In this issue:

Istanbul Meeting Had 'Only One Item on the Agenda: How to Help Iraq Avoid Military Strike'

Mitzna to Ha'aretz: 'We Have To Defend Ourselves From Ariel Sharon's Ideas'

Mitzna Preparing for the Day After the Elections

Jerusalem Report Charges Sharon Plans Arafat Expulsion

Hamas Rejects One-Year Ceasefire Promoted by Egypt

Sharon in New Temple Mount Provocation?

Saudi Oil Minister Says There's Plenty of Oil

From Volume 2, Issue Number 4 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Jan. 27, 2003
Mideast News Digest

Istanbul Meeting Had 'Only One Item on the Agenda: How to Help Iraq Avoid Military Strike'

These were the words of Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister, Mahmoud Mubarak, according to a report in the Jan. 23 Albawaba news service. Mubarak was attending a meeting, convened by the Turkish government, of Foreign Ministry officials from all of the countries bordering on Iraq. According to Albawaba and Associated Press reports, Turkey proposed to the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan that the meeting adopt a joint declaration, calling on Iraq to "demonstrate a more active approach" in providing information on weapons programs "in full conformity" with UN Security Council regulations, to "confirm its commitment under relevant UNSC resolutions regarding disarmament, embark on the policy that will unambiguously inspire confidence in Iraq's neighbors," to "respect internationally recognized boundaries," and to "take firm steps toward national reconciliation that would preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq."

Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis stated explicitly that the meeting had no inclination to call on Saddam Hussein to step down or to go into exile. "Such issues are not on our agenda. We do not consider it appropriate for a state to develop scenarios for another state."

The formal statement specifically declared: "We're fully determined to support the territorial integrity of Iraq."

Mitzna to Ha'aretz: 'We Have To Defend Ourselves From Ariel Sharon's Ideas'

In a Jan. 20 interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, Labor Party chairman Amram Mitzna came out with one of his harshest attacks yet on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in the leadup to the Jan. 28 Israeli Knesset (Parliamentary) elections. "Ariel Sharon is not ready to withdraw settlements, to separate from the Palestinians or to give up the illusion of Greater Israel. In the last two months Sharon is being accused of being responsible for so many decisions that corrupted the politics of Israel. Therefore the Labor Party should say loud and clear: If we succeed, we will bring change. If not, we will stay in the opposition and fight. There is no security, and the economy is collapsing," he declared.

He also raised the paradox that most Israelis support his policies, yet the polls show they support Sharon. "They agree to separation, they agree to a two-state solution, they agree to the evacuation of settlements, they agree to everything. But they don't trust that we will do it." He said that the current police investigations into Likud corruption were "just the tip of the iceberg. The corruption issues are not gone—they are under investigation. And I'm sure there will be many more."

Mitzna continues to be undermined by his own party. Another Israeli daily, Ma'ariv, released a poll claiming that if Shimon Peres were the lead candidate, the Labor Party would get 29 mandates (seats in the Knesset), whereas Mitzna seems to be getting only 20. This is presumably because Peres wants to crawl back into a unity government with Sharon. The poll sounds incredibly suspicious, since Peres is just not that popular. The effect of the poll was that one Labor Member of Knesset who was aligned with Sharon's unity government, former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, called for dumping Mitzna. EIR has found that those pushing hardest for a unity government are actually outside Israel, and include the likes of Democratic Leadership Council leader Michael Steinhardt (Joe Lieberman's mentor) and Marc Rich of the Mega Group, who were recently in Israel with this message.

Mitzna Preparing for the Day After the Elections

A senior Israeli peace activist told EIR that Labor Party chairman Amram Mitzna is preparing for the day after the Israeli elections. He said the real task is to organize a social democratic-type movement combining the Labor Party and Meretz, in order to fight against the "fascist movement" developing on the right. He said he doesn't buy the poll result issued by Ma'ariv (see above) claiming that Shimon Peres would bring more votes to the Labor Party than Mitzna. He said that Mitzna's real task in this election is to build himself up as a national leader who will keep Labor outside any government led by Ariel Sharon. He also said that no one sees a Sharon-led rightwing government lasting very long, and that new elections could be held within a year.

He indicated that the Israeli population has to be brought through a process by which it abandons the idea that a unity government, or any government that includes Sharon and the extreme right, would be anything other then a disaster for Israel.

Jerusalem Report Charges Sharon Plans Arafat Expulsion

The Israeli magazine Jerusalem Report wrote in its Jan. 27 edition that aides to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have disclosed that Sharon is delaying Yasser Arafat's expulsion from Palestine only until after an expected American attack on Iraq.

The report said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Finance Minister Silvan Shalom demanded this action of Sharon, but Sharon is said to have deferred to U.S. pressure for Israel to keep a low profile during the prelude to war against Iraq. Sharon's aides purportedly say Sharon expects that, after an American offensive, "Washington will allow Israel far more leeway in responding to Palestinian terror, and that would be the time to expel Arafat."

Mofaz appeared Jan. 6 before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, saying that the day Arafat would be gone was "getting closer." The Jerusalem Report article says the Labor Party is opposed to Arafat's expulsion—even those Labor Party members who favor collaboration with Sharon.

Hamas Rejects One-Year Ceasefire Promoted by Egypt

Ariel Sharon's creation, Hamas, rejected the Cairo Declaration for a one-year ceasefire on both sides of the "Green Line" between Israel and the Palestinian territories. Cairo had hoped that if most of the 12 Palestinian groups agreed to this "hudna," as had Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, then it would help hard-pressed Labor Party chairman Amram Mitzna, who wants to resuscitate peace talks. Instead, predictably, Hamas delivered the Cairo conference a fait accompli, by ambushing and killing three young Israeli soldiers the evening before, near the West Bank city of Hebron.

This provided Sharon and his Security Cabinet with a golden opportunity to show what a "tough guy" Sharon really is. Actions carried out beginning early on Jan. 24 included:

*U.S.-made Israeli attack helicopters fired five rockets, destroying an alleged foundry in the Gaza Strip that produced weapons and Kassam rockets. The Israeli rockets also destroyed an Anglican church inside a hospital compound, injuring at least four.

*The IDF also demolished bridges between Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, and the Gaza Strip, ostensibly to prevent Hamas from firing Kassam rockets at towns inside Israel. A 19-year-old was killed by Israeli gunfire and 15 residents of the al-Marazi camp located in central Gaza Strip were injured.

*The IDF shot and killed two of four Palestinians alleged to be members of a Hamas terrorist cell who were on Har Ebal. One of the alleged terrorists, a woman, was killed in the first exchange of fire and another was shot during a chase. A third Palestinian was wounded and captured; the IDF later claimed he was carrying four grenades and a satchel bomb on him. The IDF said that it thought these were intended for an attack on the troops guarding a local settlement.

The targetting of the Anglican church was most likely deliberate: Lord Michael Livy, the personal Middle East envoy of Prime Minister Tony Blair, was in Ramallah, meeting Arafat and other Palestinian Authority officials at the time of the attack, but he had refused to meet with Israeli officials as well.

Sharon in New Temple Mount Provocation?

Ariel Sharon secretly discussed opening the Temple Mount to Jewish worshippers with rabbis from the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements several weeks ago, according to a report in Ha'aretz Jan. 24. Sharon set off the "Al Aqsa Intifada" on Sept. 28, 2000, when he went to the top of the Temple Mount/Al Haram Al Sharif, to Al Aqsa mosque, during Friday prayers, with a huge armed cohort as guards. The provocation was part of the effort to "reclaim" the site of Solomon's Temple.

The meeting lasted three hours and included Rabbis Elyakim Lebanon, Shlomo Aviner, Yigal Kaminsky, Daniel Shilo, and Mordechai Rabinovic. They told Sharon that he risks losing power if he does not act quickly to reopen the holy site to Jews. Sharon reportedly asked the rabbis to allow him to work behind the scenes toward this goal. Sharon also said he would be interested in joining the growing numbers of radical Jewish worshippers who have been holding demonstrations outside the gates of the Mount demanding that it be reopened.

Saudi Oil Minister Says There's Plenty of Oil

On Friday, Jan. 24, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi told a panel discussion at the Davos World Economic Forum that "There is no shortage [of oil] in the market and there should be no reason for prices [being] where they are today." He said "We checked. We called. I checked with individual customers, refineries and others. I ask them one question: Do you feel you need more oil? And the answer is no." He blamed the recent price escalation on the war talk against Iraq, but nonetheless vowed that Saudi Arabia and OPEC would not only ensure that supplies would remain plentiful, but would also try to drive the price back down to $25 per barrel. On Friday, oil closed at $33.40 per barrel in the United States.

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