Young victims fall in Israel

With killing of two teens, rage escalates in the Middle East

By Matthew Kalman
USA TODAY

May 10, 2001 Page 1A

TEKOA, Israel -- The discovery Wednesday of the mutilated bodies of two teenage boys, one an American, in a cave near a West Bank settlement increased outrage over violence here that continues to claim child victims.

Koby Mandell, 13, and Yosef Ishran, 14, had been bound, stabbed and beaten to death with rocks, police said. The walls of the cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the boys' blood, reportedly smeared there by the killers.

Koby immigrated to Israel with his family from College Park, Md., in 1996. They moved into the Tekoa settlement two years ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blamed Yasser Arafat for the killings. He said the Palestinian leader was doing nothing to stop attacks on Israelis.

Violence in the region exploded in September after Sharon visited a site holy to Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem. The unrest has claimed more than 500 lives.

Asked about the slaying of the teens, Arafat responded that Palestinian children have been victimized by Israel. He cited a 3-month-old Palestinian girl, Reema Ahmed, who was wounded Wednesday during an Israeli shooting attack on a Gaza refugee camp. The youngest victim of the recent violence -- Iman Hijo, a 4-month-old Palestinian girl -- was buried Tuesday.

Early today, violence in the region flared again as at least seven people were wounded -- six Palestinians and one Israeli soldier -- in a gunbattle when Israeli soldiers bulldozed Palestinian buildings in another refugee camp in Gaza.

The future of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza is a key issue standing in the way of a Mideast peace accord. About 200,000 Jewish settlers and 3 million Palestinians live in the Palestinian territories. Sharon has vowed to continue to build settlements, further angering Palestinians.

The deaths of children have enraged both sides and possibly jeopardized efforts to renew the peace process.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the killings of the Israeli boys ''horrible, brutal.'' U.S. lawmakers called on the White House to appoint a special Middle East envoy. ''The situation is sufficiently serious that there ought to be a special representative appointed,'' Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said.

Pope John Paul II, speaking in Malta, said he was saddened by ''news from the Holy Land of terrible violence even against innocent young people.''

Israeli police said Koby and Yosef may have been killed in a chance encounter with Palestinians. The boys were reported missing late Tuesday after skipping school to go hiking.

''We began looking in Tekoa valley,'' said Meir Ben-Hayoun, a neighbor of one of the boys. ''And at 7 this morning we found their bodies, beaten, mutilated and stabbed.''

Thousands of people attended the funerals Wednesday. Classmates hugged and wept.

A handwritten sign called on God to ''avenge their blood'' and asked settlers to meet at the murder site tonight to light bonfires. ''We will not forget or forgive,'' the sign said.

Israel pledges relief for barred Palestinian workers

The Globe and Mail,
Monday, April 30, 2001

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM -- Israel promised yesterday to ease the economic plight of thousands of Palestinians who have been unable to work inside Israel for the past several months.
However, violence continued against Israeli targets, including a suicide attack involving a school bus that killed only the bomber.

Hopes for an end to the violence rose briefly as Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres held talks with Egyptian and Jordanian leaders before leaving for New York, where he is to meet United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today. On Thursday, Mr. Peres is to meet U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.

A statement yesterday by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to a ceasefire spurred a flurry of interest -- but was later deemed to be premature.

"The two sides have agreed to a ceasefire," Mr. Mubarak said after talks in Cairo with Mr. Peres. "After a ceasefire of four weeks, negotiations between the two sides will start to reach a solution to the current situation."

But asked later whether they had agreed to a ceasefire, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told reporters: "No, they are still talking about the matter."

Speaking to reporters in Cairo, Mr. Peres said Israel would immediately adopt measures to help residents of the occupied West Bank and Gaza who have been forced out of work because of security measures designed to stop Palestinian terrorists entering Israel.

More than 11,000 of the 60,000 Palestinians who work in Israel have already been given permission to resume work.

Within Palestinian ranks, there were conflicting reports about a possible truce. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was reported to have repeated his call for an end to mortar attacks against Israeli settlements and towns. But Marwan Barghouti, leader of Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank, said that as far as the Palestinians are concerned, the Israeli government should declare a unilateral ceasefire.

"There is no ceasefire with the Sharon-Peres government," Mr. Barghouti said. "If Israel wants to bring a halt it must stop shooting."

In the West Bank yesterday, a busload of Israeli school children escaped harm when a car bomb exploded in the road as their bus passed the settlement of Shavei Shomron. Police found remains of a body in the car and believe the explosion was a Palestinian suicide attack.

Israel calls off talks until after election

GLOBE & MAIL
Monday, January 29, 2001

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak suspended all diplomatic contacts with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last night and cancelled a summit meeting planned for tomorrow in Stockholm.
The terse announcement was made shortly after a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland turned into a public embarrassment for Israeli cabinet minister Shimon Peres, as Mr. Arafat launched a scathing attack on Israeli policy.
The suspension of contacts until after Israel's election on Feb. 6 does not include links aimed at combatting violence and terrorism.
Mr. Barak stressed that his government "continues to adhere to the peace process on the basis of upholding Israel's vital interests." But his statement represented a dramatic contrast to the optimism expressed on Saturday at the end of a week of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at an Egyptian resort.
Yesterday's discussion in Davos began politely enough, with Mr. Arafat gently insisting that Mr. Peres deliver his speech first. The Israeli Nobel laureate, who is closely associated with continued efforts to reach a deal with the Palestinians, said Israel remained committed to peace. "We never initiated any pressure upon the Palestinians. Nor did we aim our guns just out of bad will, only when it was needed to defend our lives."
But his Nobel peace partner shot back with a withering dissection of Israeli attacks against Palestinians.
"I wouldn't wish an Israeli child to have to live a single hour of the lives that Palestinian children are now having to live suffering under repression and under bombardment," he said.
"The current government of Israel is waging and has waged for the past four months a savage and barbaric war as well as a blatant and fascist military aggression."
Mr. Peres, his hands clasped tight together in a double fist, was clearly taken aback. Only a day earlier, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators said the sides had never been so close to a peace treaty.

Hope is dim at Mideast peace talks

Violence persists with arrest of Palestinian woman accused of luring youth to his death

The Globe and Mail,
Monday, January 22, 2001

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak shrugged off widespread criticism last night over his decision to accept a Palestinian invitation to 10 days of intensive peace talks before next month's prime ministerial election.

"By staying away from the talks in Taba, we would be serving the interests of the Palestinians and I have no intention of doing that," Mr. Barak said. "It is our duty to continue to test the possibility of reaching an agreement or understandings that would first and foremost reduce the level of violence."

As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators gathered for the talks in the Egyptian resort of Taba, neither side was optimistic amid positions that appear to be hardening and continued violence that has killed more than 380 people, most of them Palestinians. Yesterday, a Palestinian youth was shot dead during riots in Gaza and what appeared to be a car bomb in preparation exploded prematurely in East Jerusalem.

But Ariel Sharon, the right-wing challenger who has led Mr. Barak by as much as 20 points in recent opinion polls, accused the Prime Minister of electioneering.

"There is no doubt that the renewal of talks tonight is an attempted grab for electoral purposes by a government that does not exist," Mr. Sharon said.

Meanwhile, even senior members of Mr. Barak's own government challenged the legitimacy of conducting negotiations in the shadow of the Feb. 6 election.

"If you're so convinced we're going to win, then why not arrange to meet the Palestinians on Feb. 7 in the evening?" cabinet minister Haim Ramon jeered.

The negotiating teams faced each other in a Taba hotel room to discuss procedural issues.

"We were hard-working," Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told journalists after the session adjourned 2½ hours later. The talks were due to resume this morning.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem in Gaza, was also upbeat, saying he hopes the talks produce an agreement "as soon as possible."

But the Israeli cabinet formally resolved to three basic principles yesterday: No Palestinian sovereignty over the Temple Mount holy site (known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary), no right for Palestinian refugees to return to Israel and support for the 180,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

These "red lines," as Mr. Barak called them, were rejected by other Palestinian leaders.

"These are very difficult conditions, which we cannot accept," Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said. "If this is Barak's starting point, the talks are doomed to failure."

Mr. Shaath said his side will not be pressured by the looming Israeli election.

"We're not going to make an agreement just because time is running out," he said. "Under this terror of time, you cannot reach an agreement that can last."

Meanwhile, real terror continued to grip the Israeli public after the slaying of Ofir Rahum, a 16-year-old schoolboy whose bullet-riddled body was discovered last week on the outskirts of the Palestinian town of Ramallah.

He disappeared after withdrawing a large amount of cash from the bank and skipping school to meet a mystery woman in Jerusalem, 80 kilometres away, after meeting her in an Internet chat room.

Amneh Muna, a 23-year-old Palestinian journalist and political activist, was arrested in the early hours Saturday at her home in the West Bank village of Bir Naballah, just north of Jerusalem.

She was interrogated yesterday by Israel's Shin Bet security service at a compound in Jerusalem. Shin Bet prevented her from talking to anybody, including her family-appointed lawyer, and secured a court order prohibiting publication of her picture.

In an interview at the family home, hours after her arrest, Ms. Muna's brother, Tariq, denied that she was involved in the killing and described how 50 masked Israeli troops surrounded the house to arrest her.

Mr. Muna, 30, said his parents, brother and two sisters were called from their home in the dead of night, one by one, then asked to watch as dozens of soldiers searched the house.

"They took away hundreds of documents and newspapers and every photograph we have of my sister, including family albums," Mr. Muna said.

"They also took her identity card, credit cards and about $2,000 cash in U.S. dollars and Israeli shekels. They also took all the family's mobile phones. They were searching for about two hours."

He said the first the family heard about the connection to the killing "was on the TV news. It's just not true. She's not that kind of person."

The slain youth's father said yesterday that the family is concerned about other young people entering what he called the "black hole" of the Internet.

"I don't want revenge," Shalom Rahum said. "I just want all the children, everyone who goes into these chat rooms, to be careful. I hope my son will be the last victim and other young people will learn the consequences."

Palestinian minister offers amnesty

Outcry stops execution of collaborators as Israel seals Gaza over killing of settler

The Globe and Mail,
Tuesday, January 16, 2001

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM -- The Palestinian minister of justice, apparently stung by an international outcry over the firing-squad executions of two Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel, offered an amnesty to other suspects yesterday.

"Those who surrender will be pardoned, so long as they give themselves up within the next 45 days and reveal all their activities," Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein said.

Meanwhile yesterday, Israel suspended peace talks for a day and sealed off the Gaza Strip after the kidnap and murder of a Jewish settler. About 100 Israeli settlers went on a rampage after his death, burning Palestinian buildings and cars.

Mr. Abu Medein said seven alleged collaborators had surrendered since the executions of Alan Bani Odeh and Majdi Mikkawi on Saturday. The two were tried and convicted by Palestinian security courts, which gave them no right to a defence or an appeal. Two other men were condemned to death by a similar court in Bethlehem on Saturday.

The men were accused of providing intelligence to Israel to assist in assassinating Palestinian militia leaders and officials, more than 30 of whom are believed to have been killed in recent pinpoint attacks.

The European Union issued a protest against the executions and asked Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to commute the two death sentences handed down Saturday.

In Ottawa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said Canada is "deeply troubled" about the executions and is urging the Palestinian Authority to commute the other death sentences.

"At this critical moment in the Middle East, we would hope that all parties would refrain from any deliberate action that aggravates the situation further," spokeswoman Valerie Noftle said.

But Faisal Husseini, the senior PLO official in Jerusalem, said the Palestinian leadership should be more resolute in hunting down traitors and called on Mr. Arafat to "take a clear decision to execute the traitors."

In the West Bank village of Burkin yesterday, a suspected Palestinian collaborator was shot dead by a hit squad at the door to his home.

Earlier, the body of kidnapped Jewish settler Rony Tzalah, 32, was discovered in an onion field next to his greenhouse in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Yam in the southern Gaza Strip. He had been shot in the head.

After the body was discovered, about 100 Jewish settlers went on a rampage, destroying nearby Palestinian-owned greenhouses and empty houses, setting fire to cars and trees, and shooting toward the homes of their Palestinian neighbours. No injuries were reported, but the Israeli army had to bring in firefighters to douse the flames.

Mr. Tzalah's death provoked an angry response from Israel, which called off planned peace talks in protest, although they are due to resume today.

"This is a serious blow to the peace process," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is under strong pressure to call off all talks while fighting continues.

Palestinians warn of more executions

Arafat urged to commute further sentences after 'collaborators' killed by firing squad

The Globe and Mail,
Monday, January 15, 2001

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is under pressure to commute two planned executions after an outcry over the deaths by firing squad of two Palestinian men on Saturday.

All four were accused of collaborating with Israeli forces to assassinate terrorist leaders in recent weeks. The men were all convicted in lightning trials by Palestinian security courts, whose rulings cannot be appealed and whose proceedings have been condemned by human-rights groups.

Alan Bani Odeh, 25, was executed by a Palestinian police firing squad as a chanting crowd of 5,000 gathered outside a police station in Nablus Saturday morning. Majdi Mikkawi, 28, was shot at the same time in Gaza.

Palestinian Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein said two more men sentenced to death on Saturday would also be executed this week, and a dozen more would follow. The condemned men's only recourse now is Mr. Arafat, who must approve all executions.

"Anyone we lay our hands on will not merit the mercy of the Palestinian people or the mercy of Palestinian law. Palestinian blood is pure blood and may not be spilled by agents," Mr. Abu Medein said.

But the head of a human-rights group suggested actions may not follow such tough talk. "I don't believe the Palestinian Authority is going to execute any more, at least in the coming weeks," said Bassem Eid, director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group.

"There is a big fight against collaborators but the Palestinian Authority has to consider international pressure," Mr. Eid said. "The coverage has affected the reputation of the Palestinian Authority and its justice system."

Mr. Eid said it was the duty of foreign governments who donate aid to the PA to monitor events in the Palestinian areas and ensure democratic rights. The executions were only the fourth and fifth death penalties carried out in the more than six years of the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak joined in criticism of the executions yesterday, which Israeli media featured prominently.

"It is regrettable that the Palestinian Authority, which aspires to be a recognized entity, has recourse to show trials that recall dark periods of history," Mr. Barak said in a statement.

The Israeli human-rights group B'Tselem, which has also criticized Israeli policies, condemned the executions, saying: "The fact that in these cases the defendants were not accorded a fair trial, had no effective opportunity to defend themselves and no opportunity to appeal makes these executions especially grave."

Mr. Bani Odeh was found guilty last month of helping Israeli agents assassinate Ibrahim Bani Odeh, a distant relative and a leader of the Hamas terror group. The court found he supplied a car to Ibrahim Bani Odeh, which had a bomb hidden in the headrest of the driver's seat. It was detonated as the Hamas leader drove through Nablus, killing him instantly. Mr. Bani Odeh admitted meeting Israeli agents, but said he did not know the car was rigged when he agreed to lend it to his relative.

On Saturday morning, as a huge crowd gathered outside the gates of the police station in Nablus, Mr. Bani Odeh was permitted a final meeting with his mother, wife and two small daughters.

After 15 minutes, his wife, Siham, emerged in tears, cradling their infant daughter in her arms. "He swore to me that he is innocent," she said. "He never knew they were planning to kill Ibrahim. He asked me to look after the children and he asked his mother to take care of all of us."

Several hundred people from the crowd were allowed into the police station's courtyard to witness the execution. At 11 a.m., Mr. Bani Odeh was taken to the courtyard, tied to a pole and blindfolded. As he stood there, his brother walked up to him and said "Allah yisamhak" (May God forgive you). He was executed by a squad of six hooded police officers.

Among the onlookers was Ibrahim Bani Odeh's widow, Rakiyeh. "I thank President Arafat for bringing justice," she said. We are very happy today to see that this traitor, who helped kill my husband, is being punished."

The second man, Mr. Mikkawi, was found guilty of giving Israel information that led to the Nov. 22 killing of four Fatah members, one of them his uncle, Jamal Abdel-Razek. Mr. Mikkawi was executed in Gaza. No members of the public witnessed his death, but it was videotaped and broadcast yesterday on Israeli television.

Hours after the executions, four men suspected of collaborating with Israel were tried by a PA security court in Bethlehem for their alleged role in the death of Fatah militia leader Hussein Abayat, who was killed in an Israeli rocket attack in November. Two of the men, Mohammad Deifallah Khatib and Husam Deen Moussa Hmeid, were sentenced to death by firing squad, while two others drew life in prison.

Palestinian leaders said there were at least a dozen more suspects accused of helping the Israelis and that all of them could expect the same fate.

Arafat agrees to new round of peace talks with Clinton

Car bomb injures 30 in Israeli town as fighting escalates in West Bank, Gaza

The Globe and Mail,
Tuesday, January 2, 2001

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed last night to visit Washington for what could be a decisive meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton on the future of the Middle East peace process, as a bomb attack in Israel and fighting throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip raised tension on the ground.

The two men reportedly held a lengthy telephone conversation late yesterday about Mr. Clinton's proposals for renewing peace talks with Israel. Direct talks have been stalled since July's failed summit at Camp David, Md., and almost buried by the fighting of the past three months. More than 350 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians, and six more died yesterday.

Mr. Clinton needs an answer soon if he is to realize his dream of clinching a peace deal before he leaves the White House later this month. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has already accepted the U.S. proposals as a basis for new talks, but Mr. Arafat originally said he could not give a final answer until after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers scheduled for Thursday.

Mr. Arafat's plans to meet Mr. Clinton this afternoon raised hopes that a breakthrough might still be possible, despite yesterday's violence and rhetoric. Earlier, though, a senior Palestinian official said Mr. Arafat will reject the U.S. proposals.

"The Palestinian leadership has decided to respond in the negative to the American proposals," said Sakher Habash, an official of the Palestine Liberation Organization, at a rally in Ramallah to mark the 36th anniversary of the Fatah movement's first terror attack against Israel. "The Palestinians will continue with their struggle until independence."

And Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, who spoke to Mr. Arafat yesterday, said there were "no indications" a deal would be sealed before Mr. Clinton's term ends.

Hours before Mr. Clinton and Mr. Arafat spoke, a large car bomb exploded in the centre of the busy Israeli seaside resort of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv.

One person was seriously injured and about 30 more wounded by shrapnel when the booby-trapped vehicle exploded as a crowded rush-hour bus was passing on Netanya's main thoroughfare.

"There were three explosions, one after the other," said Mickey Ratz, who witnessed the explosion. "I was only 20 metres away. I saw a car on fire. There was shattered glass all over the place. I saw a lot of blood."

Israeli helicopters hovered over the city trying to locate a car that was seen fleeing the scene at high speed just before the attack, and police said the injured man might be the bomber.

Hamas, a militant Palestinian group, denied carrying out the attack. But just yesterday morning, senior Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rantissi was quoted in a Persian Gulf newspaper threatening more attacks on Israel.

"Hamas has stepped up its operations and has carried out bomb attacks from afar to protect the lives of its fighters," said Mr. Rantissi, whom Mr. Arafat released from a Gaza jail last week. "We might be forced to use the old [suicide attack] methods if that is the only way to cause losses to the enemy."

Israeli security officials have warned of a possible increase in Hamas attacks in the run-up to the election for prime minister planned for Feb. 6. A wave of suicide bombings during the 1996 election campaign left nearly 100 Israelis dead and swept right-wing firebrand Benjamin Netanyahu to office in a surprise victory over peace champion Shimon Peres.

"After this attack, we can't hold back any longer," Israeli cabinet minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said yesterday. "That's it -- we have run out of patience. Now we need a more immediate and firm response. Mr. Arafat is responsible for everything that is happening and he will have to suffer the consequences. We can't continue with negotiations with the Palestinians as long as these attacks continue."

But Palestinian cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said Israel was also to blame.

"The latest escalation is a direct result of the events that started three months ago," he said. "We have warned and cautioned against such an escalation. The only way to escape the cycle of violence and attacks is by returning to the negotiating table and reaching an agreement on the basis of UN resolutions, which means a full withdrawal from the [Israeli-occupied] territories."

Meanwhile, six Palestinians died yesterday after clashes with Israeli troops. Among them was 10-year-old Muad Abu Adwan, who died of wounds suffered Sunday in crossfire in the West Bank town of Hebron, where Palestinians shot at Israeli houses throughout the night and Israeli soldiers and settlers returned fire.

Jewish settlers, angered by Sunday's slaying of hard-line Rabbi Binyamin Kahane, blocked roads to West Bank Arab villages. The resurgent violence has increased pressure on Mr. Barak, who trails badly in polls with slightly more than a month before an election in which he has staked his job on reaching a deal with the Palestinians.

Yesterday, Mr. Netanyahu threw his weight behind the candidacy of Likud leader Ariel Sharon.

And Mr. Barak renewed a threat of "unilateral separation" from the Palestinians unless a deal is reached. Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said that a security fence was already being prepared along those border stretches that both sides seem to agree on.

The Prime Minister told army radio that if the talks do not resume, Israel will consider establishing its permanent borders without Palestinian input.

"We must part from the Palestinians. It is one of our highest priorities to do so in an agreement, but we will have to prepare to do so without an agreement if it becomes clear that the Palestinians are not interested in an agreement."

Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein, meanwhile, warned Mr. Barak against rushing into any agreement before the election.

Would-be messiahs back in action

JERUSALEM
Matthew Kalman

Monday, Jan. 01, 2001

The plump American with the smiling, round face and woollen cap standing outside a Jerusalem department store was keen to talk about international relations.

"All this is leading to a Third World War, you know," he said, referring to the continuing unrest in the West Bank and Gaza. "China will play a major role, and millions of people are going to be killed.

"I'm here on a mission," he confided. "I've been sent here to try and prevent this war."

He took out his identification and presented some impressive credentials. According to his genuine-looking U.S. passport, the 40-something man with a salt-and-pepper beard and a large knapsack was none other than King David -- the Hebrew ruler who made Jerusalem his capital 3,000 years ago.

It was a pleasure to see him. The streets of Jerusalem have been lacking John the Baptist, the prophet Isaiah and other would-be messiahs who were regular features in the holy city until about a year ago.

Many of them were gripped by the Jerusalem Syndrome, a recognized psychiatric disorder in which perfectly normal people become so entranced by Jerusalem's religious atmosphere that they assume the identities of biblical characters or become modern-day prophets.

But because of a security crackdown by Israel and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the prophets, kings and gods were rounded up and kicked out as 2000 approached and many feared that some millennialist sects might spark violence in this tense region.

"Every year we examine about 150 patients, of whom 40 or so require hospitalization," said Dr. Yair Barel, director of the Kfar Shaul psychiatric hospital in Jerusalem. "There was one case where two different patients insisted they were the Messiah, so I decided to put them in a room together to see if they would come to their senses."

It didn't work, he said. "Each thought the other was an impostor."

Despite the security fears, or perhaps because of them, Dr. Barel said, the expected rise in the number of cases of Jerusalem Syndrome during 2000 did not materialize.

Only a few sufferers have ever proved dangerous. One was a fundamentalist Australian Christian who tried to burn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in 1969, which could have sparked an all-out Middle East War.

Since 1969, Muslims have been afraid that Israel is planning to rebuild Solomon's Temple there. Palestinians justify their current intifada (uprising) by invoking Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's controversial visit to the compound on Sept. 28.

In the months before last January, Israeli security forces were on high alert for the possibility that apocalyptic millennialists would attack the mosque or stage mass suicides in Jerusalem in an attempt to hasten the End of Days.

Dozens of fundamentalists -- most of them quite harmless -- were rounded up and expelled from Israel in late-night raids.

According to Gershom Gorenberg, author of The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount, published this week by the Free Press, a U.S. publisher, the overzealous police actions were not entirely misplaced.

"The expectation of The End is part of significant streams within all three of the monotheistic religions," Mr. Gorenberg said in an interview. "In all three, there are significant numbers of people whose vision of the end focuses geographically on Jerusalem and specifically on the Temple Mount."

Mr. Gorenberg said it is no surprise that the seven-year-long Oslo peace process left until the end any discussion about the Temple Mount, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews and regarded by evangelical Christians as the site of the Jewish Temple, which must be rebuilt before the Second Coming.

Numerous Web sites analyze current events in the light of biblical prophecy, suggesting that we are living through the End of Days. Currently enjoying huge success in the United States are the Left Behind books, a series of novels by fundamentalist Christians Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins.

Mr. Gorenberg said the fact that nothing happened last New Year's Eve has not destroyed belief in the apocalypse. Now that 2000 and 2001 have both begun quietly, the tension is even greater.

"This is really the point at which millennial and messianic groups become interesting and most unstable, when their expectations have been dashed via the continuation of history," he said.

In Holy Land, a somber Christmas

By Matthew Kalman
USA TODAY
24 December 2000

Christmas may not have been officially called off in the town where the Bible says Jesus was born. But the bright flame of peace that lit the region last January now flickers amid the renewed ravages of war.

The new Palestinian intifada (uprising) exploded Sept. 29 after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Noble Sanctuary, known as the Temple Mount to Jews. Control over the site, holy to both Muslims and Jews, and of much of Jerusalem's Old City is one of the key issues that brought the U.S.-brokered peace process to a standstill after months of unprecedented progress.

Since that visit, Israeli-Palestinian battles have raged on the borders of Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank and Gaza. The conflict wore on this week, despite the resumption of low-level talks in an apparent attempt to make the most of the interest and engagement of the outgoing U.S. administration.

For the Arab Christians of Bethlehem, the collapse of the negotiations and the ensuing unrest have precipitated an economic disaster because tourists can't, or won't, come here. The mayor says local businesses are denied vital foreign dollars, further crippling the economy. ''Israel is not allowing tourists to enter Bethlehem, unfortunately,'' Nasser says. ''The economic situation in the city is very bad and is deteriorating. The hotels are empty. The restaurants have no clients. Our workers are denied the right to go outside and earn a living.''

Israel claims that despite the ban on Palestinians leaving Bethlehem, tourists can still enter. The problem is that gun battles at Rachel's Tomb, an enlarged Jewish shrine dedicated to the wife of Jacob

at the main entrance to Bethlehem, causes Israeli troops to blocked the road. A Palestinian man carrying carton of eggs stopped by israeli troops (photo by Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP)

''Bethlehem is open at all times to any foreign citizen,'' Israeli army spokesman Maj. Yarden Vatikai says. ''When there are serious gun battles and the road is dangerous, the army closes it even to tourists. Our intention is to allow free access to all holy sites while not endangering the safety of our visitors.''

The Israeli army also has been denying Palestinians entry into Israel. Because at least 200,000 Palestinians earn their living as day laborers in Israel, many Palestinian households -- both here and elsewhere in the West Bank and Gaza -- have no income.

George Mascoby, a guide who works with Near East Tours in Jerusalem, says he has continued to lead tours into Bethlehem since the clashes started. But he says that there are few tourists to take. ''We are in constant touch with our friends in Bethlehem and other places to make sure we are warned in advance of any problems,'' he says. ''If the road is closed, we go somewhere else. The problem is that there are no tourists.''

Vacant rooms, empty streets:

More than $200 million had been invested to prepare for Bethlehem 2000. Half came from the private sector. With the millennium declared a Holy Year for Christians, a grand project was set in motion to rehabilitate the infrastructure to accommodate a record number of foreign visitors. The mayor says 1 million tourists came to Bethlehem in 1999. Until September, it looked as if the number would exceed the year's target of 1.7 million.

The Jacir Palace Inter-Continental Hotel was opened in May in a spectacular renovated merchant's palace built by Suleiman Jacir in 1910. But last week, the hotel's fabulous arched courtyard, whispering fountains and gilded lounges were vacant. The hotel is a few yards from the Rachel's Tomb flash point. Even though its doors remain open, there isn't a single guest in the 250 rooms, even at the knockdown price of $140 a night. The grand opening was canceled and hasn't been rescheduled.

Younis Arar, 29, is the hotel's banquets manager. A Muslim from nearby Hebron, he slips through the Israeli blockade each day and says he supports the uprising, even though it is crippling business. ''We are fighting the occupation, but we are fighting for peace,'' he says. ''What alternative do we have?''

Munib Younan, the Lutheran bishop of Jerusalem, says religious leaders must speak out and remind politicians that most people want peace above all else. ''We have to tell our politicians that our grass roots are fed up of injustice, fed up with bloodshed, fed up with fighting, fed up with these prejudices, fed up with retaliation,'' he says.

Bethlehem's mayor insists that despite the conflict, which has reached past Bethlehem's threshold, plans for Christmas will proceed. ''We will have our traditional religious processions, as usual,'' Nasser says. ''We will have a Christmas tree in the square. We will have choirs singing. . . . But what's missing is the smile on the faces of the children.''

Inside the Church of the Nativity, where visitors usually wait in line at least half an hour to descend into the tiny grotto where Jesus is said to have been born 2,000 years ago, there are few visitors and no foreigners at all on this day.

Teacher Suad Khair shepherds a class of 7-year-olds from the Greek Catholic school in the nearby town of Beit Sahour, scene of heavy gun battles between Palestinian militia and Israeli soldiers guarding a nearby army base. ''The children are so sad, so afraid,'' she says. ''Every day we wake up not even knowing whether we will finish the school day or whether the fighting will start again.''

In Beit Sahour, traditional site of the Shepherd's Field where news of Jesus' birth was first heard, Majdel Atrash surveys the ragged hole where an Israeli missile smashed into the wall of his children's bedroom a couple of weeks ago. Still nursing the cuts on his arm caused by flying shrapnel, he says it is a miracle no one was more seriously hurt.

''We will still have Christmas, for the children,'' he says, ''But this year, we will have new decorations to hang on our tree.'' With a grim smile, he deposits the contents of a bag on the coffee table: shrapnel and twisted metal, the remains of the bullets and shells dug out of his walls and furniture.

Outside, the children are playing in the garden. One boy, holding a wooden rifle, crouches behind an old stove. The other children throw stones at him until he surrenders. Then they attack and capture him. They call the game intifada -- just like the Israeli-Palestinian battles they see on TV.

Sana' Abu Amsha, 35, a mother of three and English teacher at the Latin School in Beit Jala, on the other side of Bethlehem, is close to tears. She says her children have nightmares and wet their beds because of the nightly gun battles.

''I'm afraid to even let my daughters take part in the marches, in case there is an attack,'' she says. ''Instead of going out and watching the events or visiting friends, I think this Christmas, we will just stay at home and hope that nothing happens.''

On top of the fear, there is anger. The residents of Beit Jala had hoped that the Israeli troop withdrawal from Bethlehem in 1995 -- part of the peace negotiations that aimed to give the Palestinians sovereignty over their land -- would lead to peace and independence. Instead, negotiations dragged on, and now there is war.

Spiritual leaders are urging the Palestinians and Israelis to return to negotiations. The alternative, they say, is unthinkable: a bloodbath in the Holy Land. ''We don't want to see'' Israeli helicopters ''in the heavens,'' Bishop Younan says. ''We want to see the real star of Christmas that is telling the Palestinians we will have our own liberation, we will have our peace, we will have our legitimate rights, and telling the Israelis they will have their security also. When this star is shining in Bethlehem, then it will be full of joy.

War drives tourists from Bethlehem

19 December 2000

By Matthew Kalman, USA TODAY

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Bethlehem's mayor, Hanna Nasser, looks out over Manger Square from his office window and sighs. The square, with the Church of the Nativity on the far side, should have been the centerpiece of millennium Christmas celebrations. But the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims expected here for the Holy Year events never arrived. In fact, the whole city — with its brand new hotels, rejuvenated square and church and overflowing gift shops — is almost deserted. Nasser dismisses as ''ridiculous'' reports that Christmas is canceled in Bethlehem this year. But he concedes that tourism is almost nonexistent and the celebrations will have a more somber tone after three months of violence in which more than 270 Palestinians — 19 of them from the Bethlehem area — have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

Christmas may not have been officially called off in the town where the Bible says Jesus was born. But the bright flame of peace that lit the region last January now flickers amid the renewed ravages of war.

The new Palestinian intifada (uprising) exploded Sept. 29, after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Noble Sanctuary, known as the Temple Mount to Jews. Control over the site, holy to both Muslims and Jews, and of much of Jerusalem's Old City is one of the key issues that brought the U.S.-brokered peace process to a standstill after months of unprecedented progress.

Since that fateful visit, Israeli-Palestinian battles have raged on the borders of Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank and Gaza. The conflict wore on this week, despite the resumption of low-level talks in an apparent attempt to make the most of the interest and engagement of the outgoing U.S. administration.

Blockade cripples business

For the Arab Christians of Bethlehem, the collapse of the negotiations and the ensuing unrest have precipitated an economic disaster because tourists can't — or won't — come here.

The mayor says local businesses are denied vital foreign dollars, crippling the already weakened economy.
''Israel is not allowing tourists to enter into Bethlehem, unfortunately,'' Nasser says. ''They come to the military checkpoint and they are not allowed to enter the city - it's very bad. Israel has always said that access to all the holy places is guaranteed, but it's not the case.'' He adds: ''The economic situation in the city is very bad and it is deteriorating. The hotels are empty. The restaurants don't work. Our workers are denied the right to go outside and earn a living.''

Israel says it's not to blame. Despite the ban on Palestinians leaving Bethlehem, tourists can still enter, Israeli spokesmen say. The problem is that some of the most ferocious gun battles have been at Rachel's Tomb, a Jewish shrine dedicated to the wife of Jacob at the main entrance to Bethlehem, which is guarded by Israeli troops.

''Bethlehem is open at all times to any foreign citizen,'' Israeli army spokesman Maj. Yarden Vatikai says. ''When there are serious gun battles and the road is dangerous, the army closes it even to tourists. Our intention is to allow free access to all holy sites while not endangering the safety of our visitors.'' The blockade around Bethlehem and other Palestinian areas works both ways. The Israeli army also has been denying Palestinians entry into Israel. Because at least 200,000 Palestinians earn their living as day laborers in Israel, many Palestinian households — both here and elsewhere in the West Bank and Gaza - have no income.

George Mascoby, a guide who works with Near East Tours in Jerusalem, says he has continued to lead tours into Bethlehem since the clashes started. But he concedes there are few tourists to take.

''We are in constant touch with our friends in Bethlehem and other places to make sure we are warned in advance of any problems,'' he says. ''If the road is closed, we go somewhere else. The problem is that there are no tourists.''

Joseph Ross, a Philadelphia pastor who has led Christian pilgrims to Israel for decades, had been scheduled to bring a group at the start of December, but 22 canceled.

More than $200 million had been invested — half from the private sector — to prepare for Bethlehem 2000. With the millennium declared a Holy Year for Christians, a grand project was set in motion to rehabilitate the infrastructure to accommodate a record number of foreign visitors. The mayor says 1 million tourists came to Bethlehem in 1999. Until September, it looked as if the number would exceed the year's target of 1.7 million.

The Jacir Palace Inter-Continental Hotel was opened in May in a spectacular renovated merchant's palace built by Suleiman Jacir in 1910.

But last week, the hotel's fabulous arched courtyard, whispering fountains and gilded lounges were vacant. The hotel is a few yards from the Rachel's Tomb flash point. Even though its doors remain open, there isn't a single guest in the 250 rooms — even at the knockdown price of $140 a night. The grand opening was canceled and hasn't been rescheduled.

Younis Arar, 29, is the hotel's banquets manager. A Muslim from nearby Hebron, he slips through the Israeli blockade each day and says he supports the uprising, even though it is crippling business. ''We are fighting the occupation, but we are fighting for peace,'' he says. ''What alternative do we have?''

Munib Younan, the Lutheran bishop of Jerusalem, says that religious leaders must speak out and remind the politicians that most people want peace above all else.

''We have to tell our politicians that our grass roots are fed up of injustice, fed up with bloodshed, fed up with fighting, fed up with these prejudices, fed up with retaliation,'' he says.

Bethlehem's mayor has been trying to maintain the spirits of the season. Nasser insists that despite the conflict, which has reached past Bethlehem's threshold, plans for Christmas will proceed.

''We will have our traditional religious processions as usual,'' the mayor says. ''We will have a Christmas tree in the square. We will have choirs singing. We will have the Boy Scouts celebrating. But what's missing is the smile on the faces of the children.''

Inside the Church of the Nativity, where visitors usually wait in line at least half an hour to descend into the tiny grotto where Jesus is said to have been born 2,000 years ago, there are few visitors and no foreigners at all on this day.

Teacher Suad Khair shepherds a class of 7-year-olds from the Greek Catholic school in the nearby town of Beit Sahour, scene of heavy gun battles between Palestinian militia and Israeli soldiers guarding a nearby army base. ''The children are so sad, so afraid,'' she says. ''Every day we wake up not even knowing whether we will finish the school day, or whether the fighting will start again.''

In Beit Sahour, traditional site of the Shepherd's Field where news of Jesus' birth was first heard, Majdel Atrash surveys his shattered windows and the ragged hole where an Israeli missile smashed into the wall of his children's bedroom a couple of weeks ago. Still nursing the cuts on his arm caused by flying shrapnel, he says it is a miracle no one was more seriously hurt.

''We will still have Christmas, for the children,'' he says, ''But this year, we will have new decorations to hang on our tree.'' With a grim smile, he deposits the contents of a bag on the coffee table: shrapnel and twisted metal, the remains of the bullets and shells dug out of his walls and furniture.

Outside, the children are playing in the garden. One boy, holding a wooden rifle, crouches behind an old stove. The other children throw stones at him until he surrenders. Then they attack and capture him. They call the game intifada - just like the battles they see on TV.

On the other side of Bethlehem, in the middle-class town of Beit Jala, Father Yacoub of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas is collecting his own pieces of shrapnel. Palestinian gunmen from nearby refugee camps have been coming into Beit Jala almost every night for the past two months and firing at the nearby Jerusalem suburb of Gilo. Israeli forces have responded with machine-guns, tank shells and laser-guided missiles fired from Cobra helicopters.

Early this month, the gunmen managed to draw Israeli fire toward the church — even though Israeli army officials declared they were avoiding this obvious attempt to draw the region's Christians into the conflict. The damage was small: a shattered window, a damaged light and a bullet-hole in the patriarch's chair. But the psychological impact is incalculable.

The 75-year-old church stands over a fourth-century shrine built to commemorate St. Nicholas, the saint also known as Santa Claus. St. Nicholas lived in the cave beneath the site for two years. But not even the thought of reindeer and sleigh bells will be enough to lift the spirit of Beit Jala this Christmas.

''We will have prayer services, but no other celebrations,'' Father Yacoub says.

Fear and anger

Sana' Abu Amsha, 35, a mother of three and English teacher at the nearby Latin School, is close to tears. ''My daughters are 10 and 8 years old and we have been discussing whether we should decorate the Christmas tree,'' she says. ''They want me to, but I can't. To decorate the tree, it means that inside you must have peace, you must feel happy, but we are not.''

She says her children are having nightmares and wetting their beds because of the nightly gun battles.
''I'm afraid to even let my daughters take part in the marches, in case there is an attack,'' she says. ''Instead of going out and watching the events or visiting friends, I think this Christmas, we will just stay at home and hope that nothing happens.''

On top of the fear, there is anger. The residents of Beit Jala had hoped that the Israeli troop withdrawal from Bethlehem in 1995 — part of the peace negotiations that aimed to give the Palestinians sovereignty over their land — would lead to peace and independence. Instead, negotiations dragged on, and now there is war.

Both sides blamed

Blame is cast in both directions. The Israelis are criticized for Sharon's visit to the Noble Sanctuary in September. And the Israeli army is feared and distrusted for feeding the nationalistic frenzy by responding to rock-throwing throngs with heavy weaponry.

But the local Christian community also has issues with the Palestinian Authority - the quasi-governmental body established under the leadership of Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Thousands of Christians have left the Bethlehem area and gone abroad because of what they regard as an anti-Christian bias in the Palestinian Authority. And now they blame Arafat for failing to stop the violence.

''Why did the gunmen have to come up here and shoot?'' asks one Beit Jala resident as he inspects the damage to the church of St. Nicholas. ''Arafat doesn't care if all the Christians get killed.''

There are similar misgivings in Beit Sahour, where residents say masked gunmen hid in their gardens to shoot at the nearby Israeli army base.

''We're scared of them, simple as that,'' says a local man, who speaks on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisals. ''We'd like them to go away, but they have guns and they are officers from the Palestinian Authority security forces. We're not in a position to argue.''

Spiritual leaders are urging the Palestinians and Israelis to return to negotiations. The alternative, they say, is unthinkable: a bloodbath in the Holy Land.

''We don't want to see the Cobra and Apache in the heavens,'' Bishop Younan says. ''We want to see the real star of Christmas that is telling the Palestinians we will have our own liberation, we will have our peace, we will have our legitimate rights, and telling the Israelis they will have their security also. When this star is shining in Bethlehem, then it will be full of joy.''

Parents protest risk to children

Palestinian leaders, militia come under fire as recent clashes take dozens of young lives

GLOBE & MAIL
Monday, December 11, 2000

By Matthew Kalman

TULKARM, WEST BANK -- Some Palestinian parents are starting to speak out against their leaders, saying children are being encouraged to risk their lives in clashes with Israeli troops.
After more than two months under the control of armed gunmen loyal to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, residents of the West Bank town of Tulkarm have, in an unprecedented step, demanded that local militia stop sending their children to take part in gun battles. Six Tulkarm youths have been killed in more than two months of clashes.

"We don't want to send our sons to the front line, but they are being taken by the Palestinian Authority," Aisheh, a 43-year-old mother of six, said in an interview. She said she decided to speak out after her 17-year-old son was hit in the head by a rubber bullet last week, but asked that her full name not be published for fear of reprisals.

Israel has come under international criticism for the deaths of at least 38 Palestinian children under the age 17 in the upsurge of violence that began Sept. 28 and has claimed more than 300 lives, most of them Palestinian. Nearly 1,000 Palestinian children have been injured.

Bassam Abu Sharif, a special adviser to Mr. Arafat, condemned Israeli troops for "cold-blooded killing" and angrily denied Israeli accusations that the Palestinian Authority has sent children to the front of demonstrations to act as a human shield for armed gunmen.

"We don't send children -- nobody can send children -- and we don't hide behind children," Mr. Abu Sharif said in an interview. "We have never used kids, we will never use kids. We love our children the same way other human beings love their children."

He said Palestinian police officers try to dissuade children from taking part in clashes.

But Aisheh, the mother, said the decision to put children on the front line is being carried out by officials from the Palestinian Authority security forces and the militia of Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement.

"When school finishes, Palestinian Authority security cars go around collecting children from the streets and sending them to the killing fields," she said. "This is very serious because they are children and they are unarmed."

When the school day or Friday prayers are over, she said, children are taken to El-Khadouri at the western entrance to Tulkarm, where there are daily clashes with Israeli troops.

Her husband, Abdelghani, said parents had been stopped from speaking out. "No one here dares to say publicly that he is against sending his own children to the front line," he said.

"Some parents who have tried to protest have been condemned as fifth columnists and threatened. . . . Once the children are injured, it's the families who have to spend days and weeks at their bedside. From that point on, no one cares about them, except for their own family."

He added that the children of Palestinian officials were noticeably absent from the deadly demonstrations.

"Why don't our leaders send their own children to be killed? The answer is because most of their children have already been sent abroad to safety in Europe and the United States," Abdelghani said.

The couple are not alone in their complaints. The Tulkarm Women's Union sent a rare letter of protest to Mr. Arafat last week demanding he stop using children as cannon fodder.

"Our children are being sent into the streets to face heavily armed Israeli soldiers," the letter says. ". . . We urge you to issue instructions to your police force to stop sending innocent children to their death." The letter concludes, "We love our children and we want them to live."

Palestinian media have also been criticized for encouraging children to throw stones and Molotov cocktails at armed Israeli troops.

Palestinian television regularly broadcasts images of children carrying weapons and staging mock attacks on Israelis.

And the Palestinian media exalt those killed as martyrs for Allah, "emphasizing that dying a martyr's death was the realization of their hopes," noted Itamar Marcus, director of the Palestinian Media Watch monitoring group.

Ten die in Mideast clashes

GLOBE & MAIL
Saturday, December 9, 2000

By Matthew Kalman

HEBRON, WEST BANK -- One of the bloodiest days in more than two months of violence erupted yesterday, leaving seven Palestinians and three Israelis dead.
Israel blockaded all West Bank cities last night, after a "day of rage" in which some Palestinians daubed their anger in blood on walls inside Jerusalem's Old City.

"The entry and exit [of Palestinians] from Area A, with the exception of humanitarian cases, will be prohibited," an army statement said, referring to territory under Palestinian control in the West Bank.

The killings yesterday took the recent death toll to more than 300, including 36 Israeli soldiers and civilians. The violence occurred as Palestinian activists marked the Dec. 8, 1987, start of the six-year intifada (uprising) that ended only once the Oslo peace accords had been signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

"The uprising is a strategic choice of the Palestinian people, and it can't be stopped. There will be an escalation in the coming days," said Marwan Barghouti, head of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank.

The battles took place after Palestinians poured out of mosques following Ramadan prayers. In the deadliest incident, four Palestinian policemen and a civilian were killed in the West Bank town of Jenin when an Israeli tank fired shells at a Palestinian police post. The army said the shells were fired at four suspicious figures whom soldiers spotted in the distance.

Outside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, scores of Palestinians threw rocks; Israeli police fired rubber-coated steel pellets, tear gas and stun grenades.

A Palestinian was killed and six injured. Several Israeli police officers were also hurt. The confrontation spilled over into the Via Dolorosa, the biblical path followed by Christ to his crucifixion.

A pool of blood was left after Samir Ammar Mashni, 16, was shot dead. Palestinian youths dipped their hands in his blood, held them aloft in a show of defiance and then made handprints on the stone walls lining the alley.

Earlier, Palestinians sprayed an Israeli van with gunfire, killing a schoolteacher and a driver, and wounding another passenger. The van was on a bypass road used by settlers travelling around the West Bank city of Hebron, near the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Rina Didovsky, 39, who had six children, had been on her way to school in Kiryat Arba. The driver of the van, who was was critically wounded, died later. The gunmen fled into a nearby village controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

On a settler bypass road near the town of Jericho, Palestinians fired on an Israeli bus, killing one passenger and wounding another.

"The cowardly attack on civilians will not break our spirit and our determined struggle against violence and terrorism," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. "As we have proven in the past, heinous murderers will not escape without punishment."

The attacks were the latest in a series of deadly shootings and bombings against Israeli civilians living in the West Bank and Gaza.

Two weeks ago, two teachers were killed and several children seriously wounded when the bus they were taking to school was bombed in Gaza. Two sisters and a brother lost parts of their legs.

A soldier, who had been escorting a civilian car through the West Bank, underwent an emergency operation Thursday after he was shot in another drive-by attack. A woman and a civilian were wounded.

Leaders of the 190,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip say such attacks have become daily events, but are noticed only when someone is killed.

Many are calling on the Israeli army to ban Palestinians from travelling in private cars in the area. Zvi Katsover, mayor of Kiryat Arba, called on the Israeli government to order soldiers to pursue attackers into Palestinian-controlled territory.

"It's a wonder that there aren't worse attacks," he told Israel Radio. "The attackers take no risks. No one deters them, no one stops them, no one catches them."

Many Palestinian leaders, including Mr. Arafat, have encouraged attacks against settlers, saying they are legitimate targets for the gunmen.

Let our kids alone, Arafat told

Matthew Kalman

USA TODAY December 8 2000 Page 16A

TULKARM, WEST BANK -- In a rare letter of protest sent this week to
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a Palestinian women's group demanded that
the Palestinian Authority stop using children as cannon fodder.

''Our children are being sent into the streets to face heavily armed Israeli
soldiers,'' said the letter from the Tulkarm Women's Union -- a local branch
of the Palestinian Women's Union, a trade-union group that promotes the
status of women in the Palestinian Authority.

''The Palestinian Authority must put an end to this phenomenon. We urge you
to issue instructions to your police force to stop sending innocent children
to their death.''

The letter adds weight to complaints from parents who are beginning to speak
out despite what they say has been two months of intimidation by armed
gunmen loyal to Arafat.

''We don't want to send our sons to the front line, but they are being taken
by the Palestinian Authority,'' says Aisheh, 43, a mother of six in the West
Bank city of Tulkarm. She says she decided to speak out after her
17-year-old son was hit in the head by a rubber bullet last week. He
suffered a concussion.

Like other protesting parents, Aisheh declines to allow her full name to be
published for fear of reprisals. A nurse from Gaza who spoke out on
Palestinian TV against sending children to the flash points was condemned in
the Palestinian media as a traitor. Other individuals who refuse to allow
their names to be published say they have been threatened by armed Fatah
officials for discouraging their children from participating in the clashes.

Israel has faced international criticism for the deaths of at least 38
children under the age of 17 in more than two months of conflict in which
nearly 300 people have died. Nearly 1,000 children have been injured. The
Palestinians consider anyone under the age of 17 a child. But children just
entering their teens -- and some even younger -- have been injured in the
region's worst violence in nearly a decade.

Despite their parents' objections, many Palestinian children appear eager to
fight the Israelis and even become martyrs for the Palestinian cause: an
independent state.

An Israeli human rights group this week charged that Israeli soldiers
routinely open fire on unarmed Palestinian demonstrators. But the group,
B'Tselem -- created in 1989, according to its Web site, to ''change Israeli
policy'' to protect Palestinians -- also said the Palestinian leadership was
making little effort to keep children and gunmen away from potentially
violent confrontations.

Bassam Abu Sharif, a special adviser to Arafat, has accused Israeli troops
of ''cold-blooded killing.'' He denies Israeli accusations that the
Palestinian Authority has placed children at the front of demonstrations to
act as human shields for armed gunmen.

''We don't send children -- nobody can send children -- and we don't hide
behind children,'' Abu Sharif says. ''The kids in the demonstrations were
there because they were out of school. We love our children the same way
other human beings love their children.''

Israeli army chiefs point out that not all the children killed in the recent
clashes have been innocent bystanders. They say their snipers have orders to
shoot anyone shooting or throwing Molotov cocktails at them, but some of the
attackers have been as young as 12.

The most famous casualty of the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict was
Mohammed Al-Dourra, a 12-year-old boy shot dead on the second day of
fighting as he took cover in his father's arms during a gun battle in the
Gaza Strip. His last moments were caught on camera by a French TV crew and
broadcast around the world.

Abu Sharif says Palestinian police are trying to dissuade children from
taking part in clashes with Israeli soldiers. He adds: ''These kids are on
the streets. For them, banners and demonstrations are a festival.''

But Aisheh says the militia of Arafat's Fatah movement and the Palestinian
security forces provide transportation and encouragement to children eager
to answer the call to combat Israel's continued presence on Arab land.

''When school finishes, Palestinian Authority security cars go around
collecting children from the streets and sending them to the killing
fields,'' she says. ''This is very serious because they are children and
they are unarmed.''

Palestinian Authority TV broadcasts constant images of children carrying
weapons and staging mock attacks on Israelis.

Over the summer, children as young as 12 were trained in the use of
Kalshnikov rifles and other weapons at special camps by Fatah officials.

Ramahan Sahadi Abed Rabbah, 13, was asked by the official Palestinian
Authority newspaper why he participated in clashes with soldiers. ''My
purpose is not to be wounded, but something more sublime -- martyrdom,'' he
replied.

''As the number of those killed rises, the Palestinian media extol and exalt
not only those killed, but also their willingness to die as martyrs for
Allah, emphasizing that dying a martyr's death was the realization of their
hopes,'' says Itamar Marcus, director of the Palestinian Media Watch
monitoring group.

Palestinian Authority TV and newspapers also have come under fire, accused
of encouraging children to throw stones and Molotov cocktails at armed
Israeli troops.

Aisheh's husband, Abdelghani, says intimidation has kept parents from
speaking out.

''No one here dares to say publicly that he is against sending his own
children to the front line,'' he says. ''Some parents who have tried to
protest have been condemned as fifth columnists (traitors) and threatened.''

Palestinian sentenced to death for spying

GLOBE & MAIL
Friday, December 8, 2000

By Matthew Kalman

NABLUS, WEST BANK -- A Palestinian labourer was sentenced to death yesterday after he was convicted of spying for Israel and aiding the assassination last week of a leader of the radical anti-Israeli organization Hamas.

The trial of Alan Bani Odeh, 25, in a Palestinian court yesterday lasted just 90 minutes. The three-judge panel concluded that he supplied a booby-trapped car to his cousin, Ibrahim Bani Odeh, 34, acknowledged by Hamas as a senior commander of its military wing, which has carried out numerous attacks on Israeli targets.

The prosecutor said the driver's seat of the car had been rigged with an explosive device by Israeli secret-service agents. The bomb was detonated as Ibrahim Bani Odeh was driving through Nablus.

As the verdict and sentence were read out, the crowd inside the court applauded and chanted "Allahu Akbar!" (God is great.)

The bearded defendant, surrounded by six police officers, admitted that he had been in contact with Israel's Shin Bet secret service, but denied any prior knowledge of his cousin's assassination.

Ibrahim Bani Odeh had been in a Palestinian jail for two years as part of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's crackdown on Hamas cells in the West Bank. He was released just days before his death, along with dozens of other Islamic extremists held by the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian officials say Alan Bani Odeh fled to Israel after the assassination but was arrested by agents of the Palestinian Preventive Security force and returned to Nablus.

Israeli officials have denied any connection to either man or to the assassination. They did not protest against the apparent abduction of the defendant from Israel, a breach of the Oslo peace accords.

Several other Palestinian radicals have died in similar circumstances recently. Hussein Abayat, commander of a Bethlehem militia belonging to Mr. Arafat's mainstream Fatah group, was killed last month when a laser-guided missile from an Israeli helicopter hit his car.

Alan Bani Odeh is the first Palestinian to be sentenced to death by a Palestinian court on charges of collaborating with Israel. However, several Palestinians suspected of assisting Israel have been killed or kidnapped in recent weeks by Palestinian police and activists.

Thirty-one Palestinians have been sentenced to death by Palestinian courts since the establishment of the Palestinian authority in 1994. Three have been executed.

Hamas welcomed the quick trial and death sentence yesterday. "This will deter other criminals from collaborating with the Zionist enemy," it said in a statement.

But Israeli lawyer Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, whose offer to defend Alan Bani Odeh was rebuffed, said: "This kangaroo court which tried and sentenced Mr. Bani Odeh to death in less than two hours reveals the true face of Palestinian justice. It is an unthinkable affront to the norms of international justice."

Ms. Darshan-Leitner is the lawyer who acted for Daniel Weiz, the Israeli soldier extradited to Canada in October and charged with the murder of Matti Baranovski.

Egypt recalls envoy to protest Israeli attacks

MATTHEW KALMAN

Special to The Globe and Mail

 Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2000

JERUSALEM — Egypt recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv yesterday to protest against the "severity and aggression" of Israeli attacks on Palestinians, a dramatic move that increases the prospect of a full-scale regional crisis in the Middle East.

"This step expresses the extreme displeasure of Egypt for what is going on in the occupied territories against the Palestinians," Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said in Cairo, announcing the recall of Ambassador Mohammed Bassiouny for "consultations" with President Hosni Mubarak. "We deplore the severity and the aggression, the use of force . . . against a civilian population, against Palestinians in their territories."

The move took both Israelis and Palestinians by surprise, and increased diplomatic tensions after two months of clashes in which more than 280 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed.

Israelis fear that the move is the first step toward a complete severing of ties and even, possibly, war. Palestinians welcomed the display of support.

"This is a fateful message to the Arab people, the United States and the international community that Israel must pay a price for its violence," said Palestinian cabinet minister Hassan Asfour.

Apparently stunned by the announcement, Israeli leaders did not respond for several hours. Foreign Ministry director-general Alon Liel said officials were attempting to persuade Mr. Mubarak to change his mind.

"I would not exaggerate the immediate consequences of such a step, but of course we regret it," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. "Egypt plays an important role in the peace process and this move will not help her to fulfill that role."

The move followed Israel's fiercest attack yet on Palestinian security and communications facilities, which left one person dead and more than 130 injured in Gaza on Monday night.

The missile attacks were launched after the bombing of a school bus carrying Israelis. Israel said the bombing was the work of Palestinian security forces, an assertion the Palestinians denied.

Yesterday, violence raged unabated in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Four Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops and a fifth Palestinian died of wounds suffered in earlier fighting. An Israeli civilian died after he was shot by a Palestinian sniper near the scene of the bomb blast that killed two adults and wounded several children.

Egypt's recall of Mr. Bassiouny, the doyen of the diplomatic corps in Israel, is a low point in more than 20 years of often-tense diplomatic relations between Israel and its most populous Arab neighbour.

Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, has played a complex and important role as a mediator in the current crisis, and throughout the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

In recent weeks, Mr. Mubarak's refusal to break off relations with Israel or back an economic boycott of the Jewish state had sparked praise in Jerusalem and protests in the West Bank and Gaza.

"The Egyptian leadership has come under heavy pressure as a result of the expectations in the Arab world and in Egypt, as the leading Arab country, to cut off its ties with Israel," said Egyptian political analyst Nasser Abdel Rahman. "Monday's air attacks on Gaza were the straw which broke the camel's back and enabled Egypt to ignore U.S. pressure not to sever ties with Israel or recall its ambassador."

The last time Egypt recalled its envoy to Israel was in 1982, after the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut by Lebanese Christian militia allied with Israel.

Then-ambassador Sa'ad Mortada was also called home "for consultations," but never returned. Four years later, after the two countries reached agreement on a border dispute, Mr. Bassiouny became ambassador.

He has played a key role in Israeli-Arab mediation ever since, and is a popular figure with Israeli leaders and the foreign diplomatic corps. Three years ago, he became embroiled in scandal when an Israeli belly dancer accused him of attempting to rape her, but Israel's top court ruled that his diplomatic immunity protected him from prosecution.

The only other Arab country with full diplomatic ties with Israel is Jordan. The Jordanian envoy to Tel Aviv ended his posting in the summer; King Abdullah has postponed naming a replacement while the violence continues.

At a meeting with U.S. Defence Secretary William Cohen yesterday, King Abdullah asked Washington to help defend the Palestinian people against "Israeli aggression."

There have been pro-Palestinian demonstrations in both Egypt and Jordan; authorities are concerned that such displays could turn into antigovernment protests. The situation in Jordan, home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians, is particularly volatile.

Israel's diplomatic isolation from the Arab world is the worst it has been for years.

Israeli representative offices in Morocco, Qatar and Tunisia have also been closed in recent weeks because of the violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel mourns Leah Rabin

Widow of assassinated prime minister to be buried among nation's heroes

GLOBE & MAIL
Wednesday, November 15, 2000

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM - As Leah Rabin is laid to rest today beside her husband, assassinated Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, many could be forgiven for wondering whether the Oslo peace process that he led and she championed is being buried with her.

Mrs. Rabin held no official position, but her status was such that her funeral in Jerusalem will be conducted with the trappings of a national event. Her body will lie in state in the Tel Aviv square where her husband was shot by a religious Jewish extremist five years ago.

The burial will take place on Mount Herzl, where Israel's national heroes are laid to rest. U.S. President Bill Clinton was visibly moved when he attended Mr. Rabin's funeral there along with other world leaders such as the late King Hussein of Jordan.

Just steps away from the Rabins' gravesite lie the remains of Theodore Herzl, the assimilated Jewish journalist who founded the Zionist movement in 19th-century Europe. His dream of a Jewish return to Zion was fulfilled, but it also became the Palestinian nightmare of displacement and exile.

The Oslo process, which was to have finally settled the century-old conflict, should have concluded this year. But just as Mrs. Rabin was being diagnosed with the skin cancer that ultimately killed her (she died on Sunday), the peace process was losing pace. As Mrs. Rabin entered hospital a few weeks ago, unable to fight the disease, Israelis and Palestinians lurched from peace talks to deadly confrontation.

Mrs. Rabin was one of the few notable Israelis who bridged the gulf between Israelis and Palestinians, even describing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "almost one of the family."

He returned the compliment when he paid an unprecedented condolence call to her Tel Aviv home in the days after her husband's murder, doffing his black-and-white keffiyeh and revealing for the first time in public his balding pate.

But Mr. Arafat is likely to be the most conspicuous absentee from today's funeral. Tentative suggestions that he might attend were originally welcomed by Israeli officials, but the mood soured after more violence erupted this week.

Yesterday should have been an auspicious day, when the Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization was to meet and declare an independent Palestinian state following the successful conclusion of peace negotiations.

Instead, four more Palestinians died in continuing clashes in the West Bank and Gaza. One of them was a middle-aged man who lost control of his car when it was stoned by Israelis, near the site of an ambush Monday by Palestinian gunmen north of Nablus, who shot dead a female teacher and two soldiers.

Israeli security forces have clamped a tight cordon around Palestinian towns and cities, allowing only food, medical and other essential deliveries.

"The closure is one way to prevent violence, because the alternative is to go after the terrorists and to enter cities, which is something we do not want to do," said Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami. "We want to stop any kind of escalation."

Other Israeli voices called for more punitive action against Palestinian gunmen. "The best way to deal with this reality is to track down these attackers and strike at them, and so reduce to a minimum the possibility that such acts will occur again," said Israeli chief of staff Lieutenant-General Shaul Mofaz.

But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak should stop using force against the Palestinians.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said yesterday it would be "premature" to declare a Palestinian state.

Middle East conflict spills into cyberspace

USA TODAY
27 October 2000

By Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM — Israeli and Arab Internet hackers went to war Thursday, paralyzing each other's Web sites with an arsenal of desktop weapons that managed to penetrate the most sophisticated defenses.
The Israeli Knesset Web site was frozen for hours after it was "spammed" — overloaded with hundreds of thousands of electronic messages. Similar attacks brought down the main Israeli government portal and the Foreign Ministry Web site for more than 30 hours. Attacks also continued through the night on the Israel Defense Forces Web site.
The Web site of the Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamic movement that captured three Israeli soldiers and an Israeli businessman in Switzerland two weeks ago, was successfully penetrated by a hacker who replaced its blistering anti-Israel rhetoric with a rippling Israeli flag and a soundtrack of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. Sites belonging to other groups such as Hamas and the Palestinian Information Center were also targeted.
News from the e-world battle lines:
A Lebanese hacker, identified only as Walid, told the Beirut Daily Star newspaper of his plan to hack the Knesset server late Wednesday night. "We'll target and hack Israeli Web sites one by one. This will continue," he said. He warned that the cyberwar could intensify, with Israelis and Arabs trying to e-mail viruses that would destroy each other's systems.
The Israeli army hired AT&T on Thursday to reinforce its service and protect it from
crashing, an army spokesman said. Israeli security officials said they had traced the attacks to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and servers in Europe and North America.
Netvision, Israel's largest service provider, hosts the Knesset and Foreign Ministry Web sites.
The company's other services also were crippled, with private users unable to access their e-mail for much of the day.
"We are taking measures, which for obvious reasons we would rather not reveal, to prevent similar attacks," said Gilad Rabinovich, NetVision's general manager.
Arab hackers swapped information through Internet chat rooms and two sites, UmmahUnity and Tripod, offered advice and downloadable programs to assist anyone who wanted to join the cyberattack against Israeli sites.
As in the real-life clashes over the past month that have claimed more than 130 lives, most of them Palestinians, there was a dispute over who fired the first shot in the virtual war.
Lebanese hackers say the attack on the Israeli Web sites was a response to a call two weeks ago for pro-Israel users to flood the Hezbollah Web site with e-mails.

Boots uses sun's rays to power its stores

The Sunday Times
October 7, 2000

Matthew Kalman

BOOTS, the high-street chemist, is planning an investment in solar power to provide environmentally friendly energy for its stores. Boots executives plan to install several trial units made by Solel Solar Systems, an Israeli company. If the trial is successful, Boots will roll out the units across its stores.
The units trap sunlight in solar panels mounted on the roofs or walls. Solel says they are capable of providing 70% of a building's hot water and air-conditioning yet pose no environmental threat. Once the units have been installed, they do not consume fuel and have minimal maintenance costs.
Avi Brenmiller, chief executive of Jerusalem-based Solel, says the patented system is 50% more efficient than existing alternatives and is suitable for northern Europe, with its relative lack of sunshine.
Solel's Vac 2008 is four metres long with a heat-collecting element consisting of a stainless-steel tube suspended in a vacuum inside a tubular glass sheath. The element is mounted on a parabolic solar reflector coated with silver. This concentrates the sun's rays onto the metal tube, which is coated with a mixture of metal and ceramic particles in a secret process. Water passes through the tube and is heated by sunlight. The special coating and the vacuum insulate the tube so that once it is heated it retains 97% of the energy.
Temperatures inside the element can reach up to 400 degrees centigrade, enabling it to provide air-conditioning without using electricity. In sunny climates, Solel says its generators can produce enough electricity to power a hospital, office building or even a village. Brenmiller says: "It hasn't been possible until now to manufacture such efficient collectors to reach the temperatures needed to produce enough energy at a low-enough cost. The unique methods used to make the system mean it can be used even in climates without much sunshine, such as Britain."
Rionay, an Eastbourne company, distributes Solel systems in Britain.

Violence, death toll climb in Mideast

Israeli army uses helicopter gunships, missiles against civilian Palestinian targets

GLOBE & MAIL
Tuesday, October 3, 2000

By Matthew Kalman

GAZA CITY -- It was the moment 16-year-old Shadi Abu Dakka had been waiting for since his best friend was killed four years ago.

In 1996, Israeli soldiers shot Khaled Khattib dead as he tried to remove the Israeli flag from the top of a lookout post at the Netzarim army base in the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, Mr. Abu Dakka scaled the same flagpole and succeeded in removing the flag bearing the blue Star of David. But before he could replace it with the green, black, red and white colours of the Palestinian flag he was carrying, an Israeli sniper shot him in the leg.

"I fulfilled my dream and the wish of my best friend, Khaled," Mr. Abu Dakka said as he lay in the orthopedic ward at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. "Every time I passed near that base, the only thing I could think of was how to bring down the Israeli flag. There is no reason why an Israeli flag should be hoisted on Palestinian land."

He said he knew the risk he was taking and was prepared to sacrifice his life yesterday, the fifth day of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces throughout Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip that have left more than 50 people dead.

"I knew I could be martyred and I was prepared for that," he said. "Before me, five other kids tried to climb the 15-metre-high fence surrounding the lookout post, but they were all shot and wounded.

"When my turn came, the soldiers shot in the air at first, but I was not deterred. I continued climbing, carrying the Palestinian flag on my back. Although I was wounded in the leg, I tore down the Israeli flag and then quickly replaced it with the Palestinian flag. I jumped down and hid among some concrete barriers while the Israelis continued shooting. Then my friends came and rescued me."

His friends say they have appealed to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to give the youth an award.

Mr. Abu Dakka was one of the lucky ones. Hours later, the Israeli army used Apache helicopter gunships to fire missiles at Palestinian buildings and vehicles near the Netzarim base, killing two people and injuring about 50 more.

The helicopters were deployed for the first time Sunday in what Israeli army operations chief General Giora Eiland described as "a demonstration of the firepower at our disposal."

At least 10 people were killed yesterday, including three Israeli Arabs and one Israeli soldier, who was shot in the head at Beit Sahour near Bethlehem. Voice of Palestine Radio reported hundreds injured.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Mr. Arafat are to meet in Paris tomorrow with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in an effort to quell the violence.

Mr. Barak, who asked Israeli-Arab leaders last night to meet with him this morning for urgent talks, said all agreements and negotiations with the Palestinians on a long-awaited peace deal would be "shelved" until the current violence ended. "But it is too early to eulogize the peace process," he added.

Mr. Barak said Mr. Arafat was responsible for the violence and should order his officers to end their gun attacks on Israeli positions, but the Palestinian leader shrugged off the call.

"Stop shooting our soldiers, our old people, our youths, our women," Mr. Arafat said.

Yesterday, young Palestinian Fatah activists and police armed with automatic weapons joined stone-throwing demonstrators in clashes with Israeli troops in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Hebron. Israeli cars were stoned and set ablaze at various points throughout the West Bank and an Israeli man was shot dead south of Nablus.