Palestinian Solidarity in SF

Israel
Weapons of Mass Destruction Capabilities and Programs1
Nuclear2 · Sophisticated nuclear weapons program with an estimated 100-200 weapons, which can be delivered by ballistic missiles or aircraft. · Nuclear arsenal may include thermonuclear weapons. · 150MW heavy water reactor and plutonium reprocessing facility at Dimona, which are not under IAEA safeguards. · IRR-1 5MW research reactor at Soreq, under IAEA safeguards. · Not a signatory of the NPT; signed the CTBT on 9/25/96.
Chemical3 · Active weapons program, but not believed to have deployed chemical warheads on ballistic missiles. · Production capability for mustard and nerve agents. · Signed the CWC on 1/13/93, currently debating its ratification.
Biological4 · Production capability and extensive research reportedly conducted at the Biological Research Institute in Ness Ziona. · No publicly confirmed evidence of production. · Not a signatory of the BTWC.
Ballistic missiles5 · Approximately 50 Jericho-2 missiles with 1,500km range and 1,000kg payload, nuclear warheads may be stored in close proximity. · Approximately 50 Jericho-1 missiles with 500km range and 500kg payload. · MGM-52 Lance missiles with 130km range and 450kg payload.. · Shavit space launch vehicle (SLV) with 4,500km range and 150kg to 250kg payload. · Unconfirmed reports of Jericho-3 program under development using Shavit technologies, with a range up to 4,800km and 1000kg payload. · Developing Next (Shavit upgrade) SLV with unknown range and 300-500kg payload.
Cruise missiles6 · Harpy lethal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with 500km range and unknown payload. · Delilah/STAR-1 UAV with 400km range and 50kg payload. · Gabriel-4 anti-ship cruise missile with 200km range and 500kg payload. · Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile with 120km range and 220kg payload.
Other delivery systems7 · Fighter and ground-attack aircraft incllude: 2 F-15I, 6 F-15D, 18 F-15C, 2 F-15B, 36 F-15A, 54 F-16D, 76 F-16C, 8 F-16B, 67 F-16A, 50 F-4E-2000, 25 F-4E, 20 Kfir C7, and 50 A-4N. · Ground systems include artillery and rocket launchers. Also, Popeye-3 land-attack air-launched missile with 350km range and 360kg payload, and Popeye-1 land-attack air-launched missile with 100km range and 395kg payload.
Sources:
1. This chart summarizes data available from public sources. Precise assessment of a state's capabilities is difficult because most weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs remain secret and cannot be verified independently.
2. Most public estimates range between 100-200 weapons (e.g., Amy Dockser Marcus, "Growing Dangers: U.S. Drive to Curb Doomsday Weapons In Mideast Is Faltering," Wall Street Journal, 9/6/96, p. A1), but one analyst concludes that "the Israeli nuclear arsenal contains as many as 400 deliverable nuclear and thermonuclear weapons." Harold Hough, "Could Israel's Nuclear Assets Survive A First Strike?" Jane's Intelligence Review, 9/97, p. 410. Israel's nuclear capability is by most accounts quite sophisticated, and may include "intercontinental-range, fractional-orbit-delivered thermonuclear weapons; thermonuclear or boosted nuclear-armed, two-stage, solid-fuel, intermediate-range ballistic missiles with a range of 3,000km; older, less accurate, nuclear-armed, theatre-range, solid-fuel ballistic missiles; air-deliverable, variable-yield, boosted nuclear bombs; artillery-delivered, enhanced-radiation, tactical weapons; and small nuclear demolition charges." Kenneth S. Brower, "A Propensity For Conflict: Potential Scenarios And Outcomes Of War In The Middle East," Jane's Intelligence Review Special Report No. 14, p. 15. See also: Anthony H. Cordesman, "Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East: National Efforts, War Fighting Capabilities, Weapons Lethality, Terrorism, and Arms Control Implications" (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2/98), p. 19. "Nuclear Forces Guide," Federation of American Scientists, 10/10/97, [Online] http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/facility/index.html. International Atomic Energy Agency, "Situation on 31 December 1996 with respect to the conclusion of safeguards agreements between the Agency and non-nuclear-weapon States in connection with the NPT," [Online] http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/program/safeguards/96tables/safenpt.html. Nuclear Engineering International, 1998 World Nuclear Industry Handbook (Essex, UK: Wilmington Publishing Ltd, 1998), p. 114.
3. Dana Priest, "In U.S. Weapons Crusade, Allies Get Scant Mention," Washington Post, 4/14/98, p. 1. Cordesman p. 18-19. Steve Rodan, "Bitter Choices: Israel's Chemical Dilemma," Jerusalem Post, 8/18/97, [Online] http://www.jpost.co.il. David Makovsky, "Israel Must Ratify Chemical Treaty," Ha'aretz, 1/8/98, [Online] http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng.
4. Cordesman, p. 19. "Chemical and Biological Weapons Facilities," Federation of American Scientists, 10/10/97, [Online] http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/facility/cbw.htm. P.R. Kumaraswamy, "Marcus Klingberg and Israel's ‘Biological Option,'" Middle East International, 8/16/96, pp. 21-22. Zafir Rinat, "Nerve Gas Antidote in Works," Ha'aretz, 12/12/97, [Online] http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng. Edna Homa Hunt, "Israel's Biological and Chemical Research and Development – Potential Menace at Home and Abroad," Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, 4/98, pp. 84, 93. Liat Collins, "Bio Institute to Come Under Close Inspection," Jerusalem Post, 2/19/97, [Online] http://www.jpost.co.il. P.R. Kumaraswamy, "Has Israel Kept its BW Options Open?" Jane's Intelligence Review, 3/98, p. 22.
5. "Missile and Space Launch Capabilities of Selected Countries," The Nonproliferation Review, forthcoming 1998. Duncan Lennox, ed., "Country Inventory – In Service," "In-Service Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles," "In Service Short-Range Ballistic Missiles," "Shavit," and "Offensive Weapons - Unclassified Projects, Israel," Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems Issue 24, 5/97. Cordesman, p.18. "Missile Master Table: Finland-Japan," Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, [Online] http://www.cdiss.org/master2.htm. Directorate of Space Programs, US Air Force Acquisitions, "Shavit," [Online] http://www.safaq.af.hq.mil/aqs/vehicle/shavit.htm. Pierre Langereux, "Dassault Lifts the Lid on the Jericho Missile Story," Air & Cosmos/Aviation International, no. 1590, 12/6/96, p. 36. Shawn L. Twing, "Israel Seeks US Permission to Launch Rockets from NASA Facility in Virginia," Washington Report On Middle East Affairs, 4-5/97, pp. 29, 85. Tim Furniss, "Satellite Launcher Directory," Flight International, 12/10-16/97, pp. 28-34. Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization (SIBAT), Israel's Defense Sales Directory, 1997/98 (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense, 1997), p. 84.
6. Lennox. Cordesman, p. 18. CDISS. Lennox, "Offensive Weapons - Unclassified Projects, Israel." SIBAT, pp. 53, 55, 57. Israel possesses all three versions of the US-made Harpoon cruise missile, which are designed for launch from ships (AGM 84A), submarines (RGM 84A), and aircraft (UGM 84A).
7. The Military Balance 1997/98 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1997), pp. 129-130. Arieh O'Sullivan, "New F-15I Warplanes Extend Israel's Reach," The Jerusalem Post [Online] http://www.jpost.co.il/. Ze'ev Schiff, "F-15Is Are Not The Complete Answer To The Iran Threat," Ha'aretz, 1/20/98, [Online] http://www3.haaretz.co.il/.
Prepared by Michael Barletta and Erik Jorgensen,
© Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies.

This was part of an article in the NYTimes today:

May 1, 2002

Egypt Assails the Lumping of U.S. War With Israel's
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

CAIRO, April 30 — President Hosni Mubarak criticized Washington today for allowing Israel to lump the Palestinian struggle to end occupation into the same category as the war on terrorism...

"This fierce campaign that Israel is launching on the Palestinian people and leadership must end, this campaign that is unjustly based on a comparison between the U.S. war against terrorism in Afghanistan and Israel's war against Palestinians..."

I am curious how all the recent Palestinian supporters, who align it with the war on terrorism and other US actions, feel about someone supposedly on their side saying such things? An Arab leader decries the US govt for making such a connection as a defense; would he turn away the thousands of supporters who do so because they make the very same connection as a protest? Do you feel like you are really on the same side as someone who says that? If a person so closely involved in the situation thinks it's a bogus connection, what do you think? Should it matter why different people support the same issue? Are there conflicts?

There are a great majority of anti-war activists that are anti-war because they don't believe in Bush's "War on Terror". In fact, Bush's war has been renamed Bush's "Terror War". Along with Bush's Terror War is Israel's war against the Palestinian refugees. There is no conflict of interest here. It is true that some pro-Palestine supporters also support Bush's Terror War for the simple reason that they are able to see Israel's war against the Palestinians in an objective manner for the injustice that it is, while they are not able to do so when it comes to their own country's actions. Objectivity is necessary in these circumstances and, as it is seen the world over, people support the Palestinian cause because they can see it in a distant and objective manner. This is not true of Americans as they are constantly brainwashed by the obviously pro-Israeli media and their government to boot.

You bring up a good point though: Is the Israeli war a "War on Terror" as is America's? Yes, AS THEY DEFINE IT! To both Americans and Israelis the terrorists are al-Qaeda Arabs and the Palestinian militants respectively. To many in the Muslim world the Palestinian militants are nothing less than self-sacrificing heroes fighting for the liberation of the Palestinian people under oppresive occupation, nothing more than "freedom fighters" or "martyrs" of the cause rpotecting their people and defending what is theirs and was taken from them. The same could have been said of al-Qaeda as liberators of Muslims the world over from the devastating American imperialism. That was the case when they were fighting against the Russians but when they started turning on the US for it's similar imperialist agenda the world decided to bow to America out of fear of retaliation. Now al-Qaeda has been thoroughly discredited even as no evidence was ever shown that proved their involvement in 9-11. In fact, evidence that the US government could have been complicit or even directly involved in the tragedy of 9-11 has been surfacing more and more lately. Many outside of America have learned not to trust it, and they can see how the US government, with the help of the CIA could of plotted such a conspiracy with or without the assistance of al-Qaeda. Americans, of course, choose to shut their eyes and cover their ears when they hear such horrific things because they want to believe more than anything that their country is the land of the free and the home of the brave. That is what is called "selective listening". The same thing happens with most Israelis and with many pro-Palestine supporters. THey have no problem looking at the horrible injustices that Israel commita but choose to remain blind when it comes to their own country's transgressions.

As hard as it may be, people from all over the world need to take a hard, honest look at themselves especially here in the good ol' US of A and seek the truth no matter how disgusting it may be. Most will choose to look the other way. Those of us that have the courage to face the facts must now gather even more courage and do what it takes to let the world see the light. The Jews overcame the anti-semitism through acquiring power. That is the only way to overcome.

A common misperception is that the Jews were forced into the diaspora by the Romans after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. and then, 1,800 years later, suddenly returned to Palestine demanding their country back. In reality, the Jewish people have maintained ties to their historic homeland for more than 3,700 years, including a national language and a distinct civilization.

The Jewish people base their claim to the land of Israel on at least four premises: 1) God promised the land to the patriarch Abraham; 2) the Jewish people settled and developed the land; 3) the international community granted political sovereignty in Palestine to the Jewish people and 4) the territory was captured in defensive wars.

Even after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the beginning of the exile, Jewish life in Palestine continued and often flourished. Large communities were reestablished in Jerusalem and Tiberias by the ninth century. In the 11th century, Jewish communities grew in Rafah, Gaza, Ashkelon, Jaffa and Caesarea.

The Crusaders massacred many Jews during the 12th century, but the community rebounded in the next two centuries as large numbers of rabbis and Jewish pilgrims immigrated to Jerusalem and the Galilee. Prominent rabbis established communities in Safed, Jerusalem and elsewhere during the next 300 years. By the early 19th century-years before the birth of the modern Zionist movement-more than 10,000 Jews lived throughout what is today Israel.1 The 78 years of nation-building, beginning in 1870, culminated in the reestablishment of the Jewish State.

Israel's international "birth certificate" was validated by the promise of the Bible; uninterrupted Jewish settlement from the time of Joshua onward; the Balfour Declaration of 1917; the League of Nations Mandate, which incorporated the Balfour Declaration; the United Nations partition resolution of 1947; Israel's admission to the UN in 1949; the recognition of Israel by most other states; and, most of all, the society created by Israel's people in decades of thriving, dynamic national existence.

“Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its 'right to exist.'

Israel's right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved. Israel's legitimacy is not suspended in midair awaiting acknowledgement....

There is certainly no other state, big or small, young or old, that would consider mere recognition of its 'right to exist' a favor, or a negotiable concession.”

— Abba Eban2

 

All of you liberals are idiots. As a republican politics major in the bay area I will spend my life oppressing your radical beliefs with a smile on my face.

How I wish that missile, paid for in part by me, was heading up the collective asses of elitist Marxist slime on the Left Coast.

hmmm. Now the troll thinks its a "republican politics major" yet it can't come up with anything more sophisticated than "liberals are idiots". Hmmmmm. Yesterday it was living in the midwest driving a pickup truck, the day before that it was a marine, and earlier it was a housewife. Kinda strange feller, I'd say.
I wonder how on earth it has time to do all these things when it's on here all day?