Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with the Fairness Project by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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In-Depth Issue:
Russians Probe Chechen-al Qaeda Link
- Christina Lamb and Ben Aris
(Telegraph - UK)
A number of Arab fighters, believed to be of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni origin, were among the group that seized control of the Moscow theater. "There were definitely Arab terrorists in the building with links to al Qaeda," said a senior Western diplomat.
Israeli SWAT Founder Commends Moscow Rescue (Reuters)
The founder of Israel's premier counter-terrorist unit has commended the Russian handling of the Moscow theater siege and said the casualties from gas inhalation were unavoidable.
Palestinian Woman Executed in Nablus - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Masked men belonging to Fatah's al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades shot dead Haifa Sultan, 39, in Nablus on Friday night after accusing her of collaboration with Israel.
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News Resources - North America and Europe:
Lawrence Foley of the U.S. Agency for International Development was gunned down Monday morning outside his home in Amman. (Washington Post/AP) A large area of northern Kuwait is to become a "military zone" in response to security fears expressed by U.S. forces, Kuwait's defense ministry announced Saturday. The move will provide troops with a closed arena, away from public scrutiny, to begin exercises prior to an invasion of Iraq. Next month a British armored division of up to 20,000 men is expected to arrive in Kuwait. (Telegraph - UK) "I don't believe that Kuwait, or Qatar...or any country that hosts American bases can stop the United States from using them," said Massouma al-Mubarak, a political science professor at Kuwait University. She said Arab leaders saying "no" to a U.S. strike are talking only to the so-called Arab street. "In reality," she said, "they are saying (to the Americans) do whatever you want, there is nothing we can do about it." (Sacramento Bee/AP) Protests against a possible war on Iraq have been noticeably absent in the Middle East, even on the university campuses that often serve as birthplaces of protests in the Arab world. While expressing surprise at the silence, students and professors point to a mix of apathy and governmental pressure. The feeling, some say, is that while the Palestinians deserve a show of solidarity, President Saddam Hussein's Iraq does not. (Chicago Tribune) An Egyptian satellite television channel has begun teasers for its blockbuster Ramadan series "Horse Without a Horseman," that its producers acknowledge incorporates ideas from the infamous czarist forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." The series traces the history of the Middle East from 1855 to 1917 in 41 episodes, through the eyes of an Egyptian who fought British occupiers and the Zionist movement. (New York Times)
News Resources - Israel and Mideast:
The terrorist was spotted at a gas station near the entrance to the city of Ariel in Samaria. According to eye-witnesses, the terrorist fell to the ground when he was shot in the head, and then the explosion occurred, killing 3 soldiers and wounding 18 civilians. Army sources said the terrorist had probably left Nablus the day before - the city hasn't been under curfew for several days. (Ha'aretz) See also Hotel Owner Grabs Bomber Soldiers and civilians on the scene began arguing whether or not to shoot the man. The exchange lasted a few seconds before a career soldier in a reserve brigade opened fire on the bomber. (Ha'aretz) A Kassam rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza landed inside the Israeli town of Sderot on Monday, hitting a school under construction. No injuries were reported. Palestinian attacks in the region have increased in recent days, with mortar attacks on Israeli towns both inside the Gaza district and over the "green line." (Yediot Ahronot) The IDF completed its withdrawal from most Palestinian neighborhoods of Hebron on Friday, but retained outposts in two neighborhoods, Abu Sneina and Harat al-Sheikh, that overlook the Jewish part of the city, as well as on a few rooftops overlooking the dividing line between the Jewish and Arab sectors. Army sources defined the new deployment as an "experiment." (Ha'aretz) Israel has three main objections to the U.S. "Road Map to Middle East Peace," Cabinet Secretary Gideon Sa'ar said Sunday: 1) The plan fails to condition any Israeli withdrawal in the West Bank and Gaza on a cessation of Palestinian terrorism and violence. 2) Israel opposes the introduction of an international referee to decide when the sides are ready to move to the next stage of the plan. 3) Israel objects to the plan's reference to the Saudi-Beirut initiative which Israel never endorsed. (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis
(Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The Quartet's road map has returned to the illusion of peace with dictators. It calls for a game of musical chairs among the current Palestinian leadership. The Quartet believes that a Palestinian society poisoned for the last decade to hate Israel and Jews will be ready to freely choose a new leadership in a matter of months and be ready to peaceably join the community of nations in less than a year. The only hope for an Israeli-Palestinian peace remains investing in a free Palestinian society that will want to join Israel in building a common future. (Jerusalem Post) In a country where the merest hint of dissent had been a death sentence in years past, many foreign reporters have been approached in recent days by individuals offering forbidden thoughts. Taking advantage of moments in which the official "minders" assigned to journalists by the information ministry were distracted, or briefly absent, these Iraqis burst out with vehemence against the government, and often against Mr. Hussein personally, part of a wider unhinging of events in Iraq. After Hussein abruptly decreed freedom for tens of thousands of political prisoners and common criminals across the country, many Iraqis were openly contemptuous of the decision to release thousands of unrehabilitated murderers and thieves onto their streets. (New York Times) Legal Aspects of the Palestinian Refugee Question - Ruth Lapidoth
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