INTERNATIONAL PULSE

Period: July 2002

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ISRAEL



400 NEW IMMIGRANTS ARRIVE FROM NORTH AMERICA
Nine months ago, Rabbi Joshua Fass of Florida dreamed of bringing hundreds of North American immigrants to Israel. Yesterday, he was the first person to step out of the El Al plane which did just that. The nearly 400 passengers mark the largest number of North Americans to arrive at one time in 25 years. Tired from the long trip, he looked out at the hundreds of people holding Israeli flags and singing hevenu shalom aleichem, in the nearby hangar. Behind them, his father was waving and shouting his name. He said his first thought was, "My journey is just beginning." His wife Batsheva said "it felt like coming home, with a lot of people to greet you." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1025787745090

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CLERIC DENOUNCES IRAN 'CHAOS' A senior religious figure in Iran has resigned and issued a bitter condemnation of the way the country is being run. Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri's resignation came as a bombshell in the clerical establishment that has controlled much of the power in Iran since the Islamic revolution in which he himself played a significant role. Ayatollah Taheri said he could not close his eyes to "tangible realities, and witness the stifling pain and unbearable suffering of people who were seeing the flowers of virtue being trampled, values collapsing, and spirituality being destroyed." http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_2119000/2119775.stm

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DIVINE MYSTERY OF LEAKING WATER AT WAILING WALL
Sages across the Holy Land were yesterday trying to fathom the significance of a mysterious damp patch that has appeared on Jerusalem's Wailing Wall. Worshippers noticed water trickling from between the huge blocks of stone on Saturday. But before technicians could diagnose the problem, the area's host of mystics and holy men were already at work trying to divine the water's inner message. Was the Wailing Wall now weeping? And if so, what did it mean? Rabbi Menachem Fromann, told the Jerusalem Post "There is a prophecy that everybody knows, that states that when water comes through the stones of the wall it presages the advent of the Messiah," he said. "Perhaps God is opening up a path for peace and people will feel this and move towards it." http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/07/04/wail04.xml

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JEWS CLIMB WAILING WALL BELIEVING THE MESSIAH IS COMING
Two Jewish men tried to climb the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, because a water stain on one large stone has led some ultra-Orthodox Jews to conclude that redemption is near and the Messiah is on his way. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the chief rabbi of the Western Wall - also known as the Wailing Wall - said today the water stain was discovered four days ago by worshippers who pray at the base of the wall. Some Jewish mystics believe it is a sign the "wall is crying," signalling the coming of the Messiah, he said. Rabbi Rabinovitch and the Israel Antiquities Authority are closely watching to see if the 10-by-40 centimetre stain - found on a stone about halfway up the wall - grows or disappears.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/04/1025667011671.html

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PROPOSAL SEEKS TO INTERNATIONALIZE JERUSALEM'S OLD CITY
Israeli, US, and German delegates spent yesterday fighting a surprise proposal to internationalize Jerusalem's Old City presented by an Italian politician at the five-day meeting in Berlin of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, composed of parliamentarians from 55 countries. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, who is also in Berlin, said he fears the initiative will pass when brought before the OSCE for a vote today because it appeared to have a lot of support yesterday. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/PrinterFull&cid=1025787719897

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FARRAKHAN IN IRAQ FOR 'SOLIDARITY' VISIT
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan held a series of meetings Saturday with Iraqi officials on the second day of his visit to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to discuss ways to avoid a possible U.S. military campaign. The official Iraqi News Agency, INA, said Farrakhan, on a "solidarity" visit to Iraq, held talks with Islamic Affairs Minister Abdul Munem Saleh on "ways to confront the American threats against Iraq." INA quoted the African-American Muslim leader as saying "the Muslim American people are praying to the almighty God to grant victory to Iraq." http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=06072002-024633-3251r

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FARRAKHAN TO LAUNCH ANTI-ISRAEL LOBBY
Louis Farrakhan, controversial head of the Nation of Islam, a US-based black Muslim group, plans to establish an anti-Israel lobbying organization to pressure the Bush Administration on its Middle East policy, the Libyan News Agency Jana reported over the weekend. According to the report, Farrakhan, who is visiting Beirut, "put forward his plan to confront the Zionist lobby in America". Farrakhan told officials in Syria and Lebanon that his mission is focusing on establishing a political group of different ethnic groups to exert pressure on the American administration and its policies, especially in the Middle East. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1025787717718

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IRAQ, IRAN, SYRIA SEEK RAIL LINK
In an indication of their growing ties, Iran, Iraq and Syria have agreed to establish a rail link that Western diplomats said could help quickly transport military supplies. The link would allow Syria to quickly transport goods to both Iran and Iraq. Syrian Transportation Minister Mukram Obeid discussed details of a rail link during his visit to Teheran last month. Obeid said this would involve the implementation of an accord for transportation cooperation between Damascus and Teheran.
http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2002/july/07_08_4.html

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ISRAEL HAS 400 NUKES, BUILDING NAVAL FORCE
A United States Air Force report asserts that Israel is building a nuclear naval force meant to respond to any nuclear strike by such countries as Iran or Iraq. The report, sponsored by the air force's Counterproliferation Center, asserts that the navy can deploy any of what it asserts is Israel's 400 atomic and hydrogen weapons, In a report entitled "The Third Temple's Holy of Holies: Israel's Nuclear Weapons," U.S. Army Col. Warner Farr said Israel's nuclear arsenal has grown from an estimated 13 nuclear bombs in 1967 to 400 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. Farr said Israel's navy could deploy nuclear weapons on the fleet of three German-built Dolphin-class diesel submarines. http://216.26.163.62/2002/ss_israel_07_04.html

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IRAQ ATTACK PLAN LEAKED REAL
WORLD NEWS 07/05/2002 - A U.S. military planning document calls for air, land and sea-based forces to attack Iraq from three directions -- the north, south and west -- in a campaign to topple President Saddam Hussein, according to a person familiar with the document. The document envisions tens of thousands of Marines and soldiers probably invading from Kuwait. Hundreds of warplanes based in as many as eight countries, possibly including Turkey and Qatar, would unleash a huge air assault against thousands of targets, including airfields, roadways and fiber-optics communications sites. http://www.newsminute.com/iraqattackplan.htm

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ISRAEL HAS KILLED, ARRESTED NEARLY ALL 'MOST-WANTED' PALESTINIANS
Thu Jul 4, 7:38 AM ET By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM - Israel has arrested or killed nearly all Palestinians on its most-wanted list and is now focusing on nabbing low-level militants who it claims are rapidly moving up in the ranks in militant cells, a senior Israeli official said Thursday. "There's no doubt the top brass of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Tanzim (militias) by and large are either in custody or have been eliminated," the official said on condition of anonymity. Most of the militants were either arrested or killed during a six-week offensive in March and April or during the latest Israeli occupation of West Bank cities that began two weeks ago after a pair of back-to-back suicide bombings in Jerusalem killed 26 Israelis. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020704/ap_wo_en_po/israel_wanted_palestinians_1

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DEBATE RAGES OVER 'JEWISH-ONLY' TOWNS
A storm of protest erupted Monday over the cabinet's controversial decision on Sunday to support a new bill aimed at allowing Jewish-only communities and enabling residents of existing ones to bar Arabs from buying homes in their midst. Israeli Arab leaders described the proposed new law aimed at bypassing a Supreme Court ruling as racist and accused the government of adopting apartheid policies towards the country's minority Arab community. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1025787728509

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JORDAN SAYS WILL NOT HELP U.S. IN IRAQ CAMPAIGN
Jordan has said it would not allow U.S. troops to be stationed on its territory to mount any attack on Iraq, its eastern neighbor and main trading partner. "Jordan rejects the principle of interfering in the internal affairs of its brothers under any justification," Information Minister Mohammad al-Adwan told Jordan-based foreign correspondents on Monday night. He was responding to foreign newspaper reports that Washington already has troops in Jordanian bases as part of secret military plans to attack Baghdad. http://test.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=184905&contrassID= 1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

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U.S. EXPLORING BAGDAD STRIKE AS IRAQ OPTION
The Bush administration is exploring a new if risky approach to deposing Saddam Hussein: take Baghdad and one or two key command centers first. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/29/international/29IRAQ.html?todaysheadlines

 
PALESTINIAN SOCIOLOGIST ANALYSIS WHETHER 'WAR CRIMES' APPLY
Conclusion: The right wing government of Israel, has clearly shown that it is ready to commit war crimes in order to continue its colonial subjugation of 3.2 million Palestinians. It uses the issue of "terror" to avoid paying the price of decolonization. It gets outright support from the American Administration and collaboration of the European and Arab regimes.
 
However, the ensuing war taking place now inside the Palestinian occupied territories is a stage in the conflict between the Israeli colonial army and the Palestinian national movement. It has a history of massive colonial violence aimed at subjugating a nation and its meagre resources to the sole benefit of the Zionist colonial bourgeoisie. The Israeli army acted in the past and acts now, as a tool in defense of colonial hegemony and interests. The Palestinian national movement embodies the national aspirations and rights of a colonized indigence people. Therefore, the American "mini security agreements" that concentrate on the issues of "terror" and the security of Zionist colonial hegemony and attempt to frustrate Palestinian national struggle, cannot camouflage the real issues. Zionist settler colonialism has been, for the past thirty-five years, trying to disparately patch up its colonial rule over the Palestinian indigence people.
 
The Zionist colonial bourgeoisie has continued and expanded its settler colonial project inside the OPTs. It refuses to pay the price of decolonisation and keeps maneuvering and pretending to desire "peace". The present stage in the Zionist-Palestinian Conflict has proved beyond any doubt that Zionist settler colonialism contradicts in absolute terms genuine, true and lasting peace. Settler colonialism cannot coexist with genuine peace because it is grossly unjust, brutal, racist and militaristic political system. On the other hand, the Palestinian national movement has determined to continue the national struggle. The Palestinian people strongly insist on liquidating Zionist colonial hegemony, winning their right to self-determination and establishing their fully sovereign and truly independent state of Palestine. For the whole article and others click on the link.
http://www.israelimperialnews.org/crimes.htm

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