Beirut warns Jewish state to back off…(1)

“Israeli” aircraft have violated Lebanese airspace 123 times this month, while steadfastly ignoring UN calls to halt the breaches.
The announcement was made Thursday by Timor Goksel, spokesman for the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon.
“We have protested in vain to “Israel” several times through UNIFIL liaison officers,” he explained, adding that the outcry was “to no avail.”
Goksel credited Hizbullah with keeping the situation along the “Israeli”-Lebanese border in hand, and said the number of demonstrations there had diminished.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Khalil Hrawi accused “Israel” on Thursday of harboring aggressive intentions toward Lebanon, warning the Jewish state that any aggression would be met with a “harsh response.”
Hrawi was reacting to comments by “Israeli” Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday in which he said Beirut and Damascus would “pay a high price if Hizbullah guerrillas attacked “Israel”.”
“These threats are just further proof of “Israel’s” aggression and a means to try and justify future attacks,” Hrawi said. ““Israel” must stop its aggression against Lebanon and its sovereignty by withdrawing from all Lebanese territories, ending its violations of the Blue Line, and releasing Lebanese detainees.”
President Emile Lahoud told As-Safir newspaper: ““Israel” knows that the basis of its economy is in the north. “Israel” should think very carefully before starting any aggression.”
He said Lebanon would not send its army to the South until a comprehensive peace was reached in the Middle East.
“Any country in a state of war with another one does not send its army and deploy it on the border because the military rules say the army should deploy at the rear lines,” he said. “So we have made a final and non-negotiable decision not to send the army to the South before a just and comprehensive peace is achieved.”

 “Israeli” Web sites take on American disguise to fool cyber attacks…(2)

With "hacktivism" - hacking with a political agenda - on the rise, at least one Web development firm has taken steps to conceal the “Israeli” identity of its on-line clients. Ra'anana based Webstyle Internet Solutions recently began transferring its customers' sites from local servers to American ones, to get cyberattacks off of their trail.
According to Webstyle CEO Gil Ben-Horin, hackers recognize “Israeli” sites by their IP (Internet protocol) addresses - four blocks of numbers that start with the numerical code representing the ISP (Internet service provider). Thus, a hacker can identify an “Israeli” site when it is hosted on an “Israeli” server.
"For instance, the code for Internet Gold is 192, so a hacker may choose to attack any Web site with an address that begins with the 192. By transferring our clients to servers in the United States, we can trick hackers into thinking the sites are American, not “Israeli”, so they will not be hit," he said.
Ben-Horin, a recent immigrant from London, decided to relocate his clients after the “Israeli” ISP NetVision site was bombarded by pro-Palestinian hacktivists and as a result, crashed at the end of October. About 10 percent of his clients were affected by the crash, either because they lost their connection to the Net or because their sites, which are connected to the NetVision server, were down.
In the past month, a wave of terror has erupted on cyberspace, with pro-Palestinian hackers attacking “Israeli” government sites as well as major commercial sites such as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Bank of “Israel”. Simultaneously, pro-”Israeli” hackers have invaded Hizbullah and Hamas sites in addition to a number of Palestinian ISPs.
According to Defense Intelligence Services, an Internet securities company monitoring the cyberwar between Palestinians and “Israelis”, "ISPs or telecommunications companies either operating in “Israel” or with a visible business presence in the region are at risk."
Experts at the Defense Services say that over 30 sites have been hit so far and predict that the "cyber jihad" will continue.
Although the Webstyle site operates on an American server, it still appears on the Hizbullah target list. Other targets include American-based Lucent Technologies Inc., which has operations and products in “Israel”, and “Israeli” firms Golden Lines and Comsec Group. "Cyber hackers monitor the media and the Net. They must have read about the company's plans to relocate our clients on U.S. servers," Ben-Horin said.
Last week, hackers invaded the site of U.S.-based “Israel” lobby group American “Israel” Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and accessed the credit card details and other personal information of members listed on the site. According to on-line magazine, Techweb.com, the hacker identified himself as "Doctor Nuker," and said he was avenging “Israeli” aggression against Palestinians. Doctor Nuker was identified as a member of the Pakistani Hackerz Club, a group that usually targets Indian government sites in support of the Kashmiri Muslim movement.
According to Ben-Horin, “Israel” should refrain from retaliating Arab cyber attacks because it has more to lose than the Arab world. "We have more interests and activity on the Net, so feeding the fire will harm us more," he said.
While he admits the idea may be far-fetched, the 27-year old CEO fears that cyber terrorism could spur real terrorism. "When hackers gain access to contact numbers and addresses via the Net, they know where to attack," said Ben-Horin. "If a site is listed as a target, how big of a leap is it to actually attack the Zionist interest on the ground?"
Ben-Horin is worried that the crisis in “Israel” is affecting business at Webstyle's London offices. He says that new customers have been hesitant to sign on the dotted line.
"It is not politics," he said, "and Brits are still impressed by “Israeli” technology. But some potential clients are asking, 'If there's a war in “Israel”, won't your employees be called to fight? Who will build my Web site then?' We assure them that we don't expect a war, and if a war does breakout, our staff in Britain will do the work.

Tribunal hands down sentences to collaborators…(4)

The Military Tribunal handed down sentences ranging from three weeks to 15 years against 50 “Israeli” militiamen early Thursday.
The group was the 45th batch of collaborators to be tried since the “Israeli” withdrawal in May. All were accused of various charges of collaboration with “Israel”.
Sixteen were charged in absentia. All but one of those were sentenced to 15 years in jail and fined LL2 million. The 16th defendant was sentenced to two years in jail and fined LL2 million for entering “Israel”. The court acquitted three of the collaboration charges.
Six were charged with entering “Israel”, getting sentences ranging from three weeks to three months and being fined LL1 million each.
The others got up to two years and were each fined up to LL1 million for collaborating with the Jewish state.
Since the trials of alleged collaborators began June 5, the military court, whose verdicts cannot be appealed, has sentenced more than 1,200 people to jail terms of up to 20 years.

Qatar closes “Israeli” trade office…(5)

Ahead of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Summit, Qatar said on Thursday it closed the “Israeli” trade office in its capital Doha, which was open since 1996, in the aim of "preparing the ground for the holding of the 9th Islamic Summit in its capital. Qatari officials said that Qatar took the decision to strengthen the Islamic solidarity and provide the requirements so that the Summit will be a success. In its statement Qatar said, "The closure of the office came as a response to the calls of Islamic as a response to the calls of Islamic countries member in the organization, in the light of the critical situation the region is passing through and due to the mounting “Israeli” repression in the occupied Palestinian territories. Wednesday, Lebanon and Syria warned that it would not attend the Summit if Qatar did not cut its low-level ties with "“Israel”".          

Fatah chief blown up by “Israeli” helicopters…(6)

An “Israeli” attack with helicopter rocket fire killed a Palestinian guerrilla and two middle-aged housewives near Bethlehem yesterday, hours before Yasser Arafat was to meet Bill Clinton in Washington.

The 34-year-old, a local Fatah leader, was killed when missiles fired by two “Israeli” combat helicopters blew up his pick-up truck in Beit Sahour, a scene of regular battles between Palestinians and “Israeli” troops in the past six weeks.

The strike was intended as retaliation for the killing of two “Israeli” soldiers in an ambush by Palestinian gunmen on the other side of Bethlehem just over a week ago. It was also an attempt to warn the Palestinians against embarking on a guerrilla war by showing “Israel” has the intelligence and capability to pinpoint its fighters.

Undeterred by plentiful evidence that a guerrilla war with the Palestinians would be extremely costly, long and bloody, “Israel’s” Deputy Defence (War) Minister, Ephraim Sneh, was full of confidence. Speaking on CNN as gun battles broke out yet again in the West Bank and Gaza, he boasted about “Israel’s” precision weapons and warned the Palestinians that "if the game is a guerrilla war, we are the champions".

Mr Arafat was expected, during his meeting with Mr Clinton, to use the missile strike as further evidence to support his demand for an international armed force to protect the Palestinians, not least because two women passers-by – Azizi Gubran, 58, and Rachme Shaheen, 55 – were also killed.

More than 190 people have been killed since the intifada began six weeks ago, mostly Arab protesters shot dead by the “Israeli” army. But yesterday Mr Sneh declared that “Israel” "preferred" precision weapons.

In Beit Sahour, an angry throng of Palestinians gathered at the scene at the rocket attack to stare at charred remnants of the women's bodies, some on the ground surrounded by a ring of stones, a makeshift shrine. The Mitsubishi truck, – one of two vehicles hit – was a twisted wreck.

Assam Shaer, 27, a construction worker, said: "These are the fruits of all our agreements with the “Israelis”. They kill our women, they kill out children and they rocket our homes. How can anyone talk about peace?"

The “Israeli” Army said the dead man, Hussein Abayat, 34, was an activist with the Tanzim – the armed militia affiliated with Fatah, Mr Arafat's political organisation.

Anger has been building for days in Beit Sahour, a mostly Christian suburb of Bethlehem where tanks and helicopters from a nearby “Israeli” Army base have regularly fired shells and grenades at homes.

Under mounting domestic pressure to take an even tougher line, the “Israeli” Army had been threatening for some days to take the battle to the Tanzim. Officials called this a plan to "take the initiative", an astounding phrase given the number of tanks and helicopters they have used, and the habit of “Israel’s” trigger-happy troops of killing young Arabs daily. Yesterday, they added a 14-year-old Palestinian boy shot in the Gaza Strip to their shamefully long list of fatalities.

Stupidity marches on…(7)

The death of Mohammed al Dura, the 12-year-old boy who was caught with his father in cross fire between Palestinians and “Israel” Defense Forces* soldiers at the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip, was the event which epitomized the character of the conflict in the territories for many people: A confrontation between stone-throwing boys and armed soldiers who did not hesitate to use their weapons. In the course of these events, dozens of other boys have also been killed by IDF fire, and many have suffered head and chest wounds.
One can accuse the Palestinians of failing to stop children from taking part in violent incidents. One can also be indignant over the use of child fighters and of the exploitation of their injuries and deaths for propaganda purposes. However, the IDF must take action to stop killing a high number of young people. “Israel” should not accept the use of lethal fire when it is not for self-defense purposes.
The IDF, too, understands the impact on “Israel’s” image of the list of those killed in the conflict. This is apparently the basis for the inquiry which Southern Commander Major General Yom Tov Samia ordered into the death of Mohammed al Dura.
Anat Cygielman's investigative report (Ha'aretz, November 7) reveals that the IDF has asked two civilians, physicist Nahum Shahaf and engineer Yosef Duriel, to try and reconstruct the incident. These people, who have volunteered their services, had their own preconceived ideas about the reason why al Dura was killed. In interviews to the media, Duriel contended that it was a premeditated incident staged by the Palestinians with the participation of the father, the television cameraman and Palestinian shooters. Shahaf admits that he shares Duriel's view, but is convinced Duriel made "a tactical error" in talking to the media. Duriel has been duly removed from the investigative committee, but Shahaf, who continues to serve on the committee, has not bothered to consult ballistics experts. Nor has he depended on the testimony of the soldiers or of the television crew.
It is hard to describe in mild terms the stupidity of this bizarre investigation. The circumstances of al Dura's death raise questions that definitely require a response. The IDF was quick to apologize at the time, without conducting an investigation as to whether the youth was killed by IDF fire. No “Israeli” institution bothered to set up an independent, expert investigation when this was possible. Now it is clear that the chances of getting to the truth of who shot the youth have been lost. With it, the belief in an independent IDF investigation has also been lost.
The fact that an organized body like the IDF, with its vast resources, undertook such an amateurish investigation - almost a pirate endeavor - on such a sensitive issue, is shocking and worrying. Is this the level of management of the head of the southern command? Where was the chief of staff? Why didn't the political echelons - the defense minister, for example - demand that a proper investigation be conducted?
Even if the investigation of the death of al Dura has gone badly wrong, top brass in the IDF as well as the political echelon which oversees the army must take into account the mounting significance of the growing list of youthful victims on the Palestinian side. It is their duty to find a solution that will decrease or even prevent this phenomenon.

Footnotes:

1-       The Daily Star, 10-11-2000.

2-       Haaretz, 10-11-2000.

3-       The Daily Star, 10-11-2000.

4-       Manar TV, 9-10-2000.

5-       Independent, 10-11-2000.

6-       Haaretz, 10-11-2000.

* This term is absolutely unacceptable. "Israel's" Army is that of war and aggression for it protects land gained by force, confiscation and war in contradiction with the simplest rights of human confessed by the international laws and conventions. (IDF)