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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (58208)	11/22/2002 1:29:57 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

I assume this was to keep pressure on Israel to offer a better deal,but I'm just guessing here.Arafat WAS a terrorist,and I would think he found it tuff to take those factions out while Israel still occupied the disputed territories.His menacing little hidden army, if you will. KC, Serious question: Do you doubt that Arafat IS a terrorist, that since Sept 2000 he has been ordering and paying for at least some of the the terrorist attacks (particularly those committed by Fatah, his own organization), and not moving to prevent the others? I would think he found it tuff to take those factions out while Israel still occupied the disputed territories. This implies that Arafat tried and failed His menacing little hidden army, if you will But this implied that he never tried because he preferred to keep the factions around, that he just shoved the factions into a closet temporarily (much closer to the truth imo). So tell me, which implication do you actually believe? >>what message do they send by killing children inside Israel<< Like I say,there are a number of factions at work here.This one obviously doesn't want the peace plan to ever hit the table for negotiation. You could make that argument IF Fatah's attacks followed a different pattern than Hamas' - for instance, if they restricted themselves to attacking West Bank settlements. They don't; they both strike indescriminately. For instance, it was Al Aqsa (a branch of Fatah) that claimed responsibility for killing 5 people on Kibutz Metzner a couple of weeks ago, and PA radio praised the "operation" on a "Jewish colony near Tulkarm" (Kibbutz Metzner is inside Israel proper) even as Arafat denied involvement to the Western press. I just thought I'd ask you if you seriously believed the implications of your statements before I collected evidence to support my assertions -- and boy, is there evidence! Patterns of behavior, humint, documents seized from Arafat's offices showing that he micromanages the terror just like he micromanages everything else, you name it. A mountain of evidence. And on the other side, you have Arafat's denials and our State Department's preference to "see no evil" because then who could you find to talk to? and diplomacy must go on. Do you really doubt that Arafat is a terrorist?

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (58208)	11/24/2002 12:21:06 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

A brief update on the activities of one of the official PA security organizations, the so-called "moderates": Secret paper shows PA running explosives plant By Ze'ev Schiff The Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Organization in the Gaza Strip has set up a factory for producing large quantities of nitric acid, the most important chemical in making explosives, according to a secret PA document seized in an IDF raid last week. It appears that the factory was set up to bypass the obstacles facing militant organizations in producing or acquiring explosives. Most of the chemicals used by the Palestinians to produce homemade explosives are acquired from Israel. However, in recent weeks the Palestinians have managed to produce explosives with an efficiency near that of military-grade materials. During an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip last Sunday, a document was seized in the Preventive Security Organization's headquarters in Tel al-Hiweh describing the setting up of the factory as a "strategic project." The document, classified by the organization as "secret," was addressed to the deputy head of preventive security in Gaza, Rasheed Abu Shubak. An analysis of the document revealed that the plant's annual production capacity of nitric acid was to have reached 15 tons. Successful production at such levels could lead to the production of military grade explosives, such as TNT or RDX. Israeli defense analysts pointed out that the Preventive Security Organization intended to provide all the Palestinian militant organizations, including those opposed to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, with explosives. Similarly, the PA provides arms to the organizations, among them Hamas. One of the most serious failures in the IDF's confrontation with the Palestinians has been the smuggling across the Green Line of chemicals used in the production of explosives that are used for suicide bombings. The Palestinian militant organizations suffer from a shortage of military-grade explosives. According to the Oslo Accords, acquiring or producing such explosives is strictly forbidden. On occasion, the groups have managed to acquire small quantities of TNT by dismantling mines purchased from Bedouin who have found them in the Sinai. The militant groups solved the problem when it was discovered that chemicals normally found in fertilizers are used to produce homemade explosives. The chemicals include nitric acid - the "bottleneck" of explosives production - urea nitrate, nitroglycol and nitroglycerin. These chemicals are not produced in the territories, while some are manufactured in Israel and others are imported. More than a year after the outbreak of the intifada, an order was issued forbidding the importation of nitric acid to the Palestinian territories. However, smuggling of the chemical from Israel continued with ease. The IDF has repeatedly urged various ministries to enforce strict regulations on the sale to the territories of chemicals used in the production of explosives. These regulations include identifying the buyer and justifying the final purpose for the materials and the reason for requiring such large quantities of chemicals. Nonetheless, no thorough measures have been implemented, and the production of the explosives has continued unabated. The document seized last week was signed by an employee of the Palestinian Authority's Agriculture Ministry, Mohammed Anwar Bardawil (Abu Hashem). He is known to have assisted the chief sapper of the Preventive Security Organization, Talal Mahisan, who has links to the Islamic Jihad. Bardawil noted in the document that "in view of the importance of the acid [nitric acid] for the production of strategic materials, and in view of the difficulties in acquiring them under the current conditions, and in line with your request that this be available, I recommend the factory for its production." He also pointed out the "secondary nature" of the expenses involved, primarily the large consumption of electricity, which is supplied by Israel, "since the factory is strategic." Bardawil said that "in order to retain the secrecy of the project, I recommend that they [the workers] will not be identifiable as belonging to the Preventive Security Organization, and that I determine the qualifications required for this job." haaretzdaily.com