Lebanon says Resistance operation shall continue for the Liberation of Shibaa Farms…(1)
Lebanon told U.N. envoy Rolf Knutsson on Monday that Hizbullah attacks on “Israeli” posts in the disputed Shibaa Farms were legitimate because they were on “Israeli”-occupied territory.

``From our viewpoint this land is Lebanese and Lebanon has the right to use every means to complete the liberation of its land,'' Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud told reporters after talks with Knutsson.

Hizbullah, detonated a roadside bomb while an “Israeli” tank was passing in the Shibaa Farms on Thursday.

"The United Nations 'blue line' does not cover the Shibaa Farms. These farms are Lebanese and “Israel” is still occupying them. We have committed ourselves, and remain committed, to work for their liberation," Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud told the press.

Hammoud recalled that Beirut had on several occasions warned against "incidents of this kind" if “Israel” remained in the Shibaa Farms area after its May 24 withdrawal from southern Lebanon following 22 years of occupation.

"All the parties should understand that Lebanon is determined to press for the liberation of its land by all means," he said.

He acknowledged that the UN considered the Hizbullah attack to be a violation of the 'blue line.' "That is the point of view of the UN. We are sticking to our position," he said.

Hammoud also said he had asked Knutsson to "raise the issue of “Israeli” violations. The incident that happened in Shibaa can not be compared with the daily “Israeli” aggressions by air, land, and sea," he said.

For his part, Knutsson expressed his surprise from the strong reactions which came out against his describing Thursday the Hizbullah attack in the area as a "dangerous violation" of the withdrawal line drawn by yte U.N .

Knutsson went on saying that Shibaa Farms was subject to U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 and 338 passed in 1967 and 1978respectively and not to the 1978 resolution 425. He thereby distinguished between Lebanese territories occupied in 1967 from that occupied by “Israel” in 1978.

The United Nations has a Syrian document confirming that the “Israeli”-occupied Shibaa Farms are Lebanese territory, said al-Mustaqbal newspaper  which published the text on Tuesday.

"This is the first Syrian document asserting that the Shibaa Farms are Lebanese territory," wrote the al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

The document is a letter sent October 24 by Mikhael Wehbe, Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations, to the president of the UN Security Council, al Mustaqbal said.

The letter said "“Israel” did not complete its troop pullout from southern Lebanon until the internationally-recognised borders, including the Shibaa Farms."

It also asked the Security Council president to consider the letter as "a document among the documents of the Security Council."

Al Mustaqbal said the "letter's importance is that it is the first Syrian official written document delivered to the Security Council which recognized the Shibaa Farms as Lebanese territory, after the confusion that prevailed at the United Nations and its demand for a written Syrian (document)."

UN has Syrian document saying Shibaa is Lebanese: paper…(2)

“ The United Nations has a Syrian document confirming that the disputed “Israeli”-occupied Shibaa Farms are Lebanese territory, said a Beirut paper which published the text on Tuesday.

"This is the first Syrian document asserting that the Shibaa Farms are Lebanese territory," wrote the al-Mustaqbal newspaper, owned by Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

The document is a letter sent October 24 by Mikhael Wehbe, Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations, to the president of the UN Security Council, al Mustaqbal said.

The letter said "“Israel” did not complete its troop pullout from southern Lebanon until the internationally-recognied borders, including the Shibaa Farms."

It also asked the Security Council president to consider the letter as "a document among the documents of the Security Council."

Al Mustaqbal said the "letter's importance is that it is the first Syrian official written document delivered to the Security Council which recognized the Shibaa Farms as Lebanese territory, after the confusion that prevailed at the United Nations and its demand for a written Syrian (document)."

The paper said Wehbe's letter came in response to an “Israeli” letter sent to the Security Council on October 7 in which the Jewish state blamed Lebanon and Syria for the kidnapping of three “Israeli” soldiers by Hizbullah from the Shibaa Farms.

On Monday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud said "Syria sent a letter to the UN two months ago in which it says it considers that “Israel” has not fully applied resolution 425 and calls for it to complete its withdrawal ... including from the Shibaa farms."

The Shibaa Farms are in a mountainous region at the Lebanese-Syrian borders occupied by “Israel” since 1967 and are covered by UN resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).

The “Israeli” troop pullout from southern Lebanon in May after 22 years of occupation was in line with UN Security Council Resolution 425 of 1978.

Lebanon and Syria considered that the “Israeli” withdrawal in May was incomplete without the Shibaa Farms, and therefore Lebanese resistance had the right and duty to regain it by all means.

“Israel” maintains that it seized the Farms from Syria and thus would only return them within a peace agreement with Damascus.

Lahoud: "The Intifadah will go on and escalate"…(3)
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said on Tuesday that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat should support his people's uprising against “Israel” or risk them continuing without him.

``Mr. Arafat should listen to the demands of his people because they will continue their uprising with or without him until all their demands are met,'' Lahoud told Reuters in an interview.

``You cannot change the will of the people. You cannot accept the occupation or its rules. Leaders must see what the population wants. I don't think the population of Palestine will accept to live in these conditions anymore,'' he added.

Asked if Arafat was in danger of losing his leadership if he tried to suppress the uprising waged by Palestinians against “Israel”, Lahoud said: ``One must see what the people want and then you will be on the winning side.''

Lahoud said Palestinians should use  Hizbullah's Islamic Resistance, as a model to liberate their occupied land.

The Islamic Resistance waged a war of attrition against “Israeli” troops and was the main force behind ending a 22-year “Israeli” occupation of south Lebanon in May.

``I told the Arabs at the Cairo summit last month 'take Lebanon as an example' they (“Israelis”) cannot continue to oppress people."

``The “Israelis” did not leave Lebanon because they wanted to. They used gunships and rockets but we stood up to them,'' said Lahoud, who was army commander before becoming president two years ago.

Syria Slams Barak as neo-Nazi…(4)
During talks with the Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Nayef Hawatmeh. Syrian Deputy President Abdel Haleem Khaddam asserted the Syrian support for the Intifadah, and the necessity of applying the resolutions of the urgent Arab Summit which calls for cutting all kinds of relationship with “Israel”.

Hawatmeh and Abdel-Haleem also discussed the American pressure aiming at ending the Palestinian uprising under the pretext of calming the situation, stopping the violence and resuming Camp David negotiations, which "doesn't give Palestinians their full rights, and imposes on them to accept the humiliating agreements that contradicts U.N. resolutions and International law."

Both men also discussed the necessity of improving Syrian-Palestinian relations as well as relations between Palestinians and the Arab countries.

Syria on Tuesday accused “Israeli” Prime Minister Ehud Barak of exceeding the Nazis in repression of the Palestinians, and warned that current tensions endangered the whole world.

``We do not exaggerate if we say that the whole world is threatened by the neo-Nazis who are ruling '“Israel”' now,'' the official daily al-Baath, organ of the ruling Baath party, said.

The paper accused the United States of pushing the region towards an unpredictable future through its unlimited support for “Israel”.

``The United States is still continuing its blind support to aggressor '“Israel”'. This support is encouraging “Israel” to commit more crimes against Arabs and to push the region into an explosion whose volume could not be predicted,'' al-Baath said.

``The continuation of the “Israeli” aggression against the Arabs, without any international action to deter it, does not only constitute danger against Arabs but also against the interests of the whole world,'' al-Baath said.

Egyptian envoy is recalled from “Israel”

First Arab country to agree peace agreement with Tel Aviv signals its anger at 'escalation of aggression' by recalling ambassador…(5)

Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with “Israel”, recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv yesterday for the first time in 18 years, as the Middle East crisis worsened.

The move by President Hosni Mubarak, for years a pivotal player in peace negotiations and viewed by the West as moderate, was greeted unhappily by “Israel”, which described it as "serious".

Mr Mubarak's announcement, with a statement denouncing "“Israel’s” escalation of aggression ... and deliberate use of force against the Palestinian people", came after the most severe “Israeli” air raids on the Gaza Strip yet.

But it was also meant as a general protest at “Israel’s” conduct in the eight-week conflict, in which its army has blockaded Palestinian areas and shot many scores of young rioters.

The Egyptian protest was warmly applauded in the Middle East, which has been resounding with calls for Arab countries to cut ties with “Israel”.

Although Mr Mubarak hasnot closed the embassy, the recall of his ambassador, Mohammed Bassiouny, clearly unsettled “Israel”, which depicted it as a blow to Egypt's role as a regional mediator.

Ehud Barak, “Israel’s” Prime Minister, said he was "not happy" with the recall, which he hoped would be for "a short time". For him, it is yet another complication in a crisis that grows daily more difficult, and one that is beginning to take a heavier toll on “Israeli” lives.

Mr Barak was in Gaza at an “Israeli” army base yesterday. While he was there, Palestinian gunmen shot and critically wounded a Jewish motorist less than a kilometre away.

The last and only other time Egypt withdrew its ambassador was in 1982, in protest over “Israel’s” part in the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps of Lebanon. This time, the recall was precipitated by helicopter rocket attacks launched by “Israel” after a bomb attack on a bus in the Gaza Strip on Monday morning.

The bomb killed two “Israeli” teachers and maimed several others, causing an outcry in “Israel”, whose newspapers yesterday were dominated by heart-rending accounts.

The retaliatory “Israeli” air strikes on Gaza on Monday evening killed two Palestinian policemen, wounded at least 60 and reduced offices connected with Mr Arafat's power structures to wreckage. At least 20 missiles were fired using combat helicopters and gunboats.

“Israel” has imposed an even tighter blockade on the strip, including an embargo on fuel deliveries, and “Israeli” troops have split Gaza by blocking a main road.

But Mr Mubarak's move also came amid growing anger in Egypt and throughout the Arab world at the daily killing Palestinians – many of them teenagers throwing stones and Molotov cocktails – by the “Israeli” army.

There have been pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Egypt almost every day, adding to domestic pressure on Mr Mubarak to take a stand.

His decision means that both the main mediators in the peace negotiations are damaged goods. The United States is seen by most Palestinians as unacceptably pro-”Israeli”, and Egypt will now be regarded by “Israel” – with whom it has had a "cold peace" since the 1979 Camp David peace treaty – with even more suspicion.

Five Palestinian martyrs and 125 wounded in latest “Israeli” assaults…(6)
16-year-old Jaser Dalib was fatally shot in the chest during stone-throwing protests in West Bank town of Tulkarm. At the entry of the West Bank town of Jenine, “Israeli” soldiers shot and killed 25-year-old Mohammed Masaad. In  Gaza strip Mohammed Suleiman Abu Obeid, 32, was also martyred on Tuesday.

Moreover, a Palestinian policemen was shot dead by “Israeli” troops in a firefight near Kfar Darom, hospital officials said.

A Palestinian worker, Hussein Baradieh, 35, from Kfar Soureef village near West Bank town  of al-Khalil (Hebron) died Tuesday of wounds sustained since last week when an “Israeli” border guard shot him.
At least 250 Palestinians were martyred in almost two months of clashes.

Palestinian Authority: "Palestinian people will not bow"…(7)
Palestinian Minister Hassan Asfour accused “Israel” of having chosen the track of war by launching missile attacks on Gaza strip Monday evening. Asfour said such attacks confirm that the “Israeli” government is a "government of criminals" and that it chose war as its policy.  He added that “Israel” will pay a heavy price for its attack on Gaza and that "PM Ehud Barak should start counting the number of “Israeli” dead". "The Palestinian people shall not succumb", said Asfour.

Moreover, the Palestinian Authority allowed security and policemen to use gunfire to protect Palestinians if they were under attack from the “Israeli” soldiers.

Gaza city's night sky was lit up later on Monday by “Israeli” flares and missiles which hit buildings including naval, civil defence and police installations, as well as the main police headquarters and offices  security agencies.

The strike, which lasted for around an hour and involved at least five helicopter gunships, hit Palestinian Preventive Security and Fatah headquarters, the elite Force-17 unit's base and a communications centre, the army said.

One Palestinian was killed in the attack and at least 80 people were treated at Gaza hospitals, mostly for shock or bruises.

Palestinians said the strikes made them even more determined to continue their uprising against “Israeli” occupation which began in late September -- two months after a summit failed to produce a peace treaty.

Hamas calls for development of Intifadah…(8)
The Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine, Hamas, called Palestinians to develop the methods of their Intifadah (uprising) in order to face the new challenges the “Israeli” occupier is imposing on them.

Hamas called in a statement "to use painful methods against the enemy, which will plant terror in the hearts of “Israeli” soldiers and settlers."

"Our people is more than even determined to confront the barbaric attacks, which will not stop (Palestinians) from going on in the Intifadah and resistance whatever the sacrifices maybe. The Palestinians will continue their courageous operations against the occupation wherever it may be," said Hamas.

The movement went on saying, "We shall not accept any substitute for the Resistance course until the aspirations of our people are realized i.e. freedom, the defeat of the occupation, and ending its presence from all our holy land."

Jordan calls for International protection for Palestinians…(9)
King of Jordan Abdallah Ben Hussein demanded an immediate ceasing of the “Israeli” aggression on the Palestinians saying that the “Israeli” deeds threaten the hopes of achieving peace in the Middle East.

King of Jordan gave these declarations during his meeting with William Cohen, American War Minister who is making a round in the region, Jordanian news agency Petra mentioned.

King Hussein stressed the need to stop the “Israeli” aggression on the Palestinian people and the necessity of exerting more international efforts to put an end to the “Israeli” assaults that destroy hopes of peace in the region, Petra announced.

King Abdallah called as well for ending the closure “Israel” imposes on Palestinian cities and villages.

He also demanded that an international protection be provided for the Palestinians.

Palestinians say won't yield to “Israeli” firepower…(10)
 Sixty-year-old Aysha Hmeid and dozens of Palestinians rushed on Tuesday to examine the damage wrought by an “Israeli” missile strike on Palestinian police headquarters in Gaza City the night before.

The building was largely in ruins. But Hmeid ululated with joy when policemen of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service told her none of them had been hurt.

``Thank God. Offices can be rebuilt. There is nothing we should worry about as long as you can still carry a rifle,'' she told policemen who were collecting the remains of at least 17 missiles that plugged into the three-story building.

``Even if they bombarded us every day and night we would not leave our land and we would not surrender,'' she said.

“Israeli” helicopters and gunboats fired missiles into Palestinian security targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Monday after Palestinians bombed a Gaza “Israeli” settlers' bus, killing two people and injuring several.

Palestinian hospital officials said they had treated about 80 people, mostly for shocks and bruises, from the teeming main city of the Mediterranean desert strip and from the refugee camps of Nusairat and Jabalya.

A Palestinian policeman showed journalists pieces of missiles emblazoned with the letters USA.

``It says USA. A gift from (U.S. President) Bill Clinton to the Palestinian people,'' the policeman said wryly.

It looked like the whole headquarters would need rebuilding. Its walls had crumpled or were teetering on the verge of collapse, and all windows were smashed. Shards of glass and empty casings of missiles were scattered across the ground.

There were similar scenes of destruction at security service, civil defense and naval buildings of Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction and at the headquarters of Force 17, his special guard unit, in Gaza City.

Footnotes:

1-       Manar TV, 21-11-2000.

2-       AFP, 21-11-2000.

3-       Manar TV, 21-11-2000.

4-       Same source.

5-       Independent, 22-11-2000.

6-       Manar TV, 21-11-2000.

7-       Same source.

8-       Same source.

9-       Same source.

10-    Same source.