Do Palestinians Possess

3 Suitcase Nukes?

By Chris Todd

8-19-00

GREENSBORO, NC (WebToday) -

Chilling new allegations of nuclear

blackmail now surround the, as yet, fruitless

negotiations over the final status of

Jerusalem.

Speaking to a crowd of Bible prophecy

students in Greensboro, this week,

Messianic Rabbi Michael Rood quoted an

intelligence source close to the peace

process who claims Yassir Arafat's

Palestinian forces have purchased three

Russian nuclear "suitcase bombs" on the

black market.

The source, who was not identified, told

Rood that all three weapons of mass

destruction have been concealed in Jewish

neighborhoods within Israel.

Rood, who runs New Moon Publishing of

Two Harbors, Minnesota, believes the

devices are being used as part of a

high-stakes gamble intended to coerce Israel

into ceding a portion of Jerusalem to the

Palestinians. So far, Israeli Prime Minister

Ehud Barak and his negotiating team have

held out against Arafats demands.

Both Barak and Arafat face intense political

pressure from their constituencies, which

could limit their ability to compromise on

the issue.

Arafat had publicly stated the Palestinians

might unilaterally declare an independent

state on September 13th if a final peace deal

with Israel cannot be reached by that date.

However, in his most recent comments,

Arafat indicated a willingness to consider

delaying such a declaration in order to

achieve a negotiated settlement.

Rood indicated his belief that Arafat may

end up detonating one or more of the

nuclear devices in Israel this fall, prompting

a swift and decisive retaliatory strike by the

Jewish State against surrounding Arab

capitals.

: Israel looking for U.S. intelligence officer declared AWOL
: Saturday, 19 August 2000 21:16 (ET)

: Israel looking for U.S. intelligence officer declared AWOL

: TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Israeli police said
: Saturday that they
: will look for a U.S. Army Reserve officer who reportedly went
: AWOL from his
: unit in Texas and joined a lover in a town northeast of Tel
: Aviv.

: A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv said Lt. Col. Jeremiah
: Mattysse did
: not return from leave as scheduled on Aug. 8, and the Army
: declared him
: absent without leave. He also has been charged with desertion
: and conduct
: unbecoming an officer.

: "We have reason to believe he is in Israel and we have
: asked the Israeli
: government to help us return him to the U.S.," spokesman
: Larry Schwartz
: said.

: A spokesman for the Israeli police confirmed that the United
: States had
: filed a request for help in locating for Mattysse. "We
: shall try to locate
: him," Ofer Sivan said, but declined to provide further
: information,
: including whether Mattysse is in Israel.

: Israeli police maintain a computerized record of all arrivals
: to and
: departures from the country.

: The San Antonio Express-News reported that U.S. Army Reserve
: officials
: would not discuss specifics of Mattysse's case. The
: 49-year-old officer
: formerly commanded a unit at Camp Bullis, Texas, that had
: access to
: classified information from the CIA and other intelligence
: sources, the
: Express-News said. He was reassigned from that position in
: February.

: The newspaper also reported that Mattysse's estranged wife,
: Vanda, had
: accused him of having an affair. Joseph Hanley, a spokesman
: for the U.S.
: Army Reserve Command, confirmed that an inquiry into
: Mattysse's conduct had
: been started as a result of his relationship with a married
: woman. Hanley
: would not disclose the woman's nationality or other details,
: however.

: Rikki Nir, 48, of the town of Kfar Sava, was quoted by Israeli
: media as
: saying that she had met Mattysse in Texas. She reportedly is
: or was married
: to a U.S. Navy doctor.

: Nir told Israel Radio that a U.S. military court had ordered
: the officer
: not to approach or contact her. "He told me, 'Rikki, I
: love you so much and
: I so much want to be in Israel,'" she related.

: She said Mattysse had converted to Judaism, hid in her house
: and asked to
: resign from the Army, but he was not discharged.

: Hanley, told the Express-News that Mattysse had written the
: Army Reserve's
: commander, Maj. Gen. Thomas Plewes, explaining his decision to
: resign. He
: said the letter was postmarked from the United States.

: In an account that seemed to mix the plausible with the
: fanciful, Nir said
: that Mattysse had stayed in Israel in a tent, hitched rides on
: trucks,
: avoided public transportation and disguised himself with a
: wig, a beard and
: a mustache that "he replaces all the time."

: She said Mattysse left her home early Friday morning and was
: picked up by
: a white car with red license plates, which in Israel are
: assigned to police
: vehicles. Later in the day, Nir said, Mattysse called her at a
: telephone
: booth in Kfar Sava that the couple had agreed on, saying he
: had crossed the
: border to Syria and was in Damascus.

: "He doesn't know what he is going to do," she said.

: A U.S. military attaché and two security guards arrived at the
: woman's
: home on Friday and took some papers, Nir said.

: She said that before coming to Israel, Mattysse had mailed
: classified
: intelligence documents that were later deposited in the safes
: of several
: Israeli banks under her name.

: Several military sources interviewed by the San Antonio
: newspaper said
: they did not whether Mattysse was Jewish or could claim Israel
: citizenship.
: Israel has an extradition agreement with the United States and
: has often
: deported U.S. Navy sailors who miss their ships after shore
: leave in the
: northern port of Haifa.
: --
: Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
: All rights reserved.