Word: beit
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Peres was instrumental in defusing the battle for Beit Jala last week--a battle that grew partially out of Sharon's need to ensure that Arafat doesn't view him as a weak leader. The Palestinian-controlled town has been the base for gunmen shooting at the Gilo neighborhood on the edge of Jerusalem. Two weeks ago, Sharon said the next time a Palestinian shot "a single bullet" at Gilo, he'd invade Beit Jala. On Monday, after an Israeli missile killed the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Abu Ali Mustafa, the bullets flew. Government...
...updated his ministers on Arafat's commitment Wednesday night. "Of course, our working assumption must be that Arafat's going to keep his word," Sharon said, then smiled, sardonically. The Cabinet burst into laughter. At 2 a.m., Sharon called Colin Powell to tell him the Israelis were out of Beit Jala and asked him to pass a message to the Palestinian leader. "If there's more shooting, it has to be clear to Arafat that we'll go back again to Beit Jala," he said. "With much more effective force...
...While the firefights raged, the Beit Jala incursion was also hurting Israel diplomatically. A PR disaster followed reports of children huddling frightened in a Lutheran orphanage while Israeli soldiers took up firing positions in their building. The State Department specifically appealed for the safety of the children. Coming as it did on the heels of a similar reprimand over the fact that a family of Americans had been in the Ramallah building struck by the Israeli rockets that killed Abu Ali Mustafa on Monday, the Beit Jala incursion was clearly hurting Israel's image in the West...
...eroding his control of the Palestinian streets, and he has been pressing the Europeans to initiate new cease-fire talks with the Israelis in order to press for political concessions that could help him reclaim the initiative in Palestinian politics. But even if he has persuaded the gunmen in Beit Jala to hold their fire while the Israelis withdraw, the resultant truce will be extremely fragile...
...gunmen in Beit Jala, after all, are not from the village. They use it as a firing position because of its proximity to an Israeli neighborhood. On Monday they arrived to vent their rage over Israel's killing of Abu Ali Mustafa. Now they may be prepared to withdraw for a time. But it's a safe bet that when next they're looking to respond to some blow suffered elsewhere, Gilo will once again look like a tempting target - even more so for the diplomatic crisis the resultant battle will provoke...