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November 8-12, 2004
- SECURITY
- Two IDF Soldiers Killed in Separate Accidents
- Hezbollah Drone Flies Over Northern Israel
- Pregnant Woman and Two Children Treated for Shock After Qassam Attack
- Tel Aviv Bomber Had Intended to Attack French Embassy
- Iran Is Behind Drone Incursion Over Northern Israel
- YASSER ARAFAT
- PA Leadership to Visit Arafat Despite Clash with Suha
- Israel Takes Steps for Arafat's Funeral
- Arafat Buried in the Muqata Amid Chaos
- Palestinians Name Arafat Replacements to Key Posts
- ECONOMY & HI-TECH
- Israeli Drugs that Fight Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Are Patented
- HOME
- Israeli Mafia Boss Arrested after U.S. Requests his Extradition
SECURITY Two IDF Soldiers Killed in Separate Accidents
Monday, November 8, 2004An Israel Defense Forces tank commander was killed and three members of the tank's crew were injured early this morning, when their Merkava tank overturned while returning from a routine patrol on Mount Hermon, HA'ARETZ reported. The commander was identified as First Sergeant Nir Leibovich, 19, of Nahariya. The accident took place as the crew returned from the Astra strongpoint. The cause and circumstances of the accident could not be immediately determined.
The three crewmen were evacuated to Sieff hospital in Safed. The soldiers were part of the Seventh Armored Brigade. IDF Northern Front commander Benny Gantz is expected to appoint a commission of inquiry to probe the incident.
It was the second fatal accident in the military in as many days. IDF infantryman Tom Dekel was killed in the pre-dawn hours Sunday by mistaken fire from his own unit while on a mission to arrest wanted terrorists in a West Bank village near Tul Karm.
Hezbollah Drone Flies Over Northern Israel
Monday, November 8, 2004Hezbollah has successfully sent an unmanned spy plane into northern Israel on Sunday, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. It was the first time a drone launched by Hezbollah had succeeded in crossing the border. The Israel Defense Forces, which confirmed Sunday night Hezbollah's claim that it had sent a drone over Western Galilee, is bracing for a flare-up on the border as the disengagement approaches.
Hezbollah said the UAV, dubbed "Mirsad 1" or Ambush, had reached all the way to Nahariya at 10:30 a.m. and "returned safely to base," mimicking the old IDF statements usually put out after bombing raids in Lebanon. But reports from Lebanon said the UAV crashed into the sea on its return trip.
An IDF statement said Hezbollah received assistance from Iran and Syria to carry out the operation "with the aim of targeting Israeli civilians."
The over flight is in itself not expected to give Hezbollah a serious tactical benefit.
Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet meeting Sunday that Israel held Lebanon ultimately responsible for all security incidents emanating from within its borders.
Pregnant Woman and Two Children Treated for Shock After Qassam Attack
Tuesday, November 9, 2004Palestinians fired three Qassam rockets at the Gaza Jewish town of Nissanit this morning, MA'ARIV reported. One rocket hit a house in the community causing a pregnant woman and two children to suffer from shock. Another rocket landed near a kindergarten causing no injuries or damage. A third landed in the center of the town.
Earlier, two mortar shells hit Gaza's Neve Dkalim. There were no injuries but one house sustained damage.
In another incident, Engineering Corps.' soldiers spotted two armed Palestinians approaching the Gaza border fence not far from Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Meanwhile, IDF forces detained eight suspected terrorists overnight throughout the West Bank. Overnight also, soldiers demolished the Nablus home of Wajdi Joda, a senior Democratic Front operative who, among other things, was responsible for sending a suicide bomber to the Geha Junction near Tel Aviv on December of 2003. Four Israelis were killed in that attack.
Tel Aviv Bomber Had Intended to Attack French Embassy
Tuesday, November 9, 2004The Palestinian suicide bomber who killed three people in an attack at the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv last week had intended to attack the nearby French Embassy, the Israel Security Agency revealed today, HA'ARETZ reported. An attack on the American Consulate in Jerusalem was also considered. One of two Nablus members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine arrested by the ISA in connection with the attack, Bassam Hundkaji, is suspected of leading the suicide bomber, 16-year-old Amar Al-Faar of the Askar refugee camp, from the West Bank across the Green Line into Israel. Hundkaji's entry into Israel was eased by a journalist's identification card he had obtained through his studies at A-Najah University in Nablus.
The decision to carry out the attack in Tel Aviv was apparently made at the last minute. On the morning of the attack, Al-Faar left his Nablus home, traveled to the Jerusalem area and from there continued on to Tel Aviv.
Iran Is Behind Drone Incursion Over Northern Israel
Tuesday, November 9, 2004Iranian experts on unmanned airborne vehicles (drones) from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards took part in the launch from Lebanon of a Hezbollah drone that spent several minutes over northern Israel earlier this week, HA'ARETZ reported. Apparently, the drone carried a camera capable of transmitting images while the plane is in motion. On Monday, Hezbollah's television channel, Al-Manar, aired footage of what it said was the drone it had sent into Israel. The first launch of an Iranian drone by Hezbollah ended with the plane crashing on its way back to Lebanon.
The drone was Iranian made and was developed and built in the country's plants in the 1990s. The aircraft is considered technologically very simple, with a pre-programmed route that is installed before launch. The Iranians supplied several such planes to the Hezbollah, just as they supplied rockets. One of the Iranian conditions for the supply of the drones was that Hezbollah get clearance from Tehran before any launch.
The drone penetration surprised Israel's air defenses and lessons can be expected to be learned from the incident.
YASSER ARAFAT PA Leadership to Visit Arafat Despite Clash with Suha
Monday, November 8, 2004Four senior Palestinian officials left the West Bank city of Ramallah today to travel to Paris to visit ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh left Ramallah for Jordan this afternoon, from where they were to fly via a private jet to Paris.
The Palestinian Cabinet, holding an emergency meeting in the Mukata compound today, decided that a visit to Paris by a Palestinian delegation should take place, regardless of harsh accusations made earlier by Arafat's wife. Suha Arafat charged that Arafat's deputies were traveling to Paris with plans to "bury him alive." Earlier, the PA leaders postponed their departure in outrage over Mrs. Arafat's comments. In a screaming telephone call from Arafat's hospital bedside at the Percy Military Hospital outside Paris, Suha told Al-Jazeera television that she was issuing "an appeal to the Palestinian people."
"Let it be known to the honest Palestinian people that a bunch of those who want to inherit are coming to Paris," she shouted in Arabic. "You have to realize the size of the conspiracy. I tell you they are trying to bury Abu Amar alive," she continued, using Arafat's nom de guerre. "He is all right and he is going home."
Suha, 41, lives in Paris and has not been to the West Bank or had not seen her husband since the latest round of violence began in 2000.
Israel Takes Steps for Arafat's Funeral
Wednesday, November 10, 2004The Israeli Cabinet decided today in principle to allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to be buried in Ramallah, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. A farewell ceremony for Arafat is scheduled to be held in Cairo's International Airport on Thursday following which Arafat will be flown to Ramallah on Friday for burial.
Israel received requests from several countries to allow an Arafat burial in Ramallah. The choice of the Ramallah headquarters appears to defuse a possible confrontation with Israel, which declined to allow Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem.
The security cabinet also decided on the following steps: A full closure will be imposed on the Palestinian territories. There will be no emergency call-up of reserve soldiers. Jerusalem Police will be placed on high alert to deal with the large numbers of expected worshippers to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers.
Palestinian security forces will be in charge of security in Ramallah whereas the IDF will secure the surrounding area.
Israeli citizens will be allowed to attend the funeral after they sign a document saying they are leaving an area under Israeli security control and take responsibility for their own safety.
Arafat Buried in the Muqata Amid Chaos
Friday, November 12, 2004Yasser Arafat's funeral was held this afternoon in Ramallah amid scenes of chaos, MA'ARIV reported. Arafat's coffin arrived at the Muqata compound by helicopter from Cairo at about 2 pm. At least 200,000 Palestinians swarmed the chopper as police struggled to hold them back by firing their weapons in the air. Palestinian Authority leaders Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmed Qurei, Saeb Erekat, Yasser Abed Rabo and Chief of Egyptian intelligence Omar Suleiman pleaded in vain with the mob to clear the way and enable a dignified burial ceremony. Arafat's coffin was then transported trough the crowds, and Arafat was buried amid the chaos without eulogies or speeches.
This morning, a short funeral service was held in Cairo and was attended by dozens of world leaders and senior ministers. The PA chief's coffin was carried into a mosque, after prayers were offered for the Palestinian leader in front of presidents, kings and envoys from over 60 countries.
Among the dignitaries attending the Cairo ceremony were Syrian president Bashar al Assad, Tunisian president Ben Ali, the Jordanian king, the Algerian president, the Yemeni president Ali Saleh, Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah of Brunei, South African President Thabo Mbeki, European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana. The United States sent Assistant Secretary of State William Burns.
Palestinians Name Arafat Replacements to Key Posts
Friday, November 12, 2004The Palestinian leadership moved swiftly Thursday to avert a power vacuum in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death, electing former Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas as Palestine Liberation Organization chairman and swearing in Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh as caretaker chairman of the Palestinian Authority, HA'ARETZ reported. Under Palestinian law, Fattouh will hold the post until elections are held within 60 days. PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei was also granted wide-ranging security and financial powers.
Officials said Thursday that the unanimous vote by the PLO executive puts Abbas on track to be popularly elected president of the Palestinian government after the 60-day transition. "We can be certain transition will be smooth, and the Palestinian people deserve to have free and fair elections," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said.
In a hall filled with council members, along with Abbas, Qurei and foreign envoys to the PA, Fattouh pledged allegiance to his new post in front of the president of the Palestinian National Council, Salim Za'anoun, and Palestinian Supreme Court president, Zuheir Surani.
ECONOMY & HI-TECH Israeli Drugs that Fight Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Are Patented
Tuesday, November 9, 2004The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has developed three drugs to treat and perhaps prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS), THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The trio of drugs known as VK-28, HLA-20, and M30 which were recently patented worldwide and in the United States by the Israeli developers mop up excess iron before it can trigger chemical reaction between oxygen free radicals and iron, a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases.
Unlike other drugs currently used against these disorders, which try to replace the functions lost by dying neurons, these drugs halt the neuron destruction itself. The research, by Prof. Moussa Youdim of the Technion's faculty of medicine and colleagues Prof. Avraham Warshawsky (now deceased), Prof. Mati Fridkin, and doctoral student Hailin Zheng from China, was published in the November issue of Nature Review Neuroscience.
HOME Israeli Mafia Boss Arrested after U.S. Requests his Extradition
Wednesday, November 10, 2004Underworld kingpin Ze'ev Rosenstein - referred to by police as "Public Enemy No. 1" - arrived at Jerusalem Magistrate's Court under tight security on Tuesday for his first remand hearing since his arrest, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. He was arrested by the Tel Aviv police on Monday after the United States requested his extradition so he could be tried there on drug-smuggling charges. Judge Yitzhak Milanov accepted the prosecution's argument that the mob leader poses a flight risk, and extended his remand by 20 days. He explained that the suspect needed to be locked up to ensure the extradition process takes place smoothly.
Rosenstein, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration claims, has for the past several years headed one of the largest international drug-smuggling rings, responsible for the distribution of millions of Ecstasy pills in the United States and Europe. American authorities have branded him the "worst of the worst" among international drug dealers. At a briefing on Monday police said U.S. authorities had marked Rosenstein as one of the most wanted international criminals.
