Southwest Asia News Digest
Arafat Interviewed in Israeli Daily
Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat was interviewed in the June 18 issue of Ha'aretz, Israel's second-largest daily, in what appears to be an institutional attempt to "rehabilitate" his image in the Israel, after three years of demonization, at the insistence of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
What is especially significant, is that the Arafat interview was published in the context of three interviews given in the prior 10 days by top military and intelligence officials in Israel, including Gen. Amos Malka and Col. Ephraim Lavie, both former Military Intelligence officers, and Mati Steinberg, a former adviser to the Shin Bet. All of them were to some degree criticizing the false reports by other Israeli security service officials that called Arafat an obstacle to peace (see this week's InDepth).
The combined effect of the interview with Arafat and the three intelligence officers, is that they debunk the Sharon-orchestrated demonization of Arafat, which has been totally supported by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, and of course, Cheney's dummy, President George W. Bush.
Arafat answers the question as the statesmen he is, and therefore, refuses to make comments that go beyond agreements that have made so far.
First, Arafat made clear he supports the right of Israel to exist, and said that the Palestinians "accepted that openly and officially in 1988 at our Palestinian National Council," and that they remain committed to it. The commitment to Israel's existence was reaffirmed at the Madrid conference of 1991, and through the Oslo Accords. He also reaffirmed that he is not at all interested in changing the Jewish character of Israel, saying it was "clear and obvious."
Arafat also reiterated his commitment to a territorial agreement based on the 1967 borders, with 1-to-1 swaps of territory where changes have to be made, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the al Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount (in East Jerusalem) under Palestinian sovereignty. The Western Wall would be under Israeli control.
Arafat refused to comment on a question about whether Jews would be allowed to hold prayers on the Al Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount. It was a stupid question in any case, because Israeli law prohibits Jews from holding prayers on the site, which Israel, even since 1967, has recognized as being administered by the Muslim Trust.
When asked whether he supported the recent Geneva Peace Initiative, he said he sent one of his representatives to the opening ceremony, making clear that he supports the effort, but cannot officially accept it, since it has no official status. By contrast Sharon had dismissed the peace effort with contempt.
As for the refugees, he said the Palestinians fully supported the Saudi Peace initiative which called for resolving the refugee question through UN Resolution 194. Arafat said, "First of all, we had an agreement, after Oslo, we had an agreement that the displaced refugees of 1967 can return openly, if they like to return back to Palestine." Not all of them have returned, he said. He said he was mostly concerned about the refugees in Lebanon, which number over 200,000.
He would not go so far as to say that Palestinians would give up the right to return to their homes, since this is a negotiating point, not to discuss with journalists. He chided his interviewers by presenting them an article from Ha'aretz, which revealed that 63% of the Russians that have come to Israel are not Jewish, but either Christian and Muslim. This would represent well over 300,000 people. Arafat asks, "Why does the Muslim from Russia have a right to return, while the Muslim from Palestine does not have the right to return? And why does the Christian from Russia have the right to come, and the Palestinian Christian does not have the right to come?"
Israeli AG Attacks Prosecutor Who Investigated Sharon
As EIR reported in its analytical interview with Israeli author, Maxim Ghilan (see EIW #22), the fix was in for letting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon off the hook in the recommendation that he be indicted in the follow-up investigation of the bribes paid to Sharon and his son by convicted criminal, David Appel. On June 15, Israeli media reported that Israeli Attorney General Meni Mazuz, while dismissing a proposed indictment of the Prime Minister, has gone one step further, and attacked Edna Arbel, chief prosecutor in the case, and now a Supreme Court judge. Mazuz's unprecedented, vicious attack on her integrity kicked up a storm among many prosecutors who have been circulating letters and petitions demanding that he retract his statements.
Mazuz, who refuses to retract his statement on Arbel, released a statement saying that he was not attacking anyone else, that he has full confidence in the prosecution. Meanwhile criminal law Professor Modechai Kremnitzer called on the government to remove Mazuz from his post if he fails to take a public stance in support of Arbel. He said that the questioning of the integrity of Arbel could "constitute contempt of court."
IAEA Passes Harshly Worded Resolution Against Iran
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a harshly worded resolution June 18, rebuking Iran for alleged non-compliance regarding its nuclear program. The resolution, written by Britain, France, and Germany under pressure from the United States, was adopted unanimously by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi criticized it, but said Iran would meet its commitments to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
The resolution called for the IAEA's 15-month-old investigation into Iran's nuclear activities to be stepped up and for Tehran to do more to help it complete the probe within a few months. The resolution repeats a call by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei "that it is essential for the integrity and credibility of the inspection process to bring these issues to a close within the next few months." Furthermore, it "deplores ... that overall as indicated by the Director General's written and oral reports, Iran's cooperation has not been as full, timely, and proactive as it should have been."
The chief Iranian delegate to the IAEA, Seyed Hossein Mussavian, had been cooperative in the days before the vote, saying the Islamic Republic would continue to cooperate with the IAEA. But Iranian Foreign Ministry official Amir Hossein Zamaninia said that the resolution was "a major departure from the reality on the ground," where Iran claims to be cooperating fully. He said Iran would decide whether to continue voluntary measures, which go beyond the requirements of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to "the degree of implementation of the reciprocal commitments," a reference to Iran's desire for peaceful nuclear technology transfers in return for carrying out so-called confidence-building measures.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said June 17: "The United States has felt that it's important for the IAEA to continue its pressure on Iran, to continue its investigation, its inspections, to continue finding things out about this program." Boucher also accused Iran of new attempts to hide sensitive activities, particularly razing nuclear sites to hide banned nuclear activity. "I can't give you any independent information, but commercial satellite photography shows the complete dismantling and the razing of a facility at Lavizan Shiyan" a Tehran suburb.
Will There Be An Independent Commission To Investigate Iraq Prison Torture?
At a special event organized on June 16 at the Rayburn House Office Building, by Democratic Congressional leaders, Rep. Jane Harmon (Calif), Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif), Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), and Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo), legal experts with experience in the U.S. Army's office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG), the CIA, and human rights organizations, provided briefings and answered representatives' questions on the Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, and other cases of prison abuse and torture. The briefingwhich was not a formal hearingdiscussed the significance of memoranda justifying torture, which were prepared at the highest levels of the White House, the Department of Defense, and the Justice Department, for the Bush Administration. The meeting discussed the possibility that a Congressionally mandated Independent Commission, be formed to investigate the abuses. At present, there is no investigation by the military or the Defense Dept. itself that can handle the job, since under Army rules, for example, an investigator is not permitted to question any official or officer whose rank is equal to, or above his or her own.
The Democrats' briefing took place at a point that House Republicans continue to stonewall, and block any official hearings from taking place.
Karpinski, Scapegoated, Speaks Out on Abu Ghraib
General Janis Karpinski, who is being scapegoated in the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, offered striking revelations in an interview with The Australian June 16. Australian military lawyer Major George O'Kane had "aggressively warned" about possible Geneva Conventions violations at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and urged his American superiors to allow Red Cross inspections, according to the U.S. general suspended over the Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal. Karpinski said Major O'Kane and Australian colleague Colonel Mike Kelly, who was also in Baghdad, were more knowledgeable and supportive of the Geneva Conventions than some U.S. military lawyers.
The government of Prime Minister John Howard has gagged Major O'Kane, despite calls for him to appear before the Senate following revelations he had a role in producing the letter.
Asked if Major O'Kane should give public testimony to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, which was investigating the scandal, Karpinski said it would be useful for him to talk. "Sure. He is safe now, and he doesn't have to worry about retaliation from Coalition Joint Task Force 7 (the military headquarters in Iraq)! It brings perspective; they should talk to someone." The general also called on the Howard government to let Major O'Kane speak publicly about his knowledge of the scandal.
O'Kane has been the focus of intense scrutiny for his role in helping draft a letter, signed last December by General Karpinski, to the International Committee of the Red Cross, in which she insisted prisoners at the jail were being treated humanely. That was a month before the now infamous photographs showing guards assaulting prisoners. Karpinski, 51, told The Australian she did not regret signing the letter and stood by Major O'Kane as "a dedicated and professional officer." She said O'Kane was involved in all legal aspects of detentions in Iraq and worked closely with U.S. military lawyers as they thrashed out a response to the ICRC, but was not the author of the controversial response.
"It wasn't O'Kane's letter," Karpinski said. She said the most influential author was Col. Marc Warren, a senior lawyer working for Lt.-General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military officer in Iraq.
She said O'Kane had also sided with her legal staff in trying to block a more restrictive letter barring the ICRC's access to the jail. He had told her, "We don't ever like to tell the ICRC that they can't come into a facility and that's what they were trying to do."
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