FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-EMERGENCYNET NEWS SVC.-10/12/93-1400CDT ISRAELI-PLO PEACE AGREEMENT . . . CAUSE OF FURTHER TERRORISM?? By Clark Staten, Editor EmergencyNet NEWS Service Chicago, IL - A major paradox has been created by the stunning peace agreement between Yassar Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. While the bargain has seemingly solved the immediate problems associated with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) living on the West Bank and Gaza strip in Israel, it also has provoked the anger of radical fundamentalists throughout the rest of the Mid-east. Since the day of the agreement that was formally signed in Washington, D.C., the response of Iran and other Islamic Fundamentalists has been rapid and violent. On Sept. 14, 1993, the day of the agreement, Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said, in a Tehran radio broadcast, that the PLO had "committed treason against the Palestinian people" and that the signing of the historic peace agreement was "a treacherous step . . . with the crippling result of divisions within the Islamic nations of the world". Rafsanjani went on to condemn Jordanian and PLO leaders who would "even sit at the same table with the Israeli leaders". Further, Rafsanjani then called for continued "jihad" against both Israel and the United States. On the same day in Beirut, Lebanon, an estimated 7,000 Hezbollah members and Pro-Iranian Islamic supporters vowed to topple the Lebanese government and overthrow sectarian rule in the battle-weary country. The outrage was prompted by the killing of eight protestors, who were shot by government troops on Sept. 13th, as they marched to demonstrate their anger with the Israel/PLO peace accord. Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, leader of the Pro-Iranian Moslems in Lebanon, said prayers over the dead militants and denounced both the Lebanese government and the peace agreement. Reportedly, the Hezbollah and ten (10) other radical Palestinian factions all criticized the peace arrangement and vowed revenge against both Arafat and the other parties to the promise. In Egypt, the militant Al-Jihad party (Holy Struggle) warned Palestinians and other Arab governments that the peace agreement was a "sell-out" of everything that the Palestinians had worked and prayed for, and that those that actively participated in the accord were to be considered "targets of an angry people". Al Jihad, which continually calls for the complete destruction of Israel, is an offshoot of the original organization by the same name that is thought responsible for the 1981 killing of Anwar Sadat. Al-Jihad policy is thought to be influenced by the indicted radical Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman. At least two radical Palestinians in Israel are displaying their personal displeasure with the Israeli/PLO covenant in a far more obvious and ominous manner. On Sept. 12, 1993, a suicide bomber rammed his car, filled with extra gasoline tanks, into an Israeli prison bus and injured two Israeli citizens. On Sept. 14, 1993, a suicide bomber burst into the courtyard of a Gaza strip police station and detonated an explosive device that was attached to his body. Fortunately, the courtyard bomber only killed himself and no other people were reported hurt. An unnamed police official said, however, that this little-used tactic was demonstrative of the fanatic nature of the protest over the peace treaty between the two former enemies. By Sept. 15th, the Islamic militants showed their annoyance with Russian concurrence, with the peace agreement, by hijacking a Tupolev-134 passenger jet from Azerbaijan and causing it to be flown to Oslo, Norway. Although the skyjacking ended in a peaceful manner, counter-terrorist analysts said that it was largely symbolic. They say that it was intended to warn the former benefactors of several terrorist organizations that they too can suffer the effects of supporting goals that aren't in accordance with the "Islamic Revolution". Although details are sketchy, this skyjacking is thought to be only one of several recent terrorist events conducted against the former Soviet Union. Thursday, Sept. 16th, saw Israeli troops open fire on a rally being conducted by the Hamas Islamic organization in the occupied Gaza strip. Reportedly, four people were wounded. The four were part of an estimated 5,000 protestors who participated in a violent assemblage that took place just North of the Jabalya refugee camp on the Gaza. Local reports say that the demonstrators were seen burning Israeli flags and that chants were heard that threatened the assassination of PLO leader Yassar Arafat. Intelligence briefings also showed that several documents were presented to the crowd that demonstrated that Syrian and Egyptian Islamic Fundamentalists were urging an "open fight" against the peace pact. Sept. 19th brought two additional announcements from Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria. Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for a "counter-attack" against the peace accord, in a speech delivered by an Iranian envoy to a meeting with Palestinians opposed to the covenant. In Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah whipped a crowd of 8,000 supporters into a frenzy, with calls of "Victory to Islam; Death to Israel . . . War . . . War until Victory". Both statements were seen by experienced analysts as a prelude to greater violence, perpetrated in the name of Islam and against Arafat and the Washington brokered peace agreement. On Sept. 21, 1993, in Tunis, Algeria, Tunisian authorities tightened travel restrictions for any Palestinians entering the country. Official sources say that they fear assassination attempts against Yassar Arafat and his top party members. Reportedly, credible threats have been received from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), the Fatah-Uprising Organization, and the Popular Struggle Front. These organizations are based in Syria. A total of ten Middle- Eastern Palestinian organizations have reportedly issued statements opposing the PLO/Israeli agreement. Tunis has been the "home" of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 1982, when Arafat fled Lebanon in the face of an Israeli military invasion. Sept. 29th brought an attack of another kind, on another front. According to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), a Syrian-based counterfeit operation has been begun against the United States. NBC said that the Islamic-backed operation may have produced as much as $200 million dollars in bogus one-hundred dollar bills ($100.00); the money to be used to purchase weapons on the open market and to "finance international terrorist operations". Although sources at both the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Secret Service would neither confirm nor deny the plot, several independent counter-terrorist analysts say that they believe an active investigation is underway to determine the makers of the bogus currency. Fears have been raised that the forgeries may undermine world confidence in U.S. money and help the terrorist to purchase more sophisticated weapons than ever before. The "Swords of War" began to clang again in another unexpected location by October 3rd. A Libyan newspaper was quoted by the Rueter's News Service as calling for a reopening of the Mathaba "Revolutionary Center" in Tripoli. Mathaba, in the early 1980's, was a "hotbed" of revolutionary activity and the site of annual speeches by Libyan strongman Mohammar Qaddafi. It was closed last year by the Libyan parliament in what was viewed as an attempt to portray Libya as a less controversial state. Reportedly, the official Libyan News Service, JANA, said that the Mathaba was "needed now more than ever" in the face of the Israel/PLO situation. The 4th of October brought the battle back to the West Bank of Israel and another suicide bomber, who drove his car filled with explosives into the side of an Israeli bus and injured forty (40) people. Reportedly, the attack came at 7:30 a.m., just as people were going to work. The bombing was described by eye-witnesses as being "highly powerful" and directed at disrupting the Jewish settlement of Beit El, which is located just North of Jerusalem on the West Bank. Official reports say that the only person killed was the bomber, and that he was believed to be a member of the Islamic group Hamas. Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi was quoted by the United Press International (UPI) as saying that the attack "expresses the feelings of the Palestinian people regarding the Gaza-Jericho agreement". By October 6th, Col. Mohammar Qaddafi had found a voice that has been absent since the 1986 U.S. bombing of Tripoli and his personal compound. Qaddaffi is quoted by his own official news service (JANA) as telling fellow Libyans to prepare for "armed confrontation" with the United States and other Western powers. Qaddaffi, reportedly elated by recent Islamic militancy, called for Libyans from the Southern part of the country to "go North to the point of confrontation . . . to defend the Mediterranean Coast against the `Western Invaders'". In recent days, Qaddaffi has again refused to hand over two Libyans accused of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. Analysts fear that Qaddaffi may still be a prime supporter and supplier of Islamic terrorist organizations. In the past five (5) days, many cross-border attacks are believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah, Hamas and PFLP-GC commandos. During the weekend, as many as six (6) separate incidents of violence, shelling, and infiltration were reported in the area of the Lebanon/Israeli border. Two Israelis were killed in the Wadi Klet area of the West Bank on Saturday, with the Islamic Jihad taking responsibility for the atrocities. A PFLP-GC guerrilla who was thought to be attacking the Israeli settlement of Nayaraya by sea, was killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), also on Saturday. EarlTuesday morning, a four-man squad of Islamic Jihad fighters clashed with an Israeli army patrol as they attempted to infiltrate the Lebanese/Israeli border. One Israeli and all four fundamentalists were killed. As the level of Islamic revolutionary rhetoric increases, and the day of implementation of limited self-rule draws closer, the level of violence appears to also dramatically increase. The ecstasy and promise of "peace" that unfolded on that sunny day in September, in the White House Rose Garden, seems to continue to be lost in a bloody struggle for Palestinian control and autonomy. One can help but wonder if Yassar Arafat and the Fatah faction of the PLO were but a tiny segment of a larger problem, and that by making peace with them, the West has further angered the "Islamic Beast" that will soon strike again at the United States and her allies. America needs to be in readiness for such an eventuality. -30- (c) EmergencyNet NEWS Service Emergency Response & Research Institute 5656 N. Moody St., Chicago, IL 60646 (312) 631-1101 - Voice/Messages (312) 631-4703 - Fax (312) 631-3467 - Computer/Modem-EMERGENCY BBS-2400bps-24hrs. 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