Lebanese MP Calls For Formation of Anti-Zionist Front
In a statement released in Sidon, South Lebanon, on Thursday, Mustafa Sa'd said that the region might be plunged into a war due to the Zionists' military adventurism if Ariel Sharon is elected prime minister in forthcoming Israeli elections.
Referring to the crimes committed by Sharon in Lebanon and Palestine, the statement noted that war and aggression would be in store for the region if Sharon takes office.
Meanwhile, Arab Israelis on Friday stepped up their campaign to boycott Israel's elections next week with a car procession and newspaper ads.
Around a hundred cars plastered with placards calling on Arab Israelis not to vote for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak or his right-wing opponent Ariel Sharon drove from Haifa in northern Israel to Arab Israeli towns and villages nearby.
"No to the Elections. No to Barak and No to Sharon. Yes to the Boycott," read the signs on the cars, from which streamed Palestinian flags.
Arabs with Israeli citizenship, who make up 18 percent of the Jewish state's population and about 14 percent of its electorate, supported Barak en masse two years ago, but appear to have abandoned him, a defection that is likely to cost him the race for prime minister on February 6.
"If the Martyrs Vote, We Will Vote," read other signs on the cars Friday.
A group of some 50 Arab Israelis and Jewish supporters also took out a large advertisement in the daily **** Haaretz **** newspaper Friday, saying: "No to Barak and No to Sharon."
**** Washington Times **** also forecast on Tuesday that the elections would be boycotted by the Israelis. The American daily quoted slogans written in Hebrew saying, "If You Are Wise, You Will Case a White Vote".
Meanwhile, AFP reported that clashes between Palestinians and Israelis broke out Friday after several thousand people from both sides buried their dead and called for revenge.
Israeli troops at an army checkpoint outside of Ramallah fired rubber-coated steel bullets on some 500 Palestinians who were throwing stones at them.
Eleven Palestinians were injured, medical sources said, in the clashes which broke out after a march of some 1,500 people following Friday afternoon Muslim prayers.
In Al-Khalil south of Ramallah, a group of Palestinians also clashed with Israeli soldiers after they closed off the divided city with cement blocks, witnesses said.
There were no immediate reports of serious injuries in the city.
In the Gaza Strip Friday, some 2,500 mourners waved flags of Palestinian factions, including the Islamic resistance movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and called on their armed wings to attack Israelis.
People at the funeral in Gaza for Ahmed Mohesen, 22 -- killed by Israeli heavy machine gun fire near the Karni crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip -- denounced Israel's Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak and right-wing leader Ariel Sharon who is poised to unseat him in elections next week.
"Barak and Sharon You Are Cowards! the Palestinian People Will Not Be Humiliated!" they cheered.
"Death to America! Death to Israel!" added others. Nearly 400 people have been killed during the past four months of violence, most of them Palestinians.
A high-ranking official of Sharon's Likud Party also said Friday that Israel should "target" the Palestinian police to put an end to attacks.
"Israel must not hesitate to target the Palestinian police, which in fact is a real army at war against us", Likud MP Uzi Landau told Israeli Military Radio, a day after two Israelis were killed by Palestinians in the territories.
"Each one of the 40,000 Palestinian policemen armed with assault rifles, must know that he will be a target", said the former chairman of the Parliament Commission for Foreign Affairs and Defense.
"To put an end to (anti-Israeli) attacks, Israel must attack the Palestinian Authority, to make it clear to (Palestinian Leader) Yasser Arafat that he has something to lose if violence continues", Landau claimed.
In the meantime, Staffan de Mistura, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's representative to South Lebanon, said Friday that Israel is violating the UN-drawn "blue line" border with Lebanon, in violation of its earlier promises.
"This is something that is not acceptable to the United Nations," said De Mistura, saying he would send "urgent reports" on the matter to Annan and to UN official Terje Roed-Larsen, who supervised the drawing of the blue line after Israel ended its 22-year occupation of South Lebanon in May.
Israeli Radio also announced on Friday that Israeli Army has bought 24 new Black Hawk helicopters worth 200 million dollars from the U.S. manufacturer Sikorsky.
The purchase was made shortly after Washington agreed to boost its aid to the Zionist state by 60 million dollars a year. U.S. financial help to Israel is expected to reach 2.4 billion dollars in 2008.
According to the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Israel's Air Force already has 25 UH-60 Black Hawk transport helicopters, bought in two batches: 10 in 1994 and 15 in 1998.