometimes one just wishes for the mind to go blank, the windows of the soul to
close, the darkness to fall.
Fortunately, the one thing we don't have to attend to is awareness itself. The
brain does its thing without the least bit of conscious awareness on our part.
And a good thing, too; if we had to attend to what is going on in the brain
when we attend to the world, we'd ...
We'd go nuts.
Nothing we know about in the universe approaches the complexity of the human
brain. What is it? A vast spider web of neurons, cells with a thousand
octopuslike arms, called dendrites. The dendrites reach out and make contact
at their tips with the dendrites of other cells, at junctions called
synapses.
A hundred billion neurons in the human brain, with an average of 1,000
dendrites each. A hundred trillion octopus arms touching like fingertips, and
each synapse exquisitely controlled by the cells themselves, strengthening or
weakening the contact, building webs of interlinked cells that are knowledge,
memory, consciousness, self.
A hundred billion neurons. That's more brain cells than there are grains of
salt in 1,000 1- pound boxes of salt. A roomful of salt grains, floor to
ceiling. Each in contact with hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of
others. The contacts flickering with variable strength. Continuously.
Unconsciously. Never ceasing. Remembering. Forgetting. Feeling joy. Feeling
pain. Thinking. Speaking. Lifting a foot, moving it forward, putting it down
again. Flickering. A hundred trillion flickering synapses.
Just thinking about it is draining.
Neuroscientists are busy trying to figure it all out. Some folks would say
that bringing the scrutiny of science to bear upon the human soul is the
height of presumption. Others would say that the more we learn about what
makes our brains tick, the more we stand in awe at the mystery of soul.
The sheer complexity of the human brain makes any adequate description a
daunting task. Which is why some neuroscientists choose to work with simpler
organisms - sea snails, for example - to get a grip on the basic structure and
chemistry.
In recent years, new scanning technologies enable neuroscientists to watch
live human brains at work. Active neural regions flicker on the screens of
computer monitors as subjects think, speak, recite poems, do math. Continuous
awareness, displayed on the screen of a scanning monitor, can look like a
grass fire exploding across a prairie.
Still other scientists attempt to model the brain in silicon, building
electronic circuits called neural networks that mimic the activity of the
brain as it creates constantly changing webs of neurons. So far, no electronic
network begins to approach the complexity of the human brain, but the time is
not far off when silicon brains will rival fleshy ones. Just trying to make it
happen teaches us a lot about how human brains work.
Perhaps the most exciting research is that of the scientists who study the
biochemistry of human neurons: How do the cells regulate synaptic connections
to build new neural webs? A recent issue of the journal Science had a special
section outlining advances in neural biochemistry.
The big surprise is just how much of the ''thinking'' of neurons is done by
the dendrites, those hundreds of spidery arms that connect neurons to one
another. DNA in a neuron's nucleus sends messenger RNA down along the
dendrites to active synapses, where they are translated into proteins that
regulate the strength of synaptic connections. Tiny protein factories in the
dendrites are apparently key to learning and memory.
Once the regulation of these protein factories is understood, drugs that
ameliorate some kinds of hereditary mental retardation might be possible. As
will drugs that help all of us to learn and remember. Are we ready for ''smart
pills?''
What all this amounts to is awareness of awareness. For the first time in the
history of consciousness, the machinery of awareness has been turned on
itself. As neuroscientists will attest, thinking about thinking is not easy.
Thank God we don't have to think about thinking to think.
Chet Raymo is a professor of physics at Stonehill College and the author of
several books on science.
This story ran on page E02 of the Boston Globe on 11/21/2000.
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974834626/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Apocalypse not now
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:41:52 EST
Apocalypse not now
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/searchresults.cfm?id=TS00191629&d=Commentary&c=columnists&s=0&keyword=the
DENNIS O'DONNELL
LAST WEEK, I received a junk fax which promised, among other things, to tell
me when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse started to ride - if I sent for a
free book, called The True Bible Code. But I didn't send for it; I read it on
the Net.
Astonishing! It says the First Horseman of the Apocalypse started riding on
the 26th of September last year. Worse, the Second started riding in September
of this year. (A staggered start, obviously.) However, Revelation tells us the
first rides a white horse, wears a crown and carries a bow. The second rides a
red horse and carries a great sword. Well, where are they?
You'd have thought folk like that would have attracted a bit of attention by
now - at traffic lights, say, or tethering their cuddies to the hitching-rail
outside a Little Chef. Maybe they fell at the final fence at Uttoxeter. "And
here, in the End of the World Sweepstakes, it's Famine on the outside, moving
three lengths clear of Pestilence, as they head towards the last ..." Yep.
With War and Death, the joint favourites. 666 to 1 Bar. Some folk should never
read symbolic or apocalyptic literature.
I'm sorry. I just can't take this stuff seriously. But let me make it plain.
I'm not slagging off the Bible. I am, however, deeply suspicious of fruitcakes
who think they are God's chosen in the last days. They never end up doing us
any good. Does the name Waco ring any bells?
Coincidentally (or was it?), this happened in the same week I completed a task
I set myself some time ago: to read the King James Bible, including the
Apocrypha, from cover to cover. I did it after a Holy Willie taunted me with:
"Have you even read the Bible?" I had actually; I'd read a lot of it but,
flippantly, remarked: "I started it, but couldn't get into it so I flicked to
the end. The Devil dunnit." That amused me rather more than my listener. So I
decided that, the next time anybody asked, I'd be able honestly to say yes.
Well, I've done it. Quite apart from its religious importance, it's great
literature. But the man who wrote this guff thinks he has done nothing less
than cracked its "code". In 1992, he says he realised he was a "priest of some
sort". Okay, maybe; but he's not the cheeriest one I ever met. I don't see him
rattling a tambourine and shouting "Good News!" He claims that there will be
war in six months and famine from next August. The world will end in March
2008. Happy clappy, he ain't.
He's worked all this out, using some exegetical abacus of his own devising.
His sums are, to say the least, suspect. He doesn't show his working and his
rationale is bizarre. He states that Jesus was born on 9 October, 2BC. Mind
you, he doesn't say whether it's significant that Jesus was born exactly 1,942
years before John Lennon. (Missed that one, Zadoc.) He argues: "We have
assumed that Jesus was a full term baby but he was a sinless son of God ... so
the concept of his being either late or premature is a non-starter." Hardly a
watertight argument. Typical of the whole thing, though. Marks off for style,
too.
Och, forget this stuff. Read the Bible by all means; it's well worth it. Just
don't have any truck with latterday seers and prophets of doom.
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974834515/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Christian website warns 'wicked' rock stars die early
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:42:33 EST
Christian website warns 'wicked' rock stars die early
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_121463.html?nav_src=newsIndexHeadline
A Christian website has set about disproving the adage 'only the good die
young' by showing that hard living rock stars tend to die prematurely.
Dial the Truth Ministries has put together a list of 317 rock stars and their
cause of death - asking readers to admit that those who indulge in sex, drugs
and rocks 'n' roll end their days earlier than God-fearing Christians.
The site, headed 'The fear of God prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked
shall be shortened' claims rock stars die, on average, at the age of 37. The
average life expectancy for Americans is almost 76.
The site, described as a Christian resource, cites names such as Karen
Carpenter, who died aged 33 of anorexia, Sam Cooke, who was murdered at 33,
Jimi Hendrix who died at 27 from a drugs overdose, and Buddy Holly who died at
22 in a plane crash.
The website quotes bible passages which it says back up the theory and it
includes other essays on topics such as the evil behind Britney Spears' lyrics
and a 'genuine' recording of the screams of the damned in hell.
Last updated: 17:54 Monday 20th November 2000.
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974834545/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Hate group arrives in New England
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:43:53 EST
Hate group arrives in New England
Monday, 20 November 2000 14:50 (ET)
http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=137515
EXETER, N.H., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A group of anti-gay demonstrators from
Kansas moved into New Hampshire and Vermont Monday, preaching a message of
hate against homosexuals.
Led by the Rev. Fred Phelps and a dozen parishioners from the Westboro
Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., the group taunted Phillips Exeter Academy in
Exeter, N.H., for its decision to allow homosexual faculty and staff to
serve as dormitory parents.
At Montpelier, Vt., the group protested in front of the State House
against the state's first-in-the-nation law that permits civil unions
between homosexual couples.
The Phelps group on Sunday had picketed five mainline churches in
Kennebunk, Maine. They carried signs proclaiming "God Hates Fags." "Your
Pastor is Lying," and "AIDS Cures Fags."
By a narrow margin, Maine voters on Nov. 7 rejected a referendum on gay
rights. The Kansas group aimed at thwarting any attempt to extend equal
rights to homosexuals under Maine's Human Rights Act. They chose Kennebunk
as their first target, in part, they said, because it is near the summer
home of former President George H. W. Bush and because they believed Texas
Gov. George W. Bush has not forcibly condemned homosexuality.
The Christian Civic League of Maine, which had led the protest against the
referendum, condemned the Kansas contingent as "an abomination," The Roman
Catholic Diocese of Portland deemed the demonstrations a "tragedy and a
scandal."
"Nothing expressed by the Westboro Church bears any resemblance to the
Gospel of peace which the Christian churches treasure," said a diocese
spokesperson to Monday's Portland Press Herald. The group spared the
Unitarian Church in Kennebunk because, one Kansan said, Unitarians are
beyond salvation. She said trying to send a message to Unitarians would be
"like if you go to a fag bar."
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974835120/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Nepal Town May Reveal Origins of Buddhism
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:46:35 EST
ARCHAEOLOGY & PALEONTOLOGY
http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/11/11202000/wirbuddha_3332.asp
Nepal Town May Reveal Origins of Buddhism
By The Independent
November 20, 2000
The mysterious origins of one of the world's great religions may soon be
revealed.
In a remote area of Nepal, archaeologists - including a British team - are
excavating the remains of Tilaurakot, the home town of Gautama Siddhartha, the
Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, followed by 320 million people worldwide.
The excavations are likely to settle the dispute about when the founder of the
religion lived, and also whether his early followers really did lead a life of
simplicity and poverty or whether that tradition was a later development. At
present, the best historians can say is that Buddha lived sometime between the
seventh and fifth centuries BC. The archaeologists also hope to unearth the
remains of Buddhism's first monasteries - potentially founded by the Buddha
himself. The town, then known as Kapilavastu, was ruled by his father and it
was from there that he set out on his quest for enlightenment.
So far, the archaeological team, led by Nepal's chief archaeologist, Kosh
Acharya, and the British archaeologist Robin Coningham of Bradford University,
have found iron furnaces, terracotta crucibles, pottery beads and fragments of
very fine painted bowls dating from around the time of Buddha.
"Seldom has archaeology had such a superb opportunity to uncover the origins
of one of the world's great religions," said Dr Coningham.
It had been known that Tilaurakot was a flourishing town by the second century
BC. Monumental buildings had been discovered from the first two centuries AD
and there was a Hellenistic-style grid layout. But the recent finds suggest
that Kapilavastu was founded in the seventh or eighth century BC.
It is likely that the town grew up around a shrine dedicated to an holy man of
the Shakya people, the tribe to which Buddha belonged. TheShakya religion,
which may not have had a concept of God, does not appear to have been
Brahmanical like much of the rest of the northern part of the subcontinent, so
Buddha would have grown up in a relatively unconventional religious and
philosophical atmosphere.
The excavations could shed rare light on the cultural, religious, political
and economic forces which helped shape his philosophy. They should also help
settle a historical dispute between India and Nepal over the precise location
of the ancient city where he grew up. Indian archaeologists have long
maintained that the site was at Pipprahawa in India, 10 miles south of the
Nepalese border. On the other hand, Nepalese archaeologists have always said
it was at Tilaurakot, 15 miles north of the border.
The new discoveries have swung the balance of evidence in Nepal's favour.
Together with historical evidence from ancient religious texts in China, the
archaeological proof showing that Tilaurakot was indeed flourishing in
Buddha's day has clinched the argument.
The discoveries are likely to have an economic impact on both Nepal and India.
Until now, tourists from the West and Buddhist pilgrims from Japan, Korea,
South-east Asia and Sri Lanka have flocked to Pipprahawa, where the earliest
remains are those of a third- century BC monastery. Now the focus is likely to
shift across the border to Tilaurakot.
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974834742/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Suit claims `choose life' plates are unconstitutional
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:49:34 EST
Published Monday, November 20, 2000, in the Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/content/today/news/broward/digdocs/086712.htm
Suit claims `choose life' plates are unconstitutional
Palm Beach County has sold the most tags
BY JOHN PACENTI
Palm Beach Post
WEST PALM BEACH -- James Chesser couldn't wait to get one of the state's
``Choose Life'' specialty license plates.
In fact, his family bought three.
He was one of the first to buy the bright yellow plates after Gov. Jeb Bush
allowed the controversial tags in August. A lawsuit by the National
Organization for Women contends the plates are unconstitutional because they
are essentially a state-sponsored political message.
The distribution itself has prompted questions because the state would have to
cancel the tags if the lawsuit succeeds.
It turns out Chesser wasn't alone in wanting the tag in Palm Beach County, the
birthplace of the NOW lawsuit. The county leads the state in purchases of the
controversial tag. As of Nov. 11, 478 of the 7,249 plates sold in Florida had
been sold in Palm Beach County.
A number of motorists who wanted the plate didn't even wait until their car's
registration was up for renewal, according to the county tax collector's
office. Like Chesser, they came to the office only to buy the tag.
``I have a definite moral issue with taking the life in the womb,'' said
Chesser, who works at Community Christian Church in West Palm Beach. ``Ijust
felt like it was a way of saying we need to think more about life and less
about convenience.''
His wife and teenage daughter also have the plates on their cars.
He said he didn't buy the plate because of his views on abortion but because
he and his wife, Sandy, have three adopted children, now grown. He liked the
idea that money from the sale of the tag would go to organizations that help
people adopt children.
``I know how difficult it is not only to have infants available, but how
expensive it is to adopt them,'' he said.
That's the same rationale the plate's supporters are giving. They say the tag
supports adoption and is not meant as an anti-abortion message. NOW's
attorney, Barry Silver, doesn't buy it. He said the plate uses a slogan pushed
by anti-abortion organizations, some of them violent. The state has no
business in promoting political rhetoric, he said.
Silver, who practices out of Boca Raton, says the phrase ``Choose Life'' is
also found in the Bible, and thus the state is mixing church and state. Choose
Life Inc., the Ocala-based group that pushed the Legislature to approve the
plate, recently deleted the mention of God on its website because of the
litigation, he said.
``I've heard from people who have seen these license plates on the streets of
Florida. They feel like I do: the license plate is the wrong vehicle to convey
a religious message,'' he said.
The money for adoption groups comes from a $19.50 surcharge on top of the
regular registration renewal cost. Counties will decide how to distribute the
money they raise. A spokesman for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor
Vehicles said he didn't think any money had been passed out yet.
Palm Beach County is followed in ``Choose Life'' tag purchases by Okaloosa
County in the Panhandle, with 410, and Duval County, which includes
Jacksonville, with 405.
Neighboring counties lag far behind: Martin has sold 68, St. Lucie, 108, and
Okeechobee, 11.
NOW's lawsuit, which was filed a year ago, should be heard in Tallahassee in
January. If the organization wins, the state would force ``Choose Life'' tag
owners to get different tags when their renewal dates come up. The yellow
plates would become mere souvenirs.
Patty Morris, past president of Palm Beach County Right to Life, said she
believes a majority of county residents support the tag.
``The other side is just a very vocal minority,'' Morris said.
Morris said she has anti-abortion bumper stickers to convey her feelings on
abortion, but she bought the plate to show her support for adoption. Seven
children have been adopted in her extended family, she said.
``I want mothers to realize they can put their baby up for adoption. There are
so few who realize that,'' she said. ``It's not `keep it or kill it.' ''
Morris and Chesser said other motorists have not criticized them for
displaying the plate. Chesser said he expected his bumper to be bashed in, but
nothing like that has happened.
Still, the plate makes abortion rights supporters very uneasy.
Sheila Jaffe, vice president of Florida NOW, said that it upsets her to see
the tags on the street because the governor allowed them to be sold despite
pending litigation.
``They are shoving it down our throat,'' Jaffe said.
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974835250/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] VOTE OVERSEER FINDS BIBLICAL GUIDANCE
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:50:33 EST
VOTE OVERSEER FINDS BIBLICAL GUIDANCE
Sunday,November 19,2000
By MALCOLM BALFOUR
http://www.nypostonline.com/campaign2000/16204.htm
WEST PALM BEACH - Embattled Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris
revealed in an e-mail to a well-wisher yesterday that she is relying on the
biblical Queen Esther "for comfort and guidance."
"I re-read a book about Esther last night. She has always been the one
specific character in the Bible that I have admired," Harris wrote.
According to the Old Testament parable, the beautiful Jewish Queen Esther of
Persia risks her life to thwart a plot to destroy the Jewish people.
The Jewish festival of Purim celebrates the victory over that attempted
genocide centuries ago.
"Esther has always been one of my favorite role models," Harris wrote while
answering an e-mail from a couple who sent her a verse from the Bible last
week.
In response to a public-records request, her office released more than 4,000
e-mails that have been sent to her in recent days.
A multimillionaire heiress to a citrus and cattle fortune, Harris has been
under attack from Democrats, some of whom call her "Cruella De Vil," the
villainness in "101 Dalmatians."
Outspoken lawyer Alan Dershowitz called her "a crook" on CNN this week.
Relying on advice from her lawyers, Holland and Knight, a firm known for
supporting Democrats - and whose alumni include Janet Reno and federal Judge
Don Middlebrooks, who last week ruled against the GOP - Harris decided not to
accept the results of manual recounts.
"Please pray for me and our nation - for wisdom and understanding," Harris
wrote to J.R. Knight of Pensacola, who had told her how much he admired her
courage.
"You are a great Floridian," wrote Libbe Teague.
"History will show it took a woman to have the guts to stand up to those who
are attempting to steal this election from Gov. Bush. God bless you!"
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974835309/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Faith, hope, charity
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:51:22 EST
Faith, hope, charity
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,399077,00.html
At face value, Christianity would seem to have but a peripheral role to play
in the cut and thrust of modern life. So how do we explain why this age-old
religion is as recognisable and influential today as any multinational brand,
asks Cristina Odone
Saturday November 18, 2000
Voluptuous, delicious and mysterious: it's time to uncover the sensual face of
Christianity. Tradition paints the churches as goody-goody worshippers of
purity, strict adherents to a legacy of hair shirts and denials; but
Christianity walks provocatively between the sinful and the celestial, and
draws its beauty from rites that please the senses while promising to satisfy
the spirit. This is a no-holds-barred religion that speaks easily of "ecstasy"
and "adoration", and in superlatives such as "King of kings" and "Holiest of
Holies".
Even in our prosaic times, take part in a Christian ritual and you step into a
world of wonders that celebrates what God gives rather than what He withholds;
abundance, not abstinence, inspires our practices, colours our palette and
strengthens our faith. I can shut my eyes and relish memories of certain
Christian celebrations. Easter service in the Russian Orthodox cathedral in
Washington DC, where the rich brocades of the altar cloth and the scarlet and
gold-leaf icons blurred in the sweetly potent clouds of incense that filled my
eyes, nose and lungs. A Sunday service in the Comoro Islands, in the Indian
ocean, where villagers in boldly coloured cotton turbans and caftans fill the
whitewashed, sun-filled church, swaying in the aisles as their voices rise in
a joyous rendition of a Ladysmith Black Mambazo gospel song. A holy procession
in the backstreets of Naples, where housewives at their windows cast down
notes upon the pastel-coloured plaster Virgin that two black-haired altar boys
carry between them.
These rituals blend scent and colour, song and texture to celebrate life - not
just here on earth, but beyond. Any attempt to define Christians today must
pay homage to this rich beauty; to chronicle their world with a collection of
black-and-white photographs is to short-change its technicolour brilliance.
In his book The Faces Of Christianity: A Photographic Journey, Abbas, the
Iranian-born photographer, does just this. The gently glowing gaze of a
Benedictine monk in Fleury and the serene beauty of a young mother, her baby
at her breast, dressed up as Madonna and Child in a pilgrimage in Mexico City:
these are the images that for Abbas define the Christian aesthetic - an
aesthetic he views as rooted, predictably, in serenity and innocence. His
"photographic journey" is often one of sombre beauty. The rites he records and
the people he depicts are appealing, and often haunting; but to hem in
Christianity by duotoned piety is to misrepresent it.
Nothing new in that. Ever since the carpenter's son started agitating for
change almost 2,000 years ago, his message has been twisted or manipulated,
and his followers have been made into scapegoats. Yet if history is a
catalogue of attacks on Christianity, to this day the religion holds us in
thrall, informing our laws and social code, our education and the arts. The
story of Jesus Christ remains our single greatest narrative; Christian
signposts - from Genesis through the Garden of Eden, from his birth to his
crucifixion and resurrection - are familiar to believers and unbelievers
alike; Christian symbols - the cross, the communion wafer, the fish -
instantly recognisable.
In terms of branding, Christianity is up there with Coca-Cola, Walt Disney and
Gap - but it will not subside into mood music, or a pair of Mickey Mouse ears
we can pick up and wear to entertain. Even today, snug in an atheism that has
become commonplace, we come across Christians who give us pause for thought
and leave us wondering whether Freud, Nietzsche and Russell really did get it
right.
A young volunteer, sitting on the floor of a Catholic home for the disabled,
feeding a handicapped child whose head rests in her lap; a middle-aged
missionary, who lives and works alongside the villagers in remote Senedongo,
Mali, celebrating an al fresco Mass at a makeshift altar of straw; a monk
helping Serb refugees in Kosovo load a lorry with their belongings as they
prepare to set off on their lives of exile: even two-dimensional and on a
page, their wordless sacrifices are unsettling, for the nurses, schoolchildren
and farmers, as well as the nuns and priests, whom we see through Abbas's
lens, are busy turning our world upside down.
The outcast is embraced, the marginalised moved centre-stage, the voiceless
given a megaphone. These subversives are working for a truly "inclusive
society": forget the political catchphrase peddled from podiums in Bournemouth
and Brighton - theirs is the real thing, an uncomfortable, relentless quest to
place others above me-myself-and-I. It's an outrageous message that goes
against the grain: don't seek the successful, the A-list celebs, the profit
motive or the bottom line; look out, instead, for the weak and the misfit, for
the occasion to give everything and to love without bounds.
No wonder Christianity is so unpopular. To paraphrase GK Chesterton, it has
been tried, and found too damned difficult. And too damned irreverent.
Christians, like the little boy who told the Emperor he was naked, are forever
puncturing our self-importance, hinting that, actually, there is something
missing from our lives.
That connection with others, the reaching out to the less fortunate, this is
their imperative - one that, in the west at least, sounds so foreign now.
Foreign, but also alluring, as Abbas - who in the text accompanying his
photographs labels himself a "Shiite Muslim sceptic" - clearly shows. He is at
once intrigued and impressed by the do-gooders' silent protest at our selfish
ways; the heroes of his book are the volunteers who work with the disabled in
Lourdes or the malnourished in Mali. His lens rests lovingly on their figures,
captures the compassion in their gaze, turns even their pedestrian activities
- sharing a meal, packing a lorry - into lyrical statements of a profound
humanity.
Onward, Christian soldiers, has always been the churches' marching order - and
its Bible-thumping troops have obeyed and colonised the globe. As a result,
the world has been transformed; but Christianity, too, has changed its accent,
if not its language. From Egypt to Mexico to South Korea, the native
communities that have embraced this religion have coloured it with their
home-grown rites and rituals - and even superstitions. Thus, in Cape Town you
can find a shaman burning money as an offering to the gods in a Baptist
church; Christians in South Korea make the pilgrimage to the stone buddhas of
Ch'ilburam, near Kyongju; and, in Mexico City, Catholics celebrate the Aztec
spirit in a primitive dance.
Its more exotic manifestations will make a vicar in Tunbridge Wells gulp -
though, interestingly, Pope John Paul II, who forbids even the discussion of
women or married men becoming priests, has no difficulty with some of the
pagan practices being incorporated in Christian services. But this liturgical
globalisation reveals the appealing self-confidence of a successful and adult
religion that can live cheek-to-cheek with local divinities and native devils
without feeling threatened.
And yet the marriage of the voodoo doll and the crucifix conveys an ease with
multi-ethnicity that the experience in Northern Ireland, say, or Serbia
belies. Christianity bestows identity - here I stand, this is what I believe
in - but Christian identity has been hijacked by extremists time and again,
manipulated to divide and conquer. The tribalism fuelled by Rev Ian Paisley
and Slobodan Milosevic finds its impetus in the Old Testament notion of the
chosen people - a notion that the New Testament, alas, did not dislodge.
Armed with this mentality, you can promote an us-against-them apartheid of the
kind in which factionalism thrives. The ugly Christian, like the ugly
American, combines imperial ambitions and a self-righteousness that can
justify any abuse - even killing - in the name of their Ideal.
Abbas captures this dark side of Jesus's followers, too, in a succession of
troubling portraits: the chin-jutting arrogance of a uniformed member of the
Black Order as he steps out of his car in Ulster; the white Seventh Day
Adventist family in Ficksburg, South Africa, who attend Saturday service
holding a gun and a Bible in the same hand; a demonstrator against abortion in
California, eyes closed in pious prayer, while his fellow members sanction the
bombing of abortion clinics and the gunning down of doctors who perform
abortions. These damning vignettes speak of the intolerance that can pass for
authority when the Christian ethic is perverted by bigots. The religion of the
powerless here becomes a dangerous weapon in the hands of the power-hungry.
Yet Christian identity can also promote security and order. When their
husbands died, my great aunts, then in their 50s, decided to return to their
native village and share a house there. In that small Italian village, the two
childless women, who had neither a husband nor a fortune to ensure their
status, found their identity in their faith. Their Mass attendance (every
morning and on Sundays), their membership in the rosary group (which used to
pray before the little shrine of San Rocco, the village patron saint, once a
month), the endless dinners they offered the parish priest, gave their lives
form and substance - and placed them squarely within the village hierarchy
(one rung below Signora Gandini, who was married and who had paid for the
stained-glass window in the church; one rung above the baker, Rina, who was
married and had children, but who never gave more than a few coins to the
Sunday collection).
Their religion rooted my aunts in a clearly defined spiritual space as well.
They had no doubt that there was life after death, and that they fitted into a
divine scheme whose confines were the glorious bliss of heaven and the
terrible torment of hell. My great aunts' certainty is echoed in many of the
Christians whom Abbas encounters: from the evangelical enthusiasm of the
born-agains to the deep-seated calm of the village elders who accept without
question all that He brings them, there are endless witnesses to the soothing
strength of faith.
I suspect that, like my aunts, these men and women never suffer the
existential fears that characterise so many secular lives today. And their
example suggests that our state of almost perpetual anxiety stems from our
questioning the spiritual order that they accept unblinkingly. We feel
vulnerable because we have turned our back on their ancient Christian atlas,
which placed us in a universe in which God was firmly in the heavens above;
and in the midst of a life that stretched into eternity.
In our harsh new world, instead, we doubt the presence of a guiding spirit,
and that our existence goes beyond the here and now. We play out our lives
against a backdrop that has been reduced from the eternal to the earthbound.
Boxed in this new, man-made landscape, we peer at a world where everything
looms larger and more menacing - where talk of a fuel shortage produces chaos,
and the sight of a flooded city panic. There is not much room here - as the
two young boys who murdered James Bulger have discovered - for forgiveness or
the possibility of redemption. And who can blame us? We no longer see
ourselves as part of a big picture, or stakeholders in an everlasting
community; we are reduced instead to a cluster of individuals wandering
aimlessly over a small corner of the universe.
It's a shallow, finite world that we have created, and one that makes us feel
precarious as we proceed, terrified of losing our footing. Little wonder,
then, that we cast a curious, almost envious eye upon those who, wrapped in
their certainties, led by their beliefs, journey forth so determinedly.
In the two millennia since Jesus Christ, theologians and philosophers have
devised "proofs" with which to convert the unbeliever. Abbas's book is a small
contribution to this tradition - it offers us a glimpse of a people who are
not so much chosen as making choices, every day, that bravely reject our
so-called truths: that I am at the centre of the universe, that reason is my
only guide, and that now alone counts for anything. These Christians' bold
conviction animates Abbas's book as it does their lives - and calls our own
into question
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974891269/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] 'I killed my children for Kali'
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:52:07 EST
21/11/2000 10:03 - (SA)
'I killed my children for Kali'
http://news.24.com/News24/World/Asia/0,1113,2-10-20_943335,00.html
Dhaka - A Hindu mother in northern Bangladesh slaughtered her two young
children inside a temple to please the goddess Kali, newspaper reports said on
Tuesday.
The widely circulated national daily Ittefaq quoted police as saying
27-year-old Shibani Mullik had confessed to killing her children after she was
ordered in a dream by the goddess of power to offer human sacrifices to her.
"I have only complied with the divine order," she was quoted as telling police
in Tarash town in Sirajganj district, 230km north of the capital Dhaka.
The human sacrifices at the altar of the goddess took place last weekend after
a local festival marking the autumn rice harvest.
Neighbours found the bodies of Avinash, 5, and Swapna, 7, inside the temple
where Shibani, in a blood-splattered sari,e was seen praying before the image
of the goddess.
Shibani told police that she was all alone in the temple when she killed her
children with a sharp knife.
The newspaper said police had arrested the mother and were investigating the
murders.
Shibani belongs to the Hindu minority in Muslim-dominated Bangladesh. -
Sapa-DPA
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974835361/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Toilet-seat gods anger the Hindu faithful
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:53:07 EST
Toilet-seat gods anger the Hindu faithful
http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php?click_id=29&art_id=qw974549461853G320
November 18 2000 at 02:11PM
New Delhi - The radical Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) has
strongly criticised an American toilet fittings company's marketing of toilet
seats fitted with pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses.
VHP official Acharya Giriraj Kishore said his organisation was demanding the
withdrawal of the toilet seats with pictures of Hindu gods Ganesha and Kali
from the market.
He some websites had been asked to withdraw advertisements for the toilet
seats.
Kishore warned of a major protest movement and legal actions if the
Seattle-based company did not withdraw the seats.
Press reports said the company "Sittin' Pretty Designs" had outraged the Hindu
community in United States with its toilet seat range with Hindu gods.
The seats are reportedly being sold for $130 (about R988) each. - Sapa-DPA
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974835523/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Wiccans Suing for Tax-Exempt Status in Fla.
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:55:19 EST
Sales Tax Begone!
Wiccans Suing for Tax-Exempt Status in Fla.
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/wiccasuit001101.html
By Melanie Axelrod
Nov. 1 - Wiccans are associated with witchcraft and white magic, but there's
one organization they can't cast a spell against: the Florida Department of
Revenue.
The Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida can, however, file a lawsuit, and
that's what it did on Halloween, accusing the state's taxation agency of
improperly denying the group a religious exemption from the state sales tax.
The problem, according to the state, is that whether or not it considers Wicca
a religion, the group does not meet all of Florida's standards to get a tax
break.
Among those requirements is having a permanent address and a building where
worshippers gather regularly. Or, as state law puts it, exemptions are
available to "churches, synagogues and established religious institutions at
which nonprofit religious services and activities are regularly conducted and
carried on."
"The statute says we can extend certificates for religious, customary,
nonprofit activities, but [the organization] has to have an established
physical place for worship," says David Bruns of the Florida Department of
Revenue.
To the state, that means renting or owning a space for regular religious
services, he says, adding that courts have upheld that interpretation on
several occasions
The Wiccans say that interpretation - besides denying their members a break on
the 7 percent sales tax on religious books and other materials - denies their
rights.
Tax-Exempt on Federal Level
They note the Wiccan Cooperative is tax-exempt on the federal level, where the
standard is that a group must qualify as an organization that is "advancing
religion," as well as qualify as a charitable or educational organization.
"The Wiccans have a federal tax exemption, but how the state laws are set,
[the cooperative] needs to rent or own a permanent space," says Heather
Morcroft, a Wiccan and the attorney representing the cooperative. "To us this
is impermissible."
At one point, Morcroft says, the organization did have its own space - thus
meeting the state's requirement - but because it was only used for special
festivals, the cooperative thought it was a waste of money and stopped renting
it.
"I would assume that the state's argument for [having an address] was an
argument to prevent fraud," she says. "But there are plenty of other ways to
prevent fraud without infringing on people's freedom."
Discriminating Practices?
Morcroft also maintains the state discriminates when it comes to disseminating
texts and literature associated with the religion - which, she says, violates
the Constitution.
"The law does not just say you are not a religious establishment because of
permanent location," she says. "Under the law, people can buy Bibles, hymn
books and prayer books sales-tax free. But frankly, looking at the statute, I
think it excludes Korans. People outside of that, including the Wiccans,
should be concerned because it leaves the state to define what religious
literature is."
Bruns said he was unable to talk about any other specifics about the case
because the court documents had not been served to his office as of late
today.
He also says state law bars him from discussing anything that may reveal
information about taxpayers' returns. "We're not able to say boo about the
Wiccan case."
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974835469/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Wiccans Suing for Tax-Exempt Status in Fla.
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 21 Nov 00 12:55:19 EST
Sales Tax Begone!
Wiccans Suing for Tax-Exempt Status in Fla.
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/wiccasuit001101.html
By Melanie Axelrod
Nov. 1 - Wiccans are associated with witchcraft and white magic, but there's
one organization they can't cast a spell against: the Florida Department of
Revenue.
The Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida can, however, file a lawsuit, and
that's what it did on Halloween, accusing the state's taxation agency of
improperly denying the group a religious exemption from the state sales tax.
The problem, according to the state, is that whether or not it considers Wicca
a religion, the group does not meet all of Florida's standards to get a tax
break.
Among those requirements is having a permanent address and a building where
worshippers gather regularly. Or, as state law puts it, exemptions are
available to "churches, synagogues and established religious institutions at
which nonprofit religious services and activities are regularly conducted and
carried on."
"The statute says we can extend certificates for religious, customary,
nonprofit activities, but [the organization] has to have an established
physical place for worship," says David Bruns of the Florida Department of
Revenue.
To the state, that means renting or owning a space for regular religious
services, he says, adding that courts have upheld that interpretation on
several occasions
The Wiccans say that interpretation - besides denying their members a break on
the 7 percent sales tax on religious books and other materials - denies their
rights.
Tax-Exempt on Federal Level
They note the Wiccan Cooperative is tax-exempt on the federal level, where the
standard is that a group must qualify as an organization that is "advancing
religion," as well as qualify as a charitable or educational organization.
"The Wiccans have a federal tax exemption, but how the state laws are set,
[the cooperative] needs to rent or own a permanent space," says Heather
Morcroft, a Wiccan and the attorney representing the cooperative. "To us this
is impermissible."
At one point, Morcroft says, the organization did have its own space - thus
meeting the state's requirement - but because it was only used for special
festivals, the cooperative thought it was a waste of money and stopped renting
it.
"I would assume that the state's argument for [having an address] was an
argument to prevent fraud," she says. "But there are plenty of other ways to
prevent fraud without infringing on people's freedom."
Discriminating Practices?
Morcroft also maintains the state discriminates when it comes to disseminating
texts and literature associated with the religion - which, she says, violates
the Constitution.
"The law does not just say you are not a religious establishment because of
permanent location," she says. "Under the law, people can buy Bibles, hymn
books and prayer books sales-tax free. But frankly, looking at the statute, I
think it excludes Korans. People outside of that, including the Wiccans,
should be concerned because it leaves the state to define what religious
literature is."
Bruns said he was unable to talk about any other specifics about the case
because the court documents had not been served to his office as of late
today.
He also says state law bars him from discussing anything that may reveal
information about taxpayers' returns. "We're not able to say boo about the
Wiccan case."
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974835469/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] News you won't hear on CNN
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 12:59:20 -0500
NEWS YOU WON'T HEAR ON CNN
ISRAEL SEARCHES FOR HUMANE RIOT CONTROL
Israeli officials have visited 26 countries searching for less-than-lethal
weapons effective at ranges over 100 meters but came up empty-handed,
Col. Daniel Reisner, head of the IDF international law department said. He
denied charges by international human rights organizations and others that
Israel has been using excessive force in dealing with Palestinian violence. He
estimated that there has been an average of less than one Palestinian
casualty per violent incident since the outbreak of disturbances on
September 29.
Nevertheless, he said, Israel has been looking for ways to increase its
arsenal of less-than-lethal equipment, which currently includes tear gas and
rubber-coated metal bullets. He said that the problem with these and other
methods of riot control, such as plastic shields and water canon, is that they
are only effective at a range of 50 to 100 meters. This distance is too
dangerous for soldiers because the rock-throwing demonstrations are often
interspersed with gunfire. "You're not supposed to die when you disperse
riots," said Reisner.
He said that one country had developed a less-than-lethal riot-control weapon
that was effective at longer distances, but refused to sell it to Israel. He said
the IDF is now developing its own long-distance techniques. Nonetheless, he
said, troops operating in the territories are still bound by police rules of
engagement, which are far more restrictive than the rules of engagement in
warfare. The only additions to the existing rules have been the use of
helicopter gunships and the license given to soldiers to open fire before they
are shot at if they see their lives are threatened.
Courtesy of:
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/11/16/News/News.15629.html
* * *
ARAFAT: 21ST CENTURY GEORGE WASHINGTON??
The Boston Globe ran an excellent column by Jeff Jacoby on 20 November
2000.
Excerpts:
"In a full-page ad in The New York Times, the ADC (American-Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee) proclaimed that the Arabs killed while attacking
Jews 'all died in the pursuit of liberty and independence.' Boxed in the center
of the ad was the credo from the Declaration of Independence: 'We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' And below Jefferson's words, in
boldface, this demand: 'Stop the aggression against the Palestinians / End
the Israeli occupation.'
"It surpasses grotesque to suggest that Arafat's war against the Jews is
about 'liberty and independence' or that the Palestinian violence is driven by
the Spirit of '76. Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues did not urge
Americans to massacre civilians or destroy places of worship. They did not
encourage children to throw themselves into the line of fire and promise large
cash rewards to the parents of every youthful 'martyr.' Nor did their children's
schools and textbooks promote blind hatred of all Englishmen or depict
Great Britain as a fascist horror that God wanted them to destroy.
"America's revolutionary Patriots did not celebrate terrorists and suicide
bombers. Their maps did not show a Europe wiped clean of England. They
did not assure their followers that any peace accords signed with London
were but steps in a 'phased plan' to destroy Great Britain piecemeal. And the
men of 1776 would not have walked away from the negotiating table if the
most dovish prime minister in British history had offered them -- as Ehud
Barak offered the Palestinians -- virtually everything they had demanded,
including land, sovereignty, and shared control over the capital city."
Write letters of support to the editor at: letter@globe.com, and to the author
at: jacoby@globe.com.
(Submitted by www.camera.org)
* * *
THE BLOOD LIBEL IS BACK
A full-page article entitled, "A Jewish Matzah made from Arab Blood," was
published in "Al-Ahram," the government-sponsored, leading newspaper in
Egypt. Following are excerpts from the article (28 October 2000).
"Every time I see the children of the stones in occupied Palestine as they
spring like blood from the arteries, I remember my grandfather who used to
gather all the neighborhood children in his home in Alexandria to give them
candy and tell them the tale of the Jew who slaughtered a boy and made
Passover matzah from his blood. Then, drunk with lust and barbarity, they
devoured it...
"According to the Talmud, Jewish souls are more precious to God than other
souls, because the souls of non-Jews are devilish and resemble animal
souls. They believe the non-Jews are like dogs, donkeys, and bulls -- and
that their homes are mangers and that they are profane souls whose lives
are worthless. Which is why it is permitted to murder, slaughter, cheat,
deceive, steal from, and beat them, rape their wives and mock them...
"This also explains what we see on TV screens where Israeli occupation
armies kill children mercilessly while chewing gum as if they are on a trip or
at a dance. Not as if they kill human beings, rather as if they were killing
stray animals in accordance with the religious law set forth in the Talmud.
"The bestial drive to knead Passover matzahs with the blood of non-Jews is
[confirmed] in the records of the Palestinian police where there are many
recorded cases of the bodies of Arab children who had disappeared -- later
found torn to pieces without a single drop of blood."
(Translation by www.memri.org)
Israel Update <Israel-Update@aish.com>
Tue, 21 Nov 2000 11:29:55 +0200
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974829886/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [bprlist] Resurrection of girl 'will be cloning turning point'
From: tracy
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 14:29:07 -0500
I still don't believe this. The United States has made it illegal to
clone humans or experiment with it. If this guy is saying this then I
would guess it is scam to raise the 3.3 million he says he needs. Now,
if this guy truly is in contact with extraterrestrial or GOD, Y would
he need this much money for experiment. Wouldn't they have shown him
how? Did Noah build many prototypes of the arc?
As for resurrection or everlasting life through cloning. This is bull.
When they cloned the sheep the first on was still alive. Did the first
sheep loose some of its psyche or does is now control 2 bodies? Life is
not in the body it is in the psyche. Identical twins are not one
being.
Even if we do clone this or that it is the life-force that GOD breaths
into us that is us. We are not our body. Our body is just the temple
that is our house until transition.
Tracy
> LYNN MOORE
> The Gazette
>
> RICHARD ARLESS JR., GAZETTE / Humans are the result of a genetic
> experiment by gods, Raelians believe, and Rael says the cloning of a dead
> child next year will turn public opinion around.
>
> The spiritual leader of the Raelian movement is accustomed to ridicule; he is,
> after all, best known for his belief in extraterrestrials.
>
> But now that a Raelian-sponsored cloning laboratory somewhere in the U.S.
> is said to be preparing to clone a 10-month-old American girl, Rael is
> generating another reaction.
>
> "Twenty-seven years ago, when I talked about cloning, they laughed. They
> don't any more. Now they are afraid," Rael told about 700 people crammed
> into the Theatre du Gesu on Bleury St. yesterday.
>
> On hand for the rare conference given by Rael - who claims to be in regular
> contact with the gods, known in the movement as Elohim - were a camera
> crew from a U.S. television network and a photographer preparing for a New
> York Times magazine story.
>
> Duplicate of Daughter
>
> In 1997, shortly after Dolly the sheep was cloned, Rael announced in Las
> Vegas the formation of the first human cloning company, Clonaid. Rael and
> the firm's director, Brigitte Boisselier, said Clonaid has evolved into a viable
> enterprise that has investors, a staff and a list of about 250 clients.
>
> Rael said a wealthy American family, whose 10-month-old child died
> because of a hospital error, is providing major financial support for the venture
> and will get the first clone, a genetic duplicate of their departed daughter.
>
> The family's contributions include all the money it will get from a wrongful-
> death suit against those responsible for the child's death, Rael said. The
> second human clone will also go to a wealthy family who is supplying seed
> money, he said.
>
> A fund has also been established for legal fees, said Rael, who expects that
> legal challenges to human cloning will eventually take the issue to the U.S.
> Supreme Court.
>
> But the cloned daughter will be presented to the world via television before
> 2001 is over, Rael said.
>
> "Public opinion will turn completely ... (and people) will say this cloning is
> perfect," he predicted.
>
> Until he was renamed Rael by the aliens he says first visited him in 1973, he
> was a sportswriter named Claude Vorilhon. Rael means "the messenger"
> and part of the message is that humans were created in the image of the
> Elohim as the result of an intergalactic genetic experiment.
>
> Rael said cloning will not only give "genetic codes a second chance," it will
> pave the way to eternal life.
>
> Not everyone will appreciate the thought of life eternal nor have the love of life
> and spirituality required for a long voyage on Earth, Rael predicted.
>
> Neither the identity of the family nor the location of the lab, where scientists
> are now preparing equipment, can be disclosed, Boisselier said in a brief
> interview.
>
> In previous published accounts, Boisselier has been quoted as saying the
> cloning will cost about $300,000 and that it will cost $3 million to complete
> experiments leading to the first cloning.
>
> The hedonistic Raelians, who believe in liberal sex, are said to number about
> 500,000. The Swiss-based movement has a substantial following in Quebec
> and has a UFOland in Valcourt.
>
> >From The Montreal Gazette,
> http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/pages/001120/4900288.html
>
> via: isml@egroups.com
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
>
> Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
> http://philologos.org/bpr
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974835627/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] News Scan (11/21/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 14:43:13 -0500
"ABOVE THE FOLD"
French Court Rules Yahoo! Must Block Nazi Sales
Global Tech Spending Tops $2 Trillion
Robot Wires the Cities Through Sewer Lines
Break in Undersea Cable
Honda Serious About the Robot Business
Carnivore Survives an Independent Review
FRENCH COURT RULES YAHOO! MUST BLOCK NAZI SALES
A Paris court has ordered Yahoo! to block French users from accessing Nazi
memorabilia on its U.S. sites, citing French anti-racist laws. The ruling
gives Yahoo! three months to implement some type of system that would
accomplish its objective and imposes a FFr100,000 (US$13,000) per day fine
if it fails to comply. Yahoo! had agreed to block the sale of such items
on its French language portal following an earlier ruling, but had argued
that the ban could not be extended to the U.S. site, both on U.S.
constitutional grounds and because it was technically infeasible. But
three court-appointed international experts concluded that a system to
check the nationality of users, combined with password checks, would
identify 90% of French citizens seeking to buy Nazi memorabilia. Industry
groups are "deeply concerned" over the implications of the ruling:
"Despite the obnoxious nature of the [Nazi] material, this ruling sets a
very bad precedent for the future development of services on the
Internet," says the head of the e-business unit at the Confederation of
British Industry. (Financial Times 21 Nov 2000)
http://news.ft.com/news/industries/infotechnology
GLOBAL TECH SPENDING TOPS $2 TRILLION
Worldwide spending on information and communication technology exceeded
$2.1 trillion last year and is expected to surge 50% by 2004, according to
a study by International Data Corp. That spending now represents 6.6% of
the world's gross domestic product, including almost 9% of U.S. GDP. Top
spenders in 1999 were the U.S. ($762 billion), followed by Japan ($362
billion), and Germany ($139 billion). The top-ten list was rounded out by
Britain, France, Italy, Canada, China, Brazil and Australia. The fastest
growing market, however, was Vietnam, booming at a compound annual
growth
rate of 35% over seven years. Other countries growing at more than 10%
included Poland, Colombia, India, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
(Reuters/TechWeb 21 Nov 2000)
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/reuters/REU20001121S0004
ROBOT WIRES THE CITIES THROUGH SEWER LINES
CityNet Telecommunications of Silver Spring, Md., has developed a way to
wire urban areas for fiber optic communications without tearing up streets
and sidewalks. It uses small cylindrical robots to snake their way through
city sewer systems, stringing cable as they go. The company has
commitments on 53 systems, charging $750,000 per system. In comparison,
Yankee Group analyst Matthew Davis estimates the cost of cutting trenches
in asphalt for laying cable is between $200,000 and $500,000 per mile in
an urban area. "And that isn't New York, either," he adds. "These guys
[CityNet] claim they can cut the cost in half and double the speed of
laying it." One question still remains to be answered, however: how well
the fiber adapts to living in a sewer. "Whenever a technology comes along
that is so new and different, you have to be careful, particularly when
sensitive fiber-optic cable is at stake," says Davis. "There's still the
question of whether this can stand the test of time. We should know within
four to five months." (Wall Street Journal 21 Nov 2000)
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB974740331796597855.htm
BREAK IN UNDERSEA CABLE
A break in an undersea cable off the coast of Singapore resulted in a
severe disruption of Internet access to users of Telstra Internet services
in Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. Traffic is being rerouted to the
Asia Pacific Cable Network (APCN) during the week it will take for the
Telstra cable to be fixed. Since the cable was in shallow water, it might
have been struck by a ship. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 21 Nov 2000)
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/659504l.htm
HONDA SERIOUS ABOUT THE ROBOT BUSINESS
Honda has developed a new remote-controlled 4-foot 95-pound robot called
"Asimo" (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) which moves in a human-like
way and has the ability to change directions, do a little dance, and raise
its arms. The company is studying ways to add voice recognition and other
capabilities and hopes to make Asimo into a commercial product within a
few years. (AP/USA Today 21 Nov 2000)
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/crh725.htm
CARNIVORE SURVIVES AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW
An independent review of the FBI's "Carnivore" surveillance system, which
is intended to monitor e-mail communication of criminal suspects but which
is criticized by privacy advocates for intruding into the lives of
ordinary citizens, has found that the system does not "overcollect
evidence" and that "it does pretty much what the FBI says" it does. But
Alan Davidson of the nonprofit group Center for Democracy and Technology
insists: "This sort of finding is in part why we've said a purely
technical review of Carnivore's functions is not sufficient. Policymakers
need a review that considers the law under which Carnivore operates and
whether that law adequately protects privacy." The review was conducted by
Henry H. Perritt, dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology's
Chicago-Kent College of Law. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 20 Nov 2000)
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/658495l.htm
"NewsScan" <newsscan@newsscan.com>
Tue, 21 Nov 2000 09:57:32 -0700
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974836371/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) [imra-l] PMW: PA VIOLENCE WAS PLANNED
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 14:47:59 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Subject: [imra-l] PMW: PA VIOLENCE WAS PLANNED
Date sent: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 18:20:46 +0200
PMW: PA VIOLENCE WAS PLANNED
Tuesday, November 21, 2000
In response to the increased interest in the Palestinian Media Watch report
published in Hebrew that anticipated the Palestinian Authority violence two
and a half weeks before it started, PMW is now distributing the report in
English as well.
For your convenience it is being distributed both as text and as a WORD file
attachment with formal layout.
Palestinian Media Watch Special Report # 30 [Sept. 11, 2000]
Rape, Murder, Violence and
War for Allah Against the Jews:
Summer 2000 on Palestinian Television
Written by: Itamar Marcus, Director pmw@netvision.net.il
Introduction:
Palestinian Authority [PA] television broadcasting of violence and hate has
reached unprecedented levels this summer and has created an atmosphere of
the eve of outbreak of war. Palestinian television is currently broadcasting
a systematic campaign that negates the peace process and reconciliation.
Included are abundant violence clips, the depiction of Israeli soldiers as
rapists and murderers, call for eternal war against the Jews, military
marches, libelous accusations, denial of Israel's right to exist, and
education of Palestinian children to see all of Israel as stolen "Palestine"
. These inciting broadcasts appear frequently each day, beginning with
afternoon children's programming and ending with the closing of the programs
at night.
False accusations against Israel and Israeli soldiers and the presentation
of Israelis as murderers have long been regular subject matter of the
Palestinian media. This week on "Panorama", Palestinian television's
cultural program, a brutal scene from a Palestinian movie was shown in which
Israeli soldiers throw a Palestinian girl on top of their jeep and rape her,
and then murder her parents. (See part 1).
The messages on the religious broadcasts by the official Palestinian
Authority religious leadership this summer, show that the religious
worldview of the Palestinian Authority is identical to the principles of the
Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority religious leadership, Islam's
war with the Jews is eternal, the peace agreements are temporary, and Allah
will inevitably liquidate the state of Israel. (See part 2).
One category of the heightened incitement that can be measured is the
increase in quantity and heightening of the severity of violence clips on PA
TV. As an established daily routine, clips showing violence against Israel
and the Israeli army are shown daily between regular programming on
Palestinian television. By using pictures of riots from different time
periods, which have undergone careful editing, Israeli soldiers are
presented as cruel and murderous while the Palestinians, especially the
children, are presented as heroic fighters. Broadcasting these clips creates
a perpetual warlike atmosphere. The hypothetical Israeli equivalent would be
were Israeli television to broadcast daily old footage of suicide bombings.
In recent weeks PA TV is showing many times the usual number of these clips.
In addition, Palestinian television began broadcasting this week a clip
called "Where are the Millions [Masses]" which in the past has been
identified as a call to go to the streets and riot. Over the last week this
clip has been shown every single day, following a number of years during
which our research staff has not seen it at all. (See part 3).
This week the new PA schoolbooks were presented to the press and Israel
still does not appear on a single map in any schoolbook while its place is
marked as "Palestine". This education of children to deny Israel's
existence is reinforced regularly on children's television programs in which
the entire land of Israel is presented as stolen Palestine. (See part 4).
False accusations such as those of Suha Arafat, who said that Israel attacks
Palestinians with gas, are heard incessantly by officials in the Palestinian
Authority. Recently, the PA has been reporting that Israel is distributing
drugs in order to hurt Palestinian youth, together with other false
accusations. (See part 5).
This paper will present a number of representative examples of the above
themes that have been appearing this summer in the Palestinian Authority's
official TV broadcasts from Ramallah.
Contents
1. Israelis presented as murderers and rapists.
2. Islam's eternal religious war against the Jewish people.
3. Encouragement of violence in clips and praise for terrorists.
4. Children's Education: "Palestine" -Metulla to Eilat - is temporarily in
chains.
5. Libelous accusations
1. Israelis presented as rapists and murderers
1. Libelous accusations against Israel and Israeli soldiers are fundamental
elements in the Palestinian media. This week on the "Panorama" cultural
show, a horrific scene from a Palestinian movie was shown in which Israeli
soldiers rape a girl and murder her parents. In the scene Israeli
paratroopers wearing red berets torment a Palestinian family. A soldier
conducts a search and when he does not find anything the soldiers take the
girl, drag her to the hood of the jeep and rape her. The parents try to
resist and after the rape the father is shot and the mother is stabbed to
death. The Israeli soldier calmly wipes the blood off the knife into his
palm and rubs the blood with his finders. The girl is rolled off the jeep to
the ground, apparently, she is also murdered. Throughout the scene, other
soldiers are shown smiling and laughing. In the end the soldiers leave in
the jeep flying an Israeli flag. 1
2. Palestinian television broadcasts archive scenes from the Intifada, which
have been edited to present a distorted picture. During a day of special
broadcasting upon Yasser Arafat's return from Camp David, a clip was
broadcast that included an Israeli soldier shooting followed by a girl
falling to the ground. The viewer concludes that the girl was shot in the
back by the soldier. However, a slow viewing clearly shows that there is no
connection between the two scenes. The message of the clip: Israeli soldiers
shoot children in the back. 2
3. Throughout the summer vacation, summer camps were held to give the
children semi-military training and inculcate them with anti-Israeli
ideology. Messages to the children included the presentation of Israel in
general and Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria specifically as
murderers. In one summer camp, girls performed a skit that was shown on
Palestinian TV. The skit begins with a father talking with his boy Salah
out in the field:
Salah: "Father, why do the settlers take people's lands?"
Father: "These settlers, we must not trust them. They take away lands in
order to build tall buildings for themselves, and we'll go out into the
street."
Father (to Muhammad): ".What is the goal of the settlers on your land?"
Muhammad: "They want my land that I have plowed and reaped."Father: "These
dogs, the settlers take but they don't give."
The father is then left alone in the field. A group of armed settlers
enters, one of them dressed as an Israeli soldier. The father says, "Get off
my land! Get off my land! Stop taking other people's property!"
The settlers wave a piece of paper in the air and say, "Listen! It says on
this paper that this land is ours!" The father shouts, "This is my
property!" and rips up the piece of paper. "I plowed it and reaped it".
Pushing and hitting ensue. The father tells them, "Get off my land! I
plowed and reaped it." The "settlers" push him to the ground, shoot him and
run away. The son Salah returns and says to his father, "Father, Father,
what have they done to you? Why are you laying on the ground?" The dying
father says to his son, "My son Salah, guard this land because the settlers
want to take the land that I have plowed." The show ends. 3
Presentation of Israelis in general and of settlers specifically as enemies
and murderers of Palestinians and as an existential threat to the
Palestinians, is one of the fundamentals of the Palestinian Authority's
education. This gained impetus in informal educational frameworks
throughout the summer.
4. The Palestinians even make use of the classic anti-Semitic libel of
blaming the Jews for Jesus' murder. On the weekly interview show "Good
Morning Jerusalem" a Palestinian artist presented his new paintings, among
them a picture of Jesus with two Israeli soldiers standing at his sides.
The artist explains:
". Our struggle today against the other (Israel) is an eternal one. It can
be said that it started 2,000 years ago and continues until today. I
demonstrate this though the figure of Jesus, who came to the world with a
message of justice and the other (Israel) side did what they did to him.
The Palestinian demands that same right and is being treated in the same
manner. In this painting I demonstrate the following idea: the Israeli
soldiers are wearing army uniforms while Jesus has nothing except for the
truth. When they searched him at the entrance to Jerusalem, they found a
stone, a piece of bread and fish and he was cuffed. This is the Palestinian
from the beginning of the struggle until its end - if it will ever end." 4
This artist's depiction is consistent with the Palestinian Authority's
official position defining Jesus himself as a "Palestinian". In an article
from the Palestinian Authority's official newspaper about the city of
Nazareth, Jesus is defined as the first Palestinian murdered by Jews.
The headline: "The city in which the Jews murdered the first of its
Palestinian sons." The article states: ".the Jews tried to attack it
(Nazareth) many times and established settlements there. But the
Palestinian people of Nazareth are still keeping their Palestinian customs
and traditions. The Palestinian language is still spoken to the point that
when speaking with them you can feel that time and the Zionist occupation
will not be able to change the face of the Palestinian Nazareth, and that it
still has not forgotten nor will it forget her first son (Jesus), which the
Jews betrayed and handed over to the emperor and insisted on his killing.
Inevitably the savior will one day come to Nazareth to return the joy." 5
Note that the official PA daily the Israeli city of Nazareth is presented as
a temporarily conquered Palestinian city.
2. Islam's eternal war religious against the Jewish People
Every Friday, Palestinian television broadcasts a sermon from a mosque. The
Palestinian Authority's religious leaders' sermons express the same opinions
as the Hamas.
1. Teaching that Israel's existence is forbidden according to Islamic
law by Palestinian Authority religious leader, this summer:
"Muslim Palestine is one and cannot be divided. There is no difference
between Haifa and Nablus, Lod and Ramallah, Jerusalem and Nazareth or Gaza
and Ashkelon. Palestinian is Wakf land (Muslim religious trust) that belongs
to Muslims throughout the world and no one has the right to give it up or to
forsake. Whoever does this is a traitor to the trust and is nothing but a
criminal whose end shall be in hell." 6
[Al Aksa mosque. Sheik Yusef Abu Sneina]
2. Israeli-Palestinian relations are defined as a holy war, and the
Jewish people are seen as the enemies of Islam. The following are the words
of a Palestinian Authority religious preacher, Dr. Ahmed Yusuf Abu Halabiya:
"We the Palestinian nation, our fate from Allah is to be the edge of the
sword in the war against the Jews until the resurrection of the dead, as the
prophet Muhammad said: 'the resurrection of the dead will not arrive until
you will fight the Jews and kill them.' We the Palestinians are the edge of
the sword in this issue and in this campaign, whether or not we want this.
All of the agreements being agreed are temporary." 7
"Jerusalem, Palestine and Al Aksa, the land and its surroundings that Allah
had blessed, will remain the focus of the struggle between truth and
falsehood, between the Jews and non-Jews over this holy land. It does not
matter how many agreements will be signed or how many contracts will be
confirmed. The truth is in the Koran, which is verified in the words of the
prophet Mohammed, that the deciding battle will be in Jerusalem and its
surroundings: 'Resurrection of the dead will not arrive until you fight the
Jews.'" 8
"Oh our Arab brothers. oh our Muslim brothers. don't leave the Palestinians
alone in war against the Jews.even if it has been decreed upon us to be the
sharp edge of the sword. Jerusalem, Palestine and Al Aksa .will remain the
center of the battle of truth and falsehood, between the Jews and non-Jews."
9
"My brothers who are believers, let me take this opportunity, while speaking
about the Jews, about their cunning ways, their heresy, their jealousy and
their attempts to get you to lose your way and to distance you from your
rights. Let us take this opportunity, to appreciate the courageous position
of the negotiators.we remind them.that Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa are
a holy debt to the Muslims, Arabs and us especially, the Palestinian nation.
They belong to all of the generations, not only to a specific generation.
The generation that is not able to restore its rights must provide the next
generations with this opportunity. Through adhering to this right and
principle and not forgoing this right until the next generations come, in
order to carry out what we have failed to do today, against the enemies of
Allah." 10
"Palestine. causes the Jews sleeplessness at night, causes sleeplessness to
Allah's enemies throughout the world. They want to cure this abscess called
Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa and that is called the beloved and blessed
Palestine. Jerusalem is a symbol of the Muslim's unity and it is a symbol
to their strength and to the Muslim people's Jihad forever." 11
The Palestinian Authority's religious leader rejects any agreement with the
Jewish nation, as a message to the peace talks negotiators:
"No one, no Arab, Palestinian or Muslim is allowed to forgo one grain of
soil of the land of Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa .whoever forgoes even
one grain of soil will be punished for his sin, for the sins of all
Palestinians, for the sins of all Arabs and for all of the Muslim's sins
forever and ever." 12
".The Jews gathered from all ends of the earth in our beloved Palestine,
from Rosh Ha-Nikra in the north to Eilat in the south.from sea to river, it
was all a land of Muslims." 13
".Palestine's borders, the promised Palestine, is from the sea to the
river." 14
".Allah decreed on us in this lifetime to humiliate the Jews sooner or
later." 15
".The Muslims and Arabs must stand behind the Palestinian nation, which is
the sharp edge of the sword in the war against Allah's enemies. I swear on
Allah, the Jews are Islam's enemies in this life time." 16
The Palestinian Authority's leaders, often repeat their interpretation of
Oslo as a temporary agreement, or as a part of the PLO's plan of stages for
the liquidation of Israel. This week, Knesset member Abd Al-Malek Dahamshe
was interviewed on Palestinian television. In response to a viewer who
called the studio and said, "Our problem with Israel is not a problem of
borders but an problem of existence", he responded: "We are exaggerating
when we say 'peace'.we are talking about 'Hudna'." "Hudna" is an Islamic
term that means a "cease-fire" agreement rather than peace.
The Hamas leader, Sheik Yassin has also recently expressed willingness for a
"Hudna'" with Israel: "We are talking about "Hudna" [a cease fire] for a
interval, but not about ending the struggle. And for this, a full retreat
from Gaza and the West Bank must be carried out." 19
3. Encouragement of violence in clips and praise for terrorists
The daily Palestinian television broadcasting includes clips that show
violence and fighting against Israel and the Israeli army. Recently there
has been an increase, both in number of broadcasts and in their severity.
Likewise, there is a sharp increase in the number of pictures of dead
Palestinians and others with open wounds.
There are three components to these clips:
1. Pictures of Israeli soldiers committing violent acts: kicking or hitting
men, women and children; shooting at rioters and throwing tear gas grenades.
2. Graphic pictures of Palestinians wounded of killed in violence. The
pictures include close-up photographs of dead and wounded, of hospitalized
children, funerals, bitter crying, screaming, and fearful children and
elderly.
3. Scenes of Palestinians who are rioting and fighting with Israeli soldiers
including rock throwing, throwing of fire bombs, etc. In many pictures
emphasis is on the activity of the masses in the riots, especially that of
children.
The scenes are accompanied by marching and military songs including praise
of Jihad as well as nationalistic songs. The following is a typical example
of a song during the broadcast of a scene of a jail, a dismembered body and
the like are being shown:
"It may be that you steal the last bit of my land
It may be that you distance my sons to jail
It may be that you extinguish the flame at night
It may be that you steal a child from its mother
Oh enemy, eradicator
I will never compromise
And I will fight
Till the last one of my rights
I will fight" 20
The following is another example of words that are heard during a broadcast
of Israeli soldiers fighting with Palestinians:
"Oh agents of the devil oh enemies of man
I am man son of man
I am robbed I am wanted I am fearful
Everyday I die." 21
4 . The 'where are the millions' [the masses] clip has been shown every
day this past week, after years of not seeing this clip at all on
Palestinian television. Over the background of scenes of violence and
fighting, the following song is played:
"Where are the masses?
Where is the Arab nation?
Where is the Arab anger?
Where is the Arab honor?" 22
As is well known, the clip has been known in the past as a call for going
out to riot in the streets.
5. One of the heroines of the Palestinian Authority is Dalal Al-Mugjrabi,
a terrorist who took part of the hijacking of a bus and murder of 36
Israeli passengers in 1978. On the show 'Panorama', Dr. Salah Al-Kadumi
explains her importance: "Dalal is a symbol for the Palestinian nation.
Through the show we transmit to the viewer the Palestinian woman's role as a
fighter. as a builder of the Palestinian society. we cling to Dalal as an
individual who belongs to the Palestinian consciousness." Immediately
following this statement a scene is shown from a film about the terrorist in
which Israelis wearing Kippot [Skull Caps] are threatening a Palestinian
with a pistol, interrogating him in the cemetery in which Dalal Al-Mughrabi
is buried where she appears above her grave as living. Palestinian TV often
has programs like this one admiring the murderers of Israelis. 23
4. Children's Education: "Palestine"- Metulla to Eilat - is temporarily in
chains.
The Palestinian Authority continues to educate its children that the entire
land of Israel is "Palestine", that it belongs to the Arabs and was stolen
from them in 1948. The following are three examples from children's
programming on Palestinian television.
1. In "The Birds' Garden", a program for young children, the hostess
presented the children with a map of Israel including the Palestinian
Authority areas. The children are taught that all of Israel is "Palestine".
These are her words:
"Today I chose a really nice drawing for you of the map of Palestine. Lets
all look at it together. A drawing of Palestine. It's so beautiful. There
is Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias, . [all Israeli cities- ed] Palestine is so
beautiful! Our country is so beautiful! You can also see the Dead Sea
here. You can see how pretty our land is, how very pretty it is. And to
all of our loved ones who are on the map, whether they are from Acre, Haifa,
Jaffa, Nazareth .Jerusalem. [all Israeli cities- ed] we bid everyone a
welcome." 24
2. In another episode of "The Bird Garden", the hostess presented a similar
drawing of Israel including the Palestinian Authority areas tied in chains.
The following is the explanation she gave the children and the hope for the
future:
Hostess: "We have a very pretty picture here. there is a man, and very
beautiful things, a tree and."
A girl shouts out: "Palestine"
Hostess: "A picture of the map of Palestine with chains around it, and Allah
's will, my dear ones, these chains will be freed one day and Palestine will
remain ours forever." 25
3. A television clip that had been broadcast in the past dozens of times but
stopped following complaints from Israel has been returned. The clip for
children defines the entire land of Israel as "Palestine", saying that in
1948 they (the Israelis) took everything. and explains that "they" (the
Israelis) changed its name. However it is still "Palestine".
The clip, called "My Homeland" opens with a group of children that are
building "Palestine" with small figures. They are "building" houses and
"planting" trees and the atmosphere is one of joy and happiness. These are
the words to the song:
"My box is in my room, my room is in my house, my house is in my
neighborhood, my neighborhood is in my country, my country is very pretty,
it has houses and oranges and neighbors and trees."
Suddenly the song stops and the music ends. There is an earthquake and all
of the houses and trees fall down and the girl says in a serious and sad
voice:
"Do you know what happened in 1948? They took everything. They emptied the
room, they broke the house, they burned down the forest, they changed the
names, changed the names. This is still my country, it is very pretty. My
country's name is Palestine."
At the end of the clip the children present themselves by their first name
and where they come from. Among them Kafar Kasem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Yaffo
and other places within Israel.
The message to the Palestinian Authority's children is that Israel's
creation is to be viewed as stealing Palestine." 26
5. Libelous accusations
1. False accusations like that of Suha Arafat, who said that Israel used gas
against the Palestinians, are heard regularly in the Palestinian Authority's
official media. Israel has been recently been blamed for intentional drug
distribution in order to hurt PA youth:
"The minister Intisar Al-Wazir (widow of Abu Jihad) said that her office
(the Ministry for Social Affairs) provides all possible help to those
fighting drugs however the Israeli authorities are working hard on bringing
drugs into the Palestinian society." 27
2. Lies are common blaming Israel for the burning of Al Aksa Mosque
(21/8/1969) and for planning the building the third Temple after destroying
the mosques. The following is one example:
"How can we be happy today and how can we smile while Jerusalem is being
trampled, while Jerusalem is in danger and on the brink of the establishment
of the third Temple. That is what they are trying to do today. They want
to establish the Temple on the land of Al-Aksa and Jerusalem with Barak's
blessing as well as the blessing of the entire government of Israel and the
government of all the Jews. With the establishment of the Temple will be the
beginning of the destruction of the Al-Aksa mosque and the building of the
Temple on top of its ruins." 28
3. An Australian non-Jew set the Al-Aksa mosque on fire in 1969. However the
PA teaches through its schoolbooks and through its leaders that Israel stood
behind the fire as part of its war against Islam. During a special program
that commemorated the burning of the mosque, Sheik Ikrima Sabri, the Mufti
(Islamic religious leader) of Jerusalem said:
"Preparations for this crime took place that were expressed in the
statements of senior officials and rabbis who said that Al-Aksa does not
belong to the Muslims and that it may be destroyed. They tried to instigate
people against those in charge of Al-Aksa and threaten them... Rohan the
Australian who burned Al-Aksa had no idea what Al-Aksa was. He was recruited
by number of people who trained him to do this dangerous and sinful task.
The long-term goal was, as it was stated back then, a plot whose main goal
was to attack the Muslim holy sites." 29
footnotes
1 Palestinian Television [PT], 31/08/00
2 [PT] 26/07/00
3 [PT] 16/07/00
4 [PT] 23/07/00
5 Al-hayat Al-Jadida 24/01/00
6 Palestinian Television [PT] 8/9/00
7 [PT] 28/07/00
8 [PT] 11/08/00
9 [PT]
10 [PT] 11/08/00
11 [PT]
12 [PT]
13 [PT]
14 [PT]
15 [PT]
16 [PT]
18 [PT] 1/09/00
19 [PT] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida 24/07/00
20 Palestinian Television [PT] 26/07/00
21 [PT] 23/07/00
22 [PT] 10/09/00
23 [PT] 31/08/00
24 [PT] 28/08/00
25 [PT] 25/07/00
26 [PT] 11/09/00
27 [PT] 23/07/00
28 [PT] 11/08/00
29 [PT] 21/08/00
PMW monitors and translates the major Palestinian Authority media: 3 daily
newspapers, TV, Radio.
PMW issues weekly reports in English and Hebrew,
Special reports as issued and advisories when warranted.
PMW is a non-profit organization, operating in Jerusalem.
To receive PMW reports regularly by e-mail, send your address to
pmw@netvision.net.il
------- End of forwarded message -------
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974836371/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Arutz-7 News (11/21/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 14:57:29 -0500
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2000 / Cheshvan 23, 5761
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. TERRORIST ATTACK CRITICALLY INJURES ISRAELI
2. IDF BOMBS P.A. TARGETS
3. THE COHEN CHILDREN AND ELIEZER AMITAI
4. P.A. PROMISES REVENGE
5. EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR LEAVES
6. TWO TERRORIST ATTACKS AVERTED
7. RESIDENTS BRIEFLY TAKE OVER STRATEGIC SITE
8. ASSORTED QUOTES
9. KNESSET COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS BOOK BAN
1. TERRORIST ATTACK CRITICALLY INJURES ISRAELI
Yet another critical injury was the result of an Arab terrorist shooting
attack this afternoon, in the same intersection as the bombing of the
school bus yesterday near Kfar Darom. A Palestinian sniper shot an
Israeli man, a resident of Netzer Chazani, in his head as he was on his
way to the protest encampment erected in a nearby intersection by Gush
Katif rabbis. The attack followed hours of non-stop shooting from the
Arab village of Dir el-Balah upon the vicinity of Kfar Darom. The victim
was flown by helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva, where doctors
are struggling to save his life. The IDF immediately sent a bulldozer to
demolish the building from where the attack was carried out, as well as
trees along the road.
The Yesha Council called on the government not to convene the security
cabinet for another "showy session that will decide on another
Hollywood-style bombing." "How much more blood will be spilled before
Barak allows the army to win?" asks the Council.
2. IDF BOMBS P.A. TARGETS
The IDF successfully bombed nine Palestinian Authority targets in Gaza
yesterday evening, including headquarters of Muhammad Dahlan's Preventive
Security, Fatah, and Force 17, as well as Palestinian television
buildings. Barak's aide Gilad Sher said that Israel gave the PA advance
warning of the targeted buildings. Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said
that the attack did not involve even "one-thousandth of the force we could
have used." In addition, Israeli forces took over an area a few
kilometers wide, effectively cutting the Gaza Strip into two. Arab
workers were not allowed to come to work near the Erez Checkpoint today;
they rioted at first, but then dispersed.
Likud leader Ariel Sharon said that last night's retaliatory attack by the
IDF was a positive development, although it "should have come earlier."
He strongly implied that Muhammad Dahlan, who is widely considered to be
behind many of the terrorist attacks, should be targeted and killed.
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor - a confidante of Shimon Peres, a
participant in diplomatic talks with the Palestinians during the Netanyahu
government, and former Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and
Samaria, said today that he, too, is against the policy of restraint.
3. THE COHEN CHILDREN AND ELIEZER AMITAI
The Israeli public has taken a keen interest in the case of the three
Cohen children who were wounded in yesterday morning's terrorist bombing
in Kfar Darom. Orit, 12, and her brother Yisrael, 7, each lost part of
their right leg: Orit's foot was amputated above her ankle, while Yisrael
lost his leg below the knee. Doctors operated on their sister Tehilla, 8,
for 18 hours last night, and again today, in an effort to save her legs;
two fingers on one hand have been amputated. A dazed Corp. Yaniv, the
medic who first reached the children yesterday, said, "A fighter learns
how to give first aid to other soldiers, not little children whose limbs
have been blown off."
Eliezer Amitai, whose wife Mira was killed in yesterday's bombing, spoke
at her funeral - attended by thousands - in Ofrah yesterday: "Kfar Darom
is just like Hanita [in the north] and just like Gilo. Kfar Darom, it
happens to be, was purchased by Jews even before the establishment of the
State of Israel... we don't need a consensus, and we don't need approval
from anyone or from the world - we will do what we have to do, and we will
continue to raise our children where we have to. Our spirit is strong...
And this is not politics; this is life! ... The pain is not of our
families alone, but of all Israel - and whoever does not feel it, should
ask himself why..."
Residents of Kfar Darom, aided by dozens of volunteers from around the
country, placed four caravans (mobile homes without wheels) near the town
over the night, in an attempt to take over area used by the Palestinians
for attacks on Israelis.
4. P.A. PROMISES REVENGE
Minister Dalia Itzik said today that the coming few days will probably see
an escalation in the warfare. Palestinian violence continued last night
and this morning, following statements by many PA leaders that they would
avenge the IDF raids on Gaza. Palestinians shot at Hevron, Psagot,
Elisha, Bezek, Ayosh, Mt. Eval, and other places. A grenade was thrown
into a Jewish home in Ma'aleh Zeitim (Ras el-Amoud) in eastern Jerusalem.
For the first time during daylight hours, there was shooting this morning
at N'vei Dekalim, which continued for a long while. Three Israelis were
injured by rocks yesterday; one man, whose wounds are termed "light,"
underwent an operation on his jaw over the night.
Palestinian shooting in Gaza was directed this morning at IDF outposts, an
army bulldozer near Kfar Darom, an IDF vehicle near the Karni checkpoint,
and more. Palestinian policemen shot at groups of Israeli soldiers this
morning in two incidents; the soldiers were not hurt, and, in one case,
killed the attacker.
Later today: Among other incidents, there was shooting in Hevron and at
Dagan Hill in Efrat; firebombs at A-Ram junction and near Kalkilye; and
rioting in many Yesha locations, including south of Hevron, near Jericho,
Ayosh Junction, Baal Hatzor, and near Tulkarm.
5. EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR LEAVES
The peace with Egypt, long termed "cold," just about froze over this
morning when Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa recalled his
Ambassador
to Israel, Muhammad Bassiouny, for "consultations." Mussa explained that
the step was taken after "Israel increased its use of force against the
Palestinians" last night, and in light of the Arab League's call to sever
diplomatic relations with Israel three weeks ago. It is currently not
clear when and if Bassiouny will return. Israel's Foreign Minister Shlomo
Ben-Ami said that this is a "fairly grave matter" that is likely to harm
the "important function that Egypt plays in the diplomatic process."
The decision comes only a day after former Israeli President Ezer Weizman
met with Egyptian President Mubarak in Cairo, at the latter's request, in
a meeting that was termed "good." The Foreign Ministry is attempting to
make contact with officials in Egypt to discuss the matter, so far with no
success. Yasser Arafat cancelled plans to visit Egypt this morning,
before word of the recall was publicly learned.
Israel will not recall its Ambassador from Cairo at this stage. The last
time Egypt recalled its ambassador from Israel was during the Peace for
Galilee war; he never returned, and was replaced two years later by
Bassiouny.
6. TWO TERRORIST ATTACKS AVERTED
IDF soldiers killed three terrorists last night who were engaged in
attempting to carry out attacks. Golani brigade soldiers detected a
terrorist cell on its way to place an explosive near the Kisufim
checkpoint. They killed one of the Arabs, while the others escaped,
leaving behind a large, 15-kilogram explosive device including three
shrapnel grenades. IDF soldiers killed two other terrorists over the
night outside the Harsit outpost in Gaza; the two were among a group of
four terrorists attempting to infiltrate Gush Katif.
President Moshe Katzav visited Netzarim and Kfar Darom today, including a
condolence visit to the family of terrorist-victim Gabi Biton. Katzav
praised the residents for their strong stance and the way in which they
are dealing with the present difficulties. He echoed his oft-heard call
for a national-unity government, and then departed to visit the wounded in
Soroka Hospital. "The Palestinians must reconsider carefully what type of
leaders they choose for themselves," the President said. A recent poll of
Palestinians, however, carried out two weeks ago by Birzeit University,
shows that they basically accept Arafat's bellicose positions: 73%
support military attacks against American targets in the region, and 80%
support military attacks against Israeli targets at the present time.
7. RESIDENTS BRIEFLY TAKE OVER STRATEGIC SITE
Jewish residents of the Shomron community of N'vei Tzuf attempted to take
over the abandoned British police station near the Haramiya junction where
the murderous attack on Sara Lisha and two soldiers took place last week.
Five of the protestors were detained by police because they refused to
leave the area. The residents demand a permanent IDF presence at the
strategic site, which lies close to the junction leading from the
Ofrah-Shilo highway to N'vei Tzuf and Nachliel.
Members of the Lisha family set a protest encampment up today in Kokhav
Ya'ir, near Prime Minister Barak's home. It featured a bullet-ridden car
whose driver escaped unharmed, miraculously, from a drive-by terrorist
shooting last week. Jewish residents of Ofrah and Shilo blocked off the
exit from the Arab village of Silwad, not far from the Haramiya junction.
Protestors rallied at dozens of intersections throughout the country last
night, against the government's policy of restraint. They blocked several
major and minor highways for short periods of time.
8. ASSORTED QUOTES
Labor MK Ophir Pines, on the topic of Likud leader Ariel Sharon's refusal
to consider Barak's offer for a national unity government: "It's not that
Sharon doesn't think Barak is serious - he knows very well that Barak is
serious, but the question is how serious Sharon is. Last time [three
weeks ago, when Barak suddenly withdrew his offer for a unity government
after negotiations with Sharon], most of the Likud wanted to do the
nationally-responsible thing, while this time it has changed and is now
doing something very irresponsible - preferring its own political good
over the national good..."
Likud leader MK Ariel Sharon: "I would recommend that Barak and Pines go
out to the street and see what's happening. This nation deserves
security, and the government must give it... Yesterday's attack by the
IDF was good, but it must not be a one-time thing - other targets must be
chosen and hit... [One of the] things preventing our entry into the
government is its diplomatic position, namely, the fact that it continues
to adhere to its Camp David concessions - the division of Jerusalem, the
giving away of the Jordan Valley, the consent to take in refugees -
Barak's desire to do this is coming even at the expense of Israeli
citizens' security..." Regarding his recommendation to kill Muhammad
Dahlan, Sharon said, "What, does anyone think that someone who gives
orders to murder children is immune to attack? He must be afraid to show
his face in public!" Sharon concluded his remarks on Arutz-7 with words
of support for Kfar Darom: "Kfar Darom held up the Egyptian invasion in
1948, and was evacuated, after paying a heavy price, a full two months
after the War of Independence began. Why should it be evacuated? No
Jewish community has to be evacuated! [The situation] is still in our
hands, and it's up to us!"
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh: "There is no more malicious motto
than, 'Let the IDF win.' It sows defeatism, and implies that there is an
easy military solution... [The right-wing] and Arafat are trying to lead
us into a trap..."
Yediot Acharonot commentator Ron Ben-Yeshai: "The government of Israel
and the IDF continue operating according to the same diplomatic principles
and almost the same military methods that have become practically
ineffective... Israel continues the same attacks that gain us nothing,
and that are not a real threat on Arafat's regime; all they do is to
somewhat calm the settlers' anger and the public's frustration... The IDF
should take the initiative in the field, much more intensively and with a
greater range of actions. These must be successive, firm, long-term, and
should not stop every time Arafat signals that he is ready to stop the
fire."
Rafi Fischer, brother of terrorist victim Sara Lisha, completed his week
of mourning yesterday and went directly to speak with Shas leader Eli
Yeshai in Jerusalem: "I went to tell him that the original Halakhic
[Jewish legal] reasoning used by Shas for supporting the Oslo agreement
was in order to save lives. According to this reasoning, Oslo must now be
abandoned." Be'er Sheva Chief Rabbi Yehuda Deri, brother of Aryeh Deri,
told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson yesterday, "I am very right-wing... but a
word from me to [Shas spiritual leader] Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef is not as
effective as public pressure - he needs to be reminded by the public that
there is great pain and anger at the present government policies..."
9. KNESSET COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS BOOK BAN
The Knesset Education Committee recommended yesterday that a 9th-grade
history textbook, entitled "World of Changes," be disqualified from use.
Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev (NRP) told Arutz-7 that the unanimous
decision was precedent-setting, in that it was the first time the
Committee had taken such action on its own: "We felt that the book simply
did not attain the goal of fulfilling the country's educational and values
goals. It is missing entire sections on Zionism, Diaspora Jewry, the
entire story of Soviet Jewry, no mention of Ethiopian Jewry's aliyah
[immigration], the struggle with the British before the War of
Independence, the background to the Six-Day War - even the Holocaust was
presented in a distorted way." The book has no picture of David
Ben-Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister, nor any mention of other
Zionist leaders, the Warsaw Ghetto, or the many terrorist attacks that
Israel suffered over the years.
The Committee's recommendation is not binding, as no legislation was
passed on the matter, but, Orlev said, "It has moral authority, and I
can't imagine the Education Ministry ignoring it. Already last night I
heard that the Ministry had established a committee to review the book..."
When asked how the book had been approved in the first place, given the
fact that Orlev himself was Director-General of the Education Ministry at
the time, he responded, "Yes, this is a good question. It turns out that
books that are written by outside authors are reviewed very carefully, but
this particular book was originally commissioned by the Ministry and was
written on its behalf, and as such did not undergo the required checks.
It was this book that helped us discover this flaw in the system."
Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974847493/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Complete text of Barak Government "wh
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 18:00:04 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Subject: [imra-l] Document: Complete text of Barak Government "whit
e paper" on PA/PLO non-compliance
Date sent: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 23:56:56 +0200
Send reply to: imra@netvision.net.il
Document: Complete text of Barak Government "white paper" on PA/PLO
non-compliance
[IMRA note: The Barak Government's public affairs coordinator, Nahman Shai,
released the following "white book" on 20 November 2000. The following is
the
complete text. Photographs and a graph in the publication have not been
included. While the publication was distributed by the Government of Israel
at
an official meeting with the press, for some reason there is no identifying
marking on the publication indicating the source of the publication, the
author
or that the Government of Israel is in any way associated with the
publication]
Palestinian Authority and P.L.O. Non-Compliance with signed agreements and
commitments: A record of bad faith and misconduct
November 20 2000
Executive Summary
The present wave of violence - led by the Fatah "Tanzim" - is essentially a
n
attempt by Arafat to achieve, through violence, his maximal political goals
:
and
avoid the choices necessary to bring the negotiations to a successful
conclusion.
Key assumptions have thus been shattered:
* Arafat's conduct following the Camp David Summit indicates he preferred
not to
face up to the tough decisions necessary for a historic compromise.
* Instead of responsibility for the welfare of the governed we see him
willing
to use Palestinian suffering, including the death of children on the
frontline
(shamelessly exploited).
* Rather than take into account Israeli and Jewish sensitivities (side by
side
with their own legitimate rights) the Palestinians now prefer to stoke the
fires
of Islamic "Identity Politics" ("al-Quds is in danger") so as to walk away
from
the negotiations and replace them by international intervention.
The dynamics of "the struggle" took precedence over Palestinian commitments
.
Breaches of these obligations include:
* Direct use of violence by Palestinian Police (which Arafat regards, in
effect,
as the P.A. military forces) in violent clashes. One of the most serious ca
s
es,
for which P.A. Policemen bear at least a major part of the responsibility,
was
the lynching of two IDF reservists in Ramallah on October 12,2000.
* Ambivalent attitudes towards terrorism, and at times - outright
complicity.
Tolerance towards the Hamas helped open the floodgates of the terrorist
campaign
of February-March 1996; In the current crisis, P.A. Preventive Security, le
t
alone the "Tanzim" (militia) of Arafat's Fatah movement, are actively
involved
in terrorist attacks and security cooperation has been abandoned almost
entirely.
* Failure to collect illegal weapons - thousands of which were left, from
1994
onwards in the hands of the Tanzim. Various illegal weapons were sighted in
the
territories in recent events and during demonstrations and funerals.
* Incitement to Hatred - a key element in the current crisis has been the
relentless effort to mobilize "the Arab masses and destabilize the region -
asking "where is Saladin"? This comes against the background of a broader
pattern of education and public messages, which denigrate the Jews, and
reject
the possibility of compromise solutions.
* The size of the Palestinian Police force- well over 40,000 on the
payroll -
remains in breach of the Interim Agreement.
* Palestinian Security Organs Operate Outside the Agreed Areas -
particularly
Preventive Security, acting in East Jerusalem in open breach of the
agreements.
* In Gaza Airport, there have been repeated cases of misconduct, which rais
e
questions regarding the illegal use of the Airport.
* On Foreign Relations, the P.A. has been acting in breach of the agreement
s
as
to its interim status.
* Economic and Infrastructure agreements and procedures have been regularly
ignored.
* Criminal activities on a large scale - from car theft to excise tax
fraud -
take place under P.A. auspices.
* In the recent crisis, the P.A. failed to protect Jewish Holy places in
Nablus
and Jericho.
It should be recalled that the P.L.O. was not an "unknown quantity" when it
came
into the Peace Process: its institutional record - of terrorism, breach of
agreements (with Arab governments - Jordan, Lebanon), and abuse of the
"governed" in areas under its control - meant that extensive formal
commitments
were required - beginning with the pledges given to Prime Minister Rabin
prior
to the signing of the Declaration of Principles. These, however were often
interpreted in a slippery way, or honored only when it was expedient for
Arafat
and the P.A. to do so.
Table of Contents:
1. Why were formal commitments important in the post-1993 peace process?
2. Indications of Essential Bad Faith: Arafat creates a rationale for
non-compliance
3. Specific aspects of non-compliance
* Direct Use of Violence:
* In the recent crisis;
* At all times (abductions of Israeli citizens, etc.).
* Terrorism - ambivalence and complicity
* Failure to Collect Illegal Weapons.
* Incitement and the Perpetuation of Hatred.
* Other Aspects of Palestinian non-compliance:
* The size of the Palestinian Police
* Security Organs Operating Outside Agreed Areas
* Breaches of the Agreed Practice at the Gaza (Dahaniyah) Airport
* No Action to Implement Policy on Visitors Permits
* Foreign Relations
* Economic and Infrastructure Breaches
* Criminal Activity under P.A. Auspices
* Failure to Protect Holy Places
4. The Shattered Assumptions
* An Irreversible Choice for Peace;
* A Stake in the Welfare of the Governed;
* Give and Take at the Bilateral Table.
5. Root Causes
* Arafat's Strategy of Avoiding Choices;
* Diverting Attention from Domestic Failure;
* Conspiracy Theories and Miscalculations.
Appendices
Why were formal commitments important in the post-1993 peace process?
Since September 1993 the P.L.O., as an organization, became a signatory to
the
Declaration of Principles and Israel's negotiating partner. This meant that
on a
broad set of issues, formal commitments were needed - to try and ensure, as
much
as possible, that the P.L.O. leadership had clearly broken with past
positions,
practices and patterns of bad faith, which had marked its conduct as a
coalition
of "Fidai" (i.e. terrorist) organizations.
At various points in their history, the P.L.O. and its constituent
organizations
were committed to a strategy of eliminating Israel as a state, (this
strategy
was embodied, at the time, in the Palestinian National Covenant). They were
implicated in: -
* Extensive terrorist activity;
* Breach of agreements and understandings reached with host Arab states;
* Abuse and misgovernment in the zones which their "State within a State"
controlled in Lebanon.
It is against this background that Israel felt obliged to demand formal
commitments on some of the most basic and presumably obvious aspects of the
process. Such commitments were indeed obtained; but more often than not,
they
were interpreted in a slippery way, particularly as regards the key issues
of
security, the use of violence, and the prevention of terrorism.
Against the mounting evidence of bad faith, as detailed below, .Israel - an
d
other parties engaged in the negotiations - kept alive the hope for a stabl
e
peace, based on the assumption that the process, and its momentum, would
modify
Arafat's stance on compliance and on the question of violence as an option.
This
hope has now been shattered.
Indications of Essential Bad Faith; Arafat creates a rationale for
non-compliance
As early as Arafat's own speech on the White House lawn, on September 13,
1993,
there were indications that for him, the D.O.P. did not necessarily signify
an
end to the conflict. He did not, at any point, relinquish his uniform,
symbolic
of his status as a revolutionary commander; moreover, in terms of the
broader
historic "narrative", as distinct from the official position at the
negotiating
table, the map of "Palestine" remained as it has always been for him, the
entire
territory of pre-1948 mandatory Palestine (as the attached photograph, of a
n
August 22 1999 visit to a school, clearly indicates[photo from Al-Hayat
al-Jadida showing Arafat standing next to such a map].
On various occasions, Arafat continued to use the language of "Jihad",
literally
a "Struggle", but in the specific (religiously colored) context of the
Palestinian struggle, a clear reference to the violent option. Thus, in a
eulogy
to a Palestinian official - on June 15 1995 (at the height of the Oslo
Process)
- he paid homage, among others, to two women terrorists (Dalal al-Mughrabi
and
'Abir Wahidi); and spoke of the children throwing stones as "the Palestinia
n
Generals". He also swore to his audience (which was clearly sympathetic wit
h
the
Hamas) that "the oath is firm to continue this difficult Jihad, this long
Jihad,
in the path of martyrs, the path of sacrifices".
Of special interest, in this context, are Arafat's repeated references to
the
Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, signed by the Prophet Muhammad with his Meccan
enemies
when they were still stronger than him, and then abandoned (as he conquered
the
city) within a much shorter time than the Treaty itself warranted. The firs
t
such reference made public came shortly after the signing of the Interim
agreement, in the "Jihad" speech he made at the Mosque in Johannesburg
(obtained
by the Jewish community, and broadcast in Israel in May 1994).
What Hudaybiyyah means for him was made even clearer when he spoke, a few
months
later, on the occasion of the anniversary of the fire in al-Aqsa (an event,
in
1968, caused by an Australian madman, but often used in Palestinian
propaganda
as proof of Israel's evil intentions).
"Did the Prophet, Allah's Messenger, the Last of the Prophets, really accep
t
a
humiliation [as "umar bin al-khattab blamed him?] No, and no again. He did
not
accept a humiliation. But every situation has its own circumstances"
(Palestinian Television, August 21, 1995).
The reference to the Hudaybiyyah treaty re-surfaced in 1998, coupled with
the
warning that "all the options are open to the Palestinian people". (Orbit
television, April 18, 1998). In essence, here was a rationale for accepting
Oslo
and the place at the negotiations, and the various commitments involved, no
t
as
the building blocks of trust and cooperation but as temporary measures, to
be
shed off when circumstances allow.
To Muslim audiences, such as the one he had in the Mosque in Johannesburg i
n
May
1994 (one of the first such speeches in the post-Oslo phase) Arafat - a
former
Muslim Brother, forced to leave Nasser's Egypt for that reason in the
1950's -
spoke in the familiar idiom of Islamic radicalism.
To more secular audiences he offered a possible argument for the conditiona
l
or
.temporary nature of his commitments by addressing them in the context of
the
"Strategy of Stages" for the Liberation of Palestine, as endorsed by the PN
C
in
1974.
References to the 1974 decision to establish a "Palestinian Authority" on
any
piece of land Israel would withdraw from were made by Arafat both on the
White
house lawn in September 1993, and on the occasion of the first session of
the
P.A. Legislative Council in March 1996 ("al-Ayyam", March 8, 1996).
This instrumental view of the commitment to non-violent means, central as
this
commitment may have been to the entire process, was shared by Arafat's
lieutenants.
In a speech (documented on video) to a forum in Nablus in January 1996 -
again,
at a time when the negotiations were going forward - Nabil Sha'ath describe
d
the
strategy in terms which then sounded unrealistic, but now ring familiar:-
"We decided to liberate our homeland step-by-step... Should Israel
continue - no
problem. And so, we honor the peace treaties and non-violence... if and whe
n
Israel says "enough"... in that case it is saying that we will return to
violence. But this time it will be with 30,000 armed Palestinian soldiers
and in
a land with elements of freedom... If we reach a dead end we will go back t
o
our
war and struggle like we did forty years ago".
Following the change of government in Israel, and three weeks before the
actual
outbreak of violence over the opening of the Western Wall tunnel in
Jerusalem, a
senior Palestinian Officer - Muhammad Dahlan, the Head of "Preventive
Security"
in Gaza and currently complicit in the license given to terrorist activity
there
- warned ("Al-Hayyat", September 2 1996) that a return to the armed
struggle,
with the active participation of the P.A. forces, cannot be ruled out in
view of
the impasse in the process.
In the wake of the "Tunnel" events (referred to by the Palestinians as the
"al-Aqsa Campaign"), Arafat spoke at the Dhaisheh refugee camp near
Bethlehem,
and again stressed the continuous nature of the Palestinian Jihad ("we know
only
one word...") and the fact that "All the options are open".
Others continued to reflect this sentiment. The highest religious
functionary in
the Palestinian hierarchy- the Mufti of "Jerusalem and the Palestinian
Lands,"
Shaykh lkrimah Sabri, told the Palestinian newspaper "al-Ayyam" (March 3,
1997)
that Jerusalem cannot be retrieved through negotiations, and hence the only
option is war. The Fatah leader in the West Bank, Marwan Barghuti - a key
operator in the present crisis - warned as early as March 1997 that his men
are
inclined to resume the armed struggle, and applauded the Hamas bombing in
Tel
Aviv, in which three women were killed ("al-Ayyam", "al-Hayyat al-Jadidah",
March 26, 27 1997).
In a rally on November 15, 1998, Arafat again openly threatened that "the
Palestinian Rifle is ready and we will aim it if they try to prevent us fro
m
praying in Jerusalem... the "Generals of the Stones" are ready". (al-Ayyam,
November 16, 1998). In much the same vein, he spoke to Fatah cadres from th
e
Jerusalem area on the occasion of 31 years after the battle of Karameh, and
expressed readiness to face such battles in the future to defend Palestinia
n
rights ("Haaretz", March 21. 1999).
More recently - to some extent, under the influence of what was perceived a
s
the
"victory" of Hizbullah in Lebanon - references to the violent option
proliferated, and indeed the training of children for the armed struggle wa
s
deliberately used - during the Camp David Summit - as a hint of what was to
come
if Palestinian demands were not met.
As the present crisis unfolded, it was Nabil Sha'ath again who offered an
explanation as to what Arafat had meant when he said that "All the options
are
open": in an interview with ANN television in London (October 7, 2000) he
reminded his interlocutor that "No one believed him when he used to say
it...
[but] The choice is not at all between options of negotiation and fighting:
you
can have negotiations and fight at the same time" (as did the Algerians and
the
Vietnamese). Hence, "the Palestinian people fight with weapons, with jihad,
with
Intifada and suicide actions... and it is destined to always fight and
negotiate
at the same time."
Specific aspects of non-compliance
The issues listed below are by no means exhaustive. They do, however, prove
that
the rationale for non-compliance, as presented above, actually led to a
repeated
pattern of abuse, misconduct and outright violence on the part of the P.A.
In this respect, the current crisis does mark a watershed. It has been
preceded
by previous "eruptions", including the "Tunnel" Crisis of September 1996,
and
the short-lived "Nakba" events in May 2000. Nevertheless, nothing in
previous
P.A. practice resembles the collapse of all existing commitments, and the
systematic creation - day by day, week by week - of an atmosphere of raw
emotions, fear and hatred, in pursuit of a general Palestinian and Pan-Arab
mobilization.
All of this is not only in breach of the clearly stated commitments offered
at
the beginning of the Oslo process, but also in obvious, at times blatant,
rejection of the understandings reached at the recent Sharm al-Sheikh
Summit.
The overwhelming pattern of disregard for both written and informal
understandings (overt or otherwise), and in particular the use of an
illegally
armed militia - answerable to Arafat - in a Low-Intensity Conflict masked a
s
"popular protest" or an "Intifada", all confirm that from a Palestinian
point of
view, the new dynamics of the "struggle" - and of the call for Arab and
International intervention - take precedence over "pacta sunt servanda".
Beyond the current state of warfare, Palestinian non-compliance encompasses
broad aspects of everyday practice, from school texts to car theft. Some
(not
all) of these are discussed here.
Direct Use of Violence
Clearly, the most obvious breach of the Palestinian commitments involves th
e
direct participation of its armed forces - the Palestinian "Police" (in
effect,
Arafat's regular army) and the various Security organs - in armed clashes
with
the I.D.F. or in attacks on Israeli citizens.
The pattern evident in the current crisis had already been established in
1996,
when Palestinian policemen played a major role in the extensive clashes tha
t
left 15 Israeli soldiers dead; in effect, they acted as a fighting force -
even
in places where only hours earlier some of them participated in the Joint
Patrols with the I.D.F., according to the Interim Agreement.
In the recent crisis, the role of the regular Palestinian forces has been
somewhat more ambiguous - in line with Arafat's interest in keeping his han
d
half-hidden, and using mainly his militia forces - the Fatah "Tanzim" or
cadres
- in the firefights and attacks on Israeli targets. Still, in the context o
f
the
overall crisis.
Local Police commanders were, in fact, given orders, at times, to
re-establish
law and order and restore the calm - but their actions often indicated that
they
felt (or rather, realized) that such instructions do not fit in with
Arafat's
broader support for the struggle (as reflected in the propaganda effort, as
detailed below) and were therefore half-hearted in carrying them out.
In many cases, Palestinian Policemen took an active part in the fighting, i
n
an
organized fashion or as individuals; and there is no evidence (now or on
previous occasions) of disciplinary action being taken against those who di
d
so.
There is evidence, moreover, as to the complicity of Preventive Security
operators - particularly in the Gaza Strip - in armed attacks on the I.D.F.
and
on Israelis.
Perhaps the most serious event for which the Palestinian police bears a
major
share of responsibility in the recent crisis was the lynching of two Israel
i
reserve soldiers in Ramallah on October 12, 2000. It was indeed a mob which
killed them and mutilated their bodies: but it had been the Palestinian
policemen who captured them, brought them into the Police Headquarters at
the
center of town, and then put up only a half-hearted effort to prevent the
attack. So far, the P.A. did nothing to punish those responsible.
Everyday Practices: the Palestinian Security Organs - such as Preventive
Security, as well as the General Intelligence Service and its arm in the
West
Bank, under Colonel Tawfiq Tirawi, have been involved in other violent
actions
in breach of the agreements, such as the abduction or unlawful arrest of
Israeli
citizens (in some cases, Israeli Arabs suspected as "collaborators"), and
the
murder of Palestinian real estate dealers (suspected of selling land to
Jews).
Another salient case (outside the context of any specific local
confrontation -
in which a senior P.A. official acted, in effect, as a terrorist - involved
BG
(now a Major General) Ghazi Jabali, the Commander of the Police Force,
issuing
orders for an attack - actually carried out by two of his colonels - on
settlers
in the West bank in July 1997 ("Yediot Aharonot", July 18 1997).
Moreover, at various "friction points" (e.g. events in Bethlehem, March
1998;
the Gush Katif road in the Gaza Strip, July 1998; Khan Yunis, February
1999),
Palestinian policemen and members of other organized forces drew weapons in
support of violent demonstrators or in direct confrontations with the I.D.F
.
Ambivalence towards, or outright complicity in, acts of terrorism "I want t
o
make it clear that any arrangement or active understanding between the
P.L.O.
and the Hamas on the possibility of continued terrorism by the Hamas, with
the
consent of the P.L.O., would preclude an agreement and prevent its
implementation" (Prime minister Rabin at the Knesset, April 18 1994).
In terms of its impact on Israeli society, and hence on the prospects for
building the necessary bridges of trust and cooperation, it was the
Palestinian
failure to comply with its commitments on restraining terrorism - and in
fact,
the periodic courting of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad as partners in the
struggle
=96 which left the most bitter legacy in 1995-1996, and now seems to be
repeating
itself.
An important development, in this respect, was the understanding between th
e
P.A. and the Hamas leadership, in preparation for the January 1996
Legislative
Council elections - in effect, encompassing the sort of "rules of the game"
for
terrorist action that Prime Minister Rabin had warned against, more than a
year
earlier. -What the P.A. sought (in the draft exchanged with the Hamas in
October
1995) was "an end to military operations in or from the National Authority'
s
territory, or declaring them in any form". (JMCC daily Press Summary,
October
12, 1995).
The actual understanding, reached in Cairo between PNC Chairman Salim
al-Za'anun
and Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al on December 21 1995 ("al-Quds", December 22
,
1995), allowed the Hamas to "hold on to its reservations" as regards the
Palestinian commitments [to restrain terrorism]; but the movement did
undertake
"not to aim at embarrassing the Authority" - i.e., avoid operations which
the
P.A. could be blamed for.
In a joint interview ("al-Nahar'", December 23, 1995), Za'anun went so far
as to
explain that in the event of an attack in Hebron (then still under Israeli
rule)
it will not be the Palestinians' duty to do anything about it; if Israel
wants
to avoid such action, it should hurry up and withdraw from the rest of the
territories...
This concept was clarified by the PLO representative in the Arab League,
Muhammad Subayh, a few months later: Hamas, he said, had committed itself
not to
act from inside Palestinian controlled areas (MENA in Arabic, March 8 1996,
in
FBIS-NES-96-048, March II). By the time this revelation was made, the
terrorist
campaign within Israel - which nearly brought down the entire process - was
already well underway. This only confirmed a general pattern of negligence
-
and
at times, active complicity, or at least tacit moral support for the Hamas
-
on
the part of the P.A. and its security organs.
Throughout the early period of consolidation in the areas under its
control -
from May 1994 onwards - Arafat resisted constant pressures by Israel to
restrain
the Hamas and restrict, if not destroy, the infrastructure established by
the
terrorist organization. The failure to do so put in question the basic
underpinnings of the Oslo accords; and its most evident outcome was a sharp
rise
in the number of Israelis who fell prey to terrorist attacks during this
period.
Arafat, throughout this period, continued to embrace the Hamas, in politica
l
terms; when the "Engineer" Yahia 'Ayyash - the man behind many of the worst
Hamas attacks - was killed, he came to pay his condolences to the Hamas
leader
Mahmud al-Zahhar ("al-Quds'\ January 6, 1996). Meanwhile, the Preventive
Security Chief in Gaza, Dahlan, apparently kept his contacts with the leade
r
of
the =93=92Izz al-Din al-Qassam" forces - the Hamas military arm - Muhammad
Dheif
(a
childhood friend) and broke them off only after the second bombing in
Jerusalem.
("Haaretz", March 10 1996).
It was the political fallout (including intense international pressure)
following the suicide bombings of February-March 1996 which finally led to
a
break in this pattern, as the P.A. belatedly awoke to the consequences of
its
conduct on this issue.
Still, in March 1997 there was once again more than a hint of a "Green Ligh
t
"
from Arafat to the Hamas, prior to the bombing in Tel Aviv (later applauded
by
Barghuti, as mentioned above): this is implicit in the statement made by a
Hamas-affiliated member of Arafat's Cabinet, Imad Faluji, to an American
paper
("Miami Herald", April 5, 1997).
The next few years, in which the question of "reciprocity" took center stag
e
in
the negotiations (culminating in the Wye River memorandum and the attached
security understandings), were marked by mixed results - the pressure for
security cooperation did lead to partial compliance, but no real steps were
taken against terrorist infrastructures; and the "revolving door" practice
-
i.e., the release of active terrorists and Hamas/Palestinian Islamic Jihad
operators, long before they had served their terms - became (and remained)
a
constant problem.
The P.A., since its establishment, has in fact taken a consistently lax
attitude
towards terror activists. It did act, in periodic bursts, to arrest some of
them, and to respond (until the recent crisis broke; very rarely since) to
specific information from Israel or other (mostly U.S.) sources on actual
attacks being planned; but most of the time: -
* Its policy was to incorporate ex-Fatah "Hawks" (terrorists), members,
within
the various security organs. In May 1994, as it entered Gaza, the P.A.
commissioned as policemen, among others, two brothers - Rajih and 'Arnru Ab
u
Sittah - wanted for the murder of an Israeli in March 1993 ("Yediot
Aharonot"
May 27 1994). More than 90 "hawks" - some of them murderers of suspected
Palestinian "collaborators"- were recruited in September 1994 ("Haaretz",
September 10, 1994).
* A similar practice applied to non-Fatah operators - on the assumption
(often
deadly wrong) that this would "buy them off'. At one point, Ghazi Jabali
admitted that more than 150 members of the "opposition" movements serve in
his
Police force (Palestinian television, June 24, 1997).
* It systematically refused, often in blatant disregard of the signed
commitment
to do so, to extradite even a single terrorist from the list (over thirty,
at
one time) demanded by Israel.
* In cases where the perpetrators of murders and other serious terrorist
attacks
were in fact apprehended by the P.A. - at times, claiming that this was
little
more than "protective custody" against Israeli retaliation - they were put
on
trial overnight and given bogus sentences, so as to render them unavailable
for
extradition.
One such event - the mock trial of two brothers in Jericho, for the murder
of
two Israeli hikers in Wadi Qelt, in September 1995 - gave rise to a sharp
reaction in Israel: the Minister of Education at the time, Prof. Amnon
Rubenstein - a strong supporter of the process - made official note of the
fact
that the P.A. was doing nothing to educate Palestinian youth for peace, tha
t
its
statements were destroying the effort to build trust, and that a "bad joke"
such
as the Jericho trial rubs Israeli opinion up the wrong way. (Education
Ministry
statement, September 18, 1995).
Failure to collect Illegal Weapons
Within days of the signing of the Interim Agreement, in Cairo, May 1995, Th
e
Preventive Security Chief in the West Bank, Jibril Rajub, made it clear tha
t
the
Agreement =96 while expedient for the Palestinians, given the damage done t
o
their
cause by the fall of the Soviet Union and Saddam's defeat in the Gulf war -
would not oblige them to act as "Lahad's Army" (the SLA, Israel's allies in
South Lebanon at the time) in restraining those who seek to carry out armed
actions against Israel.
"As to the question of weapons" reported "al-Nahar" on May 25 1994 - "Raju
b
divided it into three parts: the first, those under national control, i.e.
the
weapons in the hands of national factions [such as Fatah] which are directe
d
against the occupation - those we shall sanction and tolerate out of
national
responsibility. The second - those carried, now and in the future, for
social or
personal reasons, and we shall study how to deal with them. The third -
weapons
in the hands of suspected characters, bandits and spies, which will be
collected
at all costs".
This clearly meant that no serious effort would be made to implement the
unambiguous commitment to collect all illegal weapons. Fatah members
continued
to carry arms openly, and in recent events have displayed items strictly
forbidden to be held in P.A. territories, such as various automatic weapons
and
hand-grenades. There are indications that heavier weapons - bought, stolen
or
smuggled - are in the hands of Palestinian forces or militias. In one case,
a
cache of weapons from a stolen I.D.F. vehicle (see illustration) was
commissioned by a Palestinian commander, and retrieved only after intense
pressure on the P.A.
The requirement to collect illegal weapons was therefore re-incorporated in
the
Wye River memorandum, and again in the February 2000 Sharm el Sheikh summit
.
The
Palestinians agreed to design and implement - step by step - a detailed pla
n
for that purpose, but in fact: -
* The "Law of Arms and Ammunition" passed hastily by the P.A. Legislative
Council in the wake of the Wye memorandum falls well short of the
requirements
outlined in the Interim Agreement;
* On the ground, Palestinian action has been very limited, as no plan was
submitted; on some occasions, visible raids were made against specific arms
merchants in the West bank and Gaza (for local/personal reasons).
* No further reporting was made to the monitoring commission.
The use of illegally held weapons - particularly in the hands of the
"Tanzim" -
thus became a key problem in the present crisis. It is also a problem for
Palestinian society at large: regular reports on the extensive use of such
weapons at wedding parties, etc., has given rise to sharp debate. The
answer, as
propagated by the nationalist media - "turn all your gun barrels towards th
e
enemy".
[Photographs: Illegal weapons in the PA territories: A rifle with a
telescopic
sight. A hand grenade. Uzi submachine gun. Anti-tank missile]
Incitement and the Perpetuation of Hatred Since the Palestinian leadership
continued to look upon the current situation as transitory, no systematic
effort
was made to re-educate Palestinian youth, or the public at large, as to the
need
to accept Israel as a neighbor and peace as a value. Most of the work done
in
this respect was carried out by external NGO's, such as Seeds of Peace.
It took a long and sustained effort to introduce some change and remove
explicit
anti-Jewish texts from Palestinian school books, and even so, they do not
include any map showing Israel or even Tel Aviv as a city. As indicated
above,
there is only one map of Palestine in use - and displayed in huge format
everywhere. Schools and institutions of higher education are used to
perpetuate
this historic narrative. The question of education and incitement was raise
d
at
the Wye River talks, and a joint committee was established to discuss it:
but
not much action was taken - it was impossible to bridge the basic conceptua
l
gap
- and the committee soon became defunct. The extent of Palestinian efforts
to
perpetuate hatred and rejection of Zionism and Israel (and all too often, i
n
more popular usage, "the Jews") is too broad to cover, beyond certain
glaring
visual examples.
In the run-up to the present crisis, two key officials played a salient rol
e
in
stressing to the Palestinian public the impossibility of any compromise and
the
need to prepare for a confrontation:
* Hasan al-Kashif, the Director-General of the P.A. Ministry of Information
,
and
a daily commentator in both the electronic media and "al-Ayyam", has been
arguing that since the Palestinians cannot possibly accept the Camp David
offers
(or any other departure from the Arab interpretation of 242), they should
prepare for a prolonged struggle (and hoard food);
* Shaikh lkrimah Sabri, Mufti of Jerusalem, kept up - in the context of the
discussion on the future of the Temple Mount, during and after Camp David -
a
steady flow of incitement and hatred, raising fears (despite 33 years of
Israeli
rule) that the Jews plan to destroy al-Aqsa and rebuild their temple, and
the
struggle for Jerusalem has begun.
Once the actual violence erupted, incitement took an unprecedented form,
designed to instill hatred and to mobilize "the Arab Masses". It was marked
,
above all, by the incessant exploitation of the terrible visions of Muhamma
d
al-Durra's death (captioned as an "execution") - as well as visual and
highly
detailed displays of the dead and injured, including guided televised tours
to
the morgue, and close-ups of the wounds. Woven in with nationalist songs -
"where are the millions" [of Arabs], where are 'Umar and Saladin. (armed
conquerors of Jerusalem) - this mix is broadcast without respite for days o
n
end, broken only by the news and by political talk-shows (where
participants,
and even more so the callers, vie with each other in the intensity of their
anger, hatred and plans of action against Israel).
In the final statement read by President Clinton at the recent Sharm
el-Sheikh
summit, both sides were clearly expected to have committed themselves to pu
t
an
end to incitement as well as to violence. That did not happen. For a few
hours
there was some" toning down in Palestinian television coverage of what was
described as "a peaceful intifada": but as night fell and the Tanzim kept
shooting, the propaganda machinery took its cue and the constant parade of
suffering and death resumed.
The suffering is real enough: so is the use made of it. It is increasingly
obvious - even to Palestinians? - that the mix of violence, and the
political
exploitation of suffering, requires children to be pushed forward into
harm's
way.
Other Aspects of Palestinian non-compliance
The key issues discussed above are by no means exhaustive. On a broad range
of
other questions, the Palestinians either knowingly ignored or at least
failed to
implement the commitments it has undertook; and its conduct further
undermined
the very bridges of trust and cooperation which the interim period was
supposed
to build.
The Size of the Palestinian Police
The number of Palestinian Policemen (in effect, soldiers) is in constant
breach
of the Interim Agreements: when the overall situation was last reviewed, in
March 2000, it continued to exceed the agreed number - 30,000 - by more tha
n
10,000; and only 20,000 among them have had their names submitted for
Israeli
vetting and approval as required.
The Wye River memorandum, followed by the (first) Sharm el-Sheikh
commitments,
included a mechanism designed to put an end to this situation; the
Palestinians
undertook to transfer a list of all policemen. In February 2000 they indeed
submitted two lists - one for active service Policemen (26,000)and the othe
r
for
unemployed men registered as Policemen (16,000). In any case, the
Palestinian
side did not act to resolve this case of non-compliance.
Palestinian Security Organs Operating Outside the Agreed Areas
Another persistent breach of the agreements is the activity by Palestinian
policemen/ soldiers (regularly, in "B" areas - which should remain under
Israeli
security authority; occasionally in "C" areas - designed to remain fully in
Israeli hands). Members of the various security organs, particularly
Preventive
Security, (at all times and in all areas, including East Jerusalem and
Hebron),
appear in zones where they may not operate without prior coordination with
the
Israeli side.
Breaches of the Agreed Practice at the Gaza(Dahaniyyah) Airport
Since the Airport Protocol was signed, a pattern of systematic breaches and
disruptions has emerged: ambulances being used to circumvent inspection (an
d
in
one case, on December 18, 1999, to run-in a wanted terrorist); workers
crowding
around the aircraft, disrupting the agreed procedures; ignoring the protoco
l
provisions for the vetting of workers: and contracting a cargo facility
without
notification.
No Action to Implement Agreed Policy on Visitors Permits
As part of a broader pattern of manipulating or violating the rules on
immigration and registration, more than 40,000 people are estimated to have
overstayed their visitors permits in the P.A. areas, and in fact, to have
settled as residents, in breach of the agreements; in some cases, such
visitors
are known to be in the employ of P.A. institutions.
Foreign Relations
Much of the P.A.'s network of foreign relations, either bilateral or in
terms of
Palestinian participation in international organizations - including the
trade
agreement signed with the European, is in contravention of the Interim
Agreement, which defined the limits of its authority (any document,
agreement or
treaty signed with a foreign entity by a P.A. "Minister", as distinct from
a
P.L.O. function, is in breach of the P.A.'s status.
Economic Breaches
The PA systematically blames Israel for mismanagement of PA funds. To its
public
it claims that Israel has not transferred 800 million NIS to the PA and tha
t
is
the reason for lack of payment to teachers and other public workers. That,
in
spite of the fact that Israel had transferred its dues (even during the
current
crisis) and signed an agreement with the PA in June 2000 to include purchas
e
tax
in the transfers.
The PA refused to acknowledge or pay the debts, which have grown to
considerable
amounts, of the municipalities to the Israeli utility companies. Whenever
the
utility companies tried to cut their services because of non-payment of
debts -
the Palestinians blamed Israel for hurting the population. Another example
is
the chop-shops which have thrived in the Palestinian controlled areas.
Infrastructure Breaches
The P.A. regularly ignores agreed planning and zoning, as well as the
agreements
on economic cooperation: -
* Building roads and public projects in area "C", where it has no legal
jurisdiction;
* Invading state lands in area "C" and unassigned areas ("white" on the
map) -
some 180 such invasions in the Gaza Strip, and 210 in the West Bank, were
counted in February 2000;
* Carrying out unlawful or uncoordinated water and electricity projects;
* Operating broadcasts on uncoordinated frequencies;
Criminal Activity under P.A. Auspices
The Interim Agreement of 1994 committed both sides to cooperate in
preventing
crime and to exchange information; the Wye River memorandum in 1998 added a
specific Ad Hoc Committee to discuss their economic relationship, including
"Cooperation in combating car theft".
In fact, however, car theft and other forms of criminal activity continue t
o
thrive, often on such a scale that it is no longer possible to argue that i
t
could go on unless sanctioned to some extent by the Palestinian Police and
Security organs. There are indications that they take their cut on this
"industry" (most of the 45,000 vehicles stolen in Israel in 1997 are assume
d
to
have ended up in the P.A. areas, stripped for parts or even "appropriated"
by
P.A. functionaries - "Haaretz", August 21, 1998) - and that a well placed
call
to senior Palestinian officers can in fact retrieve a stolen vehicle.
Other forms of criminal activity that the P.A. regularly ignored or even
sanctioned involve financial fraud, large-scale excise tax schemes (one of
which
involved the Preventive Security Chief in the West Bank, Jibril Rajub - his
Israeli accomplices were arrested and convicted); intellectual property
crimes,
and marketing sub-standard products.
Failure to Protect Holy Places
On two major occasions, during the recent crisis, P.A. forces failed to
uphold
their Interim Agreement obligations - and in the case of Joseph's Tomb, a
promise just given to Israeli commanders in the Nablus area - to protect
holy
Jewish sites.
Following Israel's decision to evacuate Joseph's Tomb - so as to avoid
further
bloodshed - it was looted, torched and in parts dismantled. Local
Palestinian
commanders openly stated that no Israeli would set foot there again; and
indeed,
one man who apparently wanted to visit the site was brutally murdered, and
a
group of hikers (including women and children) "suspected" of coming too
near to
the Tomb, were shot at, wounded and one was killed.
Moreover, in October 12, 2000, Palestinian Police failed to prevent the
desecration of the ancient "Shalom al Yisrael" synagogue in the Jericho
area,
which was looted and partly torched.
Belated attempts to undo the damage seem to have been made largely because
of
the severe international reaction to these failures to uphold Palestinian
commitments (let alone recognize Jewish religious sensitivities: an
atmosphere
made worse by the crude arguments, used by Arafat and others to dismiss any
Jewish claim to the Temple Mount) .
The Shattered Assumptions
What does this all add up to?
The very nature of the Oslo Process assumed that over time, if not
overnight, a
new reality of bilateral relations would be created on the ground, with an
open
prospect to Palestinian Sovereignty in sight. This would lead Arafat away
from
the option of violence and "struggle" (which he and others in the P.A.
continued
to articulate). This has not happened.
An Irreversible Choice for Peace?
In a recent article, written as a letter to Arafat ("Time to Choose, Yasir"
,
October 6 2000) the American columnist Thomas Friedman called upon him to
choose
who he is: a peacemaker or an unregenerate revolutionary.
The evidence presented in this document - along with his conduct in recent
weeks
- strongly suggests that this choice has not yet been made; or else that th
e
P.A. leadership has opted for violence, in response to the call for "hard
decisions" placed upon it after the Camp David Summit. Arafat had let it be
known to the Fatah movement, his key political and paramilitary instrument,
that
he expects them to act (and take up arms); and this action was supported an
d
sustained by the heated intensity of the incitement dished out by
Palestinian
media organs - papers, radio stations, and above all by Palestinian
Television.
The option of an armed "intifadha" has been long in preparation, both in
terms
of planning (as overall evidence, including the indications from
intelligence
sources, has been showing well before the actual outbreak of violence), and
in
the manner in which Palestinian and Arab public opinion was worked up
against
the possibility of compromise on the key issues.
A Stake in the Welfare of the Governed?
Another assumption which sustained the process was the hope that as the P.A
.
became an established "government", its choices in the future would be
colored
by the need to provide for the best interests of the governed - even if the
evolution of democratic politics in the P.A. was far from complete.
This assumption, too, has been brought into question over time, and
shattered by
recent events. In addition to broader problems arising from the P.A.'s
mismanagement of public and economic affairs, specific aspects of its polic
y
towards Israel - above all, the failure to deliver on the restraint of
terrorism
and terrorist infrastructure - obliged Israel to apply restrictions on the
freedom of movement and employment of Palestinians. It is particularly youn
g
people who are easily mobilized by the Hamas and its likes, within Israel.
It was easy enough for the P.A. to blame Israel for the consequences of
these
restrictions; but at their root was Arafat's persistent ambiguity on his
security commitments (and indeed, when these were more strictly adhered to
-
under pressure from outside - economic life in the Palestinian governed
areas
improved significantly, as in 1998-1999).
The Palestinian leadership's disregard for the welfare of the governed has
now
risen to a new level. The thrust of Palestinian propaganda in recent weeks
is
unmistakable: suffering, particularly the death of children, has become
instrumental as its rallying cry to its own people and the Arab world. Thus
,
it
has systematically exploited the tragic death of the child Muhammad al-Durr
a
at
Netzarim junction - where he was caught in the crossfire of a gun battle,
the
P.A. deliberately misrepresenting his death as a "cold-blooded execution",
often
several times an hour throughout its television broadcasts.
In effect, this strategy feeds upon further suffering and disruption -
including
self-induced economic hardships, while Israel actually seeks to ensure
supplies
to the P.A. areas. The tactics of the Fatah "Tanzim" (militia) are also
apparently designed to bring about further suffering upon civilian
populations -
as made evident by their use of Beit Jala - a Christian community - to fire
on
Gilo in Jerusalem, with the full knowledge of the consequences for the
(unwilling) residents.
Give and Take at the Bilateral Table?
At the core of the present strategy, as clearly stated in Arafat's speech a
t
the
Emergency Arab summit in Cairo (October 21), is the threat that there will
be no
regional nor international stability unless Palestinian demands are met; an
d
the
call upon the international community to replace the current structure of
the
process (the U.S., according to Arafat, having failed to impose
"International
Legitimacy" in its Arab interpretation) with a mechanism of coercion.
Palestinian suffering is thus made the focus of an 'appeal to the U.N. -
including an abuse of the "Uniting for Peace" procedure (which enables the
UN
General Assembly to overrule the Security Council), and a spurious call for
the
Security Council to send forces, Kosovo-style, to "protect the Palestinian
Territories" - all in an obvious effort to walk away from the negotiating
table
and avoid the tough choices involved.
Evidence for such concepts of "Internationalization" being worked on by
Nabil
Sha'ath, the P.A. Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, has
been
available for well over a year (e.g. his statement to al-Ayyam, an official
P.A.
organ, on May 9, 1999); the current drive for an international commission o
f
inquiry is part and parcel of this design.
The Root Causes
What has led Arafat and the P.A. leadership to opt for violence and
incitement
as an instrument of policy? A consistent pattern of behavior over several
weeks,
with a clearly defined set of goals ("Internationalization" of the conflict
)
and
with the means (televised Palestinian sacrifice and suffering) apparently
well-tailored to achieve them, cannot be simply dismissed as a passing
aberration or a "caprice". Within the limits of what modern political
science
calls "bounded rationality", Arafat's gamble is risky, but not irrational.
Still, to understand the root causes for this choice - or rather, the
Palestinian refusal to choose, once and for all, the path of peace - it is
necessary to point out, albeit briefly, some of the recurrent themes in
Arafat's
political conduct over the years.
Arafat's Strategy of Avoiding Choices
Throughout his tenure as a leader of Fatah movement and the P.L.O., Arafat
attached particular importance to the principle of maintaining "Istiqlal
al-Qarrar", i.e. his ability to avoid becoming anyone's "agent" (and there
were
many in the Palestinian arena identified as working for some Arab or foreig
n
interests...).
A key element in his ability to do so, at least until a major crisis forced
a
choice or a decision on him, was the constant manoeuver between the poles o
f
any
regional or international system in which he worked - Egypt and her rivals
in
the Arab world; the Cold War protagonists; the Syrians and their enemies in
Lebanon.
In recent years, this pattern of "fence-sitting" and indecision evolved
around
two polarities:-
* Playing the U.S. (with which he established a dialogue in December 1988)
vs.
Iraq (which he came to see as a heroic Arab counter-balance to U.S. power).
To
some extent, this lactic is still at work. While speaking favorably of
Clinton
(as distinct from the U.S. Congress...) at the Emergency Arab Summit in
Cairo,
Arafat also endorsed the call for the lifting of sanctions on the Suffering
Iraqi People. Pro-Iraqi sentiments, including the fervent call of
demonstrators
for Saddam Hussein to "hit, hit Tel Aviv" (with chemical warheads) are
indeed
rife among Palestinians even now, despite the lessons learned from the
disastrous choice in 1990-1991.
* Playing the dialogue with Israel (and the formal obligations detailed
above) -
vs. an ambivalent attitude towards the Hamas, terrorism, and the use of
violence: the consequences of this way of keeping his options open, and
avoiding
any implication that he now "belongs" to Israel (like the former S.L.A. in
Lebanon...) have become manifest in the recent crisis.
Diverting Attention from Domestic Failure
In recent months - well before the Camp David Summit, and not necessarily i
n
connection with Arafat's positions in the negotiations - a broad body of
evidence (albeit vague and circumstantial, given the lack of reliable tools
to
analyze Palestinian public sentiment under an authoritarian power structure
)
indicated that much of the P.A.'s initial credit with its own "constituency
"
has
been spent: Khalil Shikaki's surveys of Palestinian opinion found that
Arafat's
approval rates have been falling steadily - well bellow 40% - and that a
vast
majority of respondents thought of the P.A. institutions as venal, corrupt
and
incompetent.
At the core of the problem is the system of centralized economic monopolies
,
dominated by Muhammad Rashid (Khalid Salam) and his PCSC - with a monopoly
Of
several basic commodities ("Guardian", April 27, 1997); the al-Masri family
and
their holding company, PADICO; and the varied economic interests of the
Security
"bosses", Dahlan and Rajoub.
The results are clear to see: in a climate hostile to real competition and
to
transparent free market practices, blatant disregard for personal property,
bribery, corruption and mismanagement of domestic and aid funds, as well as
the
lack of compliance with commitments to refrain from those customs have been
well
documented by the PA'S own public monitoring department, the "Donor
countries"
and numerous NGO's.
[Graph: The development of the Palestinian Real Product per capita
1993 =3D 100 (shows peak in 1994 with decline until 1997 followed by partia
l
recovery up to first half of 2000]
The most striking proof of the PA'S mishandling of its population can be
found
in the lack of care for its most needy population - the refugees. Not only
does
the PA insist on not using any portion of its budget towards improving thei
r
living standards, it is demanding 'that the international community
increases
its support for them.
Calls upon Arafat, by some of his best friends - such as the Council of
Foreign
Relations (CFR) team, which examined Palestinian governance - - went
unheeded,
and calls for change from within were roughly repressed. Given this bleak
prospect (which reportedly led even Jerusalem's Palestinian residents, let
alone
Israeli Arabs, to resist the notion of being transferred to P.A.
governance...)
It is not surprising that Arafat may have felt more comfortable igniting a
nationalist struggle - and pinning the blame for future deprivations on
Israel -
than focusing on the urgent need to reform the Palestinian system.
Conspiracy Theories and Miscalculations
Another recurrent pattern which does color Arafat's judgement, at times -
and
was certainly evident in the manner in which he "explained" the current
crisis
to the Emergency Session of the Arab Summit - is his tendency to weave
conspiracy theories (Mu'amarat) and use them, with a thin line separating
fact
from fiction.
Thus - as an example - in a series of interviews in March and April 1995,
including a fascinating meeting with a sympathetic Israeli and American
audience, Arafat raised the argument that a secret Israeli organization - a
n
"O.A.S." within the GSS... - working through the Hamas and Palestinian
Islamic
Jihad, was in fact responsible for a series of terrorist attacks such as th
e
bombing in Beit Lid (in which 22 Israelis died). It should be noted that
this
fantastic argument came (already then) in conjunction with a warning: any
attempt by Israel to stall on the peace process - because of the security
"excuse", as he saw it - would have a terrible affect on Israel's standing
in
the world:-
"King Hussein will not go on with you, the Egyptians will not, Senegal will
not,
Mandela will not, if the process with us fails ...not with the whole of
Africa,
and the five Muslim states in Central Asia, not with all of them, not even
with
China. You know how strong our links are with all of these states..."
(Gid'on
Levi in "Haaretz", April 28, 1995; see also "al-Hayyat l-Jadidah", March 22
,
1995).
This mixture of wild conspiracy theory, and the threat that Israel, the
region
and the world will know no stability - unless his demands are met - was
central,
more recently, to his speech in Cairo, where he blamed Israel and the I.D.F
.
for
having conspired for more than a year to prepare the "butchery" of the
Palestinian people: hence the urgent need for international protection to b
e
introduced into all "Palestinian Territories".
The danger implicit in such manipulative assertions and "claims on reality"
is
that they can easily develop into a major misreading of the situation and a
harmful miscalculation - as was the case in 1995, when Arafat absolved
himself
in this manner from any serious effort to curb terrorism; and might be the
case
now.
[Illustration: The map of "Palestinian Territory" in an official PA documen
t
including all of Israel]
Appendix A; The key commitments undertaken by the P.L.O./ P.A.
"In light of the new era marked by the signing of the Declaration of
Principles,
the PLO encourages and calls upon the Palestinian people in the West Bank
and
Gaza Strip to take part in the steps leading to the normalization of life,
rejecting violence and terrorism, contributing to peace and stability and
participating actively in shaping reconstruction, economic development and
cooperation".
(Arafat to the then Foreign Minister of Norway, Johan Jorgen Hoist,
September 9,
1993 - in a letter which preceded and enabled the DOP).
This letter to Hoist, and many other formal commitments made since, -were i
n
fact kept at times', but in a haphazard fashion, and only when it was
expedient
to do so. All of this contradicts key commitments asked for - and obtained
=96
from the Palestinian negotiating partner over the years:
Combating Terror and Violence
* Renunciation of the use of terrorism and other acts of violence (Arafat's
Letter to Rabin, September 9, 1993).
* Recognition of the right of Israel to exist in peace and security
(Arafat's
Letter to Rabin, September 9, 1993).
* Commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict and that outstandin
g
permanent status issues will be resolved through negotiations (Arafat's
Letter
to Rabin, September 9,1993).
* Adoption of all necessary measures to prevent acts of terrorism, crime an
d
hostilities and taking of legal measures against offenders (Gaza-Jericho
Agreement, Article XVIII; Interim Agreement, Article XV).
* Establishment of a strong police force in order to guarantee public order
and
internal security for Palestinians (Declaration of Principles, Article VIII
;
Gaza-Jericho Agreement, Article VIII; Annex I, Article III; Interim
Agreement,
Article XII, Article XIV).
* The Palestinian Police will act systematically against all expressions of
violence and terror (Interim Agreement, Annex I, Article 11.1).
* The Palestinian Police will arrest and prosecute individuals who are
suspected
of perpetrating acts of violence or terror (Interim Agreement, Annex I,
Article
11.1).
* Immediate, efficient and effective handling of any incident involving a
threat
or act of violence or incitement (Interim Agreement, Annex I, Article 11.2)
.
* Apprehension, investigation and prosecution of those directly or
indirectly
involved in acts of terrorism, violence and incitement (Interim Agreement,
Annex
I, Article 11.3).
* Security arrangements concerning planning, building and zoning
(Gaza-Jericho
Agreement, Annex I, Article VI; Interim Agreement, Annex I, Article XII).
* Reaffirmation of commitment to fight terror and violence (Note for the
Record
on Hebron - January 1997).
* Reaffirmation of commitment to systematically and effectively combat
terrorist
organizations and infrastructure (Note for the Record on Hebron - January
1997).
* Reaffirmation of commitment to apprehend, prosecute and punishment of
terrorists (Note for the Record).
* Recognition that it is in their vital interests to combat terrorism and
fight
violence (Wye River Memorandum, Article II).
* Israeli-Palestinian cooperation to combat violence and terror (Wye River
Memorandum, Article II).
* Comprehensive, continuous and long-term struggle against terror and
violence
with respect to terrorists, terror support structure and environment
conducive
to the support of terror (Wye River Memorandum, Article II).
* Palestinian side will make known its policy of zero tolerance for terror
and
violence against both sides (Wye River Memorandum, Article II.A.Ia).
* Palestinian work plan to ensure the systematic and effective combat of
terrorist organizations and their infrastructure (Wye River Memorandum,
Article
II.A.Ib).
* US-Palestinian committee to review the steps being taken to eliminate
terrorist cells and terror support structure (Wye River Memorandum, Article
II.A.Ic).
* Apprehension of individuals suspected of perpetrating acts of violence an
d
terror and establishment of US-Palestinian committee to review such matter
(Wye
River Memorandum, Article II.A.Id.e).
* Act to ensure immediate, efficient and effective handling of any incident
involving a threat or act of terrorism, violence or incitement. Exchange of
information and coordination of policies and activities in this regard(Shar
m
el-Sheikh Memorandum, Article 8.a).
* Immediate and effective response to the occurrence or anticipated
occurrence
of an act of terrorism, violence or incitement and shall take all necessary
measures to prevent such an occurrence (Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, Article
8.a).
Prevention of Incitement
* Abstention from incitement, including hostile propaganda and adoption of
legal
measures to prevent such incitement (Interim Agreement, Article XXII).
* Non-introduction of motifs into educational systems (Interim Agreement,
Article XXII).
* Immediate, efficient and effective handling of any incident involving a
threat
or act of violence or incitement (Interim Agreement, Annex I, Article 11.2)
.
* Active prevention of incitement to violence (Interim Agreement, Annex I,
Article 11.3).
* Apprehension, investigation and prosecution of those directly or
indirectly
involved in acts of terrorism, violence and incitement (Interim Agreement,
Annex
I, Article 11.3).
* Reaffirmation of commitment to prevent incitement and hostile propaganda
(Note
for the Record).
* Issuance of a decree, comparable to existing Israeli legislation,
prohibiting
all forms of incitement to violence or terror and establishment of
mechanisms
for acting against all expressions or threats of violence or terror (Wye
River
Memorandum, Article II.A.3a).
* Establishment of a US-Palestinian-Israeli committee to monitor cases of
possible incitement to violence or terror and to make recommendations and
reports on how to prevent such incitement (Wye River Memorandum, Article
II.A.3b).
* Immediate and effective response to the occurrence or anticipated
occurrence
of an act of terrorism, violence or incitement and shall take all necessary
measures to prevent such an occurrence (Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, Article
8
.a).
Prohibition of Illegal Weapons
* No manufacture, sale, acquisition, importation or introduction of any
firearms, ammunition, weapons, explosives, gunpowder or related equipment
into
the West Bank or Gaza Strip, except for those of the Palestinian Police
(Gaza-Jericho Agreement, Article IX.3; Interim Agreement, Article XIV).
* The Palestinian Police will prevent the manufacture of weapons as well as
the
transfer of weapons to persons not licensed to possess them (Interim
Agreement,
Annex I, Article X1.2).
* Limitations on arms and ammunition for the Palestinian Police
(Gaza-Jericho
Agreement, Annex I, Article III.5, Interim Agreement, Annex I, Article IV;
Hebron Protocol, Article 5).
* Reaffirmation of commitment to confiscate illegal firearms (Note for the
Record).
* Ensuring an effective legal framework to criminalize any importation,
manufacturing or unlicensed sale, acquisition or possession of firearms,
ammunition or weapons in areas under Palestinian jurisdiction (Wye River
Memorandum, Article II.A.2a).
* Establishment and implementation of a systematic program for the
collection
and appropriate handling of illegal weapons etc. (Wye River Memorandum,
Article
II.A.2b).
* Establishment of a US-Palestinian-Israeli committee to assist and enhance
cooperation in preventing the smuggling or unauthorized introduction of
weapons
or explosive materials into Palestinian areas (Wye River Memorandum, Articl
e
ILA.2c).
* Continuation of the program for the collection of illegal weapons,
including
reports (Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, Article 8.b). Security Cooperation wit
h
the
Israeli Side
* Establishment of a Joint Security Coordination and Cooperation Committee
and
District Coordination Offices (Gaza-Jericho Agreement, Article VIII; Annex
I,
Article II; Interim Agreement, Article XII).
* Establishment and operation of Joint Patrols and Joint Mobile Units
(Gaza-Jericho Agreement, Annex I, Article II; Hebron Protocol, Article 4).
* Establishment of Joint Aviation Committee and Maritime Coordination and
Cooperation Center (Gaza-Jericho Agreement, Annex I, Article XI, XII;
Interim
Agreement, Annex I Articles XIII, XIV).
* Arrest and transfer of individuals suspected of, charged with or convicte
d
of
an offense falling under Israeli criminal jurisdiction (Gaza-Jericho
Agreement,
Annex III, Article 11.7; Interim Agreement, Annex IV, Article 11.7).
* Requests for arrest and transfer of individuals to be submitted to the
Joint
Legal Committee must be responded to within a twelve-week period (Wye River
Memorandum, Article II.B.3)
* Full and comprehensive bilateral security cooperation (Wye River
Memorandum,
Article II.B.I).
* Exchange of forensic expertise, training and assistance (Wye River
Memorandum,
Article II.B.2).
* Establishment of high ranking US-Palestinian-Israeli committee to assess
current threats, deal with impediments to effective security cooperation an
d
address steps being taken to combat terror and terror organizations (Wye
River
Memorandum, Article II.B.3).
* Undertaking to implement its responsibilities for security and security
cooperation (Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, Article 8).
Appendix B
Implementation Of The Sharm E-Sheikh Understandings (17-29 October)
29 Oct. =FE2000
Public statements unequivocally calling for an end of violence
Israeli side: Unequivocal Palestinian side: Vague
Opening of international passages
Israeli side: Completed
Opening of the Gaza Airport
Israeli side: Open and operational
Opening of internal closure
Israeli side: Completed
Ensure an end to violence and maintain the calm
Palestinian side: Continuation of live-fire from automatic weapons and use
of
explosive devices (~24 incidents per day)
Renewal of security cooperation
Israel initialed 3 meetings which were convened at the RSC level
Renewal of cooperation towards the prevention of terrorism
Palestinian refusal to participate in Israeli initiated meetings; very low
level
ad hoc cooperation
Eliminating points of friction
Palestinian side: No reduction
Reimprisonment of released terrorists and security fugitives
Palestinian side: Hardly any activity- ~30 from over 100; almost all of the
30
were arrested before the Summit; 5 have since been released after their
arrest
End of incitement
Palestinian side: Continuation of incitement on official Palestinian
broadcasts
------- End of forwarded message -------
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/2/_/_/_/974848139/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Summary of Today's Events (11/21/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 18:01:52 -0500
IDF Spokesperson: Summary of Today's Events in the West Bank and Gaza
(until 19:30 21 November 2000)
21 November 2000
Two civilians were lightly injured today by rocks thrown at their vehicle which
was traveling on the Hoson bypass road, in the area of Bethlehem. The two
were evacuated and received medical care in hospital.
Shootings continued during the morning and evening towards IDF forces in
the Jewish area of Hebron. The IDF returned fire towards the sources of the
shooting.
In addition there was shooting towards IDF forces in Givat Hadagan, in the
area of Bethlehem. The IDF returned fire towards the sources of the shooting.
There was further shooting toward a military vehicle on the southern Nablus
bypass road, towards the IDF base Nahal Elisha and Beit El. The sources of
the shootings were not identified; therefore there was no return of fire.
Rocks and firebombs were thrown in the direction of civilians as well as
Israeli security forces in a number of sites including Hebron, the Zif Junciont
south of Hebron, the "Fruit" roadblock and the "Zoo" roadblock next to
Kalkiya, Ba'al Hatzor next to Zir Alon, Homash in the area of Jenin, the 250
Junction on the Jenin bypass road, west of the city Tul Karem, the Jericho
DCO and the A-Ram Junction north of Jerusalem where the window of a
military vehicle was hit by a firebomb that was thrown in its direction.
The IDF employed dispersal methods and directed live fire against the
perpetrators. There were no casualties or damage caused as a result of
those events.
The Gaza Strip:
An Israeli civilian was seriously wounded by gunfire directed towards his
vehicle that was in a convoy at the Gush Katif junction from a Palestinian
position. IDF soldiers at the scene returned fire towards the sources of the
shooting. The civilian was evacuated to an IDF position at the junction and
was taken from there by helicopter to hospital.
A Palestinian policeman opened fire this morning towards an IDF position
near Gush Katif, towards the south DCO and towards an IDF patrol at the
scene. IDF soldiers returned fire towards the sources of the shooting.
Additional Palestinian fire towards IDF forces occurred in several locations:
towards an IDF patrol on the Israel Egypt border near Rafah, towards IDF
positions near Gush Katif, towarsd an IDF position at Kfar Darom and
towards the south DCO. There were no casualties. IDF forces returned fire
towards the sources of the shooting.
In addition several riots took place, during which tires were burnt and stones
and molotov cocktails were thrown towards IDF forces in several locations:
near the Netzarim junction, on the border fence north of Kissufim and near an
IDF position at the industrial area of Neveh Dkalim. There are no casualties.
The IDF employed dispersal methods.
"IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974848139/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
=======
To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Weekend News Today items (11/21/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 18:13:31 -0500
Beirut paper claims UN has Syrian document saying Shebaa is Lebanese
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: AFP
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- The United Nations has a Syrian document confirming
that the disputed Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms are Lebanese territory, sai
d
a Beirut paper which published the text on Tuesday. "This is the first Syri
an
document asserting that the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese territory," wrote
the al-Mustaqbal newspaper, owned by Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
The document is a letter sent October 24 by Mikhael Wehbe, Syria's
permanent representative to the United Nations, to the president of the UN
Security Council, al Mustaqbal said. The letter said "Israel did not comple
te
its troop pullout from southern Lebanon until the internationally-recognied
borders, including the Shebaa Farms."
Syria slams Barak as neo-Nazi, warns U.S., West
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: Reuters
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Syria on Tuesday accused Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak of exceeding the Nazis in repression of the Palestinians, and warned
that current tensions endangered the whole world. "We do not exaggerate if
we say that the whole world is threatened by the neo-Nazis who are ruling
Israel now," the official daily al-Baath, organ of the ruling Baath party,
said.
The paper accused the United States of pushing the region towards an
unpredictable future through its unlimited support for Israel.
In the wake of Israel's retaliatory helicopter attacks on Palestinian secur
ity
targets in the Gaza Strip, the Syrian daily urged the international communi
ty
to act quickly to stop the violence in the Middle East. The Syrian daily al
so
called upon Arabs to unify their ranks and mobilise their resources to coun
ter
Israel. "Arabs are required to adopt a more serious stand to counter the
Israeli aggressions with a unified national stand. Our nation has lots of
resources to allow it do what it wants if there is a will to engage in acti
on," al-
Baath said.
Russia says U.S. satellite lost after launch
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: Reuters
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Russian space officials said there was little hope of
recovering a U.S. satellite launched on Tuesday by a Russian booster
rocket. A spokesman for Russia's Rosaviakosmos space and aviation
authority said initial data showed that the rocket's second stage had faile
d
and the satellite, owned by Colorado-based EarthWatch Inc, had never
reached its orbit. "It seems to have followed a ballistic trajectory," he s
aid.
The launch was conducted by the Strategic Rocket Forces, in charge of
Russia's nuclear arsenal from Russia's northern Plesetsk cosmodrome and
was one of a two-satellite deal with Earthwatch. The spokesman said there
had been no contact with the satellite since the blast off and that a speci
al
commission would now investigate the exact causes of the accident. The
950-kg (2,094 lb) Quick Bird satellite carried a high-resolution camera
capable of images down to one metre (3 ft 3.37 in) in size and was due to b
e
used to map the earth's surface and explore natural resources.
Schroeder says U.S. military to stay n Europe
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: Reuters
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Tuesday
that a U.S. military presence in Europe would remain key to the continent's
security even as the European Union builds its own rapid reaction force. "A
strong and dynamic transatlantic partnership remains indispensable for
Europe's security in the future," he told the annual NATO Parliamentary
Assembly. "That includes a substantial U.S. military presence in Europe."
Russia neutral on European defense plans
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: Reuters
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday British Prime
Minister Tony Blair had persuaded him a common European defence policy
did not threaten Russia and that Moscow would not try to block its
development. On Monday, European Union defence ministers pledged
troops, ships and planes to a rapid reaction force as a first step in build
ing
the EU's military power. "These processes are developing in Europe
regardless of whether Russia wants it or not," Putin told reporters after
Kremlin talks with Blair.
Iraq confronts U.N. with oil sales to Syria
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: Reuters
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Iraq has begun pumping oil through a pipeline to Syria,
apparently outside the terms of the United Nations oil-for-food arrangement
.
Speaking from Damascus, a Syrian oil official said that about 150,000
barrels a day of Iraqi crude was flowing through the line, disused since 19
82.
Iraq earlier this month vowed to start selling crude to Syria in what appea
rs
to be part of a sustained effort by Baghdad to break the straitjacket of U.
N.
Gulf War sanctions.
Jordan Valley communities targeted as nationwide violence continues
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Moshav Ro=92i, in the Jordan Valley, was targeted in the
spreading Arab attacks against Jewish communities in Israel. Arabs
damaged a vineyard. Over the past two weeks, about 100 dunams (25 acres)
of hothouses were damaged in attacks. Six families of the community
received threatening telephone calls last night, with the callers identifyi
ng
themselves as =93Hizbullah,=94 warning that their children would be targete
d on
their way to schools.
Iraq pays Israel 30 million dollars
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: Jerusalem Post
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Iraq has forwarded to Israel more than 30 million dollar
s in
reparations for damages caused in the 1991 Gulf War. The sum was passed
to Israel in the last few days. The money was passed on to 45 organizations
.
Approximately 3,000,000 dollars was paid to private Israeli claims via a UN
committee.
Ben-Ami reacts to ''grave'' decision to recall Egypt's ambassador
Weekend News Today
Source: AFP
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami reacted a few minutes
ago to the "grave" decision to rcall Egypt's ambassador. "Egypt has a most
central role in settling the conflict. The ambassador has to take part in t
his
central role," he said. Israel does not plan to recall its ambassador from
Cairo, he stressed. "I don't know if this is a significant change of direct
ion or
a mere public statement," Ben-Ami said. "We are trying to check this out
now. The most important part is the contact with President Hosni Mubarak.
Arafat asks Clinton to restrain Israel
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: Jerusalem Post
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat telephoned
US President Bill Clinton last night to ask for US intervention after Israe
l took
reprisal action in Gaza. Arafat reportedly told the US its credibility woul
d be
at stake if Palestinian leaders were hit, according to a report from Saudi
Arabia. He said this was Israel's purpose.
Jordan calls for immediate international protection for Palestinians
Weekend News Today
Lead: Kelly
Source: AFP
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Jordan's King Abdullah II Tuesday strongly condemned
"Israeli aggressions" in the Gaza Strip and asked for international protect
ion
for the Palestinians, a Jordanian official said. Speaking with visiting US
Defence Secretary William Cohen, Abdullah stressed "the need to work
towards an immediate halt in Israeli aggression against the Palestinian
people," the official said.
He called for "greater international efforts to halt aggressive Israeli pra
ctices
which threaten to destroy hopes of peace in the region" and demanded an
immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade on Palestinian cities." The Jorda
nian
monarch also urged the establishment of a protection mechanism for the
Palestinians and a diplomatic offensive to find a way out of the crisis in
the
Palestinian territories.
More churchgoers are paying their tithes electronically
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: Religion Today
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- More churchgoers are paying their tithes electronically.
They are passing up the offering plates and instead deducting their offerin
gs
automatically from their bank accounts, according to The New York Times.
Churchgoers find that is easier than fumbling with checkbooks or envelopes,
and keeps them current with pledges during vacations. Members pay to the
church just like they pay to the phone company, filling out a form designat
ing
the gift amount, bank account number, and withdrawal day.
Some churches like the automatic system because it overcomes the
summer slump when donations fall off. Electronic giving also is useful duri
ng
the holidays, when churches collect up to 20 percent of their annual income
,
and a snowstorm on Christmas can devastate revenue. Automatic deposit
reduces the time it takes to count cash and checks after services, accordin
g
to the Times.
Report: Canada a haven for pedophiles
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: LifeSite.net
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- An international report on child sexual abuse has single
d
out Canada as a haven for sexual predators of children. The report released
today by the committee to End Child Prostitution, Pornography and
Trafficking (ECPAT) is taking stock of Canada's commitments to fight child
victimization made at the World Conference on the Sexual Exploitation of
Children in Sweden in 1996. The National Post reports that the 178-page
report, titled "Looking Back, Thinking Forward," slams Canada for having on
e
of the youngest ages of consent for sex at 14 whereas most countries are
raising the age to 18. The report also cites the BC Court of Appeal decisio
n
to strike down the child pornography law.
"I'm very disappointed," with Canada's Liberal government's performance sai
d
Mark-Erik Hecht, an Ottawa-based lawyer who sits on ECPAT's board of
directors, and a contributor to the report. "We're sending a very mixed
message with our age of consent," Mr. Hecht said. "Canada has historically
been a sender of sex tourists to other countries. The country has recently
developed a reputation as a receiving country for sex tourists."
Debbie Mahaffy, whose daughter Leslie was tortured and murdered by sex
killer Paul Bernardo, described the country's lack of co-ordinated action a
s
"mind-boggling". "We don't seem to have a problem getting people's attentio
n
when it comes to protecting them from violence," said Ms. Mahaffy, who
works for the Ontario government's Officer for Victims of Crime. "So why
can't we enact the most basic mechanisms to protect our children from
sexual exploitation? It's simply inadequate."
Election attacks against Christianity continues unabated
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: LifeSite.net
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Attacks against the Christian faith have continued from
public officials and Canada's public television broadcaster, the CBC. The
defamatory comments from representatives of various political parties were
topped off with Liberal Multiculturalism and Status of Women Minister Hedy
Fry and Prime Minister Jean Chretien taking stabs at Christianity Friday.
Referring to a statement apparently made by Alliance Leader Stockwell Day
that "Jesus Christ is the God of the whole universe," Fry attacked Christia
n
conviction saying, "We have a country in which a man [Stockwell Day]
decides that it is up to him to take his religion and use it and abuse his
political power by making all Canadians believe as he said that Jesus Chris
t
is the God of the whole universe. I say that is an insult to every Muslim,
Buddhist, Sikh, everybody else who believes in other religions." When
challenged by the media after her comments, Ms. Fry walked away instead
of producing any evidence that Mr. Day was forcing his beliefs on others, l
et
alone that he was the one introducing them into political debate. Rather, t
he
media, led by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, have been the ones
raising issues of religion.
Prime Minister Chretien also attacked Day for his decision to spend Sunday
at church and with his family rather than on the campaign trail. Chretien s
aid
being prime minister is a seven-days-a-week job, "including Sunday."
Reacting to the attack on Christianity, Gary Walsh, President of the
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, told LifeSite: "All Canadians of any fait
h
tradition have reason to be concerned over the recent statements made by
public officials and the media that relegate historic Christian faith to th
e
margins of society."
The attacks appear to directed more to the fact that a prominent politician
, of
any faith, might actually allow traditional religious beliefs and especiall
y, their
related traditional morality, to play some role in his political agenda. Si
nce
the Trudeau era, Canadian political leaders have enforced an ideology of
separation of politics from religion, including their own religion. This ha
s
allowed the permissive society to flourish.
UN's Kofi Annan warns against complacency in face of nuclear threat
Weekend News Today
Lead: Leo
Source: UN NEWS SERVICE
Tue Nov 21,2000 -- Warning that nuclear conflict remains a "very real and
very terrifying possibility," Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on th
e
international community to overcome complacency in the face of this threat.
"We must rouse all nations, and especially the nuclear-Power States, to do
more towards the twin goals of disarmament and non-proliferation," Mr.
Annan told a conference at the Centre on Violence and Human Survival at
John Jay College in New York. Sponsored by the Nation Institute and the
Office of Continuing Education of the City University of New York Graduate
Centre, the event was held on Friday. Despite serious problems confronting
the world, including the fact that the nuclear powers reportedly have more
than 30,000 nuclear weapons in their arsenals, Mr. Annan said "progress is
possible, if we have the will to accomplish it." The Secretary-General call
ed
for a new vision of human security. "An overwhelming emphasis on military
security, at the expense of economic and social security, can be short-
sighted and destabilizing," he observed. "Security is not simply a
prerequisite for disarmament: disarmament itself can build confidence and
enhance security by reducing the frequency, intensity, and duration of
serious conflicts."
"What will it take to rouse global public opinion? A crisis? An accident? E
ven
an unintended conflict?" Mr. Annan asked. He noted that the UN's agenda
was replete with issues that "suffer a strange sort of neglect," failing to
draw
notice despite the obvious advantage of early action. The Secretary-General
issued a call to help the next generation understand the broader
requirements of human security. "Let us help them find new and more
productive uses for our wondrous human ingenuity," he said.
http://216.219.160.226/cgi-
bin/readnews.cgi?day=3D00_11_21&item=3D#974831734
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/_/_/974848982/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bprlist-unsubscribe@egroups.com
Please visit The Bible Prophecy Research website:
http://philologos.org/bpr
Please be advised that this domain (Philologos.org) does not endorse 100 per cent any link contained herein. This forum is for the dissemination of pertinent information on an end-times biblical theme which includes many disturbing, unethical, immoral, etc. topics and should be viewed with a mature, discerning eye.