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Sirotnikov
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<--- Yes, It's a "kitty" in a boot.
Feb 2000
time: 07:27
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I used to have nice text, but then Apolyton made an error and it all disappeared. So a big  to apolyton.
I'll just post the articles and that's it. 
quote:
Several sightings of fugitive Brit bomber in south Tel Aviv
By Amos Harel, Roni Singer, and Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondents
Security forces continued Friday receive alerts from local residents who say that they may have spotted Omar Khan Sharif, the British partner of the suicide bomber who blew himself up early Thursday morning at the entrance to a Tel Aviv beachfront pub.
Sharif managed to flee the scene of the bombing, evading security personnel and civilians who tried to stop him, after his explosive device malfunctioned. Eyewitness accounts and police intelligence indicate that he fled in the direction of south Tel Aviv. Police believe he is hiding out during daylight hours and continues to flee under cover of darkness.
In the immediate aftermath of the bombing, the searched focussed on the Neveh Tzedek neighborhood, but have now spread to all adjacent areas.
According to reports in the British media on Friday, the two men involved in the suicide bombing late Tuesday night at Mike's place, on the Tel Aviv beachfront promenade, had posed as peace activists in the Gaza Strip, and took part in actions carried out other activists in the strip.
The Independent reported that the two entered Israel hours before the attack took place, and the cab in which they were traveling passed through the Erez Crossing.
Two days after the attack, in which three people were killed, the Shin Bet security service, police, and Israel Defense Forces are investigating how the bombers were able to carry out the attack. Security sources admitted Thursday that, "the attack could have been prevented."
The defense establishment will investigate how the two British bombers - Asif Mohammed Hanif, Omar Khan Sharif - were able to evade security officials. Apparently, the fault lies in standard procedures practiced at entrances to Israel, as well as in the methods used to transfer intelligence information and warnings from security officials to international border crossings in Israel and Ben-Gurion International Airport.
According to suspicions, the two men traveled from Israel to the Gaza Strip and back. One of the questions that the investigation will focus on is whether the fact that the two were Muslim, entered Israel at a specific time period, and traveled from Israel to the territories should have alerted security forces and justified keeping track of their whereabouts.
Investigators are also trying to ascertain if the two transferred their explosives belts into Israel from the Gaza Strip, or were given the explosives belts once they were already inside Israel.
According to reports from London, British security and intelligence services might appeal to Damascus for clarification on what the two bombers had done in Damascus. Scotland Yard investigators and police officers on Thursday visited the homes in England where the two resided, and questioned family members. According to the questioning, the two had been in Syria in recent months
British sources predicted that an organization such as Hezbollah or an Al-Qaida branch are responsible for the attack. British intelligence services have vowed to support Israel in the fight again the perpetrators, and the British security establishment is working with Israel in investigating the incident.
We utterly condemn terror in all its forms," said British Ambassador to Israel Sherard Cowper-Coles as he laid a wreath at the site of the attack. "There is and will be total cooperation between British security intelligence services and Israeli services. We will work fully to do all we can do bring those responsible for this terrible atrocity to justice."
A British Foreign Office spokesman said the UK was in close contact with Israel on security matters, condemned all terrorist attacks, and would give the Israelis any assistance requested. British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien told BBC television Thursday that the British government would cooperate fully with Israel to establish who the bombers were.
The families of the terrorists claimed Thursday that they were unaware of the actions taken by the two bombers.
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(The Independent Article: http://news.independent.co.uk/world...sp?story=402356 )
quote:
Israel to bar pro-Palestinian activists from entering country
By Amos Harel and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies
Israel will from now on bar pro-Palestinian activists from entering the country and will try to expel at least some of the dozens of activists who are already here, according a new plan drafted by the Israel Defense Forces and the foreign and defense ministries.
Most of the activists, who come from Europe, Canada and the United States, belong to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Their goal is to act as "human shields" for Palestinian individuals and houses during IDF incursions into Palestinian towns, and they have often been involved in confrontations with IDF soldiers. They also try to help Palestinians pass through IDF roadblocks.
Some two months ago, an American ISM activist, Rachel Corrie, was run over and killed by an IDF bulldozer in Gaza. Her colleagues accused the bulldozer driver of having run her over deliberately. The IDF denies the accusation and decided not to indict the driver. In two other recent cases, international activists have been seriously injured by IDF gunfire during confrontations in the territories.
Israel Radio on Friday quoted British news agencies as saying that the two men involved in the suicide bombing at Mike's Place in Tel Aviv late Tuesday night had entered Israel earlier in the day in a cab that passed through the Erez Crossing. The two had taken part in actions carried out by peace activists in the Gaza Strip.
In the first sign of the new crackdown, a member of ISM was detained by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza refugee camp Rafah on Thursday.
Military sources said the woman activist was sleeping in a house suspected of concealing one of the tunnels used by militants to smuggle arms from nearby Egypt, and her case was being handled by the Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment and the ISM said it would release a statement later in the day on the new Israeli measures.
IDF accuses 'riot inciters'
The IDF charges that many of the self-proclaimed peace activists are "provocateurs" and "riot inciters" who deliberately interfere with the IDF's work, with the goal of blackening Israel's image. Army sources noted that in one case, they discovered a wanted terrorist being hidden by ISM activists in Jenin. The sources said the activists received training overseas in how to deceive border control officials at Ben-Gurion International Airport in order to be allowed into the country.
Furthermore, both the army and the Foreign Ministry fear that additional foreign citizens might be killed or wounded by the IDF if the ISM's activities are allowed to continue.
Wednesday's bombing in Tel Aviv, which was committed by two men who entered Israel on British passports, added a new reason to the authorities' desire to clamp down on the foreign activists - fear that other terrorists from overseas might enter the country under the guise of peace activists.
IDF and Foreign Ministry officials held another meeting on the subject this week and decided to instruct border control officials at Ben-Gurion and the land crossings with Egypt and Jordan to bar foreign activists from entering the country. In addition, IDF officers who encounter such activists in closed military areas will be ordered to arrest them, after which they will be deported.
On Thursday, the IDF arrested a foreign activist during its search for arms smuggling tunnels in the Gazan town of Rafah. Army sources said the woman was inside a house that was slated for demolition. The woman was later released and allowed to remain in the country, though she was barred from returning to Gaza.
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Sirotnikov
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<--- Yes, It's a "kitty" in a boot.
Feb 2000
time: 07:27
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quote:
PA to establish security council
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent
With the swearing-in of the new Palestinian cabinet on Wednesday came a presidential order from Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat for the establishment of a national security council to oversee all the PA's security mechanisms, including the counter-security apparatus, the uniformed police and the civil guard.
In keeping with the definition of powers of the Palestinian government, these security mechanisms are supposed to fall under the authority of PA Interior Minister Mohammed Dahlan. The move violates one of the clauses of the U.S.-backed 'road map' for Middle East peace, which calls for "all Palestinian security organizations [to be] consolidated into three services reporting to an empowered Interior Minister."
The national security council is to include Arafat, Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), Dahlan, Arafat's personal security adviser Hani al-Hassan, Finance Minister Salam Fayyad and Palestinian national security commander Haj Ismail Jabar. Tawfik a-Tirawi and Faisel Abu Sarah - whose security mechanisms (General Intelligence and Force 17) remain under Arafat and need not answer to Dahlan - will also be on the council.
The establishment of the council and the activities of the General Intelligence and Force 17 security mechanisms go against clauses in the U.S. road map that concern a commitment on the part of Abu Mazen's government to unify all the PA security mechanisms into three divisions, all under the interior minister.
In practice, the establishment of the council empties the new structure of the Palestinian security services of its content and derogates from the ability of Abu Mazen and Dahlan to implement security reforms. In the forum of the council, Arafat is the senior figure and the council's discussions will presumably dictate the PA's security policies.
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gsmoove23
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They didn't pose as peace activists to enter Israel, they posed as peace activists in Gaza. Posing as a peace activist is not a good way to get into Israel, otherwise this wouldn't be necessary...
quote:
The sources said the activists(ISM activists) received training overseas in how to deceive border control officials at Ben-Gurion International Airport in order to be allowed into the country. |
Nobody has said these terrorists received training overseas by ISM, just that they "participated in activities in Gaza".
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Lord Merciless
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It's time our British friends start cracking down on the Islamic freaks among their midst.
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gsmoove23
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I have looked through the whole article and not seen anything other then they participated in activities in Gaza. They got into Israel because they are British.
From the ISM website:
quote:
We believe that it's less suspicious if you come through Israel but you have to have a really good story about why you are coming, and must not mention anything about ISM or knowing, liking or planning to visit Palestinians. You must play it as though your visit is for other, Israel-based reasons, like tourism, religion, visiting an Israeli friend, etc. So do a little bit of research and put together a story that you'll be able to answer questions about. For example, if you say you are visiting a friend in Jerusalem, you should have the name and phone number of a real Israeli person. If you are coming for religious purposes, have a book or two on religion and travel in Israel; have an itinerary, etc. |
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
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gsmoove23
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quote:
They coolly explained to the Israeli soldiers that they were tourists travelling with the Alternative Tourism Group, a company specialising in tours to "gain deeper insight into the difficulties facing grassroots peace initiatives in the Middle East". |
This is how they got into Israel from Gaza. It looks like they may have used ISM events as a cover for moving around Gaza not much else.
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gsmoove23
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Its too bad, I had a couple of friends in the WBank I might have liked to visit a few years down the road(seriously). Gaza and the West Bank are places I'd like to see just because they've been reported on so much and they're at the center of so much trumoil. Gets my curisiosity running. Wouldn't want to be a human shield though.
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Sirotnikov
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<--- Yes, It's a "kitty" in a boot.
Feb 2000
time: 07:27
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quote:
U.K. police arrest 6 in connection with Tel Aviv suicide bombing
British anti-terror police said early on Saturday they had arrested six people in connection with a suicide bombing at the entrance to a Tel Aviv beachfront pub.
Three Israelis were killed and 55 wounded in the attack.
Officers arrested two men and two women in Derbyshire and another woman in nearby Nottinghamshire on Friday, police said. Early Saturday they arrested a man in London. The arrests were made under a special terrorism law, in connection with the bombing.
British citizen Asif Hanif, 21, blew himself up outside Mike's Place before dawn Wednesday in the first suicide bombing carried out by a foreigner in the 31-month-old intifada.
Israeli police are searching for another British citizen, Omar Sharif, 27, who they say was the bomber's accomplice and was also planning to blow himself up.
The attack was also the first in which the bombers crossed into Israel from Gaza rather than the West Bank, and Israel has tightened security to prevent further infiltrations.
Britain has pledged to help catch the fugitive Sharif and those who may have helped the pair. On Friday, Chancellor Gordon Brown ordered British banks to freeze the two men's accounts.
[...]
A senior IDF officer told a briefing of military correspondents Friday that the bombing was most likely planned abroad and that the quality of the device used indicated that it was probably not made in the territories.
The officer said that the device was highly sophisticated, and contained parts not available in the territories.
[...]
According to reports from London, British security and intelligence services might appeal to Damascus for clarification on what the two bombers had done in Damascus. Scotland Yard investigators and police officers Thursday visited the homes in England where the two resided, and questioned family members. According to the questioning, the two had been in Syria in recent months.
British sources predicted that an organization such as Hezbollah or an Al-Qaida branch are responsible for the attack. British intelligence services have vowed to support Israel in the fight again the perpetrators, and the British security establishment is working with Israel in investigating the incident.
"We utterly condemn terror in all its forms," said British Ambassador to Israel Sherard Cowper-Coles as he laid a wreath at the site of the attack. "There is and will be total cooperation between British security intelligence services and Israeli services. We will work fully to do all we can do bring those responsible for this terrible atrocity to justice."
[...]
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/289608.html
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Sirotnikov
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<--- Yes, It's a "kitty" in a boot.
Feb 2000
time: 07:27
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quote:
Powell rejects Syrian weapon proposal aimed at Israel
By The Associated Press
DAMASCUS - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Saturday turned aside the idea of immediate U.S. support for an Arab-backed UN resolution on ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction - a proposal obviously aimed at Israel.
Going into his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, Powell said clearing destructive weapons from the region is a longstanding U.S. goal, but now is not the time to address that matter. Syria introduced such a resolution in the UN Security Council on Friday.
After the meeting with Assad, Powell flew to Beirut Powell to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri before heading back to Washington.
"I think it is a goal that we have to pursue over time, and not ... at the moment of any particular declaration that might be put forward for political purposes, or to highlight the issue," Powell told reporters.
[...]
Hezbollah TV ejected from Damascus Powell briefing
U.S. officials barred the crew of Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah television from a briefing by Powell in Syria, a TV crew member said on Saturday.
A diplomatic source confirmed that al-Manar, a Hezbollah mouthpiece, was not allowed to take part in the media briefing by Powell before his talks with President Bashar Assad.
One of the key goals of Powell's visit to Syria is to convince Damascus to stop its support for anti-Israel militant factions including Hezbollah and to conform to U.S. plans for the Middle East after the war in Iraq.
Washington deems Hezbollah a "terrorist" group and blames it for the 1983 suicide bombings on its Marines barracks in Lebanon and Beirut embassy as well as kidnapping Westerners in the 1975-1990 civil war.
[...]
Powell was in Syria to help sell the road map, or blueprint, for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians that hopefully can bring their 31-month violent conflict to an end. Saturday's talks are a prelude to a second Mideast trip by Powell next week for meetings with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister.
[...]
"In every one of my previous meetings with the president of Syria, we've discussed the need for parallel tracks that may not move at the same time, the same rate, as the Palestinian-Israeli track, but it must be there," Powell said. "We are interested in a comprehensive solution that will involve creation of a Palestinian state and settling the outstanding issues between Israel and Lebanon, and Israel and Syria."
[...]
But upon arriving in the Syrian capital on Friday, Powell said he had not forgotten that Syria deceived him by failing to deliver on a 2-year-old promise to cut off the flow of oil in a pipeline between Iraq and Syria. And future relations hinge on whether Assad's government takes sincere action in coming weeks and months toward becoming a partner in Middle East peace efforts.
Powell's agenda included a rack of U.S. allegations that Syria supports terrorism, that it sent technology and fighters to Iraq and gave haven to Iraqi officials as Saddam Hussein's rule dissolved. He also planned to call attention to the offices kept in Syria by several Palestinian factions, including the militant Islamic Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the Bush administration has classified as terrorist organizations.
Powell said he would tell Assad that the talks the Bush administration hopes to launch between Israel and the Palestinians could blossom into wider negotiations involving Syria. One issue of importance to Syria is the fate of the strategically important Golan Heights.
[...]
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/289690.html
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Sirotnikov
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<--- Yes, It's a "kitty" in a boot.
Feb 2000
time: 07:27
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quote:
British cameraman killed by IDF fire while filming in Rafah
By Arnon Regular and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies
Israel Defense Forces troops demolishing a home suspected of concealing an arms-smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip shot dead a British television cameraman late Friday, military officials and Palestinian witnesses said.
On Saturday, an IDF soldier was lightly wounded when Palestinians at IDF troops near the West Bank city of Jenin. Also in the West Bank, Palestinians threw an explosive device and Molotov cocktails at IDF troops near Tul Karm. There were no injuries.
James Miller, who was in the flashpoint refugee camp of Rafah making a documentary on how Palestinian children are affected by violence, was fired upon unprovoked, witnesses said. He died after being evacuated by Israeli forces for treatment.
"We got close to the area and filmed, but we couldn't leave because an (Israeli) tank was around 100 meters from where we stood," Abdel-Rahman Abdullah, a freelance Palestinian journalist who saw the night-time incident, told Reuters.
"We were very visible to the troops, with a white flag and 'TV' markings on our vests, but still the troops opened fire, hitting James Miller," he said.
The IDF denied troops targeted Miller, saying their operation was to uncover tunnels used by militants to smuggle in weapons from nearby Egypt for a 31-month-old armed uprising.
"Our forces found a tunnel at the house in question, when an anti-tank missile was fired at them. They shot back at the source of the attack," army spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal said.
"James Miller was apparently hit during that exchange. The Israeli military expresses sorrow at a civilian death, but it must be stressed that a cameraman who knowingly enters a combat zone, especially at night, endangers himself," Dallal said.
Rafah sees frequent Israeli incursions against the tunnels - eliciting gunfire from Palestinian militants protecting them.
But Abdullah said there were no exchanges of fire on Friday night. "We even called out to the Israeli troops in their armored vehicles and could hear them talking inside, before they started shooting," he said.
A spokesman for the British embassy in Tel Aviv said he was aware of the incident but declined to give details.
Dozens of foreign journalists have been hurt while reporting on the Palestinian uprising for independence in Gaza and the West Bank, which erupted in September 2000.
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02-05-2003 18:11
I hope it doesn't become a fad.
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