July 22, 2004

Suicide Attack In Haifa - Thwarted Israel National News - Alert soldiers and fortuitous circumstances helped thwart a suicide terror attack in Haifa today. The army placed a random checkpoint along the west-east highway from Tapuach to the Jordan Valley, and it produced very welcome results. An Arab taxi approaching the checkpoint from the west was seen turning around in an apparent effort not to be checked. The soldiers saw the taxi, and took off in pursuit. During the chase, two terrorists jumped out of the taxi and began running away; one of them threw something. IDF sappers detonated the abandoned object, and saw that it was an explosives belt. The two terrorists escaped, leaving the army pleased with its morning's work. 11:47:13 AM

Report: Arafat funneled $5mil. to personal account JPost - Leading German politicians are calling on the European Union to freeze its aid to the Palestinian Authority amid reports that PA chairman Yasser Arafat made multi-million-dollar transfers to a personal bank account abroad. The allegations, substantiated by documents, were made this week by German public broadcaster ARD, which reported that Arafat had wired some $5.1 million to his personal account at the Arab Bank in Cairo in September 2001. Following the disclosure, Armin Laschet, co-chair of the EU parliamentary committee that oversees aid to the Palestinians, told the Hamburger Abendblatt that the Palestinians had used the funds illegally. And, he conceded, the EU had committed "grave errors" in its funding of Arafat. 10:19:27 AM