NP - Palestinian Moderate Leader's Home Shelled

[Swing Hammerswing]

Bush was behind this I bet.


>From: David Morris <fqmorris at yahoo.com>
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: NP -  Palestinian Moderate Leader's Home Shelled
>Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 12:19:54 -0700 (PDT)
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/22/world/22CND-PALE.html
>
>Leading Palestinian Shows Off His Home Shelled by Israelis
>
>AMALLAH, West Bank, May 22 — Reporters traipsed through the master bathroom 
>of
>Jibril Rajoub's house today, getting a highly unusual glimpse of a 
>Palestinian
>security chief's whirlpool bath and shampoo collection. The marble floor 
>was
>still littered with the brown glass that blew from the windows when Israeli
>tanks' shells struck on Sunday.
>
>Pushed for details, Mr. Rajoub revealed that he was naked and dripping wet 
>when
>the firing began, having stepped out of the shower and run into his bedroom 
>to
>answer the telephone. By his account, the first of three shells missed him 
>by
>30 seconds. All told, his house was hit from three sides, his armored 
>Mercedes
>was destroyed, and his 11-year-old son's bedroom, complete with Batman rug, 
>was
>left with bullet-pocked walls.
>
>Israeli authorities have adamantly denied that they were trying to 
>assassinate
>Mr. Rajoub, known as one of the more moderate and pragmatic Palestinian
>officials.
>
>Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said today that he accepted the 
>army's
>explanation that troops were returning fire after "massive fire" was 
>directed
>at them from the grounds of Mr. Rajoub's home. He added that the troops
>apparently did not know at whose home they were aiming their tanks, and 
>said
>that he instructed the army to prepare better maps marking the homes of
>well-known senior Palestinian officials.
>
>[...]
>
>"Mine is one in a series of attacks in the last three weeks," Mr. Rajoub 
>said
>in his gravelly voice, speaking at the ultra-modern preventive security
>headquarters where he sometimes drives his Mercedes right into the lobby 
>and
>parks. "I think it's part of a policy to undermine the Palestinian 
>Authority
>and make it collapse."
>
>Some Israelis viewed the incident similarly. Akiva Eldar, a senior 
>columnist
>for the newspaper Haaretz, said: "The shelling of Jibril Rajoub's house 
>removes
>any remaining doubts. Ariel Sharon has decided to turn the Palestinian
>Authority into the enemy."
>
>Mr. Rajoub added, using the nom de guerre of the Palestinian leader Yasir
>Arafat: "Abu Amar as a person, as an individual, is the most important 
>element
>for regional stability. He who thinks to touch Abu Amar would push the 
>whole
>region to deterioration."
>
>
>
>An army field commander, however, contradicted the official position by 
>saying
>on the Israeli radio that he knew very well to whom the house belonged.
>
>
>
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