1. IDF PHOTOGRAPHER KILLED IN RAFAH RAID… The Israeli army raided the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza before dawn this morning in what was said to be one of the largest operations yet in the area. The IDF used tanks and helicopter gunships to back their ground forces that included armored personnel carriers and bulldozers. They were met with resistance by Palestinians who fired anti-tank missiles and used explosives against the Israeli troops. During the fighting, one Israeli soldier – a photographer from the army spokesman’s office – was killed. Five Palestinians died, including the Rafah area head of Hamas, and an estimated 45 were wounded. The army destroyed three houses, one of which housed the entrance/exit of a tunnel running to Egypt through which arms and terrorists were smuggled. Two other houses were also demolished. After the IDF withdrew its forces this morning, the Palestinians fired two Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, a frequent target for the missiles, in an apparent act of defiance following the raid.
2. MORE ARAFAT/ABBAS WRANGLING… While the West waits for what it believes will be the panacea for peace – the appointment of Mahmoud ‘Abbas as the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister and a cabinet to go along – the players themselves appear to be too caught up in their bickering to accommodate those expectations. Last night the prime minister-designate stormed out of a meeting of the PLO central committee when Yassir Arafat again tried to quash the ‘Abbas appointment of Muhammad Dahlan as security chief. Arafat views Dahlan as a threat and had fired him once before because he was able to build a somewhat independent security apparatus in Gaza, where he headed Preventive Security. ‘Abbas was reported to have threatened to quit as he left the Saturday night meeting. Today, he will meet again with Arafat in an attempt to sort out their disagreements and enable the new cabinet to function. U.S. President Bush and British Prime Minister Blair view the initiation of the new cabinet as the starting gun for launching the “Road Map for Peace,” while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already outlined a “welcome package” for ‘Abbas containing a series of what are called “confidence building gestures.” His intent to release large numbers of Palestinian prisoners is drawing flack from security officials who believe that returning the detainees to the streets will hurt anti-terror operations. They cite a past history of released terrorists returning to terror immediately upon their release.
3. ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN VIEWS OF IRAQI WAR PURPOSE DIFFER… Israelis believe that the reason for the war against Iraq was to disarm Saddam Hussein and to remove his weapons of mass destruction. Palestinians, however, take a more cynical approach, believing that the war was fought in order for the U.S. to seize Iraqi oil and to help Israel. The survey was carried out by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace. An overwhelming 90% of Palestinians subscribe to one of the two motives, with 58% believing that economic motivations were the driving force. [See “Headline News” on this site for a complete report.] In a second survey, this one conducted by the Arab Center for Applied Research, 76% of Israeli Arabs said that they did not believe Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the Middle East and 65% do not believe that there will be an increase in American pressure on Israel to reach an agreement with the Palestinians in the aftermath of the war.
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