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Show Page THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah, Tuesday, September 20, D2 Islamic terrorist hunt leads to border region The effort has angered prominent Arabs. By TODD LEWAN Associated Press Writer FOZ DO IGUACU, Brazil -The heavily forested junction of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina on the Parana River is a hub of lawlessness where almost anything or anyone can be bought, sold or hidden. Smugglers move liquor, electronic goods, cocaine, refugees, even babies, among the three countries. Brothel owners pay e sex traders to bring in dealers peddle prostitutes. Arms teen-ag- weapons. Now police and intelligence agents are investigating rumors that Foz do Iguacu and Ciudad del Este, just across the Parana in Paraguay, are hideouts or bases for Islamic terrorists. Agents from Israel, the United States, Argentina and Brazil are trying to determine whether Arabs who live in the region have links to the bombing of the Israeli Embassv in Buenos Aires that took 29' lives in 1992 or to the July 18 car bombing of a Jewish center there that killed 95 Philip Wilcox Jr., U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism. said terrorist "cells" of Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group supported by Iran, were operating in the region. "There is a growing body of evidence that these criminal acts were carried out by Hezbollah terrorists." he said after visiting Ciudad del Este and Buenos Aires in September. Although there is no proof that Arabs were involved in the July bombing, police have detained and questioned dozens of recent immigrants from Lebanon, w here Hezbollah is based. About 1,000 fundamentalist Shiites have arrived illegally in Cuidad del Este and Foz do Igu. - acu since 1992, according to Brazil's federal police. This is the group under suspicion. Brazilian soldiers and federal - police have searched Arab-owne- d ranches, gun shops and residences along the borders with Paraguay and Argentina and on the frontier with Uruguay several hundred miles to the south. 1994 ili - mm 11- i ni it A3 mm - Some residents to miss the old streets of China --- ! By LORETTA TOFANI m Knight-Ridde- ir-"?- y 7 3T S3 Lebanon in 1961. "We want to work, to live in peace," he said. "This type of hysteria hurts our business. Who knows? We could have a Jewish fanatic come here and set off a bomb because of this false propa- February that five Arab men had approached arms traffickers to buy plastic explosives and assault rifles. He told the newsweekly Isto E that the border region offered "all of the facilities for the acquisition of arms and eventual escape useful for terrorist operations." In March, responding to intelligence reports of weapons stockpiles and guerrilla activity, soldiers raided cattle ranches bought by Arabs in recent years along Brazil's unpatrolled border with Uruguay. "We found nothing, but we're tiny, pitch-roofe- houses, d hand- U ' Mm H r ' - I "23- - I The neighbors nod and exchange greetings, as they hang the quilts on clotheslines stretched above the sidewalks. The result i a nearly continuous line of bedding along both sides of the street, called Shenlu in Chinese. g This custom, reminiscent of village life, is one of many that bind neighbors even in China's big cities. On blocks such as Shenlu, which is less than three miles from Tiananmen Square in central Beijii.g, a lot of seemingly private activity y " early-mornin- V AP Photo Rescue workers, policemen and passersby react after a powerful building housing two Jewish explosion destroyed the seven-stor- y groups in downtown Buenos Aires, July 18, killing 96 people and injuring dozens. still worried about foreigners gaining control of our southern borders," a ranking army commander said, on condition of anonymity. After the July bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentine and Paraguayan authorities began interrogating new Lebanese immigrants who lacked papers. Paraguayan police also detained a Lebanese merchant and a woman who claimed they witnessed the bombing and knew Arabs who financed the attack. Both were released for lack of evidence. On the Argentine side of the border, police detained five Lebanese citizens for questioning early in September, including a boy. "This is a witch hunt," said Hassan Wahab, treasurer of the Islamic Cultural Center in Foz do Iguacu. "If a terrorist came to me for help, I would go to the police. Nonetheless, the laxity of border controls heightens police suspicions that the area is a haven for terrorists. Thousands of foreigners flock to see the spectacular Iguacu Falls, drifting among Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay w ith few or no questions asked. Police in Brazil and Paraguay say it is easy to get a false passliport, birth certificate, driver's cense or other documents through corrupt officials. "Anyone can buy a new identi- ty and nationality here," said Anibal Lima, spokesman for Paraguay's national police in Ciudad del Este. "Of all the Arabs in the area, only 273 are legally registered." Au-gus- to Early this month, three ranking officials of the Paraguayan Terrorists should have their hands cut off." national police were dismissed for issuing passports illegally to Lebanese immigrants. takes place in plain view. That includes brushing teeth, trips to the public toilets, preparing food, and even planning a pregnancy. But this traditional way of living is disappearing from China's cities, as apartment buildings and hotels replace centurieone-stos-old houses on streets such as this one. ry Social scientists see little to mourn here. "We will protect 71, who was born in his house on , Shenlu. "My children live near here," he said, "and I'll miss going to the park and seeing the street and my friends so easily." To spend a long September day, on Shenlu is to understand what and what others he'll be missing ' ' may be happy to give up. 6 a.m., the quilts safely By hung, several residents had begun brushing their teeth on the sidewalk, staring into the street. An elderly woman, after for several minutes,-too- k a swig of water from her mug, gargled noisily and spat into the" street, narrowly missing the pass' ing bicycles. Then she disappeared . .' made cotton quilts in their arms. The women are dressed for the day, but the men, still are typically in the baggy shorts and undershirts that serve as pajamas. half-aslee- p, ganda." Paraguayan and Brazilian police say there have been four bomb threats in the area in two months, three in Ciudad del Este and one in Foz do Iguacu. In July, police found a small bomb outside an office builuing of Arab businessmen in Ciudad del Este. No one has claimed responsibility for any of the incidents. Arabs have long been a part of Brazilian culture, achieving prominence in business, politics and the arts. Many were Lebanese Christians who fled persecution in the 1860s and, after World War I, rule by the Ottoman Empire. As Christians, they faced little overt prejudice. Many became traders in dutyfree Ciudad del Este, or merchants who bought goods there to resell in Foz do Iguacu or Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, the third border town. Most of the Arabs who arrived after 1975 were Shiite or Sunni Muslims fleeing the Lebanese civil war that began that year. Wilson Romao, chief of the Brazilian federal police, said in Newspapers BEIJING Dawn arrives on Gods Street with the ritual hanging of the quilts. People emerge onto the narrow street from their I "For God's sake, leave us alone," said Kamal Osman, 43, ow ner of a shopping center and discount variety store in Foz do Iguacu, who immigrated from r his- torical buildings that represent Chinese culture, but we won't protect a backward lifestyle," said Chen Guangting, director of the City Problem Institute of Beijing's Social Science Academy. "The society is making progress, and people's living standards should also be improved." residents of Some middle-age- d Shenlu agree. They will be glad to stop hiking to the public toilet down the street, they say. They will be glad to have indoor kitchens of their own. And new apartments, they note, generally don't have leaky roofs, so their quilts won't absorb dampness and have to be hung outside. But most residents of Shenlu, particularly the many elderly ones, regret the prospect of being absorbed in big-cilife. "I don't want to move to a new building, no matter how good the building is," said Nan Juchuan, ty brushing-strenuous- inside. Seconds later, a man from doorway appeared at curb- - ' side, toothbrush in hand, small bowl in the other. The man, weaping an undershirt and shorts, latere identified himself only as Xu, a 4 ' municipal government . worker. -- - 1 r "The sink is always busy," Xu ! said, referring to the outdoor sink . shared by several houses along . Xu's alley. He won't regret mqvT ing to an apartment. Part of the community spirit of" Shenlu, and the many blocks like ' it, comes from its architectural arrangement: Four to five families, usually of three generations each, live near one another along a side -- '. -- alley. In the alley, outdoors, they share a sink and a ' grill for cooking. There are about 50 alleys for the 200 houses that' ' line Shenlu. Other streets in Beij-in- g coal-burnir- ig have numerous rectangular courtyards, with four small houses ' around each courtyard sharing a' sink and grill. With' such an arrangement, the neigh:'-borinevitably become close. "We take care of each other like one family," said Nan. "If some- - ' one is sick, we take care of them or arrange for a doctor. And if clothes are outside and it's raining, we take our neighbors clothes -- -- coal-burni- ng s '' irt-sid- e." 8:30 a.m. the number of bicycles on the street had vastly increased, and more and more taxis zoomed past. 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