In this issue:

EIR Interview: Dr. Barghouthi on 'Collective Punishment' of Palestinians

Arafat Running for President

Egyptian Foreign Minister on Israel's Rogue Nuclear Threat

'Tip of the Iceberg': IDFers Selling Weapons to Palestinian Terrorists

U.S. Ambassador Criticizes Israeli Occupation Conditions

New IDF Chief of Staff Vows To Teach Palestinians a Lesson

Bush Sparks Tensions inside Iran

Wolfowitz Plan for the Annihilation of Iraq

Top Military to Bush: Iraq War Will Be Worse Than Carter's Desert One

Joe Lieberman and Yechiel Eckstein—the Zionist Link to Christian Fundamentalists

From the Vol.1,No.20 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly
MIDEAST NEWS DIGEST

EIR Interview: Dr. Barghouthi on 'Collective Punishment' of Palestinians

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, the director of the Union for Palestinian Medical Relief, told the European office of EIR on July 17 that the Israeli-imposed curfews consitute collective punishiment, and are aimed at destroying the society and economic of the entire Palestinian people.

Dr. Barghouthi told EIR: "The curfew is having a drastic effect on every aspect of life throughout the West Bank. All businesses are paralyzed. Doctors cannot go to their hospitals, lawyers cannot go to their offices, people who have jobs cannot go to work ... [all this] while 75% of the population is living under the poverty line, and 65% are officially unemployed. Universities are paralyzed, the health system has collapsed. We had one of the highest rates of vaccinations at a rate of 96%; it now is below 35%. This curfew is creating a humanitarian disaster. This constitutes collective punishment. One can only explain it as an attempt to destory the society and economic life of an entire people.

"One must stop and think of the effect of families of 10 or more people confined to homes that in most cases constitute not more than 30 or 40 square meters. They are confined for 24 hours a day. It is only lifted for a few hours at a time every 96 hours, or every three or four days. It is enforced at gunpoint. On June 21, the IDF killed a woman and three children when, thinking the curfew had been lifted, they went to the marketplace to buy food, and an Israeli tank fired on them. Even prisons allow the prisoners to leave their cells at least once a day."

Arafat Running for President

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat confirmed he would be a candidate in January's Palestinian leadership elections. At the same time, Arafat's deputy, Manhmud Abbas, said he would not oppose him in the polls, reported Agence France Presse on July 17.

"It is imperative [to run]," Arafat said. "The Americans must know that we are not Afghanistan for them to change as they wish."

Egyptian Foreign Minister on Israel's Rogue Nuclear Threat

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher Al-Sayed, visiting Washington on July 18, fielded on question from EIR's William Jones on the Israeli nuclear threat. Maher had previously been asked a question on Iraq, in which he responded that Egypt was opposed to any such attack. Jones followed on that question: "All signals seem to tell us, Mr. Minister, that President Bush has indeed signed off on military action against Iraq, although perhaps the timing and the form of such an attack have yet to be worked out. Indeed, on the part of some individuals in the Administration, the desire for achieving some resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict is unfortunately seen simply as a means of either bringing some Arab nations on board such a policy, or at least neutralizing their opposition. However, in the fog of war, many things can happen, and there are fears that Sharon would use such a conflict to implement his own plan to expel the Palestinians and return to a 'Palestine is Jordan' policy. The Israeli press has also been filled with numerous stories touting their now-quite-open nuclear capabilities, an ominous sign if ever there was one. Could you, sir, elaborate more on what you see could be the consequences of a U.S. attack against Iraq in the region as a whole?"

"You paint a very apocalyptic picture," Maher said. "We have long proposed the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, but the Israelis have not agreed. One must think twice of where such a military action might lead. Indeed, it could have unforeseen consequences. I don't think anybody can afford but to help to reach an agreement in the Middle East. But I would like to conclude on a more optimistic note. I feel there is hope. The issue of a Palestinian state was previously anathema. Now it is accepted. Now you can't simply take the part of one of the parties and reject the other. There is sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Also people in the Jewish community here are willing to stick their neck out and call for justice for the Palestinians. I think things are starting to move."

'Tip of the Iceberg': IDFers Selling Weapons to Palestinian Terrorists

In a case that is far bigger in implications than the much-touted Karine A affair, Israeli police have arrested five Israel Defense Forces (IDF) members, including a reserve Major, for selling ammunition to terrorists. The ammunition, and possibly weapons, have been pilfered over a period of years from IDF warehouses and depots.

A Major in the IDF Reserves, one Yaacov (Koby) Uliel, was arrested on suspicion of being involved in sales of weapons and ammunition to Palestinian terrorists. Uliel, who was also described as a "security officer in the Foreign Ministry, due to be assigned to a foreign post," lives in the settlement of Ashod, and is suspected of being a ringleader in a group of at least six other men who supplied more than 60,000 rounds of 5.56-mm ammunition, and some 3,000 9-mm bullets, to terrorists. The Foreign Ministry now denies he worked for them.

A July 18 article in israelinsider, by reporter Ellis Shuman, reveals that this could be one of the biggest scandals—involving arms trafficking and countergang terrorism—in recent Israeli history. Shuman reports that "Military police sources told Maariv (one of the leading Israeli newspapers) that [the case] was 'only the tip of the iceberg,' and that they expected 'additional discoveries that would shock everyone.' " Maariv also reported that officials said "It was clear [to the suspects] that the sale of arms would be used for terror attacks, but this didn't stop them...."

On July 15, four IDF soldiers were arrested on the same charges as Uliel. All of them are residents of Adora and Telem, two of the more "ideological" settlements that were founded on the initiative of current Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the 1980s. Such settlements have served as the base for major terrorist operations, such as the conspiracy to assassinate the late Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin in 1995; the 1994 mass killing of Muslim worshippers in Hebron, by Baruch Goldstein; and the Jewish "vigilante" terrorist operations that regularly assassinate Palestinian citizens.

The arrests raise some important questions, particularly whether this is one of the networks that has been supplying "Sharon's Hamas," i.e., the terrorist operations that provide a convenient excuse for Israeli retaliations agaisnt suicide bombings.

From reports in the Israeli press, here is what is known:

*The ring was smuggling weapons, ammunition and Palestinians into Israel from the West Bank, and were able to get past checkpoints because they were dressed in IDF uniforms. Recall in some of the most successful terrorist attacks against Israelis—i.e., where the assailants escaped—the attackers were wearing IDF uniforms.

*Four soldiers from the settlements of Telem and Adora are under arrest. These have been identified as two sets of brothers: Moshe and Nadav Cohen from Telem, and Roie and Sela Amar from Adora. Also identified have been Oded Mola'i and Rotem Parnas, from Kfar Sava. Strangly enough, reported Ha'aretz, Sela Amar had been released by a Jaffa military court on the grounds that he was not in the military service when the crimes were committed. He is now missing and it has not been explained why the military court did not turn him over to the police.

*Ammunition sold by the ring is said to have been used in a bloody terrorist incident in Adora this past April, when four Jewish settlers were killed in a house.

U.S. Ambassador Criticizes Israeli Occupation Conditions

Criticism against the Bush Administration's Israel policy came from an unexpected source when, on July 9, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer delivered a speech entitled "The Economic Dimension of Peace," presenting how bleak Palestinian conditions are. The speech was covered in the July 16 English edition of Ha'aretz.

Kurtzer said, "Initial findings from a USAID-funded study indicate that malnutrition among Palestinian children, defined as the stunting of growth or abnormally low body weight, is rising. A large percentage of children under 5 and women of childbearing age suffer from anemia. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that approximately two million Palestinians, or 62% of the population, are considered 'vulnerable,' meaning that they have had inadequate access to food, shelter, or health services. This figure is 25% higher than only six months ago.

"The World Bank now estimates that unemployment in the West Bank and Gaza is about 50% and rising. As would be expected, poverty rates have exploded. The World Bank estimates that 50-60% of Palestinians now fall under the poverty line, defined as an income of $2 a day. According to very conservative UN estimates, GDP in the West Bank and Gaza fell 33% last year. No figures are available for 2002, but there is no question that GDP has plunged still further. Clearly this is a population in great risk."

Addressing the same issue, Ha'aretz newspaper's July 16 editorial said, "The government must act to lift the curfews quickly.... In effect, except for temporary lifting of curfews for residents to get food, hundreds of thousands of people are locked up in their homes for no purpose. It is not just the elderly, the ill, and the children who are suffering: every person—the entire population—is suffering."

New IDF Chief of Staff Vows To Teach Palestinians a Lesson

With the major Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, and the U.S. Ambassador, warning against the occupation conditions, IDF Lt. General Moshe Ya'alon indicated that Israeli withdrawl is not an option. Ha'aretz reports on July 17 that Ya'alon, who is under fire because back-to-back terrorist incidents—in Tel Aviv on July 17, and near the settlement of Emmanuel on July 16—immediately followed his assumption of command, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee that the IDF presence in the occupied territories is like a "blanket over a fire." Ya'alon said, "If we remove the blanket, the fire will immediately erupt."

Ya'alon's statements drew outbursts of criticism from Labor MK Haim Ramon, who chairs the committee, and also from Zahava Gal-On of the pro-peace Meretz Party, and from Hashem Mahameed of the United Arab List. Ramon, who had served as an Israeli peace negotiator, blasted Ya'alon for advocating that Israel "stay in the territories to win and there is no withdrawal."

Ya'alon said there can be no signs of "weakness coming from the Israelis," such as the May 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon. "Should the Palestinians feel they have chalked up a victory over an Israeli submission," there will be "problems," not only in the occupied territories, "but with many others, including Israeli Arabs."

Bush Sparks Tensions inside Iran

President George W. Bush sparked tensions in Iran, with his remarks supporting Iranian students' demonstrations on July 9. The students, who clashed with police, were commemorating the third anniversary of massive student protests that rocked the country. Bush's remarks gave support to the students, saying "their government should listen to their hopes." He continued that, although the population had voted in reformers in the last elections, "Their voices are not being listened to by the unelected people who are the real rulers of Iran." He added, "As Iran's people move towards a future defined by greater freedom, greater tolerance, they will have no better friends than the United States of America."

Such a statement coming just as the war plans against Iraq are accelerating, can only be interpreted as a provocation. For some time, there have been rumors circulating on the anti-Khatami websites (Khatami is the moderate President of Iran), that Iran would go along with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. In reality, the entire Iranian establishment—conservatives and reformers—are united around the rejection of any U.S. military move in the region, emphatically including Iraq. They all know, also, that if Iraq is number one, Iran is number two on the target list.

President Khatami immediately denounced Bush's remarks as an interference in Iran's internal affairs, and said: "We advise those who are pursuing [a] war-mongering policy under the influence of certain lobbies, to get rid of the false interpretation of [the] situation in Iran and apologize to the Iranian nation and government for the misdeeds of the past."

Khatami made several other relevant points: "Unfortunately, the extremist policy has formed a part of the U.S. Administration's approach towards the global issues. They threaten the world with war and subversive actions, posing a threat to the entire world and the U.S. interests at first." He urged well-wishers in the world to advise the U.S. to pull back from its war plans, in order "not to fall into the traps more disastrous than what it experienced in the Vietnam War," according to IRNA's paraphrase.

Wolfowitz Plan for the Annihilation of Iraq

Well-informed Middle East sources have told EIW that Iraq is to be broken up into four parts, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who secretly discussed this plan in meetings this past week in Turkey and elsewhere.

According to this scheme of things, Iraq would be carved up into four entities: In the south, there would be a Shi'ite autonomous area, where the SCIRI (Shi'ite) opposition group operates.

The central area of Baghdad is Sunni, and that would be a Hashemite kingdom. It was noted that a nephew of the former Hashemite King of Iraq attended the July 14 meeting in London of Iraqi exiles (see INDEPTH). In the north, the now-Kurdish area would be broken up into two—a Turkic area, which is where the richest oil reserves are located, would be carved out of the Kurdish area; and the Kurdish autonomous region in the mountains. So, under Wolfowitz's plan, Iraq would cease to exist.

Top Military to Bush: Iraq War Will Be Worse Than Carter's Desert One

A senior retired U.S. military official told EIRNS on July 15 that there is total unity among the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the regional Commanders-in-Chief, in opposition to an Iraq invasion. He identified the new Commander of the Pacific Command as a particularly strident opponent of the war, noting that the Pacific Command is the key support for all U.S. military operations in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Such opposition was the reason that "chief of counter-terrorism" Gen. Wayne Downing stormed off the job last month, after his Iraq invasion wing-ding scheme was dumped by the Joint Chiefs and Commander of the Central Command Gen. Tommy Franks. The source reported that the military brass were warning the White House that there is nothing worse, for political fallout, than a failed military adventure, pointing to Jimmy Carter's spring 1980 Desert I failed rescue mission of the hostages in Iran, as one example of political blowback.

The same source indicated that he was personally arguing with officials in and around the Administration, that there was no viable alternative leadership in Iraq, to the Saddam Hussein regime, among all the dissidents gathered up by the State Department, the CIA, the Pentagon, etc. The last time the U.S. got directly involved in an attempt at "regime change" without a viable leader on the scene was Vietnam. Despite all this effort by the top uniformed military, the source could not rule out that the President, under the McCain-Lieberman blackmail gun, and with people like Karl Rove in his Oval Office inner-circle, could still order the military to undertake a disastrous invasion.

Joe Lieberman and Yechiel Eckstein—the Zionist Link to Christian Fundamentalists

MEGA founder Michael Steinhardt's Forward newspaper reveals that Sen. Joe Lieberman is one of the big supporters for Chicago Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the link between the rightwing fascists of the Christian Coalition and the Jabotinskyite Zionists.

The Forward reports on July 12 that Lieberman called Likudnik Rabbi Eckstein in June 2002, to congratulate him for having formed the "Stand For Israel" Christian-Zionist outfit with former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed. "He said that he had just seen the New York Times piece about Stand For Israel, wanted to tell me how proud he was," said Eckstein. In 2000, Eckstein made Lieberman the honorary chairman of his organization, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which promotes the ideas of fascist Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky.

However, not everyone in "Mega," the billionaires' club within the Israeli lobby of North America, loves Eckstein. For years, he claims that he was ostracized by mainstream rabbinical groups. The Forward reports, "when the UJC finally did honor Eckstein at its General Assembly in 2000, Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman walked out of the room in protest. Later, Foxman explained that he did not object to Eckstein's working with evangelicals, but to the portrayal of Israeli poverty in the ... promotional videos and infomercials [of Eckstein's International Fellowship of Christians and Jews] that run on Christian channels. " 'It's schnorring [begging] from non-Jews to help Jews,' Foxman told the Forward. 'I don't care how many millions it brings in. I find it distasteful.' "

"Among other things," says the Forward, "Reed and Eckstein are bent on refuting what they say is the false claim that evangelical support for Israel is triggered by a desire to hasten the messianic era...."

The article points out the Eckstein worked for the ADL for several years, and now serves as Ariel Sharon's unofficial liaison to the evangelical community.

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