David Bedein

--United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is scheduled to meet with Fatah, the parent organization of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, which the U.S. State Department placed on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations on March 27, 2002, and which remains on the official list of terrorist organizations on the U.S. government's terror "watch list." --The Palestinian Media Itself Trumpets The Fatah-Aksa Link--Documentation Of Fatah Financing Of Al Aksa Brigades

Farhan Haq's response to Lerner was direct and to the point: that the Secretary-General briefed the U.N. Security Council in a closed meeting that he remains "convinced that the disarming of Hezbollah and other militia should take place through a political process that will lead to the full restoration of the authority of the Government of Lebanon so that there will be no weapons or authority other than its own."

For many years, Israeli military intelligence thought that Syria did not have a genuine military option against Israel. According to this generally accepted view, the possibility of embarking on a war against Israel or launching a surprise attack for the purpose of limited gains was not taken seriously by the Syrian military leadership and was not within the range of its relevant options.

Hezbollah supporters approached the Lebanese/Israeli border fence on Monday, near the spot where three soldiers were killed and kidnapped in October 2000. They hoisted the organization's flag and chanted in praise of Hassan Nasrallah and his force. In the words of a senior Israeli journalist and commentator, Dan Margolit, "That is how it begins. That is how the previous war began. That is the way it always begins...