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Gunfire at the mourning tent for Arafat may have been aimed at Abbas, his successor? Abbas's body guard was killed.
https://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1359481,00.html
Two die as gunfire triggers panic at Arafat mourning
From David Sharrock in Jerusalem
November 15, 2004
TWO Palestinian security officers were killed yesterday and five others injured when militants opened fire as Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO leader, arrived at a mourning ceremony for Yassir Arafat in Gaza, sparking fears that the succession race could descend into violent chaos. At least one of the dead was a member of the late Palestinian leader's elite Force 17 unit, his personal bodyguard.
Moments after Mr Abbas arrived and began greeting mourners, the former Palestinian Prime Minister, also known as Abu Mazen, was bundled out of a crowded marquee when about 20 gunmen started firing automatic weapons in the air. About 1,000 people were in the marquee.
As long as Israel maintains a radical right wing government, supported by Bush ,there is no chance for peace in the Middle East.
On the other side, the Palestinian authority MUST do its best to stop the acts of terrorism committed against Israel. Now that Arafat is gone, lets hope that the Palestinian people select a strong and moderate leader.
ISRAELIS AGREE TO BACK A PALESTINIAN ELECTION
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Monday that he had won a commitment from Israel to let Palestinians living in Jerusalem take part in elections in January and to ease conditions in the West Bank and Gaza so that they can more easily vote there as well.
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...07445%2C00.html
PALESTINIANS BLOW UP AN ISRAELI BASE
Palestinian militants blew up an Israeli army base at the Gaza-Egypt crossing Sunday by sneaking more than a ton of explosives through a tunnel, killing four Israeli soldiers and wounding at least 10 in the largest Palestinian attack in the month since Yasser Arafat's death.
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...11986%2C00.html
MrB. I am not sure I understand the purpose of your comment above or can relate to it being constructive. Are you referring to the news briefs above your post and are you justifying the attacks on the soldiers? If so, I am not sure that such loose statements make a thread invigorating or interesting. I have enjoyed your independent views here, but this one was let us say, 'unnecessary'. We could go one all day justifying each attack as a remnant of the last bomb, the last gun shooting, but in the end we would just be saying... 'revenge' is acceptable.
ISRAEL ENDS GAZA RAID; 11 KILLED
Israeli troops moved out of a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Gaza on Saturday night, the army said, ending a two-day raid that killed 11 Palestinians and wounded dozens, the largest Israeli military operation since Yasser Arafat's death last month.
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...13454%2C00.html
ISRAEL TO RELEASE 170 PALESTINIANS
Israel on Sunday agreed to release 170 Palestinian prisoners in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon described as a good-will offering to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...13636%2C00.html
It is foolish in the extreme not only to resort to force before necessity compels, but especially to madly create the conditions that will lead to this necessity."
-- Benjamin Tucker, Liberty, May 22, 1886