from Ha'aretz:
[b]26 injured in suicide bombing near Tel Aviv's old central bus station[/b]

I heard from Italian State Radio (RAI FM1) that Arafat could ask help and support to Saddam Hussein.

Today it was "discovered" by Italian Journalists (Corriere della Sera of today) that in the West Bank and in Gaza the children are "educated" to relate with the Israeli neighbour by very high level school boooks based on "Mein Kampf" of A. Hitler and "The Protocols of the Elder of Zion".

No comment. But, as I can see, Sharon is not the only butcher in this affair. People that educate to racial and religious hate should be prosecuted for Crimes against Humanity.

Paolo, my dear friend, with what you say about the level of hatred among the people of the West Bank, and their undying commitment to violence against Israel, can you not find it in your heart to forgive Gen. Sharon for any past transgressions?

It will only be a matter of time, I believe, before Sharon will, indeed, be a general again!

I see absolutely nothing in the future that would lead me to believe that the Oslo Peace initiatives will ever be set back on track, nor that the Mitchell Plan will ever be carried out.

So with everything leading to war, who will lead them to peace?

Eric The([b][i]Maranatha![/b][/i])Hun[>]:)]

I have a feeling that the Shit is ABOUT TO HIT THE FAN BIG TIME.  

I have no idea if the article which mentioned the Gun battles being fought against 5000 Taliban and 450 Tanks are legit. ??? Has anyone seen this confirmed at the state department or local news??

Also you have Iran now making noises. (Anti-US)

You have Saudi Arabia Making noises. (Anti-US)

And you have palestine attacking Isreal??

And we are about to put diplomatic restrictions on Arafat (which won't matter a hill of beans because he has no power within palestine and hasn't for years) The younger more hard line crowd is running palestine.

Anyone want to place any bets as to how long before the Whole Middle East goes up in Flames????

YOU can ignite Kerosene by compression.   This is what is happening in the Middle east.  Allow for a couple more events say 4 or 5 more moves between the sides and I am going to say that all it will take at that point will be a cinder and we are going to be in an all out war.

Benjamin

Once Israel "de-legitimized" Arafat, I thought "this guy will be dead in 6 months".  Either his own people, or the Israelis are going to take him out.  Once he's history, things will get shaken up pretty bad in the region, but I suspect stability will be restored.

To bad he wasn't allowed to assume room temperature about 20 years ago.

Should I forgive Sharon, my friend? The hell no... the same way I don't forgive the White Russians that inspired pogroms and the Red Army that, even after the Shoah, keep to kill Jews in the (no more existing [}:D]) Soviet Union.
But (as a result of the Israeli Inquiry Commission Kahan) there is still a difference of responsability to watch and do nothing to avoid a slaughter, and to order a massacre. Sharon is the first kind of man. Arafat and Sheik Yassin are the second kind of men.

The only sadness I feel for the Palestinians is for those ones that are understanding, that are disapproving, but that they must keep everything in their hearts otherwise some Hamas or Jihad thug will kill him or the whole family because they "didn't support enough the Holy War against the Jews".

PaoloAR15: On this side of the pond, Pres. Bush is not happy with Arafat check out the article for our local all-news radio station.
=========================================================
http://www.kfwb.com/news/nat/n012503.html

Bush 'Very Disappointed' With Palestinian Leader

WASHINGTON (AP) 1.25.02, 11:30a -- President Bush said today he was "very disappointed" with Yasser Arafat over an attempt to smuggle weapons to the Palestinians. "That's enhancing terror," Bush said after reviewing U.S. ties to Arafat with his senior advisers.
The options on the table at the White House ranged from suspending diplomatic contacts with Arafat's Palestinian Authority to demanding he guarantee to make arrests in the smuggling episode and try to renew U.S. peacemaking efforts.

"Ordering up weapons that were intercepted on a boat headed for that part of the world is not part of fighting terror," Bush said on a trip to Maine to make a speech on homeland security.

Israeli commandos intercepted the boatload of Iranian-weapons. Israeli officials said they were designed for terror attacks.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and other State Department officials were counseling against severing ties. According to a well-placed U.S. official, they favored demanding that Arafat guarantee tough action against terrorism and then the administration would resume its peacemaking efforts.

Arrayed against this view, and pushing for a cutoff, were Vice President Dick Cheney's office and Pentagon staffers, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, meanwhile, that "the United States is appalled at the involvement of senior Palestinian officials" in the smuggling operation. And, he said, "we're outraged by the role played by Iran and the Hezbollah in that operation."

According to Israeli security officials, the weapons were supplied by Iran and loaded on the ship there with the help of Hezbollah, a guerrilla group that is fighting a low-level cross-border war with Israel from southern Lebanon.

Bush and Fleischer did not indicate if a decision had been taken at the White House.

Powell, at the State Department said "the U.S. has a whole range of options."

"We continue to give a strong message to Chairman Arafat" to combat terrorism, he said.

In the private White House session, Bush and his national security team discussed various options, which also include closing Palestinian Authority offices in Washington, sending U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni to suspend his peacemaking mission and placing Arafat's personal security force on the State Department's list of terrorist groups, according to several government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

-- continued --

Zinni was expected to resume his attempt to rebuild a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians in a third trip to the region last week. But the mission was sidetracked by the violence, and there is no word on when he might go back -- despite reports that Arafat asked Powell to send him back.

Cutting ties with Arafat could greatly complicate Bush's fragile war coalition by angering Muslims and driving a wedge between the United States and its Arab allies. It also would make it tougher for U.S. diplomats, dealing with only one party in the dispute, to ease Middle East tensions.

For those reasons, severing ties was the least likely option to be accepted by Bush, said a senior administration official involved in the discussions. The official said Bush's team agrees that action needs to be taken against Arafat, but the advisers are split over how serious the steps should be.

It was unclear whether Bush would make a decision Friday. One source said the action may be postponed, giving Arafat one more chance to avoid punishment.

The advisers' meeting comes after Bush sent proof to three key Arab leaders that the Palestinian Authority was engaged in a weapons smuggling plot and asked them to put pressure on Arafat to make arrests, senior administration officials said.

Israeli commandos early this month intercepted a ship carrying the 50 tons of rockets, mortars, explosives and other arms in the Red Sea and informed the Bush administration.

Most of the evidence Bush included in his letters last week to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan was gathered by U.S. intelligence, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

That underscored the Bush administration's conviction that Arafat's Palestinian Authority was involved. Arafat himself has denied any role and the Bush administration has hesitated to contradict him directly.

But Israeli security officials say it was impossible for senior Palestinian Authority members to be involved in the plot first hatched in June without Arafat's personal awareness.

They also said the weapons, if delivered to Palestinian militants, could have been used against Israel's Ben-Gurion airport and especially to pierce the reinforced surface of buses that carry tourists and Israeli civilians.

Assistant Secretary of State William Burns called in ambassadors from two dozen Arab countries for a briefing Friday at the State Department. It is part of an administration campaign to rally the Arab world against terrorism and to compel Arafat to curb Palestinian attacks on Israel.

The Palestinian Authority, under U.S. urging, has detained several suspects. But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher repeated on Thursday that Arafat had neither provided a satisfactory explanation of the smuggling nor arrested the key figures.

Powell publicly has demanded an explanation from Arafat about the smuggling, though Powell has said he has seen no evidence against the Palestinian leader.

Bush plans to meet Feb. 7 with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who will be making his fourth visit to the White House to see Bush since March. Arafat has never been invited.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how Arafat goes.  He's not going to be assassinated by Israel, and he's not going to "retire", but he is quickly becoming irrelevant and powerless.  I don't know who will replace Arafat.  BUT I AM EAGER TO FIND OUT [:)]