The weekend attacks in Israel have changed the
rhetoric coming from Washington.
MICHAEL J. JORDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York City
ince the Sept. II terror attacks
on the United States, Israelis
and their American Jewish
supporters have tried
to impress upon Washington
that "your war is our war."
They've had little success
until this week.
The bloodiest terrorist attacks in Israel
in the post-Sept. 11 world — assaults
that specifically targe:ed teen-agers —
seem finally to have produced sympathy
for Israel from both the U.S. administra-
tion and the American public.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
also offered sympathy and condolences,
as did the European Union.
Washington's response, especially, was
taken as a sign of a change of heart.
For the first time after a major attack
in Israel, the Bush administration
S
refrained from using the "r" word —
restraint — and implicitly gave Israel the
green light to respond as it saw fit to the
suicide bombings in Jerusalem and
Haifa that killed at least 25 and wound-
ed nearly 300.
"We're not about to tell Mr. Sharon
what he should do," Secretary
of State Colin Powell said
Sunday, shortly after the
Hamas attacks. He did add,
however, that Israel should consider the
consequences of its actions.
On Tuesday, Powell was more explicit.
Sharon should remember, he said, "that
there will be a tomorrow and a day after
tomorrow, and we have to try to get
back to a process that will lead to a
ceasefire and to negotiations."
In addition, President George W.
Bush on Tuesday froze the U.S. assets of
the Holy Land
three organizations
Foundation for Relief and Development,
Beit el-Mar Holdings and Al-Aqsa
Islamic Bank — that allegedly raise
ANAL YSIS
Israeli Resolve
The public in Israel wants its government to act
against Arafat and terrorists.
JESSICA STEINBERG
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
L
ast weekend's deadly terror
attacks have left most Israelis
angrier than ever
before, and most
of that anger is directed at
one man.
"The State of Israel opened
an action against a man," Alex Fishman
wrote in the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot
after Israel launched reprisal attacks
Monday on the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. "Not against an organization, not
against an entity, not against an ideolo-
gy. Against one man: Yasser Arafat. Our
bin Laden."
It is Yasser Arafat
not the
Palestinians as a whole, or even the
Palestinian Authority per se — who
many Israelis see as the obstacle to stabil-
ity in the region.
And the duel is almost a personal one
between Israel Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and Arafat, antagonists who have
confronted each other on various battle-
fields in different countries over several
decades, according to Israeli analysts.
"Have no doubt," Fishman continued,
"this whole operation is man-
aged" on the Israeli side "by
just one man: Ariel Sharon."
For the average Israeli,
Arafat has become everyone's enemy and
the root of all problems. He is the Nobel
Peace Prize winner who pulled the wool
over the world's eyes.
Many Israelis believe Arafat never real-
ly intended to make peace, even when
former Prime Minister Ehud Barak •
offered him virtually everything Arafat
said he wanted from Israel, including an
independent Palestinian state.
After eight years of a purported peace
process, Yoel Marcus wrote in Ha'aretz,
Arafat succeeded in proving that Israel's
ANAL YSIS
TIMELINE from page 17
May 25: A car bomb in
Hadera injures 39.
May 27: Two car bombings
in Jerusalem injure 30.
June 1: Suicide bomber
kills 21, injures 100 at Tel
Aviv disco.
Green, Then Red?
Still, some observers wondered how long
it would take before the green light
would again turn red, and whether Israel
would really be released from the con-
straints Washington has demanded while
the United States pursues its own war on
terrorism in Afghanistan.
Much hinges on who triumphs in an
apparent power struggle between the
hawkish Defense Department, led by
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and
his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and the
more dovish State Department, symbol-
ized by Powell and staffed by career
Arabists.
Some are suggesting that Bush declare
victory in this stage of the war on terror,
considering that the Taliban has col-
lapsed and Osama bin Laden is on the
run.
Wolfowitz reportedly now is pressing,
to advance to "Stage Two" of the strug-
gle, which could focus on ousting Iraqi
June 22: Suicide bomber in
Gaza Strip kills two Israeli
soldiers.
July 16: Suicide bomber
kills two soldiers in
Biyamina.
July 19: Israeli vigilantes
kill three Palestinians,
including a 3-month-old
baby.
Aug. 9: Suicide bomber
kills 15, injures 130 at
Sbarro pizzeria in
Jerusalem.
Aug. 12: Suicide bomber
injures 20 in Haifa.
BENTIM NILL 110211I3BL
Changing Equation
funds for Hamas.
The groups had been under investiga-
tion for a long time, but action against
them apparently was precipitated by the
weekend terror attacks.
Sept. 4: Suicide bomber in
Jerusalem injures 16. A day
earlier, four bombs explod-
ed in Jerusalem, injuring
three.
EQUATION on page 21
Sept. 9: Suicide bomber in
Nahariya kills three Israelis.
The same day, gunmen fire
on a school van, killing two
"fanatic" right-wingers — who claimed
all along that Arafat remained commit-
ted to the destruction of the Jewish state
— were far more accurate than the left-
wing dreamers who thought Arafat
shared the Israeli vision of a "New
Middle East" of peaceful coexistence.
"We need to get rid of" Arafat, said
Hadass Cohen, who was reading a news-
paper at a Jerusalem cafe. "He's never
been straight with us."
and injuring four teachers.
Oct. 1: Car bomb in
Jerusalem injures three.
Oct. 4: A Palestinian kills
three and wounds 16 in
Afula.
Oct. 7: Suicide bomber
kills at Kibbutz Shluchot.
Oct. 17: Gunmen assassinate
Israeli Tourism Minister
Rehavam Ze'evi in Jerusalem.
Enemy No. 1
Oct. 28: Gunman kills four
For the media and commentators from
left to right, Arafat has become everyone's
enemy, a terrorist in diplomatic costume.
In fact, even during the peace process,
Arafat never once appeared in public in
anything other than his military uniform
which some Israeli commentators
consider a subtle means of showing his
people his true intentions, even as he
lauded the "peace of the brave."
"Arafat has brought the Palestinian-
Israeli dispute to a crossroads that could
lead 'Sharon's Israel' to try to engineer
the P.A.'s collapse," Marcus wrote.
"Or, alternatively, to carry out a
frontal attack on the terrorist organiza-
and wounds 40 in Hadera.
RESOLVE on page 20
Soldier is killed in a drive-
by shooting.
Nov. 4: Gunman fires on
Jerusalem bus, killing two
and wounding 50.
s
Nov. 26: Suicide bomber
injures two in Gaza Strip.
Nov. 27: Gunmen in Afula
kill two, injure dozens.
Nov. 29: Suicide bomber
kills three, injures nine in
Hadera.
Dec. 1: Two suicide
bombers and a car bomb kill
10, injure 188 in Jerusalem.
Dec. 2: Suicide bomber kills
15, injures 40 in Haifa.
12/7
2001
19