Henaynei
12th February 2004, 08:35 PM
Harpazo (http://www.harpazo.net/news.html)
Enraged Arafat Orders All-Out Terror!
Yasser Arafat’s enraged call for an all-round escalation of Palestinian violence distinguished the Palestinian response to the latest Israeli counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip from former episodes, according to DEBKAfile’s Palestinian experts.
Shijaia, the Hamas stronghold planted in densely populated Gaza City, was the target of a broad Israeli military strike beginning before dawn Wednesday, February 11 and ending around noon. It was mounted in response to an upsurge in recent weeks of intense Hamas mortar and missile attacks from Shijaia against southern Israeli locations just beyond the Gaza Strip border, especially Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
The Israeli force, backed by tanks, quickly drew the fire of masked Palestinian gunmen using assault rifles, mortars, bombs and anti-tank rockets. In the raging battle, 12 Palestinians were killed. Another three were shot dead in a separate ongoing Israeli operation in the southern corner of the Gaza Strip, carried out with the objective of digging out and destroying booby-trapped and arms smuggling tunnels linked to Egypt.
One of the Hamas gunmen killed was Ashraf Hasnin, bodyguard to Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The Israeli commander, Col. Yoel Strick, said he was 100 percent sure nobody who was not armed was hit.
As soon as the Israeli force quit Shijaia, Hamas leaders broadcast hysterical calls for instant revenge. Eight Hamas Qassam missiles were launched, most hitting Israeli territory but none causing damage. However, according to DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources, Arafat forthwith convened an emergency conference in Ramallah of all his security and terrorist chiefs. He gave an unusually direct order to each and every Palestinian group, faction and organization to launch instant large-scale terrorist attacks against Israeli targets on the scale of the March 2002 massacres which precipitated Israel’s comprehensive West Bank Operation Defensive Shield campaign. Prime minister Ahmed Qureia who tried to reach him by telephone from Rome was not put through. Arafat refused to talk to him. ...more (http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=786)
Hamas Vows All Out War!
The Hamas Palestinian terrorist organization has vowed to unleash a "huge" wave of "suicide" bomb attacks against Israelis following a successful IDF raid on the group's infrastructure in Gaza City Wednesday morning.
IDF troops killed 12 armed Palestinians and destroyed a family home used to stockpile and manufacture weapons, in an operation designed to curb rocket and mortar attacks on nearby Jewish communities by drawing out those responsible.
Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi said the Israelis would be made to "weep blood" for carrying out the raid. His group called on all its cells to immediately launch "huge martyrdom operations." Israel responded by placing its security forces on high alert Thursday morning, instructing public transport security personnel to especially be on their guard. ...jnewswire (http://www.jnewswire.com/news_archive/04/02/040212_hamas.asp)
Experts Warn the 'Big One' is Coming
The earthquake that was felt throughout the country on Wednesday was both a reminder of the past and a harbinger of what scientists believe the future holds. According to seismologists, the prospect of a major earthquake in the next few decades is not a question of if but when, and it could happen at any time.
The tremor on Wednesday was fairly puny, measuring just 5 on the Richter scale, but its effects were felt throughout the country and in neighboring states. This is something that happens once every 10 years but the "big one," as Californians would say, is only a matter of time.
The region has a rich history of underground turbulence that over the years has caused a great deal of above-ground destruction, as evidenced by the ruins of Beit She'an, Tiberias, Safed and, not least, Caesarea.
But why refer to relatively recent history when the powers of nature are all-too-evident in the Jordan Valley, itself forged by tectonic forces that led to the creation of Lake Kinneret and the Dead Sea.
The epicenter of the quake on Wednesday was on the northern edge of the Dead Sea, some 16 kilometers below the surface. It is precisely on the line of the Syria-Africa fault that created Jordan Valley in the first place. It has been tremors along this front, which marks the boundary between two tectonic plates that have rubbed together over millennia, that caused the geological upheavals in the past. The same kind of thing, on a smaller scale, happened on Wednesday and, according to the experts who base their findings on historical research as well as assessment models, is likely to occur much more forcefully at some point in the next 50 years ...jpost (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1076506711493)
<LI>5.3 Quake Shakes Israel (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/393366.html)...ha'aretz
<LI>Quake delays Knesset session, rattles MKs' complacency (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/393374.html) ...ha'aretz
<LI>Earthquake shocks pupils (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1076506711499) ...jerusalem post
U.S. Avoids NPT Issue With Israel The Bush administration has avoided pressing Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or related accords. A report by the Washington-based Arms Control Association asserted that the administration has done little more than mouth rhetoric for countries to sign the NPT and related agreements. The report said that neither President George Bush nor senior aides have pressed Israel to sign the NPT or the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, which would place a cap on the production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for weapons.
"Since taking office," the report said, "the current administration has not raised disarmament issues with Israel, contenting itself with continuing the practice of previous administrations of periodically tipping its hat to the importance of the universality of the NPT as a long-term goal but deferring any efforts to pressure Israel on this issue until a broader, lasting peace in the Middle East is achieved." The report, entitled, "Israel, India, and Pakistan: Engaging the Non-NPT States in the Nonproliferation Regime," said the administration has decided to focus on efforts toward Israeli-Palestinian peace rather than a nuclear-free Middle East. The administration has embraced the view by Israel that peace in the Middle East is a precondition for eliminating nuclear weapons. ...menl (http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/february/02_12_4.html)
Iran, Russia Arrange To Complete Bushehr
Iran and Russia plan to complete the last phase of the Bushehr nuclear reactor in the Persian Gulf. Representatives from the two countries plan to meet next week to discuss a schedule to complete Bushehr. Officials said the meeting will discuss work schedule, payment schedule and technical issues.
On Sunday, a delegation of the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry will arrive in Teheran to review the Bushehr project. Officials said Bushehr is 90 percent complete and could be ready for operations in 2005. Russian Atomic Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said the visit will clarify prospects for Russian-Iranian cooperation in nuclear energy. Bushehr has been estimated as a $1 billion project ...menl (http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/february/02_12_2.html)
Iran Celebrates Islamic Revolution
Tens of thousands of Iranians have been holding marches and rallies to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
Wednesday's celebrations came amid a tense political battle between hardliners and supporters of reformist President Mohammad Khatami. A third of candidates in next week's parliamentary elections -- mostly Khatami supporters -- have been officially barred.
It was 25 years ago that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran in triumph after the overthrow of the shah of Iran. Three million people turned out in 1979 to greet the spiritual leader. Huge crowds again converged on Tehran's massive Azadi (Freedom) Square Wednesday. They arrived from seven points, where they had been taken in 4,000 buses requisitioned by authorities, state television reported. ...cnn (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/11/iran.elections/index.html)
Japanese Firm Helping Iran's Nuke Program
The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded a Japanese company helped export to Iran components for a centrifuge used to enrich uranium, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. The company, which has not been named, sold the components through third parties.
For years, North Korea has been receiving dual-use components from Japanese companies for its missile and weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. The United States has long been unhappy over this, and last year Tokyo finally began to crack down. So, Japanese companies went elsewhere and began to deal with nuclear brokers in Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and other locations. The trade was built on the adage: Ask no questions, tell no lies. ...world net daily (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37080)
Enraged Arafat Orders All-Out Terror!
Yasser Arafat’s enraged call for an all-round escalation of Palestinian violence distinguished the Palestinian response to the latest Israeli counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip from former episodes, according to DEBKAfile’s Palestinian experts.
Shijaia, the Hamas stronghold planted in densely populated Gaza City, was the target of a broad Israeli military strike beginning before dawn Wednesday, February 11 and ending around noon. It was mounted in response to an upsurge in recent weeks of intense Hamas mortar and missile attacks from Shijaia against southern Israeli locations just beyond the Gaza Strip border, especially Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
The Israeli force, backed by tanks, quickly drew the fire of masked Palestinian gunmen using assault rifles, mortars, bombs and anti-tank rockets. In the raging battle, 12 Palestinians were killed. Another three were shot dead in a separate ongoing Israeli operation in the southern corner of the Gaza Strip, carried out with the objective of digging out and destroying booby-trapped and arms smuggling tunnels linked to Egypt.
One of the Hamas gunmen killed was Ashraf Hasnin, bodyguard to Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The Israeli commander, Col. Yoel Strick, said he was 100 percent sure nobody who was not armed was hit.
As soon as the Israeli force quit Shijaia, Hamas leaders broadcast hysterical calls for instant revenge. Eight Hamas Qassam missiles were launched, most hitting Israeli territory but none causing damage. However, according to DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources, Arafat forthwith convened an emergency conference in Ramallah of all his security and terrorist chiefs. He gave an unusually direct order to each and every Palestinian group, faction and organization to launch instant large-scale terrorist attacks against Israeli targets on the scale of the March 2002 massacres which precipitated Israel’s comprehensive West Bank Operation Defensive Shield campaign. Prime minister Ahmed Qureia who tried to reach him by telephone from Rome was not put through. Arafat refused to talk to him. ...more (http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=786)
Hamas Vows All Out War!
The Hamas Palestinian terrorist organization has vowed to unleash a "huge" wave of "suicide" bomb attacks against Israelis following a successful IDF raid on the group's infrastructure in Gaza City Wednesday morning.
IDF troops killed 12 armed Palestinians and destroyed a family home used to stockpile and manufacture weapons, in an operation designed to curb rocket and mortar attacks on nearby Jewish communities by drawing out those responsible.
Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi said the Israelis would be made to "weep blood" for carrying out the raid. His group called on all its cells to immediately launch "huge martyrdom operations." Israel responded by placing its security forces on high alert Thursday morning, instructing public transport security personnel to especially be on their guard. ...jnewswire (http://www.jnewswire.com/news_archive/04/02/040212_hamas.asp)
Experts Warn the 'Big One' is Coming
The earthquake that was felt throughout the country on Wednesday was both a reminder of the past and a harbinger of what scientists believe the future holds. According to seismologists, the prospect of a major earthquake in the next few decades is not a question of if but when, and it could happen at any time.
The tremor on Wednesday was fairly puny, measuring just 5 on the Richter scale, but its effects were felt throughout the country and in neighboring states. This is something that happens once every 10 years but the "big one," as Californians would say, is only a matter of time.
The region has a rich history of underground turbulence that over the years has caused a great deal of above-ground destruction, as evidenced by the ruins of Beit She'an, Tiberias, Safed and, not least, Caesarea.
But why refer to relatively recent history when the powers of nature are all-too-evident in the Jordan Valley, itself forged by tectonic forces that led to the creation of Lake Kinneret and the Dead Sea.
The epicenter of the quake on Wednesday was on the northern edge of the Dead Sea, some 16 kilometers below the surface. It is precisely on the line of the Syria-Africa fault that created Jordan Valley in the first place. It has been tremors along this front, which marks the boundary between two tectonic plates that have rubbed together over millennia, that caused the geological upheavals in the past. The same kind of thing, on a smaller scale, happened on Wednesday and, according to the experts who base their findings on historical research as well as assessment models, is likely to occur much more forcefully at some point in the next 50 years ...jpost (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1076506711493)
<LI>5.3 Quake Shakes Israel (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/393366.html)...ha'aretz
<LI>Quake delays Knesset session, rattles MKs' complacency (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/393374.html) ...ha'aretz
<LI>Earthquake shocks pupils (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1076506711499) ...jerusalem post
U.S. Avoids NPT Issue With Israel The Bush administration has avoided pressing Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or related accords. A report by the Washington-based Arms Control Association asserted that the administration has done little more than mouth rhetoric for countries to sign the NPT and related agreements. The report said that neither President George Bush nor senior aides have pressed Israel to sign the NPT or the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, which would place a cap on the production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for weapons.
"Since taking office," the report said, "the current administration has not raised disarmament issues with Israel, contenting itself with continuing the practice of previous administrations of periodically tipping its hat to the importance of the universality of the NPT as a long-term goal but deferring any efforts to pressure Israel on this issue until a broader, lasting peace in the Middle East is achieved." The report, entitled, "Israel, India, and Pakistan: Engaging the Non-NPT States in the Nonproliferation Regime," said the administration has decided to focus on efforts toward Israeli-Palestinian peace rather than a nuclear-free Middle East. The administration has embraced the view by Israel that peace in the Middle East is a precondition for eliminating nuclear weapons. ...menl (http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/february/02_12_4.html)
Iran, Russia Arrange To Complete Bushehr
Iran and Russia plan to complete the last phase of the Bushehr nuclear reactor in the Persian Gulf. Representatives from the two countries plan to meet next week to discuss a schedule to complete Bushehr. Officials said the meeting will discuss work schedule, payment schedule and technical issues.
On Sunday, a delegation of the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry will arrive in Teheran to review the Bushehr project. Officials said Bushehr is 90 percent complete and could be ready for operations in 2005. Russian Atomic Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said the visit will clarify prospects for Russian-Iranian cooperation in nuclear energy. Bushehr has been estimated as a $1 billion project ...menl (http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/february/02_12_2.html)
Iran Celebrates Islamic Revolution
Tens of thousands of Iranians have been holding marches and rallies to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
Wednesday's celebrations came amid a tense political battle between hardliners and supporters of reformist President Mohammad Khatami. A third of candidates in next week's parliamentary elections -- mostly Khatami supporters -- have been officially barred.
It was 25 years ago that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran in triumph after the overthrow of the shah of Iran. Three million people turned out in 1979 to greet the spiritual leader. Huge crowds again converged on Tehran's massive Azadi (Freedom) Square Wednesday. They arrived from seven points, where they had been taken in 4,000 buses requisitioned by authorities, state television reported. ...cnn (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/11/iran.elections/index.html)
Japanese Firm Helping Iran's Nuke Program
The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded a Japanese company helped export to Iran components for a centrifuge used to enrich uranium, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. The company, which has not been named, sold the components through third parties.
For years, North Korea has been receiving dual-use components from Japanese companies for its missile and weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. The United States has long been unhappy over this, and last year Tokyo finally began to crack down. So, Japanese companies went elsewhere and began to deal with nuclear brokers in Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and other locations. The trade was built on the adage: Ask no questions, tell no lies. ...world net daily (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37080)