The Israeli public and government watched with increasing unease and disgust during November as Islamic terror attacks left hundreds of civilians dead or wounded in several places around the turbulent Middle East. Major atrocities in Saudi Arabia and Turkey were compounded by stepped up attacks upon coalition forces in nearby Iraq, killing and injuring dozens of American and Italian soldiers.

In Israel, two soldiers were shot dead by a Palestinian policeman carrying a concealed rifle in a rolled up prayer mat on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem. One was struck down while talking to his mother, an American immigrant, on his cell phone. Five tourists from Ecuador were wounded the next day, one critically, when a lone gunman opened fire at the border crossing between Jordan and Israel near the port city of Eilat. Israeli analysts said the attack had all the hallmarks of an Al Qaida operation, since the group and its allies often target tourists in order to harm the host countries.

The regional terror operations came amid increasing security warnings that international Muslim extremist groups and their state-sponsors are plotting additional assaults in the near future upon Jewish and other targets in various locations around the globe, including in the United States and Europe

Meanwhile tension continued unabated along Israels northern border with Lebanon as the Baathist regime in Damascus accused the Sharon government of planning additional air strikes upon Syrian territory. This came as Syrian state-run television broadcast a nightly anti-Semitic television series to coincide with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The purported history of Zionism series uncovers a supposed 2,000 year old Jewish conspiracy to kill the best non-Jews, destroy their religion and annihilate their lands. Syrias puppet Hizbullah militia in Lebanon also aired the programs on its Manar satellite television station, which is extremely popular with Arab Israeli and Palestinian viewers. The series, an echo of a similar anti-Israel diatribe produced by Egyptian television last year, was also screened in several other Arab countries.

Security analysts agree that regional Muslim terror groups and anti-coalition forces in Iraqand more importantly, their state facilitators like Syria and Iranaim to further destabilize the oil-rich Middle East in preparation for future attempts to topple pro-Western governments in the Gulf area and in Jordan. Secretly cheered on by Yasser Arafat, they believe this will help fulfill the cherished Muslim jihad goal to wipe out the detested Jewish State.

Israel itself would have been struck by several more suicide terrorist massacres during late October and November if alert security forces had not intercepted Arab attackers en route to perpetrate their deadly missions. This came as a senior security official told reporters in a background briefing that Palestinian terrorist groups are known to have acquired the capability to carry out a major chemical attack inside Israel. He said such an operation could wipe out hundreds of people at one time, instead of the scores often slaughtered in conventional bombings. He noted that traces of pesticides and other toxic chemicals have been found in a number of explosives deployed during the current Palestinian attrition war. The official added that Arab terror groups have refrained from staging a chemical attack until now due to the massive retaliation this would likely trigger from Israel.

While Israelis were relieved that several planned terror atrocities were thwarted in the country during the first half of November, the horrific Islamic terror attacks taking place elsewhere in the region caused everyone to sit up and take notice. The November 15th car bomb explosions outside two synagogues in Istanbul caused particular concern, targeting fellow Jews attending Sabbath services. With Turkey being the favorite foreign destination for Israeli tourists (over 300,000 traveled there in 2002), many often visit the targeted synagogues, especially Neveh Shalom, the largest Jewish house of worship in the country. In fact, Iranian-born Israeli President Moshe Katzav was given an official tour of the Istanbul synagogue just a few months ago.

Although a radical Turkish Islamic group took responsibility for the powerful explosionswhich snuffed out over two dozen lives, six of them Jews, and left over 300 wounded, over 100 of them Jewish and the rest mostly Turkish Muslims who lived in or were passing by the vicinities of the blastsIsraeli and Turkish officials said the sophistication of the simultaneous attacks pointed to international involvement. Initial investigations pointed to both Al Qaida and Iran, who are said to be joining forces to support Saddams counterinsurgency campaign against coalition forces in Iraq. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom rushed to Istanbul to underscore the Sharon governments concern over the evil terror assaults, and to shore up the important Israeli-Turkish political and military alliancethought to be one of the intended targets of the mid-November attacks.

The most likely culprit behind the twin attacks in Turkeyand another bombing one week before in Riyadh which left nearly 20 dead and over 100 wounded, many of them Lebanese Maronite Catholics who work in the Saudi capitalis thought to be Al Qaida. Security analysts noted that Osama Bin Laden has vowed to strike at Jewish targets around the globe. Indeed, e mail claims of responsibility were sent to Arab newspapers in London by writers who said they were members of Al Qaidas international terrorist network. Turkish authorities later said both of the dead attackers were Turks who shared the same ideology as the group in Afghanistan, a clear reference to Al Qaida. But they also revealed that they had learned their bomb-making skills in Iran, and said their handler was hiding out in Syria.

Israeli analysts noted that the Lebanon-based Hizbullah militia, financed by Iran and Syria, was behind a 1986 attack on the Neveh Shalom synagogue. They said the militant group, which attacked a Jewish community building in Argentina in the early 1990s, might have assisted Turkish terrorists in carrying out the coordinated Istanbul bombings. Analysts said Iran and Syria would probably consider this to be a fairly safe way to continue their holy war against the hated Jewish State without risking direct Israeli military retaliation.

Several Israeli terrorism experts pointed to substantial evidence that Al Qaida and Hizbullah forces are increasingly working together to further their common jihad goals around the world. This is despite the fact that Al Qaida is composed mainly of Sunni Muslims, while Hizbullah is a Shiite-dominated force. Some say Irans radical Shiite leaders may have concluded a clandestine agreement with Bin Laden to support his jihad struggle to topple the corrupt Sunni regime in Saudi Arabia in exchange for promises that Iran will not be harmed if he achieves his goal, as many suspect he eventually will. In the meantime, Iran will cooperate with Al Qaida and Syria to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to support escalating armed attacks upon American and other coalition forces stationed in Iraq.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned in mid-November that Iranlocated a mere 700 miles east of Israelis only one year or so away from deploying a nuclear bomb. This dire assessment was repeated a few days later by Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who told the Knesset that security experts calculate that an Iranian bomb would pose the worst threat to Israels existence since 1948. He added that Iran is developing long-range ground to ground missiles in cooperation with North Korea that could also strike much of Europe.

Mofaz also stated that Hizbullah is planning a major attack along Israels northern border. He said intelligence interceptions indicated that something more significant than recent shelling assaults was being cooked up by the militant Lebanese group, which has an estimated 4,000 fulltime militiamen on its Iranian-financed payroll, along with a growing Syrian and Iranian-supplied rocket force. The Defense Minister assured reporters that Israels armed forces are prepared for such an eventuality.

Armed Forces Chief Moshe Yaalon said it may be necessary for Israel to launch further air strikes upon Syrian territory due to the Baathist regimes continuing support for Hizbullah and Palestinian terror organizations. He charged that the Assad government is interested in maintaining friction with Israel via its Palestinian and Lebanese surrogates. His statements came just days after the IDFs Northern Command conducted special maneuvers to check readiness for a potential military escalation in the area, and two weeks after US officials confirmed that Syria has successfully installed chemical warheads on many of its North Korean-supplied Scud missiles. Undersecretary of State John Bolton added that Syria has large stockpiles of Sarin nerve gas and is rapidly developing deadly VX agents.

Fresh war jitters with Hizbullah and Syria came as the Israeli cabinet approved by just one vote a controversial prisoner exchange with the Lebanese Muslim group, negotiated by German mediators. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to set free some 400 Palestinian prisoners, along with around 20 Lebanese detainees. They include Lebanese Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Diranikidnapped by Israeli forces in an attempt to bargain for the release of airman Ron Arad and other Israeli servicemen captured in Lebanon in the 1980s. However, Arad and the other soldiers are not included in the negotiated prisoner swap, to the chagrin of their families and many other Israelis.

Instead, Israel would only get back Elhanan Tannenbaum, a businessman with many Arab contacts who was kidnapped in October 2000 by Hizbullah agents in Qatar while reportedly engaged in an illegal drug deal. The prisoner exchange would also include the remains of three Israeli soldiers captured the same month while patrolling along the Israel-Lebanon border. The young men were apparently quickly slaughtered by the rogue militia.

The massively lopsided nature of the proposed prisoner swap fueled intense opposition to the deal in Israel. Among the fiercest critics were several of Sharons own cabinet ministers, who said it would only encourage the kidnapping of other Israeli civilians traveling abroad, along with soldiers stationed along the northern border. Many politicians and commentators noted that the government set free dozens of Palestinians as part of goodwill gestures to propel the Road Map peace process earlier this year, only to see them subsequently take part in terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

The prisoner exchange appeared in jeopardy after Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah demanded that a Lebanese Druze named Samir Kuntar be included in the deal. Israeli leaders said they made clear all along that he would not be set free, since he commanded a small terrorist squad that murdered two Israeli men and two children in 1979. Officials noted that no other prisoner with such blood on their hands was being released as part of the deal. Security analysts warned that Nasrallah may order renewed rocket attacks across the tense border if the prisoner exchange pact collapses.

Yasser Arafat proved once again during November that he is the quintessential political survivor. After weeks of intense arm wrestling with his latest self-appointed prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, the aging PLO chief came out on top once again. Despite continuing insistence from Washington and Jerusalem that he surrender control of his various paramilitary and security forces to Qurei, Arafat was able to retain his final say on all security matters. Analysts agree that the Road Maps call upon the PA to dismantle all illegal terrorist forces will not take place as long as Arafat has the final say.

The PLO-dominated Palestine Legislative Council approved Qureis cabinet on November 12th. Delivering a fiery speech before the vote, Arafat blasted the Sharon government for supposedly conducting a criminal war against the Palestinianstotally ignoring the fact that it was his own people, responding to months of PA media incitement against Israel, which initiated the violence by attacking Jewish soldiers and civilians in Jerusalems Old City in September 2000, and fueling it ever since by heinous terror atrocities. He accused the IDF of deploying spent uranium shells to poison Arab civilians and of desecrating sacred Christian and Muslim holy sites in Bethlehem and elsewhere (totally ignoring the Palestinian destruction of the Joseph Tomb synagogue in Nablus and similar attacks).

Despite the verbal barrage against Israel, PM Sharon announced that he would meet with Qurei to discuss the stalled Road Map process. This came after the new Palestinian PM said he was working to establish a new hudna ceasefire with the terrorist groupsan idea rejected by most Israeli leaders, who insist instead that the PA disarm the groups, not negotiate with them.

After blasting Israel in the harshest terms possible for over half an hour, Arafat spent a couple minutes addressing what he termed the peace forces in Israel (i.e. left-wing groups like Peace Now and Women in Black). He claimed he has recognized the state of Israel and will not go back on this move. In usual form, the New York Times and other Western media giants highlighted those few sentences while playing down or completely ignoring Arafats long diatribewhich some Israeli analysts said was probably enough to inspire dozens of young Palestinians to join the jihad martyrs ranks.

Israeli leaders were pleasantly surprised when two major international media outlets confirmed long-held Israeli contentions that Arafat heads a thoroughly corrupt administration which funds terror attacks upon Israeli civilians. The first report, on the BBCs Correspondent program (broadcast in Israel on November 15th via the World Service), confirmed that Arafats office pays the salaries of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorists who have murdered over 60 Israelis since 2001. The American CBS Sixty Minutes program revealed that the PLO chief has channeled over one billion dollarssome of it from EU and US foreign aidinto secret bank accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere, which he controls. It also said he spends over $100,000 per month to support his wifes lavish lifestyle in Paris, where she has lived with his daughter since the early days of the current uprising.

Despite continuing terrorism and the burgeoning nuclear and chemical threats around the region, the Israeli public had one bit of reassuring news during the monththe first of 102 new F-16-I jets were unveiled during a ceremony in Texas. The highly advanced warplanes can strike targets as far away as Iran and Libya. The first batch of F-16-I jets will be delivered to Israel in early 2004. Still, as the scriptures testify, it is Israels mighty Godnot the powerful United States or other current alliesthat will prove to be her ultimate salvation: The Lord is my strength and my shield: My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. (Psalm 28:7)