In this issue:

Sharon Suffers Big Setbacks in Local Elections

Sharon Lashing Out at Ya'alon Criticisms

Seven-Hour Interrogation of Sharon By National Police

Sharon's AG Strikes Back Against Police Investigators

Tensions Rising Along Lebanon-Israel Border

Arrest Warrant Issued Against General Michel Aoun

Wolfowitz Survives Assassination Attempt in Baghdad

UN and Red Cross Pulling Out of Iraq

From Volume 2, Issue Number 44 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Nov. 4, 2003
Mideast News Digest

Sharon Suffers Big Setbacks in Local Elections

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud bloc has lost control of eight cities, in last week's Israeli local elections, most of them considered its strongholds previously, and covering some 2 million people altogether, Ha'aretz reported on Oct. 30. Of the 11 "big" cities (Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Be'er Sheva, Netanya, Ashdod, Ramat Gan, Petah Tikva, Holon, Rishon Letzion, and Rehovot), the Likud now controls only three—Netanya, Rehovot, and Ashdod, according to Ha'aretz. The Labor Party, for its part, lost control of five cities, apparently of lesser importance. No report was given on who gained from these major party losses.

Sharon Lashing Out at Ya'alon Criticisms

There are signs that Israel is imploding because of Ariel Sharon and his fascist gang. In one case, according to Ha'aretz Oct. 29, there is open criticism, by the IDF, of Sharon and the Shin Beth, Israel's domestic intelligence service; and, in another case, senior prosecuting attorneys are blasting the Attorney General, for trying to protect radical right-wing Cabinet Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is embroiled in a corruption scandal.

The latest breakout of chaos, is a fight by the IDF—not just the Pilots or Reservists who are resisters—but the high command itself. Reporter Uzi Benziman writes in the Oct. 29 Ha'aretz that, "The high command of the Israel Defense Forces believes that Israel contributed to the collapse of former Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas's government by making only stingy demonstrations of support, and is warning Israel not to repeat the mistake with Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qureia." Unnamed "senior military sources" have been speaking out to the press, to the effect that, "it is the dominant feeling in the IDF General Staff ... that Israel should have treated Abbas differently, by giving him control of every Palestinian city he asked for."

The other aspect of the sabotage of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), say these sources, was Sharon's threats concerning the "fate of Yassir Arafat." The "army is disappointed," because the Sharon government has insisted on listening to the Shin Beth, instead of the military.

While Ha'aretz did not quote Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, the IDF Chief of Staff himself, he was the cause of Sharon's fury. Ya'alon's remarks were printed in a number of other press, based on a briefing he gave to reporters, to "explain the differences of opinion between the military and the government," about the easing of conditions for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

To deal with this, Sharon has turned to the butcher of the 2002 assault on Jenin and the West Bank, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, to discipline Ya'alon, though no action has been taken yet. An anonymous source in Sharon's office demanded that Ya'alon's head should roll. "Ya'alon never made his opinion known in any of the discussion that we held.... He chose to speak to the press. Beyond that, his claims are not correct."

However. IDF spokesmen and sources made clear on Oct. 30 that Ya'alon was speaking for the IDF, when he warned that something must be done to give hope to the Palestinians. Ariel Sharon was reported to have told Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz that Ya'alon either had to retract his statements, or resign. Ya'alon did neither. Instead, IDF spokesmen issued "clarifications," denying that Ya'alon had criticized the government, and then reiterated his essential point.

Senior IDF officials, remaining anonymous, told Israeli media (including Army radio), that Ya'alon was correct to raise the army's concern that the Occupied Territories are on the verge of a far worse explosion than seen so far, unless something is done to give the Palestinians some hope.

Ha'aretz commentator Aluf Benn wrote that "the army is looking for a 'strategic exit' from the Territories. Under pressure of the mounting snafus (unnecessary killing of civilians in Gaza; the six soldiers killed in Netzarim and Ein Yabrud, etc.), Ya'alon is trying to kick responsibility upstairs to the Defense Minister, and sideways, to the Shin Beth, before the chaos breaks out in the Territories and the politicians blame the failure in the war on the IDF." Another wrote that the army is worried, that after three years of fighting the intifada, "the soldiers and their field officers are exhausted."

Seven-Hour Interrogation of Sharon By National Police

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent a seven-hour police interrogation Oct. 30, in connection with financial scandals, involving foreign and covert money made available to Sharon, his family, and the Likud. The investigations, which could determine Sharon's political fate, and also have serious implications for his backers in the U.S. and other countries, have reached the point, that brawls within the Israeli police and judicial administration are again being highlighted in the press. The disputes concern whether Sharon should be indicted on bribery charges for six-digit cash flows to his son for a Greek Island resort; and also, recent charges by Police Major General Mizrahi that Sharon's Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein had interfered in Mizrahi's investigation of Russian-Israeli organized-crime backers of Sharon's Finance Minister (former Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sharon's AG Strikes Back Against Police Investigators

Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein has written a report recommending that the police chief of investigations, Major General Moshe Mizrahi, be dismissed for allegedly mishandling material derived from official wiretaps, Ha'aretz reported on Oct. 27 and 28. Rubenstein made this charge, despite the fact that the chief prosecutor, who is his number two, and other prosecutors, totally supported Mizrahi.

The wire tapes involved, center on the investigation of none other than Michel Chernoy, the reputed Russian Mafia boss, who recently funded the notorious Jerusalem "Beast-man" Summit, where the likes of the swinish Richard Perle, and other neo-cons and Straussians spoke. Mizrahi was investigating, among other things, Chernoy's relationship to Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the fascist National Union "Transfer" Party and current Infrastructure Minister in the Sharon government.

Mizrahi is also in charge of the investigations against Sharon, his two sons, and Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, involving illegal campaign financing and bribe-taking.

Although Rubinstein's report will not necessarily lead to Mizrahi's dismissal, if he is dismissed it could set back all of these investigations, which have a great deal to do with whether Sharon's government will survive, or go down in a sea of criminal indictments.

Tensions Rising Along Lebanon-Israel Border

The situation along the Israel-Lebanon border heated up considerably last week. On the afternoon of Oct. 27, the Lebanese Hezbollah organization launched a mortar and Katyusha rockets against Israeli positions in the disputed Shaba farms sector along the border. The Israelis immediately responded with artillery shells across the border and air attacks, as well, near villages along the border.

These actions have been followed by escalating rhetoric on both sides. Israeli Northern Commander Major-Gen. Benny Ganz declared that the Hezbollah attack is a "dangerous factor, which may make a situation such that we may have to act with very, very strong force. In that case, I would assume that it would be preferable to be an Israeli citizen, rather than a Lebanese citizen."

This statement was followed within hours by Israeli Defense Minister Shaol Mofaz making claims that the Hezbollah was planning another, more serious attack along the border, requiring a more serious response.

The attack occurred while a Syrian military delegation, led by the Syrian Chief of Staff, Gen. Hassan Turkmani, was visiting Beirut. The Lebanese army released a statement saying that it and the Syrian army had looked into ways to "confront challenges and enemy threats to which both Lebanon and Syria would respond. A unified formula was reached on the issue."

U.S. Secretary State Colin Powell called on Syria and Israel to ease tension and tone down their rhetoric. "These sorts of statements do not assist us, do not assist any of the parties in the region to try to move forward, and just heighten tension. So I would encourage both sides to refrain from these kinds of rhetorical threats."

Arrest Warrant Issued Against General Michel Aoun

An arrest warrant was issued on Oct. 24 against Gen. Michel Aoun, a former army commander and leader of the anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon, currently in exile in Paris, the Beirut Daily Star reported Oct. 27. The warrant was issued after Aoun failed to appear in court three times on charges of slandering Syria. Aoun had made the charges in testimony before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee, to promote the passage of the Syria Accountability Act. The warrant was issued by chief Beirut investigating magistrate Hatem Madi.

If tried and convicted in absentia, says the paper, he could be banned from living in Lebanon, denied his civil rights, and face 15 years in prison. General Aoun is being promoted by the Hudson Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, and other U.S. neo-conservatives as the "Ahmed Chalabi" of Lebanon—a reference to the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, who has been a pet of the neo-cons for decades, and who is their choice to be put in charge of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

Wolfowitz Survives Assassination Attempt in Baghdad

At 6 a.m. Oct. 26, six-eight rockets hit the Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, where Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying. There were numerous wounded, and one high-ranking Army colonel is dead.

Steve Marney, a journalist with Middle East Broadcasting based in Dubai, said the two ninth-floor rooms on either side of his were completely destroyed by the attack. The hotel is part of a compound on the west bank of the Tigris River used by the U.S.-led administration. It is in a fortified complex that includes palaces built by former leader Saddam Hussein.

The attack was made in a sophisticated, and bold manner: A truck drove up pulling a trailer, disguised as a generator, which had been refitted to carry a missile launcher. The truck was driven to a street which crosses the Tigris River at the 14th of July Bridge, and parked about 500 meters from the hotel. The bridge had been reopened only the day before, for the first time since the war began. Iraqi police said they tried to tell the driver of the truck to move it, but he fled. The rockets were then fired, presumably by a timing device, as security guards approached it.

Wolfowitz appeared before the press and TV cameras, unhurt, but visibly very shaken.

U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey nonetheless told reporters that the Baghdad attack was not targetted at Wolfowitz. But wires report that on Oct. 25, Iraqi guerrillas fired rocket-propelled grenades and destroyed a Black Hawk helicopter which was brought down near Tikrit, wounding one American soldier. Wolfowitz had left Tikrit by helicopter for Kirkuk just hours earlier.

UN and Red Cross Pulling Out of Iraq

The United Nations said on Oct. 29 that it was temporarily pulling its remaining international staff out of Baghdad, after the deadly suicide car bombing Oct 27, at the Baghdad headquarters of the Red Cross. Secretary General Kofi Annan told Associated Press that the UN wished to reassess the situation overall, as well as the UN's position in Iraq, given that, "we seem to be entering a new phase with the attacks of the last 72 hours."

The International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, said they, too, were pulling their workers out of Baghdad. The Red Cross withdrawal of its personnel came despite a personal appeal from Secretary of State Colin Powell to remain in Baghdad, because "if they are driven out, then the terrorists win."

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