Michael Widlanski

One week after Yasser Arafat used The New York Times to tell the world that he opposed terror - even against Israelis - the Palestinian leader has apparently launched a new escalation of Palestinian terror inside Israel, involving the following elements:

*--Palestinian forces in Gaza launched a new version of the "Qassam" missile into Israel on Sunday morning (Feb. 10), something Israeli leaders said would be a new military threshold;

*--An Arab terror squad shot up soldiers and civilians at the Southern Command headquarters in Beersheva early Sunday afternoon, in the first major attack in Israel's largest southern city in three years;

*--Arafat himself earlier this weekend hosted Israeli Arab parliamentarian Ahmad Tibi in a rousing chant to encourage Arab "martyr" to march on Jerusalem, and the Palestinian state media has continued to promote the Arafat-Tibi event;

*--The Palestinian Authority has, within the last ten days, almost completely abandoned the pretext of even bothering to issue "condemnations" of attacks against Israeli civilians.

"What did you expect Arafat to do," asked Tibi rhetorically; "sing the Hatikva (Israel's national anthem)."

Meanwhile, many Israeli analysts saw Tibi's appearance with Arafat--in front of a crowd singing "we will march in the millions as martyrs to Jerusalem"-as an unprecedented provocation.

"What does being a 'martyr' mean if not to turn people into human bombs," said Israeli Member of Knesset (MK) Michael Kleiner who was among several Knesset members demanding that Tibi be stripped of his parliamentary seat.

"When the Israelis send us their bombs that is much worse than singing a song," answered Tibi, a gynecologist by profession.

The official Palestinian News Agency -WAFA-played the Arafat-Tibi event in Ramallah under several headlines on its Arabic web site.

"The President receives a delegation of the 'National Front Inside the Green Line,'" said one headline.

There was no mention of "Israel," but only "the Green Line."

"Our people are stronger than the Israeli military," declared Arafat.

Link & Sources:

Gamla Shall Not Fall Again (English)