September 11, 2001, STRATFOR, The Global Intelligence Company, The Intelligence Failure, by George Friedman,
September 12, 2001, Congressional Record: Senate, Senator Tom Harkin,
September 12, 2001, Newsweek, Letter From Nablus, by Joshua Hammer,
September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Israel to AP: Release film of Palestinian celebrations,
September 13, 2001, Coalition of Women for Peace, Press Release, by Debby Lerman, [13:25]
September 13, 2001, To: The Times [UK], Foreign Desk From: Afif Safieh, Unpublished Letter, Afif Safieh: Children of a Lesser God?
September 13, 2001, JustPeaceUK, the Bombings by Noam Chomsky,
September 13, 2001 06:52, UM Missionary, Sandra Olewine, This Heartfelt Message Was Written,
September 13, 2001, Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, ADC Press Release: President Ziad Asali,
September 13, 2001, Haaretz, Analysis: PA worried about anti-Arab atmosphere, by Danny Rubinstein,
September 13, 2001, Haaretz, ..and afraid of tougher Israeli measures, by Amira Hass,
September 13, 2001, AFP, Palestinian students observe minute of silence for US attack victims
September 13, 2001, The New York Times, World War III, Thomas L. Friedman,
September 13, 2001, Chicago Tribune, Mourners hold vigil for victims, by Hugh Dellios,
September 13, 2001, The Independent (London, England) Terror in America: Palestinian reaction - Palestinians fear the price they will have to pay, by Phil Reeves in Bethlehem,
September 13, 2001, Chicago Tribune, Mourners hold vigil for victims, by Hugh Dellios,
September 13, 2001, Haaretz, Meek and stammering, by Meron Benvenisti,
September 13, 2001, The Evening Standard (London) Sharon Orders New Wave of Attacks on Palestinians, by Sam Kiley,
September 13, 2001, New York Times, World War III, by Thomas L. Friedman,
September 14, 2001, Washington Post, Among Palestinians, Mixed Emotions, Empathy for Attack Victims Competes With Anger Over U.S. Support for Israel, by Daniel Williams,
September 14, 2001, Haaretz, PA sorrow at a time of fear, by Danny Rubinstein,
September 14, 2001, New York Times, Retaliation: Attacks and Harassment of Middle-Eastern Americans Rising, by Laurie Goodstein and Gustave Niebuh.
September 14, 2001, New York Times, Struggling Against Fanaticism, by Amos Oz,
September 13, 2001, RO: Ramallah Online, Terror in America must not blind us to the ongoing Israeli Terrorism in Palestine, by Hanan Ashrawi,
September 14, 2001, Haaretz, Israel, U.S. increase intelligence links, Nathan Guttman,
September 14, 2001, Jerusalem Post, IDF strikes four West Bank towns, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
September 11, 2001, STRATFOR, The Global Intelligence Company, The Intelligence Failure, by George Friedman, [17:45 GMT]
As of this moment, what is clear is that a substantial number of civilian aircraft were hijacked this morning by pilots with sufficient ability to maneuver those multi-engine aircraft into collisions with major buildings. The flights originated at a number of airports. Each incident required the presence of at least one and probably more hijackers, each prepared to die in the attack.
Mounting an attack of this sort is not simple. In the case of the World Trade Center, the collapse of the towers indicates massive delayed explosions. This means either the planes were loaded with explosives or that massive explosive charges were planted in the buildings to go off later. This is supposition, but a secondary explosion is a necessary factor for explaining the collapse.
This means many individuals had to be involved in the operation. There had to be a coordinated effort spanning several continents, timed to occur at roughly the same time. At best guess, dozens of people had to be involved. Messages had to flow, coded or otherwise. Yet no human intelligence sources appear to have been among or near the conspirators. No significant messages were intercepted or decoded.
For U.S. intelligence to have missed an operation of this magnitude indicates one of two things. First, the competence of U.S. intelligence is overrated or the willingness of policymakers to heed warnings has declined. In either case, the system is badly broken. Alternatively, the sophistication of terrorist counter-intelligence has improved to such an extent that the prior level of expertise bought to bear is simply no longer sufficient.
Whether we are facing a decline in U.S. intelligence capability or an increase in counter-intelligence blocking the United States, Sept. 11, 2001, will go down as one of the major intelligence failures in U.S. history.
George Friedman is the founder and chairman of STRATFOR.
Austin Office
700 Lavaca, Suite 405
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-744-4300
http://www.stratfor.com/media
September 12, 2001, Congressional Record: Senate, Senator Tom Harkin,
Mr. HARKIN: Mr. President, when we do strike back, we must be very careful. We must ensure that when we train our sights on the enemy, we do not harm innocent people in the crossfire. I want to quote the words of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Archbishop of Washington, who spoke at a mass yesterday. He made a point that we should all take to heart:
"Let us pray for those who have lost their lives or who have been seriously injured in this calamity. But we must resist the temptation to strike out in vengeance and revenge and, in a special way, not to label any ethnic group or community for this action, which certainly is just the work of a few madmen. We must seek the guilty and not strike out against the innocent or we become like them who are without moral guide or direction."
I could not agree more strongly. We must not use these events of yesterday to paint with a broad brush all Muslims, those of the Islamic faith or of Arabic descent. It has happened before; it should not happen again. Those who perpetrated these murders yesterday are not associated with Muslims or with the Islamic faith. If they claim they are on some kind of mission for Islam, that is just a lie. They are using the cloak of religion to justify the murder of innocent people. Again, we have seen this before. We must also make sure we do not fall prey to the theory that in order to defeat this enemy, we must become more like them. I am old enough to remember the McCarthy era, when there were those who said in order to defeat communism, we had to become a police state. There were reasonable voices that said: No, we do not have to; we can defeat communism and still maintain our freedoms. That, Mr. President, is what we must do. We as Americans respect civil rights and human rights and diversity. We are of diverse backgrounds and faiths. Muslims are part of the fabric of America, part of our strength. Let us be sure we go after the real enemy, and let us not paint with a broad stroke those who are of the Islamic faith who are Americans, who are Muslims, who are part of our great society.
Mr. DURBIN. A word of caution to all of us: As we identify the sources of terrorism, it is possible we will look to an Arab person, or a group of Arab people, or those of the Muslim faith. We should never allow those facts, if they turn out to be true, to cloud our judgment when it comes to our fellow Arab Americans and those who believe and practice the Muslim faith. Many of them share with us the pain and sorrow of yesterday's tragedy.
September 12, 2001, Newsweek, Letter From Nablus, by Joshua Hammer,
Sept. 12 — On the streets of the West Bank city of Nablus this afternoon, the mood was one of deepening apprehension. In contrast to the scenes of jubilation in the region that played out across the world's TV screens Tuesday night, many Palestinians with whom I spoke appeared stunned by Tuesday morning’s attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon—and worried about what it might mean for their own lives.
"I fear we’re going to have even bigger problems than we have now.”
— HASSAN
"I was praying with my wife last night that these terrorists would not turn out to be Arabs," a taxi driver named Hassan told me as we drove through the alleys of Nablus's old bazaar district, which was eerily subdued and nearly devoid of shoppers at 4 p.m.
The driver feared that the attack could spark a wave of anti-Arab hatred in the United States and Europe, he said, and prompt a fierce crackdown on Palestinians by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon while the world remained preoccupied with the American tragedy. Indeed, in the predawn hours Wednesday, Israel launched its second incursion into the nearby West Bank town of Jenin in two months, killing at least seven people, including an 11-year-old boy. Said Hassan: "I fear we’re going to have even bigger problems than we have now.”
Many agreed.
Most of the Palestinians I talked worried that the dancing, gunfire and other expressions of joy they witnessed by a small minority in the streets of Nablus and other West Bank towns would cast Palestinians in a negative light and weaken any sympathy that the world feels with their intifada. "I did not feel comfortable with this at all," said Abdu Habib, 46, a taxi dispatcher, who sat with a crowd of other Palestinian men in a shoeshine shop on Victory Square in Nablus's picturesque old town. Like most of his neighbors and relatives, he had remained riveted to local Arabic television since the first reports of the attack broke in the Middle East around 4 p.m. Tuesday. "I have family in the United States. Twenty people in New York, Washington and Miami. So of course I was worried about them—I was worried about all Americans."
Even so, there was a grim feeling of satisfaction among some people here that Israel’s staunchest ally and the world’s only superpower had suffered a crushing blow to its illusions of impregnability. "This kind of suffering the Americans are going through is what we live with every day,” said one citrus-juice vendor as he wheeled his cart through the alleys of the old bazaar. A bearded carpet shopkeeper named Abu Mohammed agreed. "In New York, they tasted what we’ve been tasting for the last 50 years," said the 40-year-old. "We don't like what happened to them, but maybe they’ll understand what it means to be a Palestinian."
September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Israel to AP: Release film of Palestinian celebrations,
Israel is demanding The Associated Press release a videotape of Palestinian celebrations held in the wake of Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States.
The video reportedly captured Palestinian Authority security personnel participating in celebrations around the territories.
Israel claims the Palestinian photographer who shot the film and passed it on to The Associated Press received death threats.
Ra'anan Gissin, a senior aide to Sharon, called the incident "journalism under terror."
The Associated Press yesterday refused to comment on reports that it had refrained from broadcasting the film following pressure from the Palestinian Authority.
September 13, 2001, Coalition of Women for Peace, Press Release, by Debby Lerman, [13:25]
The Coalition of Women for Peace mourns the assault against the American people and feels deeply for its victims.
Despite the depths of shock and sorrow, the Coalition calls on the American people and their leaders to confront the meanings of this attack courageously and wisely, to stay retaliation that would lead, first and foremost, to the injury of innocent citizens, to yet more killing, and to further escalation. We implore the people of America to refrain from pushing world peace even further beyond reach.
The Coalition demands that the government of Israel abstain from using this time of international numbness and shock to intensify assaults against the Palestinian people.
Contact persons:
Erella Shadmi - 052-286060; 02-5340221
Debby Lerman - 051-292373; 03-5220263
September 13, 2001, To: The Times [UK], Foreign Desk From: Afif Safieh, Unpublished Letter, Afif Safieh: Children of a Lesser God?
Consistent with my frequently expressed revulsion at "selective indignation " -depending on the nature of the victims or the identity of the perpetrators, -I wish to voice my total and unequivocal condemnation of the horror that took place in the United States.
As a Palestinian, who for twelve endless months witnessed the continuous daily bombing of Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps, my sympathy today goes entirely to the victims of this despicable undertaking. Having watched a cascade of daily funerals, I understand and share the pain of their families and friends. Having joined the unheeded call for international protection and the deployment of international observers in Palestine and having advocated an imposed solution by the international community on the basis of international legality, I sincerely wish that international law, and only that, will guide American decision makers in the aftermath of this revolting act.
At a moment when globalisation has become an undeniable and irreversible international reality, now more than ever before, universal principles and the highest possible standards should be set and equally observed by everybody all over our " planetary village."
Unfortunately this is not yet the case. In these tragic days we will hear more of revenge, retaliation and the clash of civilizations, rather than a rational debate over why such atrocities find volunteers to accomplish them. Alas, I fear that much of the discourse that will pour out of TV channels will appeal more to the instincts rather than the intelligence of viewers, to their hatred rather than their humanity.
I have often explained that the way the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the status of Jerusalem are addressed, handled or mishandled, will affect relations not only on the regional level, but also on a global one.
Whether there is one mankind or different kinds of men and women is not a rhetorical or a polemical question. Since the inception of the Palestinian tragedy, the Arab and Muslim world had the impression of total Western insensitivity to their ordeal. The "exploits" that led to the dispossession and the dispersion of the Palestinian people were welcomed in mainstream Western public opinion with admiration, applause and were considered sometimes even as "miraculous".
I personally tend to believe in the innocence of God even though the Zionist project was presented as "a divine mission for a chosen people on a promised land". We were inundated with massive propaganda about the desert turning green, but nobody bothered to answer the moral questions: in the name of what and since when does the planting of a tree justify the uprooting of a human being? Since when does planting a forest justify the uprooting of an entire people?
Israel still addresses the Palestinian refugee issue in the most dismissive manner. Their possible return is seen as a threat to the Jewish nature of the state. But no one in a senior capacity will take this argument to its logical conclusion that the Palestinian refugees were precisely driven out of their homeland with that purpose in mind. From the very beginning there were successful attempts to trivialise and banalise the Palestinian tragedy as though Palestinian victims were fatherless, motherless, childless, nameless, faceless--worthless.
I have never likened the Naqba to the Holocaust. My conviction has always been that there is no need for comparisons and historical analogies. No one people have a monopoly on human suffering and every ethnic tragedy stands on its own. If I were a Jew or a Gypsy, Nazi barbarity would be the most atrocious event in history. If I were a Black African, it would be slavery and apartheid. If I were a Native American, it would be the discovery of the New World by European explorers and settlers that resulted in near-total extermination. If I were an Armenian, it would be the Ottoman massacres. If I were a Palestinian, it would be the Naqba/ Catastrophe of 1948. Humanity should consider all the above repugnant.
I do not consider it advisable to debate hierarchies of suffering. I do not know how to quantify pain or measure suffering but I do know that we are not children of a lesser God.
In the United States there will be a debate on whether yesterday's event will result in isolationism, unilateralism, multilateralism or interventionism. American foreign policy in the Middle East has been most intriguing. It is the only remaining superpower in the international system yet in our part of the world it seemed as though it had abdicated this role in favour of its regional ally, Israel, which it shields unconditionally in the UN and elsewhere. The U.S.A. is committed to Israel's existence, a message everybody had already understood since decades. Does it need also to endorse the territorial appetite, the expansionist inclinations of its regional protoge To condone its ferocious repression of our cry for freedom out of captivity and bondage?
American society is a nation of nations. In today's monopolar international system, nonalignment in regional conflicts should be what characterizes American foreign policy, because alignment on the preferences of one belligerent actor results not only in antagonizing other regional players but also in alienating one component of its domestic national fabric.
In his Memoirs "Present at the creation", former American Secretary of State Dean Acheson writes that the UN Charter was a condensed version of American political philosophy. All I can hope for is that America will reconcile tomorrow its power with its principles.
Afif Safieh is the Palestinian General delegate to the United Kingdom and to the Holy See
September 13, 2001, JustPeaceUK, the Bombings by Noam Chomsky,
The terrorist attacks were major atrocities. In scale they may not reach the level of many others, for example, Clinton's bombing of the Sudan with no credible pretext, destroying half its pharmaceutical supplies and killing unknown numbers of people (no one knows, because the US blocked an inquiry at the UN and no one cares to pursue it). Not to speak of much worse cases, which easily come to mind. But that this was a horrendous crime is not in doubt. The primary victims, as usual, were working people: janitors, secretaries, firemen, etc. It is likely to prove to be a crushing blow to Palestinians and other poor and oppressed people. It is also likely to lead to harsh security controls, with many possible ramifications for undermining civil liberties and internal freedom.
The events reveal, dramatically, the foolishness of the project of "missile defense." As has been obvious all along, and pointed out repeatedly by strategic analysts, if anyone wants to cause immense damage in the US, including weapons of mass destruction, they are highly unlikely to launch a missile attack, thus guaranteeing their immediate destruction. There are innumerable easier ways that are basically unstoppable. But today's events will, very likely, be exploited to increase the pressure to develop these systems and put them into place. "Defense" is a thin cover for plans for militarization of space, and with good PR, even the flimsiest arguments will carry some weight among a frightened public.
In short, the crime is a gift to the hard jingoist right, those who hope to use force to control their domains. That is even putting aside the likely US actions, and what they will trigger -- possibly more attacks like this one, or worse. The prospects ahead are even more ominous than they appeared to be before the latest atrocities.
As to how to react, we have a choice. We can express justified horror; we can seek to understand what may have led to the crimes, which means making an effort to enter the minds of the likely perpetrators. If we choose the latter course, we can do no better, I think, than to listen to the words of Robert Fisk, whose direct knowledge and insight into affairs of the region is unmatched after many years of distinguished reporting. Describing "The wickedness and awesome cruelty of a crushed and humiliated people," he writes that "this is not the war of democracy versus terror that the world will be asked to believe in the coming days. It is also about American missiles smashing into Palestinian homes and US helicopters firing missiles into a Lebanese ambulance in 1996 and American shells crashing into a village called Qana and about a Lebanese militia paid and uniformed by America's Israeli ally hacking and raping and murdering their way through refugee camps." And much more. Again, we have a choice: we may try to understand, or refuse to do so, contributing to the likelihood that much worse lies ahead.
Noam Chomsky
September 13, 2001 06:52, UM Missionary, Sandra Olewine, This Heartfelt Message Was Written,
From: Don & Gloria Delaplain donglo@...>
Date: Thursday, September 13, 2001 06:52
DEAR FRIENDS,
THIS HEARTFELT MESSAGE WAS WRITTEN BY SANDRA OLEWINE, UNITED METHODIST MISSIONARY IN JERUSALEM. SHE TELLS OF THE TRUE REACTIONS AMONG THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE--REACTIONS WHICH THE MEDIA HERE IN THE U.S. DO NOT SHOW US. PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THIS MESSAGE. AFTER THE HORRIBLE EVENTS HERE IN THE U.S. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL OF US TO READ THIS MESSAGE FOR THE SAKE OF OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING AND YES, MENTAL HEALTH. WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO REACT WITH FEELINGS OF HATE, REVENGE, ETC., WE MUST BE PATIENT UNTIL THE INVESTIGATORS FIND OUT WHO ACTUALLY DID THIS HORRIBLE DEED AND NOT BLAME WHOLE POPULATIONS FOR THE ACTS OF A FEW. AFTER READING THIS LETTER, PLEASE SEND IT ON TO OTHERS. WE MUST ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO MEET THIS CRISIS WITH REASON AND LOVE--NOT MASS VENGEANCE. IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO NEWSPAPERS, PLEASE ASK THAT THIS LETTER FROM SANDRA OLEWINE BE PRINTED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND CONCERN. GLORIA DELAPLAIN, 609 ERIN STREET, EL CAMPO, TEXAS 77437
----- Original Message -----
From: Sandra Olewine SOlewine@...>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 9:54 AM
Subject: The Sorrow unseen, the Story unheard...
Dear Friends,
In these days when much of the world reels from the heinous actions of hijackers using passenger jets as 'flying bombs' into major buildings in the US, likely killing thousands, certainly injuring 10s of thousands and leaving families the world over grief stricken and lost, words and images should be carefully chosen, particularly by those in leadership and in the media.
These acts raise the term 'terrorism' to an unprecedented level. Most acts ever given this designation pale in the face of the massive human lose and destruction. Never again will any of us step foot on a plane and not remember, at least for a fleeting moment, what happened in New York City, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. For many, and particularly for many Americans, the recognition of human vulnerability has never been as clear as it is in these days.
We humans often don't live well in the midst of such vulnerability. We try to create a sense of stability and security in our environment by whatever means necessary in order to cope with disruption, death and grief. Retreating to 'safe spaces' and finding someone to blame, someone towards whom to direct our anger and despair, is not difficult
to understand. But, sometimes such 'retreating' can lead to a strong urge to 'protect ourselves against them' whomever 'them' might be.
As I watch the scenes which are displayed on television and listen to the words of some of the American leadership, I am dismayed by the careless and blanket statements concerning Muslims in particular and
Arabs in general which are being expressed. The need to create 'security' by blaming evil deeds on an entire tradition of people does not do justice to the lives of those killed. The work of 20, 50, 100, or 1,000 should not lead us to make blanket assumptions or statements about over a billion people. In every country, in every tradition, in
every race, there are people who act out of malice and hatred to destroy others. Surely we Americans have not forgotten that the last horrible terrorist act carried out in our country was by ourselves.
I've had numerous emails from people asking me to help interpret the scenes they have watched of Palestinians 'celebrating' after the event. Yes, there were some gatherings of people, particularly in Nablus, who were shown in the very early hours of the horrible attacks in the US on the street, dancing and cheering, and passing out chocolate. But, these expressions were few and certainly did not represent the feelings or mood of the general population. The deep shock and horror of the Palestinian people, the real sorrow for all the dead and wounded, was, and continues to be, unseen by the world, particularly in the USA. It is the story unheard.
Because those few scenes were disturbing, the easy response is to cast judgment on the participants, naming those 'celebrating' as inhuman, despots, or despicable. The more difficult response, though, particularly in the midst of grief, is to ask the questions about what might drive people, men, women and children, to such actions. One might
remember that the people who were seen 'celebrating' are a people who for almost a year have been under a brutal siege, who due to the siege have been unable to feed their families and hover on the brink of poverty and despair, who have watched their children and their parents killed by bullets, tank shells and guided missiles, most of which are supplied to the Israeli Occupation Army by the USA. One might remember such things as one watches those images. Attempting to understand motivations doesn't discount our feelings of anguish at such scenes, but
does allow us to keep humanity a bit more in tack in a time of such utter brokenness.
But, more importantly to me is what has mostly gone unseen by the American public. I have to ask why these scenes of a few Palestinians been shown again and again and again, as if they capture the 'truth' of Palestine. How few cameras have caught the spontaneous sorrow, despair, tears and heartache of the vast majority of the Palestinian people. As the news unfolded here on Tuesday afternoon about the extent of the attacks, people gathered, as people did everywhere, in front of television screens to learn as much as possible. My phone rang and rang as Palestinians from around the West Bank called to express their horror and their condolences.
Yesterday following a prayer service held at St. George's Anglican Cathedral, I talked briefly to the US Consul General in Jerusalem. We talked about the scenes from here which were most prevalent on the TV. He told me that his office had received a stack of faxes of condolences from Palestinians and Palestinian Organizations 'this high' (indicating a stack of about 12 inches). He asked his staff to fax a copy of every last one of them to CNN to give a different visual image from Palestine.
When we left the cathedral after the service, we drove by the American Consulate in East Jerusalem. Gathered there were about 30 Palestinian Muslim schoolgirls with their teachers. Looking grief-stricken, they held their bouquets of dark flowers and stood behind their row of candles. Silently, they kept vigil outside our Consulate. But no cameras captured their quiet sorrow.
When I got home, my neighbor explained that her son who is in 8th grade came home in the afternoon and talked to her about the students reactions at school. He told her that everyone was talking about what had happened. He said that many were asking "how could someone do that?" "Is someone human who can carry out such acts?" He went on to tell her that many of the girls were crying. Friends, then, began stopping by my home. Palestinian Christian and Muslim came together, visiting me to express their sorrow and to ask what they could do. Again, the phone rang incessantly with Palestinians asking if everyone I knew was okay and asking if they could do anything to help.
As we talked many went on to tell of stories of their loved ones who are in the States - relatives they were worried about having been injured or killed or who had been subject to harassment in the last couple of days. Others talked of having received emails from people who had been supporters of their work who wrote saying "I can never again support the Palestinian people," as if somehow Palestinians everywhere were suddenly responsible for the attacks in the States.
The remarkable thing to me, though, was that despite such messages, these same people still wrote letters of condolences, made phone calls to friends, and asked what they could do to help. Despite the world, and particularly the American world, not seeing them or seeing them only as 'terrorists', Palestinians continued to express their common humanity with people everywhere as they shared in the heartache and dismay.
In a separate message I will forward to you some of the condolences which have gone out. I pray you will share them widely in order to share the sorrow, in order that this part of the story also might be heard.
Lastly, I also want to express my gratitude to the many of you who have written notes of concern, expressing your prayers, for the people here, worrying about how this situation will impact the lives of all living in this region. In the midst of your own suffering and anxiety, your own horror what has happened, your heart was large enough, your vision wide enough, to still see the suffering and anxiety of others. This is no small gift and is a true mark of the grace of God.
Trusting in God's everlasting presence,
Sandra
Rev. Sandra Olewine
United Methodist Liaison - Jerusalem
September 13, 2001, Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, ADC Press Release: President Ziad Asali,
First of all, to all our fellow American citizens, I want to express the deep shock, outrage and anger that the entire Arab-American community has felt as a result of the heinous and reprehensible attack against our society yesterday in New York and Washington, DC. Make no mistake about it, this attack was aimed at all Americans without exception and the Arab-American community shared every bit of the heartache and anguish that all Americans have been enduring. No matter who was responsible for this terrible crime, which no cause or ideology could possibly justify, Arab Americans will be no less moved, no less angry and no less outraged than our fellow Americans. Clearly, the best answer to such a despicable attack is for all Americans to join hands and come together to support each other in our time of need. Arab Americans are among the most eager to do just that. We stand with our country and fellow citizens in struggling to get through this national nightmare.
Unfortunately, as grief gives way to understandable anger, a pattern of collective blame and scapegoating against Arab Americans and Muslims seems to be emerging even before the culpability of any single individual has been established. Even if persons with connections to the Arab world or the Islamic faith prove to have had a hand in this outrage, there can be no reason or excuse for collective blame against any ethnic or religious community. Already we have received numerous disturbing reports of violent attacks, threats and harassment against Arab Americans and Muslims in many parts of the country and the pattern seems to be growing. As a result Arab Americans, in addition to feeling the intense depths of pain and anger at this attack we share with all our fellow citizens, are feeling deep anxiety about becoming the targets of anger from other Americans. We appeal to all Americans to bear in mind that crimes are the responsibility of the individuals who committed them, not ethnic or religious groups.
This rising tide of hostility towards Arab Americans is creating a troubling situation for communities around the nation. It is the goal and purpose of ADC, the leading membership and civil rights organization of the Arab-American community, to ensure that every Arab American who faces harassment, discrimination or hate crimes has a support mechanism and an organization to defend them. ADC is committed to providing this service to our community at this time of crisis, and we are ready to do everything in our power to assist any Arab American who is the subject of discrimination or hatred. We urge all Arab Americans to exercise caution, use their common sense, be aware of and alert to those around them and to report any suspicious behavior or threats to the police and ADC.
ADC is there as a resource for Arab Americans and Americans in general to help in any way it can. We are ready to help bridge the gaps in perception and communication that lead to misunderstanding and even conflict between the United States and the Arab and Islamic world. We are committed to fostering and promoting dialogue in order to counter all those in the Middle East and here in the United States who would promote the false idea that there is or should be a generalized conflict between the United States and the Arab World or between the West and Islam.
September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Israel to AP: Release film of Palestinian celebrations,
Israel is demanding The Associated Press release a videotape of Palestinian celebrations held in the wake of Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States.
The video reportedly captured Palestinian Authority security personnel participating in celebrations around the territories.
Israel claims the Palestinian photographer who shot the film and passed it on to The Associated Press received death threats.
Ra'anan Gissin, a senior aide to Sharon, called the incident "journalism under terror."
The Associated Press yesterday refused to comment on reports that it had refrained from broadcasting the film following pressure from the Palestinian Authority.
September 13, 2001, Haaretz, Analysis: PA worried about anti-Arab atmosphere, by Danny Rubinstein,
The Palestinians began a public relations campaign yesterday in anticipation that the investigation into the terror attacks in the United States on Tuesday will reveal that they were the work of Muslims, Arabs or Palestinians.
"We have to take action because the cries of the Palestinians are not being heard now," said Yasser Abed Rabo, a Palestinian Authority minister. He was referring to the Israel Defense Forces action in the early hours of yesterday, when troops moved into the Jenin area and killed nine Palestinians, including a child in the town of Arabe. Two more Palestinians were killed in Gaza.
Palestinian journalists reported that some 100 people had been injured in the confrontations in and around Jenin and that the city was suffering from a shortage of medicines.
Palestinian spokesmen vociferously denied reports yesterday that the PA had warned foreign correspondents not to film scenes of Palestinian celebrations that had taken place in a number of areas in the territories when news of the terror attack in the United States had broken. There were a small number of such incidents, some of which were videotaped and broadcast around the world.
But at the same time, Orient House activists, including the son of the late Faisal Husseini, held a candlelight vigil outside the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem, as an expression of sympathy with America's trouble. Husseini's son, Abdel Kader Husseini, was received by the consul and expressed his condolences to the U.S. official.
As part of the Palestinian public relations campaign, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat donated blood and offered the United States the full cooperation of the Palestinian intelligence agencies in the effort to find out who was responsible for the attacks.
Perhaps more significantly, Arafat canceled his much-anticipated meeting in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad, apparently out of concern that it wouldn't be politically correct for him to be seen associating with the Syrian ruler, since Damascus is still on the list of states that support terrorism. Damascus is home not only to
Palestinian terror groups, but also to main offices of Hamas and Hezbollah. The meeting was supposed to have ended nearly three decades of hostility, going back to the days of the Lebanon civil war, between the Ba'ath regime and Arafat.
Ghassan al Khatib, head of the Jerusalem Media Institute, said that Arafat may also not have wanted to leave Gaza for fear that Israel might use the U.S. terror attack as an excuse to prevent his return.
The fear that Israel will exploit the international atmosphere that is growing ever more hostile to Muslims and Arabs, to strike at the Palestinians, is now the chief worry of the Palestinian leadership in both Gaza and the West Bank.
September 13, 2001, Haaretz, ..and afraid of tougher Israeli measures, by Amira Hass,
Palestinian organizations fear that Israel will take advantage of Tuesday's terror attack in the United States to step up its military operations in the territories. Representatives of several Palestinian non-governmental organizations warned yesterday that with the world's attention temporarily distracted, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would find it easier to take military steps against the Palestinian Authority.
This prediction has already come true in the Jenin area, they said, noting that nine Palestinians had been killed in an assault by the Israel Defense Forces on the city and three nearby villages Tuesday night.
The NGOs also said they feared that Israel would exploit the situation to launch a direct attack on the PA - something the United States has hitherto opposed. Such an attack could take the form of an attempt on PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's life or an attempt to prevent him from re-entering the territories should he leave.
Similar fears were expressed by official PA spokesmen.
At a press conference in Ramallah yesterday, the heads of two Palestinian NGOs discussed these fears openly.
Hanan Ashrawi, who is spokeswoman for the Arab League, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the director of Miftah, an NGO dedicated to promoting democracy and dialogue, opened the press conference by sending her condolences to the American nation, in the name of the Palestinian people, the PA, intifada activists and the Arab states.
Ashrawi urged the world not to draw conclusions about Palestinian attitudes from the behavior of the few "exceptions" who had rejoiced at news of the attacks. The initial rejoicing, she added, had merely been at the news that symbols of the American regime had been struck, before the extent of the casualties had emerged. Once the scope of the devastation had become clear, the rejoicing had been replaced by shock and mourning, she said.
"The Palestinians, as victims of the Israeli occupation, naturally identify with the victims of the terror attack," she stated.
Both Ashrawi and Ghassan al Khatib, a lecturer in communications and director of the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, also protested what they termed Israel's "cynical and propagandistic" use of pictures of Palestinians rejoicing over the attacks to portray the Palestinians as aggressors.
Khatib then noted that until now, the main disagreement between Israel and the U.S. had been over Israel's treatment of the PA, with the U.S. opposing certain Israeli measures against the Palestinian Authority and particularly any plan to topple it. Now, however, the Palestinians feared that Israeli government circles would begin moving in this direction, he said.
September 13, 2001, AFP, Palestinian students observe minute of silence for US attack victims
A million Palestinian elementary and secondary students observed a minute of silence for the victims of the horrific terrorist attacks in the United States at 11:00 am (0800 GMT) on Thursday, the Palestinian
education ministry said.
"All the Palestinian students in the Gaza Stripe, the West Bank and in (the annexed part of east) Jerusalem observed a minute of silence in memory of the American victims," of the attacks in New York and Washington, a spokesman for the ministry, Abdelhakim Abu Jamus, told AFP. On Wednesday, the Palestinian education minister had called for a period of silence to be observed.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has called Tuesday's attacks in the United States a "crime against humanity" and offered to help Washington to find those responsible.
September 13, 2001, The Independent (London, England) Terror in America: Palestinian reaction - Palestinians fear the price they will have to pay, by Phil Reeves in Bethlehem,
MAHMOUD ABDULLAH was at home watching television, when news of the terror assault on the United States broke. As the carnage grew, he did not take to the streets to dance in celebration, as some Palestinians did.
But he did feel this horrendous slaughter had proved a point. "I told myself that this is a strike from God, and it showed that there are some forces stronger than the Americans in this world," he said yesterday. "I felt that there had been a change in the balance within the world."
Mr Abdullah, 23, used to make his living selling clothes in Bethlehem market, but now - like many, many thousands of other Palestinians on the West Bank - he is unemployed, having lost his livelihood to the economic collapse brought about by the intifada and Israel's military siege of Palestinian areas.
Bitterness has set in as the loss of Palestinian lives has risen steadily over the last year to more than 600. With it, has come a deepening of a long-held antipathy towards the US for the money - some $3bn a year - and weapons and political support it has lavished on Israel.
Most of the world will have been disgusted by the television footage of Palestinians dancing in the streets in the hours after the catastrophe in the US. The crowds were not large - except in the West Bank city of Nablus where several thousand took part - but the impact of the pictures was immense.
It was far more shocking, and even more self-destructive, than the Palestinians' mass demonstrations of support in favour of Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War, or the hideous pleasure regularly expressed on their streets over the ruthless murder of Israeli civilians by Islamic suicide bombers.
Many Palestinians were at pains to point out yesterday that these revellers did not reflect the majority view. "These are people in total despair," said one PLO official, "They know that they will be blamed for these attacks, even though the Palestinians were not involved, and they believe Israel will now be allowed to do what it likes to them."
People in the streets of the occupied territories approached by The Independent yesterday expressed conflicting emotions. They condemned the massacre - along with their own leader, Yasser Arafat, and the entire Middle East, including some of its most extreme elements. Mr Arafat donated blood yesterday for the victims of the terror attacks while other Palestinians held a vigil in Jerusalem.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, leaders of the Palestinian Hamas and several radical Islamic clerics, came out against it. So did the countries on America's blacklist of nations which it accuses of "sponsoring terror" - Libya, Sudan and Iran.
And yet, at street-level, Arab opposition to American policy in the Middle East remained unshaken, and often emerged entwined with the view that the assault on America represented a terrible form of divine justice, a counter blow by Islam against the world's secular, consumer-mad superpower.
It is not - Palestinians argued - a contradiction to wholly oppose the mass murders in the US but to continue to argue that American conduct in the Middle East has been wrong and cruel.
If any heart could be expected to be hardened to Tuesday's horrors it was that of Nahme Hard, 58. Last November, her two sisters - Rachme, 59, and Aziza, 54 - were killed by a missile fired from a US- made Apache helicopter outside her Bethlehem home. It was Israel's first assassination of the intifada, and it found its target - a Fatah gunman called Hussein Abayat, 34. But it also killed the two innocent women, who were passing by.
Nahme has a picture of Saddam Hussein, his chest decked in medals, above the door of her stark home at Beit Sahour, on the edge of Bethlehem. She condemns America's failure to persuade Israel to lift the economic blockade of the West Bank and Gaza, and shakes her head despairingly at the suffering of her people.
But the massacres in New York and Washington horrified her as much as any other. "I cried. I thought - what crime have these people committed? They are men, women and children. What have they done wrong? They aren't guilty of anything."
There were nods of agreement from her nephew, a 31-year-old officer in the Palestinian Preventative Security force called Hamed. He said: "I was shocked when I saw people celebrating. They are not representatives of the Palestinian people. They were just kids. Our battle is not with the Americans. It is with Israel. Civilians should not be killed like this. Osama bin Laden is not our friend. He is an enemy."
Underlying these emotions, there is a widespread fear of the price that Palestinians will now have to pay. Despite their dislike of US policy, the Palestinian leadership still looks to Washington as the only power that can ultimately mediate between them and Israel. After this week's events, the Bush administration, always reluctant to be sucked into the Middle East quagmire, will keep its distance.
September 13, 2001, The Evening Standard (London) Sharon Orders New Wave of Attacks on Palestinians, by Sam Kiley,
ISRAEL launched its biggest attack on Palestine in a year last night, knowing it will not be condemned by the international community in the aftermath of the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington.
A 12-tank armoured column and three bulldozers went into Jericho and attacks were launched on other West Bank towns and villages.
The moves came as America called for a truce between the two sides and struggled to put together a global coalition against terrorism. Seven Palestinians were killed, one of them a suicide bomber, during heavy fighting in Jenin which Israel regards as a 'terrorist nest'.
Nine people had died there the day before as Israel went on the offensive against the northern town which they say is a haven for suicide bombers.
The villages of Hares and Salfit, both in an area which Israel wants to annex, also came under attack after an Israeli woman settler was shot dead in nearby Qalkilya.
The assault on Jericho, which has been one of the quieter West Bank towns since the Palestinian uprising began a year ago, involved an attack on a police training centre - possibly in revenge for the killing of two Israelis driving up the Jordan valley last Sunday.
'There is fierce resistance to the Israelis. The tanks are moving toward Palestinian headquarters, where all the Palestinian security offices are located,' Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, a Jericho resident, said today. Mr Erekat, a peace negotiator, accused Israel of launching the offensive while attention was focused on the attacks in the US.
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to hold truce talks even in the midst of the crisis over Tuesday's devastating attacks on New York and Washington. He said he spoke by telephone to Palestinian President Yassir Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres.
'I encouraged all sides to do everything they can ...in the very near future to meet and not have protracted discussions about where to meet,' he said.
Mr Peres told Israel Radio he hoped the Palestinian Authority would take note of the attacks in the United States and crack down on militants behind a wave of suicide bombings in Israel. But in the Middle East the Palestinians see most of their armed groups as 'freedom fighters' not 'terrorists'.
Palestinian militant groups have denied any involvement in the attacks on the US which caused Israel to close its borders for 24 hours. From last night flights from countries with tight airport security were allowed to land.
September 13, 2001, The New York Times, World War III, Thomas L. Friedman,
As I restlessly lay awake early yesterday, with CNN on my TV and dawn breaking over the holy places of Jerusalem, my ear somehow latched onto a statement made by the U.S. transportation secretary, Norman Mineta, about the new precautions that would be put in place at U.S. airports in the wake of Tuesday's unspeakable terrorist attacks: There will be no more curbside check-in, he said. I suddenly imagined a group of terrorists somewhere here in the Middle East, sipping coffee, also watching CNN and laughing hysterically: "Hey boss, did you hear that? We just blew up Wall Street and the Pentagon and their response is no more curbside check-in?"
I don't mean to criticize Mr. Mineta. He is doing what he can. And I have absolutely no doubt that the Bush team, when it identifies the perpetrators, will make them pay dearly. Yet there was something so absurdly futile and American about the curbside ban that I couldn't help but wonder: Does my country really understand that this is World War III? And if this attack was the Pearl Harbor of World War III, it means there is a long, long war ahead.
And this Third World War does not pit us against another superpower. It pits us -- the world's only superpower and quintessential symbol of liberal, free-market, Western values -- against all the super-empowered angry men and women out there. Many of these super-empowered angry people hail from failing states in the Muslim and third world. They do not share our values, they resent America's influence over their lives, politics and children, not to mention our support for Israel, and they often blame America for the failure of their societies to master modernity.
What makes them super-empowered, though, is their genius at using the networked world, the Internet and the very high technology they hate, to attack us. Think about it: They turned our most advanced civilian planes into human-directed, precision-guided cruise missiles -- a diabolical melding of their fanaticism and our technology. Jihad Online. And think of what they hit: The World Trade Center -- the beacon of American-led capitalism that both tempts and repels them, and the Pentagon, the embodiment of American military superiority.
And think about what places in Israel the Palestinian suicide bombers have targeted most. "They never hit synagogues or settlements or Israeli religious zealots," said the Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit. "They hit the Sbarro pizza parlor, the Netanya shopping mall. The Dolphinarium disco. They hit the yuppie Israel, not the yeshiva Israel."
So what is required to fight a war against such people in such a world? To start with, we as Americans will never be able to penetrate such small groups, often based on family ties, who live in places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or Lebanon's wild Bekaa Valley. The only people who can penetrate these shadowy and ever-mutating groups, and deter them, are their own societies. And even they can't do it consistently. So give the C.I.A. a break.
Israeli officials will tell you that the only time they have had real quiet and real control over the suicide bombers and radical Palestinian groups, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, is when Yasir Arafat and his Palestinian Authority tracked them, jailed them or deterred them.
So then the question becomes, What does it take for us to get the societies that host terrorist groups to truly act against them?
First we have to prove that we are serious, and that we understand that many of these terrorists hate our existence, not just our policies. In June I wrote a column about the fact that a few cell-phone threats from Osama bin Laden had prompted President Bush to withdraw the F.B.I. from Yemen, a U.S. Marine contingent from Jordan and the U.S. Fifth Fleet from its home base in the Persian Gulf. This U.S. retreat was noticed all over the region, but it did not merit a headline in any major U.S. paper. That must have encouraged the terrorists. Forget about our civilians, we didn't even want to risk our soldiers to face their threats.
The people who planned Tuesday's bombings combined world-class evil with world-class genius to devastating effect. And unless we are ready to put our best minds to work combating them -- the World War III Manhattan Project -- in an equally daring, unconventional and unremitting fashion, we're in trouble. Because while this may have been the first major battle of World War III, it may be the last one that involves only conventional, non-nuclear weapons.
Second, we have been allowing a double game to go on with our Middle East allies for years, and that has to stop. A country like Syria has to decide: Does it want a Hezbollah embassy in Damascus or an American one? If it wants a U.S. embassy, then it cannot play host to a rogue's gallery of terrorist groups.
Does that mean the U.S. must ignore Palestinian concerns and Muslim economic grievances? No. Many in this part of the world crave the best of America, and we cannot forget that we are their ray of hope. But apropos of the Palestinians, the U.S. put on the table at Camp David a plan that would have gotten Yasir Arafat much of what he now claims to be fighting for. That U.S. plan may not be sufficient for Palestinians, but to say that the justifiable response to it is suicide terrorism is utterly sick.
Third, we need to have a serious and respectful dialogue with the Muslim world and its political leaders about why many of its people are falling behind. The fact is, no region in the world, including sub- Saharan Africa, has fewer freely elected governments than the Arab- Muslim world, which has none. Why? Egypt went through a whole period of self-criticism after the 1967 war, which produced a stronger country. Why is such self-criticism not tolerated today by any Arab leader?
Where are the Muslim leaders who will tell their sons to resist the Israelis -- but not to kill themselves or innocent non-combatants? No matter how bad, your life is sacred. Surely Islam, a grand religion that never perpetrated the sort of Holocaust against the Jews in its midst that Europe did, is being distorted when it is treated as a guidebook for suicide bombing. How is it that not a single Muslim leader will say that?
These are some of the issues we will have to address as we fight World War III. It will be a long war against a brilliant and motivated foe. When I remarked to an Israeli military official what an amazing technological feat it was for the terrorists to hijack the planes and then fly them directly into the most vulnerable spot in each building, he pooh-poohed me.
"It's not that difficult to learn how to fly a plane once it's up in the air," he said. "And remember, they never had to learn how to land."
No, they didn't. They only had to destroy. We, by contrast, have to fight in a way that is effective without destroying the very open society we are trying to protect. We have to fight hard and land safely. We have to fight the terrorists as if there were no rules, and preserve our open society as if there were no terrorists. It won't be easy. It will require our best strategists, our most creative diplomats and our bravest soldiers. Semper Fi.
September 13, 2001, Chicago Tribune, Mourners hold vigil for victims, by Hugh Dellios,
Palestinians have mounted efforts to try to erase the damning images seen around the world of some of their people celebrating in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
Hundreds of Palestinians massed Wednesday evening for a solemn candlelight vigil outside the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem. On Thursday, a condolence march was planned for the same neighborhood, while Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's self-rule government ordered that all schoolchildren in the West Bank and Gaza stand for a moment of silence at 11 a.m. Arafat himself did his symbolic part Wednesday by donating a pint of blood, a day after he condemned the terrorist attacks.
"That celebration on the street was not reflecting the real feeling of the Palestinians, which was sympathy for the victims," said Ghassan Khattib, a prominent analyst and commentator, at a press conference sponsored by Arafat's Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
The campaign was recognition that the celebrations could do considerable harm to the Palestinians' image in the United States.
As news of the attacks spread Tuesday, a few crowds took to the streets in Palestinian cities, handing out sweets, firing guns, flashing victory signs and expressing glee that "revenge" had been taken.
In some cities, such as Nablus in the northern West Bank, a larger anti- U.S. crowd reportedly assembled. But Palestinian police kept the sentiments in check in other cities.
Israelis quickly denounced the celebrations.
"Yesterday, some Palestinians danced a jig over the great tragedy that befell the Americans," wrote Zeev Schiff, a prominent military analyst, on the front page of Haaretz newspaper.
In turn, the Palestinians charged that the Israelis were exploiting and playing up the incidents for political advantage.
They insisted that most Palestinians were as saddened by the terrorist attacks as everyone else. The crowds, they said, were small and consisted of youths and militants who are 11 months into a bloody uprising against the Israelis.
"I was shocked by the attacks and shocked when I saw people celebrating," said Hamed Khalil, 27, a police officer from Bethlehem. "Civilians should not be killed. Our battle is not with the Americans. It's with Israel."
At the vigil Wednesday in East Jerusalem, Palestinians laid flowers at the U.S. Consulate and carried placards that read, "Terror is our common enemy" and "We are victims too."
September 13, 2001, Haaretz, Meek and stammering, by Meron Benvenisti,
The apocalyptic scenes and depth of the tragedy turn every effort to express something about them - no matter how sincere and noble - into an embarrassing stammer. Nevertheless, people who use the pen, keyboard or microphone can't remain silent: They feel a duty to explain to themselves and to others how, why, and what to do.
It seems that the ultimate test of all our words is what Barbara Olson, who died in the crash into the Pentagon, would say if she could hear us. After all, her last words were: "What should I tell the pilot to do?" - leaving us speechless and filled with humility. Do we have an answer for her? And if we don't, maybe we should simply make do with reciting psalms in her memory and in the memory of the thousands who died. "Out of the depths have I cried unto the, O God. Lord, hear my voice: Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications." (Psalm CXXX)
But the dead are doomed to have the living turn their deaths into forms that suit the needs of the latter, and use their spilled blood to advance their own objectives; after all, the dead have no voice.
The attempt to give meaning to an apocalypse requires finding historical parallels, and the one that is being heard over and over is Pearl Harbor. But the comparison belittles the meaning of the tragedy of September 11. In 1941, the Japanese destroyed the U.S. fleet in the Pacific Ocean, but it was thousands of miles from the American continent, which was left free of mass violence the way it had been for more than 150 years.
There can be no likening between the events of the World Wars - or the Vietnam War - and the terrible blow at America's heart. The descendants of immigrants from the Old World believed they had escaped the fate of their ancestors, that they had left behind the ethnic and religious violence of the Old World and had built themselves a pluralist and open society in which there are no identity numbers and a sense of aversion to signs of a police state prevails. Now, suddenly, they find that globalization has also brought just what they had run from to their complacent home.
Now they face a terrible dilemma: The calls for tightening security and behaving like a country under siege will ruin the American dream, and, in effect, terror will win. If the U.S. president listens to those voices from the Old World that are trying to enlist him into the defense of "the free world" - and, in effect, drag him into a "clash of
civilizations" - he'll sink into a vicious circle of bloody revenge and counter-revenge. But if he licks his wounds, buries his dead and decides that the American dream can survive even a horrible tragedy like September 11, the terrorists could interpret this as a weakness; the free world would be disappointed with an apparent American incompetence; and his own people won't be able to give vent their feelings of revenge.
This is an Israeli dilemma, which the Americans hoped they would always be able to observe from the sidelines. Indeed, Israelis - more than any other nation - feel profound solidarity with Americans and not only because of the intimate relations between the two nations. The terror that strikes at us, the suicidal terrorists, their religious affiliations, the myth of a "defensive democracy," and especially the hope that now they will understand Israel's own steps to eliminate terrorism have made the attack in the heart of New York feel like it took place in Tel Aviv.
Drawn into the tragedy, Israel declares a day of mourning and enlists blood donors. But it also has its own agenda: A team from the Spokesman's Office of the Israel Defense Forces was sent to film the scenes of joy and candy being handed out in East Jerusalem "for public relations purposes." The politicians compete with each other to present the tragedy as proof of their own long-standing political attitudes toward the Palestinians and use their best rhetorical skills to call for an international coalition to save Western civilization.
They ignore, however, the fact that not every Israeli action in the territories is deemed proper by the standards of Western civilization; not every act of violence perpetrated by the Palestinians is perceived by "the enlightened world" as an act of terror in keeping with the events that took place in New York and Washington; and putting Israel at the front of the coalition against terrorism will not necessarily be welcomed by the free world, just like in the days of the Gulf War. Hopefully, the tragedy won't be used as a means to remove the last of the restraining blocks left in "the war against Palestinian terror," with the old excuse that "they danced on the rooftops."
There's no doubt that the world after September 11 will be different to the world before this date, but what kind of world it will be remains an unknown. What is clear is that if it is shaped only by feelings of vengeance, and not in accordance with the need to deal with the rotting soil in which the hate, envy and frustration of the terrorists grew, it won't be a better world.
But what do we know? We're standing here, mouths agape, full of humility and stammering.
The ACJ is a coalition of major Arab-American organizations dedicated to promoting a solution to Jerusalem which accommodates the deep attachments of people of the three monotheistic religions to the city and the political aspirations of both, Palestinians and Israelis.
American Committee on Jerusalem
4201 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 302
Washington, DC 20008
Phone (202)237-0215 Fax (202)244-3196
September 13, 2001, New York Times, World War III, by Thomas L. Friedman,
As I restlessly lay awake early yesterday, with CNN on my TV and dawn breaking over the holy places of Jerusalem, my ear somehow latched onto a statement made by the U.S. transportation secretary, Norman Mineta, about the new precautions that would be put in place at U.S. airports in the wake of Tuesday's unspeakable terrorist attacks: There will be no more curbside check-in, he said. I suddenly imagined a group of terrorists somewhere here in the Middle East, sipping coffee, also watching CNN and laughing hysterically: "Hey boss, did you hear that? We just blew up Wall Street and the Pentagon and their response is no more curbside check-in?"
I don't mean to criticize Mr. Mineta. He is doing what he can. And I have absolutely no doubt that the Bush team, when it identifies the perpetrators, will make them pay dearly. Yet there was something so absurdly futile and American about the curbside ban that I couldn't help but wonder: Does my country really understand that this is World War III? And if this attack was the Pearl Harbor of World War III, it means there is a long, long war ahead.
And this Third World War does not pit us against another superpower. It pits us -- the world's only superpower and quintessential symbol of liberal, free-market, Western values -- against all the super-empowered angry men and women out there. Many of these super-empowered angry people hail from failing states in the Muslim and third world. They do not share our values, they resent America's influence over their lives, politics and children, not to mention our support for Israel, and they often blame America for the failure of their societies to master modernity.
What makes them super-empowered, though, is their genius at using the networked world, the Internet and the very high technology they hate, to attack us. Think about it: They turned our most advanced civilian planes into human-directed, precision-guided cruise missiles -- a diabolical melding of their fanaticism and our technology. Jihad Online. And think of what they hit: The World Trade Center -- the beacon of American-led capitalism that both tempts and repels them, and the Pentagon, the embodiment of American military superiority.
And think about what places in Israel the Palestinian suicide bombers have targeted most. "They never hit synagogues or settlements or Israeli religious zealots," said the Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit. "They hit the Sbarro pizza parlor, the Netanya shopping mall. The Dolphinarium disco. They hit the yuppie Israel, not the yeshiva Israel."
So what is required to fight a war against such people in such a world? To start with, we as Americans will never be able to penetrate such small groups, often based on family ties, who live in places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or Lebanon's wild Bekaa Valley. The only people who can penetrate these shadowy and ever-mutating groups, and deter them, are their own societies. And even they can't do it consistently. So give the C.I.A. a break.
Israeli officials will tell you that the only time they have had real quiet and real control over the suicide bombers and radical Palestinian groups, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, is when Yasir Arafat and his Palestinian Authority tracked them, jailed them or deterred them.
So then the question becomes, What does it take for us to get the societies that host terrorist groups to truly act against them?
First we have to prove that we are serious, and that we understand that many of these terrorists hate our existence, not just our policies. In June I wrote a column about the fact that a few cell-phone threats from Osama bin Laden had prompted President Bush to withdraw the F.B.I. from Yemen, a U.S. Marine contingent from Jordan and the U.S. Fifth Fleet from its home base in the Persian Gulf. This U.S. retreat was noticed all over the region, but it did not merit a headline in any major U.S. paper. That must have encouraged the terrorists. Forget about our civilians, we didn't even want to risk our soldiers to face their threats.
The people who planned Tuesday's bombings combined world-class evil with world-class genius to devastating effect. And unless we are ready to put our best minds to work combating them -- the World War III Manhattan Project -- in an equally daring, unconventional and unremitting fashion, we're in trouble. Because while this may have been the first major battle of World War III, it may be the last one that involves only conventional, non-nuclear weapons.
Second, we have been allowing a double game to go on with our Middle East allies for years, and that has to stop. A country like Syria has to decide: Does it want a Hezbollah embassy in Damascus or an American one? If it wants a U.S. embassy, then it cannot play host to a rogue's gallery of terrorist groups.
Does that mean the U.S. must ignore Palestinian concerns and Muslim economic grievances? No. Many in this part of the world crave the best of America, and we cannot forget that we are their ray of hope. But apropos of the Palestinians, the U.S. put on the table at Camp David a plan that would have gotten Yasir Arafat much of what he now claims to be fighting for. That U.S. plan may not be sufficient for Palestinians,
but to say that the justifiable response to it is suicide terrorism is utterly sick.
Third, we need to have a serious and respectful dialogue with the Muslim world and its political leaders about why many of its people are falling behind. The fact is, no region in the world, including sub- Saharan Africa, has fewer freely elected governments than the Arab- Muslim world, which has none. Why? Egypt went through a whole period of self-criticism after the 1967 war, which produced a stronger country. Why is such self-criticism not tolerated today by any Arab leader?
Where are the Muslim leaders who will tell their sons to resist the Israelis -- but not to kill themselves or innocent non-combatants? No matter how bad, your life is sacred. Surely Islam, a grand religion that never perpetrated the sort of Holocaust against the Jews in its midst that Europe did, is being distorted when it is treated as a guidebook for suicide bombing. How is it that not a single Muslim leader will say that?
These are some of the issues we will have to address as we fight World War III. It will be a long war against a brilliant and motivated foe. When I remarked to an Israeli military official what an amazing technological feat it was for the terrorists to hijack the planes and then fly them directly into the most vulnerable spot in each building, he pooh-poohed me.
"It's not that difficult to learn how to fly a plane once it's up in the air," he said. "And remember, they never had to learn how to land."
No, they didn't. They only had to destroy. We, by contrast, have to fight in a way that is effective without destroying the very open society we are trying to protect. We have to fight hard and land safely. We have to fight the terrorists as if there were no rules, and preserve our open society as if there were no terrorists. It won't be easy. It will require our best strategists, our most creative diplomats and our bravest soldiers. Semper Fi.
September 14, 2001, Washington Post, Among Palestinians, Mixed Emotions, Empathy for Attack Victims Competes With Anger Over U.S. Support for Israel, by Daniel Williams,
When Ahmed Daoud Ramhi had his junior high school students at the nearby Jalazoun refugee camp discuss Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, their verdicts were mixed. The students, he said, felt the attack on the Pentagon was entirely justified, but not the destruction and civilian deaths at the World Trade Center.
Ramhi's own assessment was harsher, nourished by personal tragedy. His 15-year-old son, Mohammed, was shot dead by a Jewish settler in 1996 on a road near this West Bank town. Israeli authorities dug up the body for an autopsy over Ramhi's objections, he recalled, and after holding it for several days, they returned the wrong body. Then they returned the boy's corpse at 3 a.m., a week after his death. Nothing came of the investigation as far as Ramhi knows.
Although Israeli occupation authorities were responsible, Ramhi also blames the United States, which he well knows supplies Israel with weapons, economic aid and political backing. Such identification -- the United States is the same as Israel, the enemy occupier -- led a number of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to celebrate in the street when the news broke of terrorist strikes.
"The guns here are American guns. The Americans have to understand that when they judge us. They are Israel's partners," he said. "But when I saw that civilians were victims, I admit it bothered me. I thought of my son. I am not happy that thousands of people will go through mourning like me."
A second concern came to Ramhi: that the Palestinians, tainted by terrorism in their independence movement, will be inundated by an American war against international terror. "We will be thrown in with America's enemies," he said.
Umm Alabi, a camp resident, also was unapologetic about her feelings toward the attacks on the United States. A refugee at the age of 10 from the lowlands of pre-Israel Palestine, she wandered for several years in different refugee camps, lived in tents and eventually raised three sons on U.N. handouts. Her sons were frequently held in Israeli jails and one lives in exile.
When she saw the towers burning on television, therefore, it did not cross her mind to condemn it because, she said, "America doesn't condemn Israel."
"Look, the act means desperation," she said. "It's not just us. What about Iraq, bombed for 10 years? Not everybody is going to sit by while this goes on."
Her feelings and those of many in Ramallah are soured by a history of bloodshed, dislocation and frustration. In just the current conflict with Israel, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed over the last year, many of them unarmed and more than 100 of them younger than 18.
The resentment of massive U.S. political and financial support of Israel long predates this war. Comments today in Ramallah were the same as those that could be heard in Beirut following the 1982 massacre of scores of Palestinian civilians at the hand of Lebanese allies of Israel, or during the first Palestinian intifada of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when 1,500 people, overwhelmingly unarmed stone-throwers, were killed.
Palestinian officials tried desperately today to undo public relations damage from the images broadcast around the world of the Palestinians expressing joy at the assaults on Washington and New York. But deep bitterness at U.S. support for Israel made expressions of unqualified sympathy rare among the general public.
Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, urged Arab and Muslim countries to join the U.S. campaign to wipe out terrorism worldwide. His Palestinian Authority, which rules 20 percent of the West Bank and two- thirds of Gaza, ordered schools to hold a moment of silence for the dead.
His spokesmen repeatedly condemned the attack. With photographers on hand, Arafat donated blood for victims, and Palestinian demonstrators held a candlelight vigil at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.
Palestinian officials told an Associated Press video cameraman that tapes of the gleeful demonstrations in Nablus, a West Bank city about 40 miles north of here, could not be aired. Arafat's cabinet secretary, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, warned the Jerusalem office of the Associated Press that the Palestinian Authority could not "guarantee the life" of the cameraman if the footage was broadcast. Members of Fatah, the main faction of Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, issued statements holding the cameraman responsible for the tape.
But the public relations damage was done. Images of smiling demonstrators elsewhere were broadcast, horrifying Palestinian politicians who have pressed for a negotiated end to the conflict with Israel. "A lot of damage has been done," said Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator.
"This was a dark day for our image in the world," said Ghassan Khatib, a moderate spokesman for the Palestinian cause.
Khatib argued that the demonstrations were small and unreflected of the Palestinian sentiments, which he described as "identification with the tragedy."
Indeed, joy was not the prevailing mood today in Ramallah, arguably the West Bank's most open and best-educated city, and there were no street parties. But hardly anyone seemed prepared to echo the words of Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian spokeswoman and Ramallah resident, that the attackers are enemies "of all humanity, human rights and freedom."
September 14, 2001, Haaretz, PA sorrow at a time of fear, by Danny Rubinstein,
The Palestinian Authority parliament will convene for a special memorial session today to express solidarity with the American casualties of this week's terror attacks in New York and Washington.
With Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip cut off from one another, the parliament will in fact meet in two sessions, one in Gaza City and the other in Ramallah.
The special gatherings will bolster the PA leadership's condemnations of the brutal terror strikes in the U.S. These increased efforts are a response to mounting reports identifying Arab Muslims as the perpetrators of the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania terror attacks.
Top PA officials are concerned about the anti-Arab mood that appears to be gaining ground in the United States and elsewhere. This popular mood, they fear, sets the stage for escalated Israeli strikes on various locales in the territories.
Front page headlines in Palestinian newspapers yesterday alleged that Israel is exploiting the American terror attacks in order to carry out massacres in Jenin.
As part of the effort to contain possible anti-Arab fall-out, the PA released photographs yesterday of Arafat and Palestinian citizens donating blood for U.S. terror victims. Similarly, pupils in PA schools were asked to observe a moment of silence as a mark of respect for the American casualties.
Today, a public statement signed by 50 Palestinian writers and cultural figures should be released, as another demonstration of solidarity with the American public. Palestinians are shocked and appalled by the brutal terror acts in America, the statement affirms; and a handful of youths who expressed glee after the attacks was not representative. Hanan Ashrawi, the Arab League's information attach? is among the signatories of the statement.
Apparently concerned that terror in the U.S. could have damaging repercussions for the PA, Arafat decided to move up the date of his meeting with Shimon Peres, scheduling it for Sunday at Rafah.
In addition to the fear that Israel will exploit the current atmosphere to escalate strikes against the PA, Arafat also believes that the situation in the U.S. might make it easier for him to proceed with efforts against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Palestinian sources said. The U.S. and European countries are likely now to augment support for Arab regimes like Jordan and Egypt that are threatened by radical fundamentalist groups; and in this context, they are also likely to support Arafat's efforts against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, "since everyone knows that if Arafat falls, he will be replaced by [Hamas spiritual leader] Sheikh Yassin," the sources explained.
Last night, Palestinian spokesmen said that after a year of bloodshed, most Israelis must believe that the current impasse has no military solution, and that continued use of force cannot not solve anything. They say it is therefore to be hoped that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will give Foreign Minister Shimon Peres the authority to attain significant results from his upcoming meeting with Arafat.
September 14, 2001, New York Times, Retaliation: Attacks and Harassment of Middle-Eastern Americans Rising, by Laurie Goodstein and Gustave Niebuh.
People of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent — or even those who appear to be — are increasingly becoming the targets of harassment and violence by civilians and of intense scrutiny by police officers under pressure to track down suspects in the terrorist attacks.
From Texas to Chicago to Long Island, there have been reports of arson, personal attacks and the police stopping men in Middle Eastern-style head coverings.
The incidents are increasing despite many interfaith prayer services and calls from President Bush and other officials for the public not to single out anyone because of religion, race or ethnic origin.
The Justice Department has been receiving reports of harassment against Arab-Americans and Americans from South Asia, Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference yesterday, and he added, "Such reports of violence and threats are in direct opposition to the very principles and laws of the United States and will not be tolerated."
The president said yesterday, "We should not hold one who is a Muslim responsible for an act of terror."
In Denton, Tex., the police are investigating a firebomb attack that damaged the Islamic Society of Denton's mosque early yesterday. In suburban Cleveland, Sukhwant Singh, a Sikh priest who lives at the Guru Gobind Sikh temple, awakened early Wednesday to find bottles filled with gasoline hurled in the temple's windows and flames pouring out. No arrests have been made.
In Louisiana, schools in Jefferson Parish were closed on Wednesday after officials reported that students of Middle Eastern origin were being taunted and harassed.
On Long Island, a market in Smithtown owned by a native of Pakistan was the target of what the police considered a probable arson attack Wednesday morning. In Ronkonkoma, a man was arrested on suspicion of waving a pellet gun and shouting obscenities at a South Asian gas station worker. And in South Huntington on Wednesday night, a man was arrested after the police said he tried to run down a Pakistani woman. The police said he screamed that he was "doing this for my country."
Early Wednesday in Manhattan, a Sikh man said he was pounced on by three white men yelling "terrorist" at Broadway and 52nd Street. Later in the morning, three Sikh men waiting at Grand Central Terminal for a Connecticut-bound train were stopped and had their bags searched by the police.
On Wednesday night, more than 100 people, including many teenagers, held a march near a mosque in Bridgeview, Ill., near Chicago. Some waved American flags and shouted, "U.S.A.!"
Rafeeq Jaber, a board member of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, said the marchers appeared to be "rallying against foreign nationals," not realizing many members of the mosque had been American citizens since before many of the marchers were born.
Scared, too, are people in New York working at the permanent mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations. Hours after the two airliners slammed into the World Trade Center, the phone at the mission began ringing with death threats, said Haron Amin, a mission spokesman.
"Every hour or so our recording device becomes full," he said. "The threats have said such things as `Good luck staying alive over the next week' and 'Every Muslim shall be killed.'"
Mr. Amin said many Americans do not understand that his mission does not represent the Taliban government in Kabul, but the embattled Islamic State of Afghanistan, which has been substantially defeated on the ground by Taliban forces.
Contributing to the problems for some ethnic Americans is that the police are searching for suspects of Middle Eastern and Indian origin.
When an Amtrak train from Boston was stopped in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday, about 10 people were removed, held by the police and questioned for an hour and 40 minutes while the train idled in the station, the police and passengers said.
Sher J. B. Singh, a telecommunications consultant, was one of three Sikh men escorted from the train at gunpoint, handcuffed and questioned about whether he had anything to do with the terrorism. The others held all appeared to be of Arab or South Asian descent, said Mr. Singh and Meera Kumar, a financial services officer at the Ford Motor Company, who was also held by the police.
"We're in a terrible emergency," said Ms. Kumar later from her Manhattan apartment. "But I'm a full- fledged tax-paying United States citizen like anyone else. I shouldn't have been subjected to this, nor should anyone else."
Col. Richard T. Sullivan, chief of police in Providence, said his department had received a call from police and federal officials in Boston to search for men meeting a specific description. Hesaid those detained included a Hispanic and an African- American. "They broadcast four Arabic males, so four Arabic males is what we are looking for," Colonel Sullivan said. "It's not ethnic on our part. We were acting on information given to us by other law enforcement agencies."
The only person arrested was Mr. Singh, who was charged with possession of a concealed weapon. He wore under his shirt a three-inch-long sheathed knife called a kirpan, which is traditionally carried by devout Sikh men.
"I didn't anticipate that as a country we would become blind and just look at somebody suspiciously who looks or dresses in a certain way," Mr. Singh said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"Unfortunately, I thought that if that would be the case, it wouldn't be the authorities, it would be the people, and the authorities would be there to support you. Unfortunately, it was the authorities who made that mistake."
At the same time, there have been a growing number of interfaith religious services bringing together Christians, Jews, Muslims and others. The events have been intended to emphasize spiritual common ground within religiously pluralistic America, and there have been more of them than at previous times of international crisis.
"What's different now is there's a genuine effort to reach out beyond the Protestant, Catholic and liberal Jew type of focus," said Rabbi Jack L. Moline, head of Agudas Achim, a Conservative synagogue in Alexandria, Va. Rabbi Moline said he spoke at a service on Wednesday that he shared with a Protestant minister and a Palestinian Muslim.
Another service took place yesterday at Georgetown University in Washington, where the city's Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and Yahya Hendi, the university's Muslim chaplain, offered prayers alongside Episcopal Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon and Rabbi Fred Reiner, president of the local board of rabbi
September 14, 2001, New York Times, Struggling Against Fanaticism, by Amos Oz,
A tide of religious and nationalistic fanaticism is on the rise throughout Islam, from the Philippines to Gaza and Libya and Algeria, from Afghanistan and Iran and Iraq to Lebanon and Sudan. Here in Israel we have been on the receiving end of this lethal fanatic tide: almost every day we witness the link between hateful incitement and mass murders, between religious sermons that celebrate jihad and its fulfillment in suicide bombs against innocent civilians.
Being the victims of Arab and Muslim fundamentalism often blinds us so that we tend to ignore the rise of chauvinistic and religious extremism not only in the domain of Islam but also in various parts of the
Christian world and indeed among the Jewish people. If it turns out that America's dreadful ordeal results from the fact that fanatic mullahs and ayatollahs persistently portray the United States as "The Great Satan" — then America, like Israel, "The Little Satan," must prepare itself for a long, hard struggle.
Perhaps it is only human that underneath the shock and the pain there is a small voice in some of us here in Israel, which says "now at last they will all understand what we are going through" or "now they will all finally take our side."
But this small voice is extremely dangerous for us: it may easily seduce us into forgetting that with or without Islamic fundamentalism, with or without Arab terrorism, there is no justification whatsoever for the lasting occupation and suppression of the Palestinian people by Israel. We have no right to deny Palestinians their natural right to self-determination. Two huge oceans could not shelter America from terrorism; the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by Israel has not made Israel secure — on the contrary, it makes our self-defense much harder and more complicated. The sooner this occupation ends, the better it will be for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
It is all too easy and tempting now to fall into all sorts of racist clichés about "Muslim mentality" or "Arab character" and other such rubbish. The horrendous crime committed against New York and Washington is a sharp reminder that this is not a war between religions, nor a struggle between nations. This is, once more, the battle between fanatics for whom the end — any end, be it religious, nationalistic or ideological — sanctifies the means, and the rest of us who ascribe sanctity to life itself.
Despite the abhorrent manifestation of joy in Gaza and Nablus while people in New York were still burning alive, let no decent human being forget that the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims are neither accomplices to the crime nor rejoicing in it. Almost all of them are as shocked and aggrieved as the rest of humankind. Perhaps they even have some special reason for worrying, as ugly sounds of undiscriminating anti-Islamic feelings can already be heard in some places. Such feelings are inappropriate — and they play right into the eager hands of the perpetrators of attacks against America.
Let us remember: neither the West nor Islam nor the Arabs is evil or "The Great Satan." "The Great Satan" is personified in hatred and fanaticism. These two ancient mental failings still plague us. Let us be very careful not to be infected.
September 13, 2001, RO: Ramallah Online, Terror in America must not blind us to the ongoing Israeli Terrorism in Palestine, by Hanan Ashrawi,
Media Monitors Network
We reach out to the American people and express our extreme sorrow and condolences
On behalf of the Palestinian People and leadership, all Arab People and leadership, we believe that this horrendous act of terrorism against the innocent American people is an act of absolute immorality and evil. We, a people under occupation, have been subject to massive assaults, have been under siege, and are being shelled and killed daily.
Only last night, 9 innocent Palestinian civilians were killed in Jenin, 2 in Gaza, and hundreds were injured. Yet, we reach out to the American people and express our extreme sorrow and condolences. We feel that the perpetrators have to be identified and have to be punished.
We think that this is a turning point in the history of wars. This is an invisible enemy, an enemy of all humanity, human rights and freedom. And we as Palestinians are struggling for human rights, for freedom, for democracy, and for the rule of law, and we believe there should be a global rule of law. We extend our sincerest feelings of sorrow and shock to the victims and their families.
Again, on behalf of Palestinians, people involved in the Palestinian Intifada, whether the national or Muslim forces, and all Arab leaderships, President Yasser Arafat expressed total condemnation and utter grief to this tremendous loss. This situation requires not just condemnation, but it also requires a cooperative effort and active opposition to such acts of horror.
Finally, I would like to reiterate that this kind of terrorism must not blind us to the ongoing situation in Palestine. The exploitation of this in order to link the Palestinians to any kind of violence or terror, or in order to justify and rationalize violence or terror against the Palestinians is entirely unacceptable. On behalf of the people of Jenin, who are besieged and the victims who are being wounded and killed on a daily basis, we stand for what is just and for what is moral. We call for the support of the Palestinian People in standing against the forces of evil and darkness.
September 14, 2001, Haaretz, Israel, U.S. increase intelligence links, Nathan Guttman,
Israel and the United States have begun to share intelligence on Islamic terror organizations in the wake of Tuesday's terror attacks in New York and Washington.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer telephoned his U.S. counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, to offer Israeli assistance both in the rescue efforts after the attacks, and in intelligence work. The U.S. rejected the first offer, but accepted the second, and yesterday, the two countries' intelligence professionals held their first phone conversations on the subject. There have also been broader, four-way intelligence contacts regarding Islamic terror organizations, between the U.S., Israel, Britain and Germany.
Though Israel and the U.S. have always cooperated in the intelligence field, the two decided to expand this cooperation following Tuesday's terror attacks.
September 14, 2001, Jerusalem Post, IDF strikes four West Bank towns, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
In its widest-ever offensive in Palestinian-held territory, IDF tanks and other armored vehicles destroyed Palestinian positions in four West Bank cities and towns yesterday, leaving at least four Palestinians dead and numerous police stations demolished.
The actions were part of the defense establishment's new policy of retaliating with greater severity to attacks on Israelis. Officers in the Central Command said they feel they have a freer hand to respond to
terrorist acts following the terror attacks in the United States this week. Palestinian gunmen in the Jordan Valley killed two Israelis on Monday.
For the first time, IDF forces encircling Jericho moved into the city with tanks around 2 a.m. yesterday. Palestinians reported that at least 22 tanks entered the southern portions of the city, its sky lit up with flares, and some moved all the way to the main road linking it to the Jordan Valley.
According to news agencies, an IDF bulldozer demolished a training center used by Palestinian forces, including Force 17.
The army confirmed its raid into the city as well as an exchange of gunfire.
The army said it had taken positions around the city "to prevent terrorists from leaving it and entering Israel."
Up to a dozen Palestinians were reported wounded in the Jericho clashes. There were no IDF casualties.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a Jericho resident, accused Israel of exploiting the world's preoccupation with terror attacks in the United States to escalate its military strikes.
"The Israelis are using the tragedy of the events in New York and Washington, feeling that the attention of the world is elsewhere," he told AP. "There was nothing to provoke this."
The IDF tanks pulled out of the city at dawn, but remained around the Jordan Valley oasis. The Palestinians said that one of the Israeli tanks needed to be towed after it got stuck in swampland.
At about the same time, infantry backed by tanks and armored engineering equipment moved into Jenin from the north and headed for the police compound they had attacked the day before. At least 15 tanks were said to have been operating in various neighborhoods of the city.
One Palestinian man blew himself up next to a tank, Reuters quoted an unidentified Palestinian security official as saying. There was no damage to the tank.
Three other Palestinians were killed when a tank fired a shell into a house. According to Arab reports, one gunman as well as a man and a woman were killed and nine others wounded.
The army confirmed that its forces came under fire and returned fire.
"Israeli armored, infantry, and engineering units completed an attack on the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority's forces and destroyed a wing used by Force 17 and General Intelligence," an IDF statement said. "The operation was aimed at disrupting terrorist activity in this area."
The IDF also raided Kalkilya and destroyed a Palestinian security position. They also entered Salfit near Ariel and demolished another Palestinian Police outpost. The army said these actions were done in
retaliation for the Wednesday murder of Ruthi Shuai, who was shot in a drive-by killing near the settlement of Alfei Menashe.
Military sources in the Central Command said army units would remain in force in the previously Palestinian-controlled areas around Jenin and Jericho until the government orders them back.
With excellent night-vision capabilities and armor, the IDF appears to have adopted a policy of blockading the Palestinian cities during the day and penetrating them at night to carry out arrests and demolitions of terrorist or police posts.
Also yesterday, Sufian A'ardeh, 30, died of wounds received in a firefight with Israeli special forces early Wednesday. Military sources said A'ardeh was helping two key Islamic Jihad terrorists who had been hiding in his house and were killed in the clash. He was wounded as he hid behind his 11-year-old sister, who was also killed in the raid, military sources said.
The Palestinian Authority said that at least 15 Palestinians have been killed and over 90 wounded since the IDF started its containment operations in the West Bank following the wave of terror on Sunday that killed five Israelis.
Margot Dudkevitch adds:
A 20-year-old Mitzpeh Yeriho man was being questioned by police last night after the Palestinian Police handed him over at the Jericho DCO. It was unclear how the Israeli had managed to enter Jericho, and whether he had been held captive.
Earlier in the day, soldiers, police, the Megillot Regional Rescue team, and residents from the community launched a manhunt for the man after his motorcycle was discovered lying overturned on the roadside south of Jericho and his helmet and his kippa were found 500 meters east of the site. Judea and Samaria police spokesman Rafi Yafe said police requested from their Palestinian counterparts that they immediately hand over the missing Israeli.
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