Southwest Asia News Digest
New Israeli Soldiers' Group Exposes Abuse Of Palestinians
Human rights groups and Palestinians have long accused Israeli troops of acts of barbarity against Palestinians, but the fact that IDF soldiers are now coming forward with their stories has forced IDF chief Gen. Moshe Ya'alon to admit that the string of recent cases "seem to call into question the moral standard of IDF soldiers." Ya'alon told reporters, last week, that he had spent much of the last two weeks meeting with officers in the field to discuss the allegations. One of recent infamous cases involves an Israeli army captain's killing of a 13-year-old school girl. Israel's channel 2 television aired radio transmissions of that incident. One group of soldiers claimed she was a potential suicide bomber, but she was merely carrying a bookbag, and was allegedly shot several times by a soldier, after she was already helpless on the ground.
Yehuda Shaul, an organizer of a group of soldiers called "Breaking the Silence," wrote on the organization's website that this type of behavior by the Israeli army is typical, not the exception. Yagil Levy, an author and political sociology professor who studies trends in the Israeli military, say that those who argue that this is deviant behavior are wrong. "They don't understand the occupation has corrupted the soldiers and changed their mode of fighting. It's not fighting against an army, but policing among populations."
Barghouti Files for Palestinian Presidency from Prison
Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian leader who has been imprisoned by the Israelis since 2002, has announced his candidacy for President in the Jan. 9, 2005 elections. In polls reported on Dec. 7-8, Barghouti was shown to poll higher than all other candidates, including Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who has the endorsement of Fatah, the largest party in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and the party which Marwan Barghouti heads, in the West Bank. Barghouti, is considered internationallyespecially by some pro-peace Israeli circlesas the "Palestinian Mandela," and has the strongest following of any leader besides Arafat.
But, ironically, as the Palestinian elections nearthe first after the death of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafatboth Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush, who tried to "sideline" Arafat, are in trouble. Sharon finds himself without a coalition, and George W. Bush, finds himself without allies, and without a policy for Southwest Asia.
Arab observers say that recent events in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and in the Palestinian territories are putting more pressure than ever on Bush to come up with a "success" in the Israel-Palestine strife to cover for the other disasters in the region.
Monday, Dec. 6 began for Bush, with a major leak in the New York Times, reporting that the CIA station chief in Baghdad had filed a report, warning that the insurgency in Iraq is not at all defeated, and larger than reported. The CIA report came when there were 1,000 U.S. troop deathsnow there are nearly 1,300 dead U.S. soldiers.
Also on Dec. 6, in Saudi Arabia, which was once the key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, five employees of the American consulate in Jeddahall of them "foreign service nationals"were killed when gunmen attacked the U.S. compound. Several Americans were slightly injured, and four of the attackers, who the U.S. claims are from al-Qaeda, were also killed. Terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, which used to be a rarity, are now commonplace; the U.S. was also attacked in May 2004.
A former Middle East diplomat told EIR that some polls in Saudi Arabia have shown 98% of the population to be anti-American, and one of the main reasons for this has been the total inaction of the U.S. in the face of massive injuries of Palestinian civilians, including children, by Israeli military attacks. Many Palestinians are being treated in Saudi hospitals, he said, recounting the story of a seven-year-old Palestinian boy who begged a Saudi man to tell him if his missing arm and leg, lost in an Israeli attack, would grow back.
Other American officials report that public opinion toward the U.S. in many other Arab countries, is similarly low, a view confirmed by a report issued in September by the Defense Science Board report, a Pentagon advisory group.
In this context, Arab world and European leaders are making clear to Bush that he must force Israel into talks that can be called "the peace process." Sharon has said that he will not talk with any Palestinian until after the elections, but regional security may not last till then, before blowing up.
Sharon, however, is in trouble; he now commands only 40 out of 120 seats in the Knesset, and it would be only a matter of time before he is felled by a no-confidence vote. So, negotiations are underway to try to create a Likud-Labor "unity government," with even the most rabid opponents to the coalition with Labor, such as Finance Minister Bibi Netanyahu, coming to heel. But another stumbling block is that Labor is demanding the Likud austerity budget be scrapped.
On the Palestinian side, on Dec. 1, the situation became even more complicated for Bush, when Marwan Barghouti filed his candidacy for the Presidential election, through his wife Fadwa, who filed the necessary $3,000 needed to qualify as a candidate. Prior to that, Barghouti said he would back PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who has support in Washington.
There is massive pressure now on Barghouti to withdraw as a candidate. Farouk Khaddoumi, the new head of Fatah, the largest group in the PLO has threatened to expel Barghouti from the organization for opposing Abu Mazen. Arab sources report that Abu Mazen is telling all Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islami Jihad, with whom he met last week in Damascus, that the Palestinians must back him as President, and test whether Bush will force Israel to adhere to the Road Map.
In contrast to Abu Mazen, says Fadwa Barghouti, "Marwan's message is that there can be no negotiations without resistance and no resistance without negotiations."
And, despite the wishes of Bush, Sharon, or whoever, Barghouti still has an edge over Abu Mazen in several elections polls. An Israeli source, who enjoys a longstanding dialogue with the Palestinians, reports that there is speculation that a deal could be made where Barghouti would withdraw and then become Abu Mazen's deputy. Whatever the case, Barghouti is on his way to becoming the Palestinian Nelson Mandela, who led South Africa's African National Congress for 25 years from a prison cell, only to become President of South Africa after the apartheid regime was dismantled.
Political Shocker for Sharon: Raid on AIPAC Offices
On Dec. 1, a major shock hit Ariel Sharon's U.S. allies, when the FBIwith guns drawnraided the number one Israeli lobby group in the U.S., the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as part of an espionage investigation that surfaced last August. AIPAC posted a statement that condemned "baseless allegations," and promised it would not be deterred from its "central mission": trying to set U.S. policy in the Middle East. By Dec. 2, Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was meeting with American Jewish leaders, trying to calm them down over two things: the AIPAC raid, and the rumors that Bush would force Sharon into negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israel Interferes With Palestinian Elections
Israel's is doing everything possible, short of killing Marwan Barghouti, to sabotage his chances in the Jan. 9 elections for the Presidency of the Palestinian Authority. For the last year, only his attorney has been allowed to meet him in prison; not even his wife has been able to see him. Now, suddenly, Israel has allowed visits of several Palestinians who have been deployed to convince him to withdraw from the campaign. Palestinian sources are also claiming Barghouti would consider withdrawing if Abu Mazen accepts certain demands.
Israel is also preventing other candidates from freely participating in the elections. The independent candidate, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti (a distant cousin of Marwan) who is also a leading human rights activist and medical doctor, has been refused entry into the Gaza Strip to campaign. Even in the West Bank he has been harassed, and on Dec. 8, he was prevented, at gun point, from entering the West Bank city of Hebron by Israeli military authorities. The same had happened at other locations.
Despite statements that it would allow "free elections" to be held, Israel has not changed its occupation regime. The brutal checkpoints continue, cities continue to be under siege, and on Dec. 9, Israel launched another "targetted assassination" in the Gaza Strip. Although it failed, it is clear the action was calculated to provoke a retaliation which Sharon can use to sabotage and peace negotiations.
Bush Told: Fire Rumsfeld Over Iraq Armor Scandal
Following an incident in which Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sarcastically answered the question of an American soldier in Iraq, as to why the American forces do not have armor for their trucks and transport vehicles, calls have gone out for Rumsfeld to be fired.
The White House tried to "weasel" out of the soldier's sharp question by spreading the line that a reportera species despised by White House top dogs such as Karl Rovehad prepped the soldier on the question, but within the week, the Pentagon ordered the armor manufacturing company to increase its monthly production by 100 unitsfrom 450 to 550per month.
Leading members of the Congress and Senate are not fooled by the White House ducking the issue.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), in a letter to President George Bush dated Dec. 10, wrote that, "As a former soldier, I cannot believe that a Secretary of Defense would be so dismissive of requests for protective gear by our people in uniform.... I strongly urge you to ask for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation and replace him with someone more sympathetic to what our men and women in uniform face in Iraq and elsewhere." Lautenberg concluded that, "Men and women under your command are not being well served by their leader, Secretary Rumsfeld. I hope you use this opportunity to take steps needed to rebuild the trust our soldiers deserve in their civilian leaders."
On the House side, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo), the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, wrote to Bush asking, since Congress has provided additional funds for meeting the armor needs of troops in Iraq, "why isn't all of the available industrial capacity [to produce armored humvees and armor kits] being used? How are we energizing the industrial base to provide armor for the full range of ground vehicles in the theater?"
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