Freedom Lawyers of America

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3401 October 20, 2006, 12:37 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile reports:

The American Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group joins US build-up opposite Iran Tuesday, Oct. 17, the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group steamed into the Persian Gulf to join the US naval, air and marine concentration piling up opposite Iran’s shores. It consists of the amphibious transport dock USS Nashville, the guided-missile destroyers USS Cole and USS Bulkeley, the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the attack submarine USS Albuquerque, and the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Iwo Jima group is now cruising 60 km from Kuwait off Iran’s coast.

As DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly reported exclusively two weeks ago, three US naval task forces will be in place opposite Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea by October 21. The other two are the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and the USS Enterprise Strike Group. http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3400

Another of his outrageous speeches was delivered Friday to a pro-Palestinian rally marking the Islami Republic’s “al Qods Day” (Jerusalem Liberation Day). In further inflammatory remarks, Ahmadinejad said “the world knows the US and Britain are enemies of the Iranian nation.” He warned European nations not to harm Iran, saying that if anger in the region boiled over, Europe would get hurt because of its support for Israel. “Europe must distance itself from Israel at once. That is Iran’s ultimatum. “

He went on to brand the UN Security Council and its decisions “illegitimate.” DEBKAfile adds: These words amounted to an Iranian threat of harm to the European UN forces deployed in Lebanon unless they left forthwith.

His harsh words followed two events: one, the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s statement in Moscow this week after he met with Russian leaders: “They need to fear that something that they do not want to happen will happen. In no case, Olmert stressed, “will we reconcile with nuclear arms in Iranian hands. There is no margin for error here.”

The other event was the arrival in the Persian Gulf of the giant US carrier Iwo Jima with its Expeditionary Strike Group to join the American naval, air and marine might piling up opposite Iran’s shores.

Tunnels feed new Hamas army
Intelligence officials express worry over expanding Hamas forces, say confrontation with IDF soon to come
Alex Fishman
Published:
10.05.06, 10:39

The Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip has assembled an armed and trained force of about 7,500 fighters. A senior military official emphasized that it was not just a large guerilla force, but an organized military force.

This new Hamas army consists of several specialized units, including a short-range missile unit, a long-range missile unit, an anti-tank unit, and a sniper unit, among others.

Intelligence sources estimated the army would reach operational capacity, and be capable of confronting the IDF as soon as the coming summer, if the flow of arms, military experts, and money into the Gaza Strip was not stopped.
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Haniyeh Speaks
Haniyeh: Hamas gov't won't step down / Associated Press
Top UN official says conditions in Gaza have reached breaking point; yet instead of forcing Hamas to moderate, tough policies have made Palestinians more intransigent, she adds
Full Story. The army did not only have defensive capabilities against the IDF, but offensive capabilities that would allow it to launch long-range missiles towards settlements within the Green Line, and to infiltrate Israel through hidden tunnels.

According to military sources, the strengthening of Hamas’ army was a calculated aspect of a long-term plan that began with the rise of the Hamas government, and did not cease for a single day since then.

Even recent internal struggles and IDF operations did not hinder the moving forward of the plan. The manufacturing of short-term missiles took place in Gaza, and there was evidence of anti-tank missiles entering the Strip.

Hamas’ offensive abilities are based mainly on tunnels that leave Gaza and enter the Green Line. In September alone, 12 tunnels were discovered in a single kilometer near the Gaza Strip town of Dahaniya.

Three of the tunnel openings where found by Egypt, and another three were destroyed by the IAF. It was difficult for Israel to make an exact estimate as to the number of working tunnels there were on the Philidelphi route, but a rough estimate showed several dozen tunnels which were sophisticated, professionally quarried, and fully equipped with tracks and wheeled carts.

Israeli military sources said they would have to decide soon how this new and growing military force in the Strip would be dealt with.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades leader explains PA president's ultimate goal is to destroy Jewish state


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' stated recognition of Israel's right to exist is part of a "political calculation" aimed at ultimately destroying the Jewish state, a terror group leader and member of Abbas' Fatah party told WND in an interview.

The leader said the Fatah party does not recognize Israel and that any final accord that doesn't include flooding the Jewish state with millions of Palestinians will not be supported by the Fatah party and will lead to Palestinian civil war.

"The base of our Fatah movement keeps dreaming of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa and Akko," said Abu Ahmed, Fatah member and leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip. "There is no change in our position. Abbas recognizes Israel because of pressure that the Zionists and the Americans are exercising on him. We understand this is part of his obligations and political calculations."

The Brigades is the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party. Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years, including an attack in Tel Aviv this past April that killed an American teenager and nine Israelis. The Brigades also has carried out scores of deadly shooting and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in recent months.

Brigades leaders are members of Fatah. The terror group's founder, Marwan Barghouti, is an elected Fatah official and is largely considered one of the most popular Fatah figures. Several top Brigades members serve in Abbas' Force 17 personal security detail.

Abbas and Hamas the past few months have been negotiating the possibility of forming a national unity government in part to end international sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won the majority of parliamentary seats earlier this year. But the unity talks reportedly fell through because of Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Fatah and Hamas have been clashing in Gaza and the West Bank the past few days.
The US and Europe label Hamas a terror group, while Fatah largely is considered "moderate," in part for its purported willingness to accept Israel. The U.S. has given large sums of financial aid and weapons to Fatah since late Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Peace Accords with the Jewish state in 1993.

Abu Ahmed explained Fatah itself has never officially recognized Israel.
"It is the PLO, which is a separate entity, that recognized Israel,and this was a step, a tactical step that had as its goal to bring the resistance and the revolution closer to the lands of Palestine," Abu Ahmed said.

The PLO was the official governing body of the Palestinians until the PA was formed following the Oslo Accords. Subsequent Israeli-Palestinian agreements were signed officially by the Fatah-led PA but not by Fatah as a party. Still, Fatah leaders, including Abbas, have made scores of statements recognizing the Jewish state.

But Abu Ahmed commented, "There is an opportunistic class at the head of the Fatah leadership that for personal and political interests says it accepts the existence of Israel. There is no change in our official position. Fatah as a movement never recognized Israel. It is the PLO who did so for the reasons I mentioned."

A State Department spokesman yesterday told WND the Brigades is "separate" from Abbas' Fatah party. But Abu Ahmed explained his Brigades group is "one and the same" with the Fatah party.

"We are members of Fatah, and there are normal organic relations between us and the Fatah. We are in the Al Aqsa Brigades because we are Fatah members. We participate in all political decisions making of the Fatah movement." Abu Ahmed said Brigades members consider Abbas their legitimate leader and answer ultimately to the PA president.

"Of course we are loyal to Abbas. He is our elected leader. We would of course prefer if his policy toward Israel was different, but we understand his obligations and calculations, and we do not consider ourselves limited by these calculations," the terror leader said. Abu Ahmed explained the difference between Hamas and Fatah is that the Fatah party "is ready to discuss a political arrangement for the Jews." But he said any arrangement must include the "right of return" of millions of Palestinians to Israel.

"We demand (any agreement with Israel) be based upon the principles that the great majority of our people support and first of all the right of return to the refugees, which mean that there cannot be any recognition of the Zionist entity. "If any Palestinian government will dare sign a deal without this it means that this government has decided to throw away the fate and destiny of more than four million Palestinian refugees, and we cannot accept this."

The "right of return" is widely seen by Israelis as a ploy to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians, thus threatening the country's Jewish character. Israel has a population of about 6.9 million; about 5.3 million are Jewish; nearly 1.3 million are Arab. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank claim a population of 3.8 million, but recent studies found the current Palestinian population may be inflated by up to 50 percent, with some major cities even being counted twice.

Abu Ahmed pointed to recent opinion polls showing upwards of 70 percent of the Palestinian public does not support Israel's right to exist. He warned if the PA concludes an agreement with Israel that does not include the "right of return," it will result in civil war.

"We will fight such a government that would make an agreement (without the 'right of return'), even if this may lead to a civil war. We are of course not interested in such a war but we want to ensure that any political process does not give up any of our holy principles," Abu Ahmed said.

Reprinted with permission of WorldNetDaily