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Eye on Israel

June 23, 2001

Wednesday, another Israeli was murdered by Palestinian terrorists. Ilya Kirivitz, 62, was shot to death in the West Bank. Despite the killing, Israel said it would continue efforts to implement the cease-fire, but would not pull back its forces from confrontation points in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, until attacks on Jewish settlers halt completely.

A bomb blast rocked the Israeli city of Hadera Wednesday. Israeli police said there were no injuries in the explosion, which was caused by a pipe bomb placed in a trash bin. On Tuesday, Israel threatened to reconsider its commitment to the cease-fire unless the Palestinian Authority puts an end to all violence. In a statement issued by his office, Sharon said Israel can not maintain its current position while Palestinians continue to violate the ceasefire agreement. The remarks followed three separate attacks Monday, when Palestinian terrorists murdered Israelis Dan Yehuda, 35, and Doron Zisserman, 38, in the West Bank and wounded two others. Arafat said the Palestinian Authority would do all it could to uphold the cease-fire. But he said Israel has not honored its end of the cease-fire agreement, calling for it to lift travel restrictions and remove blockades in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has eased some restrictions on Palestinian territories, but Sharon has said the violence must stop completely before tight security is eased in all areas.

Meanwhile, a public disagreement has broken out in the Israeli government over contacts with Palestinians. Sunday, Sharon turned down a proposal for his Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to attend a joint meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Peres responded by saying Israel should make use of opportunities to end the bloodshed. Sharon insisted there be no talks until Palestinian violence against Israelis ends completely.

Israel says police defused two bombs found early Monday in the coastal city of Haifa. An Israeli soldier was wounded Sunday by an explosion near a military vehicle outside the West Bank city of Nablus. Earlier in southern Gaza, a Palestinian man set off a cart filled with explosives near Israeli troops, but no one was injured by the blast. A 12 year-old Palestinian was shot dead Saturday in the Gaza Strip, apparently by Palestinian fire. Witnesses say the boy was killed in the Palestinian town of Rafah as residents tried to stop terrorists from breaking the truce.

The June 1st suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv Disco has claimed another victim. Yevgenia Keren Dorfman, 15, died Tuesday of wounds she suffered in the Palestinian suicide bombing, bringing to 21 the number of Israelis killed in the attack. Over 90 others were wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd waiting in line outside the seafront disco. Twenty-three victims of the blast are still hospitalized.

Rumsfeld Blames Iraq for Civilian Deaths
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Iraqi fire - not U.S. and British war planes - is apparently at fault for the deaths of civilians in northern Iraq earlier this week. Iraq accused the United States and Britain of firing on a group of football players in a field west of Mosul. The Iraqi report said 23 people were killed and 11 others injured. U.S. Defense Department officials say U.S. and British planes flew over the area but did not launch any air strikes. But Rumsfeld said late Wednesday he believes misdirected Iraqi ground-fire caused the mishap. He says coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone over northern Iraq this week observed Iraqi missile and anti-aircraft artillery fire at a distance. U.S. and British aircraft patrol the so-called no-fly zones established after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurdish dissidents in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces. Baghdad does not recognize the exclusion zones and has challenged allied aircraft since December 1998.

Egyptian Coptic Christians Clash with Police, 70 Injured
Egyptian authorities say as many as 70 people were been injured when clashes erupted between police and Coptic Christians protesting a newspaper article that maligned the Coptic religion. Authorities say clashes erupted late Wednesday, when about 3,000 angry Coptic youths gathered at Cario's Abbassiya Cathedral and began throwing stones at police outside the church compound. Coptic youths were protesting the release on bail of the editor of the newspaper that published the article. The editor was charged with disturbing the peace and religious sedition. His trial at an emergency state security court in Cairo is expected to begin Sunday.

Syria Wraps Up Beirut Troop Pullout
Lebanese officials say Syria has almost completed its pullout of troops from positions in and around the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The officials say Syria has withdrawn about 7,000 of 10,000 soldiers it had stationed in the area. By late Tuesday, the Syrians had pulled out of key points along Beirut's Mediterranean shoreline and near the presidential palace and the defense ministry. But troops have not yet withdrawn from several positions near the international airport, the adjacent Muslim southern suburbs, and mountains to the east. Some soldiers also returned to a post near the American University in Beirut, which they had vacated only two days ago. Lebanese officials say Syrian soldiers will continue to remain at a Syrian intelligence post in the seaside Ramlet al-Baida area, and several other sensitive locations, including a key road-junction on the Beirut-Damascus highway.

Syria began shifting the troops last Thursday in an apparent concession to a Christian-led campaign against Syrian dominance in Lebanon. The Syrian redeployment is expected to conclude by the end of this week. The Syrian units left in the direction of the eastern Bekaa Valley and the Beirut to Damascus highway. It is unclear if the troops are leaving Lebanon or moving to bases in the eastern Bekaa Valley. There has been no comment or explanation from Syria on the troop movements. Lebanese officials have welcomed the redeployment, although it is not yet clear how extensive the withdrawal will be. Syria has had up to 35,000 troops in Lebanon. It began sending soldiers to Lebanon in 1976 in the early stage of that country's Muslim-Christian civil war. The war ended in 1990. Opponents of the Syrian presence have stepped up their calls for a Syrian withdrawal since the end of the 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon by Israeli forces last year.

Yemen Arrests Suspects for Plotting to Attack US Agents
U.S. media reports say Yemeni authorities have arrested a group of suspected terrorists for allegedly plotting to attack Americans investigating last year's bombing of a U.S. Navy ship in Aden. The reports quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying the suspects were believed to be planning to carryout a suicide bomb attack against the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. According to the reports the suspects were found with hand grenades, small arms and some documents, including a map of the U.S. Embassy. One report says the arrested men are believed to be affiliated with a Muslim fundamentalist group linked to suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

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