Security sources note a "wave of warnings" indicating potential terrorist strikes, despite signs that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has reportedly called for a reduction in violence. Terrorist organizations may "exploit the momentum" of last week's terrorist attacks in the United States to stage a large-scale operation in Israel, security sources fear.

Rosh Hashana also marks, according to the Jewish calendar, the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of Palestinian violence and the Intifada. Military analysts predict an increase of Palestinian violence to coincide with the anniversary, but this may only come at the end of the month, a year after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial visit to the Temple Mount on September 28, 2000.

In the wake of last week's attacks in New York and Washington, there has been talk in Israel about the possible consequences of military actions launched against terrorist organizations and the countries that support them. Some Israelis fear that an American attack on Iraq could result in Saddam Hussein launching a new wave of SCUD missiles on Israeli targets, as he did in the Gulf War of 1991.

"The Home Front Command is following developments in the U.S.," the IDF Spokesman said yesterday. "So far, there has been no rise in the number of people asking for gasmasks but if the need arises, we will reinforce all gasmask distribution stations." Even so, Israeli television reports showed Israelis waiting in line to get their masks and stations were opened Monday morning to meet the increased demand, which belied the Spokesman's statement.

Security forces work to close down terror cells
Security forces continue to pursue leads in their attempts to close down terrorist cells and prevent violent attacks on Israeli citizens. During its overnight incursion into Ramallah early Sunday morning, IDF special units arrested four Palestinian brothers and their father; the five were suspected of belonging to a Hamas cell that was planning to carry out terror attacks in Jerusalem during the holiday period of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

The target of the operation, Sharon said, was "the command of a Hamas cell, including central people in the Hamas movement, which was about to carry out very serious terror attacks during the holidays in various places in Israel." Sharon said the IDF action was "one of the most successful acts that have been carried out. These people were simply plucked out from their houses within the city of Ramallah," he added.

Security forces also announced yesterday the recent arrest of two more members of the Hamas terrorist cell that perpetrated the suicide bombing attack on Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant on August 9, in which 15 people were killed and over 100 injured. The terrorists were identified as Ahlam Araf Ahmed Tmimi, 21, a Jordanian woman who in recent years lived near Ramallah, and studied communications at Bir Zeit University, and Mahmud Wail Daglas, 30, of Burka, a member of Force 17 and a communications student at the same school.

According to information released to the media, suicide bomber Izzadin Masri was met in Ramallah by Daglas and Hamas member Bilal Othman and taken to a rented apartment. There he received a guitar case loaded with explosives and instructions how to detonate the bomb. Tmimi meanwhile reportedly scouted Jerusalem for suitable locations to attack.

On August 9, Tmimi and Masri, with the guitar case strung over his shoulder, walked down Jaffa Road speaking to each other in English to hide their identities. After Tmimi pointed out the Sbarro restaurant to Masri, she hurriedly left the area and returned to Ramallah. Moments later Masri blew himself up.

Does Arafat want to reduce the violence?
On Sunday Sharon told the Knesset that he would okay a meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat if there was an "absolute cessation of violence for 48 continuous hours." If Palestinian violence would cease completely, Sharon said that he would call off all IDF offensive actions against the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian sources said they were willing to consider Sharon's offer, but stated that the Palestinians had already agreed to a cease-fire and a return to negotiations. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat doubted Sharon's sincerity in the announcement, and suggested that Israel was taking advantage of the situation in the United States to escalate the violence.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer reported yesterday that Arafat had given an order to the PA security forces to reduce the level of shooting. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office confirmed a marked drop in shooting incidents yesterday morning, commenting, "Arafat acts only when he's pressured." Even so, Palestinian violence picked up in the evening hours and IDF sources were skeptical of Arafat's real intentions.

Military analysts believed that the Palestinians would reduce the violence in order to be seen on the "right side" as President Bush drums up support for his war against terrorism. Both Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have pressured Sharon to allow the long-delayed talks between Peres and Arafat. U.S. officials reportedly believe that easing Israeli-Palestinian tensions is essential to their efforts to enlist Arab states in the international anti-terrorism coalition.

Israeli Channel Two television's Arab affairs commentator Ehud Ya'ari reported this week that intense negotiations regarding the end of the current warfare in Israel have been underway for the past several weeks. "Many people are involved," he said, "including Europeans, Americans, and even the offices of Sharon and Arafat... They are discussing the exact conditions necessary for the cessation of violence."

Ya'ari told Arutz 7 in a special report that Arafat has been signaling for some weeks now that he is willing to significantly reduce the violence, rather than stop it altogether, because things are not working out the way he wanted. Arafat is facing some very significant problems, according to Ya'ari, including a loss of international support and trust and pressure from Egypt and Saudi Arabia to stop the violence. In addition, the Intifada has lost much of its public support, Ya'ari says, and Arafat has had to rely more and more on his organized forces to make attacks, as opposed to people in the street. Ya'ari said that Arafat very much wants to have the meeting with Peres "as a certificate of kashrut," a sign that he is kosher.

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