September 2002 Headline News

September 12, 2002

The US Central Command starts leaving its headquarters in Florida to relocate in Qatar, as the attack on Iraq getting closer.

The US starts storing weapons and military equipment in Israeli military basis, in preparation for the attack on Iraq.

The Fatah organization, headed by President Arafat, announces stopping any attacks inside Israeli, particularly against Israeli civilians.

The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, sends a letter of condolences to Ramzi Clark in memory of September 11 attacks.

The Israeli cabinet confiscates more Palestinian lands, this time Kalandia airport in Jerusalem, and Bilal Mosque (Rachel Tomb), in Bethlehem. (alquds alarabi, 9/12/02).

September 9, 2002

The new Palestinian Interior (Security) Minister, Abdul Razak Al-yahya, has called for an end of all forms of violent resistance against the Israeli occupation. He suggested a civil disobedience instead. His call was received by criticism from most Palestinian factions (alquds alarabi, 9/9/02).

All developments point to one direction: The US and the UK may attack Iraq soon. Senior Bush administration officials took to the media waves to push the case for war. Tony Blair returned to Britain from his meeting with President Bush more hawkish than Cheney. He went for a meeting with the Queen in Scotland, directly after his arrival. In northern Iraq, the two rival pro-US Kurdish leaders, Barzani and Talabani, met for the first time in two years. Then, they announced an agreement on all points of disagreement. They have unified their efforts, in order to participate in the attack on Iraq (alquds alarabi, 9/9/02).

September 1, 2002

Sunday's Israeli war crimes: Four Palestinian workers massacred by Israeli occupation soldiers with cold blood, in Hebron, a teenager killed in Jenin, five members of one family injured in Khan Younis, and a three-storey building and ten stores demolished in Rafah

A new Israeli war crime: Israeli US-made Apache helicopters attacked a Palestinian car in Tubas, killing four children and a local Al-Aqsa Brigades leader, Ra'fat Daraghmeh (26). The children victims were Bahira Daraghmeh (6), Usama Daraghmeh (10), Sari Subaih (15), and Yazid Abdul Razak (15). (aljazeera.net, 9/1/02).

This is another terrorist attack committed deliberately by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, who ordered the assassination while knowing in advance that there would be civilian victims, as the attack was in a residential neighborhood.

Sharon continues to commit his war crimes because of the silence of his only supporter in the world, the US government. He committed the Gaza massacre on July 23, 2002 without being condemned by the US government or the US media. Today, he has done it again in Tubas, and no US officials or media commentators condemned the attack as a "terrorist" act, like they quickly do when Palestinians target Israeli civilians.

The Israeli occupation army is still occupying the West Bank since the beginning of April 2002. Israeli assassinations and Israeli terrorism have not stopped ever since. It's time to stop them. It needs courage and guts to stand up to Sharon, but it has to happen to maintain some sanity in this world.

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.