Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (1363)	12/29/2001 1:55:08 AM
From: Scoobah	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

ARAFAT WRITES TO WORLD LEADERS December 29, 2001 Newsmax.com reports: “Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has sent letters to 40 world leaders, urging them to help end Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territories. The letters were delivered to diplomats in Gaza, said an aide to Arafat. ‘The letters included an urgent call to end the Israeli aggression and to implement the cease-fire deal. President Arafat also reiterated his pledge to implement the provisions of the cease-fire agreement,’ said Abu Rudeineh. Arafat had earlier accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for restricting his movement, adding that the limitations were in violation of the 1993 Oslo accord. Palestinian security officials asked Israel for an urgent security meeting to seek clarifications on the Israeli army operations and incursion into the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian security sources said that although Palestinian militants groups have halted their attacks on Israeli targets, the Israeli army has intensified its operations into the Palestinian-controlled areas. They claimed that the Israeli army had arrested at least 100 Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank during these operations. Most of those arrested were members of Arafat's Fatah movement, they said…” jvim.com

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (1363)	12/31/2001 3:44:30 PM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 32591

Strange world we live in; Monday, December 31, 2001 Tevet 16, 5762 Israel Time: 22:40 (GMT+2) Last update - 19:24 31/12/2001 Khamenei says Iran will not ease hostility towards Israel By Reuters TEHRAN - Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday Iran would not ease its hostility towards Israel and that the Palestinian question was irrevocably tied to Tehran's interests. Khamenei's comments came amid fears in Israel that the Islamic republic may soon acquire nuclear weapons and use them toward its goal of destroying the Jewish state. "Today our dignity, power and national interests lie in resisting the Zionist regime, this cancerous tumour," Khamenei said in a meeting with members of an Iranian committee on solidarity with the Palestinians. "Anything short of that on the Palestinian question is against our national interests. This is a logical stance for us," he said, quoted by Iran's state media. His comments appeared to be a rebuff to reform-minded Iranians and to European countries which have demanded an end to Iran's support for militant Palestinian groups to pave the way for better ties with the West. Iran backs Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have been condemned as "terrorist" organizations by the United States and the European Union. The Palestinian question has been a central feature of Iran's foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution and many Iranian leaders, including Khamenei, have repeatedly called for the destruction of the Jewish state. But the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami has been much more restrained in its attacks against Israel in an apparent effort not to antagonize Western governments. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said on Friday his country feared Iran was out to acquire nuclear arms in order to destroy it and called on the United Nations to pressure Tehran to abandon plans to develop such weapons. He quoted Iran's still influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as saying in a recent speech that "when the Islamic world acquires atomic weapons... the use of a single atomic bomb has the power to destroy Israel completely, while it will only cause partial damage to the Islamic world."

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (1363)	12/31/2001 8:15:01 PM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 32591

PLO Stocking Up On Weapons The PLO continues to acquire weapons and ammunition for their war against Israel. Israel Radio Arab Affairs correspondent Avi Yissakharov reported that arms are still being smuggled via tunnels in Rafiah that link Egypt to the Gaza strip. In addition, Arab sources told Yissakharov that the PLO police's finance officer, Fuad Shubaki, left for Jordan and Iraq on a "fund raising trip," which, according to Israeli security sources, is a mission to buy weapons for the PLO to be smuggled into Israel from Jordan. Prime Minister Sharon has made it clear that he considers the collection of illegal weapons from the PLO and their transfer to American representatives a necessary element in any future cease-fire period. According to Dr. Aaron Lerner of the Independent Media Review and Analysis (IMRA), the issue of illegal weapons is actually a key issue in the current talks between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and the PLO's Abu Ala. Lerner said that Arafat is not likely to fulfill his Oslo obligation to confiscate the illegal weapons and transfer them to an American representative. The Foreign Ministry has launched a campaign to encourage international pressure on Arafat to confiscate illegal weapons. Regarding Arafat's obligation to arrest Arab terrorists, Yissakharov reported that the Palestinian Authority offered members of the Fatah Tanzim a payment of NIS 3,000 each to sit in jail for a month so that they could be presented to visiting representatives of the European Union as jailed members of the Islamic Jihad. israelnationalnews.com