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September 6, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem schools, eateries bolster security,
As the terror alert continues, hundreds of additional soldiers were patrolling the streets of Jerusalem yesterday. Schools, cafes, and other institutions in the capital were reinforcing already stringent security precautions in an attempt to thwart potential attacks.
Leyad Ha'universita High School at Givat Ram has instructed its 1,100 junior and senior high school students not to go out of school in groups, and to stay as much as possible within school premises, principal Hanna Levita said yesterday.
She also said that cars are no longer allowed to approach the school's front entrance, and that the guard stationed there will be working extra hours.
The rules are even more severe at the Lycee Francais, the French school on Jerusalem's Rehov Hanvi'im situated next to the spot where a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday.
According to a spokesman for the French Consulate in Jerusalem, which is responsible for the school, even before Tuesday's terror attack the 230 pupils at the school had been forbidden to leave their school's premises during school hours. The regulation has been in place ever since last month's bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria, a place many of the schoolchildren used to frequent for lunch.
In addition, the school's pupils, 60 percent of whom are Arab, have been advised not to frequent the main streets of downtown, even after school hours, as well as to avoid riding public transportation.
Down the block at the Anglican School, where enrollment is down 20 percent compared with last year, the situation is much the same for the school's 231 pupils.
Following Tuesday's bombing, the school has decided to employ two full- time security guards during school hours, and has just undergone two "risk assessments," director Chris Wright said yesterday.
After the intifada erupted last year, the school had employed one guard, but had not used any since school began two weeks ago, he said.
The Anglican School, which is home to many children of foreign diplomats and journalists stationed in Jerusalem, is also laminating its windows to make the glass shatterproof, Wright said.
At the nearby American Consulate in eastern Jerusalem, security has also been beefed up after the capture of a six-member Palestinian terror cell from the PFLP, which had planned, among other attacks in the city, to set off a car bomb near it.
But amidst the extra protection, there was one bit of good news for pupils at Leyad Ha'universita who hate getting up early in the morning.
Students who miss the first morning bell at 8 a.m. may now enter class up to 8:30, because of what the principal acknowledges is the difficulty some pupils have of getting to school in the morning due to security problems.
September 9, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, PA a 'kingdom of terror,' Sharon tells 'NY Times', by Melissa Radder,
September 10, 2001, Jerusalem Post, 'There was utter pandemonium', by Daniel Ben-Tal,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 2, Expert: Bomb wake-up call to Israeli Arabs, by Miriam Shaviv,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Arab monitoring committee condemns Sunday attacks,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Five killed as terror hits nationwide. First Israeli Arab suicide bomber strikes at Nahariya train station, by Margot Dutkevitch, Arieh O'Sullivan contributed to this report,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Hamas: Sharon gov't to blame for terror, by David Zev Harris,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel had repeatedly asked PA to arrest suicide bomber, by Margot Dutkevitch,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Nahariya bombing was second at railway station this year, by Sybil Ehrlich,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Precision strategic attacks versus random terror, by Gerald M. Steinberg,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Rumsfeld backs Israel's retaliation, by Janine Zacharia, Melissa Radler contributed to this report,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 2, Expert: Bomb wake-up call to Israeli Arabs, by Miriam Shaviv,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Arab monitoring committee condemns Sunday attacks,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Five killed as terror hits nationwide. First Israeli Arab suicide bomber strikes at Nahariya train station, by Margot Dutkevitch, Arieh O'Sullivan contributed to this report,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Hamas: Sharon gov't to blame for terror, by David Zev Harris,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel had repeatedly asked PA to arrest suicide bomber, by Margot Dutkevitch,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Nahariya bombing was second at railway station this year, by Sybil Ehrlich,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Precision strategic attacks versus random terror, by Gerald M. Steinberg,
September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Rumsfeld backs Israel's retaliation, by Janine Zacharia, Melissa Radler contributed to this report,
September 10, 2001, Jerusalem Post, 'There was utter pandemonium', by Daniel Ben-Tal,Page: 01,
Monday, -- At 10:40 a.m. yesterday, the intifada reached this normally quiet seaside town, where Jews and Arabs have traditionally coexisted in relative peace.
Mahmoud Shaker Habishi's suicide bomb killed two, wounded almost 100, and knocked people to the ground as far as 50 meters away - and its shock waves reverberated throughout the town.
"There was utter pandemonium," said Kohava Ben-Lula, 40, whose family-run bakery is only 30 meters away. "There were dozens of customers in the shop, and everyone was screaming, running in all directions, shouting 'terrorist attack.'
"In those first few seconds, you don't know what to do. Now that a few hours have gone by, I feel a terrible fear, one that you can't understand without experiencing it."
Her son Nissan, 17, was in the back arranging merchandise when the bomb exploded.
"I was showered with flying glass, but was saved from serious injury because a quick-thinking workmate pulled me behind a heavy refrigerator.
"The shock still hasn't set in, but one thing is clear: Something has changed for us today. The violent events of the past year that always seemed so far away on television are now here."
"We have many Arab customers," said Kohava. "I know that they are not guilty of anything, but I'll have to treat them with suspicion from now on."
"The Arabs will always remain our neighbors," added Nissan. "This is a fact of life - it's got nothing to do with politics."
The Ben-Lulas' usually-packed bakery was empty for much of the afternoon, as residents mainly stayed away, allowing the municipal cleanup crew to sweep away the piles of shattered glass, as police sappers scrutinized the remains of the bomb.
"Aren't you scared to be here after what happened this morning?" asked a rare customer. "What has happened, has happened," Ben-Lula replied reassuringly. "There's nothing to fear."
But once the customer had left, she admitted that dread had begun to set in. "It's been a traumatic day. Tonight I'll go home, put my feet up, and weigh up in my mind what is going on here."
Revital Daddon, 31, of Ma'alot, was late for a coffee date in the cafe that took much of the blast.
"I was just crossing the road, when this terrible explosion sent me hurtling to the ground. I wasn't hurt physically, but my ears are still ringing and I'm shaking inside. I saw body parts fly through the air - it will take me time to recover from that."
Unlike previous terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Netanya, few extreme right-wing demonstrators showed up at the scene. A massive police cordon around the area and the solemn atmosphere ensured there were no impromptu demonstrations. A handful of youths tried to incite bystanders, but the police were quick to quell them.
Mor Sasson, 10, was in class at the nearby Givat Katznelson School when she heard what she thought was a Katyusha hitting. "But it was much louder and all the windows shook. I cried when the principal gathered us together to tell us that there had been a bomb and that people had died - and so did most of my classmates."
"I was scared," admitted Mor's twin brother Oshri.
"I ran home to my mother, crying," said Moran Cohen, 11.
Now the youngsters were standing outside the bomb site, screaming, "Death to the Arabs" into a bullhorn.
"Let them all go to hell," said Mor.
"A good Arab is a dead Arab," Moran chanted, but as her playmates joined in, a police officer turned off the bullhorn, bringing the game to an abrupt end.
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September 10, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 2, Expert: Bomb wake-up call to Israeli Arabs, by Miriam Shaviv,
Monday, September 10, 2001 -- The first suicide attack by an Israeli Arab should serve as a wake-up call for Israel's Arab population, according to Elie Rekhess, head of Tel Aviv University's Program on Arab Politics in Israel.
"There have been few examples of Arab-Israeli involvement in terrorism before, but this is a very definite escalation," he said.
Rekhess insisted that it is "too early to tell" whether other Israeli Arabs will adopt the suicide-attack tactic. "Most of the Arab population is very worried at this development, because it could hurt the delicate relationship between Jews and Arabs," he said. "This confers legitimacy on those on the Jewish side who recently began to claim that Israeli Arabs are a fifth-column."
Rekhess noted that Shawki Hatib, chairman of the Arab leadership's monitoring committee, condemned the suicide bombing in Nahariya. "If the situation continues to deteriorate, I think we can expect to see the Arab leaders doing their best to calm the atmosphere and do everything they can to rebuild trust with Israeli Jews," he said.
He said the escalation can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the deterioration in relations between Jews and Arabs following the deaths of 13 Arabs during the riots in October; increasing religious extremism and the growing influence of fundamentalists in the West Bank and Gaza; mounting Palestinian nationalism among Israeli Arabs; and worsening socioeconomic conditions.
"There is a general atmosphere of confrontation, which draws people in," he added. "The great number of suicide attacks by Palestinians has made the tactic seem more legitimate, just because it is becoming more routine."
Rekhess said that the government has to prevent Jews from displaying more hostility toward Israeli Arabs.
"Had the government dealt with the Arab sector's problems, the atmosphere may have been less hostile and the suicide bomber may have thought twice," he said.
Regardless of the bombing, Rekhess maintained that "the government must begin to deal with all of the financial problems in the Arab sector and open a dialogue between Arab Israelis and Jews about coexistence.
"These tasks may become harder as a result of yesterday's events, but that doesn't mean we should give up and let the situation deteriorate further. That's the test of leadership."
September 11, 2001, Jerusalem Post,, IDF said ready to strike Jenin. Peres-Arafat meeting may be spoiled - Palestinian official, by Arieh O'Sullivan, Lamia Lahoud, and Herb Keinon, Page: 01,
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 -- The IDF appeared poised to move on Palestinian- controlled Jenin late last night, positioning tanks and armored personnel carriers around the West Bank city notorious for its suicide bombers.
A senior Palestinian security officer charged that Israel was planning an incursion into Jenin to spoil the chances of a meeting between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat this afternoon.
The security officer said that tanks surrounded Jenin last night, and that the Palestinians had expected a strong Israeli reaction to the three terrorist attacks inside Israel on Sunday.
Palestinian sources in Jenin reported that muezzin called for residents to take to the streets to repel any Israeli assault on the city and that hundreds answered the call. People were said to be erecting barricades in the streets, Israel Radio said.
The sources also said that the skies, sometimes lit with flares, were full of attack helicopters and even F-16 fighter jets.
The IDF refused to comment on the reports of its deployment near Jenin, saying only that the army "does not detail its operational deployment." Jenin is considered a stronghold of Hamas, as well as a haven for suicide bombers prior to their attacks. Hamas's bombing attack on Nahariya on Sunday was carried out by Israeli Arab Muhammad Shaker Habeishi, who is said to have left for Nahariya from Jenin.
Troops in the Jenin area arrested at least 11 Palestinians suspected of being connected with Hamas and Islamic Jihad and with the terror attacks on Sunday, Itim reported Palestinian sources as saying.
Despite the tension, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben- Eliezer did not cancel his scheduled visit tonight to the US.
A Palestinian security source denied Israel's claim that it had demanded the arrest of Habeishi, saying that Israel had never given the PA the bomber's name, and had only said that it suspected an Israeli Arab in the West Bank of planning a suicide attack.
Another senior Palestinian source also denied that the PA failed to prevent the attack, saying that Habeishi was an Israeli and that the PA "did not know him and was therefore unable to arrest him," even if Israel informed them of their suspicions that he was in Jenin.
"All the PA knew was that he was missing and ran away [to the West Bank]," the Palestinian source added.
Palestinian security sources said that the PA would not take action against Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, as long as Israel is attacking Palestinians inside its areas.
Israeli officials said Peres and Arafat are likely to meet today, though Peres said yesterday that neither the exact time nor meeting place has yet been determined, despite a three-week effort to set it up.
"We have agreed on a day but it's not clear where it will be held. We would like it to be a meeting in a place where there is less media presence," Peres told a Jerusalem press conference.
According to Israeli officials, the likely venue for the talks is the Erez crossing to the Gaza Strip.
Peres also said that he wants the meeting "at a place where the two parties will feel equally free, and if something happens [in Israel] we will be in contact with the events."
A Palestinian source also said the meeting might take place at Erez, in the presence of EU envoy Javier Solana and possibly the Russian and US envoys to the region.
Although there were reports that the Palestinians wanted to hold the meeting in Cairo, Israeli diplomatic officials said that, after Durban - where Egypt played a big role in trying to get vicious anti-Israel language in the resolutions of the anti-racism conference - it is unlikely that Israel would now agree to hold such a meeting there.
Peres said that Palestinian requests to hold the talks yesterday were rejected by Israel, because of mourning for the victims of Sunday's terror attacks. He said the talks will focus on bringing about a cease-fire, ending the incitement, easing the hardships of the Palestinians, and withdrawing IDF forces to where they were before the start of the intifada last September. He also has said repeatedly that he envisions a series of two to three meetings with Arafat.
But if Peres has the cabinet's support for these talks, it is not without vocal detractors. Minister without Portfolio Dan Naveh again called on Peres to cancel the talks yesterday. "Arafat continues to encourage terror, and the time has come for Peres to stop pretending that there is someone there to talk to," he said.
Earlier in the day, former justice minister Yossi Beilin said that Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel told him during a meeting that if a Peres-Arafat meeting takes place, he will take part in it along with Solana.
Asked whether he wants Michel or any other third-party representative at his meeting with Arafat, Peres said the meeting should be "face to face, without any other participants. This is the beginning of a very difficult chapter, and we should be free to speak our minds in order to reopen the negotiations."
Regarding whether he is in favor of a meeting between US President George W. Bush and Arafat at the UN General Assembly meeting later this month, Peres said he would not presume to tell the American what to do. "That is a US decision, not an Israeli one," he said.
Peres praised the US for its stand at Durban, where it walked out of the anti-racism conference when it seemed the Arab countries were insisting on incorporating vicious anti-Israel language into the final resolutions. "I want to thank the US for not participating in the falsification of history," Peres said.
He also expressed appreciation to the EU, Eastern Europe, India, Japan, and many Latin American countries for not allowing the Arab League to push the language through.
"This was a victory of democracy over attempts to make of democracy a mockery," Peres said of the conference. "The end of the conference was reassuring."
The Palestinian street is wary of the meeting and does not believe anything will come out of it on the ground, Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Fatah leader from Ramallah said. "Peres is only doing PR for Sharon... Nothing will come out of the meeting."
A PA source said that a failure to implement what was agreed would convince both people that there is no hope and would lead to even greater escalation.
"It is not up to Arafat and Peres to achieve a breakthrough. The people on the ground on both sides must be convinced that they agree to an end of the fighting... and that confidence building measures must be implemented," one PA source said.
The Palestinians, he added, do not believe the PA can reach any progress with Sharon, and charged he is trying to undo previous agreements and create obstacles to prevent any future government from returning to the negotiations where they left off.
However, another senior Palestinian source said the planned meetings between Arafat and Peres are well prepared and it is likely that this time some progress would be achieved. The source said the EU is suggesting to start the negotiations over the implementation of a timetable for Mitchell.
He said that more meetings might be held at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this month.
PA Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said talks are under way to arrange a summit among Bush, Sharon, and Arafat in New York. But Palestinian officials said such a meeting is unlikely, and could only be held if real progress is made between Arafat and Peres.
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September 11, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - Reuters, page 2, Arab ministers demand protection for Palestinians, by Esmat Salaheddin,
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 -- CAIRO - Arab foreign ministers ended a two-day meeting yesterday with calls for the protection of Palestinians and a trial of Israeli "war criminals."
But final resolutions by the ministers, who have met almost every month since the intifada erupted nearly a year ago, stopped short of announcing concrete measures against Israel - in line with previous meetings. There was no word on refraining from initiating contacts with Israel, a controversial call made at the ministers' emergency meeting in late August.
Three members of the Arab League - Egypt, Jordan, and Mauritania - have ties with Israel and maintain contacts.
"The foreign ministers... call upon the international community to bear its responsibilities and ensure international protection for the Palestinian people through international monitors or any other mechanism," the ministers said in their resolutions, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
They said they would urge the UN Security Council to form an international panel to investigate what they called "massacres" by Israel, and "urge the international community to set up an international criminal court to try Israeli war criminals."
While the ministers met, hundreds of demonstrators, under the watchful gaze of riot police, gathered near the Arab League in downtown Cairo to protest against Israel and the United States for its perceived anti-Arab bias. The demonstrators, reflecting popular frustration with the Palestinians' plight across the Arab world, burned two American flags and carried banners denouncing Israel and Washington.
Asked about the lack of tangible results from the ministers' talks, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters: "This is a regular meeting. It cannot be expected that every meeting comes out with resolutions that meet everyone's demands."
The resolutions also called on Arab states to support a Palestinian contingency plan to shore up their economy despite a crippling Israeli blockade around Palestinian areas. In past meetings, Arab states have pledged over a billion dollars to the Palestinians, but little of the money has trickled in.
On Jerusalem, the ministers said Israeli measures to "Judaize" the holy city are "a flagrant violation" of international resolutions. In a separate statement, the ministers condemned Israeli measures to isolate Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
"The council warns of the consequences of turning a blind eye by the international community, particularly the United States... at Israeli practices and policies that will only lead to aggravation of the atmosphere of war and violence in the region," the statement said.
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September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - AP, America under attack. Thousands die as two hijacked planes destroy World Trade Center. Pentagon also hit by seized plane, by Jerry Schwartz,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (07:55) Hundreds of Israelis missing in WTC attack, by The Jerusalem Post Internet Staff,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:15) Thousands of Israelis missing near WTC, Pentagon,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, 'Now I know how the Israelis feel', by Melissa Radler,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Pentagon attack panics Washington, by Janine Zacharia,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon weighs response to attacks, by Herb Keinon,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Air force on heightened alert, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel closes air space for 24 hours following US attacks, by Haim Shapiro,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Visitor: Attack shows you shouldn't be afraid to come to Israel, by Miriam Shaviv, Gil Hoffman, and Greer Fay Cashman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable', by Michal Meyer and Stuart Winer,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Katsav expresses nation's sorrow, by Greer Fay Cashman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror, by Gil Hoffman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, United Jewish Communities 'praying for attack victims', by Melissa Radler,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Gunmen kill two border policemen, by Margot Dudkevitch,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Dehamshe: I'm willing to be Islamic martyr, by Nina Gilbert,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Sbarro set to reopen today, by Greer Fay Cashman and AP,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Labor Party election chief resigns, by Gil Hoffman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable', by Michal Meyer and Stuart Winer,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Pentagon attack panics Washington, by Janine Zacharia,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon declares day of mourning, by Herb Keinon, Judy Siegel,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon weighing response to attacks, by Herb Keinon,
September 12, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror, by Gil Hoffman,
September 12, 2001, Jerusalem Post, WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable', by Michal Meyer and Stuart Winer,
JERUSALEM (September 12) - Aaron Swirsky, one of the architects of the World Trade Center, yesterday expressed disbelief on hearing of the collapse of the twin towers. Swirsky told JPostRadio the buildings had been designed with "accidents" in mind.
"The terrorism was different in those days, but there was always the possibility of an accident with a plane hitting the building. The building was designed like a pipe structurally, with the main structure in the perimeter of the building." This meant that a hole in the building would not collapse the whole structure. The fact that the buildings did collapse he described as "incredible."
Swirsky said the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center made a big hole in one building. "The intent was to topple the building, but because of the design it didn't. But now... it is unbelievable." He said the collapse may have been due to the size of the plane, bigger than the architects had ever planned for.
The floors above the crash sites would have been safe, at least at first, said Twirsky. "What is really tragic is the building was designed with each floor as a hermetic unit, as to evacuate a building like that is a nightmare. Imagine you are on the 100th floor and there is no elevator, so each floor is designed to be safe; but when it collapses then that whole theory goes up in smoke."
The buildings had no sprinklers, because each floor could be sealed off from the others in case of a fire. "There are shutters that would shut off the vertical openings [between floors] so that the fire couldn't travel from one floor to the other. That was the theory. When the danger had subsided they could evacuate."
After the planes crashed into the buildings, Swirsky said people in the floors above would have been trapped. They would have been unable to escape. The buildings were not designed to allow for a quick exit in case of emergency. Afterward, those trapped would have fallen with the buildings when they collapsed.
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September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists,
Reports indicate armed Palestinians trapped foreign photojournalists inside a Nablus hotel late yesterday while thousands took to the streets in celebration of the terror attacks in the United States.
The journalists were reportedly forced to remain confined in the hotel, guarded by armed Palestinians - both in uniform and wearing civilian clothes - while the festivities continued in the streets.
At least one photographer who did manage to capture images of the celebrations was told his life would be in danger if the
pictures were eventually published.
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September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, America under attack. Thousands die as two hijacked planes destroy World Trade Center. Pentagon also hit by seized plane.” by Jerry Schwartz, Page: 01,
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Mounting an audacious attack against the United States, terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin 110- story towers yesterday morning. A jetliner also slammed into Washington's Pentagon as the seat of government itself came under attack.
Hundreds were apparently killed aboard the jets, and untold numbers were feared dead in the rubble. Thousands were injured in New York alone.
A fourth jetliner, also apparently hijacked, crashed in Pennsylvania.
President George W. Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed this act."
Rescue workers had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers when the glass-and-steel skyscrapers came down in a thunderous roar within about 90 minutes after the attacks, which took place minutes apart around 9 a.m. But many people were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center and tens of thousands of others visit each day.
American Airlines said two of its planes, both hijacked, crashed with a total of 156 people aboard, but said it could not confirm where they went down. Two United airliners with a total of 110 aboard also crashed - one outside Pittsburgh, the other in a location not immediately identified. Altogether, the planes had 266 people aboard.
People on fire leaped from the windows to certain death, including a man and a woman holding hands. Some jumped from as high as the 80th floor as the planes exploded into fireballs. People on the ground screamed and dived for cover as debris rained down. Dazed office workers covered in dirt wandered around like ghosts, weeping, trying to make sense of what happened.
Donald Burns, 34, who had been at a meeting on the 82nd floor of One World Trade Center, saw four severely burned people on the stairwell. "I tried to help them but they didn't want anyone to touch them. The fire had melted their skin. Their clothes were tattered," he said.
"People were screaming, falling, and jumping out of the windows," from high in the sky, said Jennifer Brickhouse, 34, of Union, New Jersey, who was going up the escalator into the World Trade Center.
By early afternoon, the downtown area was cordoned off and a rescue effort was under way. Hundreds of volunteers and medical workers converged on triage centers, offering help and blood. Paramedics waiting to be sent into the rubble were told that "once the smoke clears, it's going to be massive bodies," said Brian Stark, a former navy paramedic who volunteered to help.
He said the paramedics had been told that hundreds of police and firefighters are missing from the ranks of those sent in to respond to the first crash.
Within the hour after the attack in New York, the Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from a plane. The fiery crash collapsed one side of the five-sided structure.
"This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the world," said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. "It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden."
The president put the military on its highest level of alert. Authorities in Washington immediately called out troops, including an infantry regiment, and the navy sent aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New York and Washington.
The White House, the Pentagon, and the Capitol were evacuated along with other federal buildings in Washington and New York. The president was taken to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, headquarters for the Strategic Air Command, the nation's nuclear strike force, the White House said.
Security was tightened along the Canadian border and at naval installations and other strategic points. All commercial air traffic across the country was halted until at least noon today.
"This is the second Pearl Harbor," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican. "I don't think that I overstate it." The December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor killed nearly 2,400 people and drew the United States into World War II.
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said: "These attacks clearly constitute an act of war."
A Virginia congressman, Rep. James Moran, said the intended target of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was apparently Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
The crash site is 135 kilometers northwest of there. Moran spoke after attending a briefing in Washington.
In June, a US judge had set this Wednesday as the sentencing date for a bin Laden associate for his role in the 1998 bombing of a US Embassy in Tanzania. The sentencing had been set for the federal courthouse near the World Trade Center. No one from the US Attorney's Office could be reached yesterday to comment on whether the sentencing was still on.
Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that bin Laden was behind them, saying he does not have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks. Bin Laden has been given asylum in Afghanistan.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said he received a warning from Islamic fundamentalists close to bin Laden, but did not take the threat seriously. "They said it would be a huge and unprecedented attack but they did not specify," Atwan said in a telephone interview in London.
In Nablus, thousands of Palestinians celebrated the attacks, chanting "God is Great" and handing out candy.
In New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 2,100 people were injured - 1,500 "walking wounded," and 600 others who were taken to area hospitals, 150 of them in critical condition. It could take weeks to dig through the rubble for victims.
"I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost," Giuliani said. "Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible." Hours after the attacks, huge clouds of smoke billowed from the ruins, obscuring much of the skyline.
The two planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of one of New York's most famous landmarks and rained debris on the streets. About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar and a huge cloud of smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that, covering lower Manhattan in heaps of gray rubble and broken glass.
Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 8 centimeters deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified.
John Axisa, who was getting off a commuter train to the World Trade Center, said he saw "bodies falling out" of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched people jump out of the first building. Then there was a second explosion, and he felt heat on the back of neck.
People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building.
Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper drifted over Brooklyn, about three kilometers away.
Several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. New York's mayoral primary election yesterday was postponed. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed.
The death toll on the crashed planes alone could surpass that of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, which claimed 168 lives in what was then the deadliest act of terrorism on US soil.
"Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said earlier in Sarasota, Florida. "Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country." He said he would be returning immediately to Washington.
American Airlines initially identified the planes that crashed into the Trade Center as Flight 11, a Los Angeles- bound jet hijacked after takeoff from Boston with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77, which was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles.
Law enforcement officials said it was Flight 77 that hit the Pentagon.
In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed about 130 kilometers southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard. United said another of its planes, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people on board, also crashed, but it did not say where. The fate of those aboard the two planes was not immediately known.
United's pilots union said United Flight 175 crashed into the Trade Center. But the airline had no immediate comment.
An emergency dispatcher in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, received a cell phone call at 9:58 a.m. from a man who said he was a passenger locked in the bathroom of United Flight 93, said dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer.
"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" Cramer quoted the man as saying. The man told dispatchers the plane "was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him," Cramer said.
Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations in New York and at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division. Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, was evacuated, and Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada line was closed to visitors.
Terrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
"It's just sick. It just shows how vulnerable we really are," Keith Meyers, 39, said in Columbus, Ohio. "It kind of makes you want to go home and spend time with your family. It puts everything in perspective."
(Box) Approximate timeline of the attacks in the United States
8:50 a.m. - American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked after leaving Boston for Los Angeles, crashes into north tower of World Trade Center. Plane was carrying 92 people.
9:08 a.m. - American Airlines Flight 77, en route from Washington to Los Angeles, crashes into south tower of World Trade Center. Plane was carrying 64 people.
9:30 a.m. - Aircraft crashes at Pentagon in Washington, collapsing part of one of the building's five sides. No immediate details released on the flight, though United Airlines said Flight 175, carrying 65 people from Boston to Los Angeles, crashed at undisclosed location.
9:50-10:30 a.m. - Both towers of the World Trade Center collapse.
10 a.m. - United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco crashes 130 kilometers southeast of Pittsburgh. Plane was carrying 45 people.
10-11:30 a.m. - Government buildings around the country are evacuated, including the Capitol and the White House.
The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down airports nationwide. The United Nations closed down. In New York, tunnels, bridges and mass transit are closed. The Sears Tower is closed in Chicago.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / Associated Press, (22:40 - Tues) Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating, by Mohammed Daraghmeh,
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) – Thousands of Palestinians celebrated toiday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags.
Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In traditionally Arab eastern Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said.
"We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks.
Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:45) Car bomb found on George Washington Bridge,
American security services overnight stopped a car bomb on the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey.
The van, packed with explosives, was stopped on an approach ramp to the bridge.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:20) IDF rescue units depart for NYC,
The IDF's disaster rescue unit attached to the Home Front Command is scheduled to leave for New York City this afternoon.
One hundred twenty soldiers will assist US authorities in participating in the operation, Army Radio reported.
The Israeli transport flight will be given special permission to land in the New York area. American airspace remains closed at this time to all except military flights.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:40) Bin Laden: Terror was US work,
Saudi Arabian terrorist Osama bin Laden has denied all connections to the wave of terror which struck across the United States yesterday morning.
Speaking early today, bin Laden claimed that what happened in New York, Washington, and outside Pittsburgh was an American operation not at all connected to his organization.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (11:15) Iraqi TV: US 'Reaping Fruits of Crimes Against Humanity',
The following is the text of a commentary broadcast yesterday on Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic at 1700 GMT.
The station is the official television station of the Iraqi Government.
"The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity.
"It is a black day in the history of America, which is tasting the bitter defeat of its crimes and disregard for peoples' will to lead a free, decent life.
"The massive explosions in the centers of power in America, notably the Pentagon, is a painful slap in the face of US politicians to stop their illegitimate hegemony and attempts to impose custodianship on peoples.
"It was no coincidence that the World Trade Center was destroyed in suicidal operations involving two planes that have broken through all US security barriers to carry the operation of the century and to express rejection of the reckless US policy.
"Panic has spread among US official circles, which evacuated the White House following a series of explosions.
"They also evacuated the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress and closed down the airports and government institutions.
"The collapse of US centers of power is a collapse of the US policy, which deviates from human values and stands by world Zionism at all international forums to continue to slaughter the Palestinian Arab people and implement US plans to dominate the world under the cover of what is called the new [world] order.
"These are the fruits of the new US order.
Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon all democratic nations of the world to join an
international coalition to crush the terrorist organizations and the regimes that sponsor them.
Netanyahu warned last night that the attacks could be a harbinger of worse tragedies that could kill millions of people once Iran or Iraq acquire nuclear weapons.
To read more, click here.
Hamas official Prof. Ismail Abuschanab says today's terrorist attacks are a tragedy for the US.
To hear his interview with JPost Radio's Blake Lambert, click here.
(FBIS Translated Text - With thanks to Laurie Mylorie - Iraq Watch)
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror, by Gil Hoffman,
JERUSALEM (September 12) - Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon all democratic nations of the world to join an international coalition to crush the terrorist organizations and the regimes that sponsor them.
Netanyahu warned last night that the attacks could be a harbinger of worse tragedies that could kill millions of people once Iran or Iraq acquire nuclear weapons.
"We must build a coalition against terror today, when our power is unmatched, because tomorrow it could be matched," Netanyahu said in a news conference at Jerusalem's King David Hotel. "It's times to take on militant Islamic regimes with a great deal of strength. We should crush the terrorist infrastructure that threatens the entire free world."
Netanyahu predicted that yesterday would be a turning point in the history of the United States, similar to Pearl Harbor. He called upon the United States to lead the effort against "the Bin Ladens, Arafats, and Saddam Husseins of the world."
The former prime minister said he predicted massive attacks on the World Trade Center shortly after the last attack on the building, and in his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism.
"After an interlude of several years in which the vigil against terrorism was relaxed, new forces of domestic and international terror have emerged," Netanyahu wrote in the book's prelude. "Chief among them are the various strains of militant Islam, which likewise see their ultimate destiny as leading to a final confrontation with the Great Satan, the United States."
Netanyahu scoffed at former prime minister Ehud Barak's plan for separation from the West Bank, saying that Israel cannot build a fence taller than the Twin Towers. He warned that terror attacks on Israel are only a preparation for more serious attacks against the US.
The fact that no organization took responsibility for the attacks is irrelevant, Netanyahu said, because the root cause of the attacks are "terrorist states like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian entity" that want to "devour the West."
"For them, our free civilization is satanic - an abomination that should be wiped off the face of the earth," Netanyahu said.
The former prime minister added that there is not a people in the world that identifies with the agony the Americans are going through more than Israel, and that he "speaks for all Israelis" in saying the hearts of Israelis are broken by the tragedy.
Barak said that Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden was most likely behind the series of plane attacks on two major US cities yesterday.
Speaking to Britain's Sky Television in London, Barak said governments needed to make a concerted effort to combat terrorism.
"Most obviously my guess is a bin Laden organization...We have to stand firm against such terrorism," Barak said. "We have to coordinate to launch the same kind of fight that our forefathers gave to the fight against piracy on the high seas - mainly terrorists should not be allowed to land at any port or airport," he said.
Barak called for a summit between the United States, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Israel and "some Islamic" states, but not those seen to "be hosting terrorists."
"The leadership of the world should be able to take action. It is time for action. The world is not going to be the same place as before," he said.
US authorities have not accused anyone of orchestrating the attacks, but bin Laden has been accused by Washington of masterminding the almost simultaneous destruction of two US embassies in Africa in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.
(Reuters contributed to this report.)
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists,
Reports indicate armed Palestinians trapped foreign photojournalists inside a Nablus hotel late yesterday while thousands took to the streets in celebration of the terror attacks in the United States.
The journalists were reportedly forced to remain confined in the hotel, guarded by armed Palestinians - both in uniform and wearing civilian clothes - while the festivities continued in the streets.
At least one photographer who did manage to capture images of the celebrations was told his life would be in danger if the pictures were eventually published.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:10) Palestinian terror groups decry US attacks, by Steve Weizman, The Associated Press,
JERUSALEM, (AP) – Palestinian groups which have admitted past attacks on Israeli civilians were at pains today to distance themselves from the devastating events in New York and Washington.
Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, a spokesman for Hamas, said the radical Islamic organization had no involvement with yesterday's suicide attacks in the United States. Hamas has repeatedly trained and equipped suicide bombers for missions into Israeli cities that have killed hundreds of people over the years.
"Our jihad (holy war) is against the Zionist enemy and not against American civilians, or American targets," he said. "We are against the policy of the United States but we are not against the American people."
Islamic Jihad leader Nafez Azzam took an identical line, but added the charge that Israel was exploiting the airborne attacks in the United States to distract attention from its own actions against the Palestinians.
"The Islamic Jihad war will continue against the Zionist enemy because they are our enemy, no one else," he said.
Israel has said its strikes against Palestinian targets are aimed at stopping terror attacks in Israel.
Another radical Palestinian group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, also denied it was connected in any way to yesterday's carnage. A PFLP spokesman, who only identified himself as Jibril, said he thought the attacks were too complex and demanding to be the work of a single group.
"I think its something bigger, it's not us and I don't think it's an Islamic group," he said.
Yet the tightly coordinated hijacking of four aircraft yesterday sounded echoes of an operation in September 1970, when PFLP members seized three planes, flew them to Jordan and blew them up after releasing the passengers.
Palestinian political analyst Ghassan a-Khatib agreed that the scale of yesterday's assault was too large to have been the work of known Palestinian groups.
"This is extremely sophisticated, bigger than any of the groups we already know," he said. "Something like this takes a very big, very strong, very sophisticated group, one which is well integrated into US society."
Khatib did not, however, believe that a hostile government was behind the attacks. "I don't think there is a state which would dare to launch a war against the United States," he said.
US authorities are focusing their suspicions on Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Arabian millionaire and terror mastermind.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:35) Consulate helps some 500 Israelis contact their families,
The Israeli consulate in New York has put close to 500 Israelis currently in New York in touch with their families in Israel.
The Israeli consul in New York, Alon Pinchas, said consulate workers are checking local hospitals for victims with Israeli sounding names, Army Radio reported.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:25) IDF rescue team will not travel to US,
The IDF's emergency rescue team will not be traveling to the United States to help in the search for survivors in the aftermath of yesterday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
The US, which already has its own earthquake rescue teams and emergency personnel at the scenes, today told the IDF its services would not be needed, The Jerusalem Post's Arieh O'Sullivan reported.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:25) Relatives of slain Israelis reach out to Americans, by Jason Keyser, The Associated Press,
JERUSALEM (AP) – Relatives of Israelis who died in hostilities with Palestinians gathered today to draw comfort from a display of thousands of cards sent by American children.
Instead, the grieving Israelis found themselves reaching out to victims in the United States, after the worst terror attack in history leveled the World Trade Center in New York City and part of the Pentagon in Washington yesterday.
The 300 Israelis filled a sunny plaza at Jerusalem's city hall to read the Jewish New Year cards. They had suffered their share of tragedy over nearly a year of Palestinian-Israeli fighting.
"I hope that the kids of Israel will also write cards and letters to the kids whose relatives were killed in yesterday's terror attacks in America," said Daniel Mandell, 12, as his mother Sherri wept. Mandell's brother and a friend were killed in a West Bank cave in May.
Many signed a book of condolences. One entry read: "We are a group of parents who lost our children in the Dolphinarium bombing. Be strong!"
In that June 1 attack, a Palestinian strapped with explosives blew himself up in a crowd of young Israelis waiting to get into the Tel Aviv seaside disco, killing himself and 21 others.
Israeli and American flags at the city hall plaza were lowered to half mast after Israel declared today a day of mourning for the American victims.
People filed past the cards. One was scrawled in a child's handwriting: "Dear person, wish you a happy and safe new year! Sorry what's happening in Israel." The Jewish New Year is to be marked next week.
The cards were on display last week in New York, where Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed one.
Menachem Ibin, 19, from Great Neck, NY, was there last week together with a survivor of the attack on the Tel Aviv disco, Rita Abramov, 17, who accepted the card.
"Last week I took her to the World Trade Center, to the top floor," said Ibin, who was writing a sign that read, "Israel and USA, stop terrorism now."
The twin towers collapsed after two airliners smashed into them.
"I didn't even know it until I got to Israel," he said. "I got into a taxi and the driver said there's a war there. I said, 'Where, in Israel?' 'No, in America,' the driver said. 'The trade center is gone."'
Seth Mandell, an American immigrant and father of one of the boys killed near the West Bank cave, was shocked to see a tragedy that mirrored his own.
Mandell, who started a foundation named after his slain son to bring together Jewish children who have suffered similar trauma, is now thinking of making the project international.
His wife, Sherri, experienced in grief, had some advice for American victims.
"The pain you're going to feel is totally unbearable," she said. "You're going to wish you were dead. You're going to feel like you're dead. And you have to allow yourself to feel that. ... You will survive this."
September 12, 2001, (22:40 - Tues) The Associated Press / Jerusalem Post, Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating, by Mohammed Daraghmeh,
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) – Thousands of Palestinians celebrated toiday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags.
Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In traditionally Arab eastern Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said.
"We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks.
Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
September 12, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (23:00 - Tues) Old City residents react with joy & horror
On a visit throughout Jerusalem's Old City, JPost Radio's Dave Bender heard a spectrum of opinions about today's horrific terrorist attacks along the US eastern seaboard.
Some Palestinians celebrated upon hearing about the attack, calling it a fit and proper response to US support for Israel. Others were saddened by the scope of the horror.
Local Christian residents of the Old City were dismayed, somber.
American Christian tourists were simply frightened.
A group of American Jewish seminary students from New York were worried for the fate of their families, still trapped on Manhattan island.
To hear the JPost Radio report, Click here for Media Player format.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (20:50) Foreign correspondents told to prepare for US attack,
Several newspapers in the United States have told their correspondents based in Israel to be prepared to depart for Syria, Egypt, or the Persian Gulf.
According to the correspondents, the purpose of the reassignments would be to cover the eventuality of any US attack against Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan, states accused of supporting terrorism, Army Radio reported.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (11:45) Three Palestinians killed in retaliatory raids
Palestinians sources report three people dead in gunfights with Israeli forces in Jenin this morning.
Three Jenin residents were reportedly killed when the IDF entered the northern West Bank city.
In response to last night's killing of Ruthi Shua'i, the IDF entered Jenin, Jericho, Kalkilya and Salfit.
For more on the shooting of Shua'i, click here.
For more on the IDF's operation in Jericho, click here.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:55) Arafat 'organizes' pro-US rallies,
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is urging Palestinian schoolchildren in the West Bank and Gaza to take to the streets in demonstrations supporting the US.
The move is being seen as an attempt in "spin control" by the PA in the wake of reports that foreign correspondants were forbidden from covering Palestinian celebrations after the terror attacks in the US, Army Radio reports.
On a visit throughout Jerusalem's Old City the evening after the bombings, JPost Radio's Dave Bender heard a spectrum of opinions about the horrific terrorist attacks along the US eastern seaboard.
To hear his report in Media Player format, click here.
Lashing out at Palestinians who celebrated Tuesday's carnage and skyrocketing death toll in New York, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen urged the international community to "rein in terror and demand justice for these vicious attacks."
"I don't think Palestinians celebrating the death of thousands of Americans should go unchallenged," said Rosen, after images of Palestinians on the streets of Nablus and Jerusalem rejoicing and handing out candy after the attacks were broadcast around the world.
To read more, click here.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (09:40) New York sets up virtual database for victims
The City of New York has set up a virtual database for those seeking information about those injured in the World Trade Center attack.
There are only general estimates as to the possible death toll at this point.
The site is located at: http://wtc.ny.com/.
For The Israeli Foreign Ministry website: http://www.israel.org/mfa/home.asp.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:50) NY consul estimate: More Israelis feared dead,
"At the moment, we are talking about a situation of no more than five or six Israelis that were either in, or in the vicinity of, the two towers,' Pinkas said, continuing, "and another 30-to-40 Israelis that were likely to have been in the general area."
Pinkas made the statements during an interview with Army Radio.
There are over 20 injured Israelis in local New Your area hospitals, spokesmen at the Foreign Ministry's situation room said.
To read more, click here.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Search in NYC locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (08:25) Palestinian shot to death near Jerusalem
Soldiers shot a Palestinian man to death near the village of Beit Likiya, north of Jerusalem, earlier this morning.
The man broke through an IDF roadblock set up on an side road close to highway 443.
He was shot and killed when he did not follow orders to stop his vehicle, Army Radio reports
Israel's war is no longer its alone, by Tom Rose,
NEW YORK (September 13) - "One of the most heinous acts in world history," was how Mayor Rudolph Giuliani described Tuesday's unprecedented attack upon his city and the US.
When and if a final death count is ever completed, the numbers will no doubt back him up. As of late yesterday afternoon, giant plumes of smoke from the collapsed towers of the World Trade Center were still visible from dozens of miles away and the acrid stench of the cataclysmic explosions was still pungent as far away as midtown.
America is under assault as never before, and all this witness to the cataclysm can think about is a conversation I had in the elevator on the way up to 110th floor of the World Trade Center 18 hours before it was destroyed. Having just arrived from Jerusalem, I found myself with an hour between sales calls and decided to do what millions of others have done before me. I forked over $13.50 and was shuffled into the large elevator that shuttled tourists to the top of the symbol of New York.
Standing next to the door, I struck up a conversation with the man operating the elevator, a strikingly pleasant, hard-working fellow in his late 50s. When asked, this native of mainland China said he came to America in 1994 because he wanted his children to have a better life than he had. It was the same thing that brought my grandmother's family from Poland.
The same thing that brought all of us.
Like thousands of others, that man was undoubtedly at work when the towers were destroyed. I wonder if he is still alive. I woke up yesterday morning worried about the safety of my family, left behind in Jerusalem.
Did my son make it home from school safely? Did my wife manage to get all the chores she had planned in town completed in safety? By breakfast time, they were the ones worried about me. I was fine I assured them. "Hurry home", said my wife. To Jerusalem? Hurry home?
Yes, it is true, Jerusalem, the capital of a besieged Israel suddenly seems safe. Certainly safer than New York. At least for now. At least until the US is able to implement and adjust to the measures necessary to survive and function in the face of a new enemy and a new kind of warfare. A kind of enemy and warfare Israel has faced for decades.
A warfare that knows no refuge and spares no one. A warfare where women and children are the desired targets, not collateral damage.
It has been said that in the war against terrorism, Israel is the world's miner's canary. Before subjecting themselves to potential threats of noxious fumes, miners used to lower canaries into their mines to see if the air below was breathable. The sad lesson of yesterday was that the fumes of terrorism are more toxic than anyone in America could bring himself to believe. While Israel was the first democracy to find itself fighting terror every day and on all fronts, it was destined not to be the last.
Just as the Jewish people throughout history have often been the first to suffer new kinds of discrimination, punishment, and genocide, we have never been the last.
Those who have been wishing and working to destroy Israel for decades have now declared war on their ultimate and real target.
Israel's war is no longer its alone. It has now struck at the heart of the greatest power in the world. How that power responds to an attack against the very symbols of its economic and military might will almost surely shape the contours of the world our children are destined to inherit.
If still alive, perhaps the World Trade Center elevator operator I met could help us muster some of the strength free countries will need to fight back. Perhaps he would tell us that, in his native Chinese, the words for "crisis" and "opportunity" are one in the same. Perhaps Americans, now united in their grief, will soon emerge united in purpose, committed to what Abraham Lincoln called "a new birth of freedom" and resolved to take the steps necessary to protect its institutions and its people.
As Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Tuesday: "Tonight, all Israelis are Americans." Today, America can use all the help it can get from here on Earth and from heaven above.
(The writer is the publisher of The Jerusalem Post.)
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JERUSALEM (September 13) - More than 200 workers at Zim Israel Navigation Company counted themselves lucky Tuesday, having been moved out of their World Trade Center offices by the company just two weeks ago.
At the same time, Israeli company ClearForest, whose international headquarters were located in the 47th floor of One World Trade Center, reported that none of its staff was hurt when the building collapsed.
"When we watched the pictures, we felt so lucky," Zim spokesperson Dan Nadler said. "Our entire US operations were run out of the 16th floor."
Zim left so recently that CNN, on its Web site, still lists the company as one of the businesses in the WTC.
Zim moved its US corporate headquarters to Norfolk, Virginia. "The aim was to save on rent," said Nadler. "We bought a modest building instead of paying New York rates."
Nadler said the company is unaware of any other Israeli firms in the building, but said he is sure "there are other Israelis working there."
Meanwhile, Sigal Srur, ClearForest's director of human resources, said that four or five of the company's 18 workers were in the building when it was hit. "They got out at the last minute, and two who were lightly injured with scrapes have already been discharged from the hospital," she said from the company's Or Yehuda R&D offices.
According to Srur, the company lost "mostly marketing and business development material. Luckily, unlike many US companies which were totally wiped out, our R&D is here, so all of our technology is here."
She said that the company is already looking for temporary offices in New York and emphasized that the company's new permanent offices be located in New York.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The lucky break of running late, by Melissa Radler,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Ari Schonbrun, who has a 101st-floor office in the World Trade Center, missed his usual train to work Tuesday morning.
Less than 24 hours later, speaking from the safety of his Long Island home, Schonbrun said his brush with death "absolutely strengthens my faith in God, because all these little miracles happened to me. I should have been killed in the blast."
On most days, Schonbrun, 44, the father of four, would have been in his desk at 8:30 a.m.; on Tuesday, this would have been 15 minutes before an American Airlines flight slammed into the World Trade Center's north tower. He would have been running global receivables for Cantor Fitzgerald. But on Tuesday, Schonbrun was running uncharacteristically late after his wife asked him to help their son order books for school.
By 8:45 a.m., Schonbrun was on the tower's 78th floor, switching elevator banks to take him to the building's uppermost levels.
"I couldn't have been more than eight feet from the elevator banks when all of a sudden there was an explosion. I went flying and everything was dark," he said. Unhurt by the blast, Schonbrun crawled into an office where he saw a coworker, Virginia, with third-degree burns on her arms. He promised that he would stay with her until she was treated.
With phone lines cut, the people gathered on the 78th floor thought an elevator may have caught fire or that there had been an explosion inside the building. Had he been at his desk 23 floors up, he have known what had happened.
"There was one guy who sat four offices down from me who was on the phone with our London office. He told them he saw a plane coming toward the building," said Schonbrun. The phone call was then cut off, and Schonbrun's friend is still among the missing.
After being directed by a fire warden to the stairwell, Schonbrun and Virginia started to walk down. At the 75th floor, he wife called him on his cellphone. When he passed the phone along to another person in the stairwell, it had stopped working.
Schonbrun said that building occupants calmly walked down the staircase while firefighters, rescue workers, and nurses walked up to help victims stuck in the building. When occupants began crowding the stairs at lower levels, people even made room for him and Virginia after Schonbrun announced that she was suffering from serious injuries.
"When we got outside, the police were there, the firefighters, the paramedics, the ambulances were there," said Schonbrun. Inside one of the first ambulances to leave the scene for a nearby hospital, Virginia told the paramedics that she would not leave the scene unless Schonbrun accompanied her.
"I know myself. I would have hung around watching what was gong on when that building fell," he said. "Because she insisted I go to the hospital, I was cleared away from the area and I'm alive today."
Seven hours the attacks began, Schonbrun got in touch with his father, who lives in Israel. With phone lines cut off, a cousin from Belgium who had spoken to Schonbrun's wife relayed the information to his family in Israel.
"I'm elated to be alive but I have a lot a lot of friends who are gone," he said. Among the dead are hundreds of rescue workers, many of whom Schonbrun passed by on the stairwell. "At the time, I thought great, there's firefighters going up. When I heard the building collapsed, I thought I was going to faint. I couldn't fathom what it meant that it collapsed."
Certain things in his life have already changed, said Schonbrun, not least of which is that he no longer has an office to go to and may not see many of his coworkers again. "My daughter was crying last night because of a homework assignment and I said 'Chanie, get a grip,' " he said. "You kind of look at things differently."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Stricken With Blindness, Letter, Leonard Lowy, Page: 08
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Sir, - We saw the TV pictures of partying Palestinians in Nablus, Jerusalem, Gaza and elsewhere handing out sweets after Tuesday's attack on the United States.
And yet, on my drive to work on Wednesday morning, there were people on the radio (very much in the minority but still vocal) who called to say that while Sunday's terror acts in Israel were an outrage, it was the US and the West's fault for allowing Israel, over a period of decades, to terrorize the innocent and oppressed Palestinians. The clear message is that the world now has to take Israel in hand, once and for all, and "sort it out." The level of sheer ignorance in the West continues to astound.
LEONARD LOWY , London.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, Arafat 'horrified' but Palestinians celebrate, by Mohammed Daraghimeh,
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 -- Thousands of Palestinians celebrated yesterday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli- Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags. Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake. America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In predominantly Arab east Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television.
Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said. "We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president, and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people."
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks. Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, How Will History Repeat? Letter, Varda Epstein,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Sir, - America will retaliate for these horrific catastrophes (the destruction of the Twin Towers), as it must, for this is Pearl Harbor times 10. (I wait for this and for the reaction of Sharon, who will not be likely to say, "Both sides must refrain from violence.")
Will there be targeted assassinations?
Bush has already stated that those that are harboring the perpetrators will be punished. Does this mean that they are not innocent civilians when they get killed along with the terrorists?
Are we going to end up with our hands tied, as during the Gulf War?
I wonder which parts of history will repeat themselves.
VARDA EPSTEIN , Metzad.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Internet offers worried Israelis alternative channel to loved ones, by Gwen Ackerman,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Internet access saved many Israelis and Americans hours of worry Tuesday evening, after news of hijacked airliners crashing into the Pentagon and toppling the World Trade Center skyscrapers sent hundreds of thousands scurrying to telephones only to dial for hours in vain.
Israelis and tourists alike were quick to blame the domestic network for their frustrated attempts to get through to family and loved ones, but the Israeli network was not the reason the calls went nowhere, said Aviram Cohen, spokesman for the international call and Internet service provider Bezeq International.
At fault was a US decision to pre-empt a collapse of the national telephony infrastructure by blocking international calls from entering the New York switchboard, in much the same way Israel cellular operators block out certain sectors after a terrorist attack to ensure security and medical personnel have enough "spectrum" to make priority calls, said Cohen.
The New York authorities blocked calls from 4 p.m. Israel time - after the first plane rammed into the World Trade Center - and midnight, when authorities began to gradually open up lines.
The blockage led to heavy traffic for all three international call companies - hundreds of times more calls than on a normal day - as people made repeated attempts to get through despite reports that communications to the US were down, the Bezeq spokesman's office said.
As a result, anyone trying to make an overseas call encountered difficulty, but domestic calls were not affected at all, Bezeq added.
In an effort to help Israelis and visiting Americans desperate for news of family, Bezeq International reinforced staff at its international service centers, locating numbers through phone directories and directing queries to the Foreign Ministry when none could be found.
In the sectors where it soon became obvious that phone lines were down or blocked, Bezeq International recommended sending e-mails instead. For those without Internet access but with an e-mail address for their family in the States, the company sent a call-home message in their place.
E-mail traffic at Bezeq International was way up - dozens of times busier than normal - as a result of the phone problems, Cohen said.
Also up were attempts to use Jerusalem-based deltathree's voice-over-IP Internet phone, said CTO Mark Gazit.
The infrastructure of deltathree, whose NY office is next to the World Trade Center, is hooked up to the domestic US telecommunications network so that the blocking did not affect its ability to connect Internet calls made in Israel to numbers in the New York area, and vice versa.
However, while call attempts were up three times the usual amount, call completion was low, mostly due to the fact that the US numbers were busy either because the local cellular network was overloaded, busy, or working under emergency conditions, Gazit said.
"If I count the number of minutes it was not much more than normal - not because people didn't want to make the calls, but because they couldn't."
The company was in the middle of its daily conference call when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
"There was silence and then people said, 'You won't believe it but the Twin Towers are on fire,'" Gazit recalled. "We continued the conference call and 20 minutes later they reported seeing a plane crashing into the tower and we understood it was a terrorist attack. We tried to continue, but when the towers started to collapse they were evacuated, because the office was too close."
Electricity went off and dust filled the air, but deltathree's backup system kicked in, making its voIP service "the only way to make [voice] contact with the US for a certain amount of time," said Gazit.
"We're glad we provided this to people," he said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Opinion,, Defining the enemy,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- As Americans try to recover from and comprehend the most devastating terrorist attack ever, it is not surprising that US leaders are groping for a new language and way of thinking to confront the new reality.
There is general agreement that America is and must be "at war." But the pledge of President George W. Bush and many others to "find those responsible and bring them to justice" sounds not like war, but a police action against criminals.
The distinction between fighting a war and bringing criminals to justice is not a merely semantic one. It is a distinction over the nature of the enemy.
America's first task is defining the enemy. In this war, the enemy's attempt to distort and obscure its identity is its primary line of defense.
The enemy is not merely Osama bin Laden or whatever terrorist organization carried out the monstrous attack. The enemy is the states that sponsor terrorists and the ideology that animates them.
Imagine for a moment that bin Laden is proven to be the immediate culprit and the US were to successfully bomb him and his organization out of existence. Would terrorism have been defeated? No - such a success would be the equivalent of destroying a kamikaze or Nazi unit while leaving the wartime governments of Japan or Germany in place.
If the bin Ladens of the world are defined as the enemy, terrorism has won; if the governments that sponsor terrorism are the enemy, then terrorism can be defeated. As Israel learned in Lebanon, it was impossible to defeat Hizbullah while holding that organization's Syrian, Iranian, and Lebanese sponsors were effectively immune from attack.
The idea that regimes, not just organizations, must be held responsible may seem obvious. Indeed, Bush has stated that the US will "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these act and those who harbor them." But even before the rubble has ceased to smolder doubts are being expressed.
In its editorial on the attack, The New York Times mused that "this is an age when even revenge is complicated, when it is hard to match the desire for retribution with the need for certainty." What retribution? What need for certainty? To talk about retribution and certainty is to act as if the task after Pearl Harbor was to prove which unit had attacked America and to punish that unit - rather than to defeat and replace the governments of Japan, Germany, and Italy.
In a second editorial, the Times argued that "part of the challenge for the United States is to recognize that the roots of terrorism lie in economic and political problems in large parts of the world." This is errant nonsense.
As Michael Kelly points out in The Washington Post, "The whole world was stolen from somebody, most of it repeatedly; there are claims and counterclaims and counter- counterclaims for every inch of the planet that is desirable and for much that is not." If poverty, corruption, tyranny, suffering, ethnic conflict, and territorial disputes were the sources of terrorism, sub- Saharan Africa would be terror center of the world.
To "recognize the roots" of terrorism is to harbor the notion that terrorism can be justified. Worse, it directly fulfills the goal of terrorism, which is to blackmail the world into addressing "grievances." The obstacles to addressing real suffering are the regimes that are behind terrorism, which not coincidentally oppress and impoverish their own people.
For the free world, the war against terrorism cannot be limited to punishment, retribution, or sending signals. Those who sent the terrorists to attack America would be only too pleased to absorb a less than tit-for-tat cruise missile attack in response.
The free world must recognize that is in a war of self-defense whose goal is victory. The concept of a war against terrorism is meaningless without the goal of removing terrorist regimes. The exact combination of diplomatic, economic, and military tools to be deployed toward this goal is a legitimate matter of debate. But a war against terrorism that avoids the issue of regime change in countries such as Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan cannot be won, because it has not even really been joined.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Demand for Israeli security expertise seen rising, by Sharon Berger,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The spectacular hijacking of four domestic US passenger flights from American airports is certain to result in a call for increased security measures in both domestic and international terminals throughout the world.
Although a number of Israeli firms that specialize in security services are expected to benefit from this increased demand, local companies were quick to insist that there is no upside to such tragic events.
Dual-listed Magal Security Systems Ltd. saw its Tel Aviv share price rise by a phenomenal 31.26 percent to NIS 30.53, while most local stocks dropped by 3% or more. The Yehud-based Magal, a leader in outdoor intrusion detection systems, has its equipment installed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, Ben-Gurion Airport, and in Korea.
Chief executive Jacob Even-Ezra said it is too early to say how world demand will increase as countries mobilize to fight terrorism, but he predicted that most airports will increase their security.
He stressed that fighting terrorism requires a long- term commitment. "I hope it is not short-lived," he said, noting the need for government institutions and agencies to make a shift in their thinking on combatting terrorism.
Even-Ezra's concerns were echoed by Michael Itzhar, chief executive of Mipha International, which provides airport security services. Itzhar noted that no one is prepared to adequately invest in security as it is not profitable.
"The airport, the Airports Authority, and the government all disagree over who should pay for security," said Izhar.
He noted that as the airline industry is constantly competing for cheaper tickets companies are reluctant to take on extra costs that did not contribute to their profitability. "It is very sad, as the technology exists. It just requires the necessary investment," said Izhar.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post/ Reuters, Iranian media blame US-Israel ties for attacks,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- TEHERAN - Hard-line Iranian newspapers said yesterday the US is paying the price for supporting "Israeli aggression."
While Washington has long branded Iran a sponsor of international "terrorism," reformist President Muhammad Khatami has condemned the attack and called for the international community to take measures to eradicate such crimes.
Iranian conservatives and reformists are united in calling for the destruction of Israel as the only solution to the Middle East conflict, but they differ in the strength of their opposition to it and its main backer, the US.
"Horror in the White House," said the English-language Teheran Times in a front-page headline. "Paying the price for its blind support of the Zionist regime."
"When a government is prepared to go against all internationally accepted principles in its support of a racist and criminal regime, it cannot expect to escape unscathed," it said.
The newspaper, owned by the non-governmental Islamic Propagation Organization, whose head is chosen by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the loss of civilian lives.
Washington cut ties with Teheran after radical Iranian students took 52 US diplomats hostage in 1980 and held them for 444 days. The US has said Iranians were implicated in the 1996 Khobar bombing in Saudi Arabia which killed 19 US servicemen. Saudi Arabia and Iran deny any Iranian involvement.
Other conservative newspapers said Israel may be behind the attacks in order to deflect world opinion from its "criminal policies" against the Palestinians. Conservative politician Muhammad Javad Larijani said the attacks were planned and executed by Zionists trying to break out their deadlock in the Middle East.
But unlike elsewhere in the region, there have been no public displays of joy in Iran, where Khatami won a landslide reelection promising to improve relations with the outside world.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Op-Ed,, The US will respond, by Uri Dan,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The national tragedy that has overtaken the United States demonstrates that terrorism simultaneously threatens both the greatest democracy in the world, and Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East.
It is not important, at the moment, to know who is responsible for the murder of innocent people in the US, since the greatest superpower in the world will uncover them in the end and punish them unmercifully, with every means at its disposal, and justifiably so.
No one will oppose the greatest democracy in the world, a law-abiding country, when it takes action against the country and the people that sent the terrorists. Without doubt the American democracy will make a concerted stand against those who massacred its citizens and undermined the security and economy of the US.
Against this background stand out the political handcuffs constraining Israel's freedom of action when it attempts to combat the terrorist activities of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat: suicide bombers, car bombs, murder of innocent people, in a discotheque in Tel Aviv, in a shopping mall in Natanya, or in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem.
The European countries and even the State Department condemn the elimination of the suicide bombers' leaders. The State Department condemns Israel for its use of "excessive force." The international community criticizes Israel when its tanks take control of Beit Jala for a single day in order to halt the firing against Gilo.
And of course, CNN and the BBC consistently present Israel as an aggressive and oppressive country, while Arafat's PA and the Palestinians appear as "victims," although they are actually the initiators of these waves of murder, which war criminal Arafat refuses to halt, despite Foreign Minister Shimon Peres's pathetic pleas.
THERE ARE not enough tears to weep and mourn for the innocent people murdered in the terrorist catastrophe in the US. The spring of tears has almost dried up because of our continuing mourning for innocent Jews and non-Jews murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the precise period of eight years since September 13, 1993, when Arafat signed the Oslo Agreement.
From the very first, President George W. Bush has treated the proofs that Arafat heads the terrorist coalition against Israel in a totally different way from Clinton.
In contrast to the destructive criticism of the State Department, Bush has displayed great understanding, in his talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, of Israel's struggle against Palestinian terrorism. Bush has withstood the pressure applied to him to meet Arafat, and refuses to do so as long as Arafat does not halt the terrorist attacks.
Bush has supported Israel's position of not negotiating with Arafat under fire, despite the difficulties raised by Peres's frantic pursuit of arch- murderer Arafat.
There is therefore no doubt that in the light of the national tragedy visited on the US by the terrorists, the US will join Israel in a totally new approach to the war against terrorism. A unique situation has arisen in which the dictatorial terrorist threat against both the American democracy and the sole democracy in the Middle East has become crystal clear. This situation will obligate special, more drastic steps to be taken by both countries, both individually and with greater coordination than ever before.
It is customary to lay the blame for every terrorist action with the was the notorious Carlos, and now it's bin Laden. However, Israeli intelligence experts have a strong suspicion that the intelligence service of a country such as Iraq was behind a terrorist attack of such satanic daring and professional sophistication.
After all, Saddam Hussein swore that the day would come when he would take revenge on the US for destroying Iraq, after it invaded Kuwait in 1990. Iraqi intelligence is an organization skilled in executing secret operations and in recruiting people ready to blow themselves up against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Suspicion may also be directed at the Japanese underground movement called the Red Army, whose members are capable of perpetrating suicide terrorist attacks.
They demonstrated this when three of them, including Kozo Okamoto, carried out the massacre in Lod Airport on May 30, 1972. Arab agencies are capable of recruiting this organization also. The terrorist attacks in the US, using civil airliners, were executed with Japanese kamikaze precision.
Whoever is found responsible, the US and Israel will know how to overcome those lying behind these terrorist acts, in the same way as the Allies defeated the Nazis in World War II.
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Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Ari Schonbrun, who has a 101st-floor office in the World Trade Center, missed his usual train to work Tuesday morning.
Less than 24 hours later, speaking from the safety of his Long Island home, Schonbrun said his brush with death "absolutely strengthens my faith in God, because all these little miracles happened to me. I should have been killed in the blast."
On most days, Schonbrun, 44, the father of four, would have been in his desk at 8:30 a.m.; on Tuesday, this would have been 15 minutes before an American Airlines flight slammed into the World Trade Center's north tower. He would have been running global receivables for Cantor Fitzgerald. But on Tuesday, Schonbrun was running uncharacteristically late after his wife asked him to help their son order books for school.
By 8:45 a.m., Schonbrun was on the tower's 78th floor, switching elevator banks to take him to the building's uppermost levels.
"I couldn't have been more than eight feet from the elevator banks when all of a sudden there was an explosion. I went flying and everything was dark," he said. Unhurt by the blast, Schonbrun crawled into an office where he saw a coworker, Virginia, with third-degree burns on her arms. He promised that he would stay with her until she was treated.
With phone lines cut, the people gathered on the 78th floor thought an elevator may have caught fire or that there had been an explosion inside the building. Had he been at his desk 23 floors up, he have known what had happened.
"There was one guy who sat four offices down from me who was on the phone with our London office. He told them he saw a plane coming toward the building," said Schonbrun. The phone call was then cut off, and Schonbrun's friend is still among the missing.
After being directed by a fire warden to the stairwell, Schonbrun and Virginia started to walk down. At the 75th floor, he wife called him on his cellphone. When he passed the phone along to another person in the stairwell, it had stopped working.
Schonbrun said that building occupants calmly walked down the staircase while firefighters, rescue workers, and nurses walked up to help victims stuck in the building. When occupants began crowding the stairs at lower levels, people even made room for him and Virginia after Schonbrun announced that she was suffering from serious injuries.
"When we got outside, the police were there, the firefighters, the paramedics, the ambulances were there," said Schonbrun. Inside one of the first ambulances to leave the scene for a nearby hospital, Virginia told the paramedics that she would not leave the scene unless Schonbrun accompanied her.
"I know myself. I would have hung around watching what was gong on when that building fell," he said. "Because she insisted I go to the hospital, I was cleared away from the area and I'm alive today."
Seven hours the attacks began, Schonbrun got in touch with his father, who lives in Israel. With phone lines cut off, a cousin from Belgium who had spoken to Schonbrun's wife relayed the information to his family in Israel.
"I'm elated to be alive but I have a lot a lot of friends who are gone," he said. Among the dead are hundreds of rescue workers, many of whom Schonbrun passed by on the stairwell. "At the time, I thought great, there's firefighters going up. When I heard the building collapsed, I thought I was going to faint. I couldn't fathom what it meant that it collapsed."
Certain things in his life have already changed, said Schonbrun, not least of which is that he no longer has an office to go to and may not see many of his coworkers again. "My daughter was crying last night because of a homework assignment and I said 'Chanie, get a grip,' " he said. "You kind of look at things differently."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Toronto Jews welcome El Al passengers, by Haim Shapiro,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The days when one can look to fellow Jews for help are not over, according to El Al spokesman Nachman Klieman, who yesterday related an exception act of communal kindness extended to El Al passengers after Tuesday's disaster in the US.
Klieman related that a flight for New York had already taken off yesterday shortly after 11 a.m. While the aircraft was crossing the Atlantic, the pilot received word of the attack on the World Trade Center and the subsequent closure of American air space.
As company officials considered the options, including returning to Israel, they also appealed to the Canadian government to allow the flight to land in Toronto. At the time, Klieman said, the company had considered sending the passengers by bus to New York, but that was before the US closed its land borders as well.
The Canadians allowed the Boeing 747-400 to land in Toronto, but because so many flights had been diverted to Canada, the hotels were full. With nowhere to put the passengers, the El Al representatives in Toronto appealed to the leaders of the local Jewish community. The community arranged for all 400 of the passengers to stay in the homes of local Jews.
"The contact with the community leaders produced an overwhelming feeling of kinship," Klieman said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Osama bin Laden's links to the Palestinians widening, by Arieh O’Sullivan, News agencies contributed to this report,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Links between Palestinians and Osama bin Laden, the United States' most-wanted terrorist, are growing, security officials said.
The Saudi millionaire who is one of the key suspects behind the terror attack on the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center, has been trying to set up a terrorist network in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and recruit and train Palestinians in Afghanistan and Pakistan, security officials said.
Bin Laden congratulated the people who carried out the deadly terrorist strikes in the United States, but denied yesterday that he was involved, a Palestinian journalist said.
Just last June, OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Malka acknowledged that bin Laden's agents had tried to carry out an attack in Israel, but were foiled. He did not give details.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has also warned of bin Laden's threat to stage terrorist attacks in Israel.
In June 2000, the General Security Service apprehended a group of Palestinians led by Nabil Okal, who had trained at a bin Laden-financed training camp in Afghanistan. Okal, of the Jebaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, had recruited a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists and had intended to recruit in the West Bank and among Israeli Arabs.
He was supposed to send recruits back to bin Laden's group in Afghanistan for training, and was instructed by bin Laden's group to set up a terror network here, the security sources said.
Okal also received help, mostly financial, from Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Okal told interrogators that he did not inform the Hamas of his links with bin Laden and only wanted to receive Hamas's cover and help for the organization he was forming.
According to Yoram Schweitzer of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, many Palestinians are already serving in bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. In fact, one of the main figures in Al-Qaeda is a Palestinian identified as Zein Abadin.
There is also said to be a link between the Arab assassin of Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990 and bin Laden through the blind Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman. It was al- Rahman who instructed Sa'id Nusair to assassinate Kahane, And it was al-Rahman's Islamic militants who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. Rahman is the spiritual leader of the Islamic Group Al-Gama'ah al-Islamiyyah, which is guided by bin Laden.
"Osama bin Laden thanked Almighty Allah and bowed before him when he heard this news," Jamal Ismail, Abu Dhabi Television's Palestinian bureau chief in Islamabad, said, quoting a close aide of bin Laden's. Ismail said the aide, whom he wouldn't identify by name, called him early yesterday on a satellite telephone from a secret hide-out in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden praised the people who carried out the attacks, Ismail said, quoting the aide. "But he had no information or knowledge about the attack" ahead of time, Ismail said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel's war is no longer its alone, by Tom Rose,
Thursday-- NEW YORK - "One of the most heinous acts in world history," was how Mayor Rudolph Giuliani described Tuesday's unprecedented attack upon his city and the US.
When and if a final death count is ever completed, the numbers will no doubt back him up. As of late yesterday afternoon, giant plumes of smoke from the collapsed towers of the World Trade Center were still visible from dozens of miles away and the acrid stench of the cataclysmic explosions was still pungent as far away as midtown.
America is under assault as never before, and all this witness to the cataclysm can think about is a conversation I had in the elevator on the way up to 110th floor of the World Trade Center 18 hours before it was destroyed. Having just arrived from Jerusalem, I found myself with an hour between sales calls and decided to do what millions of others have done before me. I forked over $13.50 and was shuffled into the large elevator that shuttled tourists to the top of the symbol of New York.
Standing next to the door, I struck up a conversation with the man operating the elevator, a strikingly pleasant, hard-working fellow in his late 50s. When asked, this native of mainland China said he came to America in 1994 because he wanted his children to have a better life than he had. It was the same thing that brought my grandmother's family from Poland.
The same thing that brought all of us.
Like thousands of others, that man was undoubtedly at work when the towers were destroyed. I wonder if he is still alive. I woke up yesterday morning worried about the safety of my family, left behind in Jerusalem.
Did my son make it home from school safely? Did my wife manage to get all the chores she had planned in town completed in safety? By breakfast time, they were the ones worried about me. I was fine I assured them. "Hurry home", said my wife. To Jerusalem? Hurry home?
Yes, it is true, Jerusalem, the capital of a besieged Israel suddenly seems safe. Certainly safer than New York. At least for now. At least until the US is able to implement and adjust to the measures necessary to survive and function in the face of a new enemy and a new kind of warfare. A kind of enemy and warfare Israel has faced for decades.
A warfare that knows no refuge and spares no one. A warfare where women and children are the desired targets, not collateral damage.
It has been said that in the war against terrorism, Israel is the world's miner's canary. Before subjecting themselves to potential threats of noxious fumes, miners used to lower canaries into their mines to see if the air below was breathable. The sad lesson of yesterday was that the fumes of terrorism are more toxic than anyone in America could bring himself to believe. While Israel was the first democracy to find itself fighting terror every day and on all fronts, it was destined not to be the last.
Just as the Jewish people throughout history have often been the first to suffer new kinds of discrimination, punishment, and genocide, we have never been the last.
Those who have been wishing and working to destroy Israel for decades have now declared war on their ultimate and real target.
Israel's war is no longer its alone. It has now struck at the heart of the greatest power in the world. How that power responds to an attack against the very symbols of its economic and military might will almost surely shape the contours of the world our children are destined to inherit.
If still alive, perhaps the World Trade Center elevator operator I met could help us muster some of the strength free countries will need to fight back. Perhaps he would tell us that, in his native Chinese, the words for "crisis" and "opportunity" are one in the same. Perhaps Americans, now united in their grief, will soon emerge united in purpose, committed to what Abraham Lincoln called "a new birth of freedom" and resolved to take the steps necessary to protect its institutions and its people.
As Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Tuesday: "Tonight, all Israelis are Americans." Today, America can use all the help it can get from here on Earth and from heaven above.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli expat owns retail lease for World Trade Center, by Sharon Berger, Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Australian businessman Frank Lowy, who emigrated to Australia from Israel in 1952, owns the 99-year lease for the 425,000-square foot retail portion of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York.
Lowy is the chairman and founder of Westfield Holdings, which manages Westfield America Trust, which has a 57-percent stake in Westfield America Inc. In April, Westfield America agreed to pay $400 million for the lease on the complex though only $133m. was paid upfront. The rest was to be made in ground lease payments.
Westfield said yesterday that it has insurance coverage against terrorist attacks and its earnings will not be materially affected. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange the retail chain said that "investment in the retail component of the World Trade Center is fully insured for both capital and loss of income," adding that "the insurance cover includes acts of terrorism."
"The financial impact in the short term is probably immaterial but you don't know the broader implications of ongoing insurance costs and retail consumer confidence," Andrew Parsons, portfolio manager at Lend Lease Corp., told Bloomberg News.
Ironically, earlier this week, Westfield America Inc. said it planned to double some rents and build more space to increase profit from the mall at the World Trade Center.
Westfield Holding's shares closed yesterday down by 5.1% at 16.7 Australian dollars.
Lowy was born in Czechoslovakia in 1930 and grew up in Hungary. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to Palestine at age 15. He fought in Israel's War of Independence and in 1952 emigrated to Australia to join family.
In Sydney, Lowy started out running a delicatessen with his Hungarian-born partner John Sanders. In 1956 they founded a company called Westfield and in 1958 opened their first small shopping center. The firm went public in 1960.
Today, Lowy is the second-wealthiest man in Australia and was recently ranked the 209th-wealthiest man in the world by Forbes magazine. Westfield is the fourth-largest shopping mall owner, with operations in Australia, the US, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
Lowy is philanthropically involved in the Jewish community in Sydney as well as Israel, including sponsoring the Overseas Students School of Tel Aviv University which is endowed in his name, and being associate international chairman of the Israel Democracy Institute.
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September 13, 2001. Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders stress Palestinians' support of US attacks, by Melissa Radler,
NEW YORK (September 13) - Lashing out at Palestinians who celebrated Tuesday's carnage and skyrocketing death toll in New York, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen urged the international community to "reign in terror and demand justice for these vicious attacks."
"I don't think Palestinians celebrating the death of thousands of Americans should go unchallenged," said Rosen, after images of Palestinians on the streets of Nablus and Jerusalem rejoicing and handing out candy after the attacks were broadcast around the world.
The celebrations were quickly followed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's official condemnation of the attack.
As recently as Tuesday, however, Palestinian Media Watch reported that suicide bombers were being lauded in a variety of PA-controlled newspapers. In its September 11 edition, the Gaza daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida called suicide bombers "the salt of the earth, the engines of history... They are the most honorable [people] among us." The statement was documented by Palestinian Media Watch in a special report released yesterday.
"I think we need to go beyond identifying terrorists and the usual list of rogue states and get to the root of the problem. Arafat has got to be put in a position of arresting terrorists. There need to be consequences to their actions," said Rosen.
Rosen also called on Arab countries considered moderate by the US, including Jordan and Egypt, to stand firm against terror, and he called on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to take action against nations sheltering terrorists.
"Those states that harbor [terrorists] and finance them, leaders who promote or permit terrorists to exist, those states need to stop funding them. I think it's time for our friends around the world to demand that this kind of activity end or we're going to stop doing business and take action," said Rosen.
At the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier also urged Americans to take notice of those celebrating Tuesday's attack. "Make no mistake about it, those people who find joy amidst our suffering are the cheerleaders who keep international terrorism alive," Hier said in a release.
Contacted Tuesday afternoon in Paris, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, Mortimer Zuckerman, expressed shock at film he saw of Palestinian children dancing in the streets after hearing of the horrible attacks.
"It brings home again that this is not an Arab-Israeli conflict. It is a conflict that has been widened to include Western civilization and culture," said Zuckerman.
Miriam Shaviv adds from Jerusalem:
The Associated Press yesterday refused to comment on reports that it had refrained from broadcasting film of Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Tuesday following pressure from the PA.
"I have nothing to say about this matter at this time," said AP Israel bureau chief Dan Perry.
A foreign correspondent, however, told The Jerusalem Post that PA cabinet secretary Abdel Ahmed Rahman had threatened the AP producers that if they broadcast their pictures, "they would not be able to guarantee their safety." Rahman was not available for comment.
The film showed Palestinian policemen celebrating and shooting into the air, in addition to civilians dancing, senior Israeli sources said.
The film was reportedly shot in the West Bank town of Nablus, where more than 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets, and in the Balata refugee camp.
Pictures broadcast by other foreign media outlets of Palestinians celebrating the terror attacks were mostly from east Jerusalem. No foreign crew captured on film other parades of celebration reported to have taken place in Bethlehem, Tulkarm, or the Gaza Strip.
The PA made threats to stop foreign press from broadcasting scenes it felt reflect poorly on the Palestinians before, when Italian TV correspondent Riccardo Cristiano captured on film the lynching of two reserve soldiers by a mob of Palestinian rioters in Ramallah in October 2000. Riccardo lost both his GPO press card and his Jerusalem posting after sending a letter to the Al-Hayat al-Jadida in which he denied that the film had been shot by his own station. - JPost
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders spotlight Palestinians' support of attacks against America, by Melissa Radler,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Lashing out at Palestinians who celebrated Tuesday's carnage and skyrocketing death toll in New York, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen urged the international community to "reign in terror and demand justice for these vicious attacks."
September 28, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, A shattered city, by Melissa Radler,
Friday, September 28, 2001 -- Several weeks after the worst terror attack in history struck lower Manhattan, the Big Apple is having no easy time getting back on its feet. Indeed the twin-towers disaster has changed more than the skyline, it has also impacted on the character of what was once the nonstop fun- loving capital of the world.
Broadway shows are closing for lack of spectators, hotels are vacant and the fancy restaurants are empty. Sources close to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani estimate the economic damage to the city from the attacks could run as high as $100 billion.
Many people are having trouble resuming their normal routine and many New Yorkers continue to opt for the safety of their living rooms, either to be with family or simply to watch television. It is eerily too easy to hail a taxi in midtown, and strangely facile to make a last-minute dinner reservation.
Carole Basri, whose habit of being late stood her in good stead on September 11 when she didn't show up on time for a 9 a.m. appointment next door to one of the World Trade Center towers, has barely been able to hold down a meal since.
Nor does she feel right going to a movie or the theater. "It still feels like we're at a time where we need to be contemplative. We're still in the mourning process," Basri says.
Basri was actually doubly lucky that day, since the firm she works for, Deloitte & Touche, had moved out of its 97th-floor office in the WTC after the 1993 attack on the towers in which six people died.
A friend of hers from law school, also named Carole, still worked on the 97th floor and is missing since the disaster of two weeks ago. The law student she had planned to meet that morning, however, was saved, because he was also late, anticipating that Basri wouldn't show up on time.
She feels instilled with a new sense of purpose in life as a result of her life having been spared. "I always feel that when these things happen there's a reason for it, and I really hope that I do what I'm supposed to be doing for the rest of my life," Basri says.
It has helped her psychologically to busy herself making emergency phone calls on behalf of her firm and to host a displaced New York University student in her home.
"I think I'm holding up pretty well," she says in an interview nine days after the twin airplane crashes which caused both buildings to implode and fall to the ground.
Initially Basri says she had a blase attitude about her brush with death. She felt she had been inured somewhat to the horrors of terrorism, by having family in Israel, including a mother who just missed being blown up at the Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem when suicide bombers struck there in early August. She also has a son who is serving in the IDF.
"It's not like I think it's unique anymore to have just missed [being caught in a terrorist attack]. I almost take it fatalistically, like Israelis do," says Basri. "I just didn't expect to feel that way in New York."
Rachel Donadio, a reporter for the Forward newspaper, says she "was picking up my new bike at a bike shop in the East Village, and I saw smoke coming out of one of the towers of the World Trade Center," that Tuesday morning. But she didn't immediately digest what was happening, and went about her normal routine of heading to work in midtown, picking up a few bagels on the way. Then she watched the second plane hit from a television screen in her office.
"Without really thinking about it, I put on my press pass, got on my bike and went on this mad dash," and headed downtown, as though in a daze, she says. Speaking about it nearly two weeks later, Donadio says: "I still haven't really grasped what happened."
By the time she arrived downtown, one of the towers had imploded and collapsed. A police officer pulled her off her bike and ordered her to head north.
Donadio couldn't even hear the sound of the second tower falling to the ground, although she was still in the area. "It didn't sound like the Apocalypse," she says.
"The first thing I thought was, people have lived through worse things than this and we can move on. Then I thought, this happened in the place where we never thought it could happen." Donadio adds: "I deal with words for a living and I really don't have any words to describe this."
Basri and Donadio's experiences are but two examples, though in many ways typical of what many of the millions of New Yorkers are going through these days: Struggling to make sense of the enormity of what they've been through and return to normality, amid the dust and smoke that continue to cloud around "Ground Zero" in lower Manhattan, which continues to resemble a war zone.
More than 6,300 people are reported missing in the disaster and it could take months to sift through the piles of rubble that keep igniting. More than 6,200 people are convalescing from injuries.
Many people seem caught between grieving for lost friends or family, and their seething anger against the perpetrators of the attacks on both New York and the Pentagon building in Washington where at least 190 died.
New York, a city long known for its round-the-clock fun-loving action, seems to have turned into a giant monument to the missing and dead. Photographs of missing daughters, fathers, coworkers, friends, can be found plastered on walls, bus stops and fences. Thousands of candles burn at a memorial erected in Union Square, which is also festooned with flowers, pictures and American flags.
An endless flow of tragic stories are told everywhere around Manhattan. There's one about two best friends who took separate flights to Los Angeles and died meters away from each other after each one's flight hit the twin towers. There was a father killed while flying home for the birth of his first daughter. A man flying to his stepdaughter's wedding never made it. Then there are the children dropped off at school an hour before the attacks, who will never see their parents again, not to mention the pregnant wives, fiances, mothers, brothers and daughters either killed or left behind with broken hearts.
I was one of the lucky ones, though I live only several blocks from where the towers once stood in Manhattan's Tribeca quarter. I was neither injured nor personally acquainted with any of the dead or missing. While I had to leave my building for six days, as the area was cordoned off by rescue and security personnel, water and electricity were restored in my building within a few days. However, two weeks later we still had no telephone or mail service. My picture-perfect view of the twin towers has been replaced by gray smoke and rescue equipment.
The first time I stepped back inside of my building was eight days after the disaster, and I found the entire place covered in gray ashes - apparently a window had been left ajar. Despite my best cleaning efforts, the stench of the ashes still greets me at the door whenever I come home.
Even riding the subway can seem too spooky to handle. The first time I rode the subway again was the day after the attacks. As usual, the train crawled unsteadily and at a snail's pace between stops. But on that day, every jolt felt like the beginning of another terrorist attack, and many passengers were visibly trembling. Some stared straight ahead, glassy-eyed.
After stopping at Penn Station, the subway doors closed then suddenly swung open again. Over the loudspeaker, the announcer calmly explained that there was a slight problem up ahead and we would be delayed for a few minutes. It's not that this kind of trouble never happened before, but given the circumstances, more than half the passengers, myself included, panicked. We jumped up and quickly fled the station. I didn't enter a subway station again for another nine days.
Emotional outbursts in public have grown quite common.
A few days after being evacuated from my apartment I was running out of underwear, so I went to Victoria's Secret to stock up. A woman in front of me at the register seemed to have had the same idea and we exchanged smiles. Suddenly the woman said to the salesgirl ringing up her order: "My best friend died this week."
Everyone listened, as the woman, in a calm and composed voice, started listing her friend's attributes and accomplishments and continued doing so until she had paid for her underwear. The salesgirl nodded as if they had been talking about the weather. Before she left, the woman turned to face me, so I said, "I'm really sorry about your friend."
She burst into tears, put her arms around me and said, "And the thing was, she was so beautiful." Then she ran out of the store.
With the city, and much of the nation in such a somber mood, the financial and entertainment industries are also under quite a strain.
Broadway shows are closing from lack of turnout, hotels are vacant, and even the lavish uptown bistros such as Tavern on the Green in Central Park, are bereft of diners.
Five plays and musicals were shut down within 10 days of the attacks: A Thousand Clowns, The Rocky Horror Show, If You Ever Leave Me, I'm Going With You, Stones in His Pockets and Kiss Me Kate. Ticket sales to The Producers, the most popular show on Broadway, were down by 50%.
Six additional Broadway productions said they were at risk of closing down, and Broadway unions agreed to a 25% pay cuts for four weeks. City-wide, tourism is reportedly down 45-50%.
In Las Vegas, 240 conventions had been canceled within a week of the attack, and occupancy rates were at 40-60%, down from 90%. At Disney World in Orlando, Florida, some hotels were reporting occupancy rates in the single digits. Given the low turnout in the stores, retail sales nationwide are expected to drop by half for the next three months.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a senior rabbi at the Park East Synagogue, explains: "There's a sense of guilt, but there's a resolve to pick up the pieces."
Schneier, who is president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, accompanied Mayor Giuliani on September 17 to the trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange several days after its reopening following the disaster.
Some Jewish traders told him a story there, Schneier relates. "They told me that 10 months ago they started a minha minyan [prayer quorum for afternoon services] on the 13th floor. The chairman of the mercantile exchange, a devout Catholic, asked them why they don't have a morning service. They said that on Mondays and Thursdays they need a Torah scroll." The chairman soon donated a Torah scroll to the group.
"You can interpret it any way you want, but according to those who survived, they attribute the fact that this building, among all the devastation, remained intact, was due to the presence of a Torah scroll," Schneier says.
In the days after the attacks, Schneier initiated an interfaith appeal, made up of Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Presbyterian leaders, to aid the families of firefighters and police officers killed while trying to rescue people trapped in the towers.
In addition to providing essential aid to the families, the fund is also a reminder that people of all religions, including Muslims, abhor what happened on September 11.
Forsan Hussein, a 23-year old Israeli Muslim from Galilee, is concerned that people may look at him differently now because of his skin color, religion and accent. After the attacks, he went to Boston to seek solace with the family of his best friend, an Israeli Jew. Some of his Arab and Muslim friends in Boston told him they had been attacked on campus by people who accused them of supporting terrorism.
Arab-American children have reportedly faced threats at schools around the country, and women in headscarves have been assaulted or taunted.
"I feel like I want to tell the world that it's not an Arab or a Muslim thing to go out and bomb people in the name of God. There is nothing in this world that justifies terrorism," says Hussein, a communications associate at the Abraham Fund, a group that sponsors coexistence projects between Arabs and Jews in Israel.
"It's the responsibility of the Arab world, the Muslim world, to go out there and fight terrorism. It gets to the point where we need to prove to the rest of the world that it's not directed at the West only. It's directed against us, against humanity," Hussein adds.
Most US-based Arab and Muslim groups have condemned the attacks, and set up funds to help the families of victims. But some have drawn a line between terror attacks on Americans and those perpetrated against Israelis in recent months, defending the latter as acts of "resistance," and harshly criticizing the US government for supporting Israel.
Among these are some mainstream groups, such as the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, whose press secretary Hussein Ibish regularly blames Israel for causing Palestinian terrorists to blow themselves up near crowds of civilians.
In April, a group called Al-Awda: the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition, held a rally in New York, drawing a few thousand demonstrators. The featured speaker was George Habash, the former head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Habash, a terrorist whose group has been blamed for the murders of at least 14 Americans, addressed the crowd by cellphone, presumably because he couldn't obtain a visa to enter the US.
Expressions of intolerance haven't been limited to fanatics seeking to destroy Americans in the name of Islam and Americans retaliating against Arabs and Muslims.
Two days after the attacks, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a conservative Christian leader, blamed liberalism in America for the carnage in New York and Washington.
"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen,'" Falwell told the Christian TV program The 700 Club. While Falwell apologized a few days later on Good Morning America, his remarks continue to anger many Americans.
"The insensitivity of it all at a time like this was completely un-American. A God-fearing Christian would never say these things in light of true disaster. He's no better than the terrorists," said my friend, Paul, who is gay.
After the attacks, Paul hosted me at his apartment until my building was back in order. His hospitality was mirrored by that of many New Yorkers who selflessly extended a helping hand in shelters, fire stations, rescue headquarters and private homes.
Donations for the victims began pouring in almost as the soon as the attacks began. At the official US government Web site, "American Liberty Partnership," at www.libertyunites.org, Jewish groups listed among the 31 charitable organizations include the United Jewish Communities, the New York, Washington and Philadelphia federations and the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC). As of September 21, nearly $75 million had been collected in on-line donations.
According to the UJC's vice president for consulting, Barry Swartz, donations to the UJC Emergency Relief Fund will go directly toward recovery, relief and rehabilitation of the victims and families of the September 11 attacks.
The Emergency Fund's committee has been around for 13 years, assisting victims of hurricanes, earthquakes and the Oklahoma City bombing. UJC officials are still figuring out where the money is most needed.
"The first Hebrew word I taught my daughter was savlanut [patience]. There's the obvious and then there's those things that might come up in the weeks to come, that we're not thinking about right now," says Swartz.
Aid could include cash assistance, loans and grants, scholarships, tuition assistance, counseling, funeral expenses, relocation, money to other nonprofit organizations, vocational services, the elderly and day care, he adds.
Smaller Jewish groups have also initiated fundraising efforts.
At New York University, students were just settling in on campus and in classrooms when the terrorists hit the World Trade Center, just two kilometers away. For many students, their first week back at school turned into a nightmare.
"Some students are seriously traumatized. They were first-hand witnesses. They lost friends and family," says the director for NYU's Hillel, Rabbi Andrew Bachman. Some students left New York to be with their families and others attended prayer services and memorials, Bachman says. Others rolled up their sleeves and volunteered to help out with the rescue effort.
"One of the interesting things I've seen in students' ability to cope is the outpouring of tzedaka and charitable kindness," says Bachman. As of September 20, Hillel had raised $4,000 and donated vans full of food to rescue workers and those who were injured and displaced. Hillel remained open 24 hours a day as a trauma center for the first three days following the attacks.
"We had a few students show up for Rosh Hashana services covered in dust, carrying their gas masks. They prayed, then they went back, for pikuah nefesh. [According to Halacha, saving lives takes precedence over everything else.] Despite the horrific scale of the tragedy, the human dimension and the sense of goodness have been unbelievably inspiring," says Bachman.
Relief efforts also include the UAHC's Disaster Relief Fund, which sends donations directly to victims and families and children of firefighters, police officers, and military personnel who were killed or injured in the rescue effort.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of UAHC, says: "We're a people that knows how to remember, and we know something about striking a balance between a return to normality and fighting a phenomenon such as terror, which is pure evil. Our job is to both help people return to a normal existence and without contradiction, to remind the American people and government forcefully of the need to maintain vigilance in this battle. We can play that role, of maintaining some of the anger, not for revenge but for justice."
Yoffie is also pessimistic about what the aftermath of the attacks would mean for Israel. He is concerned that governments that sponsor terrorism, particularly against Israel, such as those of Syria, Iran and the Palestinian Authority, would be included in the US-led coalition that President George W. Bush is putting together.
"The instinctive initial notion that this is somehow good for Israel is very questionable," Yoffie says.
(Box) This poem was written by a lawyer in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, less than a dozen kilometers from the site of the World Trade Center, as she cleared away the layer of gray ashes, sheets of computer printouts and bank statements from the twin towers which rained onto her balcony and into her apartment right after the attacks.
Her words capture much of the sense of enormity, horror and incredulity felt by many Americans in the days immediately afterwards, that their country, no less their pride and joy of a city, could come under so devastating an attack.
Ground Zero
There is empathy
And then there is this...
A new reality...
The acrid smell of ashes
laden with concrete
and the flesh and spirit of our brothers and sisters;
husbands and wives; sons and daughters; friends and lovers...
The shower of papers, pictures, photographs...
The computers stopped;
The elevators halted;
The phones
Disconnected;
Bridges, tunnels, highways,
the sky...
Avenues of freedom for so long,
now avenues of rescue and escape...
closed...
This is America... icons of freedom and democracy,
New York and Washington...
This cannot happen here...
The beautiful blue sky of light and freedom,
of spirit and kindness
is now a black and cloudy sky
raining tears of terror and fear...
Yes, Here.
Our home, our country...
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This would send a clear message that every act of terrorism will hurt the Palestinian cause, making a reality out of President George W. Bush's statement following the terrorist murder of Daniel Pearl: "[Terrorists] need to know that these crimes only hurt their cause."
For this policy to work, it must have the advance approval of the US government. If Israel carries out this policy after a moratorium on retaliation and full notice to the Palestinians, it should not be criticized
for doing so. If the entire world knows this is the policy and that it will be enforced automatically, and that the decision whether to trigger it in any given case rests completely with those who would engage in acts of terrorism against Israel, then pressure will be brought to bear on Palestinian terrorists to refrain from their intended actions.
For this policy to work, it must be accompanied by a genuine effort to reopen realistic peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. Such a double-edged policy would contribute to two noble causes at the same time: helping to reduce terrorism and promoting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. (The writer is a professor of law at Harvard. His latest book is Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age.)
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, 'Now I know how the Israelis feel', by Melissa Radler,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Pentagon attack panics Washington, by Janine Zacharia,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon weighs response to attacks, by Herb Keinon,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Air force on heightened alert, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel closes air space for 24 hours following US attacks, by Haim Shapiro,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Visitor: Attack shows you shouldn't be afraid to come to Israel, by Miriam Shaviv, Gil Hoffman, and Greer Fay Cashman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable', by Michal Meyer and Stuart Winer,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Katsav expresses nation's sorrow, by Greer Fay Cashman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror, by Gil Hoffman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, United Jewish Communities 'praying for attack victims', by Melissa Radler,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Gunmen kill two border policemen, by Margot Dudkevitch,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Dehamshe: I'm willing to be Islamic martyr, by Nina Gilbert,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Sbarro set to reopen today, by Greer Fay Cashman and AP,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Labor Party election chief resigns, by Gil Hoffman,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable', by Michal Meyer and Stuart Winer,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Pentagon attack panics Washington, by Janine Zacharia,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon declares day of mourning, by Herb Keinon, Judy Siegel,
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon weighing response to attacks, by Herb Keinon,
September 12, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror, by Gil Hoffman,
September 12, 2001, Jerusalem Post, WTC architect: Collapse 'unbelievable', by Michal Meyer and Stuart Winer,
JERUSALEM (September 12) - Aaron Swirsky, one of the architects of the World Trade Center, yesterday expressed disbelief on hearing of the collapse of the twin towers. Swirsky told JPostRadio the buildings had been designed with "accidents" in mind.
"The terrorism was different in those days, but there was always the possibility of an accident with a plane hitting the building. The building was designed like a pipe structurally, with the main structure in the perimeter of the building." This meant that a hole in the building would not collapse the whole structure. The fact that the buildings did collapse he described as "incredible."
Swirsky said the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center made a big hole in one building. "The intent was to topple the building, but because of the design it didn't. But now... it is unbelievable." He said the collapse may have been due to the size of the plane, bigger than the architects had ever planned for.
The floors above the crash sites would have been safe, at least at first, said Twirsky. "What is really tragic is the building was designed with each floor as a hermetic unit, as to evacuate a building like that is a nightmare. Imagine you are on the 100th floor and there is no elevator, so each floor is designed to be safe; but when it collapses then that whole theory goes up in smoke."
The buildings had no sprinklers, because each floor could be sealed off from the others in case of a fire. "There are shutters that would shut off the vertical openings [between floors] so that the fire couldn't travel from one floor to the other. That was the theory. When the danger had subsided they could evacuate."
After the planes crashed into the buildings, Swirsky said people in the floors above would have been trapped. They would have been unable to escape. The buildings were not designed to allow for a quick exit in case of emergency. Afterward, those trapped would have fallen with the buildings when they collapsed.
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September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists,
Reports indicate armed Palestinians trapped foreign photojournalists inside a Nablus hotel late yesterday while thousands took to the streets in celebration of the terror attacks in the United States.
The journalists were reportedly forced to remain confined in the hotel, guarded by armed Palestinians - both in uniform and wearing civilian clothes - while the festivities continued in the streets.
At least one photographer who did manage to capture images of the celebrations was told his life would be in danger if the
pictures were eventually published.
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September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, America under attack. Thousands die as two hijacked planes destroy World Trade Center. Pentagon also hit by seized plane.” by Jerry Schwartz, Page: 01,
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Mounting an audacious attack against the United States, terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin 110- story towers yesterday morning. A jetliner also slammed into Washington's Pentagon as the seat of government itself came under attack.
Hundreds were apparently killed aboard the jets, and untold numbers were feared dead in the rubble. Thousands were injured in New York alone.
A fourth jetliner, also apparently hijacked, crashed in Pennsylvania.
President George W. Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed this act."
Rescue workers had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers when the glass-and-steel skyscrapers came down in a thunderous roar within about 90 minutes after the attacks, which took place minutes apart around 9 a.m. But many people were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center and tens of thousands of others visit each day.
American Airlines said two of its planes, both hijacked, crashed with a total of 156 people aboard, but said it could not confirm where they went down. Two United airliners with a total of 110 aboard also crashed - one outside Pittsburgh, the other in a location not immediately identified. Altogether, the planes had 266 people aboard.
People on fire leaped from the windows to certain death, including a man and a woman holding hands. Some jumped from as high as the 80th floor as the planes exploded into fireballs. People on the ground screamed and dived for cover as debris rained down. Dazed office workers covered in dirt wandered around like ghosts, weeping, trying to make sense of what happened.
Donald Burns, 34, who had been at a meeting on the 82nd floor of One World Trade Center, saw four severely burned people on the stairwell. "I tried to help them but they didn't want anyone to touch them. The fire had melted their skin. Their clothes were tattered," he said.
"People were screaming, falling, and jumping out of the windows," from high in the sky, said Jennifer Brickhouse, 34, of Union, New Jersey, who was going up the escalator into the World Trade Center.
By early afternoon, the downtown area was cordoned off and a rescue effort was under way. Hundreds of volunteers and medical workers converged on triage centers, offering help and blood. Paramedics waiting to be sent into the rubble were told that "once the smoke clears, it's going to be massive bodies," said Brian Stark, a former navy paramedic who volunteered to help.
He said the paramedics had been told that hundreds of police and firefighters are missing from the ranks of those sent in to respond to the first crash.
Within the hour after the attack in New York, the Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from a plane. The fiery crash collapsed one side of the five-sided structure.
"This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the world," said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. "It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden."
The president put the military on its highest level of alert. Authorities in Washington immediately called out troops, including an infantry regiment, and the navy sent aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New York and Washington.
The White House, the Pentagon, and the Capitol were evacuated along with other federal buildings in Washington and New York. The president was taken to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, headquarters for the Strategic Air Command, the nation's nuclear strike force, the White House said.
Security was tightened along the Canadian border and at naval installations and other strategic points. All commercial air traffic across the country was halted until at least noon today.
"This is the second Pearl Harbor," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican. "I don't think that I overstate it." The December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor killed nearly 2,400 people and drew the United States into World War II.
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said: "These attacks clearly constitute an act of war."
A Virginia congressman, Rep. James Moran, said the intended target of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was apparently Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
The crash site is 135 kilometers northwest of there. Moran spoke after attending a briefing in Washington.
In June, a US judge had set this Wednesday as the sentencing date for a bin Laden associate for his role in the 1998 bombing of a US Embassy in Tanzania. The sentencing had been set for the federal courthouse near the World Trade Center. No one from the US Attorney's Office could be reached yesterday to comment on whether the sentencing was still on.
Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that bin Laden was behind them, saying he does not have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks. Bin Laden has been given asylum in Afghanistan.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said he received a warning from Islamic fundamentalists close to bin Laden, but did not take the threat seriously. "They said it would be a huge and unprecedented attack but they did not specify," Atwan said in a telephone interview in London.
In Nablus, thousands of Palestinians celebrated the attacks, chanting "God is Great" and handing out candy.
In New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 2,100 people were injured - 1,500 "walking wounded," and 600 others who were taken to area hospitals, 150 of them in critical condition. It could take weeks to dig through the rubble for victims.
"I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost," Giuliani said. "Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible." Hours after the attacks, huge clouds of smoke billowed from the ruins, obscuring much of the skyline.
The two planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of one of New York's most famous landmarks and rained debris on the streets. About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar and a huge cloud of smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that, covering lower Manhattan in heaps of gray rubble and broken glass.
Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 8 centimeters deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified.
John Axisa, who was getting off a commuter train to the World Trade Center, said he saw "bodies falling out" of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched people jump out of the first building. Then there was a second explosion, and he felt heat on the back of neck.
People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building.
Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper drifted over Brooklyn, about three kilometers away.
Several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. New York's mayoral primary election yesterday was postponed. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed.
The death toll on the crashed planes alone could surpass that of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, which claimed 168 lives in what was then the deadliest act of terrorism on US soil.
"Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said earlier in Sarasota, Florida. "Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country." He said he would be returning immediately to Washington.
American Airlines initially identified the planes that crashed into the Trade Center as Flight 11, a Los Angeles- bound jet hijacked after takeoff from Boston with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77, which was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles.
Law enforcement officials said it was Flight 77 that hit the Pentagon.
In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed about 130 kilometers southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard. United said another of its planes, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people on board, also crashed, but it did not say where. The fate of those aboard the two planes was not immediately known.
United's pilots union said United Flight 175 crashed into the Trade Center. But the airline had no immediate comment.
An emergency dispatcher in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, received a cell phone call at 9:58 a.m. from a man who said he was a passenger locked in the bathroom of United Flight 93, said dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer.
"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" Cramer quoted the man as saying. The man told dispatchers the plane "was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him," Cramer said.
Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations in New York and at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division. Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, was evacuated, and Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada line was closed to visitors.
Terrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
"It's just sick. It just shows how vulnerable we really are," Keith Meyers, 39, said in Columbus, Ohio. "It kind of makes you want to go home and spend time with your family. It puts everything in perspective."
(Box) Approximate timeline of the attacks in the United States
8:50 a.m. - American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked after leaving Boston for Los Angeles, crashes into north tower of World Trade Center. Plane was carrying 92 people.
9:08 a.m. - American Airlines Flight 77, en route from Washington to Los Angeles, crashes into south tower of World Trade Center. Plane was carrying 64 people.
9:30 a.m. - Aircraft crashes at Pentagon in Washington, collapsing part of one of the building's five sides. No immediate details released on the flight, though United Airlines said Flight 175, carrying 65 people from Boston to Los Angeles, crashed at undisclosed location.
9:50-10:30 a.m. - Both towers of the World Trade Center collapse.
10 a.m. - United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco crashes 130 kilometers southeast of Pittsburgh. Plane was carrying 45 people.
10-11:30 a.m. - Government buildings around the country are evacuated, including the Capitol and the White House.
The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down airports nationwide. The United Nations closed down. In New York, tunnels, bridges and mass transit are closed. The Sears Tower is closed in Chicago.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:15 - Wed) Thousands of Israelis missing near WTC, Pentagon
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attack.
The list is made up of people who have not yet made contact with friends or family, Army Radio reported.
Telephone connections between Israel and the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas has been sporadic and unreliable since the multiple attacks yesterday.
Ten thousand people are estimated to have been killed in the New York attacks and another 800 in Washington.
Several hundred also went down with the hijacked planes.
Update: September 13, 2001: Four Israelis were almost certainly in the twin towers of the World Trade Center when they collapsed, the Israeli consul in New York said this evening, he added that in all likelihood, four more Israelis in nearby buildings are also among the casualties, Army Radio reported.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:15 - Wed) Thousands of Israelis missing near WTC, Pentagon,
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attack.
The list is made up of people who have not yet made contact with friends or family, Army Radio reported, telephone connections between Israel and the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas has been sporadic and unreliable since the multiple attacks yesterday.
Ten thousand people are estimated to have been killed in the New York attacks and another 800 in Washington, several hundred also went down with the hijacked planes.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (07:55) Hundreds of Israelis missing in WTC attack, by The Jerusalem Post Internet Staff,
A UNITED Airlines spokesman confirmed that Alona Avraham, a resident of Ashdod, was a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 75, the second hijacked plane to crash into the World Trade Center in New York. [This story last updated 14:30]
Avraham was in her mid-twenties and had recently finished university studies.
Avraham had spent a few days in Boston with friends and was heading for Los Angeles for a two-week visit, to include Rosh Hashanah.
Israeli Daniel Levin, 31, was also reported to be on one of the hijacked planes that was forced down by terrorists, Army Radio reported.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attack.
Israeli foreign missions in New York City and Washington are also working overtime to locate missing Israelis. For emergency telephone numbers set up to aid in the search and rescue efforts, click here.
Tom Tugend contributed to this report.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attack.
The list is made up of people who have not yet made contact with friends or family, Army Radio reported.
Telephone connections between Israel and the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas has been sporadic and unreliable since the multiple attacks yesterday.
Ten thousand people are estimated to have been killed in the New York attacks and another 800 in Washington.
Several hundred also went down with the hijacked planes.
Update: September 13, 2001: Four Israelis were almost certainly in the twin towers of the World Trade Center when they collapsed, the Israeli consul in New York said this evening, he added that in all likelihood, four more Israelis in nearby buildings are also among the casualties, Army Radio reported.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:15 - Wed) Thousands of Israelis missing near WTC, Pentagon,
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attack.
The list is made up of people who have not yet made contact with friends or family, Army Radio reported, telephone connections between Israel and the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas has been sporadic and unreliable since the multiple attacks yesterday.
Ten thousand people are estimated to have been killed in the New York attacks and another 800 in Washington, several hundred also went down with the hijacked planes.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (07:55) Hundreds of Israelis missing in WTC attack, by The Jerusalem Post Internet Staff,
A UNITED Airlines spokesman confirmed that Alona Avraham, a resident of Ashdod, was a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 75, the second hijacked plane to crash into the World Trade Center in New York. [This story last updated 14:30]
Avraham was in her mid-twenties and had recently finished university studies.
Avraham had spent a few days in Boston with friends and was heading for Los Angeles for a two-week visit, to include Rosh Hashanah.
Israeli Daniel Levin, 31, was also reported to be on one of the hijacked planes that was forced down by terrorists, Army Radio reported.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attack.
Israeli foreign missions in New York City and Washington are also working overtime to locate missing Israelis. For emergency telephone numbers set up to aid in the search and rescue efforts, click here.
Tom Tugend contributed to this report.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / Associated Press, (22:40 - Tues) Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating, by Mohammed Daraghmeh,
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) – Thousands of Palestinians celebrated toiday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags.
Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In traditionally Arab eastern Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said.
"We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks.
Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:45) Car bomb found on George Washington Bridge,
American security services overnight stopped a car bomb on the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey.
The van, packed with explosives, was stopped on an approach ramp to the bridge.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:20) IDF rescue units depart for NYC,
The IDF's disaster rescue unit attached to the Home Front Command is scheduled to leave for New York City this afternoon.
One hundred twenty soldiers will assist US authorities in participating in the operation, Army Radio reported.
The Israeli transport flight will be given special permission to land in the New York area. American airspace remains closed at this time to all except military flights.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:40) Bin Laden: Terror was US work,
Saudi Arabian terrorist Osama bin Laden has denied all connections to the wave of terror which struck across the United States yesterday morning.
Speaking early today, bin Laden claimed that what happened in New York, Washington, and outside Pittsburgh was an American operation not at all connected to his organization.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (11:15) Iraqi TV: US 'Reaping Fruits of Crimes Against Humanity',
The following is the text of a commentary broadcast yesterday on Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic at 1700 GMT.
The station is the official television station of the Iraqi Government.
"The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity.
"It is a black day in the history of America, which is tasting the bitter defeat of its crimes and disregard for peoples' will to lead a free, decent life.
"The massive explosions in the centers of power in America, notably the Pentagon, is a painful slap in the face of US politicians to stop their illegitimate hegemony and attempts to impose custodianship on peoples.
"It was no coincidence that the World Trade Center was destroyed in suicidal operations involving two planes that have broken through all US security barriers to carry the operation of the century and to express rejection of the reckless US policy.
"Panic has spread among US official circles, which evacuated the White House following a series of explosions.
"They also evacuated the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress and closed down the airports and government institutions.
"The collapse of US centers of power is a collapse of the US policy, which deviates from human values and stands by world Zionism at all international forums to continue to slaughter the Palestinian Arab people and implement US plans to dominate the world under the cover of what is called the new [world] order.
"These are the fruits of the new US order.
Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon all democratic nations of the world to join an
international coalition to crush the terrorist organizations and the regimes that sponsor them.
Netanyahu warned last night that the attacks could be a harbinger of worse tragedies that could kill millions of people once Iran or Iraq acquire nuclear weapons.
To read more, click here.
Hamas official Prof. Ismail Abuschanab says today's terrorist attacks are a tragedy for the US.
To hear his interview with JPost Radio's Blake Lambert, click here.
(FBIS Translated Text - With thanks to Laurie Mylorie - Iraq Watch)
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror, by Gil Hoffman,
JERUSALEM (September 12) - Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon all democratic nations of the world to join an international coalition to crush the terrorist organizations and the regimes that sponsor them.
Netanyahu warned last night that the attacks could be a harbinger of worse tragedies that could kill millions of people once Iran or Iraq acquire nuclear weapons.
"We must build a coalition against terror today, when our power is unmatched, because tomorrow it could be matched," Netanyahu said in a news conference at Jerusalem's King David Hotel. "It's times to take on militant Islamic regimes with a great deal of strength. We should crush the terrorist infrastructure that threatens the entire free world."
Netanyahu predicted that yesterday would be a turning point in the history of the United States, similar to Pearl Harbor. He called upon the United States to lead the effort against "the Bin Ladens, Arafats, and Saddam Husseins of the world."
The former prime minister said he predicted massive attacks on the World Trade Center shortly after the last attack on the building, and in his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism.
"After an interlude of several years in which the vigil against terrorism was relaxed, new forces of domestic and international terror have emerged," Netanyahu wrote in the book's prelude. "Chief among them are the various strains of militant Islam, which likewise see their ultimate destiny as leading to a final confrontation with the Great Satan, the United States."
Netanyahu scoffed at former prime minister Ehud Barak's plan for separation from the West Bank, saying that Israel cannot build a fence taller than the Twin Towers. He warned that terror attacks on Israel are only a preparation for more serious attacks against the US.
The fact that no organization took responsibility for the attacks is irrelevant, Netanyahu said, because the root cause of the attacks are "terrorist states like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian entity" that want to "devour the West."
"For them, our free civilization is satanic - an abomination that should be wiped off the face of the earth," Netanyahu said.
The former prime minister added that there is not a people in the world that identifies with the agony the Americans are going through more than Israel, and that he "speaks for all Israelis" in saying the hearts of Israelis are broken by the tragedy.
Barak said that Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden was most likely behind the series of plane attacks on two major US cities yesterday.
Speaking to Britain's Sky Television in London, Barak said governments needed to make a concerted effort to combat terrorism.
"Most obviously my guess is a bin Laden organization...We have to stand firm against such terrorism," Barak said. "We have to coordinate to launch the same kind of fight that our forefathers gave to the fight against piracy on the high seas - mainly terrorists should not be allowed to land at any port or airport," he said.
Barak called for a summit between the United States, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Israel and "some Islamic" states, but not those seen to "be hosting terrorists."
"The leadership of the world should be able to take action. It is time for action. The world is not going to be the same place as before," he said.
US authorities have not accused anyone of orchestrating the attacks, but bin Laden has been accused by Washington of masterminding the almost simultaneous destruction of two US embassies in Africa in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.
(Reuters contributed to this report.)
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:00) Report: Armed Palestinians threatened photojournalists,
Reports indicate armed Palestinians trapped foreign photojournalists inside a Nablus hotel late yesterday while thousands took to the streets in celebration of the terror attacks in the United States.
The journalists were reportedly forced to remain confined in the hotel, guarded by armed Palestinians - both in uniform and wearing civilian clothes - while the festivities continued in the streets.
At least one photographer who did manage to capture images of the celebrations was told his life would be in danger if the pictures were eventually published.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:10) Palestinian terror groups decry US attacks, by Steve Weizman, The Associated Press,
JERUSALEM, (AP) – Palestinian groups which have admitted past attacks on Israeli civilians were at pains today to distance themselves from the devastating events in New York and Washington.
Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, a spokesman for Hamas, said the radical Islamic organization had no involvement with yesterday's suicide attacks in the United States. Hamas has repeatedly trained and equipped suicide bombers for missions into Israeli cities that have killed hundreds of people over the years.
"Our jihad (holy war) is against the Zionist enemy and not against American civilians, or American targets," he said. "We are against the policy of the United States but we are not against the American people."
Islamic Jihad leader Nafez Azzam took an identical line, but added the charge that Israel was exploiting the airborne attacks in the United States to distract attention from its own actions against the Palestinians.
"The Islamic Jihad war will continue against the Zionist enemy because they are our enemy, no one else," he said.
Israel has said its strikes against Palestinian targets are aimed at stopping terror attacks in Israel.
Another radical Palestinian group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, also denied it was connected in any way to yesterday's carnage. A PFLP spokesman, who only identified himself as Jibril, said he thought the attacks were too complex and demanding to be the work of a single group.
"I think its something bigger, it's not us and I don't think it's an Islamic group," he said.
Yet the tightly coordinated hijacking of four aircraft yesterday sounded echoes of an operation in September 1970, when PFLP members seized three planes, flew them to Jordan and blew them up after releasing the passengers.
Palestinian political analyst Ghassan a-Khatib agreed that the scale of yesterday's assault was too large to have been the work of known Palestinian groups.
"This is extremely sophisticated, bigger than any of the groups we already know," he said. "Something like this takes a very big, very strong, very sophisticated group, one which is well integrated into US society."
Khatib did not, however, believe that a hostile government was behind the attacks. "I don't think there is a state which would dare to launch a war against the United States," he said.
US authorities are focusing their suspicions on Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Arabian millionaire and terror mastermind.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:35) Consulate helps some 500 Israelis contact their families,
The Israeli consulate in New York has put close to 500 Israelis currently in New York in touch with their families in Israel.
The Israeli consul in New York, Alon Pinchas, said consulate workers are checking local hospitals for victims with Israeli sounding names, Army Radio reported.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:25) IDF rescue team will not travel to US,
The IDF's emergency rescue team will not be traveling to the United States to help in the search for survivors in the aftermath of yesterday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
The US, which already has its own earthquake rescue teams and emergency personnel at the scenes, today told the IDF its services would not be needed, The Jerusalem Post's Arieh O'Sullivan reported.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:25) Relatives of slain Israelis reach out to Americans, by Jason Keyser, The Associated Press,
JERUSALEM (AP) – Relatives of Israelis who died in hostilities with Palestinians gathered today to draw comfort from a display of thousands of cards sent by American children.
Instead, the grieving Israelis found themselves reaching out to victims in the United States, after the worst terror attack in history leveled the World Trade Center in New York City and part of the Pentagon in Washington yesterday.
The 300 Israelis filled a sunny plaza at Jerusalem's city hall to read the Jewish New Year cards. They had suffered their share of tragedy over nearly a year of Palestinian-Israeli fighting.
"I hope that the kids of Israel will also write cards and letters to the kids whose relatives were killed in yesterday's terror attacks in America," said Daniel Mandell, 12, as his mother Sherri wept. Mandell's brother and a friend were killed in a West Bank cave in May.
Many signed a book of condolences. One entry read: "We are a group of parents who lost our children in the Dolphinarium bombing. Be strong!"
In that June 1 attack, a Palestinian strapped with explosives blew himself up in a crowd of young Israelis waiting to get into the Tel Aviv seaside disco, killing himself and 21 others.
Israeli and American flags at the city hall plaza were lowered to half mast after Israel declared today a day of mourning for the American victims.
People filed past the cards. One was scrawled in a child's handwriting: "Dear person, wish you a happy and safe new year! Sorry what's happening in Israel." The Jewish New Year is to be marked next week.
The cards were on display last week in New York, where Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed one.
Menachem Ibin, 19, from Great Neck, NY, was there last week together with a survivor of the attack on the Tel Aviv disco, Rita Abramov, 17, who accepted the card.
"Last week I took her to the World Trade Center, to the top floor," said Ibin, who was writing a sign that read, "Israel and USA, stop terrorism now."
The twin towers collapsed after two airliners smashed into them.
"I didn't even know it until I got to Israel," he said. "I got into a taxi and the driver said there's a war there. I said, 'Where, in Israel?' 'No, in America,' the driver said. 'The trade center is gone."'
Seth Mandell, an American immigrant and father of one of the boys killed near the West Bank cave, was shocked to see a tragedy that mirrored his own.
Mandell, who started a foundation named after his slain son to bring together Jewish children who have suffered similar trauma, is now thinking of making the project international.
His wife, Sherri, experienced in grief, had some advice for American victims.
"The pain you're going to feel is totally unbearable," she said. "You're going to wish you were dead. You're going to feel like you're dead. And you have to allow yourself to feel that. ... You will survive this."
September 12, 2001, (22:40 - Tues) The Associated Press / Jerusalem Post, Arafat horrified; Palestinians celebrating, by Mohammed Daraghmeh,
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) – Thousands of Palestinians celebrated toiday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags.
Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In traditionally Arab eastern Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said.
"We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks.
Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
September 12, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (23:00 - Tues) Old City residents react with joy & horror
On a visit throughout Jerusalem's Old City, JPost Radio's Dave Bender heard a spectrum of opinions about today's horrific terrorist attacks along the US eastern seaboard.
Some Palestinians celebrated upon hearing about the attack, calling it a fit and proper response to US support for Israel. Others were saddened by the scope of the horror.
Local Christian residents of the Old City were dismayed, somber.
American Christian tourists were simply frightened.
A group of American Jewish seminary students from New York were worried for the fate of their families, still trapped on Manhattan island.
To hear the JPost Radio report, Click here for Media Player format.
September 12, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (20:50) Foreign correspondents told to prepare for US attack,
Several newspapers in the United States have told their correspondents based in Israel to be prepared to depart for Syria, Egypt, or the Persian Gulf.
According to the correspondents, the purpose of the reassignments would be to cover the eventuality of any US attack against Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan, states accused of supporting terrorism, Army Radio reported.
_______________________________________________________________________________
September 12, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu: World must join to crush terror, by Gil Hoffman,
JERUSALEM (September 12) - Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon all democratic nations of the world to join an international coalition to crush the terrorist organizations and the regimes that sponsor them.
Netanyahu warned last night that the attacks could be a harbinger of worse tragedies that could kill millions of people once Iran or Iraq acquire nuclear weapons.
"We must build a coalition against terror today, when our power is unmatched, because tomorrow it could be matched," Netanyahu said in a news conference at Jerusalem's King David Hotel. "It's times to take on militant Islamic regimes with a great deal of strength. We should crush the terrorist infrastructure that threatens the entire free world."
Netanyahu predicted that yesterday would be a turning point in the history of the United States, similar to Pearl Harbor. He called upon the United States to lead the effort against "the Bin Ladens, Arafats, and Saddam Husseins of the world."
The former prime minister said he predicted massive attacks on the World Trade Center shortly after the last attack on the building, and in his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism.
"After an interlude of several years in which the vigil against terrorism was relaxed, new forces of domestic and international terror have emerged," Netanyahu wrote in the book's prelude. "Chief among them are the various strains of militant Islam, which likewise see their ultimate destiny as leading to a final confrontation with the Great Satan, the United States."
Netanyahu scoffed at former prime minister Ehud Barak's plan for separation from the West Bank, saying that Israel cannot build a fence taller than the Twin Towers. He warned that terror attacks on Israel are only a preparation for more serious attacks against the US.
The fact that no organization took responsibility for the attacks is irrelevant, Netanyahu said, because the root cause of the attacks are "terrorist states like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian entity" that want to "devour the West."
"For them, our free civilization is satanic - an abomination that should be wiped off the face of the earth," Netanyahu said.
The former prime minister added that there is not a people in the world that identifies with the agony the Americans are going through more than Israel, and that he "speaks for all Israelis" in saying the hearts of Israelis are broken by the tragedy.
Barak said that Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden was most likely behind the series of plane attacks on two major US cities yesterday.
Speaking to Britain's Sky Television in London, Barak said governments needed to make a concerted effort to combat terrorism.
"Most obviously my guess is a bin Laden organization...We have to stand firm against such terrorism," Barak said. "We have to coordinate to launch the same kind of fight that our forefathers gave to the fight against piracy on the high seas - mainly terrorists should not be allowed to land at any port or airport," he said.
Barak called for a summit between the United States, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Israel and "some Islamic" states, but not those seen to "be hosting terrorists."
"The leadership of the world should be able to take action. It is time for action. The world is not going to be the same place as before," he said.
US authorities have not accused anyone of orchestrating the attacks, but bin Laden has been accused by Washington of masterminding the almost simultaneous destruction of two US embassies in Africa in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.
(Reuters contributed to this report.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - AP, Arafat 'horrified' but Palestinians celebrate, by Mohammed Daraghimeh,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Air traffic slowly returning to normal, by Haim Shapiro,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Canceled flights wreak havoc with holiday travel, by Jessica Steinberg
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Chief rabbis ask Muslims to renounce terror, by Haim Shapiro,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Country mourns with Americans, by Nina Gilbert and Judy Siegel,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, De profundis, by Daniel Doron,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Editorial, Defining the enemy,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Demand for Israeli security expertise seen rising, by Sharon Berger,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Experts: As US takes blow, local economy seen slowing further, by Tal Muscal and Sharon Berger,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Founder of Akamai among US terror victims, by Gregg Gardner,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Horror hits world financial center, by Jessica Steinberg
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, How Will History Repeat?, Letter, Varda Epstein,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Internet offers worried Israelis alternative channel to loved ones, by Gwen Ackerman,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - Reuters, Iranian media blame US-Israel ties for attacks,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli expat owns retail lease for World Trade Center, by Sharon Berger,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli founder of Akamai among US terror victims, by Gregg Gardner,
JERUSALEM (September 12) - Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon all democratic nations of the world to join an international coalition to crush the terrorist organizations and the regimes that sponsor them.
Netanyahu warned last night that the attacks could be a harbinger of worse tragedies that could kill millions of people once Iran or Iraq acquire nuclear weapons.
"We must build a coalition against terror today, when our power is unmatched, because tomorrow it could be matched," Netanyahu said in a news conference at Jerusalem's King David Hotel. "It's times to take on militant Islamic regimes with a great deal of strength. We should crush the terrorist infrastructure that threatens the entire free world."
Netanyahu predicted that yesterday would be a turning point in the history of the United States, similar to Pearl Harbor. He called upon the United States to lead the effort against "the Bin Ladens, Arafats, and Saddam Husseins of the world."
The former prime minister said he predicted massive attacks on the World Trade Center shortly after the last attack on the building, and in his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism.
"After an interlude of several years in which the vigil against terrorism was relaxed, new forces of domestic and international terror have emerged," Netanyahu wrote in the book's prelude. "Chief among them are the various strains of militant Islam, which likewise see their ultimate destiny as leading to a final confrontation with the Great Satan, the United States."
Netanyahu scoffed at former prime minister Ehud Barak's plan for separation from the West Bank, saying that Israel cannot build a fence taller than the Twin Towers. He warned that terror attacks on Israel are only a preparation for more serious attacks against the US.
The fact that no organization took responsibility for the attacks is irrelevant, Netanyahu said, because the root cause of the attacks are "terrorist states like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian entity" that want to "devour the West."
"For them, our free civilization is satanic - an abomination that should be wiped off the face of the earth," Netanyahu said.
The former prime minister added that there is not a people in the world that identifies with the agony the Americans are going through more than Israel, and that he "speaks for all Israelis" in saying the hearts of Israelis are broken by the tragedy.
Barak said that Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden was most likely behind the series of plane attacks on two major US cities yesterday.
Speaking to Britain's Sky Television in London, Barak said governments needed to make a concerted effort to combat terrorism.
"Most obviously my guess is a bin Laden organization...We have to stand firm against such terrorism," Barak said. "We have to coordinate to launch the same kind of fight that our forefathers gave to the fight against piracy on the high seas - mainly terrorists should not be allowed to land at any port or airport," he said.
Barak called for a summit between the United States, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Israel and "some Islamic" states, but not those seen to "be hosting terrorists."
"The leadership of the world should be able to take action. It is time for action. The world is not going to be the same place as before," he said.
US authorities have not accused anyone of orchestrating the attacks, but bin Laden has been accused by Washington of masterminding the almost simultaneous destruction of two US embassies in Africa in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.
(Reuters contributed to this report.)
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - AP, Arafat 'horrified' but Palestinians celebrate, by Mohammed Daraghimeh,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Air traffic slowly returning to normal, by Haim Shapiro,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Canceled flights wreak havoc with holiday travel, by Jessica Steinberg
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Chief rabbis ask Muslims to renounce terror, by Haim Shapiro,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Country mourns with Americans, by Nina Gilbert and Judy Siegel,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, De profundis, by Daniel Doron,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Editorial, Defining the enemy,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Demand for Israeli security expertise seen rising, by Sharon Berger,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Experts: As US takes blow, local economy seen slowing further, by Tal Muscal and Sharon Berger,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Founder of Akamai among US terror victims, by Gregg Gardner,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Horror hits world financial center, by Jessica Steinberg
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, How Will History Repeat?, Letter, Varda Epstein,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Internet offers worried Israelis alternative channel to loved ones, by Gwen Ackerman,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - Reuters, Iranian media blame US-Israel ties for attacks,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli expat owns retail lease for World Trade Center, by Sharon Berger,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli founder of Akamai among US terror victims, by Gregg Gardner,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel closes air space for 24 hours following US terror attacks, by Haim Shapiro,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel's war is no longer its alone, by Tom Rose,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders spotlight Palestinians' support of attacks against America, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders stress Palestinians' support of attacks, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Massive search in New York locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders spotlight Palestinians' support of attacks against America, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders stress Palestinians' support of attacks, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Massive search in New York locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / Reuters, New US stance on Mideast seen likely, by Timothy Heritage,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Not Terrorism, by Burt Jay Mazia,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Osama bin Laden's links to the Palestinians widening, by Arieh O’Sullivan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres: Decision time for Arafat, by Gil Hoffman and Lamia Lahoud,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Powell urges renewed peace efforts, by Janine Zacharia,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Powell urges renewed Mideast peace efforts,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sbarro reopens after bombing,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Stricken With Blindness, Letter, Leonard Lowy
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Search in NYC locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler, [not in Highbeam]
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The lucky break of running late, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The US will respond, by Uri Dan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Toronto Jews welcome El Al passengers, by Haim Shapiro,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - IMRA, Text: Foreign Press Association in Israel condemns PA for threatening journalists,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, UJC cancels support rally, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US attacks further jeopardize Bezeq tender,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US intelligence's day of reckoning, Analysis By David Kimche,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US: IDF rescue team not needed, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Woman slain in drive-by shooting,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Zim workers saved by cost-cutting, by Miriam Shaviv,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (22:15) Sharon compares Arafat to bin Laden
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (22:00) Israeli youth, feared abducted, returned safe and sound
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:15) Israeli woman in shock after Palestinians attack her car,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:10) El Al refused permission to fly to US,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:05) Israeli consul: Four Israelis in twin towers collapse,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:00) Latest JPost Radio newscast,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (20:30) Nate Huffman returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (20:15) Terrorist attack affects Bezek privatization plan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (19:30) Cabinet ministers to Sharon: No Peres-Arafat meeting,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (19:10) Terror expert: Bin Laden may act against Israel,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:45) Greek FM to meet Peres, Arafat,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:40) Peres, Arafat will meet before Sunday evening,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:30) Swissair flies to Israel, cancels Libya routes,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:10) Abed Rabbo: Israel exploiting terror strikes on US,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (17:45) Foreign journalists 'deeply concerned' by PA harassment,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (17:30) French ambassador causes furor over terror
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (17:25) Minister Landau: Strong Arafat-bin Laden links (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (6:55) Israel to AP: Release film of Palestinian celebrations,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:30) Terrorists captured in Hebron hills,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:10) IDF pulls out of Jericho,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, 16:00) El Al first flight to depart NYC area,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (15:30) GSS discusses evacuation with West Bank rabbis,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:55) Jewish law and the World Trade Center attack (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:30) Jerusalem takes on the Big Apple,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (13:25) Americans turn to God (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (13:20) US Embassy: No need to avoid American airlines,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (11:45) Three Palestinians killed in retaliatory raids,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (10:55) Gaza Strip crossing point reopens,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:55) Arafat 'organizes' pro-US rallies,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:40) New York sets up virtual database for victims,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:05) Is Jerusalem safer than New York? (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:50) NY consul estimate: More Israelis feared dead,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:45) Solidarity a two-way street (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:25) Palestinian shot to death near Jerusalem,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:15) Jericho: PA walls come tumblin' down,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Not Terrorism, by Burt Jay Mazia,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Osama bin Laden's links to the Palestinians widening, by Arieh O’Sullivan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres: Decision time for Arafat, by Gil Hoffman and Lamia Lahoud,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Powell urges renewed peace efforts, by Janine Zacharia,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Powell urges renewed Mideast peace efforts,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sbarro reopens after bombing,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Stricken With Blindness, Letter, Leonard Lowy
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Search in NYC locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler, [not in Highbeam]
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The lucky break of running late, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The US will respond, by Uri Dan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Toronto Jews welcome El Al passengers, by Haim Shapiro,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - IMRA, Text: Foreign Press Association in Israel condemns PA for threatening journalists,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, UJC cancels support rally, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US attacks further jeopardize Bezeq tender,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US intelligence's day of reckoning, Analysis By David Kimche,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US: IDF rescue team not needed, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Woman slain in drive-by shooting,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Zim workers saved by cost-cutting, by Miriam Shaviv,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (22:15) Sharon compares Arafat to bin Laden
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (22:00) Israeli youth, feared abducted, returned safe and sound
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:15) Israeli woman in shock after Palestinians attack her car,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:10) El Al refused permission to fly to US,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:05) Israeli consul: Four Israelis in twin towers collapse,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (21:00) Latest JPost Radio newscast,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (20:30) Nate Huffman returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (20:15) Terrorist attack affects Bezek privatization plan,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (19:30) Cabinet ministers to Sharon: No Peres-Arafat meeting,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (19:10) Terror expert: Bin Laden may act against Israel,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:45) Greek FM to meet Peres, Arafat,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:40) Peres, Arafat will meet before Sunday evening,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:30) Swissair flies to Israel, cancels Libya routes,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (18:10) Abed Rabbo: Israel exploiting terror strikes on US,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (17:45) Foreign journalists 'deeply concerned' by PA harassment,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (17:30) French ambassador causes furor over terror
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (17:25) Minister Landau: Strong Arafat-bin Laden links (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (6:55) Israel to AP: Release film of Palestinian celebrations,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:30) Terrorists captured in Hebron hills,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (16:10) IDF pulls out of Jericho,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, 16:00) El Al first flight to depart NYC area,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (15:30) GSS discusses evacuation with West Bank rabbis,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:55) Jewish law and the World Trade Center attack (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (14:30) Jerusalem takes on the Big Apple,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (13:25) Americans turn to God (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (13:20) US Embassy: No need to avoid American airlines,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (11:45) Three Palestinians killed in retaliatory raids,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (10:55) Gaza Strip crossing point reopens,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:55) Arafat 'organizes' pro-US rallies,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:40) New York sets up virtual database for victims,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:05) Is Jerusalem safer than New York? (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:50) NY consul estimate: More Israelis feared dead,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:45) Solidarity a two-way street (audio),
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:25) Palestinian shot to death near Jerusalem,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:15) Jericho: PA walls come tumblin' down,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The lucky break of running late, by Melissa Radler,
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Opinion,, Defining the enemy,
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September 13, 2001. Jerusalem Post, (20:15) Terrorist attack affects Bezek privatization plan
The proposed privatization plan for the Bezek telephone company will apparently be put under more scrutiny due to the terrorist attacks in the United States.
The government is expected to discuss at next week's cabinet meeting the ramifications of declining world financial markets caused by the disasters.
Several cabinet ministers said the privatization plan should be postponed because of uncertainty in the world economy.
However, Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said privatization should start immediately.
According to sources in the Prime Minister's Office, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is interested in selling off Bezek as soon as possible, Army Radio reported.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (18:10) Abed Rabbo: Israel exploiting terror strikes on US
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Opinion,, Defining the enemy,
_____________________________________________________________________________
September 13, 2001. Jerusalem Post, (20:15) Terrorist attack affects Bezek privatization plan
The proposed privatization plan for the Bezek telephone company will apparently be put under more scrutiny due to the terrorist attacks in the United States.
The government is expected to discuss at next week's cabinet meeting the ramifications of declining world financial markets caused by the disasters.
Several cabinet ministers said the privatization plan should be postponed because of uncertainty in the world economy.
However, Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said privatization should start immediately.
According to sources in the Prime Minister's Office, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is interested in selling off Bezek as soon as possible, Army Radio reported.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (18:10) Abed Rabbo: Israel exploiting terror strikes on US
Palestinian Minister of Culture and Information Yasser Abed Rabbo said Israel taking advantage of the recent string of terror attacks in the United States.
While the eyes of the world are focused on New York and Washington, the IDF has invaded Jenin and Jericho and killed four Palestinians, Abed Rabbo said.
"Israel is exploiting the present situation, during which the world is preoccupied with the terrorist attack that hit the United Sates, in order to launch terrorist attacks against the Palestinian people," said a statement released by the Palestine Media Center in the name of Abed Rabbo.
"The Israeli government is taking advantage of the situation in order to continue its state-terrorism campaign against our People and its leadership... The Israeli government is hiding behind the dust and tragedy in New York and Washington DC to commit these crimes against our innocent civilians and cities."
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (17:45) Foreign journalists 'deeply concerned' by PA harassment,
Foreign journalists based in Israel have condemned the Palestinian Authority's harassment of journalists and its suppression of videotape made of Palestinian celebrations in the wake of the terror attacks in the United States this week.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel released the following statement relating to this incident:
"The FPA expresses deep concern over the harassment of journalists by the Palestinian Authority as police forces and armed gunmen tried to prevent photo and video coverage of Tuesday's rally in Nablus where hundreds of Palestinians celebrated the terror attacks in NY and Washington.
"We strongly condemn the direct threats made against local videographers by local militia members and the attitude of Palestinian officials who made no effort to counter the threats, control the situation, or to guarantee the safety of the journalists and the freedom of the press.
"We call on the PA to ensure freedom of the press and the free flow of information and to prevent elements operating within PA jurisdiction from making or carrying out threats that aim to impede this and effectively impose censorship. We hold the PA fully responsible for the safety of each and every journalist operating within their areas, especially those who were filming and covering Tuesday's events in Nablus."
For more details on this emerging story, click here.
While the eyes of the world are focused on New York and Washington, the IDF has invaded Jenin and Jericho and killed four Palestinians, Abed Rabbo said.
"Israel is exploiting the present situation, during which the world is preoccupied with the terrorist attack that hit the United Sates, in order to launch terrorist attacks against the Palestinian people," said a statement released by the Palestine Media Center in the name of Abed Rabbo.
"The Israeli government is taking advantage of the situation in order to continue its state-terrorism campaign against our People and its leadership... The Israeli government is hiding behind the dust and tragedy in New York and Washington DC to commit these crimes against our innocent civilians and cities."
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (17:45) Foreign journalists 'deeply concerned' by PA harassment,
Foreign journalists based in Israel have condemned the Palestinian Authority's harassment of journalists and its suppression of videotape made of Palestinian celebrations in the wake of the terror attacks in the United States this week.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel released the following statement relating to this incident:
"The FPA expresses deep concern over the harassment of journalists by the Palestinian Authority as police forces and armed gunmen tried to prevent photo and video coverage of Tuesday's rally in Nablus where hundreds of Palestinians celebrated the terror attacks in NY and Washington.
"We strongly condemn the direct threats made against local videographers by local militia members and the attitude of Palestinian officials who made no effort to counter the threats, control the situation, or to guarantee the safety of the journalists and the freedom of the press.
"We call on the PA to ensure freedom of the press and the free flow of information and to prevent elements operating within PA jurisdiction from making or carrying out threats that aim to impede this and effectively impose censorship. We hold the PA fully responsible for the safety of each and every journalist operating within their areas, especially those who were filming and covering Tuesday's events in Nablus."
For more details on this emerging story, click here.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (11:45) Three Palestinians killed in retaliatory raids
Palestinians sources report three people dead in gunfights with Israeli forces in Jenin this morning.
Three Jenin residents were reportedly killed when the IDF entered the northern West Bank city.
In response to last night's killing of Ruthi Shua'i, the IDF entered Jenin, Jericho, Kalkilya and Salfit.
For more on the shooting of Shua'i, click here.
For more on the IDF's operation in Jericho, click here.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (09:55) Arafat 'organizes' pro-US rallies,
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is urging Palestinian schoolchildren in the West Bank and Gaza to take to the streets in demonstrations supporting the US.
The move is being seen as an attempt in "spin control" by the PA in the wake of reports that foreign correspondants were forbidden from covering Palestinian celebrations after the terror attacks in the US, Army Radio reports.
On a visit throughout Jerusalem's Old City the evening after the bombings, JPost Radio's Dave Bender heard a spectrum of opinions about the horrific terrorist attacks along the US eastern seaboard.
To hear his report in Media Player format, click here.
Lashing out at Palestinians who celebrated Tuesday's carnage and skyrocketing death toll in New York, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen urged the international community to "rein in terror and demand justice for these vicious attacks."
"I don't think Palestinians celebrating the death of thousands of Americans should go unchallenged," said Rosen, after images of Palestinians on the streets of Nablus and Jerusalem rejoicing and handing out candy after the attacks were broadcast around the world.
To read more, click here.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (09:40) New York sets up virtual database for victims
The City of New York has set up a virtual database for those seeking information about those injured in the World Trade Center attack.
There are only general estimates as to the possible death toll at this point.
The site is located at: http://wtc.ny.com/.
For The Israeli Foreign Ministry website: http://www.israel.org/mfa/home.asp.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, (08:50) NY consul estimate: More Israelis feared dead,
Israel's consul-general in New York, Alon Pinkas, says estimates of Israeli victims of the World Trade Center attack may be low.
"At the moment, we are talking about a situation of no more than five or six Israelis that were either in, or in the vicinity of, the two towers,' Pinkas said, continuing, "and another 30-to-40 Israelis that were likely to have been in the general area."
Pinkas made the statements during an interview with Army Radio.
There are over 20 injured Israelis in local New Your area hospitals, spokesmen at the Foreign Ministry's situation room said.
To read more, click here.
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, Search in NYC locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
NEW YORK (September 13) - The number of Israelis considered missing in New York dropped to three last night when Ya'acov Habbi and his daughter Gali were located. Ya'acov, who lives near the World Trade Center, and Gali were trapped in a car next to the site for about 20 hours.
Consul for media and public affairs Ido Aharoni said efforts to locate others are continuing. A group of consulate workers are searching local hospitals for people admitted with Israeli-sounding names.
Foreign Ministry workers have succeeded in locating over 1,000 Israelis. Some 20 have been located at area hospitals.
"We're only at the very beginning," said Aharoni of efforts to track down missing Israelis. "In many instances, we were able to conference-call them together," said Aharoni of the families.
No Israeli businesses were based in the World Trade Center, said a consulate spokeswoman.
The Israeli Consulate in New York has processed more than 4,500 phone calls of people seeking information regarding missing relatives in New York as of yesterday morning, said Aharoni. "Hundreds of people have been tracked down," he said.
Consul-General Alon Pinkas estimated the number of those connected with their families in Israel at 500, Army Radio reported.
In Jerusalem, some two dozen Foreign Ministry employees are also handling hundreds of inquiries about relatives in New York.
The ministry has also established a page on its Web site - www.mfa.gov.il - to help Israelis find each other.
A young Israeli woman, hoping for a respite from the tensions of terrorist attacks at home through a brief vacation in the United States, was among the victims aboard United Airlines Flight 175.
A United Airlines spokesman confirmed that Alona Avraham of Ashdod was a passenger aboard the second hijacked plane to crash into the World Trade Center.
Avraham was in her mid-twenties and had recently finished her university studies, according to Danny Raymond of Van Nuys, California, a cousin of Avraham.
Raymond said Avraham had spent a few days in Boston with friends and was heading for Los Angeles for a two-week visit, to include Rosh Hashana, at the Raymond home.
Edmund Glazer, who died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, was chief financial officer and vice president of finance for California-based MRV Communications, a telecommunications company with long-standing Israeli ties.
Glazer was a native of Zambia, born to South African parents, and came to the United States when he was 17. He attended Santa Monica College for two years, then graduated from the University of Southern California. He joined MRV in 1994.
The company is headed by two Israelis: Shlomo Margalit, the company founder, and Noam Lotan, its president.
Glazer was a resident of Wellesley, Massachussetts and was on a business trip to MRV headquarters in Chatsworth, California, when his plane was hijacked.
He is survived by his wife Candy and four-year old son Nathan, as well as his parents and a sister, residents of Toronto, Canada.
Actress and photographer Berry Berenson, the wife of the late actor Anthony Perkins, the sister of actress Marisa Berenson, and the grandniece of famed art historian and collector Bernard Berenson, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11.
Berry Berenson appeared in a number of Hollywood films in the 1970s and '80s, and photographed covers for Life magazine and other publications.
Bernard Berenson was born in the Lithuanian village of Beltramentz, where his father was one of the leaders of the Jewish community. Although Bernard converted to Christianity as a youth, he publicly prided himself of carrying on the Jewish "tradition of great learning."
(Tom Tugend contributed to this report from Los Angeles, and Gil Hoffman from Jerusalem.)
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September 13, 2001, Jerusalem Post, (08:25) Palestinian shot to death near Jerusalem
Soldiers shot a Palestinian man to death near the village of Beit Likiya, north of Jerusalem, earlier this morning.
The man broke through an IDF roadblock set up on an side road close to highway 443.
He was shot and killed when he did not follow orders to stop his vehicle, Army Radio reports
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Israel's war is no longer its alone, by Tom Rose,
NEW YORK (September 13) - "One of the most heinous acts in world history," was how Mayor Rudolph Giuliani described Tuesday's unprecedented attack upon his city and the US.
When and if a final death count is ever completed, the numbers will no doubt back him up. As of late yesterday afternoon, giant plumes of smoke from the collapsed towers of the World Trade Center were still visible from dozens of miles away and the acrid stench of the cataclysmic explosions was still pungent as far away as midtown.
America is under assault as never before, and all this witness to the cataclysm can think about is a conversation I had in the elevator on the way up to 110th floor of the World Trade Center 18 hours before it was destroyed. Having just arrived from Jerusalem, I found myself with an hour between sales calls and decided to do what millions of others have done before me. I forked over $13.50 and was shuffled into the large elevator that shuttled tourists to the top of the symbol of New York.
Standing next to the door, I struck up a conversation with the man operating the elevator, a strikingly pleasant, hard-working fellow in his late 50s. When asked, this native of mainland China said he came to America in 1994 because he wanted his children to have a better life than he had. It was the same thing that brought my grandmother's family from Poland.
The same thing that brought all of us.
Like thousands of others, that man was undoubtedly at work when the towers were destroyed. I wonder if he is still alive. I woke up yesterday morning worried about the safety of my family, left behind in Jerusalem.
Did my son make it home from school safely? Did my wife manage to get all the chores she had planned in town completed in safety? By breakfast time, they were the ones worried about me. I was fine I assured them. "Hurry home", said my wife. To Jerusalem? Hurry home?
Yes, it is true, Jerusalem, the capital of a besieged Israel suddenly seems safe. Certainly safer than New York. At least for now. At least until the US is able to implement and adjust to the measures necessary to survive and function in the face of a new enemy and a new kind of warfare. A kind of enemy and warfare Israel has faced for decades.
A warfare that knows no refuge and spares no one. A warfare where women and children are the desired targets, not collateral damage.
It has been said that in the war against terrorism, Israel is the world's miner's canary. Before subjecting themselves to potential threats of noxious fumes, miners used to lower canaries into their mines to see if the air below was breathable. The sad lesson of yesterday was that the fumes of terrorism are more toxic than anyone in America could bring himself to believe. While Israel was the first democracy to find itself fighting terror every day and on all fronts, it was destined not to be the last.
Just as the Jewish people throughout history have often been the first to suffer new kinds of discrimination, punishment, and genocide, we have never been the last.
Those who have been wishing and working to destroy Israel for decades have now declared war on their ultimate and real target.
Israel's war is no longer its alone. It has now struck at the heart of the greatest power in the world. How that power responds to an attack against the very symbols of its economic and military might will almost surely shape the contours of the world our children are destined to inherit.
If still alive, perhaps the World Trade Center elevator operator I met could help us muster some of the strength free countries will need to fight back. Perhaps he would tell us that, in his native Chinese, the words for "crisis" and "opportunity" are one in the same. Perhaps Americans, now united in their grief, will soon emerge united in purpose, committed to what Abraham Lincoln called "a new birth of freedom" and resolved to take the steps necessary to protect its institutions and its people.
As Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Tuesday: "Tonight, all Israelis are Americans." Today, America can use all the help it can get from here on Earth and from heaven above.
(The writer is the publisher of The Jerusalem Post.)
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Zim workers saved by cost-cutting, by Miriam Shaviv,
JERUSALEM (September 13) - More than 200 workers at Zim Israel Navigation Company counted themselves lucky Tuesday, having been moved out of their World Trade Center offices by the company just two weeks ago.
At the same time, Israeli company ClearForest, whose international headquarters were located in the 47th floor of One World Trade Center, reported that none of its staff was hurt when the building collapsed.
"When we watched the pictures, we felt so lucky," Zim spokesperson Dan Nadler said. "Our entire US operations were run out of the 16th floor."
Zim left so recently that CNN, on its Web site, still lists the company as one of the businesses in the WTC.
Zim moved its US corporate headquarters to Norfolk, Virginia. "The aim was to save on rent," said Nadler. "We bought a modest building instead of paying New York rates."
Nadler said the company is unaware of any other Israeli firms in the building, but said he is sure "there are other Israelis working there."
Meanwhile, Sigal Srur, ClearForest's director of human resources, said that four or five of the company's 18 workers were in the building when it was hit. "They got out at the last minute, and two who were lightly injured with scrapes have already been discharged from the hospital," she said from the company's Or Yehuda R&D offices.
According to Srur, the company lost "mostly marketing and business development material. Luckily, unlike many US companies which were totally wiped out, our R&D is here, so all of our technology is here."
She said that the company is already looking for temporary offices in New York and emphasized that the company's new permanent offices be located in New York.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The lucky break of running late, by Melissa Radler,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Ari Schonbrun, who has a 101st-floor office in the World Trade Center, missed his usual train to work Tuesday morning.
Less than 24 hours later, speaking from the safety of his Long Island home, Schonbrun said his brush with death "absolutely strengthens my faith in God, because all these little miracles happened to me. I should have been killed in the blast."
On most days, Schonbrun, 44, the father of four, would have been in his desk at 8:30 a.m.; on Tuesday, this would have been 15 minutes before an American Airlines flight slammed into the World Trade Center's north tower. He would have been running global receivables for Cantor Fitzgerald. But on Tuesday, Schonbrun was running uncharacteristically late after his wife asked him to help their son order books for school.
By 8:45 a.m., Schonbrun was on the tower's 78th floor, switching elevator banks to take him to the building's uppermost levels.
"I couldn't have been more than eight feet from the elevator banks when all of a sudden there was an explosion. I went flying and everything was dark," he said. Unhurt by the blast, Schonbrun crawled into an office where he saw a coworker, Virginia, with third-degree burns on her arms. He promised that he would stay with her until she was treated.
With phone lines cut, the people gathered on the 78th floor thought an elevator may have caught fire or that there had been an explosion inside the building. Had he been at his desk 23 floors up, he have known what had happened.
"There was one guy who sat four offices down from me who was on the phone with our London office. He told them he saw a plane coming toward the building," said Schonbrun. The phone call was then cut off, and Schonbrun's friend is still among the missing.
After being directed by a fire warden to the stairwell, Schonbrun and Virginia started to walk down. At the 75th floor, he wife called him on his cellphone. When he passed the phone along to another person in the stairwell, it had stopped working.
Schonbrun said that building occupants calmly walked down the staircase while firefighters, rescue workers, and nurses walked up to help victims stuck in the building. When occupants began crowding the stairs at lower levels, people even made room for him and Virginia after Schonbrun announced that she was suffering from serious injuries.
"When we got outside, the police were there, the firefighters, the paramedics, the ambulances were there," said Schonbrun. Inside one of the first ambulances to leave the scene for a nearby hospital, Virginia told the paramedics that she would not leave the scene unless Schonbrun accompanied her.
"I know myself. I would have hung around watching what was gong on when that building fell," he said. "Because she insisted I go to the hospital, I was cleared away from the area and I'm alive today."
Seven hours the attacks began, Schonbrun got in touch with his father, who lives in Israel. With phone lines cut off, a cousin from Belgium who had spoken to Schonbrun's wife relayed the information to his family in Israel.
"I'm elated to be alive but I have a lot a lot of friends who are gone," he said. Among the dead are hundreds of rescue workers, many of whom Schonbrun passed by on the stairwell. "At the time, I thought great, there's firefighters going up. When I heard the building collapsed, I thought I was going to faint. I couldn't fathom what it meant that it collapsed."
Certain things in his life have already changed, said Schonbrun, not least of which is that he no longer has an office to go to and may not see many of his coworkers again. "My daughter was crying last night because of a homework assignment and I said 'Chanie, get a grip,' " he said. "You kind of look at things differently."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Stricken With Blindness, Letter, Leonard Lowy, Page: 08
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Sir, - We saw the TV pictures of partying Palestinians in Nablus, Jerusalem, Gaza and elsewhere handing out sweets after Tuesday's attack on the United States.
And yet, on my drive to work on Wednesday morning, there were people on the radio (very much in the minority but still vocal) who called to say that while Sunday's terror acts in Israel were an outrage, it was the US and the West's fault for allowing Israel, over a period of decades, to terrorize the innocent and oppressed Palestinians. The clear message is that the world now has to take Israel in hand, once and for all, and "sort it out." The level of sheer ignorance in the West continues to astound.
LEONARD LOWY , London.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, Arafat 'horrified' but Palestinians celebrate, by Mohammed Daraghimeh,
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 -- Thousands of Palestinians celebrated yesterday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli- Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags. Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake. America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In predominantly Arab east Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television.
Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said. "We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president, and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people."
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks. Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, How Will History Repeat? Letter, Varda Epstein,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Sir, - America will retaliate for these horrific catastrophes (the destruction of the Twin Towers), as it must, for this is Pearl Harbor times 10. (I wait for this and for the reaction of Sharon, who will not be likely to say, "Both sides must refrain from violence.")
Will there be targeted assassinations?
Bush has already stated that those that are harboring the perpetrators will be punished. Does this mean that they are not innocent civilians when they get killed along with the terrorists?
Are we going to end up with our hands tied, as during the Gulf War?
I wonder which parts of history will repeat themselves.
VARDA EPSTEIN , Metzad.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Internet offers worried Israelis alternative channel to loved ones, by Gwen Ackerman,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Internet access saved many Israelis and Americans hours of worry Tuesday evening, after news of hijacked airliners crashing into the Pentagon and toppling the World Trade Center skyscrapers sent hundreds of thousands scurrying to telephones only to dial for hours in vain.
Israelis and tourists alike were quick to blame the domestic network for their frustrated attempts to get through to family and loved ones, but the Israeli network was not the reason the calls went nowhere, said Aviram Cohen, spokesman for the international call and Internet service provider Bezeq International.
At fault was a US decision to pre-empt a collapse of the national telephony infrastructure by blocking international calls from entering the New York switchboard, in much the same way Israel cellular operators block out certain sectors after a terrorist attack to ensure security and medical personnel have enough "spectrum" to make priority calls, said Cohen.
The New York authorities blocked calls from 4 p.m. Israel time - after the first plane rammed into the World Trade Center - and midnight, when authorities began to gradually open up lines.
The blockage led to heavy traffic for all three international call companies - hundreds of times more calls than on a normal day - as people made repeated attempts to get through despite reports that communications to the US were down, the Bezeq spokesman's office said.
As a result, anyone trying to make an overseas call encountered difficulty, but domestic calls were not affected at all, Bezeq added.
In an effort to help Israelis and visiting Americans desperate for news of family, Bezeq International reinforced staff at its international service centers, locating numbers through phone directories and directing queries to the Foreign Ministry when none could be found.
In the sectors where it soon became obvious that phone lines were down or blocked, Bezeq International recommended sending e-mails instead. For those without Internet access but with an e-mail address for their family in the States, the company sent a call-home message in their place.
E-mail traffic at Bezeq International was way up - dozens of times busier than normal - as a result of the phone problems, Cohen said.
Also up were attempts to use Jerusalem-based deltathree's voice-over-IP Internet phone, said CTO Mark Gazit.
The infrastructure of deltathree, whose NY office is next to the World Trade Center, is hooked up to the domestic US telecommunications network so that the blocking did not affect its ability to connect Internet calls made in Israel to numbers in the New York area, and vice versa.
However, while call attempts were up three times the usual amount, call completion was low, mostly due to the fact that the US numbers were busy either because the local cellular network was overloaded, busy, or working under emergency conditions, Gazit said.
"If I count the number of minutes it was not much more than normal - not because people didn't want to make the calls, but because they couldn't."
The company was in the middle of its daily conference call when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
"There was silence and then people said, 'You won't believe it but the Twin Towers are on fire,'" Gazit recalled. "We continued the conference call and 20 minutes later they reported seeing a plane crashing into the tower and we understood it was a terrorist attack. We tried to continue, but when the towers started to collapse they were evacuated, because the office was too close."
Electricity went off and dust filled the air, but deltathree's backup system kicked in, making its voIP service "the only way to make [voice] contact with the US for a certain amount of time," said Gazit.
"We're glad we provided this to people," he said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Opinion,, Defining the enemy,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- As Americans try to recover from and comprehend the most devastating terrorist attack ever, it is not surprising that US leaders are groping for a new language and way of thinking to confront the new reality.
There is general agreement that America is and must be "at war." But the pledge of President George W. Bush and many others to "find those responsible and bring them to justice" sounds not like war, but a police action against criminals.
The distinction between fighting a war and bringing criminals to justice is not a merely semantic one. It is a distinction over the nature of the enemy.
America's first task is defining the enemy. In this war, the enemy's attempt to distort and obscure its identity is its primary line of defense.
The enemy is not merely Osama bin Laden or whatever terrorist organization carried out the monstrous attack. The enemy is the states that sponsor terrorists and the ideology that animates them.
Imagine for a moment that bin Laden is proven to be the immediate culprit and the US were to successfully bomb him and his organization out of existence. Would terrorism have been defeated? No - such a success would be the equivalent of destroying a kamikaze or Nazi unit while leaving the wartime governments of Japan or Germany in place.
If the bin Ladens of the world are defined as the enemy, terrorism has won; if the governments that sponsor terrorism are the enemy, then terrorism can be defeated. As Israel learned in Lebanon, it was impossible to defeat Hizbullah while holding that organization's Syrian, Iranian, and Lebanese sponsors were effectively immune from attack.
The idea that regimes, not just organizations, must be held responsible may seem obvious. Indeed, Bush has stated that the US will "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these act and those who harbor them." But even before the rubble has ceased to smolder doubts are being expressed.
In its editorial on the attack, The New York Times mused that "this is an age when even revenge is complicated, when it is hard to match the desire for retribution with the need for certainty." What retribution? What need for certainty? To talk about retribution and certainty is to act as if the task after Pearl Harbor was to prove which unit had attacked America and to punish that unit - rather than to defeat and replace the governments of Japan, Germany, and Italy.
In a second editorial, the Times argued that "part of the challenge for the United States is to recognize that the roots of terrorism lie in economic and political problems in large parts of the world." This is errant nonsense.
As Michael Kelly points out in The Washington Post, "The whole world was stolen from somebody, most of it repeatedly; there are claims and counterclaims and counter- counterclaims for every inch of the planet that is desirable and for much that is not." If poverty, corruption, tyranny, suffering, ethnic conflict, and territorial disputes were the sources of terrorism, sub- Saharan Africa would be terror center of the world.
To "recognize the roots" of terrorism is to harbor the notion that terrorism can be justified. Worse, it directly fulfills the goal of terrorism, which is to blackmail the world into addressing "grievances." The obstacles to addressing real suffering are the regimes that are behind terrorism, which not coincidentally oppress and impoverish their own people.
For the free world, the war against terrorism cannot be limited to punishment, retribution, or sending signals. Those who sent the terrorists to attack America would be only too pleased to absorb a less than tit-for-tat cruise missile attack in response.
The free world must recognize that is in a war of self-defense whose goal is victory. The concept of a war against terrorism is meaningless without the goal of removing terrorist regimes. The exact combination of diplomatic, economic, and military tools to be deployed toward this goal is a legitimate matter of debate. But a war against terrorism that avoids the issue of regime change in countries such as Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan cannot be won, because it has not even really been joined.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Demand for Israeli security expertise seen rising, by Sharon Berger,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The spectacular hijacking of four domestic US passenger flights from American airports is certain to result in a call for increased security measures in both domestic and international terminals throughout the world.
Although a number of Israeli firms that specialize in security services are expected to benefit from this increased demand, local companies were quick to insist that there is no upside to such tragic events.
Dual-listed Magal Security Systems Ltd. saw its Tel Aviv share price rise by a phenomenal 31.26 percent to NIS 30.53, while most local stocks dropped by 3% or more. The Yehud-based Magal, a leader in outdoor intrusion detection systems, has its equipment installed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, Ben-Gurion Airport, and in Korea.
Chief executive Jacob Even-Ezra said it is too early to say how world demand will increase as countries mobilize to fight terrorism, but he predicted that most airports will increase their security.
He stressed that fighting terrorism requires a long- term commitment. "I hope it is not short-lived," he said, noting the need for government institutions and agencies to make a shift in their thinking on combatting terrorism.
Even-Ezra's concerns were echoed by Michael Itzhar, chief executive of Mipha International, which provides airport security services. Itzhar noted that no one is prepared to adequately invest in security as it is not profitable.
"The airport, the Airports Authority, and the government all disagree over who should pay for security," said Izhar.
He noted that as the airline industry is constantly competing for cheaper tickets companies are reluctant to take on extra costs that did not contribute to their profitability. "It is very sad, as the technology exists. It just requires the necessary investment," said Izhar.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post/ Reuters, Iranian media blame US-Israel ties for attacks,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- TEHERAN - Hard-line Iranian newspapers said yesterday the US is paying the price for supporting "Israeli aggression."
While Washington has long branded Iran a sponsor of international "terrorism," reformist President Muhammad Khatami has condemned the attack and called for the international community to take measures to eradicate such crimes.
Iranian conservatives and reformists are united in calling for the destruction of Israel as the only solution to the Middle East conflict, but they differ in the strength of their opposition to it and its main backer, the US.
"Horror in the White House," said the English-language Teheran Times in a front-page headline. "Paying the price for its blind support of the Zionist regime."
"When a government is prepared to go against all internationally accepted principles in its support of a racist and criminal regime, it cannot expect to escape unscathed," it said.
The newspaper, owned by the non-governmental Islamic Propagation Organization, whose head is chosen by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the loss of civilian lives.
Washington cut ties with Teheran after radical Iranian students took 52 US diplomats hostage in 1980 and held them for 444 days. The US has said Iranians were implicated in the 1996 Khobar bombing in Saudi Arabia which killed 19 US servicemen. Saudi Arabia and Iran deny any Iranian involvement.
Other conservative newspapers said Israel may be behind the attacks in order to deflect world opinion from its "criminal policies" against the Palestinians. Conservative politician Muhammad Javad Larijani said the attacks were planned and executed by Zionists trying to break out their deadlock in the Middle East.
But unlike elsewhere in the region, there have been no public displays of joy in Iran, where Khatami won a landslide reelection promising to improve relations with the outside world.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Op-Ed,, The US will respond, by Uri Dan,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The national tragedy that has overtaken the United States demonstrates that terrorism simultaneously threatens both the greatest democracy in the world, and Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East.
It is not important, at the moment, to know who is responsible for the murder of innocent people in the US, since the greatest superpower in the world will uncover them in the end and punish them unmercifully, with every means at its disposal, and justifiably so.
No one will oppose the greatest democracy in the world, a law-abiding country, when it takes action against the country and the people that sent the terrorists. Without doubt the American democracy will make a concerted stand against those who massacred its citizens and undermined the security and economy of the US.
Against this background stand out the political handcuffs constraining Israel's freedom of action when it attempts to combat the terrorist activities of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat: suicide bombers, car bombs, murder of innocent people, in a discotheque in Tel Aviv, in a shopping mall in Natanya, or in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem.
The European countries and even the State Department condemn the elimination of the suicide bombers' leaders. The State Department condemns Israel for its use of "excessive force." The international community criticizes Israel when its tanks take control of Beit Jala for a single day in order to halt the firing against Gilo.
And of course, CNN and the BBC consistently present Israel as an aggressive and oppressive country, while Arafat's PA and the Palestinians appear as "victims," although they are actually the initiators of these waves of murder, which war criminal Arafat refuses to halt, despite Foreign Minister Shimon Peres's pathetic pleas.
THERE ARE not enough tears to weep and mourn for the innocent people murdered in the terrorist catastrophe in the US. The spring of tears has almost dried up because of our continuing mourning for innocent Jews and non-Jews murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the precise period of eight years since September 13, 1993, when Arafat signed the Oslo Agreement.
From the very first, President George W. Bush has treated the proofs that Arafat heads the terrorist coalition against Israel in a totally different way from Clinton.
In contrast to the destructive criticism of the State Department, Bush has displayed great understanding, in his talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, of Israel's struggle against Palestinian terrorism. Bush has withstood the pressure applied to him to meet Arafat, and refuses to do so as long as Arafat does not halt the terrorist attacks.
Bush has supported Israel's position of not negotiating with Arafat under fire, despite the difficulties raised by Peres's frantic pursuit of arch- murderer Arafat.
There is therefore no doubt that in the light of the national tragedy visited on the US by the terrorists, the US will join Israel in a totally new approach to the war against terrorism. A unique situation has arisen in which the dictatorial terrorist threat against both the American democracy and the sole democracy in the Middle East has become crystal clear. This situation will obligate special, more drastic steps to be taken by both countries, both individually and with greater coordination than ever before.
It is customary to lay the blame for every terrorist action with the was the notorious Carlos, and now it's bin Laden. However, Israeli intelligence experts have a strong suspicion that the intelligence service of a country such as Iraq was behind a terrorist attack of such satanic daring and professional sophistication.
After all, Saddam Hussein swore that the day would come when he would take revenge on the US for destroying Iraq, after it invaded Kuwait in 1990. Iraqi intelligence is an organization skilled in executing secret operations and in recruiting people ready to blow themselves up against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Suspicion may also be directed at the Japanese underground movement called the Red Army, whose members are capable of perpetrating suicide terrorist attacks.
They demonstrated this when three of them, including Kozo Okamoto, carried out the massacre in Lod Airport on May 30, 1972. Arab agencies are capable of recruiting this organization also. The terrorist attacks in the US, using civil airliners, were executed with Japanese kamikaze precision.
Whoever is found responsible, the US and Israel will know how to overcome those lying behind these terrorist acts, in the same way as the Allies defeated the Nazis in World War II.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 8, Letter, Not Terrorism, by Burt Jay Mazia,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Sir, - I am totally devastated by the surprise attacks which killed and wounded tens of thousands of people while going about their normal lives in New York and Washington.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families. But this was not terrorism. This was a surprise attack much worse than Pearl Harbor.
Terrorism is what we live with in Israel every day. It is psychological. It is not knowing if this is the last time you'll say good-bye to your five-year-old son. It is looking suspiciously at every Beduin, Druse or Arab that enters the mall before you, and wondering if he, or she, is a maniac. It is not taking your kids to the movies, or any other crowded place, just in case.
The pressure and tension get to you very easily.
Terrorism in America will start when people start to feel these fears.
BURT JAY MAZIA, Beersheba.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - Reuters, page 8, New US stance on Mideast seen likely, by Timothy Heritage,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The worst attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor could have major implications for United States policy in the Middle East, political analysts said yesterday.
Much will depend on who is blamed for Tuesday's strikes in New York and Washington - particularly if any group from the Middle East is found responsible.
The United States has not publicly apportioned blame for the unprecedented assault, but one official and counter-terrorism experts pointed to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant accused of blowing up two US embassies in Africa in 1998.
As the most influential outside player, the United States has a key role to play in the Middle East even though it has taken a back seat since George W. Bush became president.
"There is no peace process right now and there has not been for a long time. But this is an earth-changing event," said Gerald Steinberg, head of a conflict resolution program at Bar-Ilan University. "It depends on the Americans' decision on what to do. We could see them leading a major international campaign against terrorism, but we will have to wait to see who is responsible."
Israel could stand to gain if US and world understanding increases for its often criticized actions to tackle Palestinian terrorism during the 11-month-old intifada.
The Palestinians appear to have little or nothing to gain, except for the few celebrating the humiliating blow dealt to Israel's superpower ally. Many Palestinians accuse the United States of blindly backing Israeli efforts to quell their revolt.
Palestinian militants could suffer in any US crackdown on Middle East groups, even if they are not the prime targets, and international attitudes to attacks on Israelis could harden.
Israel was quick to urge Washington to lead a new international effort to combat militant Islamic groups.
"If there is anybody that can lead a real attack to bring an end to this dangerous war, this dangerous weapon, it's only the United States - with the help of all of us," Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who won pledges from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week to share their experiences in combating attacks, said in a statement: "I believe that together we can defeat these forces of evil."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat condemned the attacks and several Palestinian militant groups denied any involvement.
"We completely condemn this serious operation... We were completely shocked," Arafat told reporters in Gaza.
If it turned out that any Palestinian group was involved, the Palestinians would face a fearsome US response. Security experts said they doubt that Palestinians had a hand in it.
Any such involvement would damage the Palestinian struggle to win world support for an independent state and an end to Israel's 34-year-old occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Arafat has no interest in antagonizing Washington, whose support will be vital if Palestinians are to win international backing for calls for outside monitors to be sent to the region.
"This [day of attacks] could change a lot of things - it depends on whether it was an international action or a political [domestic] action, and whether it involved the Middle East," said Balad leader MK Azmi Bishara.
"A lot depends on who the perpetrators were, and then we will see how the Americans act. But right now is a time for offering condolences and to condemn this international crime."
Steinberg said that whoever carried out the attacks, Israel could expect a wave of sympathy for its own fight against suicide bombings and shootings by Palestinians.
"I think the mood has already changed. When I saw Israeli officials being interviewed today... I think we were already seeing a recognition [of Israel's problems]," he said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Massive search in New York locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Sir, - I am totally devastated by the surprise attacks which killed and wounded tens of thousands of people while going about their normal lives in New York and Washington.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families. But this was not terrorism. This was a surprise attack much worse than Pearl Harbor.
Terrorism is what we live with in Israel every day. It is psychological. It is not knowing if this is the last time you'll say good-bye to your five-year-old son. It is looking suspiciously at every Beduin, Druse or Arab that enters the mall before you, and wondering if he, or she, is a maniac. It is not taking your kids to the movies, or any other crowded place, just in case.
The pressure and tension get to you very easily.
Terrorism in America will start when people start to feel these fears.
BURT JAY MAZIA, Beersheba.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post - Reuters, page 8, New US stance on Mideast seen likely, by Timothy Heritage,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The worst attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor could have major implications for United States policy in the Middle East, political analysts said yesterday.
Much will depend on who is blamed for Tuesday's strikes in New York and Washington - particularly if any group from the Middle East is found responsible.
The United States has not publicly apportioned blame for the unprecedented assault, but one official and counter-terrorism experts pointed to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant accused of blowing up two US embassies in Africa in 1998.
As the most influential outside player, the United States has a key role to play in the Middle East even though it has taken a back seat since George W. Bush became president.
"There is no peace process right now and there has not been for a long time. But this is an earth-changing event," said Gerald Steinberg, head of a conflict resolution program at Bar-Ilan University. "It depends on the Americans' decision on what to do. We could see them leading a major international campaign against terrorism, but we will have to wait to see who is responsible."
Israel could stand to gain if US and world understanding increases for its often criticized actions to tackle Palestinian terrorism during the 11-month-old intifada.
The Palestinians appear to have little or nothing to gain, except for the few celebrating the humiliating blow dealt to Israel's superpower ally. Many Palestinians accuse the United States of blindly backing Israeli efforts to quell their revolt.
Palestinian militants could suffer in any US crackdown on Middle East groups, even if they are not the prime targets, and international attitudes to attacks on Israelis could harden.
Israel was quick to urge Washington to lead a new international effort to combat militant Islamic groups.
"If there is anybody that can lead a real attack to bring an end to this dangerous war, this dangerous weapon, it's only the United States - with the help of all of us," Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who won pledges from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week to share their experiences in combating attacks, said in a statement: "I believe that together we can defeat these forces of evil."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat condemned the attacks and several Palestinian militant groups denied any involvement.
"We completely condemn this serious operation... We were completely shocked," Arafat told reporters in Gaza.
If it turned out that any Palestinian group was involved, the Palestinians would face a fearsome US response. Security experts said they doubt that Palestinians had a hand in it.
Any such involvement would damage the Palestinian struggle to win world support for an independent state and an end to Israel's 34-year-old occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Arafat has no interest in antagonizing Washington, whose support will be vital if Palestinians are to win international backing for calls for outside monitors to be sent to the region.
"This [day of attacks] could change a lot of things - it depends on whether it was an international action or a political [domestic] action, and whether it involved the Middle East," said Balad leader MK Azmi Bishara.
"A lot depends on who the perpetrators were, and then we will see how the Americans act. But right now is a time for offering condolences and to condemn this international crime."
Steinberg said that whoever carried out the attacks, Israel could expect a wave of sympathy for its own fight against suicide bombings and shootings by Palestinians.
"I think the mood has already changed. When I saw Israeli officials being interviewed today... I think we were already seeing a recognition [of Israel's problems]," he said.
_______________________________________________________________________________
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Massive search in New York locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
Tom Tugend contributed to this report from Los Angeles, and Gil Hoffman from Jerusalem. Page: 03,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - The number of Israelis considered missing in New York dropped to three last night when Ya'acov Habbi and his daughter Gali were located. Ya'acov, who lives near the World Trade Center, and Gali were trapped in a car next to the site for about 20 hours.
Consul for media and public affairs Ido Aharoni said efforts to locate others are continuing. A group of consulate workers are searching local hospitals for people admitted with Israeli-sounding names.
Foreign Ministry workers have succeeded in locating over 1,000 Israelis. Some 20 have been located at area hospitals.
"We're only at the very beginning," said Aharoni of efforts to track down missing Israelis. "In many instances, we were able to conference-call them together," said Aharoni of the families.
No Israeli businesses were based in the World Trade Center, said a consulate spokeswoman.
The Israeli Consulate in New York has processed more than 4,500 phone calls of people seeking information regarding missing relatives in New York as of yesterday morning, said Aharoni. "Hundreds of people have been tracked down," he said.
Consul-General Alon Pinkas estimated the number of those connected with their families in Israel at 500, Army Radio reported.
In Jerusalem, some two dozen Foreign Ministry employees are also handling hundreds of inquiries about relatives in New York.
The ministry has also established a page on its Web site - www.mfa.gov.il - to help Israelis find each other.
A young Israeli woman, hoping for a respite from the tensions of terrorist attacks at home through a brief vacation in the United States, was among the victims aboard United Airlines Flight 175.
A United Airlines spokesman confirmed that Alona Avraham of Ashdod was a passenger aboard the second hijacked plane to crash into the World Trade Center.
Avraham was in her mid-twenties and had recently finished her university studies, according to Danny Raymond of Van Nuys, California, a cousin of Avraham.
Raymond said Avraham had spent a few days in Boston with friends and was heading for Los Angeles for a two-week visit, to include Rosh Hashana, at the Raymond home.
Edmund Glazer, who died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, was chief financial officer and vice president of finance for California-based MRV Communications, a telecommunications company with long-standing Israeli ties.
Glazer was a native of Zambia, born to South African parents, and came to the United States when he was 17. He attended Santa Monica College for two years, then graduated from the University of Southern California. He joined MRV in 1994.
The company is headed by two Israelis: Shlomo Margalit, the company founder, and Noam Lotan, its president.
Glazer was a resident of Wellesley, Massachussetts and was on a business trip to MRV headquarters in Chatsworth, California, when his plane was hijacked.
He is survived by his wife Candy and four-year old son Nathan, as well as his parents and a sister, residents of Toronto, Canada.
Actress and photographer Berry Berenson, the wife of the late actor Anthony Perkins, the sister of actress Marisa Berenson, and the grandniece of famed art historian and collector Bernard Berenson, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11.
Berry Berenson appeared in a number of Hollywood films in the 1970s and '80s, and photographed covers for Life magazine and other publications.
Bernard Berenson was born in the Lithuanian village of Beltramentz, where his father was one of the leaders of the Jewish community. Although Bernard converted to Christianity as a youth, he publicly prided himself of carrying on the Jewish "tradition of great learning."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The lucky break of running late, by Melissa Radler,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - The number of Israelis considered missing in New York dropped to three last night when Ya'acov Habbi and his daughter Gali were located. Ya'acov, who lives near the World Trade Center, and Gali were trapped in a car next to the site for about 20 hours.
Consul for media and public affairs Ido Aharoni said efforts to locate others are continuing. A group of consulate workers are searching local hospitals for people admitted with Israeli-sounding names.
Foreign Ministry workers have succeeded in locating over 1,000 Israelis. Some 20 have been located at area hospitals.
"We're only at the very beginning," said Aharoni of efforts to track down missing Israelis. "In many instances, we were able to conference-call them together," said Aharoni of the families.
No Israeli businesses were based in the World Trade Center, said a consulate spokeswoman.
The Israeli Consulate in New York has processed more than 4,500 phone calls of people seeking information regarding missing relatives in New York as of yesterday morning, said Aharoni. "Hundreds of people have been tracked down," he said.
Consul-General Alon Pinkas estimated the number of those connected with their families in Israel at 500, Army Radio reported.
In Jerusalem, some two dozen Foreign Ministry employees are also handling hundreds of inquiries about relatives in New York.
The ministry has also established a page on its Web site - www.mfa.gov.il - to help Israelis find each other.
A young Israeli woman, hoping for a respite from the tensions of terrorist attacks at home through a brief vacation in the United States, was among the victims aboard United Airlines Flight 175.
A United Airlines spokesman confirmed that Alona Avraham of Ashdod was a passenger aboard the second hijacked plane to crash into the World Trade Center.
Avraham was in her mid-twenties and had recently finished her university studies, according to Danny Raymond of Van Nuys, California, a cousin of Avraham.
Raymond said Avraham had spent a few days in Boston with friends and was heading for Los Angeles for a two-week visit, to include Rosh Hashana, at the Raymond home.
Edmund Glazer, who died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, was chief financial officer and vice president of finance for California-based MRV Communications, a telecommunications company with long-standing Israeli ties.
Glazer was a native of Zambia, born to South African parents, and came to the United States when he was 17. He attended Santa Monica College for two years, then graduated from the University of Southern California. He joined MRV in 1994.
The company is headed by two Israelis: Shlomo Margalit, the company founder, and Noam Lotan, its president.
Glazer was a resident of Wellesley, Massachussetts and was on a business trip to MRV headquarters in Chatsworth, California, when his plane was hijacked.
He is survived by his wife Candy and four-year old son Nathan, as well as his parents and a sister, residents of Toronto, Canada.
Actress and photographer Berry Berenson, the wife of the late actor Anthony Perkins, the sister of actress Marisa Berenson, and the grandniece of famed art historian and collector Bernard Berenson, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11.
Berry Berenson appeared in a number of Hollywood films in the 1970s and '80s, and photographed covers for Life magazine and other publications.
Bernard Berenson was born in the Lithuanian village of Beltramentz, where his father was one of the leaders of the Jewish community. Although Bernard converted to Christianity as a youth, he publicly prided himself of carrying on the Jewish "tradition of great learning."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The lucky break of running late, by Melissa Radler,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Ari Schonbrun, who has a 101st-floor office in the World Trade Center, missed his usual train to work Tuesday morning.
Less than 24 hours later, speaking from the safety of his Long Island home, Schonbrun said his brush with death "absolutely strengthens my faith in God, because all these little miracles happened to me. I should have been killed in the blast."
On most days, Schonbrun, 44, the father of four, would have been in his desk at 8:30 a.m.; on Tuesday, this would have been 15 minutes before an American Airlines flight slammed into the World Trade Center's north tower. He would have been running global receivables for Cantor Fitzgerald. But on Tuesday, Schonbrun was running uncharacteristically late after his wife asked him to help their son order books for school.
By 8:45 a.m., Schonbrun was on the tower's 78th floor, switching elevator banks to take him to the building's uppermost levels.
"I couldn't have been more than eight feet from the elevator banks when all of a sudden there was an explosion. I went flying and everything was dark," he said. Unhurt by the blast, Schonbrun crawled into an office where he saw a coworker, Virginia, with third-degree burns on her arms. He promised that he would stay with her until she was treated.
With phone lines cut, the people gathered on the 78th floor thought an elevator may have caught fire or that there had been an explosion inside the building. Had he been at his desk 23 floors up, he have known what had happened.
"There was one guy who sat four offices down from me who was on the phone with our London office. He told them he saw a plane coming toward the building," said Schonbrun. The phone call was then cut off, and Schonbrun's friend is still among the missing.
After being directed by a fire warden to the stairwell, Schonbrun and Virginia started to walk down. At the 75th floor, he wife called him on his cellphone. When he passed the phone along to another person in the stairwell, it had stopped working.
Schonbrun said that building occupants calmly walked down the staircase while firefighters, rescue workers, and nurses walked up to help victims stuck in the building. When occupants began crowding the stairs at lower levels, people even made room for him and Virginia after Schonbrun announced that she was suffering from serious injuries.
"When we got outside, the police were there, the firefighters, the paramedics, the ambulances were there," said Schonbrun. Inside one of the first ambulances to leave the scene for a nearby hospital, Virginia told the paramedics that she would not leave the scene unless Schonbrun accompanied her.
"I know myself. I would have hung around watching what was gong on when that building fell," he said. "Because she insisted I go to the hospital, I was cleared away from the area and I'm alive today."
Seven hours the attacks began, Schonbrun got in touch with his father, who lives in Israel. With phone lines cut off, a cousin from Belgium who had spoken to Schonbrun's wife relayed the information to his family in Israel.
"I'm elated to be alive but I have a lot a lot of friends who are gone," he said. Among the dead are hundreds of rescue workers, many of whom Schonbrun passed by on the stairwell. "At the time, I thought great, there's firefighters going up. When I heard the building collapsed, I thought I was going to faint. I couldn't fathom what it meant that it collapsed."
Certain things in his life have already changed, said Schonbrun, not least of which is that he no longer has an office to go to and may not see many of his coworkers again. "My daughter was crying last night because of a homework assignment and I said 'Chanie, get a grip,' " he said. "You kind of look at things differently."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Toronto Jews welcome El Al passengers, by Haim Shapiro,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- The days when one can look to fellow Jews for help are not over, according to El Al spokesman Nachman Klieman, who yesterday related an exception act of communal kindness extended to El Al passengers after Tuesday's disaster in the US.
Klieman related that a flight for New York had already taken off yesterday shortly after 11 a.m. While the aircraft was crossing the Atlantic, the pilot received word of the attack on the World Trade Center and the subsequent closure of American air space.
As company officials considered the options, including returning to Israel, they also appealed to the Canadian government to allow the flight to land in Toronto. At the time, Klieman said, the company had considered sending the passengers by bus to New York, but that was before the US closed its land borders as well.
The Canadians allowed the Boeing 747-400 to land in Toronto, but because so many flights had been diverted to Canada, the hotels were full. With nowhere to put the passengers, the El Al representatives in Toronto appealed to the leaders of the local Jewish community. The community arranged for all 400 of the passengers to stay in the homes of local Jews.
"The contact with the community leaders produced an overwhelming feeling of kinship," Klieman said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Osama bin Laden's links to the Palestinians widening, by Arieh O’Sullivan, News agencies contributed to this report,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Links between Palestinians and Osama bin Laden, the United States' most-wanted terrorist, are growing, security officials said.
The Saudi millionaire who is one of the key suspects behind the terror attack on the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center, has been trying to set up a terrorist network in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and recruit and train Palestinians in Afghanistan and Pakistan, security officials said.
Bin Laden congratulated the people who carried out the deadly terrorist strikes in the United States, but denied yesterday that he was involved, a Palestinian journalist said.
Just last June, OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Malka acknowledged that bin Laden's agents had tried to carry out an attack in Israel, but were foiled. He did not give details.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has also warned of bin Laden's threat to stage terrorist attacks in Israel.
In June 2000, the General Security Service apprehended a group of Palestinians led by Nabil Okal, who had trained at a bin Laden-financed training camp in Afghanistan. Okal, of the Jebaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, had recruited a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists and had intended to recruit in the West Bank and among Israeli Arabs.
He was supposed to send recruits back to bin Laden's group in Afghanistan for training, and was instructed by bin Laden's group to set up a terror network here, the security sources said.
Okal also received help, mostly financial, from Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Okal told interrogators that he did not inform the Hamas of his links with bin Laden and only wanted to receive Hamas's cover and help for the organization he was forming.
According to Yoram Schweitzer of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, many Palestinians are already serving in bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. In fact, one of the main figures in Al-Qaeda is a Palestinian identified as Zein Abadin.
There is also said to be a link between the Arab assassin of Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990 and bin Laden through the blind Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman. It was al- Rahman who instructed Sa'id Nusair to assassinate Kahane, And it was al-Rahman's Islamic militants who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. Rahman is the spiritual leader of the Islamic Group Al-Gama'ah al-Islamiyyah, which is guided by bin Laden.
"Osama bin Laden thanked Almighty Allah and bowed before him when he heard this news," Jamal Ismail, Abu Dhabi Television's Palestinian bureau chief in Islamabad, said, quoting a close aide of bin Laden's. Ismail said the aide, whom he wouldn't identify by name, called him early yesterday on a satellite telephone from a secret hide-out in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden praised the people who carried out the attacks, Ismail said, quoting the aide. "But he had no information or knowledge about the attack" ahead of time, Ismail said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israel's war is no longer its alone, by Tom Rose,
Thursday-- NEW YORK - "One of the most heinous acts in world history," was how Mayor Rudolph Giuliani described Tuesday's unprecedented attack upon his city and the US.
When and if a final death count is ever completed, the numbers will no doubt back him up. As of late yesterday afternoon, giant plumes of smoke from the collapsed towers of the World Trade Center were still visible from dozens of miles away and the acrid stench of the cataclysmic explosions was still pungent as far away as midtown.
America is under assault as never before, and all this witness to the cataclysm can think about is a conversation I had in the elevator on the way up to 110th floor of the World Trade Center 18 hours before it was destroyed. Having just arrived from Jerusalem, I found myself with an hour between sales calls and decided to do what millions of others have done before me. I forked over $13.50 and was shuffled into the large elevator that shuttled tourists to the top of the symbol of New York.
Standing next to the door, I struck up a conversation with the man operating the elevator, a strikingly pleasant, hard-working fellow in his late 50s. When asked, this native of mainland China said he came to America in 1994 because he wanted his children to have a better life than he had. It was the same thing that brought my grandmother's family from Poland.
The same thing that brought all of us.
Like thousands of others, that man was undoubtedly at work when the towers were destroyed. I wonder if he is still alive. I woke up yesterday morning worried about the safety of my family, left behind in Jerusalem.
Did my son make it home from school safely? Did my wife manage to get all the chores she had planned in town completed in safety? By breakfast time, they were the ones worried about me. I was fine I assured them. "Hurry home", said my wife. To Jerusalem? Hurry home?
Yes, it is true, Jerusalem, the capital of a besieged Israel suddenly seems safe. Certainly safer than New York. At least for now. At least until the US is able to implement and adjust to the measures necessary to survive and function in the face of a new enemy and a new kind of warfare. A kind of enemy and warfare Israel has faced for decades.
A warfare that knows no refuge and spares no one. A warfare where women and children are the desired targets, not collateral damage.
It has been said that in the war against terrorism, Israel is the world's miner's canary. Before subjecting themselves to potential threats of noxious fumes, miners used to lower canaries into their mines to see if the air below was breathable. The sad lesson of yesterday was that the fumes of terrorism are more toxic than anyone in America could bring himself to believe. While Israel was the first democracy to find itself fighting terror every day and on all fronts, it was destined not to be the last.
Just as the Jewish people throughout history have often been the first to suffer new kinds of discrimination, punishment, and genocide, we have never been the last.
Those who have been wishing and working to destroy Israel for decades have now declared war on their ultimate and real target.
Israel's war is no longer its alone. It has now struck at the heart of the greatest power in the world. How that power responds to an attack against the very symbols of its economic and military might will almost surely shape the contours of the world our children are destined to inherit.
If still alive, perhaps the World Trade Center elevator operator I met could help us muster some of the strength free countries will need to fight back. Perhaps he would tell us that, in his native Chinese, the words for "crisis" and "opportunity" are one in the same. Perhaps Americans, now united in their grief, will soon emerge united in purpose, committed to what Abraham Lincoln called "a new birth of freedom" and resolved to take the steps necessary to protect its institutions and its people.
As Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Tuesday: "Tonight, all Israelis are Americans." Today, America can use all the help it can get from here on Earth and from heaven above.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli expat owns retail lease for World Trade Center, by Sharon Berger, Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Australian businessman Frank Lowy, who emigrated to Australia from Israel in 1952, owns the 99-year lease for the 425,000-square foot retail portion of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York.
Lowy is the chairman and founder of Westfield Holdings, which manages Westfield America Trust, which has a 57-percent stake in Westfield America Inc. In April, Westfield America agreed to pay $400 million for the lease on the complex though only $133m. was paid upfront. The rest was to be made in ground lease payments.
Westfield said yesterday that it has insurance coverage against terrorist attacks and its earnings will not be materially affected. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange the retail chain said that "investment in the retail component of the World Trade Center is fully insured for both capital and loss of income," adding that "the insurance cover includes acts of terrorism."
"The financial impact in the short term is probably immaterial but you don't know the broader implications of ongoing insurance costs and retail consumer confidence," Andrew Parsons, portfolio manager at Lend Lease Corp., told Bloomberg News.
Ironically, earlier this week, Westfield America Inc. said it planned to double some rents and build more space to increase profit from the mall at the World Trade Center.
Westfield Holding's shares closed yesterday down by 5.1% at 16.7 Australian dollars.
Lowy was born in Czechoslovakia in 1930 and grew up in Hungary. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to Palestine at age 15. He fought in Israel's War of Independence and in 1952 emigrated to Australia to join family.
In Sydney, Lowy started out running a delicatessen with his Hungarian-born partner John Sanders. In 1956 they founded a company called Westfield and in 1958 opened their first small shopping center. The firm went public in 1960.
Today, Lowy is the second-wealthiest man in Australia and was recently ranked the 209th-wealthiest man in the world by Forbes magazine. Westfield is the fourth-largest shopping mall owner, with operations in Australia, the US, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
Lowy is philanthropically involved in the Jewish community in Sydney as well as Israel, including sponsoring the Overseas Students School of Tel Aviv University which is endowed in his name, and being associate international chairman of the Israel Democracy Institute.
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September 13, 2001. Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders stress Palestinians' support of US attacks, by Melissa Radler,
NEW YORK (September 13) - Lashing out at Palestinians who celebrated Tuesday's carnage and skyrocketing death toll in New York, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen urged the international community to "reign in terror and demand justice for these vicious attacks."
"I don't think Palestinians celebrating the death of thousands of Americans should go unchallenged," said Rosen, after images of Palestinians on the streets of Nablus and Jerusalem rejoicing and handing out candy after the attacks were broadcast around the world.
The celebrations were quickly followed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's official condemnation of the attack.
As recently as Tuesday, however, Palestinian Media Watch reported that suicide bombers were being lauded in a variety of PA-controlled newspapers. In its September 11 edition, the Gaza daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida called suicide bombers "the salt of the earth, the engines of history... They are the most honorable [people] among us." The statement was documented by Palestinian Media Watch in a special report released yesterday.
"I think we need to go beyond identifying terrorists and the usual list of rogue states and get to the root of the problem. Arafat has got to be put in a position of arresting terrorists. There need to be consequences to their actions," said Rosen.
Rosen also called on Arab countries considered moderate by the US, including Jordan and Egypt, to stand firm against terror, and he called on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to take action against nations sheltering terrorists.
"Those states that harbor [terrorists] and finance them, leaders who promote or permit terrorists to exist, those states need to stop funding them. I think it's time for our friends around the world to demand that this kind of activity end or we're going to stop doing business and take action," said Rosen.
At the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier also urged Americans to take notice of those celebrating Tuesday's attack. "Make no mistake about it, those people who find joy amidst our suffering are the cheerleaders who keep international terrorism alive," Hier said in a release.
Contacted Tuesday afternoon in Paris, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, Mortimer Zuckerman, expressed shock at film he saw of Palestinian children dancing in the streets after hearing of the horrible attacks.
"It brings home again that this is not an Arab-Israeli conflict. It is a conflict that has been widened to include Western civilization and culture," said Zuckerman.
Miriam Shaviv adds from Jerusalem:
The Associated Press yesterday refused to comment on reports that it had refrained from broadcasting film of Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Tuesday following pressure from the PA.
"I have nothing to say about this matter at this time," said AP Israel bureau chief Dan Perry.
A foreign correspondent, however, told The Jerusalem Post that PA cabinet secretary Abdel Ahmed Rahman had threatened the AP producers that if they broadcast their pictures, "they would not be able to guarantee their safety." Rahman was not available for comment.
The film showed Palestinian policemen celebrating and shooting into the air, in addition to civilians dancing, senior Israeli sources said.
The film was reportedly shot in the West Bank town of Nablus, where more than 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets, and in the Balata refugee camp.
Pictures broadcast by other foreign media outlets of Palestinians celebrating the terror attacks were mostly from east Jerusalem. No foreign crew captured on film other parades of celebration reported to have taken place in Bethlehem, Tulkarm, or the Gaza Strip.
The PA made threats to stop foreign press from broadcasting scenes it felt reflect poorly on the Palestinians before, when Italian TV correspondent Riccardo Cristiano captured on film the lynching of two reserve soldiers by a mob of Palestinian rioters in Ramallah in October 2000. Riccardo lost both his GPO press card and his Jerusalem posting after sending a letter to the Al-Hayat al-Jadida in which he denied that the film had been shot by his own station. - JPost
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Jewish leaders spotlight Palestinians' support of attacks against America, by Melissa Radler,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- NEW YORK - Lashing out at Palestinians who celebrated Tuesday's carnage and skyrocketing death toll in New York, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen urged the international community to "reign in terror and demand justice for these vicious attacks."
"I don't think Palestinians celebrating the death of thousands of Americans should go unchallenged," said Rosen, after images of Palestinians on the streets of Nablus and Jerusalem rejoicing and handing out candy after the attacks were broadcast around the world.
The celebrations were quickly followed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's official condemnation of the attack.
As recently as Tuesday, however, Palestinian Media Watch reported that suicide bombers were being lauded in a variety of PA-controlled newspapers. In its September 11 edition, the Gaza daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida called suicide bombers "the salt of the earth, the engines of history... They are the most honorable [people] among us." The statement was documented by Palestinian Media Watch in a special report released yesterday.
"I think we need to go beyond identifying terrorists and the usual list of rogue states and get to the root of the problem. Arafat has got to be put in a position of arresting terrorists. There need to be consequences to their actions," said Rosen.
Rosen also called on Arab countries considered moderate by the US, including Jordan and Egypt, to stand firm against terror, and he called on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to take action against nations sheltering terrorists.
"Those states that harbor [terrorists] and finance them, leaders who promote or permit terrorists to exist, those states need to stop funding them. I think it's time for our friends around the world to demand that this kind of activity end or we're going to stop doing business and take action," said Rosen.
At the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier also urged Americans to take notice of those celebrating Tuesday's attack. "Make no mistake about it, those people who find joy amidst our suffering are the cheerleaders who keep international terrorism alive," Hier said in a release.
Contacted Tuesday afternoon in Paris, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, Mortimer Zuckerman, expressed shock at film he saw of Palestinian children dancing in the streets after hearing of the horrible attacks.
"It brings home again that this is not an Arab-Israeli conflict. It is a conflict that has been widened to include Western civilization and culture," said Zuckerman.
Miriam Shaviv adds:
The Associated Press yesterday refused to comment on reports that it had refrained from broadcasting film of Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Tuesday following pressure from the PA.
"I have nothing to say about this matter at this time," said AP Israel bureau chief Dan Perry.
A foreign correspondent, who refused to be identified, however, told The Jerusalem Post that PA cabinet secretary Abdel Ahmed Rahman had threatened the AP producers that if they broadcast their pictures, "they would not be able to guarantee their safety." Rahman was not available for comment.
The film showed Palestinian policemen celebrating and shooting into the air, in addition to civilians dancing, senior Israeli sources said.
The film was reportedly shot in the West Bank town of Nablus, where more than 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets, and in the Balata refugee camp.
Pictures broadcast by other foreign media outlets of Palestinians celebrating the terror attacks were mostly from east Jerusalem. No foreign crew captured on film other parades of celebration reported to have taken place in Bethlehem, Tulkarm, or the Gaza Strip.
The PA made threats to stop foreign press from broadcasting scenes it felt reflect poorly on the Palestinians before, when Italian TV correspondent Riccardo Cristiano captured on film the lynching of two reserve soldiers by a mob of Palestinian rioters in Ramallah in October 2000. Riccardo lost both his GPO press card and his Jerusalem posting after sending a letter to the Al-Hayat al-Jadida in which he denied that the film had been shot by his own station.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, Arafat 'horrified' but Palestinians celebrate, by Mohammed Daraghimeh,
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 -- Thousands of Palestinians celebrated yesterday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli- Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags. Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake. America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In predominantly Arab east Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television.
Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said. "We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president, and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people."
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks. Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli founder of Akamai among US terror victims, by Gregg Gardner,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Daniel Lewin, co-founder and chief technology officer Akamai Technologies Inc., died aboard the Los Angeles-bound American Airlines flight that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York on Tuesday, the company said yesterday. He was 31.
Lewin was born in Denver, Colorado, grew up in Jerusalem, and served as an officer in the IDF. At the Technion in Haifa, he was named outstanding student of the year in 1995. He later earned a master's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, winning the Morris Joseph Lewin Award for his thesis.
In September 1998, he founded Akamai with Tom Leighton, an MIT professor of applied mathematics.
Lewin had previously worked at IBM's research laboratory in Haifa, where he was a full-time research fellow and project leader.
Akamai, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of Internet content delivery solutions, astounded the new economy when its market capitalization reached some $13 billion shortly after its initial public offering on Nasdaq in October 1999.
George Conrades, chairman and CEO of Akamai, said: "Danny was a wonderful human being. He will be deeply missed by his many friends at Akamai. Our thoughts and our prayers are with Danny's family, friends, and colleagues during this time of national tragedy and personal loss."
In related news, MRV Communications, Inc., which is operated by Israelis, said that Edmund Glazer, 41, CFO and vice president of finance and administration, was also killed aboard American Airlines Flight 11 on Tuesday.
Noam Lotan, president and CEO of the California-based company, said: "This is a very sad day for MRV and for all who knew Edmund. He was a true friend and his kindness and devotion will be deeply missed. We have lost a member of our family, and his loss is overwhelming to us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with Edmund's family, friends and colleagues and all the families that have suffered personal losses during this tragedy."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, UJC cancels support rally, by Melissa Radler,
NEW YORK (September 13) - In light of Tuesday's terror attacks, the United Jewish Communities cancelled a September 23 rally in support of Israel.
"Israel Now and Forever," which was expected to bring together more than 100,000 Israel supporters to Manhattan and was scheduled to feature Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was called off yesterday in deference to "the need of all civilized people to grieve and begin healing from the horrific events of Tuesday, and in full support of law enforcement and public safety officials who are performing their duties under extreme conditions and emotional challenges," stated a UJC release.
"While coming days and weeks should be devoted to expressions of sorrow for the thousands of innocent people who perished yesterday, and for the loved ones they left behind, UJC encourages all people of good will to take time on the 23rd to gather with friends, neighbors and relatives - in homes and places of worship - to pray for an end to terrorism throughout the world," stated the release.
Meanwhile, the UJC set up an emergency fund to assist the victims of the attacks in coordination with 189 local federations across North America.
The UJC Emergency Relief Fund will provide financial assistance for recovery, relief, and rehabilitation efforts for victims and their families. All proceeds will go directly to individuals, families, and relief organizations.
In a release announcing the fund, UJC officials expressed their "great sadness and horror at the recent attacks and calls on all Americans to stand in solidarity and to act with continued compassion and generosity."
Checks made payable to UJC Emergency Relief Fund can be sent to 111 Eighth Ave., #11E, New York, NY, 10011. Additional information and updates will be posted at www.ujc.org http://www.ujc.org.
As rescue workers worked overtime to put out fires and save those trapped in the ruins of the World Trade Center, Jewish leaders, many working from offices with power outages and non-working phone lines, were making an effort to coordinate a response to the tragedy.
"Collectively, we're in discussion as to some type of communal response," said Michael Miller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. "But now, the time is to focus in on trying to help the city with volunteers with blood, just trying to be of assistance with rescue and recovery, if possible."
At the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, executive vice chairman Malcolm Hoenlein said that local synagogues had been contacted about setting up vigils and designating this Saturday a Shabbat of solidarity and concern. He said that he could not find a company to set up a conference call between the group's 54 members, though one was scheduled for yesterday afternoon.
One of the first vigils in the city was a joint prayer session scheduled for last night, at Temple Israel of Jamaica Estates in Queens, which was organized by the American Jewish Congress, JCRC, and the Korean Council of Churches. Congressmen Gary Ackerman, Joseph Crowley, and Gregory Meeks planned to attend. A prayer service was also being held at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Search in NYC locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
NEW YORK, Sept. 13 2001 -- The number of Israelis considered missing in New York dropped to three last night when Ya'acov Habbi and his daughter Gali were located. Ya'acov, who lives near the World Trade Center, and Gali were trapped in a car next to the site for about 20 hours.
The Foreign Ministry compiled the number from Israeli relatives who in the first few hours after the attack, contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry and gave the names of Israeli friends and relatives who worked in the WTC or who had business scheduled in it or its adjacent structures.
Even without seeing the article in the Jerusalem Post, logic alone would tell you that there would be many hundreds, if not thousands of Israelis in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks. The international Jewish involvement in banking and finance is legendary. Two of the richest firms in New York are Goldman-Sachs and the Solomon Brothers; and both firms have offices in the Twin Towers.
Many executives in these firms regularly commute back and forth to Israel, New York is the center of world wide Jewish financial power and the World Trade Center is at its epicenter, one would expect the Israeli death toll to be catastrophic.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Zim workers saved by cost-cutting, by Miriam Shaviv,
JERUSALEM (September 13) - More than 200 workers at Zim Israel Navigation Company counted themselves lucky Tuesday, having been moved out of their World Trade Center offices by the company just two weeks ago.
At the same time, Israeli company ClearForest, whose international headquarters were located in the 47th floor of One World Trade Center, reported that none of its staff was hurt when the building collapsed.
"When we watched the pictures, we felt so lucky," Zim spokesperson Dan Nadler said. "Our entire US operations were run out of the 16th floor."
Zim left so recently that CNN, on its Web site, still lists the company as one of the businesses in the WTC.
Zim moved its US corporate headquarters to Norfolk, Virginia. "The aim was to save on rent," said Nadler. "We bought a modest building instead of paying New York rates."
Nadler said the company is unaware of any other Israeli firms in the building, but said he is sure "there are other Israelis working there."
Meanwhile, Sigal Srur, ClearForest's director of human resources, said that four or five of the company's 18 workers were in the building when it was hit. "They got out at the last minute, and two who were lightly injured with scrapes have already been discharged from the hospital," she said from the company's Or Yehuda R&D offices.
According to Srur, the company lost "mostly marketing and business development material. Luckily, unlike many US companies which were totally wiped out, our R&D is here, so all of our technology is here."
She said that the company is already looking for temporary offices in New York and emphasized that the company's new permanent offices be located in New York.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US: IDF rescue team not needed, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
JERUSALEM (September 13) - Israel has offered its intelligence to the United States, but decided not to dispatch its experienced Home Front Command rescue teams to New York.
More than 150 members of the rescue unit had been waiting at the Lod air base since early yesterday to depart for the US. An advance team was to have gone early in the day, but that was delayed. In an afternoon assessment, they were informed by the Americans that they were not needed, because so many US rescue teams were already on site.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, meanwhile, spoke with US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and offered to share Israeli intelligence and other defense support with Washington.
"Israel is a partner of the United States in its war against terrorism," he told Rumsfeld, who responded that he values Israel's concern, its support, and its offer of aid. He said that America appreciates Israel's concern and identification with it under these difficult times.
It was not clear if the Americans took up the Israeli offer to share intelligence.
Home Front Command officers said they believe there are good chances of finding survivors under the rubble.
"Under the buildings there are lots of malls. They can live for many days, I'm sure," said Brig.-Gen. (res.) Avi Bachar, a former deputy OC Home Front Command.
He said that the Israeli rescue team was not needed in New York as the Americans are also quite experienced, specifically from the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi.
"We saw them in action in Africa. They know how to work," Bachar said. He said that contrary to Turkey, where an earthquake caused widespread destruction, the World Trade Center collapsed in a relatively small area.
"The destruction is great, but it is not Turkey. It's much smaller," he said.
Bachar, who heads Israteam, a crisis management company, said that a similar attack would be more difficult here.
"In Israel, the air-control system is much more advanced. In many ways, it would understand that something was happening much earlier than in the US, and our reaction is quicker. But don't forget we also have a much smaller area to deal with. If a jet arrived and started turning in another direction, someone would have noticed it earlier," he said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US intelligence's day of reckoning, Analysis By David Kimche
(September 13) - It will take a long time for the dust to settle and for all the dead to be buried. It will take even longer for the US - and the entire world, for that matter - to return to some semblance of normalcy.
And yet, even now, officials in the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, and other US government agencies are beginning the agonizing analysis of what went wrong, what should be done to rectify past mistakes, and above all, what action should be taken against the perpetrators of this, the most evil and dastardly deed imaginable.
The first question that will be asked is how could such a complex operation have been implemented without the US intelligence agencies having any foreknowledge. The planning of the operation, the recruiting of of the personnel (including pilots willing to commit suicide), the training, the gathering of operational intelligence without which such an operation would be impossible, and finally getting those people into the US all necessitated a considerable number of people "in the know," all aware that a giant terrorist outrage was being prepared.
Terrorist cells are made up of highly dedicated people who know how to keep a secret. Yet, every such cell has a circle of people close to it who certainly do not know all the details of what is being planned, but who know a lot. There are the drivers, the relatives, the mistresses, the close friends, the messengers, all of whom could be ideal targets for recruitment by intelligence agencies.
The US, although it has tremendous capability in technological intelligence - electronic intelligence, satellite photography, listening in to telephones, intercepting faxes and e-mail messages - has put much less emphasis on "humint," collecting information by means of agents, which is all important in combating terrorism.
That will now have to be rectified. Priorities will have to be changed and a new modus operandi developed. At the same time, what will probably become the vastest manhunt in the history of mankind will be launched to identify, capture, or kill those responsible for Tuesday's strike.
If there was any state backing for the terrorists, that state will be attacked, for the US cannot allow such an act to go unpunished, or worse, risk that state continuing to support terror acts. For as of now, combating terrorism will top the list of priorities of the US. Nothing will be more urgent.
The US of today is a different country from what it was at the beginning of the week. It will have to reconsider its policies, both with regard to tightening its cooperation with the democratic countries of the world and toward the non-democratic countries. And on top of that list will be countries in the Middle East.
(The writer is president of the Council for Foreign Relations.)
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres: Decision time for Arafat, [See also: October 5, 2001, H’arretz, Peres: Decision-time for Arafat,]
JERUSALEM (September 13) - The attacks in the United States require Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to decide immediately whether he wants to be a terrorist or a statesman, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres warned yesterday.
Peres said that if Arafat does not renounce terrorism, he will have to face the wrath of the world.
The balancing act Arafat has played successfully for years in appeasing the Western world while harboring and sponsoring terror can no longer continue, he said.
"This is a genuine opportunity for him to get out of the world of terrorism, and this is, in fact, the real test," Peres told Israel Radio. "He cannot hold on to both at the same time - to be engaged in terrorism, while at the same time being accepted internationally. No one can. Yesterday, in the United States, this choice was made clear cut, and no room for compromise now remains. I hope the Palestinians reach the proper conclusion."
Peres compared Palestinian terror to smoking, saying that "there's a point in your life where you either quit or you become its victim." Arafat seemed to take Peres's advice when he went out of his way to condemn the attacks and pledge his assistance. The US was pleased by Arafat's decision to cancel his trip to Syria, which is on the US list of countries that support terror.
One PA source said that Arafat does not want to be perceived as making alliances with the radical camp, but his adviser Bassam Abu Sharif said the trip was canceled because of the Israeli incursion into Jenin and because Israel closed its airspace after the attacks.
Arafat donated blood for those injured in the attacks at a Gaza hospital, and the Palestinians called for a midnight Christian-Muslim mass in Bethlehem to pray for the dead and injured at.
Palestinians emphasized that those who celebrated in the streets following the attacks were just "a handful of people." A PA source said that because Fatah activists were ordered to stop Palestinians from expressing their joy, there were no more signs of celebration yesterday.
Palestinian officials said evidence that the attacks may have been carried out by Islamic fundamentalists will pressure them to crack down on their own militants, which will be very unpopular on the Palestinian street.
The PA also organized an afternoon candlelight march to the US consulate in east Jerusalem to commemorate the victims.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials accused Israel of using the attention focused on the attacks to escalate military attacks in the Jenin area.
"The Israelis seized the opportunity of these tragic events to attack Jenin," Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei told US Consul-General Ron Schlicker. "This has created a new and delicate situation. We must wait and see how it will turn out."
Qurei said the attacks will either encourage US involvement to help renew peace talks and end the violence or lead to a hands-off policy. He said he is hopeful the meeting between Peres and Arafat will take place and lead to results.
"We have two options, either escalate the situation or be wise and put an end to all this," he said.
Palestinian sources said a meeting between Arafat and Peres could take place as soon as today. Peres and Arafat will meet this week despite today's terrorist attacks, European Union Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos said in Cairo.
A spokesman for Moratinos said there is no doubt the meeting will take place, and that it will be followed by two more meetings. The first meeting will be either at the Erez crossing by the northern Gaza Strip or in Taba, Egypt.
Louis Michel, foreign minister of Belgium, the European Union's rotating chairman, called upon Israel not to cancel the meeting, Israel Radio reported.
Asked about whether he still plans on meeting with Arafat, Peres said, "If they want to talk about how to end the violence, we are ready to help them end the violence. We are not giving anyone the 'cold shoulder.' But the Palestinians must declare that they are giving a comprehensive 'cold shoulder' to terrorism in all its forms."
The celebrations were quickly followed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's official condemnation of the attack.
As recently as Tuesday, however, Palestinian Media Watch reported that suicide bombers were being lauded in a variety of PA-controlled newspapers. In its September 11 edition, the Gaza daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida called suicide bombers "the salt of the earth, the engines of history... They are the most honorable [people] among us." The statement was documented by Palestinian Media Watch in a special report released yesterday.
"I think we need to go beyond identifying terrorists and the usual list of rogue states and get to the root of the problem. Arafat has got to be put in a position of arresting terrorists. There need to be consequences to their actions," said Rosen.
Rosen also called on Arab countries considered moderate by the US, including Jordan and Egypt, to stand firm against terror, and he called on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to take action against nations sheltering terrorists.
"Those states that harbor [terrorists] and finance them, leaders who promote or permit terrorists to exist, those states need to stop funding them. I think it's time for our friends around the world to demand that this kind of activity end or we're going to stop doing business and take action," said Rosen.
At the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier also urged Americans to take notice of those celebrating Tuesday's attack. "Make no mistake about it, those people who find joy amidst our suffering are the cheerleaders who keep international terrorism alive," Hier said in a release.
Contacted Tuesday afternoon in Paris, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, Mortimer Zuckerman, expressed shock at film he saw of Palestinian children dancing in the streets after hearing of the horrible attacks.
"It brings home again that this is not an Arab-Israeli conflict. It is a conflict that has been widened to include Western civilization and culture," said Zuckerman.
Miriam Shaviv adds:
The Associated Press yesterday refused to comment on reports that it had refrained from broadcasting film of Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Tuesday following pressure from the PA.
"I have nothing to say about this matter at this time," said AP Israel bureau chief Dan Perry.
A foreign correspondent, who refused to be identified, however, told The Jerusalem Post that PA cabinet secretary Abdel Ahmed Rahman had threatened the AP producers that if they broadcast their pictures, "they would not be able to guarantee their safety." Rahman was not available for comment.
The film showed Palestinian policemen celebrating and shooting into the air, in addition to civilians dancing, senior Israeli sources said.
The film was reportedly shot in the West Bank town of Nablus, where more than 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets, and in the Balata refugee camp.
Pictures broadcast by other foreign media outlets of Palestinians celebrating the terror attacks were mostly from east Jerusalem. No foreign crew captured on film other parades of celebration reported to have taken place in Bethlehem, Tulkarm, or the Gaza Strip.
The PA made threats to stop foreign press from broadcasting scenes it felt reflect poorly on the Palestinians before, when Italian TV correspondent Riccardo Cristiano captured on film the lynching of two reserve soldiers by a mob of Palestinian rioters in Ramallah in October 2000. Riccardo lost both his GPO press card and his Jerusalem posting after sending a letter to the Al-Hayat al-Jadida in which he denied that the film had been shot by his own station.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, Arafat 'horrified' but Palestinians celebrate, by Mohammed Daraghimeh,
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 -- Thousands of Palestinians celebrated yesterday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
The US government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli- Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington.
Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags. Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake. America always stands by Israel in its war against us."
Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
In predominantly Arab east Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television.
Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters.
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said. "We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president, and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people."
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks. Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli founder of Akamai among US terror victims, by Gregg Gardner,
Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- Daniel Lewin, co-founder and chief technology officer Akamai Technologies Inc., died aboard the Los Angeles-bound American Airlines flight that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York on Tuesday, the company said yesterday. He was 31.
Lewin was born in Denver, Colorado, grew up in Jerusalem, and served as an officer in the IDF. At the Technion in Haifa, he was named outstanding student of the year in 1995. He later earned a master's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, winning the Morris Joseph Lewin Award for his thesis.
In September 1998, he founded Akamai with Tom Leighton, an MIT professor of applied mathematics.
Lewin had previously worked at IBM's research laboratory in Haifa, where he was a full-time research fellow and project leader.
Akamai, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of Internet content delivery solutions, astounded the new economy when its market capitalization reached some $13 billion shortly after its initial public offering on Nasdaq in October 1999.
George Conrades, chairman and CEO of Akamai, said: "Danny was a wonderful human being. He will be deeply missed by his many friends at Akamai. Our thoughts and our prayers are with Danny's family, friends, and colleagues during this time of national tragedy and personal loss."
In related news, MRV Communications, Inc., which is operated by Israelis, said that Edmund Glazer, 41, CFO and vice president of finance and administration, was also killed aboard American Airlines Flight 11 on Tuesday.
Noam Lotan, president and CEO of the California-based company, said: "This is a very sad day for MRV and for all who knew Edmund. He was a true friend and his kindness and devotion will be deeply missed. We have lost a member of our family, and his loss is overwhelming to us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with Edmund's family, friends and colleagues and all the families that have suffered personal losses during this tragedy."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, UJC cancels support rally, by Melissa Radler,
NEW YORK (September 13) - In light of Tuesday's terror attacks, the United Jewish Communities cancelled a September 23 rally in support of Israel.
"Israel Now and Forever," which was expected to bring together more than 100,000 Israel supporters to Manhattan and was scheduled to feature Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was called off yesterday in deference to "the need of all civilized people to grieve and begin healing from the horrific events of Tuesday, and in full support of law enforcement and public safety officials who are performing their duties under extreme conditions and emotional challenges," stated a UJC release.
"While coming days and weeks should be devoted to expressions of sorrow for the thousands of innocent people who perished yesterday, and for the loved ones they left behind, UJC encourages all people of good will to take time on the 23rd to gather with friends, neighbors and relatives - in homes and places of worship - to pray for an end to terrorism throughout the world," stated the release.
Meanwhile, the UJC set up an emergency fund to assist the victims of the attacks in coordination with 189 local federations across North America.
The UJC Emergency Relief Fund will provide financial assistance for recovery, relief, and rehabilitation efforts for victims and their families. All proceeds will go directly to individuals, families, and relief organizations.
In a release announcing the fund, UJC officials expressed their "great sadness and horror at the recent attacks and calls on all Americans to stand in solidarity and to act with continued compassion and generosity."
Checks made payable to UJC Emergency Relief Fund can be sent to 111 Eighth Ave., #11E, New York, NY, 10011. Additional information and updates will be posted at www.ujc.org http://www.ujc.org.
As rescue workers worked overtime to put out fires and save those trapped in the ruins of the World Trade Center, Jewish leaders, many working from offices with power outages and non-working phone lines, were making an effort to coordinate a response to the tragedy.
"Collectively, we're in discussion as to some type of communal response," said Michael Miller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. "But now, the time is to focus in on trying to help the city with volunteers with blood, just trying to be of assistance with rescue and recovery, if possible."
At the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, executive vice chairman Malcolm Hoenlein said that local synagogues had been contacted about setting up vigils and designating this Saturday a Shabbat of solidarity and concern. He said that he could not find a company to set up a conference call between the group's 54 members, though one was scheduled for yesterday afternoon.
One of the first vigils in the city was a joint prayer session scheduled for last night, at Temple Israel of Jamaica Estates in Queens, which was organized by the American Jewish Congress, JCRC, and the Korean Council of Churches. Congressmen Gary Ackerman, Joseph Crowley, and Gregory Meeks planned to attend. A prayer service was also being held at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Search in NYC locates 1,000 missing Israelis, by Melissa Radler,
NEW YORK, Sept. 13 2001 -- The number of Israelis considered missing in New York dropped to three last night when Ya'acov Habbi and his daughter Gali were located. Ya'acov, who lives near the World Trade Center, and Gali were trapped in a car next to the site for about 20 hours.
The Foreign Ministry compiled the number from Israeli relatives who in the first few hours after the attack, contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry and gave the names of Israeli friends and relatives who worked in the WTC or who had business scheduled in it or its adjacent structures.
Even without seeing the article in the Jerusalem Post, logic alone would tell you that there would be many hundreds, if not thousands of Israelis in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks. The international Jewish involvement in banking and finance is legendary. Two of the richest firms in New York are Goldman-Sachs and the Solomon Brothers; and both firms have offices in the Twin Towers.
Many executives in these firms regularly commute back and forth to Israel, New York is the center of world wide Jewish financial power and the World Trade Center is at its epicenter, one would expect the Israeli death toll to be catastrophic.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Zim workers saved by cost-cutting, by Miriam Shaviv,
JERUSALEM (September 13) - More than 200 workers at Zim Israel Navigation Company counted themselves lucky Tuesday, having been moved out of their World Trade Center offices by the company just two weeks ago.
At the same time, Israeli company ClearForest, whose international headquarters were located in the 47th floor of One World Trade Center, reported that none of its staff was hurt when the building collapsed.
"When we watched the pictures, we felt so lucky," Zim spokesperson Dan Nadler said. "Our entire US operations were run out of the 16th floor."
Zim left so recently that CNN, on its Web site, still lists the company as one of the businesses in the WTC.
Zim moved its US corporate headquarters to Norfolk, Virginia. "The aim was to save on rent," said Nadler. "We bought a modest building instead of paying New York rates."
Nadler said the company is unaware of any other Israeli firms in the building, but said he is sure "there are other Israelis working there."
Meanwhile, Sigal Srur, ClearForest's director of human resources, said that four or five of the company's 18 workers were in the building when it was hit. "They got out at the last minute, and two who were lightly injured with scrapes have already been discharged from the hospital," she said from the company's Or Yehuda R&D offices.
According to Srur, the company lost "mostly marketing and business development material. Luckily, unlike many US companies which were totally wiped out, our R&D is here, so all of our technology is here."
She said that the company is already looking for temporary offices in New York and emphasized that the company's new permanent offices be located in New York.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US: IDF rescue team not needed, by Arieh O'Sullivan,
JERUSALEM (September 13) - Israel has offered its intelligence to the United States, but decided not to dispatch its experienced Home Front Command rescue teams to New York.
More than 150 members of the rescue unit had been waiting at the Lod air base since early yesterday to depart for the US. An advance team was to have gone early in the day, but that was delayed. In an afternoon assessment, they were informed by the Americans that they were not needed, because so many US rescue teams were already on site.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, meanwhile, spoke with US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and offered to share Israeli intelligence and other defense support with Washington.
"Israel is a partner of the United States in its war against terrorism," he told Rumsfeld, who responded that he values Israel's concern, its support, and its offer of aid. He said that America appreciates Israel's concern and identification with it under these difficult times.
It was not clear if the Americans took up the Israeli offer to share intelligence.
Home Front Command officers said they believe there are good chances of finding survivors under the rubble.
"Under the buildings there are lots of malls. They can live for many days, I'm sure," said Brig.-Gen. (res.) Avi Bachar, a former deputy OC Home Front Command.
He said that the Israeli rescue team was not needed in New York as the Americans are also quite experienced, specifically from the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi.
"We saw them in action in Africa. They know how to work," Bachar said. He said that contrary to Turkey, where an earthquake caused widespread destruction, the World Trade Center collapsed in a relatively small area.
"The destruction is great, but it is not Turkey. It's much smaller," he said.
Bachar, who heads Israteam, a crisis management company, said that a similar attack would be more difficult here.
"In Israel, the air-control system is much more advanced. In many ways, it would understand that something was happening much earlier than in the US, and our reaction is quicker. But don't forget we also have a much smaller area to deal with. If a jet arrived and started turning in another direction, someone would have noticed it earlier," he said.
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US intelligence's day of reckoning, Analysis By David Kimche
(September 13) - It will take a long time for the dust to settle and for all the dead to be buried. It will take even longer for the US - and the entire world, for that matter - to return to some semblance of normalcy.
And yet, even now, officials in the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, and other US government agencies are beginning the agonizing analysis of what went wrong, what should be done to rectify past mistakes, and above all, what action should be taken against the perpetrators of this, the most evil and dastardly deed imaginable.
The first question that will be asked is how could such a complex operation have been implemented without the US intelligence agencies having any foreknowledge. The planning of the operation, the recruiting of of the personnel (including pilots willing to commit suicide), the training, the gathering of operational intelligence without which such an operation would be impossible, and finally getting those people into the US all necessitated a considerable number of people "in the know," all aware that a giant terrorist outrage was being prepared.
Terrorist cells are made up of highly dedicated people who know how to keep a secret. Yet, every such cell has a circle of people close to it who certainly do not know all the details of what is being planned, but who know a lot. There are the drivers, the relatives, the mistresses, the close friends, the messengers, all of whom could be ideal targets for recruitment by intelligence agencies.
The US, although it has tremendous capability in technological intelligence - electronic intelligence, satellite photography, listening in to telephones, intercepting faxes and e-mail messages - has put much less emphasis on "humint," collecting information by means of agents, which is all important in combating terrorism.
That will now have to be rectified. Priorities will have to be changed and a new modus operandi developed. At the same time, what will probably become the vastest manhunt in the history of mankind will be launched to identify, capture, or kill those responsible for Tuesday's strike.
If there was any state backing for the terrorists, that state will be attacked, for the US cannot allow such an act to go unpunished, or worse, risk that state continuing to support terror acts. For as of now, combating terrorism will top the list of priorities of the US. Nothing will be more urgent.
The US of today is a different country from what it was at the beginning of the week. It will have to reconsider its policies, both with regard to tightening its cooperation with the democratic countries of the world and toward the non-democratic countries. And on top of that list will be countries in the Middle East.
(The writer is president of the Council for Foreign Relations.)
_____________________________________________________________________________
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres: Decision time for Arafat, [See also: October 5, 2001, H’arretz, Peres: Decision-time for Arafat,]
JERUSALEM (September 13) - The attacks in the United States require Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to decide immediately whether he wants to be a terrorist or a statesman, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres warned yesterday.
Peres said that if Arafat does not renounce terrorism, he will have to face the wrath of the world.
The balancing act Arafat has played successfully for years in appeasing the Western world while harboring and sponsoring terror can no longer continue, he said.
"This is a genuine opportunity for him to get out of the world of terrorism, and this is, in fact, the real test," Peres told Israel Radio. "He cannot hold on to both at the same time - to be engaged in terrorism, while at the same time being accepted internationally. No one can. Yesterday, in the United States, this choice was made clear cut, and no room for compromise now remains. I hope the Palestinians reach the proper conclusion."
Peres compared Palestinian terror to smoking, saying that "there's a point in your life where you either quit or you become its victim." Arafat seemed to take Peres's advice when he went out of his way to condemn the attacks and pledge his assistance. The US was pleased by Arafat's decision to cancel his trip to Syria, which is on the US list of countries that support terror.
One PA source said that Arafat does not want to be perceived as making alliances with the radical camp, but his adviser Bassam Abu Sharif said the trip was canceled because of the Israeli incursion into Jenin and because Israel closed its airspace after the attacks.
Arafat donated blood for those injured in the attacks at a Gaza hospital, and the Palestinians called for a midnight Christian-Muslim mass in Bethlehem to pray for the dead and injured at.
Palestinians emphasized that those who celebrated in the streets following the attacks were just "a handful of people." A PA source said that because Fatah activists were ordered to stop Palestinians from expressing their joy, there were no more signs of celebration yesterday.
Palestinian officials said evidence that the attacks may have been carried out by Islamic fundamentalists will pressure them to crack down on their own militants, which will be very unpopular on the Palestinian street.
The PA also organized an afternoon candlelight march to the US consulate in east Jerusalem to commemorate the victims.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials accused Israel of using the attention focused on the attacks to escalate military attacks in the Jenin area.
"The Israelis seized the opportunity of these tragic events to attack Jenin," Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei told US Consul-General Ron Schlicker. "This has created a new and delicate situation. We must wait and see how it will turn out."
Qurei said the attacks will either encourage US involvement to help renew peace talks and end the violence or lead to a hands-off policy. He said he is hopeful the meeting between Peres and Arafat will take place and lead to results.
"We have two options, either escalate the situation or be wise and put an end to all this," he said.
Palestinian sources said a meeting between Arafat and Peres could take place as soon as today. Peres and Arafat will meet this week despite today's terrorist attacks, European Union Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos said in Cairo.
A spokesman for Moratinos said there is no doubt the meeting will take place, and that it will be followed by two more meetings. The first meeting will be either at the Erez crossing by the northern Gaza Strip or in Taba, Egypt.
Louis Michel, foreign minister of Belgium, the European Union's rotating chairman, called upon Israel not to cancel the meeting, Israel Radio reported.
Asked about whether he still plans on meeting with Arafat, Peres said, "If they want to talk about how to end the violence, we are ready to help them end the violence. We are not giving anyone the 'cold shoulder.' But the Palestinians must declare that they are giving a comprehensive 'cold shoulder' to terrorism in all its forms."
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September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Country mourns with Americans, by Nina Gilbert and Judy Siegel,
JERUSALEM (September 15) - The country yesterday observed a day of mourning for the victims of Tuesday's terror attacks in the US.
Flags flew at half-staff at the Knesset, the Prime Minister's Office, government offices, schools, and elsewhere throughout the country. Many businesses flew the American flag to show solidarity.
An impromptu memorial for the victims has been established outside the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Citizens began arriving on Tuesday night to place wreaths and light candles.
The Knesset is to convene for a memorial session on Sunday in a show of solidarity with the American people "in the face of the shocking national tragedy caused by a murderous terror attack," Speaker Avraham Burg announced. US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, American Embassy staff, and the diplomatic corps have been invited to attend.
Magen David Adom collected more than 1,000 blood donations in 12 hours yesterday at centers in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Ramat Gan.
The Tel Aviv Municipality opened city hall's lobby for a blood drive in the evening.
The US Embassy operated only on a partial basis. A black ribbon was stretched out in front of the building.
Kurtzer said the embassy received condolences and offers to help from many Israelis. In schools, teachers discussed the tragedy with schoolchildren.
Local radio stations helped worried citizens get in touch with family and friends in the US.
Channel 2 television canceled its regular programming yesterday and broadcast news from the US on the attacks.
Staff at Hadassah-University Hospitals - accustomed to having delegations from the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America offer them moral support in difficult times - turned the tables yesterday, as 500 doctors, nurses, and other staffers held a solidarity event to bolster president Bonnie Lipton, other Hadassah women, and all Americans. Lipton, a frequent visitor who was in Jerusalem for board meetings, was very moved by the gesture.
Meanwhile, Israel Medical Association chairman Dr. Yoram Blachar expressed his support for Americans in a telephone conversation with the head of the American Medical Association, Dr. Randy Smoke.
"We as Jews and Israelis can identify the massiveness of the tragedy and the loss suffered by the American people," Blachar said. He offered any medical assistance needed.
The IMA tried to locate Israeli physicians and scientists doing post-graduate work and other advanced studies in the US and to put them in contact with their families here.
(News agencies contributed to this report.)
______________________________________________________________________________
September 16, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Palestinian Police confiscates footage at Gaza rally, by Jerusalem Post Staff and AP,
JERUSALEM (September 16) - About 1,500 Palestinians, many supporters of Hamas, marched in a Gaza Strip refugee camp Friday, burning Israeli flags and carrying a large poster of Osama bin Laden, an exiled Saudi millionaire who US Secretary of State Colin Powell has named a key suspect in last week's terror attacks in the United States.
After the rally, plainclothes Palestinian policemen questioned several journalists, including members of foreign news agencies, and confiscated videotape, film, and other camera equipment. An Associated Press Television News video was among the materials taken, and an AP photographer was warned by officials not to publish pictures of the bin Laden poster.
AP protested and demanded the return of the video and other material.
The journalists were told police would review the material before deciding whether or not to release it.
Palestinian Authority officials refused to comment on the record and did not respond immediately to AP's protest.
The Palestinian Police said in a statement that the rally in the Nusseirat refugee camp took place without a permit.
"The Palestinian Police confiscated media material which documented illegal acts," the statement said.
Earlier last week, Palestinian Police stopped camera teams and photographers from covering a rally in Nablus in which several thousand Palestinians celebrated the attacks in the US. Palestinian officials said the demonstration did not represent widespread Palestinian opinion.
According to one source, the Reuters correspondent in Nablus not only agreed to the PA demand not to document the rally, but attempted to press his AP counterpart to follow suit. He was unable to reach him in time. The AP cameraman later received death threats.
_______________________________________________________________________________
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 8, Op-Ed,, Editorial, September 11th Commandment,
Monday, September 24, 2001 -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon nixed a proposed meeting last night between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, yet this is not the significant fact. What matters is that Peres himself remains open to a meeting, and seems to be constantly attempting to lower, rather than raise, the standard of what is being expected from Arafat.
For all his talk of the need to formulate a global coalition against terrorism, Peres seems unable to fathom that the post-September 11 world is a different place. In this new world, Arafat's Palestinian Authority not only belongs on the list of regimes that support terror, it is the only regime that directly engages in and justifies terror on a systematic basis.
While it may yet be proven that government agents from Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria have directly engaged in terrorist acts, these governments by and large prefer to support proxies - such as Osama bin Laden and Hizbullah - to do their dirty work. Arafat has no such distance from terrorism. Organizations directly loyal to Arafat, such as Force 17, his hand-picked "presidential guard," and the Fatah Tanzim, have committed about half the terrorist attacks against Israelis over the past year. And just yesterday, a Fatah representative told Israel Radio that the current "cease-fire" is being coordinated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and that there is no distinction between these groups when it comes to "resisting occupation." The whole point of America's war against terrorism is that there are no "good terrorists." Yet the Arab world, led by the Palestinians, is trying to argue exactly that: there is terror and there is terror against Israel.
One of Egypt's most prominent journalists, Ibrahim Nafie of Al-Ahram, just wrote that there must be a "demarcation between terrorism and national liberation. It is unacceptable, for example, to brand as terrorists - as Israel has sought to do for its own ends -- members of Palestinian and Lebanese liberation groups exercising their internationally sanctioned right to resist foreign occupation." Israel has, indeed, been at the forefront of a what was a lonely battle, arguing that gunning down civilians on roads and blowing them up at discos and pizzerias is terrorism, not some exalted form of resistance. Now, tragically, the world is ready to listen, and who should come along but our own foreign minister saying - Wait a minute, I am ready to meet with the man who practically invented the idea that terrorism is a legitimate form of "struggle," and still champions that idea to this day.
If the Bush administration announced that it would meet with Osama bin Laden after 48 hours of "absolute quiet," it would be the laughing stock of the world and would be roundly criticized, not least by Israel. We are beyond the point where pathetic, partial, and temporary cease-fires can be held up as a standard for acceptance into the community of nations.
The Peres-Arafat meeting did not take place because Arafat has not produced 48 hours of quiet. On Friday, Israel Radio's 6 p.m. news reported that Peres was pleased that there had been "a few hours" of quiet, while the same broadcast reported that three firebombs, 15 grenades, and three mortar shells had been thrown and fired at Israelis just that day. Peres's standard of "quiet," it seems, is if by dumb luck no one has been killed in the last few minutes.
But let us say that the deadly Palestinian attacks were to stop for two whole days. What reason is there to believe that they would not resume once Arafat had received the stamp of approval he covets from Israel?
We expect the United States to be serious in the fight against terror; we must expect no less from ourselves. For all our exalted reputation as a terror-fighting nation, our foreign minister seems to be determined to set exactly the wrong example for the US and the world.
Israel should be insisting that the Palestinian Authority, as a minimum, scrupulously fulfill the commitments it made to CIA Director George Tenet after the Dolphinarium massacre in May. This means not only a total and unconditional end to terrorism by the Palestinian Authority, but arrests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who refuse to abide by a permanent cease-fire.
If Peres had so insisted on September 12, rather than continued to entertain the idea of (and even press for!) a meeting with Arafat, the United States would not be mistakenly pushing Israel toward such a meeting now. Peres has done more than squander an opportunity to hold Arafat to a new, post-September 11 standard - he has created an eminently avoidable rift between Israel and the United States.
When Ehud Barak was trounced in the last election, it seemed that Peres might have internalized the overwhelming message from the public: no more negotiations under fire. September 11 should have established an equally resounding commandment: no more business as usual with regimes that support terrorism. Israel should be the last country in the world to exempt itself from this commandment.
September 13, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Country mourns with Americans, by Nina Gilbert and Judy Siegel,
JERUSALEM (September 15) - The country yesterday observed a day of mourning for the victims of Tuesday's terror attacks in the US.
Flags flew at half-staff at the Knesset, the Prime Minister's Office, government offices, schools, and elsewhere throughout the country. Many businesses flew the American flag to show solidarity.
An impromptu memorial for the victims has been established outside the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Citizens began arriving on Tuesday night to place wreaths and light candles.
The Knesset is to convene for a memorial session on Sunday in a show of solidarity with the American people "in the face of the shocking national tragedy caused by a murderous terror attack," Speaker Avraham Burg announced. US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, American Embassy staff, and the diplomatic corps have been invited to attend.
Magen David Adom collected more than 1,000 blood donations in 12 hours yesterday at centers in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Ramat Gan.
The Tel Aviv Municipality opened city hall's lobby for a blood drive in the evening.
The US Embassy operated only on a partial basis. A black ribbon was stretched out in front of the building.
Kurtzer said the embassy received condolences and offers to help from many Israelis. In schools, teachers discussed the tragedy with schoolchildren.
Local radio stations helped worried citizens get in touch with family and friends in the US.
Channel 2 television canceled its regular programming yesterday and broadcast news from the US on the attacks.
Staff at Hadassah-University Hospitals - accustomed to having delegations from the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America offer them moral support in difficult times - turned the tables yesterday, as 500 doctors, nurses, and other staffers held a solidarity event to bolster president Bonnie Lipton, other Hadassah women, and all Americans. Lipton, a frequent visitor who was in Jerusalem for board meetings, was very moved by the gesture.
Meanwhile, Israel Medical Association chairman Dr. Yoram Blachar expressed his support for Americans in a telephone conversation with the head of the American Medical Association, Dr. Randy Smoke.
"We as Jews and Israelis can identify the massiveness of the tragedy and the loss suffered by the American people," Blachar said. He offered any medical assistance needed.
The IMA tried to locate Israeli physicians and scientists doing post-graduate work and other advanced studies in the US and to put them in contact with their families here.
(News agencies contributed to this report.)
______________________________________________________________________________
September 16, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Palestinian Police confiscates footage at Gaza rally, by Jerusalem Post Staff and AP,
JERUSALEM (September 16) - About 1,500 Palestinians, many supporters of Hamas, marched in a Gaza Strip refugee camp Friday, burning Israeli flags and carrying a large poster of Osama bin Laden, an exiled Saudi millionaire who US Secretary of State Colin Powell has named a key suspect in last week's terror attacks in the United States.
After the rally, plainclothes Palestinian policemen questioned several journalists, including members of foreign news agencies, and confiscated videotape, film, and other camera equipment. An Associated Press Television News video was among the materials taken, and an AP photographer was warned by officials not to publish pictures of the bin Laden poster.
AP protested and demanded the return of the video and other material.
The journalists were told police would review the material before deciding whether or not to release it.
Palestinian Authority officials refused to comment on the record and did not respond immediately to AP's protest.
The Palestinian Police said in a statement that the rally in the Nusseirat refugee camp took place without a permit.
"The Palestinian Police confiscated media material which documented illegal acts," the statement said.
Earlier last week, Palestinian Police stopped camera teams and photographers from covering a rally in Nablus in which several thousand Palestinians celebrated the attacks in the US. Palestinian officials said the demonstration did not represent widespread Palestinian opinion.
According to one source, the Reuters correspondent in Nablus not only agreed to the PA demand not to document the rally, but attempted to press his AP counterpart to follow suit. He was unable to reach him in time. The AP cameraman later received death threats.
_______________________________________________________________________________
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 8, Op-Ed,, Editorial, September 11th Commandment,
Monday, September 24, 2001 -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon nixed a proposed meeting last night between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, yet this is not the significant fact. What matters is that Peres himself remains open to a meeting, and seems to be constantly attempting to lower, rather than raise, the standard of what is being expected from Arafat.
For all his talk of the need to formulate a global coalition against terrorism, Peres seems unable to fathom that the post-September 11 world is a different place. In this new world, Arafat's Palestinian Authority not only belongs on the list of regimes that support terror, it is the only regime that directly engages in and justifies terror on a systematic basis.
While it may yet be proven that government agents from Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria have directly engaged in terrorist acts, these governments by and large prefer to support proxies - such as Osama bin Laden and Hizbullah - to do their dirty work. Arafat has no such distance from terrorism. Organizations directly loyal to Arafat, such as Force 17, his hand-picked "presidential guard," and the Fatah Tanzim, have committed about half the terrorist attacks against Israelis over the past year. And just yesterday, a Fatah representative told Israel Radio that the current "cease-fire" is being coordinated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and that there is no distinction between these groups when it comes to "resisting occupation." The whole point of America's war against terrorism is that there are no "good terrorists." Yet the Arab world, led by the Palestinians, is trying to argue exactly that: there is terror and there is terror against Israel.
One of Egypt's most prominent journalists, Ibrahim Nafie of Al-Ahram, just wrote that there must be a "demarcation between terrorism and national liberation. It is unacceptable, for example, to brand as terrorists - as Israel has sought to do for its own ends -- members of Palestinian and Lebanese liberation groups exercising their internationally sanctioned right to resist foreign occupation." Israel has, indeed, been at the forefront of a what was a lonely battle, arguing that gunning down civilians on roads and blowing them up at discos and pizzerias is terrorism, not some exalted form of resistance. Now, tragically, the world is ready to listen, and who should come along but our own foreign minister saying - Wait a minute, I am ready to meet with the man who practically invented the idea that terrorism is a legitimate form of "struggle," and still champions that idea to this day.
If the Bush administration announced that it would meet with Osama bin Laden after 48 hours of "absolute quiet," it would be the laughing stock of the world and would be roundly criticized, not least by Israel. We are beyond the point where pathetic, partial, and temporary cease-fires can be held up as a standard for acceptance into the community of nations.
The Peres-Arafat meeting did not take place because Arafat has not produced 48 hours of quiet. On Friday, Israel Radio's 6 p.m. news reported that Peres was pleased that there had been "a few hours" of quiet, while the same broadcast reported that three firebombs, 15 grenades, and three mortar shells had been thrown and fired at Israelis just that day. Peres's standard of "quiet," it seems, is if by dumb luck no one has been killed in the last few minutes.
But let us say that the deadly Palestinian attacks were to stop for two whole days. What reason is there to believe that they would not resume once Arafat had received the stamp of approval he covets from Israel?
We expect the United States to be serious in the fight against terror; we must expect no less from ourselves. For all our exalted reputation as a terror-fighting nation, our foreign minister seems to be determined to set exactly the wrong example for the US and the world.
Israel should be insisting that the Palestinian Authority, as a minimum, scrupulously fulfill the commitments it made to CIA Director George Tenet after the Dolphinarium massacre in May. This means not only a total and unconditional end to terrorism by the Palestinian Authority, but arrests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who refuse to abide by a permanent cease-fire.
If Peres had so insisted on September 12, rather than continued to entertain the idea of (and even press for!) a meeting with Arafat, the United States would not be mistakenly pushing Israel toward such a meeting now. Peres has done more than squander an opportunity to hold Arafat to a new, post-September 11 standard - he has created an eminently avoidable rift between Israel and the United States.
When Ehud Barak was trounced in the last election, it seemed that Peres might have internalized the overwhelming message from the public: no more negotiations under fire. September 11 should have established an equally resounding commandment: no more business as usual with regimes that support terrorism. Israel should be the last country in the world to exempt itself from this commandment.
________________________________________________________________________________
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 1, US has proof of bin Laden's guilt, by Janine Zacharia,
Monday, September 24, 2001 -- WASHINGTON - The US is preparing a document that will show Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network were behind the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday.
Powell, chief architect of a worldwide coalition the US is trying to forge to dismantle terrorist cells starting with the al-Qaida network, said he is "absolutely convinced" al-Qaida is responsible for the attacks that have left roughly 6,000 people dead or presumed dead.
"I think in the near future we will be able to put out a paper, a document that will describe quite clearly the evidence we have linking him to this attack," Powell told NBC's Meet the Press yesterday. As the US continued to place its military forces around the world and call up more than 5,000 additional reserve troops for homeland defense, Powell said the world should "not assume there will be a large-scale war. I don't know that we should even consider a large-scale war of a conventional type."
While cabinet members made the talk show rounds, President George W. Bush was at Camp David in Maryland, where marines raised the American flag to full staff for the first time since the attacks. Bush was silent during the ceremony, which was meant to symbolize recovery and "show the unity of the American people in this endeavor," the White House said.
From Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban, believed to be sheltering bin Laden, claimed the exiled Saudi millionaire was missing. US officials were skeptical.
"They know where he is," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on CBS's Face the Nation. "It's just not believable that the Taliban do not know where the network can be located and turned over and expelled."
Rumsfeld, Powell, and Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, said the administration has made contact with Syria and Iran, two countries the US has accused of sponsoring terrorism, about helping fight terrorism. But all said that terrorist- sponsoring countries must end all support or face more penalties.
"We're leaving open the possibilities, and we're exploring," Rice said on Fox's News Sunday. "But let me be very clear. We are not going to declare that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. There's terrorism. And if you sponsor terrorism, you are hostile to the United States."
But America and its close allies could have trouble agreeing - beyond Osama bin Laden - just who is a terrorist.
Some Arab nations already warn they will not help the United States if the target is Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Hizbullah. All three are Islamic extremist groups listed by the United States as terrorists and with suspected ties to al-Qaida. Yet some Arab nations view them as legitimate fighters against Israel.
"You have to pick carefully how wide your net is thrown," said Michael O'Hanlon, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Top US officials answered vaguely when asked how the US might work with Syria and Iran, currently on a list of nations that America says sponsor terrorism.
Asked if countries like Syria and Iran have a chance now at a fresh start in their relationship with America, Powell said: "I think that might well be the case. They have been sponsors of terrorism and we have so designated them. And those designations have not gone away. But the Syrians were somewhat forthcoming with their response to the 11th of September."
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 1, US has proof of bin Laden's guilt, by Janine Zacharia,
Monday, September 24, 2001 -- WASHINGTON - The US is preparing a document that will show Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network were behind the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday.
Powell, chief architect of a worldwide coalition the US is trying to forge to dismantle terrorist cells starting with the al-Qaida network, said he is "absolutely convinced" al-Qaida is responsible for the attacks that have left roughly 6,000 people dead or presumed dead.
"I think in the near future we will be able to put out a paper, a document that will describe quite clearly the evidence we have linking him to this attack," Powell told NBC's Meet the Press yesterday. As the US continued to place its military forces around the world and call up more than 5,000 additional reserve troops for homeland defense, Powell said the world should "not assume there will be a large-scale war. I don't know that we should even consider a large-scale war of a conventional type."
While cabinet members made the talk show rounds, President George W. Bush was at Camp David in Maryland, where marines raised the American flag to full staff for the first time since the attacks. Bush was silent during the ceremony, which was meant to symbolize recovery and "show the unity of the American people in this endeavor," the White House said.
From Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban, believed to be sheltering bin Laden, claimed the exiled Saudi millionaire was missing. US officials were skeptical.
"They know where he is," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on CBS's Face the Nation. "It's just not believable that the Taliban do not know where the network can be located and turned over and expelled."
Rumsfeld, Powell, and Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, said the administration has made contact with Syria and Iran, two countries the US has accused of sponsoring terrorism, about helping fight terrorism. But all said that terrorist- sponsoring countries must end all support or face more penalties.
"We're leaving open the possibilities, and we're exploring," Rice said on Fox's News Sunday. "But let me be very clear. We are not going to declare that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. There's terrorism. And if you sponsor terrorism, you are hostile to the United States."
But America and its close allies could have trouble agreeing - beyond Osama bin Laden - just who is a terrorist.
Some Arab nations already warn they will not help the United States if the target is Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Hizbullah. All three are Islamic extremist groups listed by the United States as terrorists and with suspected ties to al-Qaida. Yet some Arab nations view them as legitimate fighters against Israel.
"You have to pick carefully how wide your net is thrown," said Michael O'Hanlon, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Top US officials answered vaguely when asked how the US might work with Syria and Iran, currently on a list of nations that America says sponsor terrorism.
Asked if countries like Syria and Iran have a chance now at a fresh start in their relationship with America, Powell said: "I think that might well be the case. They have been sponsors of terrorism and we have so designated them. And those designations have not gone away. But the Syrians were somewhat forthcoming with their response to the 11th of September."
________________________________________________________________________________
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US-based press freedom group protests PA's confiscation of footage, by Herb Keinon,
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 -- The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists has joined the Foreign Press Association in Israel in protesting the Palestinian Authority's confiscation of footage showing Palestinians celebrating after the attacks in the US, sending a letter of complaint to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
The organization, which bills itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to monitor abuses against the press and promote press freedom around the world, wrote last week that "On September 11, according to international press reports, Palestinian police and armed gunmen prevented several news photographers and cameramen from documenting events in the West Bank city of Nablus, where groups of Palestinians celebrated the attacks by honking horns and firing live ammunition rounds into the air.
"According to The Associated Press," the letter continues, "Palestinian security authorities summoned a free-lance cameraman working for the AP that same day and warned him not to air his footage of the events. Members of the Tanzim militia, affiliated with Your Excellency's Fatah organization, also issued warnings that the AP cameraman interpreted as threatening."
The letter also cites an incident on September 14, when Palestinian police "briefly detained several photographers and cameramen working with international news agencies in the Gaza Strip and confiscated their equipment. The journalists had been covering a rally to commemorate a Palestinian suicide bomber that the militant Islamic group Hamas staged in the Nusseirat refugee camp. During the rally, one protester reportedly held up a portrait of Osama bin Laden. Palestinian police later stated that they 'confiscated media material which documented illegal acts' at an illegal rally."
According to the letter, signed by the organizations' executive director Ann Cooper, although the PA returned the journalists' camera equipment that weekend, some of their video footage had been erased, and the AP reported that its video was missing 45 seconds of footage. Another photographer told CPJ that images stored on his digital camera had been erased.
"These acts of intimidation and censorship violate the most fundamental norms of free expression," Cooper said. "As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, CPJ urges you to ensure that Palestinian authorities immediately cease threatening and censoring journalists in PA-controlled areas.
"We also urge you to investigate these incidents and prosecute anyone found to have acted illegally in threatening the press," the letter read. "Finally, we call on you to issue a public statement reiterating your personal commitment to protecting the security of journalists and guaranteeing their right to work freely."
Following a similar protest last week by the Foreign Press Association, Bassam Abu Sharif, an adviser to Arafat, said PA actions to confiscate film footage of Palestinians celebrating the terror attacks on the US were logical to prevent the media from painting the wrong picture of Palestinian sentiment.
"This was a normal preventive act... we don't want to give more to the Zionist propaganda which portrays all Palestinians as terrorists,' he said at the time. "The idea is that these people were not allowed to film, because a small group of people on film would represent the Palestinian people as a whole."
Meanwhile, Gideon Meir, deputy director-general for public affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said in reaction to the CPJ letter that the ministry has protested on numerous occasions against "terror used against foreign journalists." Meir said that "the pictures of Palestinians celebrating in the streets of Nablus, Ramallah, and Jerusalem after the attacks in the US are all too familiar to us from the Gulf War" when there was dancing on the rooftops after Scud missiles hit Israel.
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 6, Hizbullah man linked to attacks may be in Iran, by Douglas Davis,
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was apparently unfazed as he set out for Iran yesterday by a report in The Times of London that intelligence agencies are increasingly concerned that veteran Hizbullah leader Imad Mugniyeh is a key figure behind the US attacks, and that he is hiding in Iran.
Lebanese-born Mugniyeh inspired Hizbullah suicide squads, masterminded the Hizbullah kidnappings during the '80s, and is suspected of complicity in at least six previous hijackings.
Former president George Bush offered a $2 million reward for Mugniyeh after he heard a tape recording of CIA station head in Beirut William Buckley being tortured to death after he was kidnapped by Hizbullah.
At the time, Bush used similar language to that of his son, in reference to Afghanistan-based terrorist Osama bin Laden, when he demanded Mugniyeh "dead or alive." But Mugniyeh fled to Teheran, where he continues to play a pivotal role in Hizbullah's military machine.
According to the Times, Mugniyeh recently moved from Teheran to the Iranian holy city of Qom, where he is being protected by clerics. It also said he is believed to have met some of bin Laden's top aides in recent months, triggering Israel intelligence concerns that he was organizing "a big operation, probably involving aircraft." The paper suggested that Iranian President Mohammad Khatami might not have sufficient influence with those sheltering Mugniyeh to hand him over.
It also quoted a diplomatic source in London as saying there was no reason why Straw's visit to Iran "would be soured by raising the issue of this man... It could be they [the Iranians] know things about [his] recent movements, or it could be that he now lives elsewhere in the region." According to the Times, intelligence officials studying previous hijacks are sure that they detect Mugniyeh's signature on the US atrocities, in which the hijackers used pocket knives and scissors rather than guns - a tactic employed on previous hijacks in which Mugniyeh has been implicated.
One of the hijackers who flew into the World Trade Center is believed to have been among those who hijacked an Air India flight in December 1999 on a flight from Kathmandu to Delhi. Then, as in this month's American hijackings, the weapons consisted of knives and scissors, and in both cases, hostages were forced to watch as a passenger's throat was slit and he bled to death.
The Air India flight was forced to land in Kandahar, where bin Laden was based, and the surviving passengers and crew were eventually released after the Indian government agreed to free three jailed Islamic militants (one of whom, Maulana Masood Azhar, went on to form the Jaish e-Mohammed group, which has close links to Bin Laden's al-Qaida organization).
Intelligence sources also believe that Mugniyeh was responsible for the hijacking of a Kuwaiti airliner in 1984 in which two passengers were stabbed. And in 1988, when another Kuwaiti airliner was hijacked to the northern Iranian city of Mashhad, Mugniyeh himself was seen boarding the aircraft. In that case, too, a hostage was stabbed to death before the hijack team was allowed to escape.
The Times also reported that a team run by Mugniyeh was involved in an abortive 1994 attempt to detonate a bomb in an El Al airliner over Israel. The bomb is said to have exploded prematurely before it could be smuggled aboard.
Bin Laden's second in command, Dr. Ayman Zawahri, is understood to be Mugniyeh's conduit to the al-Qaida organization.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Sept. 14,
Gulf War-style anti-terror coalition to include Israel
IDF strikes four West Bank towns
Dismantle terror-supporting regimes
US prepares its demands
Peres, Arafat to meet despite criticism
Experts: Cyber violence expected following Tuesday's attacks
Foreign Press Association protests PA threats to journalists
Ben-Gurion Airport told: No flights to US
Hundreds attend terror victim's burial
French envoy: Terror differs in US, Israel
Babies can sleep on their backs without fear
The view from New Jersey
MKs in DC visit New York in solidarity
Sept. 16,
America mobilizes reserves
Peres: Nixed Arafat meeting makes Israel seem anti-peace
Palestinian Police confiscates footage at Gaza rally
Terrorist? Moi?
Two wounded in Jerusalem terrorist shooting
Two officers, four soldiers transferred over infiltration
French envoy rapped for comments
PA: Arafat fights terror 'by resisting the occupation'
Sharon: Terror is terror, murder is murder
El Al resumes flights to US
Cabinet to vote on 2002 state budget today
Police question mufti of Jerusalem
Surprise! New Jerusalem Central Bus Station is open
Rosh Hashana cards shelved by technology
Jewish coalition condemns cancellation of anti-terror protest
_________________________________________________________________________
[no Highbeam for Sept. 17-22]
September 23, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Olmert visits 'ground zero,' boosts spirits of New Yorkers, by Melissa Radler,
September 23, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Opposition to Peres-Arafat talks grows amid continuing clashes,
September 23, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Pro-American Palestinians face conflicting loyalties,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Editorial, September 11th Commandment,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israelis flocking to update gas masks despite reassurances about Iraq,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Mofaz says no cessation of Palestinian attacks in 'cease-fire',
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres threatens short 'vacation'. After Sharon cancels Arafat meeting,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, PFLP men indicted for plotting to bomb Tel Aviv's Azrieli towers, by Margot Dudkevitch,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Police detain dozens to quiet PA political activity in east Jerusalem,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, September 11th Commandment,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US has proof of bin Laden's guilt, by Janine Zacharia, AP contributed to this report.
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US report says PA may have incited violence,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, 'We are all targets, by Binyamin Netanyahu,
______________________________________________________________________________
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Against Israel, terrorism is kosher, by Evelyn Gordon,
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Anti-terror law worries Jewish activists
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Arafat set for long-delayed Syria visit today
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, $4 billion in airline guarantees approved
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Bush freezes terrorists' US financial assets. US to ask foreign banks to follow suit
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Drain the ponds of terror
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Hizbullah man linked to attacks may be in Iran, by Douglas Davis,
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Likud angry at Sharon support for Palestinian state
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu calls for America to dismantle state support for terrorism
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon cancels meeting with Straw after terror comment
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Straw: I understand terrorism in 'Palestine'
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The power of religious devotion
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US-based press freedom group protests PA's confiscation of footage, by Herb Keinon,
______________________________________________________________________________
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, Bin Laden group calls Jews and Americans targets, by Laura King,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, British Jews blast Straw for giving credence to anti- Semitism,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Editorials from the Arab Press,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, IDF rabbi bars Masorti soldiers from synagogue,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, IDF to open Damon prison for Palestinians,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Rumsfeld: This won't be D-Day. Operation renamed 'Enduring Freedom',
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres set to meet Arafat today, by Herb Keinon, Janine Zacharia, Lamia Lahoud, and Gi
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres spars with Netanyahu over US pressure
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Straw flap latest in long line
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Suicidal politics, by Barry Rubin
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, What Bush got right - and wrong
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Wooing Iran could backfire
_______________________________________________________________________________
[no Sept. 27]
______________________________________________________________________________
September 28, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, A shattered city, by Melissa Radler,
September 28, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US Jewish-Muslim relations grow dim. by Tom Tugend,
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 -- The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists has joined the Foreign Press Association in Israel in protesting the Palestinian Authority's confiscation of footage showing Palestinians celebrating after the attacks in the US, sending a letter of complaint to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
The organization, which bills itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to monitor abuses against the press and promote press freedom around the world, wrote last week that "On September 11, according to international press reports, Palestinian police and armed gunmen prevented several news photographers and cameramen from documenting events in the West Bank city of Nablus, where groups of Palestinians celebrated the attacks by honking horns and firing live ammunition rounds into the air.
"According to The Associated Press," the letter continues, "Palestinian security authorities summoned a free-lance cameraman working for the AP that same day and warned him not to air his footage of the events. Members of the Tanzim militia, affiliated with Your Excellency's Fatah organization, also issued warnings that the AP cameraman interpreted as threatening."
The letter also cites an incident on September 14, when Palestinian police "briefly detained several photographers and cameramen working with international news agencies in the Gaza Strip and confiscated their equipment. The journalists had been covering a rally to commemorate a Palestinian suicide bomber that the militant Islamic group Hamas staged in the Nusseirat refugee camp. During the rally, one protester reportedly held up a portrait of Osama bin Laden. Palestinian police later stated that they 'confiscated media material which documented illegal acts' at an illegal rally."
According to the letter, signed by the organizations' executive director Ann Cooper, although the PA returned the journalists' camera equipment that weekend, some of their video footage had been erased, and the AP reported that its video was missing 45 seconds of footage. Another photographer told CPJ that images stored on his digital camera had been erased.
"These acts of intimidation and censorship violate the most fundamental norms of free expression," Cooper said. "As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, CPJ urges you to ensure that Palestinian authorities immediately cease threatening and censoring journalists in PA-controlled areas.
"We also urge you to investigate these incidents and prosecute anyone found to have acted illegally in threatening the press," the letter read. "Finally, we call on you to issue a public statement reiterating your personal commitment to protecting the security of journalists and guaranteeing their right to work freely."
Following a similar protest last week by the Foreign Press Association, Bassam Abu Sharif, an adviser to Arafat, said PA actions to confiscate film footage of Palestinians celebrating the terror attacks on the US were logical to prevent the media from painting the wrong picture of Palestinian sentiment.
"This was a normal preventive act... we don't want to give more to the Zionist propaganda which portrays all Palestinians as terrorists,' he said at the time. "The idea is that these people were not allowed to film, because a small group of people on film would represent the Palestinian people as a whole."
Meanwhile, Gideon Meir, deputy director-general for public affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said in reaction to the CPJ letter that the ministry has protested on numerous occasions against "terror used against foreign journalists." Meir said that "the pictures of Palestinians celebrating in the streets of Nablus, Ramallah, and Jerusalem after the attacks in the US are all too familiar to us from the Gulf War" when there was dancing on the rooftops after Scud missiles hit Israel.
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, page 6, Hizbullah man linked to attacks may be in Iran, by Douglas Davis,
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was apparently unfazed as he set out for Iran yesterday by a report in The Times of London that intelligence agencies are increasingly concerned that veteran Hizbullah leader Imad Mugniyeh is a key figure behind the US attacks, and that he is hiding in Iran.
Lebanese-born Mugniyeh inspired Hizbullah suicide squads, masterminded the Hizbullah kidnappings during the '80s, and is suspected of complicity in at least six previous hijackings.
Former president George Bush offered a $2 million reward for Mugniyeh after he heard a tape recording of CIA station head in Beirut William Buckley being tortured to death after he was kidnapped by Hizbullah.
At the time, Bush used similar language to that of his son, in reference to Afghanistan-based terrorist Osama bin Laden, when he demanded Mugniyeh "dead or alive." But Mugniyeh fled to Teheran, where he continues to play a pivotal role in Hizbullah's military machine.
According to the Times, Mugniyeh recently moved from Teheran to the Iranian holy city of Qom, where he is being protected by clerics. It also said he is believed to have met some of bin Laden's top aides in recent months, triggering Israel intelligence concerns that he was organizing "a big operation, probably involving aircraft." The paper suggested that Iranian President Mohammad Khatami might not have sufficient influence with those sheltering Mugniyeh to hand him over.
It also quoted a diplomatic source in London as saying there was no reason why Straw's visit to Iran "would be soured by raising the issue of this man... It could be they [the Iranians] know things about [his] recent movements, or it could be that he now lives elsewhere in the region." According to the Times, intelligence officials studying previous hijacks are sure that they detect Mugniyeh's signature on the US atrocities, in which the hijackers used pocket knives and scissors rather than guns - a tactic employed on previous hijacks in which Mugniyeh has been implicated.
One of the hijackers who flew into the World Trade Center is believed to have been among those who hijacked an Air India flight in December 1999 on a flight from Kathmandu to Delhi. Then, as in this month's American hijackings, the weapons consisted of knives and scissors, and in both cases, hostages were forced to watch as a passenger's throat was slit and he bled to death.
The Air India flight was forced to land in Kandahar, where bin Laden was based, and the surviving passengers and crew were eventually released after the Indian government agreed to free three jailed Islamic militants (one of whom, Maulana Masood Azhar, went on to form the Jaish e-Mohammed group, which has close links to Bin Laden's al-Qaida organization).
Intelligence sources also believe that Mugniyeh was responsible for the hijacking of a Kuwaiti airliner in 1984 in which two passengers were stabbed. And in 1988, when another Kuwaiti airliner was hijacked to the northern Iranian city of Mashhad, Mugniyeh himself was seen boarding the aircraft. In that case, too, a hostage was stabbed to death before the hijack team was allowed to escape.
The Times also reported that a team run by Mugniyeh was involved in an abortive 1994 attempt to detonate a bomb in an El Al airliner over Israel. The bomb is said to have exploded prematurely before it could be smuggled aboard.
Bin Laden's second in command, Dr. Ayman Zawahri, is understood to be Mugniyeh's conduit to the al-Qaida organization.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Sept. 14,
Gulf War-style anti-terror coalition to include Israel
IDF strikes four West Bank towns
Dismantle terror-supporting regimes
US prepares its demands
Peres, Arafat to meet despite criticism
Experts: Cyber violence expected following Tuesday's attacks
Foreign Press Association protests PA threats to journalists
Ben-Gurion Airport told: No flights to US
Hundreds attend terror victim's burial
French envoy: Terror differs in US, Israel
Babies can sleep on their backs without fear
The view from New Jersey
MKs in DC visit New York in solidarity
Sept. 16,
America mobilizes reserves
Peres: Nixed Arafat meeting makes Israel seem anti-peace
Palestinian Police confiscates footage at Gaza rally
Terrorist? Moi?
Two wounded in Jerusalem terrorist shooting
Two officers, four soldiers transferred over infiltration
French envoy rapped for comments
PA: Arafat fights terror 'by resisting the occupation'
Sharon: Terror is terror, murder is murder
El Al resumes flights to US
Cabinet to vote on 2002 state budget today
Police question mufti of Jerusalem
Surprise! New Jerusalem Central Bus Station is open
Rosh Hashana cards shelved by technology
Jewish coalition condemns cancellation of anti-terror protest
_________________________________________________________________________
[no Highbeam for Sept. 17-22]
September 23, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Olmert visits 'ground zero,' boosts spirits of New Yorkers, by Melissa Radler,
September 23, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Opposition to Peres-Arafat talks grows amid continuing clashes,
September 23, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Pro-American Palestinians face conflicting loyalties,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Editorial, September 11th Commandment,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Israelis flocking to update gas masks despite reassurances about Iraq,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Mofaz says no cessation of Palestinian attacks in 'cease-fire',
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres threatens short 'vacation'. After Sharon cancels Arafat meeting,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, PFLP men indicted for plotting to bomb Tel Aviv's Azrieli towers, by Margot Dudkevitch,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Police detain dozens to quiet PA political activity in east Jerusalem,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, September 11th Commandment,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US has proof of bin Laden's guilt, by Janine Zacharia, AP contributed to this report.
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US report says PA may have incited violence,
September 24, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, 'We are all targets, by Binyamin Netanyahu,
______________________________________________________________________________
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Against Israel, terrorism is kosher, by Evelyn Gordon,
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Anti-terror law worries Jewish activists
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Arafat set for long-delayed Syria visit today
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, $4 billion in airline guarantees approved
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Bush freezes terrorists' US financial assets. US to ask foreign banks to follow suit
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Drain the ponds of terror
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Hizbullah man linked to attacks may be in Iran, by Douglas Davis,
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Likud angry at Sharon support for Palestinian state
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu calls for America to dismantle state support for terrorism
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Sharon cancels meeting with Straw after terror comment
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Straw: I understand terrorism in 'Palestine'
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, The power of religious devotion
September 25, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US-based press freedom group protests PA's confiscation of footage, by Herb Keinon,
______________________________________________________________________________
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post / AP, Bin Laden group calls Jews and Americans targets, by Laura King,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, British Jews blast Straw for giving credence to anti- Semitism,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Editorials from the Arab Press,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, IDF rabbi bars Masorti soldiers from synagogue,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, IDF to open Damon prison for Palestinians,
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Rumsfeld: This won't be D-Day. Operation renamed 'Enduring Freedom',
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres set to meet Arafat today, by Herb Keinon, Janine Zacharia, Lamia Lahoud, and Gi
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Peres spars with Netanyahu over US pressure
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Straw flap latest in long line
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Suicidal politics, by Barry Rubin
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, What Bush got right - and wrong
September 26, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, Wooing Iran could backfire
_______________________________________________________________________________
[no Sept. 27]
______________________________________________________________________________
September 28, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, A shattered city, by Melissa Radler,
September 28, 2001, The Jerusalem Post, US Jewish-Muslim relations grow dim. by Tom Tugend,
Friday, September 28, 2001 -- Several weeks after the worst terror attack in history struck lower Manhattan, the Big Apple is having no easy time getting back on its feet. Indeed the twin-towers disaster has changed more than the skyline, it has also impacted on the character of what was once the nonstop fun- loving capital of the world.
Broadway shows are closing for lack of spectators, hotels are vacant and the fancy restaurants are empty. Sources close to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani estimate the economic damage to the city from the attacks could run as high as $100 billion.
Many people are having trouble resuming their normal routine and many New Yorkers continue to opt for the safety of their living rooms, either to be with family or simply to watch television. It is eerily too easy to hail a taxi in midtown, and strangely facile to make a last-minute dinner reservation.
Carole Basri, whose habit of being late stood her in good stead on September 11 when she didn't show up on time for a 9 a.m. appointment next door to one of the World Trade Center towers, has barely been able to hold down a meal since.
Nor does she feel right going to a movie or the theater. "It still feels like we're at a time where we need to be contemplative. We're still in the mourning process," Basri says.
Basri was actually doubly lucky that day, since the firm she works for, Deloitte & Touche, had moved out of its 97th-floor office in the WTC after the 1993 attack on the towers in which six people died.
A friend of hers from law school, also named Carole, still worked on the 97th floor and is missing since the disaster of two weeks ago. The law student she had planned to meet that morning, however, was saved, because he was also late, anticipating that Basri wouldn't show up on time.
She feels instilled with a new sense of purpose in life as a result of her life having been spared. "I always feel that when these things happen there's a reason for it, and I really hope that I do what I'm supposed to be doing for the rest of my life," Basri says.
It has helped her psychologically to busy herself making emergency phone calls on behalf of her firm and to host a displaced New York University student in her home.
"I think I'm holding up pretty well," she says in an interview nine days after the twin airplane crashes which caused both buildings to implode and fall to the ground.
Initially Basri says she had a blase attitude about her brush with death. She felt she had been inured somewhat to the horrors of terrorism, by having family in Israel, including a mother who just missed being blown up at the Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem when suicide bombers struck there in early August. She also has a son who is serving in the IDF.
"It's not like I think it's unique anymore to have just missed [being caught in a terrorist attack]. I almost take it fatalistically, like Israelis do," says Basri. "I just didn't expect to feel that way in New York."
Rachel Donadio, a reporter for the Forward newspaper, says she "was picking up my new bike at a bike shop in the East Village, and I saw smoke coming out of one of the towers of the World Trade Center," that Tuesday morning. But she didn't immediately digest what was happening, and went about her normal routine of heading to work in midtown, picking up a few bagels on the way. Then she watched the second plane hit from a television screen in her office.
"Without really thinking about it, I put on my press pass, got on my bike and went on this mad dash," and headed downtown, as though in a daze, she says. Speaking about it nearly two weeks later, Donadio says: "I still haven't really grasped what happened."
By the time she arrived downtown, one of the towers had imploded and collapsed. A police officer pulled her off her bike and ordered her to head north.
Donadio couldn't even hear the sound of the second tower falling to the ground, although she was still in the area. "It didn't sound like the Apocalypse," she says.
"The first thing I thought was, people have lived through worse things than this and we can move on. Then I thought, this happened in the place where we never thought it could happen." Donadio adds: "I deal with words for a living and I really don't have any words to describe this."
Basri and Donadio's experiences are but two examples, though in many ways typical of what many of the millions of New Yorkers are going through these days: Struggling to make sense of the enormity of what they've been through and return to normality, amid the dust and smoke that continue to cloud around "Ground Zero" in lower Manhattan, which continues to resemble a war zone.
More than 6,300 people are reported missing in the disaster and it could take months to sift through the piles of rubble that keep igniting. More than 6,200 people are convalescing from injuries.
Many people seem caught between grieving for lost friends or family, and their seething anger against the perpetrators of the attacks on both New York and the Pentagon building in Washington where at least 190 died.
New York, a city long known for its round-the-clock fun-loving action, seems to have turned into a giant monument to the missing and dead. Photographs of missing daughters, fathers, coworkers, friends, can be found plastered on walls, bus stops and fences. Thousands of candles burn at a memorial erected in Union Square, which is also festooned with flowers, pictures and American flags.
An endless flow of tragic stories are told everywhere around Manhattan. There's one about two best friends who took separate flights to Los Angeles and died meters away from each other after each one's flight hit the twin towers. There was a father killed while flying home for the birth of his first daughter. A man flying to his stepdaughter's wedding never made it. Then there are the children dropped off at school an hour before the attacks, who will never see their parents again, not to mention the pregnant wives, fiances, mothers, brothers and daughters either killed or left behind with broken hearts.
I was one of the lucky ones, though I live only several blocks from where the towers once stood in Manhattan's Tribeca quarter. I was neither injured nor personally acquainted with any of the dead or missing. While I had to leave my building for six days, as the area was cordoned off by rescue and security personnel, water and electricity were restored in my building within a few days. However, two weeks later we still had no telephone or mail service. My picture-perfect view of the twin towers has been replaced by gray smoke and rescue equipment.
The first time I stepped back inside of my building was eight days after the disaster, and I found the entire place covered in gray ashes - apparently a window had been left ajar. Despite my best cleaning efforts, the stench of the ashes still greets me at the door whenever I come home.
Even riding the subway can seem too spooky to handle. The first time I rode the subway again was the day after the attacks. As usual, the train crawled unsteadily and at a snail's pace between stops. But on that day, every jolt felt like the beginning of another terrorist attack, and many passengers were visibly trembling. Some stared straight ahead, glassy-eyed.
After stopping at Penn Station, the subway doors closed then suddenly swung open again. Over the loudspeaker, the announcer calmly explained that there was a slight problem up ahead and we would be delayed for a few minutes. It's not that this kind of trouble never happened before, but given the circumstances, more than half the passengers, myself included, panicked. We jumped up and quickly fled the station. I didn't enter a subway station again for another nine days.
Emotional outbursts in public have grown quite common.
A few days after being evacuated from my apartment I was running out of underwear, so I went to Victoria's Secret to stock up. A woman in front of me at the register seemed to have had the same idea and we exchanged smiles. Suddenly the woman said to the salesgirl ringing up her order: "My best friend died this week."
Everyone listened, as the woman, in a calm and composed voice, started listing her friend's attributes and accomplishments and continued doing so until she had paid for her underwear. The salesgirl nodded as if they had been talking about the weather. Before she left, the woman turned to face me, so I said, "I'm really sorry about your friend."
She burst into tears, put her arms around me and said, "And the thing was, she was so beautiful." Then she ran out of the store.
With the city, and much of the nation in such a somber mood, the financial and entertainment industries are also under quite a strain.
Broadway shows are closing from lack of turnout, hotels are vacant, and even the lavish uptown bistros such as Tavern on the Green in Central Park, are bereft of diners.
Five plays and musicals were shut down within 10 days of the attacks: A Thousand Clowns, The Rocky Horror Show, If You Ever Leave Me, I'm Going With You, Stones in His Pockets and Kiss Me Kate. Ticket sales to The Producers, the most popular show on Broadway, were down by 50%.
Six additional Broadway productions said they were at risk of closing down, and Broadway unions agreed to a 25% pay cuts for four weeks. City-wide, tourism is reportedly down 45-50%.
In Las Vegas, 240 conventions had been canceled within a week of the attack, and occupancy rates were at 40-60%, down from 90%. At Disney World in Orlando, Florida, some hotels were reporting occupancy rates in the single digits. Given the low turnout in the stores, retail sales nationwide are expected to drop by half for the next three months.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a senior rabbi at the Park East Synagogue, explains: "There's a sense of guilt, but there's a resolve to pick up the pieces."
Schneier, who is president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, accompanied Mayor Giuliani on September 17 to the trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange several days after its reopening following the disaster.
Some Jewish traders told him a story there, Schneier relates. "They told me that 10 months ago they started a minha minyan [prayer quorum for afternoon services] on the 13th floor. The chairman of the mercantile exchange, a devout Catholic, asked them why they don't have a morning service. They said that on Mondays and Thursdays they need a Torah scroll." The chairman soon donated a Torah scroll to the group.
"You can interpret it any way you want, but according to those who survived, they attribute the fact that this building, among all the devastation, remained intact, was due to the presence of a Torah scroll," Schneier says.
In the days after the attacks, Schneier initiated an interfaith appeal, made up of Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Presbyterian leaders, to aid the families of firefighters and police officers killed while trying to rescue people trapped in the towers.
In addition to providing essential aid to the families, the fund is also a reminder that people of all religions, including Muslims, abhor what happened on September 11.
Forsan Hussein, a 23-year old Israeli Muslim from Galilee, is concerned that people may look at him differently now because of his skin color, religion and accent. After the attacks, he went to Boston to seek solace with the family of his best friend, an Israeli Jew. Some of his Arab and Muslim friends in Boston told him they had been attacked on campus by people who accused them of supporting terrorism.
Arab-American children have reportedly faced threats at schools around the country, and women in headscarves have been assaulted or taunted.
"I feel like I want to tell the world that it's not an Arab or a Muslim thing to go out and bomb people in the name of God. There is nothing in this world that justifies terrorism," says Hussein, a communications associate at the Abraham Fund, a group that sponsors coexistence projects between Arabs and Jews in Israel.
"It's the responsibility of the Arab world, the Muslim world, to go out there and fight terrorism. It gets to the point where we need to prove to the rest of the world that it's not directed at the West only. It's directed against us, against humanity," Hussein adds.
Most US-based Arab and Muslim groups have condemned the attacks, and set up funds to help the families of victims. But some have drawn a line between terror attacks on Americans and those perpetrated against Israelis in recent months, defending the latter as acts of "resistance," and harshly criticizing the US government for supporting Israel.
Among these are some mainstream groups, such as the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, whose press secretary Hussein Ibish regularly blames Israel for causing Palestinian terrorists to blow themselves up near crowds of civilians.
In April, a group called Al-Awda: the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition, held a rally in New York, drawing a few thousand demonstrators. The featured speaker was George Habash, the former head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Habash, a terrorist whose group has been blamed for the murders of at least 14 Americans, addressed the crowd by cellphone, presumably because he couldn't obtain a visa to enter the US.
Expressions of intolerance haven't been limited to fanatics seeking to destroy Americans in the name of Islam and Americans retaliating against Arabs and Muslims.
Two days after the attacks, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a conservative Christian leader, blamed liberalism in America for the carnage in New York and Washington.
"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen,'" Falwell told the Christian TV program The 700 Club. While Falwell apologized a few days later on Good Morning America, his remarks continue to anger many Americans.
"The insensitivity of it all at a time like this was completely un-American. A God-fearing Christian would never say these things in light of true disaster. He's no better than the terrorists," said my friend, Paul, who is gay.
After the attacks, Paul hosted me at his apartment until my building was back in order. His hospitality was mirrored by that of many New Yorkers who selflessly extended a helping hand in shelters, fire stations, rescue headquarters and private homes.
Donations for the victims began pouring in almost as the soon as the attacks began. At the official US government Web site, "American Liberty Partnership," at www.libertyunites.org, Jewish groups listed among the 31 charitable organizations include the United Jewish Communities, the New York, Washington and Philadelphia federations and the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC). As of September 21, nearly $75 million had been collected in on-line donations.
According to the UJC's vice president for consulting, Barry Swartz, donations to the UJC Emergency Relief Fund will go directly toward recovery, relief and rehabilitation of the victims and families of the September 11 attacks.
The Emergency Fund's committee has been around for 13 years, assisting victims of hurricanes, earthquakes and the Oklahoma City bombing. UJC officials are still figuring out where the money is most needed.
"The first Hebrew word I taught my daughter was savlanut [patience]. There's the obvious and then there's those things that might come up in the weeks to come, that we're not thinking about right now," says Swartz.
Aid could include cash assistance, loans and grants, scholarships, tuition assistance, counseling, funeral expenses, relocation, money to other nonprofit organizations, vocational services, the elderly and day care, he adds.
Smaller Jewish groups have also initiated fundraising efforts.
At New York University, students were just settling in on campus and in classrooms when the terrorists hit the World Trade Center, just two kilometers away. For many students, their first week back at school turned into a nightmare.
"Some students are seriously traumatized. They were first-hand witnesses. They lost friends and family," says the director for NYU's Hillel, Rabbi Andrew Bachman. Some students left New York to be with their families and others attended prayer services and memorials, Bachman says. Others rolled up their sleeves and volunteered to help out with the rescue effort.
"One of the interesting things I've seen in students' ability to cope is the outpouring of tzedaka and charitable kindness," says Bachman. As of September 20, Hillel had raised $4,000 and donated vans full of food to rescue workers and those who were injured and displaced. Hillel remained open 24 hours a day as a trauma center for the first three days following the attacks.
"We had a few students show up for Rosh Hashana services covered in dust, carrying their gas masks. They prayed, then they went back, for pikuah nefesh. [According to Halacha, saving lives takes precedence over everything else.] Despite the horrific scale of the tragedy, the human dimension and the sense of goodness have been unbelievably inspiring," says Bachman.
Relief efforts also include the UAHC's Disaster Relief Fund, which sends donations directly to victims and families and children of firefighters, police officers, and military personnel who were killed or injured in the rescue effort.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of UAHC, says: "We're a people that knows how to remember, and we know something about striking a balance between a return to normality and fighting a phenomenon such as terror, which is pure evil. Our job is to both help people return to a normal existence and without contradiction, to remind the American people and government forcefully of the need to maintain vigilance in this battle. We can play that role, of maintaining some of the anger, not for revenge but for justice."
Yoffie is also pessimistic about what the aftermath of the attacks would mean for Israel. He is concerned that governments that sponsor terrorism, particularly against Israel, such as those of Syria, Iran and the Palestinian Authority, would be included in the US-led coalition that President George W. Bush is putting together.
"The instinctive initial notion that this is somehow good for Israel is very questionable," Yoffie says.
(Box) This poem was written by a lawyer in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, less than a dozen kilometers from the site of the World Trade Center, as she cleared away the layer of gray ashes, sheets of computer printouts and bank statements from the twin towers which rained onto her balcony and into her apartment right after the attacks.
Her words capture much of the sense of enormity, horror and incredulity felt by many Americans in the days immediately afterwards, that their country, no less their pride and joy of a city, could come under so devastating an attack.
Ground Zero
There is empathy
And then there is this...
A new reality...
The acrid smell of ashes
laden with concrete
and the flesh and spirit of our brothers and sisters;
husbands and wives; sons and daughters; friends and lovers...
The shower of papers, pictures, photographs...
The computers stopped;
The elevators halted;
The phones
Disconnected;
Bridges, tunnels, highways,
the sky...
Avenues of freedom for so long,
now avenues of rescue and escape...
closed...
This is America... icons of freedom and democracy,
New York and Washington...
This cannot happen here...
The beautiful blue sky of light and freedom,
of spirit and kindness
is now a black and cloudy sky
raining tears of terror and fear...
Yes, Here.
Our home, our country...
Cynthia D. Fisher
September 14, 2001
September 14, 2001
________________________________________________________________________________
(March 11) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell is surely correct in pointing out that Israel's current policy has not succeeded in curbing terrorism. But Powell has suggested no alternative policy. Surely the US cannot expect Israel simply to absorb terrorist attacks without any response.
In light of the willingness of suicide bombers to die in the process of killing Israelis, the traditional methods of deterrence and retaliation seem insufficient. To succeed, Israel must turn the Palestinian leadership and
people against the use of terrorism and the terrorists themselves. One way to do this is to make terrorists directly bear the responsibility for losses inflicted on the Palestinian cause as a direct result of their terrorism.
Here is my proposal. Israel should announce an immediate unilateral cessation in retaliation against terrorist attacks. This moratorium would be in effect for a short period, say four or five days, to give the Palestinian leadership an opportunity to respond to the new policy. It would also make it clear to the world that Israel is taking an important step in ending what has become a cycle of violence.
Following the end of the moratorium, Israel would institute the following new policy if Palestinian terrorism were to resume. It will announce precisely what it will do in response to the next act of terrorism. For example, it could announce the first act of terrorism following the moratorium will result in the destruction of a small village which has been used as a base for terrorist operations. The residents would be given 24 hours to leave, and then troops will come in and bulldoze all of the buildings.
The response will be automatic. The order will have been given in advance of the terrorist attacks and there will be no discretion. The point is to make the automatic destruction of the village the fault of the Palestinian
terrorists who had advance warnings of the specific consequences of their action. The soldiers would simply be acting as the means for carrying out a previously announced policy of retaliation against a designated target. Further acts of terrorism would trigger further destruction of specifically named locations. The "waiting list" targets would be made public and circulated throughout the Palestinian-controlled areas.
If this automatic policy of destroying targets announced in advance is carried out with the full support of the entire government, including those who are committed to a resumption of the peace process, a clear message will be sent to the Palestinian people: Every time terrorists blow themselves up and kill civilians, they are also blowing up one of their own villages.
Over time, the Palestinian residents of these villages will place the blame where it should be placed: directly on the Palestinian terrorists who engaged in terrorism against Israel with full knowledge the consequence would be the destruction of their homes. Those villagers whose homes were coming up on the list would have an incentive to pressure the terrorists to desist.
An alternative approach would be to announce in advance that Israel is prepared to give back most of the occupied territory in the event of peace - which it has already essentially done - but every act of terrorism will result in an automatic and permanent decrease of a specific portion of the land mass that eventually would constitute the Palestinian state.
Again, this decision would have to be announced in advance with the approval of all Israeli parties who would be involved in a peace deal. The land that would be surrendered by the future Palestinian state to Israel in response to every terrorist act would be immediately annexed to Israel and be deemed a
permanent part of the Jewish state, ceded to it by the deliberate acts of the terrorists.
In light of the willingness of suicide bombers to die in the process of killing Israelis, the traditional methods of deterrence and retaliation seem insufficient. To succeed, Israel must turn the Palestinian leadership and
people against the use of terrorism and the terrorists themselves. One way to do this is to make terrorists directly bear the responsibility for losses inflicted on the Palestinian cause as a direct result of their terrorism.
Here is my proposal. Israel should announce an immediate unilateral cessation in retaliation against terrorist attacks. This moratorium would be in effect for a short period, say four or five days, to give the Palestinian leadership an opportunity to respond to the new policy. It would also make it clear to the world that Israel is taking an important step in ending what has become a cycle of violence.
Following the end of the moratorium, Israel would institute the following new policy if Palestinian terrorism were to resume. It will announce precisely what it will do in response to the next act of terrorism. For example, it could announce the first act of terrorism following the moratorium will result in the destruction of a small village which has been used as a base for terrorist operations. The residents would be given 24 hours to leave, and then troops will come in and bulldoze all of the buildings.
The response will be automatic. The order will have been given in advance of the terrorist attacks and there will be no discretion. The point is to make the automatic destruction of the village the fault of the Palestinian
terrorists who had advance warnings of the specific consequences of their action. The soldiers would simply be acting as the means for carrying out a previously announced policy of retaliation against a designated target. Further acts of terrorism would trigger further destruction of specifically named locations. The "waiting list" targets would be made public and circulated throughout the Palestinian-controlled areas.
If this automatic policy of destroying targets announced in advance is carried out with the full support of the entire government, including those who are committed to a resumption of the peace process, a clear message will be sent to the Palestinian people: Every time terrorists blow themselves up and kill civilians, they are also blowing up one of their own villages.
Over time, the Palestinian residents of these villages will place the blame where it should be placed: directly on the Palestinian terrorists who engaged in terrorism against Israel with full knowledge the consequence would be the destruction of their homes. Those villagers whose homes were coming up on the list would have an incentive to pressure the terrorists to desist.
An alternative approach would be to announce in advance that Israel is prepared to give back most of the occupied territory in the event of peace - which it has already essentially done - but every act of terrorism will result in an automatic and permanent decrease of a specific portion of the land mass that eventually would constitute the Palestinian state.
Again, this decision would have to be announced in advance with the approval of all Israeli parties who would be involved in a peace deal. The land that would be surrendered by the future Palestinian state to Israel in response to every terrorist act would be immediately annexed to Israel and be deemed a
permanent part of the Jewish state, ceded to it by the deliberate acts of the terrorists.
This would send a clear message that every act of terrorism will hurt the Palestinian cause, making a reality out of President George W. Bush's statement following the terrorist murder of Daniel Pearl: "[Terrorists] need to know that these crimes only hurt their cause."
For this policy to work, it must have the advance approval of the US government. If Israel carries out this policy after a moratorium on retaliation and full notice to the Palestinians, it should not be criticized
for doing so. If the entire world knows this is the policy and that it will be enforced automatically, and that the decision whether to trigger it in any given case rests completely with those who would engage in acts of terrorism against Israel, then pressure will be brought to bear on Palestinian terrorists to refrain from their intended actions.
For this policy to work, it must be accompanied by a genuine effort to reopen realistic peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. Such a double-edged policy would contribute to two noble causes at the same time: helping to reduce terrorism and promoting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. (The writer is a professor of law at Harvard. His latest book is Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age.)
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