Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:31:10 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Aaron Klein :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Aaron+Klein istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/christian-bookstore-owner-was-tortured-before-his/64354/ Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST The owner of a Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip who was found dead this weekend was publicly beaten by Islamic gunmen accusing him of spreading Christianity, witnesses and Palestinian Arab security officials said. The body of Rami Ayyad, director of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was found Sunday riddled with gunshot and stab wounds. He had been abducted the night before as he closed his shop, a local Christian group said. Gaza-based Islamic groups had accused Ayyad, a Baptist, of... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/national/duke-president-apologizes/63645/ Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:35:22 EST DURHAM - Duke University President Richard Brodhead apologized today for not better supporting the men's lacrosse players falsely accused in last year's highly publicized rape scandal. Mr. Brodhead, speaking at the university's law school, said he regretted Duke's "failure to reach out" in a "time of extraordinary peril" after a woman accused three players of raping her at a March 2006 party thrown by the team. "Given the complexities of this case, getting the communication right would never... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/fatah-militant-us-training-was-key-to-intifadas/60989/ Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:36:15 EST RAMALLAH -- American-run programs that train Fatah militias were instrumental in the "success" of the Palestinian intifada that began in 2000, a senior Fatah militant told The New York Sun. "I do not think that the operations of the Palestinian resistance would have been so successful and would have killed more than one thousand Israelis since 2000 and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without these [American] trainings," a senior officer of President Abbas's Force 17 Presidential Guard unit, Abu... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/america-coordinated-security-with-suspected-hamas/59374/ Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:47:07 EST JERUSALEM -- The director of a major Palestinian Arab security force who coordinated security directly with American officials is suspected of being an agent for the Hamas terror organization, The New York Sun has learned. Yussef Issa, director of the Preventative Security Services, is accused by President Abbas' Fatah organization of working on behalf of Hamas, Fatah sources said. The PSS was the largest of the American-backed Fatah security forces that operated in Gaza until Hamas took over... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/israel-syria-boost-military-presence-along-border/58932/ Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST GOLAN HEIGHTS — Israel visibly has beefed up its military presence here while neighboring Syria reportedly has placed its army on high alert and — for the first time in 30 years — has opened a strategic border road to civilian traffic in a move that some Israeli security officials worry could help facilitate guerilla attacks against Golani Jewish communities. The escalating military moves on both sides come as a top official from Syrian president's Baath Party warned in an interview that if... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/amnesty-for-fatah-members-including-al-aqsa/58500/ Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST TEL AVIV, Israel — The list of Palestinian Arabs granted amnesty this weekend by Prime Minister Olmert of Israel is composed of members of President Abbas's Fatah Party and includes almost the entire senior West Bank leadership of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, The New York Sun has learned. The Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah's self-declared military wing, have taken responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the past three years. Mr. Olmert's office hasn't released the names of the 178... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/official-syria-aims-to-disrupt-lebanon/58079/ Mon, 9 Jul 2007 15:56:33 EST Recent media reports that Syria warned its nationals to flee Lebanon ahead of a major outbreak of violence and civil war there are "unfounded," Lebanon's Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt told the New York Sun today. Mr. Jumblatt said rather than evacuating, Syria has been sending "thousands of so-called workers and tourists per day," possibly ahead of an attempt to destabilize the country. "There is no evacuation of Syrian workers. Instead thousands are coming a day, including so-called tourists. I... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/syria-threatens-israel-on-golan-heights/58009/ Sun, 8 Jul 2007 19:40:58 EST GOLAN HEIGHTS — If Israel doesn't vacate the strategic Golan Heights before September, Syrian guerillas will immediately launch "resistance operations" against the Golan's Jewish communities, a top official from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party told the New York Sun in an interview. The Baath official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld, said Damascus is preparing for Israeli retaliation following Syrian guerilla attacks and for a larger war with the Jewish state in August... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/fatahs-military-wing-denies-abbas-asked-it/57450/ Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST TEL AVIV, Israel — Members of the Fatah Party's military wing yesterday denied claims by the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, that he had asked the group to turn in their weapons. Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said Mr. Abbas's officials instead have encouraged the organization to continue its "resistance" activities. Mr. Abbas pledged during a summit with Prime Minister Olmert on Monday that he would immediately dismantle all West Bank militias not connected to the security forces of... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/terrorists-claim-to-seize-cia-files/56609/ Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:54:51 EST JERUSALEM -- Terror groups including Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees have seized large quantities of CIA security files stored at major compounds of militias associated with the American.-backed Fatah organization of Palestinian Arab President Abbas, terror leaders told The New York Sun today. The terror leaders claimed the files contain, among other things, details of CIA networks in the Middle East. "The CIA files we seized, which include documents, CD's, taped conversations, and... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/synagogues-used-as-bases-to-fire-on-israel/49376/ Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST TEL AVIV — The ruins of two large synagogues in evacuated Jewish communities of the Gaza Strip have been transformed into military bases used by Palestinian Arab groups to fire rockets at Israeli cities, according to a senior leader of a Gaza militant group. When Israel withdrew from the Gaza in August, 2005, it left intact 20 synagogues of the Gush Katif Jewish communities following an Israeli Cabinet decision against demolishing the structures. Immediately after the Israeli evacuation was... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/druze-leader-iran-testing-israeli-military-syria/36826/ Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM — Tehran is using Hezbollah's confrontation with the Jewish state to test its weapons capabilities and to observe Israeli military tactics, Lebanon's Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, said yesterday. Mr. Jumblatt said he fears Syria will take advantage of the growing crisis in Lebanon to reassert its influence in the country and convince the international community that Syrian domination of Lebanon is crucial to the stability of the Middle East. He warned Damascus might initiate a wave of... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/war-dead-flown-to-iran/36557/ Mon, 24 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM — The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources said. Israeli and Egyptian security officials confirmed the news, which follows a report that first appeared in The New York Sun, that Iranian forces posted to southern Lebanon have been aiding Hezbollah terrorists in their attacks against Israel, including helping to fire rockets into Israeli population... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/palestinian-terrorists-threaten-to-take-war/36481/ Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM — If the Jewish state intensifies its campaign against Hezbollah by sending ground troops into Lebanon, Palestinian Arab terror groups will open a "third front" against Israel by carrying out large-scale attacks that are "much bigger" than suicide bombings inside the country, the second in command of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said yesterday. Abu Nasser told The New York Sun that his group has been working for more than a year on contingency plans to escalate violence in Israel should... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/arens-says-withdrawal-plans-encouraged-terrorists/35933/ Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel — The attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia against Israel's northern border yesterday and the major Hamas raid ago that led to a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip are direct results of the "failed" Israeli policy of unilateral withdrawal, a former Israeli defense minister, Moshe Arens, said in an interview with The New York Sun. Mr. Arens, a seasoned Israeli diplomat who has served several times as defense minister, including during Israel's foray into Lebanon in the... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/american-guns-may-be-used-by-hamas/34754/ Tue, 20 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM - If Hamas agrees to incorporate its 3,000-strong Gaza militia into the general Palestinian Arab police, Force 17, the presidential guard units of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, may share with Hamas a cache of American weapons it recently was provided by America and Israel, a senior Force 17 officer told The New York Sun in an exclusive interview. The officer, Abu Yousuf, hinted that the weapons, which were transferred to his group in recent days, have... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/weapons-olmert-sold-to-abbas-will-be-used-on-jews/34588/ Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM - Weapons transferred in recent days by Israel to Force 17, the presidential guard units of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, will be used against Jews, a senior member of Force 17 told The New York Sun in an exclusive interview yesterday. The terrorist, Abu Yousuf, indicated that the weapons were already used in two shooting attacks the past few days that killed one Israeli civilian and wounded another. Prime Minister Olmert announced earlier this week that he... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/israeli-forces-fear-olmerts-withdrawal-plan-will/34120/ Thu, 8 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM - The Jewish state is headed toward a major, violent confrontation with the Palestinian Arabs, while Prime Minister Olmert's plan to withdraw from most of the West Bank will "not help" to decrease the terrorism, according to an Israeli army assessment. The prognosis will be released in an official Israeli Defense Force report next month. It follows interviews with The New York Sun in which the leaders of every major Palestinian Arab terror organization said recent events here are... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/hamas-seeks-to-attack-israeli-skyscrapers-with/33388/ Thu, 25 May 2006 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM - Hamas is seeking the ability to attack Israel using small airplanes laden with explosives to be flown September 11-style into important targets, possibly Tel Aviv skyscrapers, a leader of Hamas's so-called military wing, Abu Abdullah, told World Net Daily yesterday. Mr. Abdullah is considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas's Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas's declared "resistance" department. He said his group would not immediately carry out... AARON KLEIN http://www.nysun.com/foreign/knesset-committee-seeks-information-about-peress/12300/ Fri, 15 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST JERUSALEM - The ethics committee of Israel's Parliament, or Knesset, requested last week that a private investigative group provide more information about accusations of Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres's involvement in a technology fund affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, a conflict of interest that could require Mr. Peres to leave his government position. The Israel Resource News Agency requested in February that the Knesset look into Mr. Peres's establishment of the Peace Technology...