BPR Mailing List Digest: 10/26/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
October 26, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | October, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Ben Yosef report from Jerusalem: 10/26/00
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 05:46:14 -0500

---Forwarded message follows---

Send reply to: <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
From: "Ben Yosef" <b_yosef@netvision.net.il>
To: "ben Yosef" <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
Subject: update from Jerusalem (too much to list) October 26
2000
Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 02:52:30 +0200

Shalom,

[... snipped...]

Today's report is longer than usual. But please, it is worth the
read. There is a lot here to help you in combating the Palestinian
propaganda war (especially the last two items).

Also, I've decided to try to revive the "Jerusalem News Service"
which I founded back in 1992. If you want to edit out the
superfluous stuff and print these reports and take them to your local
newspaper editor, feel free. And if you run into any editors who
would like a first-hand report from GILO every day (but Shabbat),
please give them my email. I really feel that to turn the tide in
this propaganda war the Palestinians are waging, we need to get some
editors in the secular media "tuned in" to what is happening. If
nothing else you can call your local editor and ask to send him
something via email, then edit out my superflous remarks and email
the file. It's that simply, and I can assure you, as a former daily
newspaper executive editor, if it goes straight to his email, he will
read it. Be sure to target executive editors. They are the only
ones with editorial autonomy.

Now for today's report, which is my analysis of the reports from
Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Post Radio, Kol Yisrael Radio, Israeli TV,
Arutz7 Radio, Ma'ariv and Yediot Achronot, Hebrew newspapers
pertaining to the current conflict……………:

GILO -- (Jerusalem News Service) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak may
have been a moderating influence in the recent Arab summit but the
words coming out of Egypt's prime minister's mouth are anything but
moderate:

"The peace process in its present form is over. No Arab or
Palestinian leaders will agree to return to the negotiating table
according to the previous rules. The Arabs should now give first
priority to HELP the Palestinians in opposing the Israeli
occupation," said Foreign Minister Amr Moussa in an interview with
A-Safir. "The Arab world should determine a new and FINAL framework
for a solution … according to the Arab perception."

This proclamation by the most powerful Arab nation is particularly
ominous. On the one hand it signals a clear recognition by the Arab
nations that the peace process is over and on the other hand signals
a willingness to assist Yasser Arafat's declaration of violence.

Arafat continues to call for international intervention but Dore
Gold, who served as Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. in the Netanyahu
government says this is not likely to happen without American
approval.

"A decision of this nature is generally made only in the Security
Council, which is subject to U.S. veto. But there are exceptions:
International NATO forces were stationed in Kosovo without any UN
decision - because the U.S. feared a Russian veto..."

On the other hand, Dore said the "threat of international observers
must not be ignored, in that Israel must coordinate its activities
with the U.S., and receive American understanding, and work with a
timetable for a quick resolution - because the more this situation
lasts, the more chances there are for an Israeli 'mistake,' such as
the bombing of a civilian center. (see the "trap" below). In
addition, international patience will wear out... We have more
'credit' in American opinion than in Europe - most American opinion
molders feel that Arafat is responsible for the violence - but this
'credit' is not unlimited."

Meanwhile, Israeli Radio tonight reported that American military
analysts continue to dismiss the military excercises of Saddam
Hussein near the borders of Jordan and Kuwait as "not a threat"
because the massing troops, tanks and armored divisions "still do not
have supply lines." I would not be so quick to do that with more than
10,000 "Palestinian refugees" attempting to cross the bridge from
Jordan into the territories and the Palestinians in Bethlehem and
Gaza still believing Saddam is on his way to save them. Besides, I've
never known a snake to not slither beneath a fence row!

Israel Radio also reported that the nation is "beefing up" its
foreign ministry contacts. An envoy has been sent to Turkey to ensure
that it does not follow the lead of Morocco and cut off diplomatic
ties. The turn-around by Morocco took the Barak foreign ministry
totally by surprise. Also, US troops in the Arab states of Bahrain
and Qatar are on "the highest possible state of alert." The Incirlik
Air Base in southern Turkey had been on a heightened alert for more
than a week, since the attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of
Aden. The Cole, a guided missile destroyer had been enroute to the
Persian Gulf to enforece the blockade against Iraq. The Incirlik Air
Base is headquarters for the US and British air patrols that enforce
the "no fly zone" over Northern Iraq. Again, everything points to
Saddam.

For you prophesy buffs out there: KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON TURKEY. If
Turkey cuts off ties with Israel, the alliance for the Gog-Magog War
is a step closer to reality. For now, I would have to say we are
dealing with a regional conflict, which Saddam may attempt to
escalate. But since Iraq does not figure into the Gog-Magog
conflict, I suspect that Israel or her allies will take him out. See
www.torahvoice.org/saddam.html

In Gilo last night and again tonight it is remarkably calm leading
some residents to believe this is the "eye of the storm." Tanzim
militia have vowed to continue the intifada and to escalate it "until
independence --until we liberate East Jerusalem and get rid of the
settlers," according to their leader, Hussein a-Sheikh.

Interviewed in the Jerusalem Post, Sheikh said, the Palestinian
Authority cannot continue to live side-by-side with the settlers. "We
are ready to sacrifice our blood because we are convinced that we can
get our state through the intifada."

This declaration was met today with calls by settlers for increased
security and IDF patrols even in regions previously surrendered to
Palestinian Autonomy. As it is, the IDF has a hard time keeping the
roads to the settlements open. For instance the strategic tunnel
road leading from Gilo to all of the settlements in Judea to the
south has been closed repeatedly because of sniper attacks on
Israelis.

Today's quota of violence:

A combination roadside bomb-and-shooting attack by Palestinians on a
Jewish convoy to Morag in Gush Katif.No Israelis were hurt, and the
Israeli soldiers fired back.

The IDF shot four mortar shells to silence a wave of shooting from El
Bireh onto Psagot early yesterday evening.

Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded when a firebomb was thrown at
them at Ayosh Junction.

A Palestinian ambush was attempted on an army jeep near Jenin; no one
was hurt.

Heavy Palestinian rioting took place in Hevron, near Kalkilye, and at
other YESHA locations this afternoon; 20 Palestinians were reported
wounded.

A firebomb was thrown at an IDF jeep near Adam, between Jerusalem and
Psagot; no one was hurt.

Ma'ariv, a Hebrew newspaper, today warned of a Palestinian trap being
laid for Israel -- with GILO as the bait! "There is considerable
justice in the call for increasingly harsh retaliatory measures by
Israel to stop the continuous shooting at the Jerusalem neighborhood
of Gilo - but... massive firing at Bethlehem's Christian suburb [of
Beit Jala] is liable to arouse the Christian world against us. This
is exactly what the Palestinians are striving for... The dilemma
attests to the quandary in which Israel is caught the limits of its
force. Barak and the heads of the security establishment are now
caught between a rock and a hard place: Continue to abandon a
Jerusalem neighborhood to opportunistic shooting, or order a forceful
response that could very much worsen Israel's international standing.
The Palestinians are laying a trap for us in Beit Jala, there may be
no choice but to enter it."

This note of alarm follows a report by Israeli Security Services
which suggests that the recent firing from Beit Jala into Gilo homes
has been purposely orchestrated by external PA elements -- the Tanzim
Fatah, Yasser Arafat's personal militia -- in order to lay the above
trap. The assault upon Gilo residents facing Beit Jalla is not being
carried out by local residents -- who historically have been
Christian Arabs with very good ties to Gilo. Rather, the ISS reports
the attacks are being carried out by outsiders who use threats to
force the residents to allow them to use their homes. (Although I
think it is significant that the entire village of Beit Jalla turned
out their lights last Sunday to conceal the Tanzim under cover of
darkness.)

The Jerusalem Post reports that since the outbreak of violence in
YESHA (get used to that word. It is the Hebrew abbreviation for
Yehuda, Shomrom and 'aza (Judea-Samaria and Gaza), hundreds of
Christian Arab families have left with the assistance of the Foreign
Ministry and the British, Canadian and Cypriot foreign embassies.

The Post quotes Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the coordinator of
activities in the territories, who says, in some cases, embassies
sent cars to pick up the families from their homes in Ramallah,
Bethlehem, Gaza, Nablus, and Tulkarm, granting passports to spouses
and grandparents and offering financial assistance or air tickets to
leave Israel. In many cases the embassies eased restrictions and
granted passports where only one of the couples had citizenship, to
assist in their departure. A small number of those seeking to leave
were Moslems, he added.

"Lately the number of requests has subsided. Those left don't have
foreign citizenship, but all those able to have left," said Dror. He
recalled the speech made by a Moslem preacher in a Gaza mosque after
prayers on a recent Friday, in which he called on Palestinians to
attack Israelis and Christians. Shortly afterward, a group of
Christians was attacked in Gaza, he said.

His statements are another evidence that the Palestinian Authority
did not choose Beit Jala as the focus of violence by coincidence, but
in an attempt to draw the Christian population into the conflict, a
step it hopes will generate international support and criticism of
Israel for shooting at civilians. (I also wonder what these Christian
Arabs know re: violence to come).

While many of the families have fled the area, those left behind are
being held hostage by the situation. "The armed Tanzim enter the
village and take over homes and rooftops, and threaten the occupants
if they object."

Yediot Acharonot, another Hebrew newspaper, says the same thing this
way: "The IDF commanders at all levels, up to and including the
Chief-of-Staff and the troops deserve all praise [for their
professionalism and restraint]. Palestinians, for their part, would
like to provoke a Kafr Kana-type massacre in order to bring
international intervention, under cover of which they could proclaim
their state."

Meanwhile Prime Minister Barak continues his efforts to form an
emergency unity government with Likud Leader Ariel Sharon. In a
radio interview from Paris, former Prime Minister and Likud Leader
Benjamin Netanyahu, stated his opposition to any Likud alliance with
Barak beyond a short-term emergency cabinet. Netanyahu further called
for Likud to have an agreement with Barak up front, that when the
emergency ends new elections should be called immediately. He
threatened to challenge Sharon over this issue in a Central Committee
meeting of the Likud, signaling he is ready to enter the political
arena again after losing the office of Prime Minister to Barak
(thanks to the political dirty tricks of American President Bill
Clinton who loaned Barak his personal political advisory team).

Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami EFFECTIVELY BURIED any chance
for a unity government by remarking that if the violence ceases, "it
will be possible to revive the diplomatic process along similar lines
as before." National Religious Party head Rabbi Yitzchak Levy
responded, "Ben-Ami's statement shows that the time-out Barak
announced only two days ago has apparently ended." Sharon emphasized
Likud will not join a government that will simply continue along the
path of Oslo and Camp David.

For now at least, the Likud Knesset faction appears to be leaning
toward former Prime Minister Netanyahu: NO to a unity government, but
YES to a national emergency government where portfolios [ministries]
would not be distributed, a fixed time duration, veto power for
Sharon, and guaranteed elections afterwards. "If Barak accepts these
conditions," Sharon said, "I'll be able to convince the Likud Central
Committee to join an emergency government. If not, we'll go to new
elections."

The skirmishes between Israel and the Palestinians also have
escalated on two other fronts, a war in cyberspace … and on the
grocery shelves.

Several government web sites were invaded by hackers who are
suspected to be linked with Arab terrorists. A deluge of continuous
loop emails and international Web traffic neutralized the Foreign
Ministry for several hours on Tuesday. The IDF has experienced
connection problems connected with line overload.

Hardest hit has been MY server, NetVision, (which also services the
IDF), which suffered a near total crash tracked to hackers in Europe
and the US.

While the Foreign Ministry and the IDF were taking necessary
precautions to insure no further attacks, (such as installing
firewalls), Jewish hackers struck back at Palestinian web sites.
WWW.hizballa.org's home page was replaced with an Israeli flag and an
instrumental recording of Hatikva!

Hackers also broke into my JERUSALEM TORAH VOICE website
www.torahvoice.org and disabled the site map. (I think I got off
light. If anyone notices any other problems at the site, please let
me know. I should have the site map replaced later tonight). I also
am getting some hate mail from a Palestinian organization, so we
obviously (with all of your help) are doing something right! (By the
way, a friend in the States has donated us a firewall program which
will be arriving Sunday, so we should not have these problems too
much longer.)

Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert has blasted the US State Department for
issuing a travel advisory asking American tourists not to come to
Israel. Consequently, booked tours are being canceled and hotels are
laying off staff. The travel advisory comes on the heels of a record
tourist season for Israel, which had every sign of continuing, Olmert
said.

But what has residents here alarmed is the lack of fruits and
vegetables in the markets! First, it is a sh'mitta year, which means
the Torah observant do not eat fruits or vegetables that were grown
in Israel unless they are grown off of the ground in special
hothouses or in pots or somehow insulated from contact with the
ground, which must lay fallow every 7th year, according to the Torah.

So Israelis were buying much of their fresh fruit and vegetables from
farmers in Jordan or (for some) in the YESHA, which they argue on a
technicality is not yet part of the ban since it is unannexed. But
Jordanian farmers and YESHA Arabs are choosing to boycott Israeli
grocers and the selection is getting thin and the prices starting to
soar!

(I'm going shopping tomorrow, and I'll give you a shopping basket
report)

The agricultural Moshav Nitzanei Oz, 200 meters west of Tulkarm,
which depends on the labor of 280 Arabs from Tulkarm has been heavily
affected by the boycott. Town leader Erez Shlaun said the Arabs have
stopped coming to work and the called the situation "grave."

Palestinian Television continues to incite the masses. The latest
broadcast is already being echoed from a Gaza mosque. What is the
message? That all Jews and Americans are the enemy and should be
killed. That's the hardline message that has been coming out of Iran
for many years but now it is being taken up here. OC Operations
Maj.-Gen. Giora Eiland said that with the incitement continuing,
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority meeting to plan strategy (see
below) and now the boycott there is an expectation of the possibility
that the situation will deteriorate in the coming months. He said
that, therefore, the IDF will remain in its current deployment for
some time.

The Washington Post today reported that representatives of Hamas and
the Palestinian Authority meet daily to coordinate their activities.
The Post article said that Arafat is working closely with leaders of
both the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations -
INCLUDING leaders whose release from prison Arafat ordered at the
beginning of the current violence almost a month ago, some of whom
are being hidden in PA buildings.

The Associated Press similarly reported today that representatives of
Hamas and other Palestinian groups have been directing the
Palestinian protests. "The existence of the steering committees...
would undermine Arafat's contention that the Palestinian protests of
the past month have entirely been a spontaneous outburst of anger
against Israel. We are all Palestinians,' Palestinian Parliament
Speaker Ahmed Qureia told reporters. When asked about the steering
committees, he refused further comment.

On the other hand, Arafat and his colleagues are also meeting with
Israelis. Despite the general Israeli commitment not to "talk while
there is shooting," Prime Minister Barak has ordered the IDF Central
and Southern Commanders to meet with Palestinian security leaders.
The IDF spokesman announced today that the purpose of the meeting is
to "again find ways to significantly reduce the level of friction and
violence." Barak-aide Yossi Ginosar met last night with Arafat
himself. The Supreme Court recently disqualified Ginosar - who has no
official governmental position but who has business interests in the
Palestinian Authority -from involvement in just this sort of
diplomatic activity, but Barak said that "pikuach nefesh" (danger to
life) overrides the Court ruling.

Prime Minister Barak told German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder today
that he would not "pin the Palestinians against the wall" and would
not, for instance, cut off their telephone lines. He asked that
Schroder and the entire European Union use their influence to
convince Arafat to renounce violence and return to the negotiating
table. (The last time I saw that table it was shot full of holes and
the legs were shot out from under it).

Army Radio reported that military command assigned to rescue some 30
hikers on an army-approved trip to Mt. Eval who were attacked by
Palestinian gunmen were more concerned about not violating Oslo
accords than the rescue. One of the hikers, Rabbi Binyamin Herling of
Kedumim, was shot and killed while waiting for the IDF to rescue him;
four others were hurt. The rescue was completed about seven hours
after the attack began.

"We see here that the army is headed by officers whose thinking is
based very much on Oslo considerations, and not only on military
considerations," concluded Haggai Huberman, Ayosh Brigade Command.

Huberman said the military helicopters that arrived on the scene did
not fire on the source of the Arab shooting because they could not
identify it precisely. They knew, based on cell-phone reports
provided them by the hikers, that the firing originated in the first
row of houses of the nearby Arab village - "but they could not
pinpoint the exact window and thus the army did not want to take a
chance on hitting innocent Arab civilians."

Huberman said the Army had no suitable explanation why the tanks that
arrived were not actually used to silence the firing so that the
rescue could proceed.

"None of the IDF forces that arrived on the scene received the simple
order to silence the Arab shooting," he said. "The Arab attack
continued without a stop, and when the army saw that no rescue could
be carried out under such circumstances, it was decided to wait until
dark. Yesha Commander Benny Ganz arrived at 4 PM, and took charge...
The tanks arrived late, and stopped at Elon Moreh. They could have
kept on going towards the attacking village without going through
Shechem, and could have identified the origin of the shooting, and
then silenced it. But no commander was willing to take upon himself
the responsibility for the possible killing of women and children."

A company commander and a platoon commander will be relieved of their
commands pending the outcome of the investigation, Army Radio
reported.

Col. (res.) Mordechai Yogev told Arutz-7, "The army commanders work
hard, and they deserve all of our praise. But I feel that they are
stuck in a mindset, and some of them don't want to leave it. They
must remember that their primary job is not to ensure that diplomatic
talks succeed, but to save lives..." Yogev said that a change must be
made: "It is now time for us to carry out whatever we need for
security needs, even if they are against the Oslo agreements, such as
taking over certain areas from where and near where the Palestinians
shoot at us. There must be sanctions, including no more transfers of
money and gas, and sanctions against incitement broadcasts... We must
also react offensively to terrorist attacks and plans."

BELOW I AM ATTACHING A NOTE FROM YECHIEL M. LEITER OF
OneJerusalem.org. THIS IS SOMETHING I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO VIEW.
You might call it the 30 seconds they wouldn't allow on ABC, CBS, OR
NBC.

Arutz Sheva Teams Up with OneJerusalem.org Combatting the Anti-Israel
Bias in the Major Networks.

******************
This piece includes simple instructions for receiving, via the
internet, a powerful 30-second video concerning the present political
situation
******************

By now you probably know that the IDF warned the Palestinian
Authority before firing missiles into the Ramallah police station in
retaliation for the two Israeli reservists who were lynched there.
What you probably did not know was that the reason the film clips of
the bombing showed Palestinian Arabs running for their lives before
the missiles hit, despite the fact that the warning was given a full
three hours before the attack, was because the inhabitants were
ordered to wait there until just before the missiles struck.

Arabs running for their lives makes for good television.

Hard to believe? It sure is. But the fact is that the Palestinian
Authority could have cleared the building of people long before the
IDF retaliated. Instead it chose to use the three hours to
strategically place a BBC television crew opposite the building so
that they could film a bunch of Palestinian Davids escaping Goliath's
missiles.

The Palestinian Authority orders children out of school and buses
them to confront IDF soldiers with rocks and Molotov cocktails. If
that doesn't draw enough victims, Palestinian soldiers fire their
automatic weapons on Israelis from within the crowd of children,
forcing the IDF troops to shoot back. Like the sacrificing of
children to the Moloch of biblical times, Arafat's henchmen prefer
that their dead be children. "The Israelis are killing our children,"
they will then cynically declare on CNN in order to justify any
atrocity they then commit.

This propaganda war is not an easy one for us to fight. We naturally
recoil from telling lies and distorting reality. But we do have the
truth, and even though lies are rapid and truth is slow, it is the
truth that we must tell, again and again and again.

Below, you will find instructions on how to receive a 30-second film
entitled "Hatred from the Cradle." The film depicts the
Palestinian's contemptible manipulation of children's minds and the
endangerment of their lives in order to achieve political gain. The
major networks -CBS, ABC, and NBC - all refused to air it, despite a
guarantee of payment up front.

THE ANSWER IS FOR YOU TO AIR IT.

Show it to your family, friends, and business partners. Show it at
your local synagogue and school and at the PTA meeting. Show it to
local journalists and try to buy time on your local networks.

Follow that up with action.

Circulate the One Jerusalem international petition against the
redivision of Jerusalem. Jerusalem has been placed on the
negotiation table for the first time, and it is unlikely that it will
be removed in the foreseeable future. A petition signed by millions
declaring the indivisibility of Israel's eternal capital will help
ensure that it will remain just that. It can be seen and signed at
http://www.onejerusalem.org

For more information, and to receive posters and petitions, call
(212) 340-1171 (in New York) or (02) 625-2550 (in Israel).

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yechiel M. Leiter OneJerusalem.org

To receive the video attachment, send blank email to: <a href
="mailto:hatredfromthecradle@IsraelNationalNews.com">
hatredfromthecradle@IsraelNationalNews.com </a> For automated
response about Arutz-7: mailto:info@IsraelNationalNews.com

[...snipped...]

Shalom Shalom & Hashem's love & blessings,
ben Yosef

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Commentary: "Shall we let them treat our Sister as a Whore?"
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 05:58:25 -0500

---Forwarded message follows---

Date sent: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 13:12:30 EDT
Subject: A Voice from Hebron by Gary M. Cooperberg
To: freemanlist@lists.io.com

B"sd

A Voice from Hebron
by Gary M. Cooperberg

"Shall we let them treat our Sister as a Whore?"
October 24, 2000

Dina, the daughter of Jacob, our Father, was raped by Shechem, the
leader of the town by the same name. At that time Am Yisrael was a
tiny family. There was no national unity government and no prime
minister. Yaacov was beside himself with pain and anguish, but he
held his peace out of fear of his enemies who greatly outnumbered
him. Yet two of his sons, Shimon and Levi, held the honor of their
G-d, their sister and their father in higher esteem then their fear
of their enemies. After the people of Shechem were convinced that
Jacob and his family would submit to them after they were all
circumcised, Shimon and Levi took advantaged of their weakened
condition and went into the town and slew all the men with their
swords.

When Jacob heard what his sons had done he was terrified. He said to
his two sons, "You have caused the nations round about to hate me.
We, being few in number, will be set upon and destroyed in reaction
to your harsh deed." And they replied, "Shall we allow our sister to
be treated as a whore?" (Genesis 24, 30-31). Jacob did not answer.

The Fear of Jacob is alive and well today. And the question of
Shimon and Levy still rings in the air of Shechem and Bet El
(Ramallah). History shows that Jacob was wrong. As a result of the
act of Shimon and Levy the Children of Israel were greatly feared by
the inhabitants of Canaan and dared not harm them.

We have failed to learn the lesson to put honor above fear. The
leaders of this nation have allowed fear to erode all sense of honor
and self respect. Peace and life, if paid for in the coin of
humiliation and dishonor, have absolutely no value. But, even more
than this, we are dealing not with the honor of Jacob alone. We are
responsible to uphold the honor of our G-d who has chosen us to
represent Him. To permit ourselves to be humiliated is to permit the
humiliation of G-d, and for this we will not be forgiven.

Menachem Begin was a Jewish hero. Yet, when he became prime minister
of Israel, he fell into the trap of assuming that he could bring
peace by compromising on the most basic of Jewish principles. It was
at Camp David that Begin began the process which has brought us to
the tragedy we now face. He was the first Jewish leader to
officially accept the concept of legitimacy to the imposter
"palestinian" nation. This led to Madrid, and then to Oslo which is
choking us today. Even Oslo had as its intention to limit the PLO to
autonomy under overall Jewish sovereignty. Yet Peres watched as
Arafat literally conquered the alleged "autonomous" areas and defacto
incorporated them into his, as yet undeclared, state. Today it is
understood that, what is called "area A" is, indeed, sovereign Arab
territory. This was never the intent of Oslo, yet no Jewish leader
has challenged this outright violation of Israel's sovereignty!

When Arabs threw rocks at Jewish civilians and soldiers with relative
impunity the fear of Jacob was resurrected. Rather than allowing a
modern-day Shimon and Levy to cut down our enemies immediately (which
would have saved many hundreds of lives, both Jewish and Arab), our
leaders decided to live with the intifada by hiding behind plastic
windows and paying for damage caused by "heroic" vandals. Who can
forget the pictures of armed soldiers running away from stone
throwing children? This humiliation of the Jew only encouraged and
emboldened our enemies. Even Prime Minster Netanyahu gave guns to
our enemies. And when those guns were turned upon Jews in Jerusalem,
how did our "right wing" Prime Minister respond? At that time it
would have been proper to not only take back the guns, but to declare
Oslo null and void and take our country back. Instead the
"negotiations" continued.

When Barak was elected many were confident that, should there ever be
a military challenge, this decorated war hero would surely lead our
nation with a swift and powerful response. Yet we have watched a
Jewish soldier be murdered by his PLO patrol partner with no
significant response by our army. We saw the Tomb of Joseph attacked
and an IDF soldier wounded and allowed to bleed to death rather than
rescue him. And the response to that outrage was that the mighty IDF
actually retreated from our holy place upon which the PLO built yet
another mosque! One young rabbi, Hillel Lieberman, may his blood be
avenged, dared to approach the Tomb of Joseph to rescue some of the
holy books that had been abandoned there. He walked alone on the
Sabbath evening, armed only with his prayer shawl on a mission of
peace. He was viciously set upon by Arab beasts and murdered, only
because he was a Jew. Because there was no Shimon and Levy to take
back Shechem and instill fear in our enemies, the true colors of Arab
hatred were presented to the entire world in one of the most gruesome
displays of horror imaginable.

Two Jewish reservists made the fatal mistake of getting lost by
making a wrong turn by Ramallah. The PLO police arrested them and
delivered them to a howling mob which turned upon them with a
savagery unparalleled in its barbarity. They cut open the bodies,
tore out their organs and soaked their hands gleefully in their
blood. Those dripping crimson hands were then proudly displayed
before the cheering mob. Not content with having taken Jewish lives,
the bodies were then set ablaze, tied to a car and dragged through
the streets before being returned to the IDF.

And, most recently, a civilian group of Jews on holiday, including
women and infants, made the mistake of taking a hike near Shechem to
visit a lookout point where they could view the Tomb of Joseph. They
were escorted by the IDF when they were attacked by scores of Arabs
with rifles. One of the hikers, Rabbi Herling, a 64 year old father
of eight, was wounded in the attack. For hours these poor people had
to huddle behind rocks and wait for the safety of night until the IDF
would venture forth to rescue them. Unfortunately the rabbi could
not wait and died from wounds that could have and should have been
treated. The fear of Yaacov overruled the vengeance of Shimon and
Levy and the Name of the Living G-d of Israel was, once again
desecrated by our Jewish leaders.

Today we find Arabs shooting into the Jewish Jerusalem community of
Gilo every night. The IDF has a tank poised above the city, but who
can take Jewish threats seriously in view of our government's recent
behavior? The PLO has declared war, and our leaders continue to make
"peace".

In almost every case cited above innocent people were murdered for
the crime of being Jewish. When a Jew is attacked simply because he
is a Jew, it is as if the attacker is trying to kill G-d Himself!
Not to strike back ruthlessly at such an attack is a vile sin against
G-d. When an Arab mob attacks Jews, even with "mere stones", the
proper Jewish response must be to shoot them down. Every rock thrown
is an expression of intent to kill and a direct defiance of the G-d
of Israel. The only response to such an expression must be brutal
and without a shred of mercy. Because we refused to act in such a
manner at the beginning of the intifada, today we have Arafat and the
PLO sitting on Jewish soil, armed with Jewish weapons, ammunition and
army bases, and attacking our soldiers and civilians. And, worst of
all, our leaders still seek to negotiate our existence with the
murderers rather than vanquish them and take back our country!

There is only one way to "stop the violence". Israel must destroy
her enemies. Anything less will guarantee the continuation and
further escalation of violence as we have only begun to see. The cry
of Dina's brothers can be heard in Israel today, "Shall we let them
treat our sister as a whore?" The silent response is deafening.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jewish in Israel Today
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 06:11:41 -0500

http://judaism.about.com/religion/judaism/library/weekly/aa101400a.htm

Jewish in Israel Today
Part 1: Bombs and Plagues

While making a paper chain for our Sukkah, my ten-year-old looks at
me with her big brown eyes and asks, "Was that a bomb?" "Yes" I
answer with as little emotion as possible, "that was a bomb. But it
was in Ramallah, not here in Modiin (a city located 15 miles west of
Ramallah, within the Green Line)."

My seven-year-old then perks up and says "We're going to show the
Arabs." My stomach turns. How do you teach tolerance and non-violent
ways to resolve conflicts to children who are surrounded by news of
kidnapped soldiers (or "grown-napped" as my children refer to the
soldiers' puzzling abduction), pictures of Israeli soldiers shooting
at Arabs throwing stones, shooting guns, and burning tires, and now
the horrendous story of the Ramallah lynch.

I tell the children that the bombs are not meant to hurt anyone. The
Israeli army warned the Palestinians of the bombs three hours ago in
an effort to avoid causalities. The helicopters flying over our heads
and the bombs we are hearing are meant to stop the violence.

Barak's gesture at Camp David, Israel's retreat from Joseph's Tomb,
and Israel's restrained response to the violence have been viewed by
the Palestinians as signs of weakness. And their response to this
weakness has been continued violence. Only when the tanks surrounded
Palestinian cities and helicopters fired on Palestinian targets did
the violence stop.

In preschool, a boy named Yoav used to hit my son. When I asked
four-year-old Yoav why he hit Noam, he looked at me innocently and
said, "because Noam doesn't hit back."

This is the way of the Middle East. Sink or swim. No mercy for the
weak. Only the strong survive. Like Barak explained, we are not
living in some North American or Western European neighborhood. Yoav
will stop hitting when Noam hits back. Palestinian mobs will stop
beating to death and mutilating the bodies of stranded Israelis when
Israel responds with bombs.

My children and I go back to decorating our Sukkah, booths built by
Jews each year as a reminder of our time in the desert during the
exodus from Egypt. How little the world has changed. Only through a
show of strength, once the plagues and now the bombs, can Jews defend
their right to live in freedom in the land of Israel.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Iraq News: More on Iraqi Forces in West - Thurs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 08:49:01 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Subject: [imra-l] Iraq News: More on Iraqi Forces in West - Thursday, October 26, 2000
Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 06:59:22 +0200
Send reply to: imra@netvision.net.il

Iraq News: More on Iraqi Forces in West - Thursday, October 26, 2000

"Laurie Mylroie" <sam11@erols.com>

IRAQ NEWS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2000
I. YED'IOT AHARANOT, IRAQI TROOPS ARE A BIG THREAT, OCT 25
II. YED'IOT AHARANOT, IRAQI TROOPS ARE NOT A BIG THREAT, OCT 25
III. JERUSALEM POST: IRAQI TROOPS NO THREAT AT ALL, OCT 26
IV. DOD: IT'S JUST A TRAINING MISSION, OCT 24
V. IRAQ RADIO, IRAQ MPS URGE TOPPLING SAUDI, KUWAIT REGIMES, OCT 24

Yedi'ot Aharonot (Itamar Eichner) yesterday reported (p. 2), "Israel
is following with concern the Iraqi forces' suspicious moves near Iraq's
border with Jordan and Syria, a senior political source in Jerusalem
confirmed yesterday. . . . Over the past few days, Israel has held
marathon contacts with the United States. . . Israeli sources revealed
that Washington is also concerned by the movement of Iraqi forces. The
United States and Israel have relayed messages to Saddam Hussein through
various elements not to intervene in the crisis with the Palestinians.
'Any action by Iraq will bring about a strong reaction by the United
States,' the US message said. In messages Israel relayed to European
countries, it warned that Saddam might exploit the confrontation with
the Palestinians in the territories to ignite the entire Middle East.
In its contacts with international elements, Israel noted that 'each
time there is a crisis, the alliance between the Palestinians and Iraqis
surfaces.' . . . From reports reaching Jerusalem, it transpires that
other Arab states in the region, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia, are
very concerned by the Iraqi Army movement. Sources in Israel explained
yesterday that Jordan is currently between the hammer and the anvil-
Palestinian riots from the west and Iraqi Army movements from the east."

Yed'iot Aharonot (Ron Ben-Yishay) had a second report yesterday (p.
3). Ben-Yishay wrote an earlier story on the Iraqi troop movements (see
"Iraq News" Oct 20), in which he claimed that the US had reinforced its
forces in the Gulf and Turkey to deal with the Iraqi threat. "Iraq
News" has learned that that is incorrect. There have been no US
reinforcements in the region.
Yesterday Yishai reported, "Saddam Hussein, who has slowly been
gathering a large ground force in western Iraq, is striving for an
escalation in the territories, on the northern border, or both fronts
concurrently. A large-scale escalation would give Iraq a pretext to ask
Syria's or Jordan's permission to admit a large force into their
territory to threaten Israel. At this point, neither the Syrian
president nor the Jordanian king have any intention of allowing Iraq to
enter their country. . . . Saddam, however, believes that in the event
of a conflagaration, Bashar and Abdullah would be hard put to turn him
down. Therefore, he continues to build up a five-division force at
Al-Rutbah, a major crossroads in the desert of Western Iraq. Saddam
also sent an advance force of the Republican Guard's Hammurabi elite
division to area H3, a few dozen kilometers away from the Jordanian
border. . . . The IDF is not truly worried. For the moment [ED: note
time frame], Saddam's move is merely viewed as a propaganda stunt rather
than an operational threat. . . . Although any action by Saddam appears
a remote possibility, Israel knows how unpredictable the Iraqi ruler is
and is aware of his tendency to misread the determination of his
adversaries. Therefore, Israel and the United States hastened to issue
warnings, as they continue to monitor his army's movements."

  Today, the Jerusalem Post gave an even rosier report. "Iraq's massing
of forces near its borders with Jordan and Syria does not pose a
short-term military threat to Israel, and its main purpose is a
'symbolic' show of force for the Palestinians, OC-Operations Maj-Gen.
Giora Eiland said yesterday. . . . The assessment in the IDF is that
Iraqi troops would only be able to reach Israel through Syria or Jordan
in the event of a comprehensive regional war, and 'it seems to me that
we are very far from these scenarios. ' . . . Prof. Amatzia Baram, head
of Haifa University's Jewish-Arab Center and Middle East Institute,
maintains that the current muscle-flexing by Iraq's leader Saddam
Hussein is primarily for internal reasons. 'Saddam wants the
international embargo on Iraq lifted. That is and continues to be his
main aim,' said Baram, who was an adviser to senior officials of US
President Bill Clinton's administration during a recent two-year
sabbatical in America."
   "Iraq News" disagrees with Eiland and Baram. Eiland's statement is
narrowly qualified-Iraq is not "a short-term military threat to Israel."
But are the Iraqi troops politically or militarily a threat to Jordan, a
country whose internal stability is important to Israel? What if Iraq
is acting in concert with Jordan's enemies--like the PLO or the
Jordanian Islamists, with whom Baghdad has long cultivated ties? What
if there is some co-ordination with Syria, which has improved ties with
Iraq since Hafiz al-Assad's death?
   And what if the entire effect of the exercise proves only to be the
enhancement of Iraq's regional standing--and with it, Iraq's
general stance, including its position toward Israel, namely that it
should be destroyed? Is that to be discounted?
   As for Baram, what internal purpose is served by stationing five
divisions in Western Iraq, which, at least in theory, exposes them to
attack by the US or Israel? Moreover, how do the fiery challenges Iraq
has been issuing to virtually every Arab government [see the Iraqi
Leadership statement on the Cairo Summit, "Iraq News" Oct 23] fit in
with the notion that Saddam's main aim is to lift sanctions? If that
were his main aim, why not accept 1284 and with it the much-weakened
version of UNSCOM and do what is necessary to get UNMOVIC to sign off on
Iraq's weapons programs?

   What is one to make of these three Israeli reports? It seems that at
least some in Israel consider the Iraqi troop movements a significant
danger, as indicated in the first report, even if others disagree, as
indicated in the latter two reports. However, they all agree on one
point: the Iraqi troop movements are prompted by the Israeli-Palestinian
strife.
    Yet that is not the US position. As the Pentagon briefer, Oct 24,
stated, "Our best assessment is that [the troop movements] are training
activity. . . The movements seem to be local and, again, training and
administrative in nature. So we'll continue to watch, but we still
don't see anything threatening."
    Iraq has never conducted training exercises like this. Moreover,
such a conclusion entails a willful disregard of contemporary
developments, above all the wide-spread unrest in Arab countries,
including Jordan, triggered by the Palestinian violence. It also
ignores Saddam's Oct 3 statement, "Let them give us a small adjacent
piece of land . . . They will see how we will put an end to Zionism in a
short time" [see "Iraq News" Oct 4]. Indeed, as Jim Hoagland wrote in
his Oct 19 column on terrorism, "Bureaucracies instinctively understand
when they are being asked to avoid forcing hard choices on leaders."

Even as Iraq maintains a significant force in the West, Iraqi threats
to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia continue. As Iraq Radio reported Oct 24, the
Deputy Speaker of Iraq's Nat'l Assembly sent Saddam a cable,
underscoring assembly members' support for the Oct 22 Leadership
Statement, in which "they urged the nation's masses to topple traitors
and agents, particularly the most servile of them, namely, the Saudi and
Kuwaiti rulers, who betrayed Arab honor and will."
A reader, retired from the Pentagon, has offered a radically
different explanation for the Iraqi troop movements in the West. He
proposes that they might be "misdirection." That is, Saddam may be
creating a commotion in the West to draw attention toward that region,
in order to facilitate a military move in the Gulf, aimed at Kuwait
and/or Saudi Arabia, or aimed at seizing critical oil facilities.

I. YED'IOT AHARANOT, IRAQI TROOPS ARE BIG THREAT
Tel Aviv Yedi'ot Aharonot in Hebrew 25 Oct 00 p 2
[Report by Itamar Eichner: "Israel To World Leaders: Calm Down Saddam
Husayn"]
[FBIS Translated Excerpt]
    Israel is following with concern the Iraqi forces' suspicious moves
near Iraq's border with Jordan and Syria, a senior political source in
Jerusalem confirmed yesterday. "A large Iraqi force is deployed in an
offensive formation," political sources in Israel said yesterday.
    According to these sources, "it is probably only a symbolic move,
but we have already seen what happened in Kuwait at the outset of the
Gulf War when the Iraqis invaded Kuwait very easily. If they so wish,
they might erase Jordan on their way to Israel."
    Over the past few days, Israel has held marathon contacts with the
United States in a bid to thwart the possibility of Iraq taking a
military action against it. Israeli sources revealed that Washington is
also concerned by the movement of Iraqi forces. The United States and
Israel have relayed messages to Saddam Husayn through various elements
not to intervene in the crisis with the Palestinians. "Any action by
Iraq will bring about a strong reaction by the United States," the US
message said.
    In messages Israel relayed to European countries, it warned that
Saddam might exploit the confrontation with the Palestinians in the
territories to ignite the entire Middle East. In its contacts with
international elements, Israel noted that "each time there is a crisis,
the alliance between the Palestinians and Iraqis surfaces." [passage
omitted]
    From reports reaching Jerusalem, it transpires that other Arab
states in the region, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia, are very
concerned by the Iraqi Army movement. Sources in Israel explained
yesterday that Jordan is currently between the hammer and the anvil --
Palestinian riots from the west and Iraqi Army movements from the east.
   Government Spokesman Nahman Shay said yesterday: "Iraq is an
unpredictable state. When it shows signs of nervousness we have a reason
to get nervous too. The Iraqi forces are relatively far from the
Jordanian border, but when the Middle Eastern ball starts rolling, no
one knows where will it stop."
[Description of Source: Independent, centrist, largest circulation
Hebrew-language paper]

II. YED'IOT AHARANOT, IRAQI TROOPS ARE NOT A BIG THREAT
Tel Aviv Yedi'ot Aharonot in Hebrew 25 Oct 00 pp 3, 19
[Commentary by Ron Ben-Yishay: "Saddam Is Waiting for a Conflagration"]
[FBIS Translated Text]
   Saddam Husayn, who has slowly been gathering a large ground force in
western Iraq, is striving for an escalation in the territories, on the
northern border, or both fronts concurrently.
   A large-scale escalation would give Iraq a pretext to ask Syria's or
Jordan's permission to admit a large force into their territory to
threaten Israel. Saddam would thus at once be reaccepted into the
Arab world and into its forefront as the man who did not just talk but
also heeded the Palestinian call and went out on a jihad. At this
point, neither the Syrian president nor the Jordanian king have any
intention of allowing Iraq to enter their territory. The two young
rulers know that such a move would be viewed as a total deviation from
the rules of the game with the United States and the Western coalition
that stood up to Saddam.
   They also know that an Iraqi force on their soil would pose a real
threat to their regimes. Saddam, however, believes that in the event of
a conflagration, Bashar and Abdallah would be hard put to turn him down.
Therefore, he continues to build up a five-division force at Al-Rutbah,
a major crossroads in the desert of western Iraq, from which Syria and
Jordan can be reached within hours.
   Saddam also sent an advance force of the Republican Guard's Hammurabi
elite division to area H3, a few dozen kilometers away from the
Jordanian border, to show that he would rather go into a country from
which it's a short way to Jerusalem. For the time being, however, the
Iraqi force has been careful not to move toward Jordan or Syria. For
their part, the Palestinians realize that their association with Saddam
harms their image in the Arab world. Consequently, Arafat and his men
have been taking pains neither to encourage nor to identify with the
Iraqi move. The IDF is not truly worried. For the moment, Saddam's move
is merely viewed as a propaganda stunt rather than an operational
threat. The assessment is that there is no chance that Arab leaders will
accede to Iraq's demand to deploy troops on their territory. The Iraqi
force has no real air cover. If it approaches the Syrian or Jordanian
border, it will be exposed to Israeli, US, and British air attacks.
Nevertheless, the IDF is taking into account the possibility that Saddam
might send a number of jet fighters to attack Israeli population centers
even before he tries to move his ground forces. He is not likely to try
to launch Scud missiles. First of all, it is not clear whether they are
operational. Then, even if they are, he would be loathe to use them
because this would prove that he had deceived the UN inspectors.
Although any action by Saddam appears a remote possibility, Israel knows
how unpredictable the Iraqi ruler is and is aware of his tendency to
misread the determination of his adversaries. Therefore, Israel and the
United States hastened to issue warnings, as they continue to monitor
his army's movements.

III. JERUSALEM POST: IRAQI TROOPS ONLY SYMBOLIC
The Jerusalem Post
Thursday, October 26 2000
OC Operations: Iraqi troop movements 'symbolic'
By Arieh O' Sullivan, Nina Gilbert, and David Rudge
JERUSALEM (October 26) - Iraq's massing of forces near its borders with
Jordan and Syria does not pose a short-term military threat to Israel,
and its main purpose is a "symbolic" show of support for the
Palestinians, OC Operations Maj.-Gen. Giora Eiland said yesterday.
   Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Eiland
said the moves are Iraq's way of showing that it is doing more than
other Arab states that are "just talking" about solidarity with the
Palestinians, and another attempt by Iraq to take advantage of the
situation to move back into the Arab fold.
   The assessment in the IDF is that Iraqi troops would only be able to
reach Israel through Syria or Jordan in the event of a comprehensive
regional war, and "it seems to me we are very far from these scenarios,"
Eiland said.
   Eiland later told military reporters that at lease one division, the
elite Hammurabi Division of Special Republican Guards, already is in
western Iraq, and there are plans to bring in "another few divisions."
   As for the potential threat from Baghdad, the IDF assessment is that
Iraq may have a few Scuds hidden away, but would not risk using them
against Israel and showing the world that they were lying all along
about having destroyed them all.
   "For now we shouldn't do any thing other than keep monitoring" the
Iraqi troops, Eiland said.
   In the United States, Pentagon officials said the movement of the
Iraqi troops was part of their annual training cycle.
   "Our best assessment is that it is, indeed, training activity and
that they have not postured themselves... to do some threatening act
toward any of their neighbors," Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon
spokesman, told reporters.
   Prof. Amatzia Baram, head of Haifa University's Jewish-Arab Center
and Middle East Institute, maintains that the current muscle-flexing by
Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein is primarily for internal reasons.
   "Saddam wants the international embargo on Iraq lifted. That is and
continues to be his main aim," said Baram, who was an adviser to senior
officials of US President Bill Clinton's administration during a recent
two-year sabbatical in America.

IV. DOD: IT'S JUST A TRAINING MISSION
DoD News Briefing
Tuesday, October 24, 2000 - 1:30 p.m. EDT
Presenter: Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley, DASD PA
[Excerpt]
Q: Could you give us an update, please, on the movement of Iraqi troops
that was of some concern to U.S. officials?
Quigley: You will still see, west of Baghdad, a sizeable collection of
Iraqi units. We have continued to watch these over the past -- gosh,
two, three weeks, I guess, Mik, something in that ballpark. This is --
as we've said before, this is their annual training cycle for the Iraqi
armed forces. We continue to pay very close attention to what they're
doing.
Our best assessment is that it is indeed training activity, and that
they have not postured themselves to be in a threatening posture from
which they would do some threatening act towards any of their neighbors.
There's still a lot of Iraq to the west of where the forces are located.
The movements seem to be local and, again, training and administrative
in nature. So we'll continue to watch, but we still don't see anything
threatening.
Q: In the Middle East it's being interpreted as a massing of Iraqi
troops on their western border in support of Palestinians. That's the
way it's being interpreted in Israel.
Quigley: I can't speak to the motivation of placing them west of
Baghdad, as they have. But I would not agree with that characterization.
Like I say, there's a lot of Iraq to the west of where these forces are
located, and they don't have with them the essential elements of
logistic support that you would require in order to use them in an
offensive or a threatening manner.
Q: So --
Quigley: So we very much think that it is training-related, as part of
their annual training cycle.
Q: And you wouldn't characterize it as massing on the border of Syria,
for example?
Quigley: I would not characterize it that way.
Q: This is the Hammurabi --
Q: Can you give us a ballpark estimate of how many? What size the force
is?
Quigley: I don't have that with me. I'll see if I can get it.
Q: That is the Hammurabi Division, though, right?
Quigley: Yes.
Q: Is there any sign that they've moved aircraft south of the no-fly
line?
Quigley: No. We have no indications of that yet, either. I mean, that's
another one of the elements, David, that you don't see. I mentioned
logistics, but there's other elements that you would need to have
relatively co-located if your intent was threatening and to put in an
offensive posture, and that's another item that we don't see present in
that vicinity with the forces west of Baghdad. . . .
Q: So you're not -- the forces aren't south of 36, are they?
Quigley: No. No. No. They're west of Baghdad and a little northwest.

V. IRAQ RADIO, IRAQ MPS URGE TOPPLING SAUDI, KUWAIT REGIMES
Iraqi Assembly Members Cable Saddam, Urge Toppling Saudi, Kuwaiti
Regimes
Baghdad Republic of Iraq Radio Main Service in Arabic 1500 GMT 24 Oct 00
[FBIS Translated Text]
    The National Assembly members, representatives of the people, have
renewed the pledge to God-supported leader President Saddam Husayn to
engage in jihad behind his historic leadership in response to the appeal
he has made. They vowed to epitomize the great values and noble
scrupulous spirit permeating the statement issued by the joint meeting
of the National Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'th Party, the
Revolution Command Council, and the party's Iraq Command.
    They urged the nation's masses to topple traitors and agents,
particularly the most servile of them; namely, the Saudi and Kuwaiti
rulers, who betrayed Arab honor and will.
    In a cable sent on their behalf by National Assembly Deputy Speaker
Hamid Rashid al-Rawi, the assembly members added: The nation's traitors
installed by foreigners have confirmed anew that they lost all
magnanimity and affiliation to this mujahid nation. Their failing
resolutions expressed their capitulatory and defeatist spirit. They
came in response to the demands of their imperialist masters, the
criminal Americans and Zionists. Meanwhile, the voice of truth comes
from Baghdad, the epitome of fairness, Arabism, Islam, and jihad, to
express the nation's conscience and desire to lead a free and dignified
life.
[Description of Source: Official radio station of the Iraqi Government]

------- End of forwarded message -------

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Egyptian daily cites Arafat's 'ingratitude'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 08:51:02 -0400

Thursday, October 26, 2000

Egyptian daily cites Arafat's 'ingratitude'

By Daniel Sobelman
Ha'aretz Correspondent

The state-affiliated Egyptian daily Al Gumhuria sharply accused the PA of
ingratitude yesterday, confirming a trend of cooling relations between Egypt
and the Palestinians.

The newspaper said the Palestinian Authority leadership failed to appreciate
President Hosni Mubarak's efforts on its behalf. Heading his piece
"Palestinians and Ingratitude," Al Gumhuria editor Samir Ragab wrote that
Mubarak was leader of the group of Arab statesman who "boldly supported
the Al-Aqsa intifada."

Rajab, who has close ties to Mubarak, wrote that Egypt's president has
never stopped making "sacrifices to provide shelter to Palestinians ... to help
them, to defend them from killings and massacres, and to fight for their
rights."

"Although it would be expected that the Palestinians, all of their
organizations and sub-groups, would at the very least offer a prayer to give
thanks to Almighty Allah who has provided the Arab people with a leader
such as Hosni Mubarak, a man who has devoted his whole life to the Arab
cause," the Palestinians have turned their backs on Egypt's leader, Rajab
wrote.

"Regrettably, the Palestinians have shed their robes of morality and loyalty
and started to attack Egypt and its leader in loathsome, foul ways, claiming
that he [Mubarak] put pressure on Arafat during the Sharm el-Sheikh
summit."

Rajab's article is the first unbridled public display of Egyptian anger against
Arafat. The Egyptian leadership is clearly angry that Arafat tried to push Arab
leaders into adopting harsh anti-Israeli positions, contrary to Mubarak's
wishes.

A straw in the wind that hinted at Mubarak's changing attitude to Arafat was
seen before the recent Arab summit. The Egyptian President did not go to
Cairo airport to greet Arafat when he arrived.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=10/26/00&
id=98072

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - FW: Israel - Submarine
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 08:17:23 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: alert@stratfor.com [mailto:alert@stratfor.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 8:24 PM
To: redalert@stratfor.com
Subject: Israel - Submarine

Stratfor.com's Global Intelligence Update - 26 October 2000
_________________________________________________

What in the world is going on?

Also on Stratfor.com

Peru's political crisis intensifies with the unexpected return of
former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos. Is President Fujimori firmly
in charge, as he claims to be, or is his former henchman pulling
the strings in a plan that may soon force the president to step
aside?
http://www.stratfor.com/latinamerica/analysis/0010260025.htm

_________________________________________________

Israel Moves - Quickly - To Beef Up Its Submarine Force

Summary

Citing "security reasons", the Israeli government has decided to
speed up the shipment of a new submarine from Germany. Israel
reportedly has plans to equip the submarine to attack land-based
targets with nuclear weapons. Israel does not appear to have
immediate naval security concerns because of its Arab neighbors.
The delivery of the submarine most likely is intended to complete a
nuclear land-attack capability to deter the current crisis from
descending into region-wide war or allow Israel to fight one, if
necessary.

Analysis

The Tekuma, the last of three new, German-built, Dolphin-class
submarines, has been rushed from Germany to Israel for "security
reasons", an army spokesman said on military radio Oct. 24. The
craft has been in Germany while the crew underwent training.

The Israeli military appears to be completing the development of a
second-strike nuclear land-attack capability. Fighting between
Palestinians and Israelis is likely to go on for months. And if
tension in the Middle East descends into regional war, damaging
Israel's land-based nuclear weapons, the Israeli navy can still
field a surviving submarine-based force capable of launching an
attack.

Despite the progress that has been made, the regional crisis has
not yet ended. Although the key regional actor, Egypt, has made a
strategic choice for peace, anti-Israeli sentiment continues to
build, inflamed by continued violence in the Palestinian
territories. In a weakened state, Israel's prime minister is
increasingly desperate and his government appears, as a result, to
have hastened delivery of the new submarine.
_______________________________________________________________

For more on the Middle East and Africa, see:
http://www.stratfor.com/MEAF/default.htm
_____________________________________________________________

Tekuma is the last of three Dolphin-class submarines, built and
largely subsidized by Germany expressly for deployment by the
Israeli navy in Mediterranean waters. The German decision to
underwrite the Israeli Dolphin program stems from the 1991 Persian
Gulf War, when Iraq struck Israel with Scuds, equipped with
warheads at least partially developed by German firms.
Subsequently, Helmut Kohl, the chancellor at the time, offered
military assistance, including construction of two of the three
Dolphin submarines. The Germans helped pay for the first two;
Israel financed the Tekuma.

The diesel-powered Dolphins will reportedly replace Israel's three
aging German submarines, which entered service in 1977. The 187-
foot Tekuma weighs 1,700 tons and can accommodate a crew of 35 for
more than one month of continuous operations. The Dolphin class is
designed for interdiction, surveillance and special-forces
operations and is designed to travel at maximum speeds of 20 knots
with a cruising range of 4,500 nautical miles. The vessel has 10
torpedo tubes and is capable of launching Harpoon missiles.

While the vessel is designed for a standard attack role, Israel has
comparatively little to fear from the Egyptian or Syrian navies.
The Egyptian navy is primarily focused on coastal defense and its
submarine fleet only consists of four old Romeo class patrol
submarines. The last significant improvement of its navy was in
1996; the four subs underwent a $133 million upgrade to acquire the
capability to fire anti-ship missiles and NT37 wire-guided
torpedoes. The Syrian navy is in worse shape; its three Romeo class
submarines are non-operational, according to London's International
Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). At least one reportedly
sank pier-side in the mid-1990s.

Israel's eagerness to deploy the submarine probably is intended as
a deterrent to regional war. Jane's International Defense Review
(IDR) reported in September 1999 that sources close to the German
construction project said Israel was planning to equip the Dolphins
with a nuclear land-attack capability shortly after the submarine's
arrival. This was to be done by modifying U.S.-supplied Sub-Harpoon
missiles with an indigenously developed nuclear warhead and
guidance kit. Each Dolphin would reportedly be able to carry five
modified Sub-Harpoons, with a range of 80 miles, as well as 16
torpedoes.
__________________________________________________________________

For more on Israel, see:
http://www.stratfor.com/MEAF/countries/Israel/default.htm
_____________________________________________________________

As well, Israel clearly has an interest in land-attack missiles. In
January, Israel asked the United States to sell it 50 Tomahawk
land-attack cruise missiles to enhance its deep-strike capabilities
under its wide-ranging strategic defense program, according to
Jane's Missiles and Rockets. It was not clear whether Israel was
seeking air- or sea-launched variants, but the mission of the
Israeli navy traditionally coastal defense and maritime supply
route protection is expanding to include a stronger deterrent and
survivable nuclear-strike capability.

Washington rejected Israel's request in March, prompting concern
that Israel may develop its own indigenous long-range cruise
missile. Shortly after the rejection, an Israeli official told
Defense News, "History has taught us that we cannot wait
indefinitely for Washington to satisfy our military requirements.
If this weapon system is denied to us, we will have little choice
but to activate our own defense industry in pursuit of this needed
capability."

Indeed, Israel may have already developed cruise missiles on its
own. The London Sunday Times reported June 18 that Israel had test-
fired domestic-produced cruise missiles from its newly acquired
Dolphin-class submarine off Sri Lanka in May. And the U.S. National
Air Intelligence Center warned the U.S. Congress in July 1998 that
Israel was developing a cruise missile believed to be the Rafael-
produced Popeye Turbo missile with a range of 215 miles that was
expected to be operational by 2002. Although the Popeye Turbo is
promoted as an air-launched weapon, it may be adapted for submarine
launch.

If Israel has managed to create its own submarine-launched cruise
missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, it would mark a
major step in its nuclear capability and throw the balance of power
further in Israel's favor.

Israel is clearly concerned that the current crisis still has
potential to pull in surrounding Arab nations and blow up into a
regional war. Israeli military doctrine has always focused on
immediate threats from its Arab neighbors, strong deterrence and a
first-strike capability. Israel may be hoping its increased
readiness will further deter Arab nations from involving themselves
in a larger war.

_______________________________________________

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See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Chinese army fires super-gun
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 09:40:49 -0400

Chinese army
fires super-gun
New weapon with 200-mile range
capable of raining bombs on Taiwan

By Charles Smith
� 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

Shocking the international military community like Saddam Hussein did
with his 512-foot-long super-gun in 1990, the Chinese army has tested
its "Taiwan rocket gun," a new weapon with a range of over 200 miles.

According to a recent report translated from the China Wen Hui Bao
daily, "China has tested a newly developed rocket gun, named the WS-1B,
which claims to have a range of 360 kilometers, the longest range in the
world of a weapon of its kind."

Beijing's rocket gun has already raised concern inside the island nation
of Taiwan. "The Chinese rocket gun could hit any area of Taiwan within
minutes, if fired from the coast," stated a report filed this month by
the Taipei Times.

Frank Gaffney

"Various people have been working on this type of technology for some
time," noted Frank Gaffney, noted defense analyst, president of the
Center for Security Policy and a former assistant secretary of defense
under President Reagan.

"It stands to reason that the Chinese communists would be interested in
having the capability to attack Taiwan without having to use missiles.
Although I think that when they go, they are not going to be terribly
hung up about breaching the missile 'threshold.' Witness their 1996
missile shots into Taiwan's territorial waters," said Gaffney.

Reports have surfaced before in the Chinese press suggesting that
Beijing was developing a super-gun. According to a Sept. 1999 article
published by Janes Defense, "reports from Hong Kong say that China North
Industries Corporation has developed a new long-range artillery system,
described as a 'super range rocket gun,' with a range of 360
kilometers."

The Iraqi Babylon super-gun lies in ruins after the Gulf War.

"The new reports note that the WS-1B is an artillery rocket," stated
defense analyst Richard Fisher, a senior fellow at the Jamestown
Foundation. According to Fisher, the Chinese super-gun may be more a
rocket than a gun.

"If the PLA were to have such a missile, that would mean that they have
the ability to produce a precision strike SRBM that likely would cost
much less than their DF-15 and DF-11 missiles, and that would allow a
much higher salvo launch rate," Fisher said. "This kind of missile
deserves close monitoring as it has the potential to rapidly increase
the PLA's missile inventory aimed at Taiwan."

According to another defense expert, Beijing may not have to fire its
new rocket gun at Taiwan. Instead, Red China may use its new
super-weapon to win a war of diplomacy with the tiny island democracy.

"Back in the 1980s, people like Norman Podhoretz suggested that the
Soviet arms buildup was not intended to conquer Europe, but to
'Finlandize' it, reducing it to neutrality and trading with the Soviet
Union on Soviet terms," stated defense analyst Philip Gold, a senior
fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute.

"We now know that the Soviet arms buildup was driven far more by
internal dynamics than by coherent grand strategy, but I wonder if China
might not intend to 'Finlandize' Taiwan," suggested Gold.

In March, WorldNetDaily reported that the Taiwan rocket gun is known to
be directly related to Hussein's Babylon super-gun. According to the
intelligence source who told WorldNetDaily about the new Chinese weapon,
Dr. Gerald Vincent Bull, the designer of the Iraqi Babylon gun, assisted
the Chinese artillery maker Norinco in its development of a super-gun.

Bull, considered a rogue scientist, worked with Iraq during the 1980s to
develop the Babylon weapon capable of striking Israel. Bull also helped
Iraq improve its SCUD missiles. The Iraqi super-gun project was
discovered by British intelligence and shut down prior to the Gulf War.
That gun was never used, but a smaller gun -- "Baby Babylon" -- was
fired successfully. In 1990, Bull was found murdered outside his Belgian
apartment, allegedly killed by Israeli agents.

The German Paris gun from World War I.

The 18th century science fiction novelist H.G. Wells popularized giant
guns. Nazi Germany, hoping to bombard Britain during World War II,
unsuccessfully developed a super-gun codenamed V-3, which was similar to
the Iraqi Babylon cannon. Other large German siege guns were often given
nicknames such as "Big Bertha" or "Anzio Annie" by the Allied troops
that suffered under their shelling. The largest German-designed gun, the
World War I Paris gun, fired shells over 70 miles into the French
capital.

Super-guns became less attractive after World War II with the
introduction of small nuclear warheads and long-range missiles. The
Chinese weapon developed by Bull is considered large enough to hurl
large chemical or nuclear bombs on Taiwan.

The Chinese army rocket gun may also have an American guidance system.
Beijing military sources openly noted that the rocket gun is capable of
striking Taiwan from the Chinese mainland with various types of
warheads, including guided smart bombs. The report from the China Wen
Hui Bao daily noted that "guidance options include the use of GPS," the
American-built Global Positioning Satellite navigation system.

Administration documents show that GPS technology was transferred to
China with the approval both President Clinton and Vice President Al
Gore. According to a 1997 Rand report, in 1996, the Clinton-Gore
administration approved the sale of GPS navigation systems directly to a
company owned by the Chinese army.

The GPS technology transfer was labeled "disturbing" and "raised serious
concerns" in the 1997 Rand Corporation report on the Chinese military
industry. The Rand report was made public in a 1998 federal lawsuit
filed against the U.S. Commerce Department.

"The most troubling potential transfer to China is Rockwell's proposed
joint venture deal with the Shanghai Broadcast Equipment Factory and the
Shanghai Avionics Corporation, the latter of which is a key enterprise
of the Aviation Industries of China," states the 1997 Rand report.

"More accurate GPS systems would enhance the PLA's ability to carry out
attacks against Taiwan's military and industrial facilities, potentially
reducing the ability of the Taiwanese military to defend itself against
PRC coercive diplomacy," the report notes.

"The use of GPS to enhance the accuracy of long-range Chinese cruise
missiles, coupled with long-range sensors, would raise serious concerns
for the U.S. 7th Fleet in the Pacific and possibly circumscribe their
ability to provide an effective deterrent in a crisis over Taiwan,"
concluded the Rand Corporation report.

Related stories:

Arab weapon sale raises security questions

U.S. shares defense data with China

China to launch missiles near Taiwan

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_smith_news/20001026_xnsof_chinese
_ar.shtml

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Scholars demand access to Vatican's archives
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 09:40:49 -0400

Thursday, October 26, 2000

Scholars demand access to Vatican's archives

By Lorenzo Cremonesi and Agencies

VATICAN CITY - "Why did Pope Pius XII grant his approval to the anti-
Semitic policies of the Vichy government, on condition that they be
'administered with charity'?"

"Why was the Holy See opposed to the immigration of Jewish children to
Palestine, knowing full well that were they to stay in Europe they would be
sent to the gas chambers?"

"What was the answer of Pius XII to the repeated and desperate appeals by
the bishop of Berlin, Konrad Von Preysing, asking him to condemn the
extermination of the Jews?" These are some of the questions posed by "The
Vatican and the Holocaust: A Preliminary Report", being released in Rome
today.

It was hoped this report would put an end once and for all to the debate
surrounding the so-called "silence of Pius XII" during the Holocaust. However,
the preliminary report prepared by the International Catholic-Jewish Historical
Commission - comprising three Jewish and three Catholic historians - very
carefully eschews any final conclusion, choosing instead to focus on a long
list of questions.

The 47 questions, covering only 22 pages, are very tough and will certainly
not help to resolve the debate. On the contrary, they can be expected to
rekindle it with even greater force. The scholars also repeated, inter alia,
complaints of Vatican silence over the Nazi occupation of Catholic Poland
and asked if there was further documentation "with regard to ... insistent
(international) appeals on behalf of the Poles."

Behind the report is a demand from the scholars for greater access to
Vatican archives. This is the only clear-cut assertion the report makes - the
Holy See must open its archives to further research. Hence the scholars
have raised these explosive questions about the Vatican's silence amid
contemporary reports of deportations and killings of Jews and the invasion of
Poland.

The study makes clear the Vatican was getting reports from its bishops and
diplomats early in the war about the persecution of Jews in France, Romania
and other countries, and asks how the Pope and high Vatican officials
responded. The commission started work 11 months ago during the debate
over assertions by some historians that Pius XII could have done more to
save Jews.

"In the Vatican, it was originally hoped that the final document would
corroborate the 11 volumes of diplomatic documents pertaining to the period
of 1939-45, released by the Vatican between 1965 and the early '80s," says
commission member Robert Wistrich, a historian at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.

"Perhaps the Vatican was hoping to get a green light for the beatification of
Pacelli (Pope Pius XII). Following our research however, the doubts are even
greater than before."

The scholars in the committee were named following an agreement between
the Vatican and the International Jewish Committee for Inter-Religious
Consultations. They originally planned a news conference for today at a hotel
inside Vatican City, but the site was changed to an ecumenical center
outside the Vatican.

The three Catholic scholars are Eva Fleischner, professor emerita at
Montclair State University in New Jersey; the Rev. Gerald P. Fogarty of the
University of Virginia's religious studies department, and the Rev. F. John
Morley of Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

The Jewish representatives are Wistrich, Michael R. Marrus of the University
of Toronto, an expert on Holocaust studies, and Bernard Suchecky of the
Free University of Brussels, the author of a book on Pius XI and his famous
condemnation of Nazi anti-Semitism in 1938. Lorenzo Cremonesi is a
correspondent for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=10/26/00&
id=98083

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - New Scientist items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 09:47:28 -0400

NEW SCIENTIST WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
No 57, 28 October 2000

In a hypersonic wind tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Virginia, a cone-shaped vehicle is causing a stir among
aeronautical engineers. The model's generator sends a beam of microwaves
upstream into the Mach 6 flow, dramatically reducing drag by enabling
the craft to fly through the resulting plasma - a boiling mix of
positive ions and electrons. This could revolutionise the way aircraft
fly, save fuel and herald a new age of travel. The possibility that
plasmas could provide the ultimate invisibility shield for stealth
aircraft is also sending ripples of excitement through the secret world
of military aerospace research.
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1028/plasma.html

INDELIBLE EVIDENCE
Earlier this year a woman was sacked by a British aviation company
because emails she had sent and subsequently deleted from her Sent Items
box had been recovered by her employers. Working as a personal
assistant, she had been emailing her former boss, who had left the
company to set up a rival business. The problem arises because hitting
Delete doesn't actually destroy data at all. It's like removing the page
number and the reference in the table of contents. According to James
Rosenbaum, a district judge in Minnesota, a computer "never forgets, and
never forgives". Now Rosenbaum is proposing to change the law to ensure
that data you delete disappears for good, at least as far as any court
is concerned.
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1028/indelible.html

AND FINALLY...
...Not long ago we drew your attention to a revolutionary laptop computer
with a smart cloth keyboard which you could simply sew into the front of
your clothes. Today we bring you news of garments with "virtual pockets"
made from touch-sensitive fabrics. Just tap away at a virtual pocket, for
example, and your shopping list should flash up on the screen of your PDA.
Best of luck...
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/1028/sock.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinian negotiator demands Russia, UN, China now be involved.
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 09:57:40 -0400

THURSDAY OCTOBER 26 2000

Palestinian snub greets Clinton call for peace talks in US

FROM SAM KILEY IN JERUSALEM

PRESIDENT CLINTON has invited Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, and
Ehud Barak, the Israeli Prime Minister, to separate Washington meetings
in the hope of rekindling the peace process.

“I think the violence can be dramatically reduced,” the President said.

However, he added that there were doubts about just how effective talks
with the two leaders might be. “I think that there are probably some
people within the Palestinian territories and probably some people
within Israel that are not within total control of Chairman Arafat or
even the Israeli Government,” he said.

The invitation was immediately snubbed by the chief Palestinian
negotiator, who demanded that Russia, the United Nations and China
should now be involved. The Russians have indicated a willingness to try
to revive their influence in the Middle East.

The Palestinians claim that outside parties are needed to guarantee the
“principles” of any agreement, meaning observance of UN resolutions.
They believe that the US has thrown its weight too heavily behind Israel
in a year in which President Clinton has an interest in his wife
Hillary�s New York campaign for the Senate and his Vice-President is
trying to win the White House.

The US told its citizens to stay away from Israel and the Palestinian
territories. Israel expects bombings inspired by the strengthening ties
between radical Islamic guerrilla groups and Mr Arafat.

According to Israeli intelligence sources and military commanders,
Israel was “expecting a terror attack any second” because Mr Arafat�s
Palestinian National Authority had released a number of the region�s
most “dangerous bomb-makers”.

The release of alleged guerrillas from Hamas and Islamic Jihad was being
seen by Israel as a quid pro quo: Hamas and Islamic Jihad have supported
Mr Arafat�s Fatah organisation on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza.

Having apparently abandoned the Oslo peace process, which a dozen
radical groups opposed from the outset, Mr Arafat has been able to
invite them to join some of his “steering committees”, which claim to be
planning the uprising.

In reality, Palestinian and Israeli sources agreed, neither Mr Arafat
nor the radical Palestinian groups had predicted the level of street
violence, which threatened to bring chaos through a leadership vacuum
when the Palestinian territories exploded.

Ghassan Khatib, Professor of Politics at Bir Zeit University, said: “It
was possible for Fatah to move quickly, adopt the language of the
streets and create an umbrella for all organisations fighting for
independence. Fatah moved just in time.

“The natural home for angry crowds and the relatives of the slain is
with Hamas. The mood was suitable for them and they had the strongest
support by far. Luckily for Fatah, they have been able to co-opt the
Islamic groups, for the time being.”

Because of that political alliance, some of the world�s most dangerous
men are believed to be on the loose, planning bomb attacks. This week
the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, boasted that some men
had already infiltrated Israel and would strike soon.

Meanwhile, Israel and its radical Palestinian opponents are locked in a
cyber- war that has caused severe problems to Israel�s biggest server.
NetVision, host to all its institutions, including the Armed Forces, has
spent several days under “cyber-attack” and programmers have worked long
days setting up extra defences.

Gilad Rabinowitz, NetVision�s chief executive, said: “Hackers who are
trying to crash the official state websites have overloaded NetVision�s
Internet infrastructure, thus damaging the service provided to the
company�s clients.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,25340,00.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinians seek UN protection force
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 09:59:32 -0400

Thursday, October 26 2:52 AM SGT

Palestinians seek UN protection force

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 25 (AFP) -

The Palestinian representative at the United Nations on Wednesday
demanded that the Security Council meet to consider sending a UN force to
protect Palestinians citizens from Israeli violence.

In a letter to council president Martin Andjaba of Namibia, Palestinian
representative Nasser Al-Kidwa requested that the meeting consider sending
UN troops to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, scene of
nearly four weeks of Israeli-Palestinian clashes that have left some 140
people dead.

On Sunday, an emergency Arab summit in Cairo urged the United Nations to
"guarantee the protection" of the Palestinian people against Israel.

Last week, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning
Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinian civilians.

http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=asia/headline
s/001026/world/afp/Palestinians_seek_UN_protection_force.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - End of Darwinism?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 12:26:57 -0500

October 25, 2000

End of Darwinism?
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-2000102516299.htm

Philip Gold

In 1962, an historian of science named Thomas Kuhn published a book
titled, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." He argued that science
(and, when you get down to it, most everything else) works on the basis of
paradigms, of general notions of The Way It Is. Study concentrates on
validating, expanding, and tidying the dominant paradigm. Gradually,
however, anomalies, discrepancies and contradictions begin to accumulate.
The paradigm breaks down; another takes its place in a paradigm shift. The
process begins again. The Earth is the center of the universe. The sun is
the center of the universe. The universe has no center. And on and on.

At the moment, the various paradigms provided by the scientists and
allegedly scientific thinkers of the 19th and early 20th century West are
failing: this is the necessary prelude to the next set of shifts. Karl Marx
has been consigned to the trash compactor of history. Sigmund Freud has been
composted. Albert Einstein is in trouble. (The speed of light isn't
constant, and may have been exceeded recently in, of all places, New
Jersey.) Of the great thinkers who fashioned the modern worldview, only one
- Charles Darwin - remains inviolable. To question is to invite automatic
dismissal as a religious wacko, a low-dull-normal ignoramus, or both. And if
you are a scientist, don't expect a lot of establishment funding . . . or
cocktail party invitations.

This is odd. Evolutionary materialism - the belief that life arose and
evolved by chance - is, after all, a mid-19th century notion. Since then,
this paradigm has remained, by modern scientific standards, virtually
stagnant. The missing links and vital fossil records have not been found.
The list of things the paradigm can't explain, from the Cambrian Explosion
and Chinese fossil records to the incredible and irreducible complexity of a
single cell, keeps growing. And now comes Jonathan Wells to show that many
of the traditional proofs of Darwinian evolution are at best open to
multiple interpretations, and are at worst . . . faked.

Jonathan Wells holds two Ph.D.s, one in biology from the University of
California-Berkeley and one in religious studies from Yale. He is a senior
fellow of the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture at the
Seattle-based Discovery Institute (with which I am also affiliated) and one
of the luminaries of the emerging Intelligent Design movement: the
scientific attempt to study evidence of intelligent design in the physical
and biological realms without asserting either the identity or the intent of
the designer. Many of the movement's scientists hold strong religious
beliefs and attempt to draw cultural and theological implications out of the
work. But the fundamental issue here is scientific truth, and the movement
will stand or fall as science.

Mr. Wells is a member of the Intelligent Design movement, but
concentrates on Darwinism. It's a longstanding interest. As a graduate
student in embryology, Mr. Wells noticed that evolutionary biology textbooks
misrepresented the development of vertebrate embryos. Now he has a new book
out, "Icons of Evolution" (Regnery) that dissects 10 commonly invoked
evidences for Darwinian evolution. "Writing the book," he says, "I felt like
a dentist going into a very bad mouth. The more I dug, the more rot I
found."

"Icons of Evolution" is a meticulous book, intended for a general
readership. He starts with an unassailable premise: Testing theories against
the evidence never ends. If a theory cannot hold up against the evidence, it
must be altered or discarded. No exceptions. He then works through the
icons, from the Darwinian Tree of Life to peppered moths and embryos and
finch beaks. With each passing chapter, Darwinian evolution looks less like
science and more like myth . . . or, more aptly, a paradigm in serious need
of shifting.

Why hasn't it happened? Many reasons. One is pure self-interest. The
Darwinian High Priesthood stands to lose a great deal if they're wrong.
Another is that Darwinian materialism is impossible to test empirically;
evolutionary time is too long, past conditions too hard to define and/or
reproduce. Reality caught up with Karl Marx's risky scheme. Ditto Freud and
the psychobabble-infested civilization he did so much to spawn. Einstein's
work can be, and is being, modified by empirical research. Evolution is not.

But perhaps the greatest reason for Darwinism's survival is that,
culturally, it's too useful for some folks to live without. It is a dandy
way of thumping the Bible-thumpers. And if it is true we're nothing but
accidental creatures, purely and merely physical and endowed with neither
purpose nor rights, then anything goes. From anarchy to tyranny, from Jack
Kevorkian to Britney Spears there are no standards, and therefore who is to
judge?

And yet, humans find it impossible to live without some sort of
spirituality, leading to notions of dignity, purpose and rights. We know
that, in some way or other, we're more than flesh. Materialism's official
creed may be, "If it isn't matter, it doesn't matter." But it's also Carl
Sagan's rapt, "We are the universe looking at itself."

At the moment, Intelligent Design's in a deconstructionist mode.
Destroying Darwinism does not automatically validate Genesis or any
particular alternative. Will Intelligent Design ever achieve full paradigm
status? Perhaps the day an article appears in some prestigious, peer-review
journal, beginning: "We have discovered the identity and intent of the
Intelligent Designer."

Probably followed by, "And we've got some good news and some bad news."

Until then, do read "Icons of Evolution" and the other fine books
coming out of the Intelligent Design movement. You owe it to yourself.

And to the universe.

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Faithfully Following The Script-ures
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 12:29:40 -0500

From: Arts and Lifestyle | Television |
Wednesday, October 25, 2000

Faithfully Following The Script-ures
http://www.nydailynews.com/2000-10-25/New_York_Now/Television/a-85678.asp

In last week's episode of "The West Wing," President Josiah Bartlet (Martin
Sheen) sarcastically confronted conservative radio personality Jenna Jacobs
(Claire Yarlett), who alone remained seated when the President appeared at
an informal White House reception for radio talk-show hosts.

Bartlet, an economist and former governor of New Hampshire, possesses a
precise knowledge of biblical text.

Here is the conclusion of the tense and electric confrontation between
Bartlet and Jacobs, taken from a script provided to The News by Sorkin:

Bartlet: I enjoy your show. I like how you call homosexuality an
abomination.

Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The
Bible does.

Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.

Jacobs: 18:22.

Bartlet: Chapter, verse. And I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while
I had you here.

I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian and always
cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be?

While you're thinking about that, can I ask another? My chief of staff, Leo
McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he
should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it
okay to call the police?

Here's one that's important, 'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this
town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean - Leviticus 11:7. If
they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play
football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point?

Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John,
for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small
family gathering for wearing garments made of two different threads?

Think about those questions, would you?

One last thing: While you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of
the ignorant tight-a-- club, in this building, when the President stands,
nobody sits.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Fewer reading Bible regularly, poll says
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 12:34:22 -0500

SPIRITUAL LIFE
Fewer reading Bible regularly, poll says

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/295/metro/Fewer_reading_Bible_regularly_poll_says+.shtml
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 10/21/2000

The number of Americans who regularly read the Bible has dropped considerably
in recent years, but most Americans say they still look at the Bible once in
awhile.

That's among the key findings of a new Gallup Poll of Americans' Bible
habits.

The poll, released yesterday, also found the individual book Americans rate
highest is the Book of Psalms. The poll found women, non-whites, the
elderly, and conservatives are the most likely to be found curled up with
the Good Book.

''A significant percentage of Americans continue to say they read the Bible,
at least occasionally, even though we're in a so-called secular
environment,'' said Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll.

The poll was a random national sample of about 1,000 adults. One of its most
unusual findings is that people who read the Bible are likely to be more
content with their own lives, but more unhappy about the state of the
nation.

''Those who read the Bible most frequently are most likely to be
dissatisfied with the way things are going,'' Newport said. ''Our
speculation is that people who read the Bible are more critical of secular
culture and are dissatisfied with a perceived moral decline.''

About 59 percent of Americans say they read the Bible occasionally today,
down from 73 percent in the 1980s. Respondents who say they read the Bible
weekly dropped to 37 percent from 40 percent; 16 percent of Americans now
say they read the Bible daily, while 41 percent say they read it rarely or
never.

Gallup polls have continually found a high percentage of Americans believing
in God and claiming to attend church, and this poll continued to demonstrate
Americans' avowed faith: 65 percent of Americans said the Bible answers all
or most of the basic questions of life. The less educated a person, the more
likely he or she is to find those answers in the Bible, the poll found.

Frequent Bible readers are the same population who tend to fill pews. Women,
non-whites, the elderly, and Republicans are more likely to read the Bible
than men, whites, the young, and Democrats.

''Demographically, an older woman is your key category for Bible reading,
and a younger man is your least likely,'' Newport said.

Americans are deeply divided over their favorite books in the Bible, with
their top choices being evenly split between the Hebrew Bible, also called
the Old Testament, and the New Testament. The most popular books, after
Psalms, are, in order, Genesis, Matthew, John, Revelation, Proverbs, Job,
and Luke.

To conduct the study Gallup polled a random national sample of 1,024 adults
from Oct. 6-9.

The margin of error is 3 percentage points

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Four New Moons Found for Saturn
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:12:40 -0400

Thursday October 26 3:14 AM ET

Four New Moons Found for Saturn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers said on Thursday they had found
four new moons orbiting Saturn, giving the ringed planet more known moons than any
other in the solar system.

This gives Saturn a total of 22 known moons, one more than the 21 seen
orbiting Uranus. Little is known about the four new moons except for their
brightness and that they are orbiting at more than 9 million miles (15 million
km) from the surface of the giant planet.

They are probably tiny, the team at Cornell University in New York say --
between 6 and 30 miles (10 and 50 km) across. They look like faint dots of
light moving around the planet.

The researchers, led by professors of astronomy Joseph Burns and Philip
Nicholson, plan to tell a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in
Pasadena, California that they may have found other possible moons orbiting
Saturn as well.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001026/sc/space_saturn_dc_1.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - IDF fired upon from Lebanon-19:05-IST-OCT/26/00
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:13:50 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: 26 Oct 2000 17:22:43 -0000
To: List Member <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
From: BreakingNews-Israel <YeshBB@netvision.net.il>
Subject: IDF fired upon from Lebanon-19:05-IST-OCT/26/00

BreakingNews-Israel

IDF northern patrol fired upon from Lebanon
(IsraelWire-10/27-19:05-IST) An IDF patrol on the northern border near
Zarit was fired upon on Thursday evening from southern Lebanon. Soldiers
returned fire over the border. There were no immediate reports of
casualties.

The Office of the IDF Spokesman confirmed the attack. No additional
details are available at this time.

IsraelWire will provide additional details as they are made available.

Courtesy of IsraelWire News Service =96 http://www.israelwire.com

------- End of forwarded message -------

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Document: PM Ehud Barak explains to party posi
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:14:55 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Subject: [imra-l] Document: PM Ehud Barak explains to party position on talks and emergency government
Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 18:47:22 +0200
Send reply to: imra@netvision.net.il

Document: PM Ehud Barak explains to party position on talks and emergency
government

Aaron Lerner Date: 26 October, 2000

The following is IMRA's translation of excerpts of Prime Minister
Ehud Barak's remarks at a meeting of the Labor Party today as
broadcast on Israel Radio.

I am personally committed to peace as Israel's strategic choice as
the only way out, in the long run, to a solution of the conflict
between us and the Palestinians.

Every government I head will not cease under any circumstances and
any condition from striving to find a way to make peace and make an
agreement and put an end to this conflict.

A national emergency government is not the turning of one's back from
our security and diplomatic tradition. It is not the turning of
one's back from either the Oslo Agreement and not from Camp David and
not from anything else from our beliefs.

We do not intend to accept any veto. We do not intend to accept any
dictated formulas. We do intend to have a true partnership in which
we clarify, a priori, the subjects, and try as much as possible to go
together facing the challenges before us.

When an emergency government is proposed it does not mean that we
stop speaking peace. It is not a war seeking government.

Netanyahu and Sharon went from rabbi to rabbi, from leader to leader,
and explained to them that they had achieved the very best peace
agreement that could be attained. That it was necessary to continue
on the path of peace. That the alternative was worse.

And I tell you, if the alternative to Wye was worse then you think
that this is child's play? That the Likud could sit in an emergency
government and there is a serious offer for diplomatic deliberations
of substance and they can say "we are leaving"?

If there is a serious offer that would change the Middle East?

If Arafat came and said "I am ready to accept the ideas of Clinton at
Camp David and elsewhere as a basis for deliberations" - and I don't
want to mention that there are those among you and the heads of other
parties for peace who said that that also was too much. If he will
accept it then will anyone stop the State of Israel from exploring
it? What are we talking about?"
++++

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director
IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-548-0092
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
pager 03-6750750 subscriber 4811
For free subscription = Website: http://www.imra.org.il

------- End of forwarded message -------

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Yasser Abed Rabbo calls for boycott of US Congr
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:15:43 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Subject: [imra-l] Yasser Abed Rabbo calls for boycott of US Congress
Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 18:57:11 +0200
Send reply to: imra@netvision.net.il

Yasser Abed Rabbo calls for boycott of US Congress

Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)

". . . There must be a (united) Arab stand regarding the members of
the US Congress. The Arabs must adopt a resolution not to meet with
any of them. Also the (Arab) parliaments and governments should
boycott them."

Yasser Abed Rabbo - Palestinian Television October 20 2000

------- End of forwarded message -------

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Violence follows lifting of Hebron curfew-17:30-IST-10/2
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:16:42 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: 26 Oct 2000 15:44:30 -0000
To: List Member <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
From: BreakingNews-Israel <YeshBB@netvision.net.il>
Subject: Violence follows lifting of Hebron curfew-17:30-IST-10/26=
/00

BreakingNews-Israel

Violence follows lifting of Hebron curfew
(IsraelWire-10/26-17:30-IST) A short time following the lifting of the
curfew by the IDF in Hebron, Arab residents began attacking Jewish
residences with firebombs, rocks and bottles. Military officials explained
the curfew was lifted to permit Arab residents of the city to stock up on
necessities.

As the violence continued to escalate, with soldiers in the Casbah being
attacked with firebombs, the decision was made to closedown the area once
again. Jewish homes were also attacked, windows smashed and rocks and
marbles were hurled inside at least one home.

Clashes and attacks against Israeli security forces were also reported in
the Jenin, Tul Karem, and other areas in Samaria.

Soldiers near Tul Karem were fired upon. They returned fire. No reports of
casualties.

Near Jenin, rioters burned tires and then placed liquid propane gas
cylinders in the fire. The tanks exploded but there were no injuries.

As the evening rush hour continues, with many Yesha residents making their
way to their homes, stone-throwing attacks are reported throughout Judea &
Samaria.

IsraelWire will provide additional details as they are made available.

++++
++++
Courtesy of IsraelWire News Service =96 http://www.israelwire.com

------- End of forwarded message -------

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - A New Laser For War And Peace
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:22:25 -0400

A New Laser For War And Peace

                                    By James Schultz
                                    Special to SPACE.com
                                    posted: 12:00 am ET
                                    23 October 2000

                  You�ve seen it all before: intense beams of energy
                  lancing out from attacking spacecraft, piercing tough,
                  armored plating. There�s an explosion or two, maybe
                  three. Soon, even the generators that produce
                  protective force fields will fail. The defending
                  vessel will detonate in a thunderous blossom of metals
                  and fuel.

                  But science fiction isn�t real-world combat. On Earth,
                  military lasers have their problems, in particular
                  because of the atmosphere�s tendency to absorb and
                  diffuse focused light energy.

                  Now there may be a solution. A new
                  breed of laser -- known as an FEL, or
                  free-electron laser --- could finally
                  overcome several obstacles that
                  currently confound deployment. Chief
                  among an FEL�s attributes is tunability
                  -- varying wavelengths of lased light
                  could be selected, even during
                  operation. (Traditional, chemically
                  supplied lasers are set at one specific
                  wavelength.) Like tuning to a radio
                  station, picking the right wavelength
                  would make the difference between a strong or weak
                  pulse of energy directed at an incoming target.

Full Story:
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/fel_001023.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - (Fwd) Arutz-7 News: Thursday, October 26, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 15:45:55 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 19:06:05 +0200
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, October 26, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000 / Tishrei 27, 5761

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. SUICIDE PALESTINIAN TERRORIST INJURES ONE
   2. MORAG IS CLOSED
   3. TODAY'S SCHEDULE
   4. PALESTINIAN TEACHER APPROVES STUDENTS' FLIRT WITH DEATH IN
ANTI-ISRAEL ATTACKS
   5. PRESIDENTIAL AND OTHER PRAISE FOR YESHA
   6. U.S. HOUSE SUPPORTS ISRAEL
   7. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
   8. UNITY UPS AND DOWNS
   9. HILLARY ACCEPTED MONEY FROM AMERICAN MUSLIM ALLIANCE, WILL RETURN
   IT 10. IN BRIEF

1. SUICIDE PALESTINIAN TERRORIST INJURES ONE
A 23-year-old Islamic Jihad suicide terrorist, riding a scooter and
wearing a school bag on his back, did not succeed in his mission this
morning of killing Israelis. Instead, he killed only himself and caused
light injuries to one IDF soldier by detonating a 6-kilogram explosive
device next to an IDF outpost on a main Gaza access road, near Kisufim.
O.C. Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yom Tov Samiyeh said that the
Palestinian Authority is responsible for the terrorist attack. Asher
Mivtzari, a resident of nearby Kfar Darom, said that this was yet
another miracle for the people of Gush Katif. "If he had exploded it
near a group of civilians, as he planned, and not near an army outpost,
it could have been a catastrophe," Mivtzari said.

Likud MK Uzi Landau said today that Palestine Radio has been
broadcasting praise over the past few days for suicide terrorists,
including a man praising his son for being willing to give his life on
behalf of the war with Israel. Landau feels that his party must demand,
as a precondition for joining a Barak-led unity government, the
immediate cessation of all Palestinian incitement.

2. MORAG IS CLOSED
The residents of the Gush Katif town of Morag have closed the town off
today; no one will enter and no one will leave. They are protesting the
lack of a strong military reaction to the continuous Palestinian attacks
against them. In addition, said town council member Yaakov Reuven, "we
are suffering from isolation. We are the 'watchdogs of Gush Katif' -
the southern-most Jewish town here, an Israeli enclave between Khan
Yunis and Rafiach - but service providers and other deliveries don't
arrive here. This is the responsibility of the Regional Council."
About five families have recently left Morag, and only 20 remain; other
Gush Katif towns have increased in population over the past years.

Naftali Yonah, the head of the Morag town council, explained to Arutz-7,
"We have been under siege practically every night this month, as the
army forbids us to leave or enter because of various terrorist-attack
warnings... The road leading to Morag is very dangerous - snipers sit
atop buildings along the bends in the road, where we are forced to slow
down, and they present a constant threat..." The army promised the
people of Morag in the past that the dangerous curves in the road would
be straightened out, and that the army would confiscate the land
necessary to do so - but it now says that a government decision is
required for such. "We've reached the point where we simply cannot
tolerate this road anymore," Yonah said, "which means that we won't
leave our homes at all. We have suffered until now, so we'll just
suffer a bit more."

3. TODAY'S SCHEDULE
Palestinians shot light-weapons fire towards an Israeli car and an IDF
outpost in two separate incidents this afternoon in Gush Katif, Gaza.
No one was hurt. A firebomb was thrown near Tulkarm, and a burning tire
exploded near Jenin; again, no one was hurt. Near the Israeli-Arab town
of Shfar'am - within pre-1967 Israel - the gravesite of the Talmudic
sage Rabi Yehuda ben Bava was set ablaze today. Prayer books and
several benches were damaged in the blaze, and police now suspect
nationalistic motives in the arson.

Later in the afternoon, a Border Guard police unit was attacked with
rocks in the Israeli-Arab village of Baka al-Garbiye. Palestinians
similarly attacked an Israeli in Hawara, between Tapuach and Shechem, as
well as Israeli cars near Efrat; no one was hurt. Violent Palestinian
rioting occurred at the Ayosh Junction and in Hevron. The IDF curfew
that had been imposed on Hevron over the past weeks was lifted shortly
before the rioting, and was restored again this afternoon in its wake.

4. PALESTINIAN TEACHER APPROVES STUDENTS' FLIRT WITH DEATH IN
ANTI-ISRAEL ATTACKS Agence French-Presse quotes a Ramallah-area
teacher's satisfaction with his students' participation in anti-Israel
violence - "even though by tonight, or the end of the week, some of them
will be dead." Watching a group of school-age boys and university
students throw Molotov cocktails, rocks, and other objects at Israeli
soldiers, the teacher said, "At this stage it is better that they are
engaging the Israelis than going to classes... We have to capitalize on
this momentum... They have no fear, even though by tonight, or the end
of the week, some of them will be dead." The article, which can be seen
in its entirety at http://www.jordantimes.com/Wed/news/news5.htm, notes
that some parents allow their children to skip classes altogether in
favor of the high-risk violence, while others suffice with "school
first, then intifada."

Yasser Arafat told an American television station today that he can't
totally control the violence carried out by Palestinians. "No one can
hold back the anger that the students and the children feel. They must
be persuaded by a peace process, not by tanks," he said. IDF sources
stated today that the PA has given a "green light" to Islamic Jihad and
Hamas to carry out attacks. Arafat reportedly prefers attacks within
Judea and Samaria, while other Palestinian elements are pressing for
terrorism within pre-1967 Israel.

5. PRESIDENTIAL AND OTHER PRAISE FOR YESHA
A resident of Gilo - the southern Jerusalem neighborhood that has been
targeted by PA snipers in Beit Jala over the past weeks - attributes the
brave stand of his neighbors to the people in Yesha. "We see how you
guys in Judea and Samaria have suffered this type of situation, and
worse, for long periods," he told Arutz-7 today, "and this gives us the
strength to act the same." IDF Operations Commander Maj.-Gen. Giora
Eiland said yesterday, "The Tanzim use buildings and churches in Beit
Jala as cover for attacks on Jerusalem. They hope that Israel's
response will damage a church, thus setting the Christian world against
Israel..." Eiland admitted, however, that the army takes into account
possible effects on the diplomatic process when deciding where and how
strongly to respond to Palestinian firing.

President Moshe Katzav visited the Binyamin towns of Beit El and Psagot
today. Hundreds of school children greeted him upon his arrival in Beit
El, where he said, "I have come to encourage and show my support and
admiration for the residents here, who are passing through very hard
times, yet are showing great patience and forbearance." Asked how he
explains the rise in population in Yesha even during difficult times
such as this, the President said, "It is this type of spirit that is
also a surprise to our enemies. The Jewish spirit is something that
others don't understand... There is also an increased feeling of unity
and cohesion amongst us of late. No one of us will tolerate the PA' s
use of violence against the residents here for Palestinian strategic
gains." Binyamin Region Commander Col. Gal Hirsch also praised the
patience, restraint, and cooperation of the residents while speaking
with the President today. Katzav said, "The present situation is
intolerable, and cannot last: If the Palestinians don't stop the
firing, we will have to stop it."

6. U.S. HOUSE SUPPORTS ISRAEL
The U.S. House of Representatives sent a strong message of solidarity
with the State and people of Israel yesterday, when it passed a
resolution condemning the Palestinian leadership for encouraging
violence and doing little stop it. The resolution also calls upon the
Palestinian leadership to refrain from public incitement, vigorously use
its security forces to stop all violence, show respect for all holy
sites, and settle all grievances through negotiations.

7. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
The Knesset Finance Committee convened this morning in Tel Aviv for a
comprehensive discussion of the ramifications of the grave security
situation on Israel's economy. Especially hard-hit are the
construction, agriculture, and tourism sectors, while hi-tech and other
business operations appear to be weathering the storm well. A Ministry
of Trade statement today quoted Lehman Brothers Chairman Harvey Krueger
as saying Tuesday in New York, "I see no loss of interest on the part of
US venture capital investors in Israeli start-ups." Israeli businesses,
factories and companies are operating at full capacity, with 100%
manpower, across the country; Palestinian manpower comprises only 1% of
the Israeli industrial workforce. The Ministry announced that the
hi-tech sector, which remains strong and thriving, is comprised of some
4,000 Israeli companies - the largest concentration of hi-tech
companies in the world, outside of California. Two to three new hi-tech
start-ups continued to be established in Israel every day. According to
a Goldman Sachs report from Oct. 15, "As far as Israeli technology is
concerned, the security situation has had no special impact… research
and development activity, which is mostly based in Israel, is not
affected by events, because R&D centers are located… far from the
flashpoints."

8. UNITY UPS AND DOWNS
Negotiations between Labor-One Israel and the Likud for the
establishment of a national-emergency government continued today. Likud
leader Ariel Sharon and the heads of the other opposition parties -
except for Shas and National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu - have agreed on a
united front. Shas leaders say their party will support the government
for as long as the emergency situation continues.

Former Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir, of the Likud, is in favor of an
immediate national-unity government. He has discussed the issue with
Prime Minister Barak. Shamir told Ha'aretz that he objects to
Netanyahu's return to the Likud: "He made many mistakes, and I don't
think he has changed. A man like that doesn't change so fast, and I
would very much not recommend that the Likud choose him as its leader."
Netanyahu met last night in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov.

Despite the progress being made towards a unity or emergency government,
Prime Minister Barak made sure to emphasize today that he is personally
obligated to peace, and that an emergency government will not be
deterred from the efforts to seek peace. "The formation of such a
government does not mean the turning of our backs to Oslo, nor to Camp
David," he told Labor party doves this afternoon. "We will not accept
dictates or vetoes from the Likud."

Likud MK Ruby Rivlin said in response, "Barak has now shown his true
face. He never had any intention of true national unity, but merely
wanted to save his own [political] skin… The entire emergency situation
that we are facing was caused only by Barak's policies and actions, and
he would be best advised simply to resign immediately."

9. HILLARY ACCEPTED MONEY FROM AMERICAN MUSLIM ALLIANCE, WILL RETURN IT
Hillary Rodham Clinton, under pressure after revelations yesterday that
she had received donations from Moslem-American organizations backing
violence against Israel, said that she would return $51,000 in campaign
contributions from them. New York's Daily News reported yesterday that
she had met with leaders of these groups only four months ago, in the
midst of a Senate campaign in which she has been seriously courting the
critical Jewish vote. Mrs. Clinton said yesterday that she was
"offended" by remarks attributed to members of one of the organizations,
the American Muslim Alliance. The group's president has defended a UN
resolution that he said allowed for armed Palestinian force against
Israel, while other group members have been accused of making
anti-Semitic remarks. Clinton's opponent in the Senate race,
Congressman Rick Lazio, said yesterday, "My dad used to say... show me
who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are." The New York
Times reported today that Clinton said that she did not know that a
fund-raising event on her behalf in Boston last June had been sponsored
by the American Muslim Alliance - even though she was photographed there
accepting a plaque from the chairman of the group's Massachusetts
chapter.

10. IN BRIEF
Doctors in Rambam Hospital in Haifa saved the life of a six-month old
baby
today who had swallowed a safety in. The pin had been fastened to her
clothes to hold a pacifier; she swallowed the pin when it opened. The
director of the hospital's child nourishment department, wielding a
small tweezers for an hour, was able to remove the pin from the baby's
esophagus...
Five Israeli-Arabs have been charged in a Haifa court with killing a
driver on the coastal road during riots earlier this month. Jean Bechor
of Rishon LeTzion was killed when rioters threw a block at his chest
through his car window...
The Moslem Brotherhood has returned to the Egyptian Parliament, after
ten
years of being banned. The Islamic group's activities are forbidden in
Egypt, but the group itself is not illegal, and will hold six seats in
the People's Assembly (which has a minimum of 350 members in total)...

Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel

------- End of forwarded message -------

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Excerpts from Press Briefing by Major General G
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 15:45:55 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>
Subject: [imra-l] Excerpts from Press Briefing by Major General Giora Eiland, Head of the IDF Operation Branch
Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 20:56:11 +0200
Send reply to: imra@netvision.net.il

Excerpts from Press Briefing by Major General Giora Eiland, Head of the IDF
Operation Branch
Jerusalem, 25 October 2000
(The full text will be available on our website - http://www.mfa.gov.il)

I will try to give you a comprehensive description of the
situation, as we can see it since the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh
where we reached some kind of understanding between us and the
Palestinians, and what's going based on these understandings.

Actually, we measure whether we are successful or not according
to seven different factors.

No. 1 is the first thing that should have been done by the
leadership of both sides, and it was a declaration or
announcement that formally should have called for a reduction of
violence, to try to avoid military activity and so on. Of course,
we published a formal announcement the night that the summit in
Sharm el-Sheikh ended. The Palestinians so far haven't published
any official announcement.

No. 2 is the incitement in the formal Palestinian media. While
there is a kind of reduction in the level of the incitement in
the past week, the general message has not changed: it still
calls people to a jihad, they still say that they are in a war,
they still show a lot of blood, they keep accusing us of terrible
crimes, and some of the changes that they have made we understand
as tactical changes.

No. 3 is the cooperation with our security forces regarding
terrorist threats. Unfortunately this is perhaps the most
important thing that we expected after the summit at Sharm
el-Sheikh, to have better cooperation, or at least to go back to
the level of cooperation that we had until a month ago.
Unfortunately, so far there is no significant change, even in
this very important and sensitive area.

No. 4 is the release of terrorists from Palestinian prisons. In
the first two weeks of this conflict, they released about 80 to
100 very dangerous terrorists who were personally involved in the
most terrible attacks inside Israel in the past four or five
years. A short time before the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh they
brought back to prison about 15 or 20 of them, but they have not
made any additional effort to try and put their hands on these
terrorists. In order to carry out a terrorist attack, you need
three things: first is operational capability - the Hamas and the
Islamic Jihad have this. Number two is motivation. They usually
have motivation, and these days they have a special motivation to
be successful in these kind of operations. Number three is the
cooperation, and if not cooperation at least the permission of
the authorities to carry out this kind of operation, and
unfortunately, the fact that the Palestinians don't do enough to
stop these people from walking free, these people see as the
permission to carry out these terrorist attacks.

Issue No. 5 is instructions to their commanders to stop violence,
or try to show more cooperation with us, and here we can say that
while there have been some very specific orders to try and stop
violence, to try to eliminate shooting incidents, to try to
minimize the clashes, other informal bodies didn't get this kind
of instruction. According to their understanding, the permission
that they got before the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh to make all
these provocations is still something valid to be followed.

No. 6 is the riots, the demonstrations, the use of crowds in
order to protest and to bring to clashes close to Israeli
settlements and Israeli positions. The number of these clashes
has been reduced in quite significant numbers, some of them
perhaps due to the weather, some of them because they really
intended to do it. At least in some cases we know that they made
a real effort to stop this kind of demonstration in Israeli
areas.

No. 7, and maybe the most important one, are the shooting
attacks, and the incidents where either live fire or other
military means like bombs or roadside charges were used. The
number of these incidents is more or less 25-30 a day. In the
past 2-3 last days, the number of these incidents is diminishing,
and in the past 24 hours we can say that there was a significant
change and there were only very few shooting incidents in Gaza
and in the West Bank. On the other hand, some of the nature of
the incidents that did take place were much more severe and
dangerous than the previous ones, and sometimes there is a
difference between a few bullets that are shot, to a real charge
that is placed in order to kill 20 or 30 civilians that are
riding in a bus. So the number went down slightly, but the nature
of some of these attacks has not changed.

So if I can summarize all these factors and try to say whether
according to our understanding the Palestinian effort was
complete, sincere and inclusive of all the necessary steps,
unfortunately we cannot say so after more or less a week, or if
you like after 26 days of this conflict.

There are two things that I would like to emphasize about the
situation. Number one, when people speak about clashes, about
riots, about hundreds of people that participated in this
demonstration or thousands in another, they don't notice that
most of the real and severe incidents are not demonstrations, but
attacks using live fire.

In the past 26 days we have had more than 600 shooting incidents.
Some of them were part of these riots, but some of them, maybe
the majority of them, were shooting incidents in which a small
group of Palestinians, and in most cases these groups belong to
the Tanzim, came close to Israeli positions or settlements at
night and opened fire. This is something that happens about 20 to
25 times every day.

The fact that we have so few casualties is based on simple
reasons that will not necessarily be valid in the future, and
this is the fact that we are well protected and well trained, and
behave carefully, but it will not necessarily be so in the
future. Some of the attacks were not only shootings, but a
combination of shooting and some other charges. For example in
one of the last incidents in Gaza, where this kind of charge was
operated against a bus with 40 people, if this bus hadn't been
well protected, then we could have had 20 or 30 or more Israeli
casualties, all of them civilians including many children. But I
want to emphasize that this is not an intifada in the old way
that people used to know, this is a different kind of campaign,
or different conflict, or different confrontation where the use
of live fire is the most common way of fighting against us.

Number two is where all these incidents happened. Since we
haven't moved forward from our positions, or at least we haven't
moved into any of the Palestinian territories so far, all the
incidents have happened in Israeli places. The violence comes to
us. Whether the violence is some kind of riot of hundreds or
thousands of people who come to Israeli settlements or Israeli
positions and try to attack them with stones, Molotov cocktails
and live fire, or in other ways. Also, there is the simple fact
that in every place where there is a close range between an Arab
village or Arab neihborhood or city and an Israeli one, then it
can be used to open fire with Kalachnikov rifles and the like
from a range of 200-300 meters, as unfortunately happened in
Jerusalem in the past week. Gilo, which is a district of
Jerusalem, was attacked, except for last night, for 4-5
consecutive nights previously from the neighboring village of
Beit Jala, which you could say is part of Bethlehem.

So the violence comes to us and it is not part of any Israeli
offensive operations. The fact that we so far avoided any kind of
offensive operations or any kind of initiative in order to do
things besides shooting back, is something that is important to
emphasize here, but of course it is very hard to continue with
similar tactics, because as you can see they don't give us enough
of a military solution to the security threats.

---
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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (10/26/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 18:35:37 -0400

*** Grandma accused in pickpocket ring

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) - An arthritic grandmother allegedly ran a
family pickpocket ring from a wheelchair for 10 years, teaching her
children and grandson tricks of the trade and taking in as much as
$50,000 per day. Ernestine Williams, 63, dispatched her 15-person
crew to pilfer credit cards and checks from elderly shoppers in
retail stores from Miami to Atlanta, taking a cut for each crime,
according to a 2-year investigation conducted by the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement and the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office.
The stolen credit cards were later used to purchase other goods, from
lawn furniture to laptop computers, agents said. Ernestine Williams,
her children Timothy Butts, 42, and Tomeka Williams, 31, and grandson
Jessie Williams, 19, were arrested Wednesday on charges of
racketeering and conspiracy to racketeer. The four has been linked to
more than 150 thefts across Florida and Georgia, authorities said.
They were each being held on $100,000 bond.

*** Palestinian kills self in Gaza blast

JERUSALEM (AP) - An Islamic militant riding a bicycle detonated
explosives Thursday at an Israeli army outpost in the Gaza Strip,
killing himself in the first suicide attack in a month of
Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The assailant was tentatively
identified as Nabil Araeer, a 24-year-old kindergarten janitor from
Gaza City. In wall graffiti near his home, the Islamic Jihad group
claimed responsibility for the blast that lightly injured an Israeli
soldier. Israel's Army radio said that Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to a Western news
agency. After the explosion, an Israeli tank blocked the main
north-south thoroughfare in Gaza, backing up Palestinian traffic for
several miles. The tank crew kept guns pointed at the street from
behind sandbags piled up atop the tank.

*** Unlicensed HIV test sold on Web

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Hundreds of online shoppers may have unwittingly
exchanged privacy for accuracy when they bought an unlicensed HIV
home test, say authorities who are trying to find the buyers to warn
them about the kit. The online sites selling the Ana-Sal kit, which
lacks federal approval, claimed it produced results in five minutes
that were more than 99% accurate. But authorities said Wednesday that
tests by the Food and Drug Administration disproved those claims.
"It's imperative that we at least contact people to let them know
they should not rely on them - or shouldn't have relied on them,"
Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Christie said. Neither Christie nor the
FDA could say whether the kits, which tested saliva samples, tended
to give false positive or false negative results. The FDA has
approved only one home test for the virus that causes AIDS: The Home
Access Express HIV-1 Test System, which involves submitting blood
samples to a laboratory.

*** Israeli Web sites crash

JERUSALEM (AP) - Several Israeli Web sites containing the
government's perspective on the Mideast conflict crashed after
Islamic groups abroad jammed them with fake traffic, Israeli
officials said Thursday. The cyberattack was the most intense since
Israel's government launched its Internet sites several years ago,
and opens a new front in Israel's confrontation with the Arab world.
Palestinian rioters have been clashing with Israeli forces for almost
a month. At a weekend summit, Islamic countries condemned Israel and
called for cutting relations with the Jewish state. Both sides are
emphasizing the public relations aspect of their conflict. Interest
in the Israeli government Web sites has increased noticeably since
the violence began Sept. 28, officials said. The targeted sites
provide information about the conflict from an official Israeli point
of view.

*** Bush leads in Halloween mask sales

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) - Jalem Getz puts little faith in polls and
pundits. To predict who is going to win a presidential race, he looks
to what he says is a time-tested indicator: Halloween masks. Getz,
founder of BuyCostumes.com, a Waukesha-based seller of costumes, said
the winner of every presidential election for nearly three decades
has been foretold by sales figures for rubber masks of the
candidates. "Based on the records since 1972, they have been right on
every time," said Getz, whose company has compiled sales totals from
past election years from five mask manufacturers and 12 costume
stores nationwide. And this Halloween season, sales of George W. Bush
masks lead those of Al Gore masks 57% to 43%, according to
BuyCostumes.com figures. Other mask sellers said the race appears
closer.

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - China to Use Weather Modification Technology
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 18:45:44 -0400

China to Use Weather Modification Technology to Reduce Natural Disasters

LHASA, China, Oct 26, 2000 -- (BBC Monitoring) Text of report in English by
official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

China will use weather modification technology to reduce natural disasters in
the western region, said sources with the China Meteorological
Administration.

Chen Zhiyu, a senior engineer with the administration, said that China plans
to set up a modern weather modification technological system in the western
region in the next five to 10 years, especially to increase artificial rainfalls to
fight drought in the region.

The western region, the northwestern part of China in particular, has very
complicated meteorological conditions with hailstones, frosts, snowstorms
and strong winds often damaging the local economy. China began
experiments with weather modification operations at the end of the 1950s.

China has made progress in using the technology to fight drought, hailstones
and in extinguishing forest fires. Statistics show that in 1999, China used
CNY 230 million on weather modification operations.

Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0631 GMT 25 Oct 00

http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=213686&section=default

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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