Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
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by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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DAILY ALERT

December 5, 2002
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In-Depth Issue:

Al Qaeda's Declared Targets: Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, Australia, and the U.S. - (IDF)

    An article written by Abu Aiman Al-Hilali, a senior member of al Qaeda, marked the U.S., Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, and Australia as enemies of the organization.
    "The citizens of the democratic western countries take full part in the decisions taken by their governments. The residents of those countries are not classified as 'civilians' as they were classified during previous wars in history. They cannot be separated from the entire population during an attack (by al Qaeda)."
    According to Hilali, the aims of al Qaeda include: "Promoting the perception that targeting citizens in Western countries is legitimate."

U.S. Upgrades Turkish Bases for Iraq Attack - Michael Evans (London Times)

    The United States is to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrading several Turkish military bases in preparation for launching an attack on Iraq from the north.
    Although the new government in Ankara has given only conditional authorization for use of these bases, the U.S. was confident enough of Turkish support for a war on Iraq to tell Baghdad that it was now surrounded.
    The bases include: Incirlik, where the U.S. Air Force's 39th Air Expeditionary Wing is already stationed for carrying out combat patrols over the northern no-fly zone in Iraq; Diyarbakir, the headquarters of Turkey's second Tactical Air Force Command; Erhac, near the town of Malatya; and Batman, which is near Diyarbakir. During the 1991 Gulf War, Batman was the location of a U.S. special operations task force responsible for rescuing pilots shot down over Iraq.
    In addition to these four, other bases in the region available to support ground and air attacks include two in Kuwait, one in Qatar, two in Oman, one in Bahrain, and possibly two or three in Saudi Arabia.

Useful Reference:

The U.S. "Roadmap" - Revised (Al Ayyam/ Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre)
    As published in the Palestinian press.

Key Links

Media Contact Information

Back Issues

News Resources - North America and Europe:

  • Missile Threat Grows on Israel's Northern Border - Cragg Hines
    The Sharon government may be compelled to strike growing stockpiles of Iranian missiles trucked by Syria to Hizballah positions in Lebanon. Initially, the missiles had a range of up to 25 or so miles, then a little more than 40 miles. Now Israeli intelligence sees missiles with a range of at least 75 miles and possibly more, meaning that the port city of Haifa could join the target list. The Israeli government watches the shipments with sophisticated "eye in the sky" surveillance as well as other intelligence assets. "We know where trucks go to. We know license numbers....The longer we wait, the harder we'll have to hit," an Israeli official said. (Houston Chronicle)
  • Fifth Avenue Charity "Totally Controlled" By Iran, NYPD Says - Ira Stoll
    The New York Police Department's deputy commissioner for intelligence, David Cohen, a 35-year veteran of the CIA, says in court papers that the New York-based Alavi Foundation is "totally controlled by the government of Iran. The foundation has assets of about $100,000,000 in the U.S. and an annual income of between $10-15 million. The foundation funds a variety of anti-American causes, including the four Islamic education centers it owns in New York, Maryland, Texas, and California." The Maryland center is headed by Mohammad Al Asi, "who, during the Kuwait crisis, called on Muslims to strike against American interests in the Middle East. Mosques funded by Alavi have organizations which support Hizballah and Hamas." (New York Sun)
  • U.S. Forces Set Up in Djibouti - Emily Wax
    The United States is building an extensive military task force in Djibouti to combat al Qaeda, highlighting Africa's crucial role in the war on terrorism. 3,200 U.S. Marines, Special Forces troops, and Air Force pilots in this former French colony on the Horn of Africa are part of a task force to track down suspected terrorists in neighboring African countries as well as in Yemen, 30 miles across the Bab al-Mandab strait. (Washington Post)

    • News Resources - Israel, the Mideast, and Asia:

  • Israelis Kill Palestinian Antitank Bombmaker - Amos Harel and Arnon Regular
    Palestinian bombmaker Mustafa Sabah was killed Wednesday by helicopter-borne rockets fired at a Palestinian Authority security forces station in Gaza. Sabah built the huge bombs that penetrated Israel's Merkava tanks in three attacks this year, killing seven soldiers.
        Also in Gaza on Wednesday, a 12-year-old boy was killed and his father critically wounded in a clash between Hamas and Fatah supporters over who would write graffiti on a wall about the upcoming Eid al-Fitr festival at the end of Ramadan. (Ha'aretz)
  • Israeli Airliners to be Equipped with Anti-Missile Defenses - Alex Fishman
    Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has recommended equipping 30 Israeli civilian aircraft with electronic defenses against shoulder-fired missiles. The Defense Ministry suggests adapting a system developed in Israel that is already used by IDF helicopters. (Yediot Ahronot)
  • Israeli Intelligence Redeploys to Meet Expanding Terror Threat - Felix Frisch
    Israel's intelligence services are undergoing a fundamental change in deployment in the wake of the attack on Israelis in Kenya attributed to al Qaeda, with greater intelligence, financial, and personnel resources to be invested to meet the threat of international terror. IDF intelligence sees international terror returning as a serious threat to Israelis for the first time since the 1970s. Israel believes al Qaeda sent an operations officer to Kenya who planned the operation and helped to carry it out. (Yediot Ahronot)

    • Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

  • Latest Attack on Jews Brings a Deafening Silence - Rosie DiManno
    There's no haven for Jews. The earth is stained with their blood: From an El Al counter in Los Angeles to a beach resort in Mombasa. Palestinians the world over aren't hunted down. Arabs the world over aren't targeted for extermination. Muslims the world over aren't murdered in packs. Humankind would not stand for it. It's impossible to disentangle the war against the Jews from the larger Islamist war against the West. They kill Jews. They kill Americans. They kill Australians. They kill Kenyan dancers. They blow up skyscrapers and bring down airplanes. They do all this with Allah's name on their lips. And some day, I fear they'll come for you. (Toronto Star)
  • Phony Peace - Editorial
    Predictably the weapons inspectors found nothing. The Iraqis know exactly where the inspectors are going. The factory gates swing open as the first vehicle comes into view. The welcoming committee is assembled. Underfunded, undermanned, and operating under inflated expectations, the inspectors are Saddam�s mechanism for delay. As long as they are trundling round military compounds, dreary engineering plants, and laboratories and finding nothing, America is unable to take action. (London Times)
  • Saudi Snare - Editorial
    The appointment of Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi Arabian intelligence, as ambassador to London raises grave doubts. Some believe that he has been sent here in order to confer diplomatic immunity on him from law suits in America brought by the families of September 11 victims. If the net were eventually to close round Prince Turki for his role in fostering links with Osama bin Laden and the now-deposed Taliban regime in Afghanistan, then our own Government would be in a very awkward position vis-a-vis wide swaths of American opinion. We could now find ourselves providing a refuge for a man whose past record may not convict him in court of law, but which definitely would convict him before the bar of history. (Telegraph - UK)

    • Talking Points:

    Sharon: End Terror Before Negotiations (Prime Minister's Office)

    Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Herzliya Conference on National Security on Wednesday:

    • The peace plan outlined in President Bush's speech of June 24 is a reasonable, pragmatic, and practicable one. The U.S. Administration has understood and agreed that the only way to achieve a true peace agreement with the Palestinians is progress in phases, with the first phase being a complete cessation of terror.
    • In the American plan, progress is determined on the basis of performance - only once a specific phase has been implemented, will progress into the next phase be possible. The achievement of true and genuine coexistence must be a pre-condition to any discussion on political arrangements.
    • Parallel with, and perhaps even prior to governmental reforms, a security reform must be carried out including the dismantling of all existing security (terrorist) bodies which are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis.
    • The second phase of President Bush's sequence proposes the establishment of a Palestinian state with borders yet to be finalized, and which will overlap with areas A and B, except for essential security zones. Israel will continue to control all entries and exits to the Palestinian state, will command its airspace, and will not allow it to form alliances with Israel's enemies.
    • The Jewish people seek peace. Israel's desire is to live in security and in true and genuine coexistence, based, first and foremost, on the recognition of our natural and historic right to exist as a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.
    • The U.S. has already accepted our unequivocal position that no progress will be possible with Arafat as the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. This man is not - and never will be - a partner to peace.

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