1. President Bush has stated unequivocably that everyone must decide whether they are in favor of terrorism or against it.

   Words well spoken. The only problem is that the US Administration and the US State Department are unequivocably in FAVOR of it. Despite the events in New York and Washington, Powell and the State Department continue to support Palestinian terrorism. At the same time that they are calling for a worldwide jihad against terrorism, they are continuing to pressure Israel to surrender to Palestinian terror. They continue to demand that Israel respond to all Palestinian atrocities with restraint and appeasements and concessions. They demand that Sharon allow Peres to go and meet with the Palestinian Fuhrer and Arch-terrorist, despite the continuation of daily PLO atrocities. Their attitude continues to be that PLO atrocities are minor nuisances that should not count and should not stand in the way of Israel making further appeasements. Tell that to the children of the Jewish mothers murdered by the Fat’h this week.

   It seems there are limits to unthinkability. Yes it is unthinkable for the US to hold talks with or make concessions to bin Laden. But at the same time the US and the rest of the West insist that it is unthinkable for Israel to respond to PLO atrocities in any manner other than making concessions. Certainly self-defense and military action by Israel is completely out of the question. Israeli behavior must be restricted to Quakerism. The only way Israel should be permitted to deal with PLO atrocities is through holding talks, through granting the PLO lands and funds, removing Israeli settlements, and ending the nonexistent Israeli “occupation” of Palestinians, liberating “Palestinian lands”.

   The BBC for its part did not miss a beat after the attacks on the US and continues to conduct its campaign against Israeli existence under the guise of news reporting. (I am on record for calling on Israel to expell all BBC staff from the country.) Every 15 minutes or so the BBC reminds everyone that the only reason Moslems hate the US and the only reason the US was targeted by terrorists is because the US has “failed to end Israeli occupation of Palestinians”. And yes of course the anti-US terrorism is simply a response to Israeli “brutality” in dealing with the Palestinians. Never mind that the Palestinians have conducted a campaign of atrocities against Jews for 100 years and the Jews have never conducted a campaign of atrocities against Arab civilians, save a few reprisal raids in 1948-49, or that Arabs are treated by Israel with the least amount of brutality of any place in the entire Middle East.

   The BBC hosted a British “expert” (I did not catch his name) a few days ago who explained that, unlike bin Laden, Arafat has always kept the lid on terrorism, using it only in very careful and controlled and modest proportions and even then, only for the purpose of getting attention for his just cause. The same expert did not say the same words of praise about the IRA. Strangely, when the IRA left a bomb next to BBC headquarters a few months back, the BBC commentators did not describe the bombers as activists struggling against occupation of their lands.

   Bush has to decide whether he wishes to launch a war against terrorism or merely a war against Afghanistan. If he wishes a war against terrorism, then the first thing he must do is shift US policy entirely with regard to the PLO. The PLO must be annihilated together with bin Laden. The Palestinian bin Laden with the hair on his face must be dealt with the same way as the Saudi bin Laden. Terror must be exterminated, not appeased. It is time that Bush and the Yanks listen to their own words.

2. What, us Palestinians involved in terror? No way!

   PFLP men indicted for plotting to bomb Tel Aviv’s Azrieli towers
   By Margot Dudkevitch (Jerusalem Post)

   BEIT EL (September 24) - The Samaria Military Court yesterday indicted Samah Mahmoud Salim Jibril (Abu Salim) and Rami Fawzi Bin Said Katawi for planning to bomb Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Center last month. The two were captured on August 7 as they entered Israel from Jordan by the Allenby Bridge after undergoing military training in Syria.

   According to the charge sheet, Jibril, a resident of the Beit Alma camp in Nablus, joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in June and met with Mohammed Jibril (Abu Ahmed), head of the PFLP in the Nablus region. Jibril trained with weapons there before he was advised to travel to Syria via Jordan with Katawi to attend a military training camp. Abu Ahmed told the two to apply for Jordanian passports in Nablus and gave them funds for the trip. Once they had received passports he told them to send photocopies of the documents to the PFLP headquarters in Damascus, where they would receive entry permits into Syria.

   The two set out for Jordan but returned several days later after learning that the Damascus office had yet to receive photocopies of their passports. On July 7, the charge sheet continued, the two set out again for Jordan via the Allenby Bridge and several days later continued to Syria, where they underwent intensive weapons training and were taught to use different kinds of explosives.

   Prior to returning to Israel, the two met with Abu Samah and revealed their plans to perpetrate terror attacks in Israel, which included firing mortar shells at an army base near Hawara. Abu Ahmed in Nablus had allegedly promised to supply the mortar shells for the attack. In addition, the two planned to plant a bomb on a dirt road built by the army near Dir Sharf and to shoot at IDF patrols.

   According to the charge sheet, Jibril and Katawi, who previously worked for the Crystal Company in the Azrieli building, also planned to place a car bomb in the building with the assistance of an Israeli Arab. Abu Samah in Damascus had advised them that if Israeli security personnel caught them in the midst of an operation they should blow themselves up.

   Before leaving Syria the two received $500 each from Abu Samah and a book of codes to give to Abu Ahmed. The two were arrested on August 7 at the Allenby Bridge, where they initially told investigators that they had been in Iraq searching for girlfriends.

   In the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday, four violent incidents were recorded, making it one of the quietest days in weeks. This, however, followed a night of mortar fire at Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and a number of shooting incidents in the West Bank.

   Yesterday morning, a bomb exploded harmlessly on the southern Nablus bypass road and shots were fired at an army post at Mount Ebal. Last night, shots were fired at an IDF post on the Egyptian border, and Palestinians in Silwad north of Ofra fired at an IDF outpost.

   Commenting on the sharp decrease in Palestinian violence, an Israeli security official predicted that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat would attempt to quell the violence in order to prove to the international community that Israel’s postponement of a planned meeting between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Arafat yesterday was groundless.

3. In a pout over Sharon nixing his planned meeting with His Ugliness, Shimon Peres has decided to take a “vacation” in protest.

   Can anyone send a nice first-class air ticket to Kabul to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem

Copyright © 2001 by Steven Plaut.
All Rights Reserved.

-Published with permission