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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected] In-Depth Issue:
Terrorists Planning Bus Hijack - Amir Rapaport and Eliel Shahar
(Maarivenglish.com)
Palestinian MP on Trial in Israel for Funding Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (AFP)
China Cracks Down on Muslims in Western Province - Howard W. French (New York Times)
Israel Signs Up for EU Satellite Navigation Project (Reuters)
Key Links |
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
A huge car bomb destroyed the five-story Mount Lebanon Hotel in central Baghdad on Wednesday. At least 27 people were killed and 41 wounded. Survivors said Americans and Britons and other Europeans were among those staying at the hotel. Col. Ralph Baker, commander of the Second Brigade, First Armored Division, said the blast appeared to have been caused by a car bomb with at least 1,000 pounds of plastic explosives that had been combined with a core of wired-together artillery shells. He said the blast was "similar to that carried out in the past by Ansar al-Islam and the Zarqawi network." (New York Times) Thousands of Kurds fought pitched battles with paramilitary police across northern Syria Wednesday as rioting worsened for the fifth day in a row. The trouble began at a football match at which Kurdish fans waved posters of President George Bush while being taunted by Syrian supporters with pictures of Saddam Hussein. (Telegraph-UK) See also Clashes Spread in Northern Syria, Death Toll Rises to 35 The death toll in clashes between Kurds in northern Syria and Arab residents backed by security forces has risen to at least 35 since last week, Kurdish and Syrian officials said. Abdel Aziz Daoud, general secretary of the banned Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party, said Wednesday a total of 30 people had been killed, while Salah Kiddo of the banned Kurdish People's Union added that 250 Kurds had been hurt. Five Syrian Arabs have also died in the violence since March 12. (AFP) Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Wednesday that Syria's president risks isolation if he does not make a commitment to ending support for terrorist groups. Syria is "kind of high up in my pantheon of supporters for terrorism," Armitage said. Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli sharply criticized Syria for cracking down on dissent in Lebanon and in Syria. "We have made our concerns known, and we reiterate our call upon the government of Syria to stop suppressing nonviolent political expression in Syria and Lebanon," he said. (AP/Newsday) Rail and underground networks across the Continent are bristling with heightened security following the Thursday bombings on Spanish commuter trains that killed 200, as the implications of a first al-Qaeda-linked terror attack on European soil hits home. Dana Allin, an expert in European security and defense policy at the Institute for International Strategic Studies in London, said, "The French, for example, know they are targets." France may not have backed the Iraq war, but it has cooperated in fighting Islamic militants in North Africa. Germany, too, opposed the Iraq war, but its involvement in Afghanistan and its law enforcement efforts at home have put it on the firing line. (Christian Science Monitor) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Prime Minister Sharon met Wednesday with the defense establishment and approved a disengagement plan including an almost total withdrawal from Gaza (3 settlements straddling the "green line" in northern Gaza may remain), and a small withdrawal in the West Bank, most likely from Kadim, Ganim, Sanur, and Homesh in northern Samaria. At the end of the meeting he said, "I understand the defense establishment recommends a partial disengagement. I support the proposal and will bring it before the cabinet." It was decided that the IDF would retain full control of the "Philadelphia" axis adjacent to the Israel-PA-Egyptian border near Rafiah. (Maarivenglish.com) Five Palestinian terror attacks were thwarted in Jerusalem over the past two weeks, Border Police Chief David Tsur revealed Wednesday. Tsur added that "dozens" of potential attacks, in various planning stages, were thwarted nationwide over the last few weeks, which have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of terror-related activity. (Jerusalem Post) Osama al-Baz, a senior adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, arrived in Ramallah unexpectedly on Wednesday for talks with Arafat. "The Egyptians are very worried about the state of anarchy and they want to see immediate and drastic steps," said one PA official. "We will not tolerate a situation where the Gaza Strip is ruled by warring militias," another PA official quoted Baz as telling Arafat. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The notion that Spain can separate itself from al-Qaeda's onslaught on Western civilization by pulling its troops from Iraq is a fantasy. Bin Laden has said that Spain was once Muslim and he wants it restored that way. (New York Times) According to the historian Bat Ye'or, the European Union has since 1973 been constructing "a whole infrastructure of alliances and economic, industrial, media, cultural, financial bonds with the countries of the Arab League" - which she has dubbed "Eurabia." In exchange for the opening of Arab markets, Europeans encouraged Muslim immigration into Europe, discouraged assimilation of these immigrant populations, and fostered the dissemination in Europe of Islamic perspectives on history and contemporary politics. (FrontPageMagazine.com) Since Sept. 11, al-Qaeda the group has been morphing into al-Qaeda the ideological movement, with a fervent opposition to Western policy in the Middle East and the desire for the rule of Islamic law across the Muslim world. We have barely begun the war with al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups because many thousands of underemployed, disaffected Muslims will continue to embrace bin Laden's doctrine of violent anti-Westernism. (Los Angeles Times) The collapse of a Bush administration plan for the Arab world offers a sharp lesson for U.S. diplomats in dealing with the Muslim world. The "Greater Middle East initiative," as it was called, was shot down barely after takeoff by governing regimes of countries whose citizens might most have benefited from it. It's naive to suggest that Arabs are a branch of mankind untouched by the desire for freedom. It's insulting to conclude that, despite the backwardness into which the Arab world has lapsed, it is incapable of embracing and practicing democracy. Democracy cannot be imposed like a Coca-Cola marketing plan. It must have grass-roots support. (Christian Science Monitor) Observations: Israel's Interests Take Primacy - Dore Gold (bitterlemons.org) Q: If Israel withdraws unilaterally, can the remaining territory be defined as a Palestinian state?
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