To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] U.S. Army kick-starts cyberwar machine
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 08:34:48 -0500

U.S. Army kick-starts cyberwar machine

November 22, 2000
Web posted at: 9:35 a.m. EST (1435 GMT)

by Ellen Messmer

(IDG) -- The U.S. military has a new mission: Be ready to launch a
cyberattack against potential adversaries, some of whom are stockpiling
cyberweapons.

Such an attack would likely involve launching massive distributed
denial-of-service assaults, unleashing crippling computer viruses or
Trojans, and jamming the enemy's computer systems through electronic
radio-frequency interference.

An order from the National Command Authority - backed by President Clinton
and Secretary of Defense William Cohen - recently instructed the military
to gear up to wage cyberwar.

The ability of the U.S. to conduct such warfare "doesn't exist today,"
according to a top Army official speaking at a conference in Arlington,
Va., last week.

"We see three emerging threats: ballistic missiles, cyberwarfare and space
control," said Lt. Gen. Edward Anderson, deputy commander in chief at U.S.
Space Command, which was recently assigned the task of creating a
cyberattack strategy. "Cyberwarfare is what we might think of as attacks
against digital ones and zeros."

Anderson spoke about the Space Command's cyberwarfare responsibilities at
the National Strategies and Capabilities for a Changing World conference.
The event was organized by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis,
Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the U.S. Army.
The conference attracted military top brass and international diplomats.

Anderson told attendees that the U.S. Space Command, the agency in
charge
of satellite communications, has begun to craft a computer network attack
strategy. This strategy would detail actions to be followed by the Unified
Commanders in Chief (CINC) if the president and the secretary of defense
order a cyber strike. The CINCs are senior commanders in the Army, Navy,
Air Force and Marines deploying U.S. forces around the world.

The information-warfare strategy will be detailed in a defense plan called
"OPLAN 3600" that Anderson said will require "unprecedented cooperation
with commercial enterprises and other organizations."

There's no set deadline for completing OPLAN 3600, Anderson told Network
World. But he noted that other countries, including Russia, Israel and
China, are further along in building their information-warfare
capabilities.

Anderson said the U.S. may end up with a new type of weaponry for
launching massive distributed denial-of-service attacks and computer
viruses. "The Chinese recently indicated they are already moving along
with this," he added.

In addition to the possibility of cybercombat between nations, the
military acknowledges that terrorists without the backing of any country
can potentially use cyberweapons to disrupt U.S. telecommunications or
banking systems that are largely electronic.

That's one reason the U.S. Space Command is joining with the FBI to build
an information-warfare strategy.

"This requires a close relationship between military and law enforcement,"
said Michael Vatis, an FBI official who also spoke at the conference. He
noted that the FBI will have to help determine if any cyberattack suffered
by U.S. military or business entities calls for a military or law
enforcement response.

"The Internet is ubiquitous. It allows attacks from anywhere in the world.
Attackers can loop in from many different Internet providers," said Vatis,
who noted that a cyberattack can include espionage using computer
networks.

"It could start across the street but appear to be coming from China. And
something that might look like a hacker attack could be the beginning of
cyberwarfare," he added.

Vatis said the growing bullets-and-guns conflict in the Middle East
between Israel and the Palestinians, with Islamic supporters elsewhere, is
being accompanied by cyberattacks from each side against the other. It's
serious enough, he said, that the FBI issued an alert about it to the U.S.
Space Command, giving U.S. forces warning that the action on the cyber
front could affect them, too.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/11/22/cyberwar.machine.idg/inde
x.html

via: cyberwar@egroups.com

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Fatah no longer taking orders from Arafat
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 13:35:12 -0000

Fatah no longer taking orders from Arafat

http://www.worldtribune.com/tout-3.html

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, November 24, 2000

RAMALLAH =97 A leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movment said most
Palestinians will not accept any ceasefire.

Fatah leader Sakhr Habash said the Palestinians will simply ignore
any call for a ceasefire by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser
Arafat. He said Arafat no longer controls many Palestinian groups,
including members of his Fatah faction.

"Arafat is our leader and we respect his orders," Habash
said. "Nevertheless, the anger of the people in our cities is
enormous. There is great disappointment. They were all expecting the
negotiating process to produce results, but look what pass we have
come to. There are undoubtedly groups and areas beyond control."

Habash said he expects a long fight with the Israelis. He said that
unlike the Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Palestinians are not receiving
any military help from Iran or the Arab nations, Middle East Newsline
reported.

"Our goal is to force Israel to withdraw from our land," he said. "We
know it will do so when the occupation becomes too costly in human
terms."

PA officials said the Palestinians, including the Islamic opposition,
have joined forces in continuing the campaign against Israel until it
agrees to a withdrawal from all the territories captured in the 1967
war. They said they are hoping that a combination of Israeli
casualties as well as international pressure will change the policy
of Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

On Wednesday, PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan said in a meeting
with journalists in Gaza that the PA has raised three conditions for
the return of negotiations with Israel. These are the end to the
Israeli attacks, the arrival of an international peacekeeping force,
and agreement that the negotiations would lead to an end to the
Israeli occupation.

But the return to negotiations would not end the uprising, PA
officials said. Instead, Fatah has warned of an escalation in attacks.

At the same time, Fatah and PA officials have not ruled out a return
to negotiations.

"There is one condition to stop the uprising," Fatah leader Marwan
Barghouti said. "This is the ending of the occupation and
settlements, attaining freedom, sovereignty, and independence in the
Palestinian territories, and establishing a Palestinian state with
Jerusalem as its capital."

Officials said PA Chairman Yasser Arafat is willing to return to the
negotiating table with Barak. But Arafat will not order an end to the
attacks until Israel agrees to abandon its proposals submitted at the
Camp David summit in July. The proposals envisioned Israeli control
over about five percent of the West Bank and parts of eastern
Jerusalem.

"The Israelis think they can bend the will of the Palestinians by
military means," Habash said. "They are hoping to grind us down.
Actually, they are throwing away a great opportunity to strike a
deal. We know we cannot win by force of arms, but we are fighting
anyway. The goal is peace, not war."

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Economic warfare takes toll in Palestine
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 13:37:54 -0000

Economic warfare takes toll in Palestine
By Alan Philps in Ramallah

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

THE Israeli army is tightening the noose around Palestinian towns
with a blockade which has become an effective means of economic
warfare.

All over the West Bank, the Israeli army has placed concrete blocks
or dug ditches along side roads to cut off towns. Army checkpoints
are under orders to allow only humanitarian deliveries through, but
these are often held back for "security reasons".

From the main roads you can see Palestinian taxis bumping their way
over fields to find an exit. Petrol is already running short in the
Gaza Strip, and an estimated 38 per cent of Palestinians - many of
whom used to work inside Israel - are out of a job.

Bashar Amer, owner of a sewing factory in Ramallah said: "The
situation has got drastically worse over the past two days. We used
to be able to get our products out on dirt roads through the hills.
These have now been blocked off. It will kill us as a business if it
does not change in a couple of days. He added: "The Israelis bombed
southern Lebanon for 18 years, but they did not beat the population.
I'm afraid that economic sanctions will have more effect than bombing
us. But we are still determined. We can live off bread, oil and
onions if we have too."

Shortage of money rather than food is the main problem as more than
one third of households were deprived of their income overnight. The
Palestinian Authority, headed by Yasser Arafat, estimates that the
economy has lost =A3500 million in the past two months. International
organisations put the figure at about one third less.

Tel Aviv maintains it is not waging economic warfare but many
Israelis, including senior military officers, believe the blockade
will be more effective than rockets in forcing the Palestinians to
recognise that they have no hope of winning their struggle.

Medical supplies have also been cut off, and the international
charity World Vision says it has made five attempts to bring an
emergency clinic into Gaza only to be stopped by the Israeli army.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Israel closes press center in Jerusalem:leaves field to PLO
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 08:39:54 -0500

Israel closes press center in Jerusalem:leaves field to PLO

(Jerusalem) Nov. 24, 2000

DAVID BEDEIN, MSW media@actcom.co.il
MEDIA RESEARCH ANALYST
BUREAU CHIEF
ISRAEL RESOURCE NEWS AGENCY
BEIT AGRON INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTER
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

As a matter of policy, I find a way to speak well of the state and
government of Israel when I am abroad.

I maintained that policy during last week's speaking trip that took me to
Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, Philadelphia and NYC, when I addressed the
subject of Israel's standing in the media.

Throughout the week, when asked what Israel is doing to cope at this time
to improve its standing in world opinion, I noted with pride that the
Israeli government had opened up a media friendly press center at the
ground floor of the Isrotel facility, located next to the Jerusalem
Capital Studios, which is now host to more than fifty TV networks. The
government's center featured state of the art computers,refreshments and
spokespeople, all accessible to the media.

Upon my return to Israel, a visit to the Isrotel press facility became
surreal.

The Israeli government had decided to close it. Instead, Arafat's press
advisors who run the JMCC, the Jerusalem Media and Communications
Center, were sitting in the Isrotel lobby schmoozing with reporters.

A query to the Israel Government Press Office, which has no current
director, as to why they closed their press center: Answer, from one of
the GPO staffers: "The Israeli government does not have budget for such
things".

Arafat can now rule the roost of the media in Jerusalem with no
competition.

END

"IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Fri, 24 Nov 2000 09:32:34 +0200

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] IDF: Summary of Today's Events (11/23/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 08:40:51 -0500

IDF Spokesperson: A Summary of Today's Events in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip (Updated 22:30 23 November 2000)

23 November 2000

The West Bank
In the last hours, a series of shooting attacks took place across the West
Bank:

- Two Israeli children were lightly wounded, when a petrol bomb hit the
bus in which they were travelling near the Ramot roadblock. The two were
evacuated to hospital for medical treatment. - An explosive charge
detonated tonight on the Gush Etzion underpass, near a bus, which at the
time did not carry passengers. The bus driver was lightly wounded from the
explosion. - Shots were fired tonight at the community of Pesagot. No one
was injured. - Fire was opened this evening at the Gilo neighborhood in
Jerusalem, from the village of Beit Jala. There were no casualties, IDF
forces at the site returned fire toward the sources of the shooting.

In addition, shooting attacks took place at the following locations:
An IDF Base south of Jenin, an IDF position near Al-Hadar in the Beit
Lehem area, near the village of Kalil south of Nablus, the IDF base at
Shdema, the Brigade HQ in the area of Menashe and the court building in
Beit El, near the community of Maon and toward a bus near Beit El. There
were no casualties. IDF forces returned fire in those cases when the
sources of the shooting were positively identified.

Stones and petrol bombs were thrown at Israeli security forces in the
Shallala street in Hebron, at the Zif Junction near Hebron, in Al-Arub
north of Beit Lehem, in the area of Humash, and at the 250 Junction on the
Jenin bypass road. There were no casualties in any of these incidents.

The Gaza Strip

This evening, there were exchanges of fire between IDF soldiers and
Palestinians firing from the area of Khan Yunes.
Shots were also fired at the community of Dugit in the northern part of
the Gaza Strip, and toward the DCO, also in the northern part of the
strip. In all of the above incidents there were no casualties. IDF forces
returned fire at the sources of the shooting.

Earlier today, fire was opened at an IDF position near Rafah.
No one was injured, IDF soldiers returned fire.

During the day, two IDF soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip:

Lt. Eduard Metznik, 21 of Beer Sheva, was killed in an explosive charge
detonation at the DCO in the Gush Katif region. Sergeant Samar Hussein, 21
of Horfish, was killed from shots fired from PA territory, near the Erez
cross-point. Another IDF soldier was critically wounded in the same
incident. The two were on a border fence patrol near the Erez
cross-point, when shots were fired at them from an ambush laid on the
Palestinian side of the border.

"IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Water pollution in Israel
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 08:42:27 -0500

Ha'aretz: Water pollution alarm bells in TA area - urgent measures
required to protect the coastal aquifer, one of Israel's three main water
sources.

By Zafrir Rinat Ha'aretz Correspondent Ha'aretz 24 November 2000

[IMRA note: IMRA is not aware of any media appearances of Environment
Minister (One Israel) Daliah Itzik on this and related issues. Instead
she has appeared frequently to discuss Israel-Arab relations.]

The pollution of ground water in the Tel Aviv-Givatayim-Ramat Gan area has
reached alarming levels, damaging potable water and spreading into
underground structures such as parking lots. Experts say if urgent
measures are not taken to contain it the pollution may spread through the
main area of the coastal aquifer, one of Israel's three main water
sources.

The dire water pollution problem is documented in a new study by the
Hydrologic Service of the Water Commissioner's Office and the Institute of
Soil, Water and Environmental Science. Environment Ministry officials are
also concerned that some underground pollutants move above ground and
eventually waft into the atmosphere.

Among other toxins, traces of the carcinogenic liquid trichlorethylene
have been found in an underground parking lot on Nahalat Yitzhak street in
Tel Aviv, close to the site of an Israel Military Industries factory.
Toxic materials have also been detected on leaves and flowers in the Tel
Aviv-Givatayim-Ramat Gan region.

The pollution study in the region was started a year ago by experts from
the Hydrologic Service and the Institute and its scope extended in recent
months with special underground and atmospheric tests.

One toxic material identified at a depth of 13 meters underground had a
concentration 1600 times higher than permitted under state environmental
standards. The tests also detected six other underground pollutants at
levels well above accepted standards. The extent of the pollution reflects
its rampant spread and mounting quantities.

Based on the study findings, experts from the Hydrologic Service are
demanding that special monitoring be carried out in two heavily polluted
areas.

The pollution in the coastal aquifer raises new questions about its future
as a source for drinking water and irrigation. Last month Water
Commissioner Shimon Tal warned that rising salinity in the aquifer will
render it useless as a potable water source within a generation.

via: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Immortal Flesh
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 13:44:13 -0000

By Lee Dye
Special to ABCNEWS.com

Nov. 21 =97 Lynn Allen-Hoffman was wrapping up a routine experiment on
the aging of human skin when a colleague noticed something peculiar.
Skin cells die within a few weeks, but there in the middle of a sea
of dead cells was a small "colony" of living cells.

And they were thriving.

"What is this?" the University of Wisconsin pathologist murmured to
Sandy Schlosser, manager of her lab, who had first noticed the colony.

All the other cells in a series of petri dishes, grown from a
circumcised tissue sample from an infant, had clearly died, yet here
was a group of cells that were going merrily along their way.

The experiment was essentially the same one that Allen-Hoffman has
been carrying on for years, yet, as she says, "I had never seen
anything like this."

Four Years And Counting

That was four years ago, and the cells are still alive today,
continuing to reproduce and filling jars with cells that can form
human skin.

Full story at:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DyeHard/dyehard.html

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Lake Kinneret's water level
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 08:44:59 -0500

Ha'aretz: Lake Kinneret's water level has sunk well below the old red
line, and the southern and central aquifers are left high and dry. Farmers
are demanding more water from the coastal aquifer - where the situation is
just as critical

By Zafrir Rinat Ha'aretz 24 November 2000

[IMRA note: The Minister of Agriculture is Ehud Barak who acts also,
among other roles, as Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Minister of
Education. The water story has been essentially ignored by the broadcast
media.]

A palpable sense of relief could be felt at the Water Commission following
the Finance Ministry's recent agreement to the commissioner's request to
move ahead with a program to import water from Turkey, while
simultaneously enhancing Israel's desalination capabilities. But quick
handling of the current situation does little to alleviate the deep
anxieties of hydrological experts vis-a-vis the long-range problem of
insufficient water resources.The Water Commission and the Mekorot water
company are profoundly concerned about natural water sources, which
continue to drop, threatening water quality. And when these experts
analyze precipitation levels in recent years, they have even less reason
to be optimistic: In 11 of the past 19 years, rainfall was below the
annual average for the primary winter months, December through February.

In recent weeks, the water level of the Kinneret has continued to drop,
dipping to just over 70 centimeters below the old red line of 213 meters
below sea level. In the southern and central Yarkon-Taninim aquifer (the
western mountain aquifer), the water level continues to approach the red
line. Only in the northern part of the aquifer, where pumping has been
suspended, has the decline in water level been halted. A "hydrological
depression" continues to form in the coastal aquifer, meaning that
increased withdrawal of water is causing especially low-level
concentrations.

According to Sara Haklai, director of the department of water resources at
Mekorot, the company has been juggling these three main water sources -
pumping water out of them while making an effort not to over-exploit them
so as to prevent the infiltration of salty water. Concerns about saline
infiltration increased recently after two water drilling samples indicated
that a sharp decline of the mountain aquifer level can lead to a rapid
inflow of saline water, which infiltrates the fresh ground water table.

The Water Commission hopes in the short term to continue its lobbying
efforts for importing water, building a first desalination plant on the
Ashkelon coast, and immediately decreasing the quota of water for
agricultural use, so as to prevent over-exploitation of the primary
natural water sources - the coastal and Yarkon-Taninim aquifers, and the
Kinneret.

However, the agricultural lobby recently began pressuring the Water
Commission to increase the water supplied to the farming sector by the
coastal aquifer, so as to prevent cutbacks that they argue would be
destructive to the sector. The request is largely founded upon a report by
hydrologist Yoav Harpaz that was commissioned by Meir Ben-Meir, the
former
water commissioner.

Danger of salinity

Harpaz analyzed the effects of "over-withdrawal" (taking out more water
than can be replenished by rain) on the aquifer. He was interested in
finding out what would happen to the aquifer if the amount of water
withdrawn was increased to 100 million cubic meters a year, or to 200
million cubic meters, over a period of five years. Harpaz was specifically
asked to project the resultant levels of the aquifer, and the extent of
the shift in the subterranean "line" between the sea water and fresh
ground water. This line moves in the direction of the land mass whenever
the ground table declines, resulting in infiltration of sea water and
salinization of fresh water reserves. Harpaz also examined the increased
salinity of the aquifer from additional sources, such as saline water
sources found at deeper levels.

In Harpaz's estimate, annual withdrawal of 200 million cubic meters would
cause extensive damage and is therefore not recommended. On the other
hand, he believes that pumping of 100 million cubic meters is possible: It
would lower the water level of the aquifer up to three meters, cause a
landward shift of the sea water/fresh water line of up to one kilometer,
and result in the partial salinization of the aquifer. However, if the
over-withdrawal is ended after a five-year period and water is then
artificially infused into the aquifer - raising levels and pushing out the
salts - he believes the program would be worthwhile.

Former water commissioner Ben-Meir offered additional reasons for
increased withdrawals from the aquifer in an article that appears in the
most recent issue of Water and Irrigation, a Hebrew-language periodical.
He argued that raising water prices for farmers and reducing quotas would
effectively wipe out agriculture, resulting in the abandonment of
farmland. This would, in turn, lead to real-estate chaos in central Israel
resulting from unhindered construction in the deserted agricultural plots.

Ben-Meir asserted that this damage would be much worse than any
temporary
harm caused to the water table. He proposes that until the country is able
to develop an extensive desalination capability, it should continue its
policy of living on the aquatic edge, and argues that it would be
reasonable to sacrifice some of the country's water sources - temporarily
- for the greater good of saving agriculture. He furthermore proposes that
the farmers not be deterred by a "media intifada" against them due to
their resolute stand against water cutbacks, and that they demand their
full rights on the issue.

The Water Commission does not contradict Harpaz's quantitative
assessment
of the effect of increased withdrawal of water, but notes that he was not
asked, nor was he authorized, to determine what should or should not be
considered acceptable policy on utilization of the coastal aquifer.

Water commissioner Shimon Tal recently said that over the past two years,
the mountain aquifer has descended to its red line and water can no longer
be taken from that source. Lake Kinneret has sunk to a level that is far
below its red line: "Now the commission is being asked to empty its last
storehouse," he said. "I am not prepared to sanction that sort of
approach. Our job is to preserve the water sources of Israel, not
liquidate them."

The commissioner's hydrological consultant, Ze'ev Golani, argues that
Harpaz's tests were based on the quantities of water that were withdrawn
from the coastal aquifer in 1998, and adds that there was a severe drought
the following year, and a much larger-than-average quantity of water was
thus withdrawn to meet the demand. The situation of over-withdrawal is
still continuing.

"According to our forecast, without taking into consideration the
recommendations in the Harpaz report, the Water Commission will be
over-withdrawing 420 million cubic meters within three years simply in
order to supply the required amount of water," says Golani. "This will
continue to be the case even after enforcing the 50 percent reduction in
farmers' water quotas. Implementation of the Harpaz report would mean an
additional 500 million cubic meters of withdrawal - over and above what we
are already doing. This is something we are not prepared to do."

Golani notes that excessive withdrawal of water by the commission is being
carried out without any guarantees of replenishing the aquifer within five
years, since there are as yet no other types of water resources (read:
desalination) that can be exploited to replenish the aquifer.

"We proposed cutting 56 percent of the fresh-water quotas to farmers, but
it was eventually decided to reduce the quotas by 50 percent," he adds.
"The difference between what we originally proposed and what was accepted
will, in the end, come at the expense of the coastal aquifer from which
the water is withdrawn.

"We had hoped that we could realize an additional savings through the new
water-conservation ad campaign, but the reduction in water consumption by
the civilian population has been nullified by the natural increase in
water consumption. And whatever we aren't able to save through the
water-conservation campaign will have to come from the ground water."

The Water Commission now proposes to do what it can to preserve the
coastal aquifer and not to give in to the agricultural sector's demands to
pump even more water. The commission has also begun to persuade the
government to agree to build a series of desalination plants.

About two months ago, it issued a document called "Long-Term Tasks of the
Israeli Water Economy," which analyzed water needs until 2020. The amount
of fresh water that will be needed by Israel and the Palestinians will be
approximately two billion cubic meters a year. Assuming average rainfall
during the next 20 years, Israel will end up with an annual shortfall of
approximately 445 million cubic meters.

The die is cast

This would require the water economy in Israel to meet added demand by
increasing the extent of sewage treatment and recycling this water for
agricultural use, as well as replenishing the ground-water reservoirs and
the Kinneret, where low water levels over an extended period will
negatively affect water quality. Replenishment of these sources will help
to wash out some of the salts, which with the rise of water levels, will
naturally flow back toward the sea.

Some experts believe that the die has already been cast on the coastal
aquifer, since the salts that have accumulated in the ground due to
pollution from runoff and industrial waste will continue to seep into it
in coming years. But Golani says that this pessimistic assessment is not
shared by the Water Commission: "We have not given up on saving the
aquifer, and as we see it, by treating the sources of salinization, we can
save this reservoir. If we don't do so, the water in it will be unsuitable
for irrigation or drinking within a generation or two."

The Water Commission wishes to increase the level of the Kinneret by two
meters over its current level, the level of the central mountain aquifer
by four meters, and the coastal aquifer by two meters. This is no easy
feat, since it is clear that the country often has below-average
precipitation.

The Water Commission has concluded that Israel must move rapidly ahead
with its plans to increase water production by means of desalination. In
order to contend with the projected demand, commission officials believe
that a new desalination plant capable of producing 50 million cubic meters
must be built every two and a half years, so that within two decades, the
country will be able to desalinize close to 400 million cubic meters each
year. In drought years, the rate of construction can be speeded up. An
ambitious proposal to be sure, and its implementation is very much in
doubt.

It was only after much pressure was applied by those responsible for the
water economy that the treasury agreed to build an initial desalination
plant on the Ashkelon coast, and it is hard to foresee it committing
additional budgets to build more facilities. If the treasury's
desalination policy does not change, the Water Commission will have no
choice but to continue cutting back on water supplies to the agricultural
sector, while simultaneously over-exploiting the already seriously
dwindling water resources until they are completely - and finally -
depleted.

via: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Military Intelligence explains - Arafat wants to kill Israelis
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 08:46:05 -0500

Ha'aretz: Military Intelligence explains - Arafat wants to kill Israelis

By Uzi Benziman Ha'aretz 24 November 2000

[Excerpted]
...
As has been the case since the armed confrontation with the Palestinians
began, certain differences of opinion were discernible in Monday night's
security cabinet meeting between Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet
internal security service concerning the scale of Arafat's involvement in
the escalation. Whereas Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter maintained that the
Palestinian leader is not in total control of the terrorist initiatives,
the MI personnel asserted that he was in full control and that he gave the
go-ahead for the terrorist acts in order to achieve the goal of the war he
is fighting against Israel: to induce the Israelis to launch severe
reprisals, which will have serious diplomatic repercussions and create the
conditions needed for vigorous international intervention and hence a
forced solution to the conflict.

Another of Arafat's goals, the MI officers said, is to balance the account
of blood with Israel. He was taken by surprise at the responses the IDF
prepared for the Palestinian violence and at the scale of the casualties
inflicted on the Palestinians (many of those killed were from the
Palestinian Authority's security units).

His aim, then, according to this view, is to inflict as many casualties as
possible on Israel in order to reduce the victims gap. In particular, he
wants to increase the number of Israeli children who are victimized in
order to demonstrate to his people that he is avenging the deaths of the
Palestinian children and teenagers in the Intifada.

via: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] The Kyoto myth
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 13:47:47 -0000

EDITORIAL =95 November 22, 2000

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-house-2000112203242.htm

The Kyoto myth

Preoccupied with the ongoing presidential election controversy, few
Americans realize that a potentially much more significant decision
is being made on their behalf in The Hague. Global bureaucrats
meeting at the Dutch city are hammering out enforcement mechanisms
for the Kyoto Protocol =97 an environmental treaty negotiated in Japan
three years ago that could cripple the U.S. economy and reduce the
standard of living for average Americans in a profound and lasting
way.

The Kyoto Protocol is designed, ostensibly, to combat the supposed
problem of "global warming." Under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol,
Americans would have to curtail their use of energy sufficiently that
an overall reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 5-7 percent below
1990 levels is achieved. The reduction in industrial/economic
activity needed to get to this goal would entail massive new energy
taxes or draconian rationing schemes; there is simply no other means
by which a reduction in CO2 of the magnitude demanded by the Kyoto
Protocol could be achieved. A reduction of economic/industrial
activity of that massive can be described simply, in one word =97
depression.

Now, perhaps the impoverishment of nearly 300 million Americans (and
countless others) could be justified if, indeed, a man-made
environmental apocalypse was imminent. It is not. The whole body
of "global warming" evidence rests on skewed and politicized data fed
into highly questionable computer models designed to spit out the
most calamitous result, even when such a result is the least
realistic scientifically.

The Kyoto Protocol has its origins in the so-called U.N.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) =97 a body suffused
with political leftists working hand-in-glove with such groups as the
Environmental Defense Fund. Mild and even-tempered language in
various full reports about mankind's influence on global warming has
been selectively edited and "summarized" in a way that was and is
highly misleading =97 courtesy of IPCC extremists. Terms such
as "discernible human impact" and "stronger evidence" have been
bandied about to the always receptive news media.

One problem is that almost all of the warming observed by scientists
and upon which the theory of human-caused "global warming" rests
occurred between 1900 and 1940 =97 in other words, when industrial
activity was far less (and less regulated) than it has been from 1940
onward. If "global warming" were, in fact, a man-made event, we
should expect to see rapidly rising temperatures post-1940. But we do
not. Environmental radicals have seized upon the handful of summers
that were warmer than usual to frighten the public, but these are
normal fluctuations, according to scientists.

It's true, however, that overall temperatures seem to be rising
slightly =97 by 2.5 to 4.5 degrees. But this may well be a natural
process (we are actually at the tail-end of a "Little Ice Age") and
far less than the almost 12-degrees predicted by the worst-case
scenario IPCC computer models. Yet it is the most extreme and
scientifically insupportable positions that are being accepted as
fact and used as the basis for bullying the United States into
accepting the terms of a treaty that could efface the economic gains
of the past decade =97 and then some.

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