Contrary to the commitment
By Joseph Algazy, Ha'aretz, September 1, 2002 
Imad Saftawi is now being tried for crimes he is accused of committing before the Oslo agreements, despite a law passed by the Knesset that grants immunity from prosecution for such offenses. Is a message being sent to the Palestinian leadership?  The trial of Imad Saftawi for offenses he is accused of having committed before the period of the Oslo Accords is apparently being held out of alien considerations, the aim of which is to send a message to the senior leadership in the Palestinian Authority that it is possible to try them contrary to the interim agreement that the Knesset approved in 1996.

The Crusades: Then and Now - Acrobat Version
The Crusades: Then and Now - HTML version
By Robert B. Ashmore,  The Link, July - August   2002
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, on September 18, 2001, was required to express President George Bush’s regrets for using the word “crusade” to describe his campaign against selective terrorism. (Why it is selective will be explained below.) President Bush was quickly informed that “crusade” is a loaded term that evokes ugly memories of what the West did to Muslims during the Middle Ages. Shortly thereafter, the Defense Department had to retract a similar gaffe. Having dubbed the military operation “Infinite Justice,” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was informed that only God’s actions are properly characterized as “infinite.” Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics, among others, pointed out in The New York Times of Sept. 21, 2001 that attributing the term “infinite” to finite human beings “is the sin of pride.”

Doctor arrested in Florida is a ‘terrorist,’ too
By Arsalan Tariq Iftikhar, Arab News, September 1, 2002
PETERSBURG, 1 September — According to the FBI, a Florida doctor arrested after police found more than 15 homemade explosive devices in his home allegedly drafted a detailed plan to blow up an Islamic educational center. The search of Robert J. Goldstein’s residence also turned up a list of about 50 Islamic worship centers in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area and other locations in Florida. Attached to the criminal complaint against Goldstein was a three-page “mission template” for an attack on an unidentified “Islam education center,” which included a map of the center showing where bombs would be placed.

Labor Day- In America and in Palestine
By Dr. E.A. Richards, Palestine Chronicle, September 1, 2002
It is an innate characteristic of man to labor, to work, in order to make a living for himself, his wife and his family, no matter whether where the man lives, what race he is, or which language he uses. Labor is the human condition. When a man is gainfully employed, and can provide for his own, it is a situation that brings happiness to the group; and, to the major class of working groups of which he is a part.

Syria's double game after Sept. 11
By Daniel Sobelman, Ha'aretz, September 2, 2002
Immediately following the terror attacks in the United States on September 11 last year, Syria began to mobilize all of the public relations resources at its disposal to promote its position that a distinction must be drawn between between international terror - the likes of which America experienced - and "resistance to foreign occupation."

Headlong into the clash of civilisations
By Dilip Hiro, Independent, September 1, 2002
President Bush should heed the advice of friendly Arabs or face the consequence: Last week the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, long-time allies of the United States, publicly warned the Bush administration against invading Iraq to bring about "regime change". The normally phlegmatic Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, cautioned that the deaths of many innocent Iraqis, on top of the continuing killings of Palestinians, could destabilise the whole region. Declaring that it was up to the Iraqi people to decide the fate of Saddam Hussein, the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, forecast that attempts to overthrow him from the outside would fail.

Nothing Funny About the Forces of Separation
By Ray Hanania, Palestine Chronicle, September 1, 2002
It was all supposed to be humor, but it turned so sour. The Middle East conflict is raw and filled with emotions. It is hard to resist getting pulled into the cycle of hatred and emotion. I have even succumbed, dragged in by events that stir personal emotions. I have family living in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and I can feel the pain of their suffering. That causes people - human beings - to say things they sometimes regret. And I have certainly said a few things I regret.

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