mike- whoopie, it's beginning to happen So, Mr Mike......why...

mike- whoopie, it's beginning to happen So, Mr Mike......why should I be expected to like them? They don't even like each other.

There's got to be a message there somewhere, no?

And to think we are expected to give these thugs a state? What for? So that they can get stuck into each other and whenever they're bored get stuck into my mob?

No way.....they can go to buggery as far as I'm concerned. Better still....Jordan.
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http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/458646.html (leading left wing Israeli newspaper)


Last Update: 01/08/2004 12:16

Al Aqsa gunmen freed hostages after Arafat okayed payoffs

By Amnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent and agencies

Palestinian gunmen agreed to release an American, a Briton and an Irishman kidnapped over the weekend, after Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat approved promises of payoffs for the militants and for some of their comrades in Israeli prisons, Palestinian officials said.

The three Westerners, members of a charity group working with a university in Nablus, were released Saturday, hours after they were seized on their way to their rented apartment in the West Bank city and whisked to a hiding place in the nearby Balata refugee camp.

The militants drove the hostages to a park in the early hours yesterday and called the security forces to pick them up, the officials said. The released hostages refused to speak to reporters, and their identities were not released. Israel Radio said they had been teaching English on a volunteer basis to Palestinian students in Nablus.

At around the same time in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the local commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Zakaria Zubeidi, and his followers gutted the headquarters of the newly appointed governor, Qaddora Musa. The building was empty and no one was hurt.

Zubeidi made no attempt to hide his identity, and returned to the burned out building in the morning brandishing an assault rifle for the benefit of photographers.

A spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said the act was a response to Arafat's appointment Tuesday of Qaddora Musa as governor. It was believed Musa has refused to pay the salaries of members of the brigades.

Musa said he was not responsible for supporting the militants, but their demands should be dealt with through negotiations rather than violence.

"We should sit together around the table to settle any problem," he said.

Both groups demanded financial support from the Palestinian Authority, which gives unofficial payments to militants sought by Israel.

Officials said the kidnappers, who belonged to a splinter group of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, were told that all their demands would be met, and that the abduction was undermining the Palestinian cause in the eyes of the world.

The promises by the Palestinian Authority came in a new test of strength between militant groups and the security forces, which recently were put under the authority of Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.

Through the weekend, acts of vandalism against institutions affiliated with Arafat continued as part of the growing anarchy that has taken hold in the territories in past weeks.

The flare-up indicated that the agreement last week between Qureia and Arafat to share control of the security forces has failed to calm the underlying tensions that have led to a paralyzing leadership crisis between the two men.

The demands were for an unspecified amount of support for themselves and for imprisoned comrades, and the promise was made with Arafat's approval, the officials said.

A similar spate of kidnappings and attacks on the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip earlier this month triggered the crisis between Arafat and Qureia. Four French volunteers were among those briefly kidnapped in Gaza.

The immediate crisis ended when Qureia withdrew his resignation.