THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Arafat evacuates to bunker
Israel targeted the Palestinian leaders compound and symbol of authority.
By Hadeel Wandan
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RAMALLAH, West Bank Body
guards whisked Yasser Arafat into an
underground bunker at the sight of
Israeli attack helicopters approaching
his compound yesterday.
Seconds later when the missiles
struck a few dozen yards from where
he had been sitting the Palestinian
leader was safely hidden away with
advisers and bodyguards in a window
less underground office.
"You should not forget that Arafat is a
fighter," said Ahmed Abdel Rahman,
secretary general of the Palestinian
Cabinet, who stayed in the shelter with
hint
"ne was very quiet.... Although he
was very surprised, he did not stop giv
ing directions.... We took all the natural
Pakistan, CIA team up
to hunt for bin Laden
By Munir Ahmed
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Pakistan
has agreed to step up cooperation with
the CIA in the hunt for Osama bin
Laden, which is now centering on the
rugged mountains along Pakistan's
border with Afghanistan, Pakistani
intelligence officials said yesterday.
The agreement followed weekend
meetings with CIA Director George
Tenet, who also urged Pakistan to
crack down on religious schools seen
as training grounds for Islamic mili
tants.
U.S. officials confirmed Tenet's visit,
but refused to discuss the content of
his meetings.
Pakistani intelligence officials said
Pakistani officials, including President
Pervez Musharraf, told Tenet their
government would enhance coopera
tion with the CIA, joining the hunt for
bin Laden and giving American spies
access to seven arrested members of
bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
In return, Tenet said the United
States would provide surveillance
equipment, according to the officials,
who spoke on condition of anonymity
measures that we used to take when we
were in Lebanon."
Rahman said Arafat ordered employ
ees of the compound to evacuate, keep
ing only his personal bodyguards.
Although Israel says it is not target
ing Arafat, its attacks have looked per
sonal, aimed squarely at the symbols of
his authority. In addition to hitting the
Ramallah compound, Israel has dam
aged three of Arafat's helicopters and
torn up the landing strip at Gaza Inter
national Airport.
With troops sealing off the West Bank
and Gaza, the Palestinian leader has
been left a virtual prisoner in Ramallah.
The tactic further complicates
Arafat's daunting task confronting
and controlling increasingly popular
Islamic militants when he has little to
offer his people in return.
When he emerged from his shelter,
Pakistan's intelligence agents, many
of whom are of the Pashtun ethnic
group that straddles the country's bor
der with Afghanistan, have a larger
presence in Afghanistan than anyone
else.
The United States considers their
cooperation essential in tracking down
bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror net
work.
Despite Pakistan's support for the
U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, only a few
of the country's Inter-Service Intelli
gence agents have been sharing infor
mation with their CIA counterparts.
The' agency's director, Lt. Gen. Ehsan
ul Haq, told Tenet that would change,
the officials said
Haq told Tenet his agency would join
the hunt for bin Laden possibly in
joint operations with the CIA and
would increase security along the bor
der to prevent the terrorist suspect
from fleeing, they said.
Haq also assured Tenet he would
have access to seven men in Pakistani
custody who have confessed to mem
bership in the al-Qaida network and to
two retired nuclear scientists detained
for their ties to bin Laden, the officials
said.
INTERNATIONAL
Arafat angrily accused Israel of trying to
sabotage his crackdown on Islamic mili
tants, which Israel dismisses as a sham.
The Israelis "don't want me to suc
ceed and for this (Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon) is escalating his military activi
ties against our people,- against our
towns, against our cities, against our
establishments," Arafat said.
"He doesn't want a peace process to
start."
The Palestinian Authority has round
ed up some 130 members of the militant
Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups in
response to weekend suicide bombings
and shootings in Israel that killed 26
people.
Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian security
chief in the West Bank, said arrests
would continue, although none have
been made since the Israeli airstrikes
began Monday.
ush attacks Hamas backers
The president cracked down on financial supporters of the militant group.
By Ron Foumler
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Bush
administration yesterday froze the
financial assets and closed the offices of
a Texas-based foundation accused of
funneling money to llamas, the militant
Palestinian group that claimed respon
sibility for last weekend's deadly
attacks in Israel.
In a display of solidarity with Israel,
President Bush also ordered a crack
down on two Palestinian groups
accused of financing llamas.
"The message is this: Those who do
business with terror will do no business
with the United States or anywhere
else the United States can reach," the
president said in a Rose Garden
announcement with Treasury Secre
tary Paul O'Neill and Attornex General
John Ashcroft.
Bush called llamas one of the dead
liest terrorist organizations in the world
and said it supports "the total destruc
tion of Israel."
The Texas-based Holy Land Founda
tion for Relief and Development, with
offices in Illinois, California and New
Jersey, denied having ties to Harnas.
Palestinian police officers search through burning remains inside Arafat's compound
The group, registered with the Internal
Revenue Service as a tax-exempt char
ity, raised $l3 million last year and calls
itself the largest Muslim charity in the
United States.
Foundation president Shukri Abu-
Baker said the action was "the work of
special interest
groups working for
Israel in Washing-
"If the Holy Land
Foundation has vio-
lated any U.S. law,
they would have
charged us in a
court of law. They
wouldn't need to
seize our assets. We
intend to pursue this in a court of law,"
he said
"The decision by the U.S. govern
ment to seize the charitable donations
of Muslims during the holy month of
Ramadan is an affront to millions of
Muslim Americans who entrust chari
ties like ours to assist in fulfilling their
religious obligations," the foundation
said in a statement.
Bush said Hamas uses money raised
by the foundation to indoctrinate chil-
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dren to become suicide bombers and to
support the families of suicide attack
ers.
Most donors don't know how the
money is used, Bush said, "but the facts
are clear, the terrorists benefit from the
Holy Land Foundation, and we're not
going to allow it."
Hamas, already on the State Depart
ment terrorist list, said through a
spokesman that it gets no money from
U.S. groups.
The action marked the administra
tion's third round of orders against
groups suspected of funneling money to
terrorists from offices in America and
abroad.
Bush has promised to lead a global
coalition that uses military, financial,
diplomatic and intelligence tools
against terrorist cells, starting with the
al-Qaida network based in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is
suspected of being behind the Sept. 11
attacks that killed nearly 3,500.
"The net is closing," Bush said.
"Today, it just got tighter."
Bush said Hamas has killed hun
dreds of people over the years, includ
ing two Americans in the past 12
months.
(Isaiah 9:6)