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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Rabin's Daughter Quits Post in Protest |
Current rating: 0 |
by haaretz via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
23 Jul 2002
Modified: 05:22:24 PM |
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Dalia Rabin-Pelossof quits a post in the Defense Ministry in protest of Labor's failure to quit the "unity" government and being it down. She will remain in the Knesset, though. |
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Rabin resigns from Defense Ministry
By Yossi Verter
Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof is quitting her job as second-in-command to Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer in protest against the Labor Party remaining in the government.
Two weeks ago, the deputy minister handed in a letter of resignation to Ben-Eliezer, but the minister - and party chairman - asked her to wait a fortnight before going ahead with the move.
Yesterday, Rabin-Pelossof called Ben-Eliezer in London to say she would give him a new letter of resignation today, when he returned from his trip abroad.
She told Ha'aretz last night that she had decided to remain as an MK in the Labor faction for time being, while continuing her activity at the Rabin Center for Peace. If that activity conflicted with her duties as a lawmaker, she said, she "won't hesitate" to quit the Knesset.
In her previous letter to Ben-Eliezer, Rabin-Pelossof wrote that she could not "in all good conscience" remain in a government that did not continue the legacy of her late father and that she felt that the national unity government "had reached its end." She said she did not agree with the policy adopted by the government and the lack of "a political horizon" that prevented negotiations with the Palestinians. |
See also:
www.haaretzdaily.com
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Meanwhile... on a related topic |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Jul 2002
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Wednesday, July 24, 2002
West Bankers using better explosives:
Fertilizer compound replaces TATP
By Amos Harel
The terror organizations operating out of the Samaria region have recently begun using a new chemical compound for manufacturing explosive devices. The compound replaces tri-acetone tri-peroxide (TATP) material that had been used until now to manufacture explosives.
In the West Bank, unlike in the Gaza Strip, standard explosive materials are difficult to obtain. As a result, since the early 1990s, the terror organizations have tended to use TATP for producing explosives devices, to which hundreds of nuts and bolts are added to increase the damage caused by the blasts.
TATP was the compound in most of the explosive devices used in suicide attacks in the West Bank and Israel over the past decade; however, in bomb-making laboratories uncovered by the Israel Defense Forces during Operation Determined Path, devices made from a new compound, urea nitrate, were found.
The compound is prepared from fertilizers intended for agricultural use. It appears that information on how to manufacture devices using the urea nitrate was passed on to terror activists in the West Bank by members of the same organizations in neighboring states.
Military sources have informed Ha'aretz that the new compound is far more effective than TATP, producing a much more powerful blast "in a manner that approaches the level of standard explosive material."
Other sources in the defense establishment claimed that the principal difference between the two compounds is not in the force of the blast, but rather that the new compound is far more convenient and far less dangerous to work with.
The new compound does not require as cautious handling as does TATP and does not have to be kept in cool conditions during the manufacturing process, making the possibility of so-called "work accidents" less likely.
Interrogations of Palestinian detainees by the Shin Bet security service have revealed that the terror organizations have found a convenient source for producing chemical compounds used in the production of explosive devices, and the new compound in particular - fertilizers coming from Israel.
For months, Israeli trucks continued, unhindered, to offload fertilizer that was intended for agricultural purposes, but were used, in part, for manufacturing explosives. The defense establishment admits that Israel "woke up too late" to deal with the problem and put an end to the transfer of fertilizer. Only recently, sources said, has the supervision over the transfer of fertilizer to the territories been tightened.
Meanwhile, based on intelligence in the hands of the IDF and the Shin Bet, the terror organizations are continuing with preparations to carry out suicide attacks, primarily within Israel proper. The focal point of these preparations is in Nablus. A recently-foiled plan included an attack by a number of suicide bombers in different locations coupled with the firing of Kassam rockets into Israeli territory. |
