Word: tunneling
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...discussion will focus on last month's decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open of a tunnel through a site considered sacred by the Palestinians...
...when Jerusalem authorities cut through the last part of the Hasmonean tunnel, as it is called, they tapped into a wellspring of rage, all of it, for the moment, directed at Israel. "Our internal differences have been put aside for now," says Abu-Amr. "We see a situation of firm unity among the Palestinians." Arafat's troops, who were widely viewed two weeks ago as the enemies of the public, are its heroes today. Abu-Amr concludes, "This is definitely consolidating and broadening the power base of Mr. Arafat...
...story's victor, Netanyahu is its goat. The outbreak of violence caught Netanyahu on a European tour, and his comments from abroad seemed eerily out of sync with developments back home. While Muslims worldwide howled in protest, he announced he was "proud" that his government had opened the Jerusalem tunnel. Hours after the initial Israeli-Palestinian gunfight, he asserted that "there is nothing to worry about." As for the complaint that the peace process was moribund, he maintained, that was absurd since he had after all already met with Arafat once. Asked whether he thought Netanyahu was insensitive, a senior...
...wisdom of opening the tunnel was called into question by no less than Netanyahu's Defense Minister, Yitzhak Mordechai, a retired general who allowed that he couldn't say "with finality that...all considerations were taken into account." The army chief of staff, Lieut. General Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, said he had not been consulted. And Ami Ayalon, head of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal intelligence agency, said his recommendation that the opening be paired with a concession to the Palestinians was ignored...
After returning home, Netanyahu showed no sign of softening. Although U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher privately suggested that Israel close the tunnel exit, the issue was not even discussed in a five-hour government meeting. At a Friday press conference, Netanyahu blamed the disturbances wholly on the P.A., insisting the unrest was organized from the very start and decrying this "attempt to cynically manipulate a nonissue...