_______ ____ ______ / |/ / /___/ / /_ // M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S / /|_/ / /_/_ / /\\ Making Sense of the Middle East /_/ /_/ /___/ /_/ \\© http://www.MiddleEast.Org News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know! ASSASSINATIONS AND TANK ATTACKS AS SHARON COMES TO USA FOR SECOND TIME AS PM "With this assassination, Sharon has opened the gates of hell for the Israelis." Tanzim Leader Marwan Barghouti MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 6/24/01: What the Israelis have in mind, now lead by General Sharon rather than General Barak or General Rabin, is not such a mystery a this point. Before now they were primarily interested in twisting the Arafat Regime to do the policing and repressing of the Palestinian population now penned up in "autonomous poplution centers". At the same time the associated goal was to coerce or trick that regime into signing away Palestinian rights in another "historic peace agreement" White House extravaganza. Since the failure at Camp David and the reignition of the Intifada -- all instigated by none other than the current Israeli Prime Minister -- the Israelis are now getting ready to enforce their will through even more brutal and direct military means. Preparing the way to do just that is primarily a political undertaking, which is what Sharon is now engaged in. The Israeli military and the Israeli public are ready and willing...and just waiting for the excuse to do it. ISRAELIS ASSASSINATE AGAIN USING PHONE BOMB A Palestinian activist was killed Saturday when the public telephone he was using exploded in the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinians have blamed Israel for the attack which came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to travel to Washington for talks with George W Bush on the turmoil in the Middle East. The Palestinian activist, Osama Jawabri, was using the phone on a square in the city when it exploded, witnesses said. Two children, a four-year-old boy, and his two-year-old sister, were slightly wounded. Mr Jawabri was a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group that has claimed responsibility for the killings of Jewish settlers during the current uprising, according to activists in Nablus. Mr Jawabri participated in bomb attacks in the West Bank and Israel and has long been a target for Israel, the activists added. Palestinians said Israel was responsible for the killing and called it a violation of the ceasefire agreement brokered earlier this month by the US. "With this assassination, Sharon has opened the gates of hell for the Israelis," said Marwan Barghouti, a prominent member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. In his discussions with President Bush, Mr Sharon is expected to reiterate his position that Israel will not conduct negotiations with the Palestinians until there has been a complete cessation of violence. Israel's army has declined to comment on the explosion. Israel has targeted Palestinian militants, carrying out more than a dozen such killings since the Middle East violence began last September, according to the Palestinians. Israel has acknowledged some of the attacks, and has declined to comment on others. [Ananova news, 24 June] DEMOLITION IN GAZA LATEST TIT-FOR-TAT REPRISAL From Phil Reeves in Jerusalem [The Independent - 24 June 2001]: Distraught Palestinians were yesterday salvaging belongings from the rubble of destroyed homes in the Gaza Strip, after Israel's armed forces went on a wrecking spree, less than a day after two Israeli soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber. As Israeli tanks provided cover fire from machine guns, bulldozers flattened homes at Rafah in the seething southern part of the strip, according to Palestinian officials. The operation – another breach of the US-brokered ceasefire, which has been violated by both sides – came shortly before a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops, also in Gaza. The Israeli army said the troops who killed the man were from the same unit as two soldiers killed on Friday by a Hamas suicide bomber. A spokesman said that he had been trying to climb over the border fence separating Gaza from Israel, armed with grenades and a pistol. Israel has blamed all ceasefire violations on the Palestinians – a point that Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, is certain to emphasise when he sees Tony Blair en route to Washington today, and also when the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, visits the region shortly afterwards. Mr Sharon is demanding that Yasser Arafat secure an end to Palestinian violence, largely aimed at Israeli settlers and soldiers inside the occupied territories, before implementing the Mitchell peace plan. Yet an end to mortar attacks, bombs and Palestinian drive-bys was always unlikely, and has become even less so while Israel's army continues to shoot Palestinians and flatten their homes. More than a dozen Israelis and Palestinians have been killed since George Tenet, the CIA director, brokered the truce nearly a fortnight ago. ---------------------------------- MiD-EasT RealitieS - http://www.MiddleEast.Org Phone: 202 362-5266 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax: 815 366-0800 To subscribe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject SUBSCRIBE To unsubscribe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject UNSUBSCRIBE
