Mideast News Digest
Sharon Formally Accepts the Road Map
On May 23, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "formally" accepted the Quartet Road Map, setting forward a path for the creation of a Palestinian state over the next three years. Sharon's formal acceptance came after his chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, travelled to Washington, to negotiate a modus vivendi with the Bush Administration over Israel's laundry list of objections to the document, drawn up by the Quartetthe U.S., the European Union, Russia, and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Following intensive meetings between Weisglass and Bush Administration National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, punctuated by some significant actions by President Bush for the first time placing pressure on Israel, Sharon made his announcement.
Two days later, Sharon presented the Road Map to his full Cabinet, which, after a stormy session, also endorsed the Quartet document. Sharon, in his own endorsement, had noted that discussions between Weisglass and Rice had convinced him that the United States was aware of and appreciative of Sharon's objections and concerns about the details of the plan; and that the Bush Administration would shape the implementation of the peace scheme with Israel's objections in mind. At the Cabinet meeting, Sharon won the vote of support, after it was agreed that there would be a separate statement, opposing specific actions, including Palestinian right of return to Israel.
As a result of the Israeli actions, President Bush is now slated to hold a multilateral summit meetingeither at Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt or Aqaba, Jordanwith Sharon, Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen, and other regional leaders during the first week of June, immediately after Bush's trip to Evian, France for the G-8 heads-of-state meeting and a 300th anniversary celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Bush had let it be known to Israel, publicly and through back channels, that he did not appreciate Sharon's intransigence, and did not wish to go to the G-8 meeting weakened by a failure to get Israel to come around to a policy on which Bush had spent a great deal of political capital. According to one Washington source, Bush solicited a number of leading American Jewish leaders to phone Sharon and indicate that they supported Bush's Road Map efforts.
Following the Israeli Cabinet vote, however, Sharon made it clear that Israel has substantial objections to the whole peace process, which, he said, boiled down to a list of 14 separate objections to the details of the Road Map. Considering that the initial list of Israeli objections had more than 100 separate points, one could say that the list of 14 represented significant progress.
It is no secret that the entire prospect for the Road Map moving forward comes down to one simple question: Will President Bush put serious pressure on Sharon and the Israelis? Bush had sent some signals to Israel that he was serious about the Road Map, when he telephoned Abu Mazen at the same time that the Weisglass-Rice meetings were taking place, and asked Abu Mazen to send a top-level emissary to Washington for more detailed talks. The very next day, Rice met with the Palestinian Authority Minister of Finance, Salam Fayyad. In the same vein, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer told Israeli public radio May 22 that "it is in Israel's interest to abide by the law," and dismantle the Jewish settlements and outposts.
At the same time, Abu Mazen met for 90 minutes with leaders of Hamas, at his office in Gaza City. According to Hamas spokesman Ismail Hanieh, the group would be willing to begin a limited truce with Israel, halting attacks on civiliansbut not settlers or soldiersin the West Bank and Gaza Strip, if Israel would end its policy of targetted assassinations. Mazen, who requested the meeting, had held talks with Hamas in the past, and hopes for ceasefires.
But ultimately, the fate of the peace process comes down to two simple words: George Bush.
UN Security Council Resolution #1483 Passed on Iraq
After nearly 90 changes to the original U.S.-U.K.-Spain resolution, the UN Security Council voted May 22 to adopt Resolution 1483, which grants interim governing authority to the U.S. as an occupying power in Iraq. The vote was 14-0 with Syria absenting itself from the vote. One Council diplomat commented on "how difficult" it would be for Syria "to endorse something which is legitimizing the foreign occupation of an Arab country."
Russia's UN Ambassador Sergei Lavrov told reporters May 22, "Russia is satisfied with the compromise reached. It was, indeed, a compromise." On May 21 in Paris, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, at joint press conference with his German and Russian counterparts, Joschka Fischer, and Igor Ivanov, also said it was a "compromise," adding, "[W]e made the choice of unity."
The resolution does the following:
*Creates an Authority comprised of the U.S. and the U.K. as a unified command, giving them authorities, responsibilities and obligations as occupying powers under international law. The Authority will coordinate setting up an Iraqi government, have control over resumption of Iraq oil sales, and will coordinate all reconstruction. (The UNSC reviews the arrangement after 12 months.)
*Lifts the 13 years of UN-imposed economic sanctions against Iraq, thereby authorizing sale of Iraqi oil on the open market;
*Sets up a Development Fund for Iraq for oil revenues to meet humanitarian, infrastructure, and economic needs of the Iraqi people, and to pay for the costs of Iraqi civilian administration and disarmament of Iraq. The funds will be disbursed at the direction of the U.S., in consultation with the Iraqi interim administration (which does not exist at the moment). (According to the Washington Post, the Fund's money will be deposited in the Iraq Central Bank, which will be run by a retired U.S. banker, chosen by the United States.) The Development Fund will have an International Advisory and Monitoring Board which will be made up of a (to-be-appointed) UN representative, the IMF managing director, the director-general of the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, and the president of the World Bank;
*Phases out the UN Oil-for-Food program after six months, in which time it is to ensure delivery of priority civilian goods already contracted for delivery;
*Calls for the UN to "play a vital role in humanitarian relief, the reconstruction of Iraq, and the restoration and establishment of national and local institutions of representative governance." In this regard, a UN Special Adviser on Iraq will be appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
*Seeks to have the Paris Club and other international financial institutions work out a solution to Iraq's sovereign debt; and
*Sets up a Compensation Fund, funded with 5% of revenues from Iraqi oil sales, pursuant to a 1991 resolution.
How it will function in reality has yet to be seen. Russian Ambassador Lavrov reiterated after the vote that the resolution establishes "the principles of respect for international law," something totally violated by the U.S. and U.K. in launching the war.
Lavrov also, when asked whether the resolution could allow for the U.S. or U.K. to privatize the oil, said certain protections against this are included. EIR has been advised that the overall package includes many behind-the-scenes, unwritten agreements.
Is Sharon Preparing To Assassinate Arafat?
Israeli radio, quoting unnamed "senior Israeli officials' " on May 20, reports that Israel has few anti-terror options left except to assassinate Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, among others. The report says that there are only three options:
*"Assassinating Yasser Arafat or expelling him from the territories, along with some of the Palestinian Authority leaders that accompanied him from exile in Tunis...."
*Inflicting "Serious harm to Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, targetting the political wing (Sheikh Yassin, Hamas spokesman Rantisis and others) with assassination or expulsion."
*"A massive, prolonged IDF incursion into the Gaza Strip, on the model of the 2002 operation Defensive Shield" (known as "Operation Warsaw Ghetto" to EIR readers).
All these options are sure to escalate the situation until it is out of control. This report is adding to the heated public debate that is now taking place in Israel.
The director of Israeli Military Intelligence, General Aharon Ze'evi, told the Knesset defense committee that it was clear that Arafat was behind the recent terror attacks, but then added that exiling him would make the situation worse.
Knesset member Yuvel Steinitz opposed Ze'evi and called for the exile of the entire "Tunis gang"i.e., Arafat's collaborators during the mid-1980s-1994 exile. But the most rabid was Sharon's Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman: "Kill Arafat ... [we need] total war against terrorism." (See INDEPTH for more details.)
Rumsfeld Hammered in Iran, and in Egyptian Government Paper
Former Iranian President Rafsanjani, in a speech reported on May 21 on the Russian website iran.ru, rejected accusations by U.S. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld that al-Qaeda terrorists are in Iran. Rafsanjani said that "The Taliban and al-Qaeda were founded by Americans themselves and certain Arab countries next to the Islamic republic [Iran]."
Also, the Jordan Times reported May 21 that the Egyptian government daily Al Ahram charged that Rumsfeld is as "brutal" and "unfair" as ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for the way Arab prisoners are treated in Guantanamo Bay. The paper wrote: "It has become difficult to differentiate between Rumsfeld and Saddam...."
Columnist Salama Ahmed Salama went on: "Those who speak today of the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime and the absence of justice under the Baath authority will realize that what the Bush Administration is committing through Rumsfeld is not less brutal nor less unfair than what Saddam Hussein did." U.S. practices are "stirring up feelings of injustice and rage, which encourages hatred of the United States" among Arabs and Muslims, Salama insisted.
Although the issue chosen here is the mistreatment of prisoners, the importance of the article is that it attacks Rumsfeld in an unprecedented manner, perhaps reflecting the impact of EIR's event in Cairo on May 17. (See INDEPTH for more.)
Saudi Ambassador Warns of Terror Attack in United States
Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, warned of the possibility of a major terror attack in the United States, in a May 19 statement.
Speaking in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bandar told reporters that "there is chatter, a high level of chatter regionally and [in] other international spots" about possible attacks in Saudi Arabia or America. "My gut feeling tells me something big is going to happen here or in America."
Bandar revealed that Saudi officials had believed the al-Qaeda organization's leadership had been split and were not likely to hit Saudi Arabia, but "they have mended their differences and decided to come out."
He also revealed that before the recent attacks, the Saudis had seized a large quantity of explosives. "I think they were looking to do something more major than this. That would have taken out two blocks in the city if it had gone off accidentally. We're all wondering if it's the last [of the explosives] or is it the tip of the iceberg."
The FBI also warned of possible al-Qaeda attacks in the USA, putting out a bulletin saying, "The U.S. intelligence community assess that attacks against U.S. and Western targets overseas are likely; attacks in the United States cannot be ruled out." This is an apparent shift from last week, where anti-terror officials claimed that, although attacks were expected outside of the U.S. they did not expect attacks inside the United States.
Also two weeks ago, the terror alert was raised to "high" (orange) from "elevated."
Meanwhile, as the U.S., British, and Germans announced closure of their embassies after the May 12 attacks (the U.S. has since reopened its embassy in Riyadh), Saudi authorities arrested three alleged al-Qaeda members in the Red Sea port of Jeddah on May 19, adding that one of the three is cooperating with authorities. However, authorities are not claiming yet that they are linked to the Riyadh bombings. On May 17, the government said it had detained four suspects who had prior knowledge of the multiple suicide bombings.
IAEA Calls for 'Urgent Action' on Iraq Nuclear Sites
In a press release issued May 19 from Boston, IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei stated: "I am deeply concerned by the almost daily reports of looting and destruction at nuclear sites and about the potential radiological safety and security implications of nuclear and radiological materials that may no longer be under control.... We have a moral responsibility to establish the facts without delay and take urgent remedial action."
Dr. El-Baradei wrote to the U.S. government April 10, urging the physical protection of the Iraqi nuclear research center at Tuwaitha, which has been under IAEA seal since 1991. After reports of looting there, Dr. El-Baradei wrote again on April 29, emphasizing the "responsibility of the Coalition forces" to maintain appropriate protection of the radioactive materials. The release states that "Dr. El-Baradei regrets that the IAEA has to date not received a response," and urged that the IAEA be allowed to send in a safety and security team to Iraq to address "a potentially serious humanitarian situation without further delay."
The same day, a grouping of former intelligence officials known as Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) sent a letter yesterday to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and all members of the Security Council, asking the Council to act with a "renewed sense of urgency" to take over the weapons inspections in Iraq, and not to pass a resolution lifting sanctions until that is done, because of the alarming reports of the looting of nuclear sites that the UN had secured before the war.
The signers, Ray McGovern, David McMichael, and Kathleen and Williams Christenson, all former U.S. intelligence officials, have now issued six papers on the role of intelligence in Iraqthe first being a "same-day" commentary on Secretary of State Colin Powell's performance at the UN Security Council on Feb. 5. Three of these were Memoranda for the President, but they have gotten no reply, and therefore, it is necessary for the UN to step in, they claimed, and make sure that no further U.S. bungling occurs.
American Jewish Activists Back Palestinian Statehood
Prominent Jewish Americans are making life miserable for the extremist opponents of the peace process in Israel, the U.S., and among Palestinians. On May 20, the New York Times reported that the Israel Policy Forum's founding director, Jewish philanthropist Jonathan Jacoby, a strong Oslo supporter, has initiated a letter, signed by more than 100 prominent American Jews (most of them donors to the Democratic Party), to the Democratic Party candidates, urging them to support President Bush on the Road Map.
Jacoby said the message of the letterwhich reportedly rankled one Democratic candidate especially (no doubt Joe Lieberman)is that "if you think you're going to stop Bush from picking off Jewish Democrats by attack him on the Road Map, you're mistaken." Jacoby also initiated a letter to the U.S. Congress on April 30, that told Senators and Congressmen not to sign resolutions that oppose the Road Map, because such a resolution may "appear" to help Israel, but, in reality, harms Israel's long-term interests.
This is the first time since the election of Ariel Sharon as Israeli Prime Minister, that the American Jewish community is doing anything other than cheerleading for the fascist assaults against Palestinians taken by Sharon, and planned out by the neo-conservative Likudniks in the Bush Administration. This kind of mobilization against Sharon's stonewalling against the peace process is another reason that Sharon did not want to come to Washington for his recently scheduled, then postponed, meeting with President Bush.
The Israel Policy Forum (IPF) viewpoint is reflected in the remarks of IPF's most well-known scholar, Dr. Stephen P. Cohen, who appeared in Washington, D.C. at the Middle East Policy Council on April 11. Dr. Cohen said that it is "important that the monopoly" on the political voice of American Jews be "broken" and that the American Jewish community, in collaboration with American Muslim and Arab communities, find new ways to express themselves and work together, and that "we are determined that there will be a two-state solution, and that it will happen now." He said that turning the U.S. in that direction would also activate forces in Israel "for a change." Cohen, like the majority of the other MEPC speakers at the event, openly opposed the neo-conservatives. The latest IPF letter to the Democratic "04's" has been signed by actor Richard Dreyfuss, and top Democratic Party fundraisers, Alan Solomon, Lynne Wasserman, and others.
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