Israeli Minister Warns of Bin Laden Threat
joseph hobeika
Israeli Minister Warns of Bin Laden Threat
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010625/wl/mideast_leadall_dc_10.html
By Roger Crabb
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's defense minister said on Monday he believed
Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden was trying to set up a network in the
Jewish state.
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer sounded the warning as Israel and the Palestinians
entered the 12th day of a delicate cease-fire designed to allow the two
sides time to seek ways of ending nearly nine months of bloodshed in which
about 600 people have been killed.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in the United States, meanwhile, preparing
to hold talks with President George Bush on Tuesday on the American-brokered
truce.
Witnesses said Palestinians and Israeli troops fought a fierce gun battle on
Monday in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The army said Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a Jewish settlement,
wounding one adult and one boy. Troops shot back, and in the ensuing
firefight two soldiers and another settler were wounded. There was no word
of Palestinian casualties.
In another shooting, two Israelis were hurt when Palestinians opened fire on
their bus near Jerusalem.
BIN LADEN ``TRYING TO PENETRATE INTO ISRAEL''
Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer told Jewish community leaders in Jerusalem bin
Laden was ``trying very hard to penetrate into the country through local
people and through people that he wants to send in different ways to enter
Israel to establish an infrastructure here in this country.
``They also plan to attack American and European targets.''
Later a Defense Ministry spokesman told Reuters bin Laden was believed
already to have planned at least one strike against Israel but it was
thwarted. He gave no details.
Bin Laden has been blamed for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and
Tanzania which killed 224 people and injured more than 4,000.
U.S. officials said on Friday forces in the Gulf had been put on Threat
Condition Delta, their highest state of alert, based on a non-specific but
credible threat linked to bin Laden.
An aide to bin Laden on Monday denied that he given an interview to the
Arabic Television Channel MBC during which threats -- seen as the basis for
the U.S. alert -- had been issued.
The London-based channel later stood by its story, saying bin Laden had been
present and, although banned by his Afghan hosts from speaking out himself,
had listened with apparent approval when his aides ``said a severe blow
would be directed against American and Israeli interests within two weeks.''
MUTUAL CHARGES
Bin Laden apart, the main threat to the U.S.-brokered Mideast truce is the
continuing -- if sharply reduced -- violence since June 13, when the
cease-fire took effect. Eight Palestinians and six Israelis have died since
then and each side accuses the other of frequent violations.
Sharon will tell Bush on Tuesday Israel insists all forms of violence must
end, followed by a cooling-off period of at least six weeks, before the
truce plan's second phase of confidence- building steps can begin.
Palestinian officials said on Sunday they wanted to return to negotiations
for a final treaty with Israel within six weeks of the start of the
cease-fire.
The current bloodshed began in late September when Palestinians erupted in
revolt against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after
peace talks stalled.
In the latest killing on Sunday Osama Jawabreh, a militant from an armed
group within Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, was blown
up as he made a phone call in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Fatah accused Israel of assassinating Jawabreh, who had long been sought by
Israeli security forces. Israeli media said he was believed to have made
bombs used in several attacks in central and northern Israel.
No one admitted responsibility for his death, but a senior official on
Sharon's plane said Arafat had shrugged off a recent Israeli demand to
arrest dozens of ``terrorists'' under the truce.
Arafat had been warned on Friday that Israel would act in ''self-defense''
if arrests were not made, the official said.
``The end result was that no one was arrested,'' he said, describing those
on the most-wanted list as ``preparing attacks and explosives, and
recruiting suicide bombers.''
CALLS FOR REVENGE
Thousands of Palestinians took part in Jawabreh's funeral procession in
Nablus on Monday, chanting ``Allahu Akhbar'' (God is greatest) and calling
for revenge.
A poster showing Jawabreh declared him a martyr of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the
Fatah-affiliated group which says it has carried out a number of attacks on
Israelis, most recently killing several Jewish settlers on roads near
Nablus.
Apart from meeting Bush in Washington, Sharon was due to hold talks with
Secretary of State Colin Powell who is then to visit the Middle East to try
to bolster the truce.
Powell has said he is making the trip to ``keep the process moving forward''
and stay ``completely engaged with chairman Arafat.''
At least 465 Palestinians, 118 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been
killed since the uprising began.