Thursday, Sept. 27, 2001 
 

Islamic Calendar for Sept. 2001 Jet hitting lower Manhattan

A calendar which was printed in Egypt and shows a crashing passenger plane with Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop -- and which was printed in May, a full three months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America -- has caused an uproar in the Dutch town of Almere, Netherlands, the newspaper De Telegraaf reported yesterday.
The calendar was distributed at an Islamic school long before the World Trade Center attacks. Mayor Hans Ouwerkerk, who was alerted to the calendar's existence in the local Islamic school in the town of Almere, immediately notified the Dutch internal security service (BVD) about the strange coincidence. The BVD is reportedly investigating the matter. 

"I am supported by Allah, to die for Allah" was quoted on the calendar, the same words reportedly used by an EgyptAir pilot who allegedly crashed a jet in November of 1999.

The Almere Town Council has "urgently advised" the management of the Islamic School Foundation to "cooperate with the Dutch authorities and help determine the calender's origin."

Deputy Mayor Henk Smeeman said the distribution of such controversial Islamic-extremist fundamentalist propaganda material "cannot be tolerated in Almere. The Town Council is a strong supporter of maintaining good intercultural relationships with one another," he said. Some of the calendar's other illustrations show a stone-throwing Palestinian demonstrator in front of the Al-Aksa mosque in Jerusalem, an Egyptian military assault during the six-day war against Israel, and a futuristic image of a Palestinian "freeing" of Jerusalem.

The head of the Islamic school, Mrs. Dekker, allegedly had a large number of calenders in her possession from the end of May to the beginning of June, well-informed sources informed De Telegraaf. When confronted with the calender images, she responded in a shocked, startled manner, asking "How did you get this" before shrouding herself in silence when further questioned by journalists.

De Telegraaf also reported today that Dutch authorities abruptly closed the major traffic arteries into Rotterdam and Amsterdam through four river tunnels -- in immediate response to a highly detailed letter to the Dutch news agency ANP that described the exact time (8:10 a.m.) and the colors and types of vehicles that would have been used in a closely timed wave of suicide attacks at the height of rush hour in two of the world's busiest harbor cities. 

Dutch police arrested a large number of individuals who had been identified by the anonymous tipster, who also warned that a great many other terrorist attacks would be carried out worldwide. Collapsing these riverine tunnels would have meant the immediate closure of these busy international harbors, seriously disrupting international trade.