DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: MIDDLE EAST
SUBSECTION: ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Revised 8/20/99
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
World Tribune.com 3/5/99 "…Palestinian Authority officials said on Thursday that the United States has quietly accepted the principle of an independent Palestinian state. Officials said President Bill Clinton is prepared to accept and recognize a Palestinian state but is pressing that the PA delay an announcement of statehood on May 4. But, they said, the Clinton administration has signalled its willingness to raise the level of diplomatic ties with the PA. "The difference is over timing," said Hassan Abdul Rahim, the Palestinian envoy in Washington…."I think that there will be significant changes in the U.S. dealings with the Palestinians," PA Minister Hassan Asfour said. "The United States will seek to maintain stability and prevent an explosion." …"
Statements that the PLO has renounced terrorism
Statements that the PLO has amended its covenant to eliminate calls for the destruction of Isreal and murder of Jews
Statement that the PLO has cooperated in the prosecution of Palestinians accused of killing Americans (e.g. Abul Abbas, Achille Lauro, murder of Leon Klinghoffer)
The Indian Express 10/27/98 Reuters ".An Israeli guard at a power plant was shot dead in the West Bank Monday and a Palestinian man was beaten to death in what appeared to be a tit-for-tat killing. The incidents, which Israeli police said were not necessarily linked, were likely to raise tensions among Jewish settlers and Palestinian militants over the land-for-security deal Israel and the Palestinians signed in Washington Friday, reports Reuters.."
The Indian Express Agence France-Presse 10/27/98 ".The United States has warned Israel and the Palestinians that it will oppose attempts by both sides to take unilateral action to resolve disputes. The warning came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Jerusalem yesterday that the interim accord he signed with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Friday did not place limits on expanding Jewish settlements, reports AFP. Arafat, for his part, said he had retained the right to declare Palestinian Statehood. "As regards to the possibility of unilateral declaration of Statehood or other unilateral actions by either party outside the negotiating process .. the U.S opposes and will oppose any such unilateral actions," State Department spokesman James Rubin said. The Wye River memorandum signed by Netanyahu and Arafat states that, "neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza strip in accordance with the interim agreement."."
Chicago Tribune 10/27/98 John Kass ".The White House is proclaiming that President Clinton is a tough guy on foreign affairs. Clinton imps-thinking about the November elections-are trying to convince us that Clinton pushed around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu over the issue of the American traitor-spy Jonathan Pollard..Their story was that Netanyahu brought up Pollard's release on the last day of the Middle East peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Reports had it that Netanyahu was ready to break off the talks if Pollard wasn't freed. The White House imps told the tale of how Bill got tough with Bibi. Clinton told him no! No! No! It won't happen. Forget about it. Just like a real tough guy. Netanyahu stuck around and the accords were signed. Clinton got what he wanted. He got a photo opportunity. He got to look like a president for the television cameras. There was Clinton with Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Jordan's King Hussein. There are a few problems with this. Credibility is one: Our president isn't getting high marks for honesty lately. Then there are the news reports out Monday that portray Clinton as something other than a tough guy. The New York Post reported that on the first day of the summit, Oct. 15, Clinton promised to release Pollard. But the Post said that Clinton backed down after Republican leaders, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich, strongly objected. When the deal was being discussed, the first to object was CIA Director George Tenet. The paper reported that the Pollard deal was then leaked to several Republicans "who are known as staunch supporters of Israel," and they even told Clinton not to do it. Then Bill backed down and broke his word to Bibi, the Post reported. You could understand Bibi's anger. Clinton made a promise.. We called the White House for a comment on these stories Monday. Guess what? The imps were silent.."
NPR Freeper Report 11/2/98 ".The Wye Agreement between the Palestinians and Israel, timed to go into effect on election eve, has been delayed for at least 10 days by the Israelis Meanwhile, in contravention of the terms of the agreement the Israelis have started construction of 200 new homes on the West Bank, This will severely aggravate the Palestinians At the same time, Hamas is declaring Arafat an enemy of it's cause.."
Mixed foreign policy signals from President Clinton, his administration and his wife concerning Israel have contributed to the instability in the region. According to Oslo Accords, Jerusalem is one of several key issues to be settled by Israel and Palestinians during the final status peace talks for a permanent peace agreement. Security for Israel has not been achieved as envisioned under the accords. Israel plans an expansion of Jerusalem which is not approved by the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, said 7/1/98 that the battle for Jerusalem is one of life and death and the Palestinians will not surrender in getting the city back to the hands of the Palestinian people: "There will be no peace, no security and no stability in Jerusalem without it being returned to the Palestinians"
6/30/98 Israel TV ". Our correspondent Qobi Marenko reports: [Marenko - recording] Israeli scientists have only been allowed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] in the past few years, mainly for study purposes. This, however, is no longer the case. In recent weeks, the director of the Israeli Space Agency received a letter notifying him of sanctions that have been imposed on Israeli scientists. The US administration believes that Israel has violated the MTCR and transferred technology to prohibited countries, especially China. It has therefore been decided to add Israel to the blacklist that includes countries such as Iran, North Korea, Iraq, India and China. .On the practical level, Israeli scientists are now asked to plan their visits to NASA a long time in advance, and they will have to be accompanied by American escorts in view of the concern that the Israelis will steal technological know-how." (Compare this with non-sanctions of and technology transfers to China.)
7/7/98 AP United Nations "The General Assembly voted today to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of a virtual state, frustrating U.S. efforts to keep the issue outside the world body. The assembly voted 124 in favor and 4 against the Arab-sponsored resolution, with 10 abstentions.With the new designation, Palestinian representatives could raise issues of the peace process in the assembly, co-sponsor draft resolutions on Mideast peace and have the right of reply. ."
7/9/98 The Jerusalem Post Esther Wachsman "For many Israelis, the word "reciprocity" is at best another cliched slogan; at worst, an excuse not to continue with our retreat as part of the peace process. For us, the bereaved parents, reciprocity means the Palestinian Authority handing over to Israel the Palestinian murderers of Israelis.
Reuters 7/11/98 Daniel Sternoff "Israel's military believes a deadlock in Middle East peacemaking has increased the likelihood of war in 1999, Israeli security sources said on Friday. The sources confirmed a report in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that a key national security appraisal being drafted by army intelligence raises the chances of armed conflict with the Palestinians and perhaps Syria in 1999."
7/11/98 Nidal Al-Mughrabi Reuters ".Arafat left Gaza for Egypt earlier on Saturday. He is due to travel to China for talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin on the Middle East peace process after visiting Gadhafi. "
7/13/98 DAWN "Iranian Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani said Israel would not dare attack Iran's nuclear installations because it would be made to pay a heavy price, in an interview published here on Sunday.."Israel represents a danger for our national security," Shamkhani told Al-Ittihad newspaper in the United Arab Emirates. "If they want to (attack), let them try because we will retaliate ... and make the aggressor suffer a severe setback," he said .."
7/14/98 Hong Kong Standard ".After a warm welcome on Tiananmen Square, which was identical to that given to President Bill Clinton when he visited Beijing last month, Mr Arafat and his host entered the Great Hall of the People for formal talks. Both Chinese and Palestinian officials said the Middle East peace process would top the list of topics for discussion. Mr Arafat told the official Xinhua News Agency on Sunday that he was looking to his visit to China to force Israel to agree to a troop withdrawal from the West Bank and avoid an ``explosion'' in the Middle East.."
7/13/98 Hindustan Times/Indian Express "Palestinian president Yasser Arafat today supported Pakistan's nuclear-tests saying if Israel possesses nuclear weapons then why Pakistan cannot have the nuclear capability. Addressing mediapersons at Islamabad airport during his brief stopover before leaving for Beijing, Arafat said Arab and Muslim countries backed Pakistan for its nuclear tests. There was a very positive and strong reaction from the Muslim world to Pakistan's nuclear tests, he added.."
7/14/98 Stratfor Intelligence Briefing "Israel radio on Monday, July 13, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly with seven cabinet ministers for the third time on Sunday, to develop a "strategic policy" for dealing with the Arab Israeli population. The secret committee, including intelligence and security officials, reportedly determined that a "tough hand" may be needed to handle an increasing fanatical and fundamentalist tendency among the Arab Israelis, who comprise roughly 18 percent of Israel's population. Israel is feeling pressure from the Palestinians, neighboring Arab states, and even the United States, and is preparing for trouble.."
Richard Benedetto USA Today via Washington Times Greg Pierce 7/14/98 ".the White House denied that Mrs. Clinton's remark reflected official policy, analysts say it "has been taken by both the Palestinians and Israelis as a reflection of White House sentiment, if not policy," Mr. Benedetto said. "And that, they suggest, has led both sides to take tougher lines in the negotiations. Two months later, the stalemate continues." The columnist added: "Analysts such as John Bolton, an assistant secretary of state in the Bush administration and now with the American Enterprise Institute, say the first lady's statement, followed by tougher U.S. rhetoric against Israel, helped set up last Tuesday's dramatic pro-Palestinian vote in the United Nations." And the first lady's statement "telegraphed to [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat that the United States was moving toward his side and that if he just held out a little longer, the Palestinians eventually would get their way."."
Jerusalem Post Douglas Davis 7/24/98 ".The US has delivered a harshly worded letter to Israel, accusing it of violating the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) by selling radar technology associated with the Arrow-2 anti-missile system to India.According to the London-based newsletter Foreign Report yesterday,American officials also summoned Defense Ministry Director-General Ilan Biran to the US Embassy "in order to vent their anger in person." The Americans said that although the Arrow itself, as a defensive missile,does not fall under the guidelines of the MTCR, its components may be used in offensive missiles, and sales of this equipment would therefore contravene the MTCR. The newsletter quotes sources in Washington as saying the US reprimand is a direct outgrowth of the current strained relations between Washington and Jerusalem and places itherto suppressed US grievances into the public agenda. Israeli sources have retorted that the US complaint is "hypocritical," the newsletter says."
The Los Angeles Times 8/10/98 Yisrael Medad "[E ]ven in Israel, few people doubt that in May of 1999 , Yasser Arafat , the chairman and erstwhile president of the Palestinian Authority , will declare the establishment of the independent and sovereign state of Palestine.Just days ago, the much hailed Hanan Ashrawi, minister for tourism, resigned from Arafat's new Palestinian Cabinet. Her reason? Not enough was being done to stop corruption in the Palestinian Authority. The new Cabinet has been widely criticized because last year a special internal report accused many of the ministers of corruption . Further criticism regarding corruption came from a Palestinian human rights group that insisted that the expanded Cabinet will continue corruption and will deprive those in greatest need of their human rights.Arafat's Palestine, even limited as it is, is but one more authoritarian entity. The people in charge embezzle; Arab real estate agents who preferred to do business with Jews were murdered; other Arabs suspected of crimes were tortured and killed . Israel, too, has not enjoyed the fruits of Oslo. Palestinian breaches of the accords include weapons smuggling, a larger-than-authorized police force and failure to combat terrorism. The murder of two young Jewish residents of a community in Samaria, near the large Arab city of Nablus, was not condemned by Arafat. His spokesman, Marwan Barghouti, implied that settlers, viewed as "terrorists" by Arabs, are fair game. Arafat has ignored his obligations to extradite Arab murderers of Israelis who are kept in his lax correctional units, usually with the cell doors open.Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is lambasted by U.S. State Department officials in public and behind the scenes. He is insisting on the paramount concern for Israel's security, without which the Oslo peace process will not proceed. Netanyahu's is a forceful voice . But , Who will speak for the unfortunate Palestinians
Wall Street Journal 8/8/98 Robert Pollock "Guess the origin of the following declarations: "Zionism is . . . a racist and fanatical movement in its formation: aggressive, expansionist and colonialist in its aims; and fascist and Nazi in its means." "The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of Israel is fundamentally null and void, whatever time has elapsed." "Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine and is therefore a strategy and not tactics." No, they don't come from a "fringe" Palestinian terrorist group like Hamas. They come from the Palestinian National Covenant, also know as the Palestine Liberation Organization Charter.."
Jerusalem Post 9/4/98 Arieh O'Sullivan "Israel's got the defense technology. China wants it. Defense industry executives are trying to keep arms deals secret and the US is looking warily over Israel's shoulder, concerned about its links with Beijing. President Jiang Zemin of China was meeting with an important guest in a pond-side pagoda-style house Wednesday morning.. Defense Ministry officials here pleaded with the journalists accompanying Mordechai not to report on any possible deals,, claiming the Chinese were ultra-sensitive to publicity and any report that appeared would likely scuttle the deal. The industrialists here include the heads of Israel Aircraft Industries, Rafael, TAAS-Israel Industries, El-Op, Tadiran, Rada, Elissra and Elbit. They sell anything from aircraft upgrades to targeting systems to communications. One transaction currently under way is the sale to Beijing of a Phalcon airborne early-warning and control system (AWACS)."
Global Intelligence Update/Stratfor 10/5/98 ".Thus, the 1973 dynamic appears to be caught in cross-currents. The willingness of the United States to continue to sell weapons to Israel is not gone, but the strict national interest of the United States no longer demands it. That may change, but for now it is in doubt. That means that the ability of Israeli to impose a quick and decisive victory in conventional war cannot simply be assumed. Russia's re-emergence may change this, but that is in the future. Second, the relevance of conventional strategic evaluations in the face of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is in serious doubt. More precisely, Israel must somehow create a credible deterrent in addition to fielding a conventional force. The price will be high.."
WorldNetDaily 10/6/98 Kaye Corbett "JERUSALEM -- While the world continues to discuss Clinton's sincapades, a small group of religious zealots, known as the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, could bring this planet to the brink of World War III tomorrow morning. Led by expert researcher and lecturer, Gershon Salomon, the group intends to lay a 4.5 ton marble cornerstone for the building of the Third Temple at the location of the First and Second Temples. Salomon has explained the date was selected because it coincides with the third day of the festival of Succot (Feast of Tabernacles) when King David, supposedly, brought the Ark of the Covenant from the City of David to the Temple Mount. Now under Islamic rule, the Har Habayit (Temple Mount) is the most important holy site in Jewish history and the Temple's restoration is even part of every observant Jews' prescribed prayer. In October 1990, 17 Palestinians were killed when it was rumored throughout the Islamic quarters that the Israeli "infidels" were taking over the Temple Mount. Even a month later, Muslim youth were still throwing rocks at anyone who approached the area.."
NY Post 10/12/98 Uri dan "Just days before Thursday's peace summit in Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet is strongly opposing a U.S.-authored plan for an Israeli pullback in the West Bank. The ministers say they will oppose an American initiative for Israeli troops to withdraw from 13 percent of the West Bank, an Israeli newspaper reported yesterday... It was also reported that the Cabinet will inform Netanyahu it will only authorize implementing any deal after the Palestinians fulfill a series of demands. Some of the demands include disarming militants and annulling sections of the PLO charter. Since beginning negotiations, Netanyahu has come under heavy pressure from far-right members of his coalition government, who have threatened to topple him if he goes ahead with another pullback.. Netanyahu also attended the funeral of a 19-year-old Israeli soldier stabbed to death by a Palestinian just outside a West Bank settlement. There, the prime minister blamed Palestinian radio and television for broadcasting words of hate and incitement and encouragement for murderous acts.."
ARUTZ 7 ISRAEL 10/15/98 "Farouk Kadoumi, head of the PLO's diplomatic desk, says that a Palestinian state will be established in May 1999, and that it will wage war against Israel. In an interview published in the Palestinian Authority's newspaper Al Hayat al-Jadeeda, Kadoumi said that after the new state is recognized by most of the world, the Palestinians will use their weapons to fight against the Israeli presence on what he called "Palestinian lands." He said that the only differences between Hamas and the PLO involve the tactics by which to reach their common goal. David Bar-Illan, a top Netanyahu media advisor, said in response, "Kadoumi has shown the true face of Palestinian intentions - war with Israel."."
Reuters 10/19/98 ".Israel postponed a set of talks with Palestinians at the Middle East summit in Maryland Monday in response to a grenade attack which wounded more than 60 people in Beersheba, in southern Israel. In a statement issued at Wye Plantation after the Israeli ''kitchen cabinet'' discussed the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office also said that the Israeli delegation would not stay at the summit indefinitely. It said the Israelis had planned to meet the Palestinians Monday to discuss opening an airport in the Gaza Strip but had now decided to postpone that meeting. The airport was only one of many subjects on the agenda at the talks, now in their fifth day with no deal in sight.."
AP 10-18-98 ".U.S. President Bill Clinton aims to put pressure on Israel by threatening to recognize a Palestinian state this spring if the two sides don't reach an agreement at the Mideast summit outside Washington, Israel's army radio reported Sunday. The report, citing an unidentified American official, said Clinton would use the tactic to try to propel Israel to accept a long-sought after deal with the Palestinians, under which Israel would withdraw from 13 percent of the West Bank in exchange for security guarantees. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has said he would declare a Palestinian state unilaterally in May 1999, when the interim peace talks between the sides are set to expire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened unspecified unilateral steps in response that could include annexing chunks of the West Bank.."
Reuters/Yahoo! 10/21/98 ".A senior Israeli official at a peace summit in the United States said Wednesday that the Palestinians had not yet met Israel's key demands on security issues needed to close a deal. The official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's communications adviser David Bar-Illan, accused the Palestinian delegation of spreading ``disinformation and rumors'' about the extent of progress towards a land-and-security agreement. ``We have not received any plan for fighting terrorism. There is no agreement on convening the PNC (Palestinian parliament-in-exile) to change the covenant. There is no agreement on arrests (of Palestinian militants)...and certainly not on extraditing terrorists,'' Bar-Illan told Israel Radio's English language service correspondent David Ze'ev.."
NY Post 10/22/98 Uri Dan ".The weeklong Mideast summit conference teetered on the brink of collapse yesterday because of what Israel called an amazing Clinton administration about-face..But the Israelis said several American officials, including State Department special envoy Dennis Ross and CIA Director George Tenet, led them to believe that once Israel had made the concessions, the U.S. would back their demands that Arafat take steps to fight terrorism. The Israelis expected their demands - including the arrest of Palestinian terrorists, the seizure of illegal weapons and the abolition of the Palestinian Covenant - would be detailed in a draft agreement presented by Clinton at the 90-minute meeting Tuesday night. But one Israeli negotiator told The Post: We were amazed. The draft contained no specifics. No dates and no connection between the phases of retreat and security commitments. When Clinton defended the paper as only a draft, the Israelis wanted to know when they would see a real document, sources said But at 2:30 a.m. yesterday Secretary of State Madeleine Albright delivered the bad news when she called Netanyahu to wish him a happy 49th birthday. Albright told Netanyahu the Palestinians had rejected all the security demands.."
New York Post 10/25/98 John Podhoretz ".ONLY when Jews stop dying as the result of Palestinian terror in the streets of Israel will we know that the new deal between Yasser Arafat and Bibi Netanyahu has any meaning. In October 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo accords. In the five years since, 231 Israelis have been killed and more than 1,000 have been injured in terrorist attacks by Palestinians inside Israel - more than ever before in the country's history. Israel is a nation with a population of 5.6 million, as opposed to the 280 million who live in the United States. Imagine that the United States was beset by a comparable level of terrorism. That would mean more than 30,000 Americans would have been killed or injured by terrorists in the previous five years.."
New York Post 10/25/98 Uri Dan ".President Clinton promised Israel the release of spy Jonathan Pollard on the first day of the Mideast summit, but backed down after some GOP congressmen objected, The Post has learned. U.S. officials maintain no promises were made to free Pollard, who spied on the United States for Israel. But Israeli officials say a deal was struck quietly on Oct. 15, when the nine-day summit got under way. The plan to turn Pollard over to Israel first hit a snag when CIA head George Tenet objected to releasing the convicted spy. Then the deal was leaked to several House members, prompting House Speaker Newt Gingrich to call Clinton and protest. What happened was that several Republicans who are known as staunch supporters of Israel ... sent messages to the president not to do it, an Israeli official told The Post. The president then got cold feet and went back on his promise to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stunning Netanyahu and threatening the accord on the summit's final day. Instead, Clinton pledged only to review Pollard's case.. The Post also learned that an addendum to the Mideast peace deal was signed Friday by Tenet and the chiefs of both Israeli and Palestinian security. The agreement details measures to be taken by the Israelis and Palestinians when either side gets hold of intelligence data on planned terrorist attacks.."
The Washington Post AP Mariam Sami 10/25/98 ".In a major rupture within the ranks of the Palestinian leadership, members of Yasser Arafat's political faction fought Palestinian security forces with rocks and bullets Sunday. Two people were hurt, one seriously. The fighting followed a bid by Palestinian military intelligence to seize unlicensed weapons and inspect files belonging to Arafat's Fatah faction. A crackdown on illegal arms was among tough new security measures Arafat agreed to at last week's Israeli-Palestinian summit. The clash alarmed Palestinian leaders, who fear that the pressures of putting the U.S.-brokered agreement into effect will wind up pitting Palestinian against Palestinian. Many of its provisions, such as reining in Islamic militants and halting anti-Israel incitement, are extremely unpopular and will be difficult politically for Arafat's government to impose.."
Voice of America 10/25/98 Al Pessin ".israeli settlers on the west bank blocked roads and clashed with police sunday to protest the latest israeli-palestinian peace accord, which would give more west-bank land to the palestinians. in addition, palestinian police arrested some opponents of the autonomy authority and even clashed violently with some of its supporters. correspondent al pessin reports from jerusalem. the settlers staged sit-ins and prayer services at key road junctions throughout the west bank, snarling morning traffic. police had been deployed in force, expecting such protests, and moved in to clear the roads and prevent confrontations between the protesters and palestinian motorists.."
The Washington Times 10/26/98 Joyce Howard Price "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed yesterday to fight the creation of a Palestinian state, but the chief Arab negotiator insisted a separate Palestinian state is "inevitable" if Israel wants peace. In another possible stumbling block for the interim peace agreement signed Friday on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Senate Select Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby said yesterday he's "troubled" by plans to have the CIA monitor Palestinian anti-terrorist activity and will hold hearings on the question. "What is the role of the CIA? Is it to enforce a policy? Is it to be an arbitrator? Is it to be bodyguards? ... I think we have to look at this," the Alabama Republican said on "Fox News Sunday." In the hearings, he said, "We want to know how it is going to work, how long the CIA will be involved, how much it's going to cost and what are the dangers to the American lives here.".CBS reported that House Speaker Newt Gingrich agrees and believes the Pollard question should be taken off the table in any future negotiations. Joseph diGenova, the one-time federal prosecutor who headed the team that helped convict Pollard, opposed the spy's release in the strongest terms yet. "If this president releases Jonathan Pollard, his legacy will be [that] it's OK to lie and it's OK to spy. ... It will be one of the most disgraceful acts by an American president in the history of this country," he said on ABC's "This Week." ."
Reuters 10/26/98 ".The United States told its friends in the Arab world Monday it expected gestures toward Israel in recognition of the commitments Israel made in the agreement signed with the Palestinians last week. Washington wants the Arab states to rejoin multilateral talks, help the Palestinians economically and restart the process of normalization which most have abandoned, State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters.."
The Hindu 10/27/98 Sridhar Krishnaswami ".While the Clinton White House and the Democrats are trying to make the most out of the recently-initialled Wye River Memorandum, there is growing evidence that the accord may face trouble in the United States itself, let alone what is happening in Israel or in Palestinian areas. The top Republican leadership has come out swinging against the pact on two grounds - linkages, if any, to the release of the convicted American spy Jonathan Pollard, and the role of the Central Intelligence Agency in monitoring the security aspect of the memorandum.."
Israel Wire Reuters 10/27/98 ".Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean- Louis Tauran said on Monday Jerusalem was too sacred for its future to be decided only by Israelis and the PLO Authority (PA). "The Holy See believes in the importance of extending the representation at the negotiating table in order to be sure that no aspect of the problems is overlooked and to affirm that the whole international community is responsible for the uniqueness and the sacredness of this incomparable city," Tauran said.."
New York Post 10/28/98 Uri Dan ".Less than a week after reaching a U.S.-brokered peace accord, Israeli and Palestinian officials clashed yesterday about the terms, putting its implementation in doubt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indefinitely postponed a Cabinet vote on the Wye accord that had been scheduled for tomorrow. Netanyahu's office said Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority had reneged on a promise to present Israel with a detailed security plan to fight terrorism. Officials in Jerusalem said the Wye agreement called for the Palestinians to turn over the plan following last Friday's signing ceremony at the White House. As of yesterday, the Israelis had gotten nothing from Arafat..Another controversy broke out over the wording of a part of the accord that calls for the Palestinian National Council to meet in December. The Israelis contend the accord requires Arafat to convene the 600-member council - to repeal the PLO Covenant, which endorses an armed struggle to destroy Israel. But the Palestinians say the word used in the Wye memorandum is invite, not convene, and what will happen in December is not a formal council session, but a festival of peace.Israeli officials said if the Palestinian council fails to repeal the covenant, Netanyahu could respond by halting the turnover of West Bank land, and place the future of the entire Wye agreement in doubt.."
Reuters 10/28/98 ".An Israeli who has labored for years to win the release of American spy Jonathan Pollard said Wednesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spat with President Clinton on the issue seriously harmed Pollard's cause..Dror said the key to Pollard's release was quiet diplomacy and a strong showing of Israeli remorse. He said Netanyahu's decision last May to recognize Pollard as its spy and the recent rush by Israeli officials, including top cabinet ministers, to visit Pollard in his prison cell may have undermined his cause. "This is a terrible mistake. It makes people in Washington feel Israel is proud of what Jonathan did. The perception is that the government is trying to paint Pollard as a national hero,'' he added."
Israel Wire 10/28/98 ".Israel issued a complaint to the United States on Tuesday that Palestinians officials are saying the Wye Memorandum does not require them to convene the Palestine National Council to cancel the articles of the Palestine Liberation Organization charter that call for Israel's destruction, HA'ARETZ reported. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said during an appearance on Palestinian television on Monday that PNC and PLO members would gather "only to listen to President Bill Clinton." The official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote that the Wye accord requires that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and the PNC chair merely to invite the body's members to a gathering "at which Clinton will speak in order to emphasize his commitment to the peace process." In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there is "not a shadow of a doubt" that the Wye agreement requires the PA to convene the full membership of the PNC "without exceptions," in order to ratify the decision to cancel the clauses in the PLO Covenant that call for Israel's destruction.."
AP 10/29/98 ".A bomb exploded Thursday at a Gaza intersection used by Israeli settlers, killing one person and wounding another, Israel radio reported. Calling the incident a terror attack, the radio report said the explosives were apparently in a car. The intersection is near the main Jewish settlement block in the Gaza Strip.."
NPR Freeper Report 11/2/98 ".The Wye Agreement between the Palestinians and Israel, timed to go into effect on election eve, has been delayed for at least 10 days by the Israelis Meanwhile, in contravention of the terms of the agreement the Israelis have started construction of 200 new homes on the West Bank, This will severely aggravate the Palestinians At the same time, Hamas is declaring Arafat an enemy of it's cause.."
Arabicnews.com 11/4/98 ".US White House spokesman Joe Lockhart yesterday voiced support for the Palestinian efforts to facilitate the Wye Plantation agreement with Israel, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed any Israeli action on each of the last three days. Lockhart said, "We believe that the Palestinians have done everything they're supposed to do for the agreement to enter into force.".Netanyahu's media advisor said that the Palestinians have not completed the security plan and that Israel will wait until the Palestinians submit a new plan to the US. He also indicated that Netanyahu had spoken today with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and told her that the Israeli government cannot consider approving an partial agreement."
Freeper holden reports 11/6/98 from Jerusalem (NOS-TT (Netherlands Teletext), translated)-".A bomb exploded at a Jerusalem market this morning. Two perpetrators died, and 21 bystanders were wounded. Responsibility for the bombing was claimed by the terrorist group, Hamas.. Palestinian Authority Leader Arafat immediately condemned the attack. Premier Netanyahu immediately gave orders concerning the start of construction of a disputed Jewish settlement Har Homa in East Jerusalem. The follow-up to the Wye Plantation Agreement has come in doubt due to the explosion. The Israeli cabinet delayed ratification at least temporarily, until it would be discussed further, at 1pm. The stumbling block at this time is the demand that the Palestinian National Council remove its stated goal of the destruction of the State of Israel. Chairman Arafat voice his support for the Wye Agreement, but other Palestinian leaders advised against an early vote on the matter. Arafat has already completed the Israeli demand for the arrest of thirty named terrorists.."
Official Palestinian Television/Israel Wire 11/8/98 Freeper Informer reports Following are excerpts from a religious program broadcast on official PLO Authority (PA) television on November 3, The program appeared just 11 days after the signing of the Wye River Memorandum, in which the Palestinian Authority committed itself to halt incitement and hostile propaganda. "There is no light nor teaching in their Torah today. Their Torah today is just a collection of writings in which those people wrote lies about God, His prophets and His teachings. the Jews are the seed of Satan and the devils.. "
Israel Wire 11/12/98 ".According to the daily Ma'ariv, Israel has made it clear to the United States that if attacked, it feels free to respond as it sees fit. Top Israeli officials have made this position known to the US on several fronts including the telephone conversation earlier this week between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Clinton.."
The Washington Times 11/12/98 Bill Gertz ".The Justice Department is being forced to take a back seat to the White House in setting up a presidential review of whether Jonathan Jay Pollard, convicted of spying for Israel, should be pardoned, according to U.S. officials. The move has upset some officials in the Justice Department, which strongly opposes the release of the American intelligence analyst. Meanwhile, a Clinton administration official confirmed yesterday that CIA Director George Tenet nearly resigned over a proposal to release Pollard from his life prison term. The issue came up during negotiations on Maryland's Eastern Shore last month that resulted in the interim Middle East peace settlement..The National Security Council staff is working with White House lawyers on the pardon issue, which nearly derailed the agreement reached last month between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thought President Clinton had agreed to Pollard's immediate release as part of the Wye memorandum, but the president insisted he only promised to review the case..Normally, the Office of Pardon Attorney at Justice receives and reviews all petitions for executive clemency, initiates the necessary investigations and prepares recommendations to the president in connection with all forms of executive clemency, including pardon, commutation of sentence, remission of fine and reprieve. In the past, the pardon attorney has made recommendations for all clemency-related matters. Officials said this time is different because Pollard's release was raised as part of the Mideast peace negotiations. Pollard worked as a civilian intelligence analyst at the Naval Investigative Service and provided a huge volume of classified documents to a special Israeli intelligence unit.."
AP 11/15/98 ".Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sunday hinted at armed conflict with Israel, warning darkly that ``our rifle is ready,'' and repeating that he will declare statehood next year. A senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Arafat's comments were a ``declaration of war on the peace process.'' David Bar-Illan told The Associated Press that Netanyahu ``views such statements with the utmost severity,'' and would bring them up when his Cabinet meets later this week. ."
BBC 11/16/98 ".Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon has urged Jewish settlers to seize more land in the occupied West Bank. He said Israelis should enlarge existing settlements because everything they did not occupy would revert to Palestinian control. Mr Sharon was speaking days before he is due to lead negotiations on the final status of the occupied territories. A Palestinian spokesman has said the remarks amounted to incitement. Mr Sharon's call came in a speech to members of one of Israel's extreme right parties. "Everyone should take action, should run, should grab more hills," he told the political gathering. "We'll expand the area. Whatever is seized will be ours. Whatever isn't seized will end up in their hands. "That's the way it will be...That's what must be done now," the minister said. Mr Sharon has long been regarded as the champion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank. But now the prominent hard-liner is Israel's foreign minister and he helped negotiate a new interim agreement with the Palestinians, signed in Washington last month. He is also Israel's chief negotiator in the talks which should determine the final borders and political status of the Palestinian-controlled lands. Israel insists on its right to expand existing Jewish settlements. Palestinians say construction is the kind of provocative and unilateral step that both sides pledged to avoid, a view shared by the US.."
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/Nov1998/pollardnov17.htm Ben Anderson CNS Staff Writer ".President Bill Clinton is still considering a pardon for convicted spy Jonathan Jay Pollard to tie-up the loose ends left during the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord signed last month at the White House. Clinton has reportedly been under mounting pressure to release Pollard from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."
FoxNews 11/21/98 Wafa Amr ".Palestinians held raucous celebrations as they tasted the first fruits of a new interim peace deal on Friday with the receipt of a swathe of northern West Bank land handed over by Israel. Palestinian police entered the town of Qabatia firing into the air and residents poured onto the streets to feast the first Israeli pullback from occupied land for nearly two years. Palestinian flags decorated the community of 16,000, one of 28 towns and villages that will come under full Palestinian control.."
Fox News 11/30/98 ".Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Monday to walk away from the Mideast peace agreements if Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally declares statehood in May. Netanyahu's warning came a day after Arafat said in Washington that "I hope that this (coming) year will be the year of the independent Palestinian state." Palestinian negotiator Hassan Asfour said the Palestinians are paying no heed to Netanyahu's threats. "Let him shout as much as he pleases," Asfour said. The Palestinians say the peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians do not prevent Arafat from declaring statehood on May 4, 1999, the day the five-year period of Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ends. The new acrimony came just over a week after the implementation of stage one of the land-for-security agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Under the plan, Israel is to withdraw from 13 percent of the West Bank by the end of January in exchange for Palestinian measures against Islamic militants. Israel also agreed to free 750 Palestinian prisoners. In the first stage, Israel released 250, most of them criminals, prompting Palestinian complaints that the agreement was breached. The Palestinians demand that Israel free political activists and those jailed for anti-Israeli activities.."
The Washington Post 12/2/98 Michael Kelly ".The reality is this: Since July 1, 1994, the day that Yasser Arafat arrived to take charge of Gaza, the international community has given the Palestinian Authority about $2.5 billion in aid. In that time, to the confoundment of confident predictions, life in Gaza became, for most people, even more poor, nasty, brutish and short than it had been before the arrival of President Arafat. In the past four years, wage rates in Gaza have fallen 50 percent and unemployment has risen to highs of 50 percent; currently, it hovers at around 30 percent. The gross national product per Palestinian has declined by 35 percent. The number of Gazans legally working in Israel (where the jobs are) has fallen from a pre-Arafat figure of 116,000 to as low as 23,000. The percentage of goods manufactured in Gaza and marketed in the West Bank (where the consumers are) declined from about 50 percent to 2 percent by 1996. In the first two years of Arafat's rule, one-third of Gazan businesses folded. Foreign commercial investment in Gaza declined from $520 million in 1993 to below $300 million in 1997. The number of Palestinians living in poverty soared; one out of every four now lives below the poverty line. In President Arafat's considered opinion, all of this is the fault of Israel, for its habit of closing off the Gaza Strip from time to time, disrupting the flow of commerce. But what President Arafat was too diplomatic to mention was that Israel has a reason for its policy. The closures have been in response to the very many -- 279 fatalities since Oslo -- terrorist attacks on Israelis by Palestinians living under Arafat's rule. Neither did President Arafat see fit to note that, in the past two years, the government of Binyamin Netanyahu has greatly reduced the number of closures. Yet during the past two years, the economy of Gaza has improved only slightly...The other reason, as the Sunday Times story suggests, is that President Arafat has established in Gaza and the West Bank a nasty, thuggish little kleptocracy run by and for the benefit of President Arafat and his bureaucrats and gunsels and cronies, without benefit of law or semblance of order. The Palestinian Authority has yet to draft a criminal and civil code...The 41,000 are the muscle in an obesity of a bureaucracy: the Palestinian Authority boasts no fewer than 80,451 employees, spread among 24 different ministries. Salaries for these employees consume more than half of the entire Palestinian national budget, which ran to $814 million in 1997. Where does the rest of the money go? Almost all of it is stolen or dribbled away. The Palestinian Authority's own auditors reported last year that nearly 40 percent of the annual budget -- $323 million -- was wasted, looted or misused. In President Arafat's regime, bribery is endemic, services are nil, connections are everything, and might is the only right there is.."
12/2/98 AP ".Stung by a vicious attack on an Israeli soldier, the government announced Wednesday it was suspending further troop withdrawals until Palestinians comply with a list of demands - including publicly abandoning plans to declare a state in May. The government said its decision was prompted in part by the attack on the soldier and a civilian earlier in the day by a Palestinian mob in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The decision came only 10 days before President Clinton was to arrive in the region to usher in the second stage of the Wye River land-for-security agreement he helped negotiate in October. The Israeli announcement raised questions about whether the Clinton trip could take place while Israel was holding up the agreement. In the ambush in Ramallah, dozens of Palestinian university students waited at a traffic circle, screening cars. Once they found what they wanted, a hail of stones hit targeted vehicle, smashing its windows. A young Israeli soldier was dragged out of the car and, as he cowered on the pavement, was struck repeatedly on the head with rocks. Captured by cameras, the attack was shown over and over on Israeli television, making some Israelis wonder if the Palestinian Authority really was trying to control violence like it pledged to do in the land-for-peace agreement. The ambush overshadowed the stabbing death earlier Wednesday of an Arab street-cleaner in Jerusalem, apparently by an Israeli extremis. During the funeral procession for Osama Natche, a 41-year-old father of six, mourners torched an Israeli car and stoned Israeli police who fired rubber bullets.."
New York Times News Service via Chicago Trib. 12/3/98 ".The White House has asked the government's top law enforcement and intelligence officials and key Cabinet members to recommend by early January whether President Clinton should grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard, the former Navy analyst convicted of spying for Israel, administration officials said Wednesday. In a sign that Clinton might decide quickly if he should give in to Israeli pressure to release Pollard, White House counsel Charles Ruff has sent a letter to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, CIA Director George Tenet, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Defense Secretary William Cohen to ask their views on the case. The case became a central issue in the peace negotiations held in Maryland in October. Near the end of the strenuous talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded Pollard's release in exchange for his support of an agreement.."
Jewish World Review 12/3/98 Cal Thomas ".[Madeleine] Albright assured reporters that "every dollar (of U.S. aid) is accounted for and is completely transparent.'' Not exactly. A secret 600-page report last year by the PA's own auditing office found $323 million, nearly 40 percent, of the PA's annual budget had been wasted, stolen or misused. A December, 1995, General Accounting Office report said it was ``unable to independently verify (the Palestine Liberation Organization's) financial condition since the PLO was unwilling to provide us with requested accounting reports and supporting documentation.''....Former U.N. arms inspector Scott Ritter told the Jerusalem Post Nov. 3: "The (Wyeaccord) is to be monitored by the CIA, but the real arbiter will be the State Department, and this is a cause for great worry. The entire effort has been politicized -- this is the Clinton administration's own Camp David, and they really can't afford to let it fail. Therefore they cannot be counted upon to be honest brokers.'' So, the Jews are again being sold out.."
New York Times 12/4/98 Abe Rosenthal ".Yasir Arafat wants everybody to understand his plan. Almost every day he or one of his top men says it: On May 4, 1999, he will declare the creation of an independent state of Palestine covering the whole West Bank and whatever of Jerusalem he chooses. We understand him, all right: he is trying to leap over the final round of talks with Israel. Nobody expects those talks to be finished and the boundaries settled by May 1999. The final talks deal with life-and-death issues like secure borders for Israel. Mr. Arafat wants to settle borders himself, for Palestine and for Israel. The man knows Israel would never accept a Palestine he prefabricates. It would decide how much frontier security Israel has; guess. So he knows that if he runs to meet his May 4 mirage and declares it real and alive, the chances for peace that had recently seemed likely would be replaced by the probability of war. Palestine in May could become Palestine never. Is it bluff, a trick, or a sick man's willingness to gamble his people's future against his last days of glory? Not likely. Israeli officials believe, and so do I, that he counts on most of the nations of the world, including America, to give silent or stated acquiescence to un-negotiated Palestinian independence, despite the repeated promise against change without full negotiation, despite what Mr. Arafat's self-chosen borders would cost in blood..."
The London Telegraph 12/7/98 Christopher Walker ".AN ADVANCE team of senior US officials was yesterday completing the details of this weekend's three-day Middle East visit by President Clinton, which is rapidly turning from a public-relations dream into a security and diplomatic nightmare.In addition, as well as the obvious security risks posed by anti-American Islamic extremists, whose main stronghold is the Gaza Strip, there are also fears that pro-Iraqi militants - or even an Iraqi hit squad - might attempt an attack on the presidential motorcade.. After a televised attack by a Palestinian mob on two Israelis near Ramallah last week, implementation of the interim peace accord reached at the Wye talks in October - for which the visit was originally seen as the triumphant conclusion - has been suspended by Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister..The official added that problems already surrounding the Clinton visit - such as his desire to fly into Gaza's new Palestinian airport on Air Force One - are part of a general US attempt "to snub the Israelis while carrying out, basically, a state visit to the Palestinian Authority". ."
The Times (UK) 12/9/98 Christopher Walker ".AMERICAN Secret Service agents are concerned that Islamic militants might mount a devastating car or lorry bomb raid, similar to the suicide attacks in the summer against US embassies in Africa, when President Clinton visits the Middle East on Saturday. An Israeli official involved in the huge counter-terrorism exercise in operation said that US fears of such an attack by Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, or a group linked to Osama bin Laden, the renegade Saudi millionaire, had led to sharp differences between Israeli and American security chiefs. "They are verging on paranoia and are making security requests that are impossible to meet," said the official who refused to be identified. The main worries of American and Israeli security experts are that Islamic militants might attempt to launch either a spectacular suicide attack against one of the buildings which Mr Clinton will visit in Gaza or against the Jerusalem Hilton, here he will stay for three nights. The newly opened hotel is situated at the junction of the city's main thoroughfares, which are difficult to close without causing traffic chaos. Israel Radio reported yesterday that US Marines had arrived to carry out their first exercise connected with the presidential visit. In Gaza City, Palestinian armoured personnel carriers have been deployed outside the convention centre where Mr Clinton is to address 1,500 Palestinian delegates. All streets around the hall will be sealed later this week.."
AP 9/12/98 "The Saudi dissident accused of masterminding the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania has been placed under house arrest in Afghanistan by his Taliban hosts, according to a London-based Arabic newspaper. Osama bin Laden is being held in a house in the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Friday. The Taliban religious army has ``prevented any contacts between him and his followers, and have prohibited'' access to the media, the newspaper said, citing sources close to bin Laden.."
Fox News 8/25/98 AP "Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, the alleged plotter of the U.S embassy bombings in Africa, directed his followers at least twice to kill President Clinton, but neither attempt was ever made, according to published reports today.."
US News & World Reports 8/24/98 ".Whispers has also learned that Clinton, in his latest discussions with friends, has added a new element: As he considered the address, he says, he was keenly aware that the strike against terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Sudan would likely occur later in the week and he knew that retaliation against the United States was possible. Clinton told friends he concluded it was important not to send any "signal of weakness" to America's enemies and instead to portray an image of strength. Those concerns limited his willingness to deliver a full mea culpa and intensified his desire to get tough with Independent Counsel Ken Starr.
AIR SECURITY International, Inc. 2/16/99 "- HOT SPOTS - EUROPE - Arrest Of Ocalan Sparks Protests Across Europe - In a series of events that are still unfolding, several hundred Kurdish supporters raided Greek diplomatic posts across Europe at dawn. The Kurdish protests came after reports began to filter out of Kenya that their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in hiding for the last few weeks, had been turned over to authorities. The details of Ocalan's capture remain unclear, however it appears fairly certain that he is now in the custody of Turkish security forces and is on Turkish soil where he will await charges. Kurdish supporters responded to the initial reports by storming Greek diplomatic posts across Europe, believing that Greece had surrendered Ocalan. Greek embassies and consular posts from London to Moscow were affected... UZBEKISTAN - Series Of Explosions In Possible Assassination Attempt - Residents of Uzbekistan's capital city of Tashkent were left in shock today after a series of car bombs exploded an apparent assassination attempt against President Karimov.. France: The Internal Security Service arrested a Muslim militant in Paris yesterday, charging him with "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise." While authorities believe he has no direct link to last year's U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, they are convinced that the militant has ties to Osama bin Laden.. "
Associated Press 12/11/98 Nicolas Tatro "..On the eve of President Clinton's visit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is running short of options. If he sticks to his decision to hold up a West Bank troop withdrawal until the Palestinians meet his demands, he risks embarrassing and angering Clinton during his high-profile visit. If Netanyahu softens his position to appease the Americans, his right-wing coalition is likely to fall apart within a week. It would seem there is no way out..."Clinton and Netanyahu have conflicting interests. The more Clinton succeeds, the worse Netanyahu's situation will become, and vice versa,'' commentator Hemi Shalev wrote in the Maariv daily.."
FOX; Reuters 12/11/98 ".Two Palestinian teenagers were shot dead in the West Bank Friday in clashes with Israeli forces on the eve of a visit to the region by President Clinton, witnesses and hospital sources said. They said about 50 more protesters were wounded, two seriously, near the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya during Palestinian riots over Israel's handling of the release of Palestinian prisoners under the Wye River peace deal. The issue has cast a giant shadow over Clinton's visit to Israel and the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip which starts Saturday night. The three-day trip was conceived as a celebration of the land-for-security deal Clinton mediated at Wye River, Maryland, in October, but has turned into a mission to save it..
USA Today 12/11/98 Emanuel A. Winston ".Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned that the Wye talks were a political ambush. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat came away a winner, as did President Clinton. Republicans were furious that Netanyahu was sucked into such an obvious trap just before the U.S. elections. Bibi returned to his own electorate who wants to throw him out of office. And despite having received control over 40% of the West Bank and Gaza from a humbled and humiliated Israel, Arafat has given the green light to riots in Palestinian cities.."
The Economist 12/12-18/98 ".THE puzzling spectacle, earlier this week, of Israeli cabinet ministers publicly urging Bill Clinton to cancel his visit to Israel and the Gaza Strip, has now become more comprehensible. His arrival, scheduled for December 12th, might end their careers as ministers..The full measure of the government's dilemma emerged in almost comic relief in the Knesset on December 7th. Facing near-certain defeat in a vote to dissolve parliament, which would have meant elections within 60 days, Mr Netanyahu asked one of his coalition partners to table a motion of no-confidence in him. Perversely, that gave him a reprieve of one week, which the Labour-led opposition, Mr Clinton's advent in mind, agreed to extend to two. Mr Netanyahu is earnestly assuring potential rightist renegades that Wye is as good as dead. His foreign minister, Ariel Sharon, declared in Washington that the next phase of withdrawal, scheduled for December 18th, would not be carried out. But Mr Netanyahu needs his cabinet moderates too. And Israel needs America. So he is telling other interlocutors that the decision not to withdraw came only because of Palestinian violations. The implication: Wye could yet live again.."
12/12/98 athens ".islamist leaders in the israeli-occupied west bank have called on palestinians not to take part in the reception the palestinian authority is organizing in the honor of u.s. president bill clinton who is due to arrive in gaza on Monday. rajoub castigated the pa for putting up an elaborate reception to clinton, saying ''i wouldn't be surprised that one day we would be forced to wave zionist flags in honor of netanyahu and zionist leaders to come,'' said a report from al-khalil.''your bullets are riddling the hearts of our children, your bulldozers are pulverizing our land and destroying our homes...we will not forget your conspiracies against us. ''...how many times did you use the veto power against our people...just yesterday you bombed out a medicine factory in sudan and now you are starving iraqi children to death...so you are never welcomed, mr. clinton, in our country,'' said rajoub before over four thousand supporters of the islamic resistance movement, hamas. rajoub further scolded clinton saying ''in you we see the spilled blood of our children, the crushed bones of our youths,'' ."
Fox News Reuters 12/12/98 ".Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Clinton Sunday Palestinians must comply with the Wye River peace deal commitments for the process to go forward. Switching from English to Hebrew for his toughest remarks, the Israeli leader accused the Palestinians of deliberately undermining the land-for-security accord which Clinton brokered at Wye River, Maryland, in October. "Mr President, the truth must be told. In recent weeks the Palestinians have again consistently, systematically and intentionally violated all of their commitments,'' Netanyahu said.."
NY Post 12/12/98 Andy Geller ".Abu Abbas, cruel mastermind of the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, has been invited to hear President Clinton address the Palestinian National Council on Monday. But an aide to the former Palestinian guerrila leader said he probably won't show. The United States had sought Abbas for years in the killing of New York tourist Leon Klinghoffer, who was murdered when the Italian liner was hijacked by members of Abbas' guerrilla band in 1985. The 69-year-old wheelchairbound Klinghoffer was shot dead and then dumped overboard. Abbas is a member of the council, the top Palestinian decision-making body. His aide said Abbas was in Iraq on business.." Freeper mass55th adds ".And they bitch because Bob Barr accepted an invitation from a fellow Congressman and addressed an ALLEGED white supremacy group? After drug dealers and arms traffickers visiting the first felon in the White House, and his being received in Tiananmen Square in Communist China, why would it surprise us that Bill Clinton may be rubbing elbows with a wanted terrorist?."
The Washington Post Company 12/11/98 Charles Krauthammer ".Twice now in the past two years Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has given land to the Palestinians -- and gotten the Israeli Right to accept the principle of territorial compromise. Twice he has counted on administration promises that the United States, as broker, would ensure Palestinian compliance with the commitments they made in exchange for land. Twice he has been betrayed.."
Newsday 12/13/98 AP ".The leader of a small Islamic militant group was detained by Palestinian police Sunday after he said he would not hesitate to kill President Clinton if he had the chance. Abdallah Shami, leader of the Islamic Jihad, was taken into custody as he walked from a Gaza City junior high school where he teaches, said a Palestinian police official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Clinton, who is in the Mideast to try to salvage the peace accord he worked out between Israelis and Palestinians at Wye River, Md. in October, is to visit the Gaza Strip on Monday. Shami told the Spanish TV station Antenna 3 that he didn't know of any plans to kill Clinton during his visit, but added that, ``If I could I would, with every method I can muster. I would not hesitate.'' Relaxing in his Gaza City office, Shami said, however, that it would be impossible to get to Clinton because of his huge security detail.."
USA Journal Online/Daily News Online 12/14/98 Sidney Zion ".While the Republicans try to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about sex with a Jewish girl, the President is about to gazump the Jewish state. If things go as planned this weekend, Clinton will stand in Gaza with Yasser Arafat before the Palestinian National Council, and by that act he will bless the creation of a Palestinian state. He won't say so - he might even say the opposite - but by his appearance there this will be the message delivered and accepted by the Arabs."
London Guardian 12/15/98 Julian Borger ".Hours before Bill Clinton became the first United States president to set foot on Palestinian-controlled land yesterday, he was already seen on every corner of the Gaza Strip standing alongside a joyful Yasser Arafat, under the words "We have a dream - Free Palestine".."
AP 12/10/98 Tom Raum ".In advance of President Clinton's visit to the Middle East, incoming House Speaker Bob Livingston and other Republicans complained Thursday that his pledge of nearly $1 billion in U.S. aid to the Palestinians violates an earlier commitment to Israel. Clinton's proposal for financial aid to support the Wye River agreement is subject to congressional approval. And Livingston, R-La., and the incoming chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., protested Congress wasn't consulted. The administration has pledged $900 million over five years in U.S. Economic aid to the Palestinians - and plans to ask Congress for a $400 million installment early next year in an "emergency'' spending bill. This, together with administration plans to seek an additional $1.2 billion for Israel and $300 million for Jordan, "calls into question an earlier agreement with Israel to phase out most economic assistance to that region,'' Livingston and Young wrote Clinton. "At the very least, we would ask you to consult senior members of the congressional leadership on both sides of the aisle before committing billions of taxpayer dollars to foreign governments,'' they said..
From Freeper Brian Mosely Associated Press 12/15/98 Nicolas Tatro ".Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today sharply rebuked President Clinton's emotional statements about the plight of children of jailed Palestinians and slain Israelis. He said Clinton drew an unfair parallel "between the murderers and their victims.'' .
Reuters 12/15/98 ".President Clinton Tuesday said Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to new steps to proceed with their troubled peace deal but did not say whether Israel would go ahead with a pullback from more of the West Bank on schedule Friday. Clinton spoke to reporters at the crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip after a two-hour summit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to try to resolve a crisis in their Wye River peace deal. "I have achieved what I came here to achieve,'' Clinton said after the meeting, on the final day of his three-day Middle East mission. "We now have to decide practical means to go forward and I think we are well on the way to doing that.'' .Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to commit himself Tuesday to a date for a further Israeli transfer of more West Bank land to Palestinians due to be completed by Friday. Saying it all depended on Palestinians meeting their commitments to Israel, Netanyahu told reporters: ``If they do it, I cannot tell you how much time we would take. The faster they do it, the faster we will redeploy.'' ``There will be redeployment speedily, as soon as the Palestinians fulfil their part,'' he told reporters after meeting President Clinton and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.."
New York Post http://www.nypostonline.com/ 12/16/98 Uri Dan by Freeper A Whitewater Researcher ".EXCERPTS: "...Clinton flew home yesterday to fight the drive to boot him from office after his Mideast visit failed to get Israel to withdraw from additional West Bank land on schedule...a last-minute, tri-party summit fell short of bolstering the troubled land-for-security Wye River accord... Netanyahu's foreign minister, Ariel Sharon, stunned... Arafat's Palestinian delegation by presenting a list of demands - including the roundup of weapons allegedly smuggled into a secret arsenal for Palestinian police....The Israeli delegation said it would not retreat any further from the West Bank lands until the Palestinians round up illegal weapons, give up plans to unilaterally declare a state next May and arrest 10 alleged terrorist killers....Netanyahu said Israel would not make its next scheduled withdrawal, due Friday, unless the demands are met....The Israeli delegation also bitterly complained to Clinton about his earlier comparison of the sorrow felt by the children of jailed Palestinians and slain Israelis."
AFP 12/16/98 ".The Palestinian Authority threatened to suspend its implementation of the Wye River peace accord after Israel confirmed Wednesday that it would not carry out a further West Bank withdrawal by Friday as required by the agreement. "Our position is that implementation of the agreement must be mutual," said Hassan Asfour, a Palestinian minister, after Israel radio reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed his cabinet that he would not order the new pullback due this week. "If Netanyahu does not implement, we will not continue to implement," Asfour told AFP. He said the Palestinian leadership would hold an urgent meeting "to come up with a plan to face Netanyahu's decision not to implement Wye River agreement." He did not say when the meeting would take place.."
USA Today 12/23/98 ".Just a few yards from the manger where tradition says frightened shepherds and weary wise men first laid eyes on the infant Jesus, a torn cardboard sign blew about Nativity Square. It read, ''Kill Peace.'' The dusty West Bank town where, according to the Bible, Christ was born, sat sad, empty and angry on Tuesday, even as workers strung bright lights across roads and priests made ready for midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. ''Everything is ruined. Bill Clinton wrecked our lives with the bombing (of Iraq). He stomped on Christmas. He has no respect for this day,'' said Janette Qumsiyeh, who was dusting off olivewood creches at her shop near the Church of the Nativity. The Christian pilgrims and tourists who are the lifeblood of the Bethlehem economy are missing. Thousands of visitors, particularly those from the USA and England, canceled trips to the Holy Land after U.S. and British forces launched missile and air attacks on Iraq last week. ''I've never seen it this quiet,'' said Sarah Koh, an American living in Jerusalem.."
NY Times 12/23/98 AP Kiryat Shemona ".Dozens of Katyusha rockets rained down on northern Israel early Wednesday, injuring at least ten people, Israeli media and officials said. Hezbollah guerillas operating from south Lebanon claimed responsibility for the attack. Israel's army confirmed the injury figure and said its forces were returning fire. At least five people were slightly injured and one was in stable condition from the rockets that fell in and around the border town of Kiryat Shemona, in northeastern Israel. Paramedics said most of the injuries were from shock. Another four people were slightly injured in the western Galilee region from about ten rockets that fell there, the paramedics said.."
Wall Street Journal 12/21/98 David Pryce-Jones Freepr Rodger Schultz ".In recent days, President Clinton has intervened in the Middle East in favor of Yasser Arafat, a prospective dictator of a state of Palestine, and to cut down the pretensions of Saddam Hussein, the long-established dictator of Iraq. Whether or not each of these decisions was valid in itself, the circumstances and the timing render them contradictory and virtually certain to leave the Middle East more unstable and dangerous than ever.."
USA TODAY/The Associated Press http://www.usatoday.com/ http://wire.ap.org/ 12/21/98 Jack Kelley by A Whitewater Researcher ".EXCERPTS: "...BETHLEHEM, West Bank - The U.S. flags that lined the streets last week have been torched. The pictures of...Clinton that graced the walls of homes and shops have been ripped in two. Even the Christmas decorations that the first family hung on a tree have been taken down and smashed....''This honeymoon is over,'' said Jamal al-Hussein, 26, as he taped a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to his store wall....''Clinton told the Palestinian and Arab people 'America is with you.' Yet 48 hours later, he bombs Iraq. What a hypocrite. I'd like to slash his throat.''... Less than a week after his historic visit to Palestinian-controlled territories,...Clinton is being branded as ''Islam's No. 1 enemy'' here and across the West Bank for the U.S.-led airstrikes on Iraq....The four-day missile strikes, which ended Saturday, have touched off passionate feelings of Arab solidarity among Palestinians who, as in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, are openly supporting Saddam Hussein....".."
Peachworld Network News The Hindu 12/30/98 DPA Israel has threatened to shut down the new Palestinian airport at Gaza due to alleged ``security violations'', the Israeli daily Ha'Aretz reported today. Palestinian airport staff on Sunday prevented Israeli security personnel from checking passengers on a flight from Egypt which brought back Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and his staff. The Director General of Israel's Aviation Authority, Mr Avner Jarkoni, wrote a letter Monday to his Palestinian counterpart, Mr Fayez Zeidan, threatening to close the airport, inaugurated amid celebrations last month, the paper said. Under the latest agreements with the Palestinians, Israel has authority over security controls at the Gaza international airport."
12/31/98 AP Tel Aviv ".The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv was shut down unexpectedly today, and Israel radio said the ambassador ordered the building closed in response to a threat. The ambassador, Ned Walker, and the embassy spokesman, Larry Schwartz, were not immediately available for comment.."
The Jerusalem Post 1/21/99 Arieh O'Sullivan Douglas Davis "..The Mossad estimates that up to 10,000 Russian experts are assisting Iran's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs, according to the newsletter Foreign Report, to be published in London today. The government's dissatisfaction with Moscow's unreadiness to block leaks of weapons technologies to Iran has led to a chill in defense relations between Israel and Russia, defense sources said.."
The Jerusalem Post 1/22/99 Douglas Davis ".A top-secret US plan has been devised for permanently resettling five million Palestinian refugees in the US, Europe, Australia, and Israel, as well as in other Middle East states, according to the Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat. The US plan for resolving the refugee issue, widely expected to be among the most contentious in final-status negotiations, is said to propose that Israel absorb 75,000 refugees and that the population of the West Bank be doubled within eight years.."
Washington Times 1/27/99 Bill Gertz Freeper Thanatos ".The Defense Intelligence Agency suspects Israel shared with China restricted U.S. weapons technology obtained during a joint U.S.-Israeli effort to build a battlefield laser gun, The Washington Times has learned. Israeli government agents also have tried for the past two years to obtain embargoed weapons know-how from U.S. defense contractors involved in the Tactical High-Energy Laser (THEL) program, said officials familiar with a Pentagon intelligence report on the issue. The report said officials of the Israeli government armament agency Rafael obtained some restricted technology from a U.S. defense contractor involved in the program in 1996.
New York Post 3/7/99 Uri Dan "…THE Clinton administration is trying to weaken Benjamin Netanyahu's chances of being reelected prime minister by portraying him as damaging the special U.S-Israeli relationship…A fresh example of how this feeling is being exploited was a story in Friday's Haaretz newspaper, under the banner headline "U.S. stops payment on $1.2 Billion in Wye aid to Israel" - with another headline that read "But promised $400 million in grants to Palestinian Authority will continue." The story said that in Washington's view, the Palestinians had fulfilled their commitments made at the Wye Plantation summit last October, but Israel had not. Everyone who reads that part of the story would think the money was just stopped now…."
Global Intelligence Update 3/8/99 "…The New York Post published a story claiming that a book written by Gordon Thomas would claim that Israel's Mossad had tapped Monica Lewinsky's phone (along with another, unnamed intelligence agency) and had recorded her having phone sex with the President. The story went on to claim that Mossad had used the tapes to blackmail Clinton. The President then called off a hunt for a suspected Israeli mole in the White House because of Israeli threats that they would release the tapes. In a later interview, Thomas backed off the blackmail claims, stating that Danny Yatom, head of Mossad at the time, had ruled out blackmail. He continued to maintain that Mossad had obtained the tapes…."
ArabicNews 3/10/99 "…The Egyptian al-Ahram al-Arabi magazine said that seven members at the Egyptian parliament has prepared a draft law provides for canceling the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel signed in April 1979 together with its appendixes. In its recent issue, the magazine added that the draft law will be submitted to the Egyptain people's Assembly (parliament)on Saturday for discussion.In a memorandum the draft law said that the Israeli flagrant violations reached their peak when Netanyahu announced that Egypt is the Southern enemy to Israel, besides the Israeli behaviours which violate the provisions of the treaty, the group asserts…."
AP 3/11/99 "…The Senate voted 98-1 Thursday to oppose any unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state by Yasser Arafat and urged the Clinton administration to be stronger in its opposition. The resolution calls for assurances from President Clinton that a declared Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, would not be recognized by the United States…."
HA'ARETZdaily.com 3/11/99Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz "…In a formal letter to the Foreign Ministry in response to its demand that foreign ambassadors here stop visiting the Orient House in East Jerusalem German Ambassador Theodor Wallau has reconfirmed the EU's support for the internationalization of Jerusalem - and he rejected any Israeli limitations on diplomatic visits to the erstwhile Palestinian foreign ministry. …. By not distinguishing between east and west Jerusalem, the letter essentially determines that as far as Europe is concerned, Jerusalem is occupied territory. Use of the term "corpus separatum" is a clear reference to the UN's original 1947 Partition Plan. In recent days, there have been intense discussions in official circles in Jerusalem how to respond to the ambassador's letter, but the Foreign Ministry refuses to comment on the subject. The future of Jerusalem is also due to come up in meetings between the Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the near future, while an official U.S. source has told Ha'aretz that President Bill Clinton has decided to use his authority to suspend a congressional decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May of this year. …"
AP 3/14/99 "…Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that Israel will respond ``very forcefully'' if the Palestinians declare statehood in May and claim any part of Jerusalem as the capital…..``If you violate the agreement and unilaterally declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, know that on May 5, we will respond very forcefully,'' Netanyahu said. ``It won't be good for the Palestinians, and it won't be good for peace.'' Netanyahu did not elaborate on what steps he would take. But in the past, he has threatened to annex chunks of the West Bank if Arafat makes good on a promise to declare independence on May 4, the end of the five-year negotiating period outlined in Israeli-Palestinian peace accords…..Arafat has come under pressure from world leaders to delay a declaration of statehood out of fear that it could lead to violent confrontation with Israel. Arab leaders feel a declaration could help Netanyahu win re-election in the May 17 election. Arafat and President Clinton are expected to discuss the matter in Washington this month….``Jerusalem always was and will remain Israel's capital, under Israeli sovereignty,'' Netanyahu said. The secretary to the Palestinian Cabinet described Netanyahu's statement as ``very dangerous.''…The Palestinians hope to set up the capital of their future state in east Jerusalem…."
AFP 3/23/99 "…US President Bill Clinton tried Tuesday to dissuade Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from declaring a Palestinian state on May 4 during a meeting here between the two men on Tuesday, US officials said….The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza, but the Netanyahu administration has refused to withdraw from areas still under its control as each side accuses the other of violating the Oslo accords… The agreement, signed in 1993 on the White House lawn, stipulates that talks on the final status of Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967 should conclude by May 4….This is not a bilateral agreement, it is an international agreement," Arafat said, "and the Israelis have to respect it and implement it accurately and honestly." …Arafat's visit here is part of a larger whirlwind tour of world capitals to drum up support for Palestinian self-determination…."
Newsday 3/28/99 Jack Katzenell "…In a sharp change of emphasis, a U.S. official said today that Israel does not have to resume troop withdrawals in the West Bank until the Palestinians meet their commitments under the Wye agreement. U.S. Embassy spokesman Larry Schwartz stressed that the United States still expects Israel to act on other aspects of the U.S.-brokered Wye River accords. Until recently, Washington had blamed Israel for the current deadlock in the peace process, saying the Palestinians have gone a long way towards fulfilling their obligations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu halted implementation of the accord in December, accusing the Palestinians of failing to contain anti-Israel violence. ``If you read the Wye agreement you see that the handover of territory is the last step, and that other conditions have to be met first by the Palestinians,'' said Schwartz said. The conditions Schwartz listed include the collection of weapons from Palestinian opposition groups such as Hamas; the prosecution and imprisonment of militants who have killed Israelis since the Oslo accords; and consistent cooperation with Israel in prevention of suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis…."
New York Post 3/28/99 Uri Dan "…THE European Union's support for Palestinian statehood outraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Europe should never be careless about the "security and destiny of Israel." "After all, it was in Europe that the Jewish people lost a third of their number during the Second World War," he said. The prime minister's bitter reaction to the EU declaration on Thursday was not just election rhetoric - although Israel's May 17 national voting is fast approaching and the race is still very close….. The prime minister is more concerned that the EU's endorsement on Yasser Arafat's plans will complicate negotiations on the final status of Israeli-Palestinian relations once the election clears the way for new talks. Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon said last week that the Palestinians have blocked negotiations because they believe a crisis atmosphere will help Netanyahu's rivals paint him as "the enemyof peace" and topple his government. Netanyahu and his ministers fear the EU declaration, along with other recent anti-Israeli steps by the Europeans, may embolden the Arabs and lead to bloodshed….While the Palestinians daily criticize the U.S. attacks on Saddam Hussein, they treat the Kosovo crisis quite differently. Israel knows what crimes against humanity are. But, here, too, the parallel isn't simple. In government corridors in Jerusalem, officials privately recall that the Serbs fought the Nazis and defended the Jews in World War II, while the Bosnians and Croats were on the other side…."
AP 3/26/99 Freeper Chuck allen "…The Pentagon said Friday it intends to sell 50 F-16 fighters to Israel for $2 billion. The deal includes radars and navigation-targeting systems, associated support equipment and contractor services…."
AP 3/29/99 Dina Kraft "…Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered police Monday to shut down three Palestinian Authority institutions that had been operating in disputed east Jerusalem — a move that enraged Palestinians. Netanyahu said he would also take legal measures against Palestinian officials who continue to use the Orient House, the PLO's headquarters in Jerusalem, as a de facto foreign ministry. "We can't tolerate such infringements on our sovereignty in Jerusalem,'' Netanyahu said before meeting with a delegation of U.S. congressmen. Netanyahu said his government had given the order to shut down the WAFA news agency, a Christian affairs office, and a prisoner advocacy group. Also Monday, Israel released 14 Palestinians from Israeli jails. A senior official said more were to be released before the Jewish holiday of Passover begins Wednesday. Netanyahu's senior adviser, David Bar-Illan, said the 14 released are "security prisoners'' whose freedom had been demanded under the U.S.-brokered Wye River accords…."
Jvim 3/31/99 "…Arab Affairs correspondent for Arutz-7 radio in Israel Yehoshua Meiri had some interesting thoughts on the current European crisis. He said, "The European Union letter and Israel's strong reaction to it, hit the headlines in this week's Arab press...the EU declared that it does not consider Israel as the sovereign ruler over the city of Jerusalem...we have discussed Hosni Mubarak's desire to circumvent the Oslo-Wye process and any Jordanian involvement in the Palestinian-Israel negotiations in favor of a French-Egyptian solution to the tensions...Mubarak himself went to Germany to press for such a letter. Now...Egyptian Foreign Minister Amru Moussa is headed back to Germany….. The connection between Mubarak, the EU and Yasser Arafat is evident in this week's Akhbar al-Yom headline which states that the Egyptian President and Arafat 'will meet within a week regarding the European announcement.'...the NATO attack on Kosovo may be intended to send a warning to Israel that just as the Serbs are expected to understand the 'nationalist strivings' of the ethnic Albanians Israel is expected to appreciate Palestinian ‘nationalist strivings.’ …."
NY Times 4/2/99 A.M. Rosenthal "...Buoyed by their role in helping turn a Balkan civil war into shivering, desolate, crowds of refugees, a political booby trap for America unmatched since Vietnam, a perversion of NATO purpose and a planning debacle, the 15 nations of the European Union are now trying to export their collective political wisdom to shape the Mideast, which may God in Heaven forfend..... Europe's mind-set about the Mideast is pretty much the same that brought the fall into the pit of Balkan war. They are telling Israel that all of Jerusalem, not merely what Palestinians claim as their capital for the while, is a corpus separatum, separate international entity, not an inch of it legally under Israeli control. They are telling Israelis and Palestinians that nobody has the right to try to stop the establishment of a Palestinian state. Palestinian independence and Jerusalem are supposed to be decided during the final series of Israel-Palestinian talks. So there is not much reason to go ahead with it, is there? Just let the two sides fight it out to the death, while the European Union thinks up more great ideas...."
The Independent (UK) 4/12/99 Patrick Cockburn Freeper Prince Charles "...THE United States is expressing anger over Israel's refusal to give full support to Nato in the Kosovo crisis. Martin Indyk, US Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, is being highly critical during his visit to Israel of the pro- Russian tilt of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Foreign Minister...."
WorldNetDaily 4/9/99 Steve Rodan "...Two weeks after the NATO offensive against Yugoslavia, Israeli and Palestinian officials are separately concluding that NATO and the West might very well intervene in a future conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Last month, Italy's ambassador to Israel, Gian Paolo Cavarai, raised such a possibility during a meeting of diplomats with Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon. Ministry sources said Sharon was stunned that a NATO ambassador would raise the prospect of NATO intervention in the Arab-Israeli conflict just several days after the March 24 launch of the alliance's campaign against Yugoslavia. The sources said that in a subsequent meeting of senior officials, Sharon said Israel could face a similar situation to Yugoslavia. Sharon's scenario was that the Israeli Arab minority -- comprising 20 percent of the country's population -- would call for autonomy. Many Arab towns in north skirt the West Bank and in the southern Negev are minutes away from the Hebron area. At least one Arab party in the current elections campaign has called for Arab autonomy. "They way Sharon sees it is that the West would find Yugoslavia a precedent to intervene in our part of the region," a senior government source said...."
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC WIRE 4/10/99 Freeper VRWCTexan "…The Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived here last night on one- day working visit. His visit is presumed as a part of his campaign to gain support for a unilateral declaration of independence (udi) for the palestinian state . Arafat met President K. R. Narayanan and congress President Sonia Gandhi saturday morning and is to meet Prime Minister Atal bihari Vajpeyee. He apparently counts on the Indian support for the Palestinian cause. As May 4, the day Palestinian Authority has decided to declare independence from israel unilaterally, approaches, international pressure is mounting on Arafat to go slow on the ultimetum…."
New York Post 4/11/99 Uri Dan "...UNPRECEDENTED riots between Arab Muslims and Arab Christians erupted in Jesus' boyhood town last week as the Muslims declared "Nazareth is not Kosovo."
The Muslim attacks so frightened the city's Christian minority that for the first time in history its churches - and particularly the Church of the Annunciation - closed their doors to the pilgrims who regularly visit.
As the Muslims indicated in their slogan, this could become a Balkan-like war zone - but not like Kosovo, where Christian Serbs drove out a Muslim majority. The conflict in the Galilee capital has been going on for 18 months but until now without violence. The issue - over where to build a major new mosque - had been dealt with in court and in negotiations....The Israeli official responsible for Christian communities, Uri More, wrote a letter to the Cabinet in which he warned: "If we do act for a quick and urgent removal of the invaders Nazareth will be taken over by the Islamic Movement." By invaders he meant a group of extremists who erected a tent on the lot in December 1998 and declared it a mosque. Since then they have acted as guardians, protecting the site day and night armed with axes and clubs..... But there was trouble this week: Arab Muslims stoned their Christian brothers in their cars. Screaming women were shown on Israel TV saying "Israel should act immediately to show we don't live in Iran." ...."
AFP 4/14/99 "...The Vatican warned Israel anew Wednesday against allowing the construction of a mosque next to the Basilica of the Anunciation in Nazareth, the main Christian holy site inside Israel. The Vatican envoy in the Holy Land, Monsignor Pietro Sambi, said he told Israeli officials here Wednesday that construction of the Nazareth mosque would "disturb" Church plans to mark the 2000th anniversary of Jesus' birth. "I expressed the opposition of all Christians to this mosque, which if built could disturb festivities plans for the year 2000," Sambi told AFP following a meeting with officials from Israel's ministry of religious affairs...."
Jerusalem Post 4/16/99 Gerald Steinberg "...One of the positive features of the American system of government is that when one branch gets something very wrong, there is a chance that another branch will limit the damage.This is the case with the American policy on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In their craving for a foreign policy success, Clinton administration officials have created a mythical Middle East, but Congress, with participation from both parties, is attempting to prevent them from straying too far from reality. The Clinton administration has been a foreign policy disaster, as the president flits from issue to issue with short periods of high-intensity attention, but little follow-through. This pattern is clearly evident with respect to Kosovo, Iraq, and the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. The process that began in Oslo had been collapsing for years, and the Wye Plantation summit (amidst the impeachment process) was too late to reverse the rot. Knowing that changes in Palestinian behavior would be very difficult to accomplish, the White House took the easy route by blaming the Netanyahu government.However, members of Congress, who justify their role in foreign policy by keeping a close watch on the Executive Branch, were not convinced, and began to examine the details. A few weeks ago, Republican Senator Connie Mack (from Florida) came to the area to learn the details for himself. Mack returned with one basic question: "How is it possible to engage in peace negotiations with people who maintain the right to obliterate you, who are filled with hatred toward you, and who harbor the dream of one day destroying your homeland?" ....In the wake of Senator Mack's report, and while Yasser Arafat was being welcomed again at the White House, 50 members of Congress wrote a stinging letter to Clinton on Palestinian incitement to violence. Placing the issues in their proper context, they noted that "The issue here is not disagreements over certain aspects of the permanent agreement, but the incitement and indoctrination of a whole generation to hate Jews to such an extent that irrespective of existing formal agreements, genuine reconciliation and peace may be impossible to attain." By an overwhelming majority, Congress also passed resolutions opposing a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, warning that such a move "would be a grievous violation" of the Oslo Agreement that "would not be recognized" by the United States.
Thus, while Arafat was collecting rewards in Europe and the White House for agreeing not to take this step (and destroy any chance of eventually gaining control over more territory), Congress was reminding the Palestinian leader of the costs of such a move.....The central problem with all of the agreements, from Oslo through Wye, is that they have not changed these deeply rooted attitudes. Mack also got this one right, noting that "There will not be peace until hearts and minds are changed, and we must focus our attention on these issues. "If the Palestinian leadership fails to abandon incitement of hatred, persecution, and terrorism, then we are all dreaming, only dreaming." The question is whether anyone in the State Department or White House is listening...."
AP 4/15/99 "...Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with China's president on Thursday to win Beijing's support for the declaration of a Palestinian state as early as next month, state-run media reported. While stopping short of a public pledge of support, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said China backed "the just cause of the Palestinian people,'' the Xinhua News Agency said. "Palestinians will surely realize their lofty goals of restoring their legitimate national rights and establishing an independent Palestinian state'' so long as they adhere to peaceful negotiations with Israel, Xinhua quoted Jiang as saying...."
Hong Kong Standard--AFP 4/17/99 Freeper tallhappy "...Jiang Zemin: "The great aim of the Palestinian people to re-establish their legitimate rights and found an independent state must be accomplished"..."
The Jerusalem Post 4/18/99 Hillel Kuttler "...A senior US official said Friday that the administration began speaking out last week against Israeli housing construction in the territories because of recent proof it attained to bolster the case that the Netanyahu government was misleading it. The official would not reveal what that proof was, but said that it was something "that takes time to confirm and get hard evidence." The official inferred that Netanyahu had backtracked on a pledge to President Clinton during October's Wye River negotiations that settlement expansion would cease. "The administration disagrees with the character of what's happening, and is concerned. We were told one thing by Prime Minister Netanyahu, at all levels, and it's having an effect on the peace process. ... It was said at all levels, to the President and below him," he said. "We were told certain things at Wye , and Wye was supposed to mark a change in attitude. It is that much more damaging when we're trying to ensure that there's no unilateral moves on [the Palestinians'] part" to declare a state, he added...."
Associated Press 4/21/99 "...Russia will support an independent Palestinian state whenever the Palestinians choose to declare it, Russia's ambassador to Egypt was quoted as saying Tuesday. The statement represents a significant shift by Russia, which had urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to delay a May 4 declaration of statehood..... "There is no choice but to declare a Palestinian state," Gougev quoted Ivanov as saying in the letter, which was delivered Tuesday. "Russia will strongly support the declaration of a Palestinian state at any time the Palestinian Authority chooses." ..."
The Associated Press 4/24/99 Freeper Jai "...Jewish settlers have established a new enclave in the West Bank, despite U.S. protests that Israel's recent drive to expand its presence in the territory damages the peace process with the Palestinians, a watchdog group said Saturday...."
PRNewswire 5/9/99 Freeper Brian Mosely "... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tenure has placed "a sizeable, self-inflicted damage" on U.S.-Israeli relations -- and therefore, "The intimacy that was the rule of the game between an American president and an Israeli prime minister has been replaced by a new intimacy between [Palestinian leader Yassir] Arafat and the American president," Labor Party candidate Ehud Barak tells Contributing Editor Lally Weymouth in the current issue of Newsweek. "Netanyahu in a way created a de facto Palestinian state. He gave birth to it at the Wye Plantation [talks] and then ratified it in the collective memory of the world by orchestrating the Clinton visit to Gaza."..."
New York Post 5/2/99 Uri Dan "...WHOEVER is elected Israeli prime minister will face a new demand from Yasser Arafat - to revive a 52-year-old U.N. plan for dividing Israel into a larger Arab state and a shrunken Jewish one. Nabil Shaat, one of Arafat's chief negotiators and someone well known to the State Department, has repeatedly said this is the Palestinian president's message during his recent travels to 50 states around the world. The explosive demand has stunned and disappointed Arafat's ardent sympathizers among Jews affiliated with the Israeli left and the opposition Labor Party. Arafat is no long asking for just the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He is demanding control of regions that include the Negev city of Beersheba and the western Galilee - and the installation of an international regime under U.N. auspices in charge of Jerusalem. While the world's attention was diverted last week to the Balkans, the Palestinians presented their demand - and were backed by more than 40 countries - at a session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Only Israel and the United States said no. The call is for reaffirming General Assembly Resolution 181, dated Nov. 29, 1947, which divided the land west of the Jordan into two states - one Jewish, one Arab - to replace the British mandate. Since it was adopted, a lot of blood has been spilled, beginning when the Arabs rejected the partition and went to war with Israel in 1948 - and lost. After that, Israel regarded Resolution 181 as dead. As David Ben-Gurion, founder of the Jewish state, said: "They started the war and they will pay for it."...The Arabs began another war in 1967 but Israel gained full control of Jerusalem as well as the West Bank and Gaza. After that, the U.N. Security Council passed two resolutions, 242 and 338, which called for Israel to turn over the captured land in return for peace...."
New York Post 5/3/99 Editorial "...Although it went largely unreported by the mainstream news media, the prospects for peace in the Middle East took an ominous turn last week. In Geneva, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, with the full support of the European nations, officially endorsed Yasser Arafat's latest diplomatic offensive, of which we recently took note. The commission voted to support both Palestinian statehood based on the UN's original 1947 partition vote (Resolution 181) and the so-called "right of return" for all Arab refugees. What is significant about the vote is that it mentions none of the subsequent bases for negotiating Middle East peace. Not UN Resolutions 242 and 338, which recognize the need for secure, recognizable borders. Not Camp David, the first Arab-Israeli peace agreement. Not the Oslo Accords, which mandate bilateral, direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. By endorsing Resolution 181, the UN also in effect approved its call to make the entire city of Jerusalem - including its western section, which has been under Israeli sovereignty since 1948 - a "corpus separatum" or separate entity. This concept, which has no basis in international law, is anathema - and rightfully so - to Israel, where there is a national consensus that Jerusalem must remain its eternal, undivided capital, a claim rooted in 3,000 years of history. Israel has long considered this resolution null and void, noting that the Arab world rejected it in 1947. But Arafat has revived Palestinian interest in 181, seeing it as a way to undermine Israel's claim to Jerusalem and perhaps to shrink Israel's borders dramatically....The Clinton administration, to its credit, refused to play along - Washington was the only Human Rights Commission member to vote against Arafat's ploy and has reaffirmed its commitment to Resolutions 242 and 338 as the basis for negotiations..."
NY Times 5/4/99 AP "...Hundreds of Palestinians, including dozens of masked men firing rifles in the air, marched through the West Bank today chanting ``Statehood is our right!'' Some marchers in Hebron broke away and hurled stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired rubber-coated steel pellets. Similar clashes broke out in the West Bank town of Beitunia...."
World Tribune 5/4/99 Steve Rodan "...Syria has constructed a network of tunnels throughout the country to conceal its arsenal of ballistic missiles, capable of being tipped with nonconventional warheads, regional intelligence sources say. The sources, who did not want to be identified, said Damascus has obtained technology and help from North Korea to construct the tunnel network. Pyongyang has constructed a huge network of tunnels to conceal its missile and nuclear weapons program, the sources said. So far, the sources said, Syria has completed the construction of five tunnels to conceal Scud C missiles, with a range of 500 kilometers. This would put Syrian missiles in striking distance of virtually any target in Israel...."
Ha'aretz 5/5/99 Amos Harel "... The Palestinian Authority has postoned until July its decision on whether to declare an independent state, according to senior Palestinian officials. The Palestinian officials said the PA expected the Israeli political situation to be clear by that time, making it possible to predict Israel's policy on the continuation of the peace process.... However, a letter from U.S. President Bill Clinton to Arafat, dated April 26, clearly shows that the Palestinians obtained important commitments from the U.S. administration in return for delaying the declaration. Following are excerpts of Clinton's letter to Arafat:.... The objective of the negotiating process is the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, including land for peace, and all other agreements under the Oslo process...The United States knows how destructive settlement activities, land confiscations, and house demolitions are to the pursuit of Palestinian-Israeli peace...As we work together to advance peace, I am also committed to continuing to enhance the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership. I will do everything possible to strengthen that partnership and through the U.S.-Palestinian Bilateral Committee to remove impediments to our relationship...Sincerely, Bill Clinton"
Reuters 5/5/99 "...In an incremental shift toward recognition of Palestinian hopes for statehood, President Clinton said the United States supports Palestinian aspirations to self-determination on their land. Clinton made the pledge in the letter he sent to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat last week in a successful attempt to avert a declaration of Palestinian statehood. Reuters obtained a copy of the letter Wednesday. The wording goes one step beyond what Clinton said when he went to Gaza in December on what was widely seen as tantamount to a state visit to the Palestinian territories. "For the first time in the history of the Palestinian movement, the Palestinian people and their elected representatives now have a chance to determine their own destiny on their own land,'' he said in Gaza. The letter says: "In the spirit of my remarks in Gaza, we support the aspirations of the Palestinian people to determine their own future on their own land.''..."
MSNBC Jonathan Broder 5/3/99 "...Against a backdrop of growing U.S. concern, Israel and Russia have signed a deal to cooperate on the production of sophisticated AWACS-style early-warning aircraft for sale to the Chinese Air Force, MSNBC has learned. The Clinton administration is becoming increasingly convinced that Israel is building a disturbing new strategic relationship with Moscow. THE DEAL AND several others that are in the works represent the ripening fruits of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial new policy, which seeks to forge closer ties with Russia by offering its military manufacturers lucrative co-production agreements with Israel's state-of-the-art defense industries. Israel already has similar agreements China. U.S. intelligence sources, citing classified documents, said Jerusalem and Moscow also are close to agreement on another deal under which Israel will upgrade aging MiG-21 warplanes for Russia's Third World clients...."
New York Post 5/6/99 "...The Clinton administration's Middle East point man, Martin Indyk, doesn't like our recent criticism of his decision to hire for his staff someone whose published writings include virulent attacks on Israel and on America's Mideast policy. .... His spirited defense of Zogby raises more questions than it answers. Shortly before his appointment, Zogby wrote two articles that compared the West Bank and Gaza to "South African-style bantustans," called the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin "a war criminal" and said it was "naive" to believe that Israel desires to make peace. He also attacked Washington for its "willful ineffectuality" in the Middle East and derided the Oslo Accords - the centerpiece of U.S. policy in the region - as "a willful unconditional surrender to an occupier."....Indyk can't have it both ways. We're not reassured by the claim that, now that he's been given a plum State Department position - and recently offered a promotion, to boot - Joseph Zogby has become a convert to administration policy. No one with similarly virulent anti-Palestinian writings would ever have been hired by the State Department's Near East bureau. Indyk knows it...."
Universal Press Syndicate 5/6/99 Cal Thomas "...Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicts that if the opposition Labor Party wins the May 17 elections, "it will endanger Israel and cause war." Responding by e-mail to a list of questions, Netanyahu told me: "That the Palestinians have no intention of being satisfied with (a) state is made obvious by their campaign to return to the U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947, which would be tantamount to dismantling Israel. It would cut off half the Galilee and half the Negev and the Jerusalem corridor from the State of Israel and internationalize Jerusalem." That resolution was rejected at the time by the Palestinians and every Arab regime, which then vowed to evict all Jews from the land, eradicating the embryonic nation. Now, after four wars and numerous terrorist acts, we are asked to believe that Israel's enemies have suddenly had a change of heart and that a diplomatic land grab is not a prelude to seizing the rest of the country...."
ArabicNews.com 5/7/99 "....The AP quoted Clinton as saying in a message he addressed to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat that the Palestinians have the right to self-determination and to live free today, tomorrow and forever.... The US president added that the Palestinians were committed to implementing provisions of the Wye River agreement signed in Washington in October 1998. He praised the efforts exerted by the Palestinian Authority in preventing attacks against Israel..... For his part, Arafat welcomed the US position and viewed its as an unprecedented positive US stand in the policy pursued by Washington towards the cause of the Palestinian people...."
Washington Post 5/8/99 Lee Hockstader "... Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and now the most popular Russian-speaking politician in Israel, is short, bald and no one's idea of a matinee idol. But these days, he says, such is the ardor of his political suitors that they "have finally come to realize that I'm a handsome, tall man with thick curly hair." .... In their desperation to woo the 14 percent of the Israeli electorate known as "the Russian vote," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his main challenger, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, have turned to extravagant promises, shameless flattery, delicious seduction and robust one-upmanship. Besides promising new subsidies for Russian immigrants, both candidates have been airing TV advertisements with Russian subtitles, and this week went a step further, broadcasting spots on national television in Russian with Hebrew subtitles...."
Los Angeles Times 5/10/99 DAOUD KUTTAB "....While politicians both regionally and internationally argue about the exact mechanism of helping Palestinians realize their national dream of statehood, the majority of Palestinians have become apathetic to the political process. Hopes and dreams have been dashed so many times that for most Palestinians, making ends meet has become the central focus of their lives. This Palestinian indifference to the political activities must not be understood as a sign that the Palestinian dream has been scrapped. As previous histories of the Middle East have shown, the periods of quiet and tranquillity are often followed by turbulence and instability. Legally speaking, the Oslo accords which specified that May 4, 1999, be the last day of the permanent status negotiations can't be amended without another bilateral agreement. The hopes and aspirations that Palestinians and Israelis had when Arafat shook hands with the late Yitzhak Rabin have now faded. While Palestinians are resigned to accepting the decision to postpone declaring statehood, their dream of freedom and independence lives. An independent and democratic state of Palestine will be the focus of Palestinians no matter what happens in the coming Israeli elections or how much effort the Clinton administration exerts after the elections...."
New York Times wire service 5/9/99 Joel Greenberg "...Vowing to block entry by the Israeli police, scores of Palestinians gathered Sunday at the Palestine Liberation Organization's headquarters in East Jerusalem as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to close three offices in the building forcibly...."
Ha'aretz 5/10/99 Danny Rubinstein "...Over the weekend, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat once again made reference to United Nations Resolution 181. "We have a constant right to set up a state, based on UN Resolution 181," Arafat said at a meeting in Gaza, referring to the famous partition plan that brought about great outbursts of joy in the pre-state Jewish community of Palestine more than 50 years ago.In today's Israel, however, its very mention raises serious concerns, because under 181 the central and western Galilee, the center of the country (Lod and Ramle) and the western Negev belong to the Arab state that was supposed to be founded side-by-side with the Jewish one. The UN resolution from November 29, 1947, reappeared on the Palestinian agenda following the lengthy debates regarding the declaration of an independent state, scheduled for last week. In the short history of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, reference is always made to UN Resolution 242, approved after the Six-Day War. But Resolution 242 makes no mention of a Palestinian state, and its significance is in its call for Israel to withdraw from the territories seized in 1967. Only Resolution 181, which calls for a partition of the land, talks of setting up an Arab state on it. Therefore it has become accepted practice in Palestinian diplomacy to rely on Resolution 242 when demanding an Israeli withdrawal, and on Resolution 181 when discussing the demand for an independent state. The references made to the partition plan most certainly point to a radicalization of the Palestinian stand. The references do not mean that the Palestinians are deluding themselves as to the possibility of their state really including the Galilee and Lod, Ramle and Jaffa...."
Houston Chronicle 5/19/99 Cal Thomas Freeper hope "...Barak is celebrating the spoils of political victory, but he will be under intense pressure to deliver on a mirage. President Clinton, lusting after a honorable legacy and running out of time, will use the "Jewish Mafia" in the State Department and the anti-Israel cabal in the United Nations to try to force Israel to cave and deliver. Look for Beilin and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres to pressure Barak from within to surrender the Golan Heights down to the border of Israel's main water supply, the Sea of Galilee. But when war breaks out, launched from territory recently acquired by the Palestinians, will the leftists stay and fight? Or will they catch the first plane or boat to safety and indulge in "what might have been" theorizing if Likud had never ruled? Their line will be that Israel didn't compromise fast enough and so made her enemies angry...."
Houston Chronicle 5/10/99 A.M. Rosenthal "...THE Palestinian state will be created. It will be a dictatorship -- ranging from stifling to murderous, and most of the time both. The world's governments, including the United States, will not worry about that. They never really thought Arabs were entitled to human liberty in their own nations. Neither did Arabs; only a few spoke or risked themselves for it..... Arabs never produced a democratic society nor world Islam a liberalizing movement of moment. Last month about 100 Arabs from 15 countries did meet, at great danger to themselves, to send a cry of Arab rights -- to the world, which eagerly avoided it, and to their own people, those who somehow get word past censorship and police....'
Associated Press 5/12/99 Barry Schweid, "...President Clinton is waiting out Israel's elections before deciding whether to block the shift of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, congressional and administration officials said Wednesday. A decision to keep the Embassy in Tel Aviv could set up a confrontation with some members of Congress who want to bolster Israel's claim to Jerusalem as its capital.... Moving the embassy to Jerusalem could have political implications not only in the Middle East but also among American Jews - some of whom support Israel's hard-line stand while others believe Israel must make concessions for peace. A bill expected to be debated by the Senate later this month, and already approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would authorize $50 million a year over the next two fiscal years to build a new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Clinton, as a presidential candidate in 1992, supported moving the embassy to Jerusalem. That would bolster Israel's claim to the city as its capital...."
New York Times 5/14/99 Abe Rosenthal "...The top two Israelis running for prime minister did almost nothing to raise an alert to their country. They had a terrific excuse -- alerts might hurt their campaigns. Mr. Arafat's renewed message to Palestinians is that their goal remains to push Israel back at least to the land the Jews held before Israel became a state. Israel would be amputated to indefensibility with the loss of at least three cities, militarily critical roads, water supplies, chunks of the Galilee and the Negev desert the Jews so enriched, and without legal control of any part of Jerusalem. It is an unconcealed variation of the 1974 Palestinian phase plan -- reduce Israel to impotence by a succession of interlocked diplomatic and military stages so that one day the final settlement could be Israel's defeat or dessication of its national will. The Arafat path to that end is now the 1947 partition resolution (No. 181) of the U.N. General Assembly. It was rejected by the Arabs, who began the half-century war against Israel. They lost territory to Israelis that the Jews claimed but were willing to give up then, to create Israel. Now Mr. Arafat wants it all back. That would suffocate Israel's security viability -- as a starting point. Mr. Arafat got a formal statement from the entire European Union that no part of Jerusalem was legally under Israeli control. The U.N. Human Rights Commission, as it is called, went further: All Israeli-Palestinian negotiations must be based on the lethal 181...."
AP 5/17/99 Barry Schweid "...As Israel elected a new prime minister Monday, the Clinton administration renewed its call for an Israeli pullback on the West Bank and immediate and rapid talks with the Palestinians on Jerusalem and statehood. After a long and frustrating stalemate, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also set as a U.S. goal peace talks on ``an invigorated track'' between Israel and Syria and Lebanon. Albright, in a joint news conference with visiting King Abdullah of Jordan, said, ``We want to see a comprehensive peace process go forward.'' ....Barak served as foreign minister in a Labor government that offered to relinquish the Golan Heights to Syria, depending on peace terms. He also appears more open to territorial compromise with the Palestinians, according to his campaign statements and record, and the Labor Party has signaled willingness to help establish a Palestinian state. ``The core issue is the Palestinian-Israeli peace process,'' Jordan's Abdullah said, reviving the traditional Arab position that if the conflict with Israel were resolved other problems in the region would be eased.....Jon B. Alterman, who follows Middle East issues at the United States Institute of Peace, said that if Barak wins, ``it resurrects a very tight partnership between the government of Israel and the government of the United States.'' The administration has been moving quickly to establish a partnership with the Palestinian Authority, Alterman said in an interview. For years, he said, the Arabs have been saying they were willing to deal with Israel, but Netanyahu was a problem. During the 1996 election, Netanyahu opposed the Oslo Accords. ...."
5/18/99 AFP "...A fresh salvo of Katyusha rockets hit northern Israel from Lebanon Tuesday slightly injurying several people, the Israeli army said. Earlier in the morning dozens of Katyushas hit the Galilee panhandle region around this border town sparking off fires and causing damage but no casualties, Israeli army radio said. Hezbollah said it had fired around 60 rockets at northern Israel in retaliation for the death of two Lebanese civilians killed by an Israeli rocket in southern Lebanon...."
5/18/99 AFP "...In his first remarks since defeating Benjamin Netanyahu in elections for Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak of the Labor Party vowed Tuesday to withdraw Israeli troops from Lebanon within a year. "Within a year we will end the conflict in Lebanon," Barak said, speaking barely an hour after northern Israel was struck by dozens of rockets fired by guerrillas in Lebanon. He then paid homage to the residents of northern Israel, who were spending the night in bomb shelters following the rocket attack. "I extend my hand to the residents of northern Israel who are in the shelters," he said...."
AP 5/21/99 "...Angry that men and women were praying together, ultra-Orthodox Jews pelted Reform Jews with plastic water bottles Friday at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site. Four people were arrested in the attack, police spokeswoman Linda Menuhin said. One Reform Jewish woman was slightly injured after being struck in the head...."
New York Times 5/21/99 A. M. Rosenthal "...On a day in Israel in June 1992 I talked separately with the four men I considered most important to their country. I asked them all the same question, most important to its people and future. What was their thinking about the statement of President George Bush that for Israel security was not in land or geography but in peace with the Palestinians? They were Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Defense Minister Moshe Arens, both of Likud; Yitzhak Rabin of Labor, who soon would defeat Likud in a national election; and the chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, respected nationally as a particularly brave commander. To my surprise, the men from the acridly contesting parties and the non-political chief of staff all agreed with each other -- none with Mr. Bush. They said Palestinians would never rest with a slice of Israel but were targeted at defeating it altogether. They said a Palestinian state would fight a war of terrorism from its sanctuary, constantly reinforced by Arab allies. Gen. Ehud Barak, the chief of staff, said day by day the Israeli military had watched U.S. strategy in the gulf war. He said smart weapons had not been as important to the victory over Iraq as smart strategy. He said the U.S. had taken advantage of great reaches of space and the wealth of maneuver time to pummel the Iraqis where and when it would do most military damage...."
White House 5/24/99 "....Waiver and Certification of Statutory Provisions Regarding the Palestine Liberation Organization Pursuant to the authority vested in me under section 540(d) of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1999, Public Law 105-277, I hereby determine and certify that it is important to the national security interests of the United States to waive the provisions of section 1003 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987, Public Law 100-204, through October 21, 1999...."
IsraelWire 5/24/99 "...According to Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Justice Shimon Feinberg, Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem's Old City would not constitute a significant danger to the well being of the public..... When in proximity of the Al Aksa Mosque, they pulled out prayer shawls and attempted to pray, an act forbidden to Jews. .... Judge Feinberg, in his ruling stated that the Mount was empty of Moslem worshippers at the time of the incident, and there were only a small number of tourists. "The defendants were attempting to pray in a secluded area and were not openly visible," he added. The defendants were acquitted of the charges...."
5/28/99 AP Newsday Freeper Thanatos "...The United States on Friday criticized departing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's effort to strengthen Israel's hold on Jerusalem as ``a provocative act'' that could upset the peace process. Netanyahu's government expanded the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim and connected it to Jerusalem. The change further cut off the eastern sector of the city from the West Bank and could undercut Palestinian hopes of setting up a capital in or near the disputed city, U.S. officials said...."
5/28/99 US Newswire Freeper Thanatos "...B'nai B'rith International President Richard D. Heideman today wrote President Clinton the organization was troubled by reports the administration would invoke a "national security" waiver to continue to avoid relocating the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act contains a May 31, 1999, authorization deadline In a letter to Clinton, Heideman writes that "the United States has diplomatic relations with nearly 200 countries. In only one of them do we maintain our embassy in a location other than the capital. That one anomaly is Israel."...."
AP 5/30/99 Dina Kraft "...Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged conducting secret talks with Syria that included a proposal to replace Israeli soldiers on the Golan Heights with foreign troops, a Cabinet minister said Sunday.
Netanyahu, trounced by moderate Ehud Barak in elections two weeks ago, outwardly maintained an unwavering commitment to Israeli sovereignty over the strategic plateau, captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. But reports last week said that the outgoing prime minister conducted clandestine talks with Syria for over a year and nearly came to agreements on several occasions that included substantial withdrawals...."
Reuters 5/31/99 Jeffrey Heller "...Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak has pledged to continue Jewish settlement activity, the head of a right-wing political party said Monday after coalition talks with the incoming leader. ``Barak said clearly that he won't freeze settlements,'' Transport Minister Yitzhak Levy, head of the National Religious Party (NRP), told Reuters a day after their meeting. Levy said Barak was opposed to the construction of new settlements in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, but would allow for the ``natural, needed growth'' of existing ones...."
Associated Press 5/31/99 Dafna Linzer "...The Clinton administration worked against outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his reelection bid in an effort to aid his downfall, a senior Netanyahu adviser said Monday. David Bar-Illan, who served as Netanyahu's communications director, said the State Department ran its own campaign of disinformation against the premier while the White House encouraged financial contributions to Netanyahu's main opponent - and eventual successor - Ehud Barak. Michael Hammer, a spokesman for Clinton's National Security Council said Monday that "the Clinton administration in no way became involved in the internal politics of the Israeli election.''.... "Instead of an outright endorsement of Barak, the administration preferred active measures to discredit Netanyahu. In the four months preceding the election, hardly a day passed without a Washington story about Netanyahu failing to keep his word.'' ....While several officials privately backed Netanyahu's demands for reciprocity with the Palestinians, Bar-Illan said, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright insisted that Netanyahu was holding up peace. "Thus was the anti-Israel tilt complete,'' Bar-Illan wrote...."
6/2/99 AP Newsday Freeper Thanatos "...A series of guerrilla bombs killed two Israeli-backed militiamen and wounded another Tuesday as the militia began to pull out of a nearby town in south Lebanon. The South Lebanon Army's withdrawal from Jezzine is widely seen as the precursor to a complete Israeli withdrawal from the border zone in southern Lebanon, which it has occupied since it invaded Lebanon in 1982 ..."
Jerusalem Post 6/2/99 Morton A. Klein Freeper starlu "...The Clinton-Gore administration claims it is "the most pro-Israel administration ever." Yet the administration recently appointed two anti-Israel extremists - one who has harshly attacked Israel and strongly criticized US policy for not being pro-Arab enough, and one who has accused Israel of persecuting Moslems and has associated herself with groups that justify Arab terrorism and support Holocaust-deniers...."
Washington Post 6/4/99 Charles Krauthammer "...Having failed to topple Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic, Bill Clinton had to settle for Binyamin Netanyahu. In a characteristic display of partisan glee, Clinton toasted political consultant Robert Shrum Tuesday night (reports Lloyd Grove in The Washington Post) to congratulate him (and implicitly the administration) for helping the Israeli opposition bring down the prime minister Washington loves to hate. Yet for all the gloating at the White House, there is deep trouble ahead in the peace process. A momentous shift has occurred that has almost completely eluded the radar screen of the Western media and the attention of this administration. While Palestinians, Americans, Egyptians, other Arabs and many Israelis assiduously assailed Netanyahu for this or that alleged violation of the spirit of the Oslo peace accords, Yasser Arafat went on a 60-nation diplomatic tour -- hardly a stealth campaign -- to kill the accords....The whole process was explicitly grounded in U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338 endorsing this land-for-peace formula. Fine. After years of persistence, Netanyahu manages to get most of the not-an-inch "nationalist" half of Israel to accept the 242/338 formula. What happens? For the last six months Arafat has been going around the world demanding instead implementation of U.N. Resolution 181...."
Rueters 6/6/99 "....Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres backed an independent Palestinian state in remarks broadcast Sunday, going so far as to say it would be best for Israel. In some of his strongest language to date, the dovish former prime minister told an international poets festival: ``I say as a politician there is nothing better for the state of Israel than a free Palestinian state.'' ....."
Agence France-Presse 6/6/99 "...More details emerged Sunday of the government programme which Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak has submitted to potential coalition partners. The guidelines say the new government will neither dismantle Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip nor establish new ones before a final agreement on their status is reached with the Palestinians. The programme, carried by Israeli papers, guarantees security for the settlers and says the government will "provide the services they need for their daily life and development."..... "
World Tribune 6/7/99 "...The State Department has taken a parting shot at the Israeli official viewed as the most inimical to Washington's interests in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. State Department spokesman James Rubin cut off a reporter at the State Department briefing on Thursday as he tried to complete a question regarding accusations by David Bar-Illan, director of policy planning for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Bar-Illan accused the Clinton administration of supporting Ehud Barak in the recent Israeli elections. "Is he still the spokesman there?" Rubin asked. "Is he still employed? I just don't know whether I'm commenting on the views of a private citizen or not." ...."
IRNA 6/5/99 "...the outgoing zionist prime minister benyamin netanyahu has reportedly transferred fifty million shekels (dlrs 12 million) to jewish settlements in the west bank a few weeks before he is due to leave the office, according to a dispatch from al-qods. the israeli sources have said that the sum had been promised by netanyahu to the settler party known as the mifdal as part of a bargain whereby the said party agreed to vote for the budget law. the sources said the money would be spent in building infrastructure and public facilities in the settlements in al khalil and nablus...."
IRNA 6/8/99 "...the palestinian authority (pa) has expressed its readiness to strengthen security cooperation and coordination with the zionist regime, said a report from al-qods. a group of pa officials met last night with israeli security and intelligence officers in tel aviv and reportedly discussed ''promoting and activating security cooperation.''..."
Jerusalem Post 6/10/99 Margot Dudkevitch "....A government official and a mother whose son was killed in a terror attack have accused the US of footdragging in its investigations of terror attacks in which American citizens were among the victims. The investigations seek to determine the whereabouts of terrorists who murdered US citizens and examine the possibilities of extraditing them to the US to stand trial. Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department concluded a third visit in the region in April. They met with Palestinian Authority officials and spoke with eyewitnesses to the murder of David Boim, near Beit El, on May 13, 1996. According to excerpts of documents summing up their visit given to The Jerusalem Post, the FBI team asserted that certain difficulties arose in the Boim case and suggested that the confession of the terrorist Amjad Hinawi, who was sentenced to 10 years by a Palestinian court for his involvement in the murder, was insufficient and that more objective evidence linking him to Boim's murder is required....."
The Times (London) 6/11/99 Christopher Walker "...ABOUT 40 Israeli volunteers have been fighting alongside the Serbs as a gesture of gratitude for Serb support for Yugoslav Jews against the Nazis in the Second World War. The existence of the Israeli fighters - they do not like the term mercenaries - was revealed by Ron Ben Yishai, an Israeli war correspondent who was injured by Kosovo Liberation Army sniper fire this week while reporting from the province for the Tel Aviv daily Yediot Aharonot....."
The Jerusalem Post 6/17/99 Uri dan "… Yasser Arafat would have done well to visit the destruction and graves in Kosovo before hurrying to call, as he did this week, on Europe and NATO to act for the Palestinians and against Israel, as they did against Yugoslavia. If he were to visit Kosovo, maybe Arafat would understand that there are no victors, only losers. He should learn from Pristina's fate. I was there, and I saw the corpses of Serbs, murdered by Albanian Moslems as the KLA terrorists entered Kosovo, in an entry coordinated with NATO forces. Contrary to the agreement, the KLA has refused to disarm and has begun to take its revenge on the Serbs. This is a murderous and cruel Albanian organization, similar to Fatah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. In Kosovo I saw Serbs fleeing for their lives from their homes, after hundreds of years of living there….The real madness is that Western, Christian, democratic countries are helping establish another Moslem Albanian state in Kosovo, that already threatens Orthodox Christian Serb centers, such as monasterie and churches, in the Serb homeland…."
The New York Times Deborah Sontag 6/19/99 "…Israelis abhor silence, and their prime minister-elect, Ehud Barak, has been silent as a stone since his overwhelming victory a month ago. In that time, Barak has conducted extensive negotiations with political parties to form a coalition government. But he has made few public declarations, given few interviews and refused to show his hand through the news leaks that have long been tradition here. It has been an unusually protracted limbo between governments, and anxious Israeli commentators first read trouble into the vacuum…. But by the end of this week, after the resignation of Aryeh Deri as the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, public opinion had turned around. Barak, many realized, was pursuing a strategy: With complete deliberateness, he was choosing to set his course and then wait for others to come around. He is not a man who blinks first….. He also said it is better to make peace with the Palestinians and the Syrians a priority -- if priorities must be chosen -- than to turn first to solving internal divisions. The internal divisions, however grave, will not literally blow up in Israel's face, he has said. Although Palestinians officials say his silence toward them has been unnerving, Barak has said he is sending messages to Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader. He has congratulated Arafat for recent arrests of terror suspects, urged him to be patient and proclaimed that they will not sit opposite each other but beside each other at negotiating tables….."
New York Times/AP "…President Clinton blocked plans Friday to relocate the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a move the White House said would upset the Middle East peace effort. Congress initially passed legislation requiring the move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 1995, but it has never taken effect.
"At a time when there is real potential for movement on the peace process, and as we look forward to the start of those crucial negotiations, the United States should not be taking steps of its own that prejudge those negotiations and make them more difficult," said the White House spokesman, Joe Lockhart.
Questions about whether Clinton would block the move again this year arose last month when an American Embassy spokesman confirmed that Ambassador Edward Walker had established a residence in Jerusalem and entertained several Jewish groups there….."
FoxNews Reuters 6/20/99 "...Israeli warplanes attacked suspected Hizbollah guerrilla positions in south Lebanon Sunday shortly after residents of northern Israel were ordered into shelters as a precaution against rocket attacks, the Israeli army said. "Air force fighter planes this evening attacked terrorist targets in the Zebqine and Yater areas in the western sector north of the security zone. All our planes returned safely to base,'' an Israeli army statement said...."
AP FoxNews 6/20/99 Samar Assad "...Palestinians will ask the United States to repeal laws restricting U.S. dealings with the PLO, a senior Palestinian official said Sunday. The Palestinians will make the proposal Wednesday when the U.S.-Palestinian bilateral committees meet in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian Minister of Planning Nabil Shaath told The Associated Press. Subcommittees will deal with political, social, educational, economic and legal areas. ...Palestinian officials said they expect the American legal team to submit a proposal for the extradition of Palestinians accused of killing Americans...."
AP 6/20/99 Dina Kraft "...More than 800 years since they were entrusted with the only key to one of Christendom's holiest sites, two Muslim families will lose their role as sole gatekeepers to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Tourism Ministry said Sunday. Rival Christian sects, who have spent centuries jealously safeguarding their corners of the shrine where tradition says Jesus was buried and resurrected, have come to an agreement on opening another door - a breakthrough decision on one of the Holy Land's thorniest millennial conundrums. Tourism Ministry spokeswoman Orly Doron said the church's denominational leaders will decide by the end of June exactly where in the dark cavernous church an exit door will be placed in an effort to ensure the safe passage of the millions of pilgrims expected to visit in 2000. The keys to the new door will be in the hands of church leaders, and not the Nuseibeh and Joudeh families who hold the key for the existing entrance, Doron said...."
Defense Week 6/21/99 John donnelly "...After decades of vulnerability to the hundreds of ballistic missiles that surround it, Israel will have a national missile defense system operational within a year, several Israeli officials said in interviews at the Paris Air Show. Other officials, speaking privately, said the shield, called the Arrow Weapon System, will be in the field even sooner, by early 2000. Either way, Arrow is on track to become the first fielded western system designed and developed to intercept tactical ballistic missiles. Arrow was displayed in public for the first time here. In interviews with Defense Week, officials gave unusually candid assessments of the system's purported capabilities. Arrow's next attempt to intercept a target over the Mediterranean will come this fall, the officials said. Also, Arrow will be able to take on a range of threats-from Scud Bs, with a 185-mile range, all the way up to the North Korean No Dong or the Iranian Shahab 3, two 800-mile-range missiles that U.S. intelligence officials say are fundamentally the same. Missile threats to Israel could emanate from Iran, Iraq, Syria or Libya...."
Stratfor.com Global Intelligence Center 6/23/99 "... 1847 GMT, 990623 Israel/Lebanon - The Israeli Air Force launched their latest strike on Lebanese guerrillas June 23. The air assault focused on a valley in southern Lebanon where, it is suspected, guerrillas have been gathering prior to attacks on Israeli troops and the allied South Lebanon Army in the Israeli-occupied border zone. No casualties were announced...."
Jewish World Review 6/23/99 Neil Rubin "...As of this writing, Mr. Barak has yet to form his government. That's despite the opening of the Knesset last week, which featured the carnation-clad outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Mr. Barak embracing one another as the old friends they actually are. Meanwhile, Israel's new leader has crashed into the much-discussed new Israel, one that for now is as colorful as ungovernable. It features a surging religious party whose leaders call democracy subservient to Jewish law, a reinvigorated secular party whose head calls the religious parasites (and in turn is called an anti-Semite), and a senior Labor leader who demands that American Jews get a life and replace their philanthropic reliance on Israel's saga with a healthier paradigm..... Meanwhile, the Arab camp, led by an Egypt seeking to recapture its role as pan-Arab nationalist leader, is laying the groundwork to push Israel hard on the peace front. Its media offers daily and harsh criticisms of Israel, particularly Mr. Barak's pledge not to divide Jerusalem - which is silly because the city's borders will be redrawn and a Palestinian flag will fly over the Arab neighborhoods, but not that of the Old City. Trust me, it'll happen. ..."
World In Review 6/99 John Coleman "...The successful cooperation between the Palestine Authority and the Israel security forces, augers well for the future stabalization of the West Bank and Gaza, this according to our Middle East intelligence sources. At a preelection conference attended by delegates from Israel, and surprisingl, by Sheik Ahmed Yassin, it was agreed that heading off bombing attacks on Israel was the surest way to defeat Netanyahu at the polls. The PLA has developed a surprisingly effective General Intelligence Service (GIS), and Preventive Security Service which nipped at least two HAMAS-planned terror-bombing attacks in the bud...."
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9906/24/BC-Lebanon-Israel.ap/ 6/24/99 AP "...Israeli warplanes twice attacked a power substation on a hill above Beirut on Thursday night, in apparent retaliation for cross-border guerrilla attacks on northern Israel. At least two rockets were fired on Jambour hill near the Lebanese Defense Ministry compound, Lebanese television reported ..."
Yediot Achronot (Israel) 6/18/99 Shimon Shiffer "...Netanyahu plans in the book he is currently writing to publish several details that will considerably embarrass the president of the United States. In one of the chapters Clinton will earn the title 'International Swindler'. And this is the story. In September '98, Yom Kippur Eve, Clinton and Netanyahu met for a conversation in the White House, during the course of which Netanyahu agreed to attend the conference at Wye Plantation with Yasser Arafat on condition that Clinton would act to immediately release the spy Jonathan Pollard. Clinton, according to Netanyahu and his closest advisors, agreed to the condition. Netanyahu explained to him that this gesture would help him to get the support from his constituents for the painful part of the agreement he expected to sign - continuation of the withdrawal from the territories. 'Bibi went to Wye knowing that Clinton would immediately release Pollard with the signing of the agreement with the Palestinians,' the advisors of the departing prime minister said this week.......At the end of the conference, at 5:00 AM, after arrangements had already been made for the signing ceremony, Clinton put his hand on Netanyahu's shoulder and asked him to step aside with him so he could tell him a few things. One of those present in the room saw Clinton and Netanyahu as they spoke from a distance. 'Netanyahu turned pale, and Clinton hugged him.' The man said this week. When Netanyahu returned to the center of the room, he told his advisors and ministers that Clinton had announced to him that he could not honor his promise to release Pollard. 'We were shocked,' said one of them. 'We thought that Bibi should go back to Clinton and tell him: 'if that is the case then there is no agreement with the Palestinians. You lied to me.' Our problem was that we did not want to find ourselves again in the terrible situation that both in Israel and the world Netanyahu would be presented as a liar, and would not talk at all about the real liar...."
Ha'aretz 6/27/99 Amos Harel "..The U.S. was involved in bringing a quick end to the sharp escalation in violence in Lebanon this weekend, with Defense Minister Moshe Arens calling on U.S. Undersecretary of State for Near East Affairs Martin Indyk to relay to Damascus that Syria should restrain the Hezbollah... The shooting stopped early Friday morning, in large part because Damascus apparently put restraints on the Hezbollah. Arens spoke with Indyk several times on both Thursday and Friday and the American diplomat is said to have told Damascus that if the Hezbollah did not cease the Katyusha attacks - which began Thursday afternoon and continued until just before midnight - Israel would step up its attacks on Lebanon, and would consider hitting Syrian targets...."
New York Post 6/27/99 Uri Dan "...BENJAMIN Netanyahu had only bitter words for Ehud Barak, the man who crushed him in Israel's elections on May 17 and will succeed him as prime minister: "All Ehud dreams of is enjoying a meal of humus in Damascus - so he can give back the Golan Heights to the Syrian dictator and win the Nobel Peace Prize." ..... Seale quoted Barak's wish to make peace with Damascus and his praise for Assad's role in bringing about "a stable and independent Syria." Assad, in turn, complimented Barak, calling him "a strong and truthful leader who wants to arrive at peace with Syria" - while blaming Netanyahu for the stalled Israeli-Syrian peace talks. These interviews created a sensation in Israel, as if peace will be at hand as soon as Barak puts the final touches on his coalition government. Manipulative politicians, foolish commentators as well as people who just want peace with Syria took this at face value. But in the eyes of some Israeli intelligence officers well acquainted with the ups and downs in Assad's attitude toward Israel, his kind words for Barak are just a means of getting back the Golan during his lifetime...... Barak is ready for vast concessions - but will not accept Assad's demand for a return to the border of June 4, 1967 - that is, on the eve of the Six-Day War....."
AP 6/25/99 SAM F. GHATTAS "....Israeli warplanes bombed Lebanese power stations and bridges in their heaviest airstrikes in three years. While leaders in the blacked-out Lebanese capital pledged Friday to rebuild the demolished structures, damage to newly revived hopes for Middle East peace may prove far more difficult to repair. The Israeli raids late Thursday and early Friday killed nine Lebanese and wounded 57, according to hospital, police and newspaper casualty tolls. Lebanese guerrilla rocket attacks in retaliation killed two Israelis in the northern border town of Kiryat Shemonah....."
AP 6/24/99 "...Beirut was blacked out and residents in northern Israel huddled in bomb shelters today during the heaviest fighting between Israel and Lebanon in three years. The attacks killed seven Lebanese and two Israelis. The Israeli airstrikes against Lebanon's infrastructure also wounded 57 people since they began Thursday. Israeli jets and helicopters hit two power substations outside the capital, Beirut; guerrilla targets in the eastern city of Baalbek, a stronghold of the Hezbollah militants; and bridges on Lebanon's main coastal road. The Israeli army said in a statement that its planes carried out the bombings in response to Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel Thursday that wounded one soldier and four civilians. Those rockets were fired after Israeli shelling wounded a Lebanese civilian...."
MENL 6/25/99 "... Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat returned from a brief meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday where he discussed his fears that Israel might focus Middle East peace efforts on talks with Damascus. PA sources said the Syrian initiative to prepare for talks with Israel has alarmed Arafat. They said much of his talks on Thursday morning in Cairo focused on Mubarak's meetings next week in Washington with President Bill Clinton and senior aides. Mubarak leaves for the United States on Saturday. On his return from Cairo, Arafat said he hoped that Israel would continue the peace process and honor the agreements Israel signed at Wye River in October. The accords stipulated among other things that Israel hand over 18.1 percent of the West Bank to full or partial Palestinian control....."
ireland.com David Horovitz 6/28/99 "...As Lebanon yesterday began rebuilding after Thursday night's Israeli air raids on power stations, bridges and other targets around Beirut and the south, Israel's outgoing Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, rejoiced that "Lebanon and Syria got the message". He reiterated that Israel would respond "in the harshest manner" if its civilians were harmed again in the future. The series of Israeli raids, the heaviest in more than three years, came in response to a flurry of Katyusha rocket attacks, by Hizbullah forces in south Lebanon, on northern Israel. Nine Lebanese were killed in the Israeli attacks; two Israelis died in the Hizbullah rocket fire. Amid fears that the cross-border hostilities would escalate into deeper confrontation, Syria, the key power-broker in Lebanon, worked quietly at the weekend to prevent further Katyusha strikes. Mr Netnayahu clearly regarded this behind-the-scenes intervention as a vindication - prove that Syria can rein in Hizbullah when it so chooses, and that the unexpectedly fierce Israeli strikes had brought at least interim calm to the border. Mr Ehud Barak, the One Israel party leader who is set to take over from Mr Netanyahu within the next two weeks, is still refusing to say whether or not he supported the air strikes..... "
Jewish World Review 6/28/99 Senator JohnAshcroft "... Our close ally Israel is often the target of terrorist groups in this region, and the deaths of Americans due to terrorist attacks in Israel are particularly disturbing. Since the Oslo Accords of 1993, at least 12 American citizens have been killed in terrorist attacks in Israel or territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two terrorist groups supported by Iran and Syria and dedicated to Israel's destruction, have claimed responsibility for most of these murders. The Israeli people also have suffered intolerably from terrorism. Since the beginning of the Oslo process in 1993, more than 1,000 terrorist attacks have left over 280 Israeli citizens dead (a portion of the Israeli population comparable to 15,000 Americans). Outrageously, many terrorists suspected of killing Americans find shelter, and even official positions, in the Palestinian Authority. According to Jean-Claude Niddam of the Israeli Ministry of Justice, for the last four years, Israel has submitted almost 40 official requests to the Palestinian Authority to transfer suspects implicated in terrorism against Israelis and Americans, but has yet to receive a reply. Of 38 requests to arrest and transfer terrorist suspects, only twelve suspects are currently under arrest and seven are serving or served until recently in the Palestinian police force. According to Mr. Niddam, of eight terrorist suspects involved in terrorist attacks against Americans, three have been detained by the Palestinian Authority. Imjad Hinawi, whose confession to murdering American David Boim was witnessed by a U.S. embassy official present at the Palestinian court trial, remains free of American charges. Another suspect, Ibrahim Ghanimat, linked to the shooting deaths of Efrat and Yaron Unger, spends his nights in prison but is free during the day. Adnan al-Ghul, Yusuf Samiri, and Mohammad Dief, all suspects involved in the killings of Americans, remain at large. Nafez Sabiÿh, implicated in a bombing that killed three Americans, is believed to have been serving in the Palestinian police force until several months ago.
Jewish World Review 6/28/99 Senator JohnAshcroft "...In recent years, other suspects implicated in the murder of American citizens have served in the Palestinian police force. In July 1998, the Israeli Government released a report stating that four terrorist suspects involved in the February 1996 Jerusalem bus bombing, in which three American citizens were killed, were serving in Palestinian security forces. In my view, a climate conducive to terrorism is the most serious threat to a lasting peace settlement in the Middle East. When Abu Abbas, the hijacker of the Achille Lauro, lives freely in Gaza and is a close associate of Yasser Arafat; when the Palestinian Authority's official media arm, the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, airs programming teaching Palestinian children to hate Israelis; when terrorist suspects are given positions in the Palestinian security forces - genuine peace is undermined and U.S. interests endangered in the Middle East....."
New York Post 6/30/99 Editorial "...When Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) first introduced legislation last fall to set up a national commission on terrorism, Arab-American groups complained that the proposed membership - including such renowned scholars as Fouad Ajami - contained "Muslim-bashers" and others who would "infringe upon our civil rights." To that crowd, a commission whose mandate is to "review counter-terrorism policies regarding the prevention and punishment of international acts of terrorism directed at the United States" is biased if it focuses on fundamentalist Islamic groups - which are the primary source of international anti-American acts of terrorism. Apparently, however, those protests have born fruit: House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) has appointed to the commission an official who can easily be described as an Israel-basher with disturbing sympathies for Islamic terrorists. He is Salam al-Marayati, director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council. Although he has publicly condemned individual acts of terrorism, al-Marayati has attacked efforts to investigate U.S. fund-raising links to such terrorist groups as Hamas and Hezbollah According to a list of public statements compiled by terrorism expert Steven Emerson, al-Marayati has compared American Revolutionary soldiers to Hamas and Hezbollah, and said: "When Patrick Henry said, 'Give me liberty or give me death,' that statement epitomized jihad [holy war]." ...."
FoxNews 7/2/99 Barry Schewid "...President Clinton is giving a boost to Palestinian aspirations as he prepares for a new round of U.S. peacemaking efforts in the Middle East. With Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak due here in a few weeks, Clinton is beginning to lay out his views on some of the thorniest issues, even while saying it was up to Israel and the Arabs to make the tough decisions. His statement Thursday that Palestinian refugees should feel free to live wherever they liked was followed only a few hours later by U.S. assurances to the Israeli Embassy here that U.S. policy had not changed...... In Jerusalem, Barak said in a statement that Clinton's remark about the Palestinian refugees was "not acceptable.'' "This is apparently a misunderstanding, and the (Clinton) administration should clarify its position and correct it,'' Barak's statement said. If Israel and the Palestinian Authority manage to reopen negotiations, the refugee issue could be one of the toughest, possibly rivaling Palestinian demands for a state with its capital in Jerusalem. The Arabs contend Israel forced local Palestinians to flee when the Jewish state was established more than a half-century ago. Thousands living in refugee camps in Arab lands are demanding a right to return. If they did, it could have a major impact on the character of the Jewish state. After Clinton's remarks, the U.S. administration went into explanation mode.....For the first time, Clinton spoke in support of Palestinian refugees, "I would like it if the Palestinian people felt free and were free to live wherever they like, wherever they want to live,'' he said. Also, Clinton said a settlement between Israel and Arafat's Palestinian Authority "is also the best way for Palestinians to shape their own future on their own land.'' As for Israel, Clinton criticized settlements as "unilateral actions'' that should be deferred pending negotiations with the Palestinians. "The best way for the Israelis to have lasting security is a negotiated peace based on mutual respect,'' he said. The land-for-security agreement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached last year with Arafat should be carried out, he said. It would give the Palestinians control of an additional 14.1 percent of the West Bank. Netanyahu stopped after surrendering 2 percent, saying Arafat had not done enough to uproot terrorists from land already held by the Palestinians...."
Yahoo News 7/2/99 Howard Goller "...With days to go before he becomes Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak reproached President Clinton Friday for saying that Palestinian refugees should be free to live wherever they like. The swift criticism was a rare break in the silence Barak has imposed on policy statements since he defeated right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel's May 17 election and began forging a coalition to meet a deadline by next Thursday. ``President Clinton's stance on the matter of the right of return, as it might be understood from his remarks yesterday in Washington, is unacceptable to Barak,'' the Labour Party leader's spokeswoman Merav Parsi-Tzadok said. ``It's apparently a misunderstanding, and it would have been appropriate for the administration to clarify and correct it.'' Israeli analysts said Barak, who campaigned on a vow to revive peace moves frozen by Netanyahu, wanted to send a message to Clinton and Israel's Arab neighbors he would be tough in negotiations. Barak promised in his campaign to repair ties with Washington, Israel's guardian. But Parsi-Tzadok said the refugee issue was among the hardest to be resolved with the Palestinians and should be left to negotiations on a final peace. At a news conference with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak Thursday, Clinton hailed Barak's election as a chance to advance U.S.-mediated Middle East peace moves....."
Rueters 7/1/99 Randall Mikkelsen "...President Clinton Thursday said the time was ripe for new approaches to achieving Middle East peace, but added he did not want to discuss them before he met Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak..... Clinton said he aimed to meet Barak within days, but National Security Adviser Sandy Berger later said the meeting would actually take place in a ``few weeks.'' ..."
AP 7/1/99 "...Twisting his fist as if digging in a dagger, President Clinton complimented a reporter on his tough question at a news conference. The reporter set up his question by congratulating the president on ``your success and resolve in Kosovo.'' Then he went on to ask Clinton if he would work as hard to return Palestinian refugees to their homes as he did to send ethnic Albanians back to Kosovo. Clinton paused to ponder his answer. ``That's really good,'' the president said. ``That's really good.'' He turned to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at his side and remarked, ``You called on him.'' ``I didn't know what was the question,'' Mubarak explained. Clinton went on with a lengthy answer, saying, ``I would like it if the Palestinian people felt free and were free to live wherever they like, wherever they want to live.''..."
Jewish World Review 7/1/99 Shimon Shiffer "...BIBI NETANYAHU PLANS in his forthcoming book to publish several details that will considerably embarrass the president of the United States. In one of the chapters Clinton will earn the title 'International Swindler'. And this is the story. In September '98, Yom Kippur Eve, Clinton and Netanyahu met for a conversation in the White House, during the course of which Netanyahu agreed to attend the conference at Wye Plantation with Yasser Arafat on condition that Clinton would act to immediately release the spy Jonathan Pollard. Clinton, according to Netanyahu and his closest advisors, agreed to the condition...."
AP Wire 7/1/99 "...Using a visit by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a springboard, Clinton began to lay out U.S. positions on a string of touchy issues bound to confront Israel and the Arabs if they resumed negotiations. ``We now have a real chance to move the peace process forward in the Middle East,'' Clinton told reporters after he and Mubarak met for more than two hours in the Oval Office and over lunch in the White House residence. Mubarak, for his part, offered to hold separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak, who is on the verge of finally setting up a new government, Syrian President Hafez Assad and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat...... At the same time, Mubarak called for a suspension of Israeli settlements on the West Bank and in Gaza, where the Palestinians envision having a state, and sharply criticized Israel for retaliating to a Hezbollah rocket attack by bombing southern Lebanon..... Also, Clinton said a settlement between Israel and Arafat's Palestinian Authority ``is also the best way for Palestinians to shape their own future on their own land.'' As for Israel, Clinton criticized settlements as ``unilateral actions'' that should be deferred pending negotiations with the Palestinians....."
Jerusalem Post 7/2/99 Elli Wohlgelernter "...At the height of the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII made known to President Franklin D. Roosevelt his opposition toward Palestine becoming a Jewish homeland, according to a letter from the US Archives obtained by The Jerusalem Post from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Dated June 22, 1943, the letter sent by A. G. Cicognani, the pope's special representative to the US, to Ambassador Myron Taylor, Roosevelt's special emissary to Pius XII, is believed to be the first explicit expression of Pius's policy against Zionism conveyed to the American government. "It is true that at one time Palestine was inhabited by the Hebrew Race, but there is no axiom in history to substantiate the necessity of a people returning to a country they left nineteen centuries before," the letter reads. "If a 'Hebrew Home' is desired, it would not be too difficult to find a more fitting territory than Palestine. With an increase in the Jewish population there, grave, new international problems would arise." ....Hier said the letter, which was found two weeks ago in research being conducted on Pope Pius, further spotlights the issue of the church's moving forward his candidacy for sainthood. "Many people have asked me, what is it our business who the Catholics appoint a saint?" Hier said. "Normally I would agree with that. But in the presence of survivors, tens of thousands of whom are still alive in their last few years, that they should live out their lives knowing that the person whom they heard nothing from, nothing but silence, has been designated as a saint - many people around the world will say a saint was alive in the Vatican during the Holocaust. That is an insult to the memory of the Holocaust, and is an insult to the survivors." ..."
Jerusalem Post 7/43/99 Danna Harman "...For the first time since his election, Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak spoke with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Friday. He also rebuked US President Bill Clinton for statements that hinted at US support for a Palestinian "right of return." These were the first diplomatic steps taken by Barak, who last week completed forming his coalition. He plans to present his government to the Knesset on Wednesday. During their conversation, Barak and Arafat agreed to meet soon after Barak's cabinet is approved. Barak's office characterized the talk as "friendly" and said Arafat congratulated him on completing the coalition negotiations. Barak assured Arafat that he intends to continue in the footsteps of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, and to work for "an end to the conflict in the region."....Channel 1 news reported last night that Syrian Ambassador to the United States Walid Mualem said in Washington over the weekend that Syria had Clinton's word that Rabin and Shimon Peres had indeed offered a withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 lines....."
New York Post 7/4/99 Uri Dan "...PRESIDENT Clinton's comment on Thursday - that he hopes the Palestinian refugees will enjoy the free choice of where to live - poured oil on a raging Israeli-Palestinian fire. Nabil Shaath, a top aide to Yasser Arafat, could hardly hide his glee when Clinton equated the plight of the Palestinians with the Kosovar Albanians. Shaath added, generously, that he did not "expect the U.S. to bomb Israel." Another Arafat aide, Zaid abu-Ziad, understood the presidential remarks would set off alarms in Jerusalem. Speaking Hebrew on Israeli state radio, he comforted listeners by saying, "We will look for a compromise. After all, we do not expect Israel to commit suicide." But it was clear the Palestinians regarded Clinton's comments at a White House meeting with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak as a step in the right direction. Arafat, the Palestinian Authority president, told the weekly meeting of his council on the West Bank that he hoped the United States and European Union would now turn their attention to the Mideast and intercede against Israel as NATO had against the Serbs.....Meanwhile, the Palestinian press continues to liken Israeli treatment of the Palestinians to Serb atrocities against the Albanians...."
Independent.co.uk.atp "...And you can't help wondering, driving south to Tyre after last week's Israeli bombardment - which followed a Hizbollah rocket attack on northern Israel, which followed the wounding of four Lebanese civilians by Israel's proxy "South Lebanon Army" militia - if the Israelis didn't learn something from Nato's bombardment of Serbia. Go for the infrastructure of Lebanon, the bridges, the electricity switching stations.
And if civilians die - as they did, nine of them, five of them firemen - who is going to complain after Nato's massive "errors"? If Nato can kill 86 people and call them "collateral damage", who are we to blame Israel for a little "collateral damage" in Lebanon? The Lebanese have understood the message. An Israeli journalist has made much the same point. But the message here is simple. If Hizbollah fire any more rockets into Israel, then Israel will be free to destroy part of Lebanon. And why did the Hizbollah fire 29 rockets into Israel after the wounding of four civilians?..... Stand by for Yugoslavia again...."
Reuters 7/3/99 "...The U.S. State Department on Friday glossed over remarks by U.S. President Bill Clinton that could have implied U.S. support for Palestinian refugees returning to their homes in what is now Israel. .... Given a choice, many Palestinians would return to their homes or the homes of their families in what was then Palestine. Hundreds of thousands fled in 1948, expecting to go back within weeks, but Israel barred them from returning.... State Department spokesman James Foley said there was no change in U.S. policy -- that Israel and the Palestinians should decide the fate of the refugees in talks on this and other ``permanent status'' issues. ``This is not a matter for the United States to decide. As with the other important permanent status issues, the decision rests with the parties, with Israel and with the Palestinians, and we're not in any business of prejudging the outcome of those negotiations,'' Foley said....."
The Center For Security Policy 7/6/99 "…For at least five years, the Clinton team has sought to lubricate negotiations between Israel and Syria, and increase the prospects that they would produce a "peace" agreement, by offering to assign U.S. troops the task of guarding (or "monitoring") the strategic plateau between the two countries known as the Golan Heights. The theory is that Israel would feel more comfortable relinquishing physical control of high ground that has long been recognized as critical to its security if American forces were in place there. This theory appears about to be put to the test. Ehud Barak, who was finally installed today as Israel's Prime Minister, has made it clear that he intends to make the completion of a treaty with Syria a top priority. In point of fact, the governing coalition he has painstakingly cobbled together appears to have only one common denominator: A determination to make "peace" with Israel's Arab neighbors on whatever terms are necessary. In the case of Syria, that means paying the price long demanded by the Syrian despot, Hafez Assad -- the surrender of the Golan Heights captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. In his inimitable fashion, Assad -- long recognized as one of the most cunning and ruthless dictators in the Middle East (which is saying something) -- has responded by combining laudatory public comments about Barak with an arms-shopping spree in Moscow.(1) There he hopes to purchase new fighter jets, tanks and other military hardware that might prove useful should he wish to launch future attacks on Israel once the Golan Heights are restored to Syrian control…. "
Washington Post 7/7/99 Sharon LaFraniere "…Syrian President Hafez Assad ended a two-day visit to Moscow today amid signs that Russia may sell his country the arms he wants to strengthen his hand in any Middle East peace talks. Without directly referring to Syria, Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin said arms exports will help bolster Russia's defense as well as its global influence. "Russia has big potential to export weapons," he told the Russian Tass news agency just before Assad met with President Boris Yeltsin. The Interfax news agency reported earlier that Assad would discuss the possible purchase of SU-27 fighter jets, T-80 tanks and antitank and antiaircraft weapons to Syria, according to the Associated Press…."
The Associated Press 7/6/99 "…Israel arrested five Islamic militants in the West Bank on Tuesday on suspicion they planned a terrorist attack in Israel, Israel army radio reported. The army confirmed arrests were made, but declined to give any numbers. Palestinian police said they knew of two arrests…."
Ha'aretz 7/13/99 Aluf Ben "…The White House's bag of tricks and gestures buried deep in a back drawer during Benjamin Netanyahu's term as prime minister will be taken out in honor of Ehud Barak's Washington visit. The spin-doctors will be working overtime to make good on the promise of "an unprecedented reception" for Israel's new prime minister. In the coming week, the Israeli media will be flooded with stories about the mutual love between the Clintons and the Baraks. Their intimate dinner at Camp David will be exhibited as a high point in Israeli-American relations, with Ehud playing Chopin preludes on the ivories and Hillary holding thoughtful discussion with Nava about the importance of education in the future of the nation….. Barak's success seems assured. The political situation in Washington appears tailor-made for him. The president, nearing the end of his second term, is looking for a foreign-policy triumph and perhaps a Nobel Peace Prize before retirement. Additionally, a cast of supporting stars has aspirations for the year 2000. These include Vice President Al Gore, who asked to have lunch with Barak; Hillary Clinton, running for Senate, who wants to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, unlike her husband's decision of a month ago; and of course the members of the Senate and Congress, whom Barak will meet with on Monday. …."
AP 7/11/99 "…Gripping hands and grinning after their first summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pledged Sunday to rebuild trust and to quickly carry out U.S.-brokered accords. Each man spoke in terms that have hardly been heard since 1996, when the hard-line Benjamin Netanyahu took office: ``respect,'' ``peace of the brave,'' and mutual expressions of sympathy for each other's fears and hopes…. The prime minister said he planned to start pushing Wye ahead as soon as he returned from a round of meetings with regional and world leaders, including President Clinton. Barak is due back in Israel by July 21. ``Wye will be implemented,'' he told reporters afterward. ``When I finish this round (of talks), we will discuss a timetable with the Palestinians.'' …."
AP 7/15/99 Schweid "…Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak presented himself to President Clinton on Thursday as "a messenger of change'' in the Middle East and promised to carry out accords to give the Palestinians control over another chunk of West Bank territory. "America will walk with you,'' Clinton told the new prime minister, as they stood together in the Rose Garden under a broiling summer sun, taking questions from American and Israeli reporters…."
Reuters 7/19/99 Wafa Amr "...Syria has asked several Palestinian radical groups based in Damascus to halt their armed struggle against Israel because it intends to make peace with the Jewish state, members of the groups said on Monday. They said Syrian Vice-President Abdel-Halim Khaddam made the call at meetings with members of four Palestinian groups opposed to President Yasser Arafat's peace deals with Israel..... He said Syria also intended the call to go out to Hizbollah in Lebanon....Syria demands Israel return the Golan Heights, captured during the 1967 Middle East war...."
AP 7/19/99 "...Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak urged President Clinton to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard but did not get a response to his plea, a top White House official said Monday.... "I clearly want to see Jonathan Pollard released, but I am of the position that any public discussion of this issue doesn't push forward the purpose of having him released,'' Barak said. "For many reasons, this is a subject that should be dealt with not in public but more between the leaders of the two nations.'' ..."
ABC News Web Site 7/19/99 "...First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, in just 12 days of campaigning for a Senate seat from New York, has already taken positions at odds with her husband on Medicare hospital payments, dairy pricing and the thorniest issues of Mideast peace....The first lady also promised to advocate relocating the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem if she gets elected next year to succeed retiring Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan...."
AP 7/19/99 "...After a dozen hours of talks over four days, President Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak pledged today to "move forward decisively'' in hopes of achieving a permanent Mideast peace by the time Clinton leaves office...."
AP 7/19/99 "...President Clinton said Sunday night that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has made it ``very clear that Israel will keep its commitments'' for peace in the Middle East and ``America will do its part.'' Clinton and Barak exchanged toasts at a dinner attended by 400 guests including Leah Rabin, widow of the late Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. Earlier, Barak called the United States ``maybe the best ally we have'' and pledged to get a peace accord with the Arabs in 15 months....Barak said he believes a deal with Syria over the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967, would not require the presence of U.S. troops, but ``a few dozens of foreign observers or controllers or members of inspection teams'' might be necessary...."
Arkansas Democrat Gazette 7/17/99 "...At a particularly delicate time in Arab-Jewish negotiations (a description of roughly any time in the past century) Hillary Clinton came out last year in favor of statehood for the Palestinian Arabs. It was an inopportune moment for the wife of the American president to start throwing her influence around, what with the peace talks stalled and both sides counting on Washington to mediate. But that was last year. This year she's running for senator from New York in every way but formally and it's a most opportune time--for her--to side with the Israelis....Jerusalem, says Ms. Clinton now, should be recognized as Israel's "eternal and indivisible capital," using the very words Israeli politicians prefer when campaigning...."
Agence France-Presse 7/21/99 "...Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called Wednesday on Britain to take the lead within Europe on the Middle East peace process in the style of its "unique role" in resolving the Kosovo crisis. After a working breakfast with his British counterpart, Tony Blair, Barak said he wanted the European Union (EU) to back the process politically and financially but let Israel and its neighbours negotiate their own solutions. ....He [Barak] said the Kosovo conflict was "an excellent example" of how "free-world leadership" should act on a global arena. ...Speaking a short while later, Barak said he hoped Britain could help unite the EU behind the Middle East peace process "and to provide both political support and financial support, especially to the Palestinian side." ..."
BEW YORK POST 7/22/99 "...Clinton says he will speak directly to the Damascus dictator and say privately what he's been saying publicly: Syria has "a golden opportunity" to resume the negotiations with Israel that Assad suspended some three years ago. As for Albright, she says she'll head to the Middle East next month to press home Clinton's message..... It remains to be seen whether Assad is willing to make the political compromises necessary to achieve progress on the Syrian front - or whether he expects Washington and Jerusalem to make the first move. As for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, his six-day trip to the U.S. was a resounding success. Of course, there's no reasonwhy it shouldn't have been - the Clinton administration, after all, did its best to undercut Barak's predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, and to ensure his defeat in Israel's recent elections...."
Ha'aretz (Israel) 7/21/99 Amira Hass "...One short statement by Ehud Barak was enough to shatter the saccharine facade of a renewed atmosphere of peace, which participants in the Israeli-American summit worked hard to present to the world media.The solution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees, Barak told American interviewers, will be found within the boundaries of the countries where they currently reside. Pure and simple.....The peace process was intended, in the eyes of both the international community and the Palestinians, not only to force Arafat to lock up Hamas activists and disperse demonstrations against the settlements, but also to offer his people a fundamental change in the life of refugeeism, dispersal and separation they have been condemned to since 1948. Barak, who has already warned Arafat that the entire process will be stopped if terrorism is renewed, is proving that he is willing to accept only the first part of this equation. On the one hand, Barak declares that there will be a Palestinian state, but on the other hand, he dictates who will live in it. By making this his opening position, Barak is weakening Arafat on all three of his fronts: vis-a-vis the Arab states, vis-a-vis the refugee communities in these states, and vis-a-vis his people in the territories. Barak has also announced his intention of leaving settlement blocs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip....Barak can live very well indeed with this blunt and arrogant inequality. But if this is the kind of peace we are offering the Palestinian people, who needs war...."
International Herald Tribune 7/20/99 "...Syria has asked several Palestinian radical groups based in Damascus to halt their armed struggle against Israel because it intends to make peace with the Israelis, members of the groups said Monday. They said the Syrian vice president, Abdel Halim Khaddam, had made the call at meetings with members of four Palestinian groups opposed to Yasser Arafat's peace deals with Israel. ''He told them they now had to drop armed struggle and form political parties and work on social issues,'' said an official, who declined to be identified. The official said Syria also intended the call to go out to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Speaking at a news conference in Washington, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, said Monday that ''if that is true, it is good news for all of us.'' ....A top Hezbollah official said last week that the group would not recognize the right of Israel to exist even if the Israelis signed peace treaties with all their Arab neighbors...."
Jewish World Review 7/20/99 Don Fedor "...AMERICANS FOR A SAFE ISRAEL and the Zionist Organization of America are fuming over Hadassah giving its Henrietta Szold Award to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Personally, I think Hillary and Hadassah are a perfect match. Today, members of the pro-Israel groups will burn their Hadassah membership cards at the organization's New York headquarters. They urge Hadassah to remember its Zionist roots and reconsider the honor. Unfortunately, the Jewish women's group has subordinated Zionism to feminism..."
Washington Post 7/27/99 Hanna Rosin "...Tonight in Washington, Hadassah, the 306,000-member women's Zionist organization, plans to honor Hillary Rodham Clinton with its highest award at its annual convention. But when the group announced her name last month, some of its members flashed back to May 1998, when the first lady said that "it would be in the long-term interests of the Middle East for Palestine to be a state." In the stubbornly zero-sum game of Middle East peace, this endorsement of Palestinian national aspirations -- the first by a major American public official -- made her a hero to Palestinians and a pariah among hard-line Zionists. Last week, about 20 protesters, Hadassah members among them, burned a giant replica of a Hadassah membership card outside the group's New York headquarters and called the first lady "an enemy of Israel." ..."
London Daily Telegraph 7/27/99 Christopher Lockwood "...THE death of King Hassan of Morocco follows those of King Hussein of Jordan in February and of Emir al-Khalifa of Bahrain in March. The old monarchs are passing on, leaving the fate of the Middle East in the hands of untested young men..... President Assad of Syria is 68 and frail. Yasser Arafat is two years older and frailer. In Saudi Arabia, King Fahd has never fully recovered from the stroke he suffered in 1996. Col Gaddafi appears to have a nervous disease and is often confined to a wheelchair. Even in Baghdad there have been question marks over the health of Saddam Hussein; and this is to say nothing of the emirs of the smaller Gulf States, most of whom have ruled since independence. Not all the gerontocrats of the Middle East are royal, but they share one thing in common: they will all surrender supreme power only through death, not the ballot box. Their successors, mostly hand-picked, are mainly men in their thirties with little experience of government..... "
LATimes 7/27/99 Mark Lavie AP "...Bursting nose first from the water like its namesake, Israel's new Dolphin submarine surfaced for the first time in its home waters today. The Dolphin is the first of three German-built diesel-powered submarines to be delivered to Israel. The squat, cigar-shaped vessel is aimed at helping transform Israel's aging underwater fleet into a modern attack-and-deter force. With a crew of 35, the Dolphin has enough range to sneak undetected into ports as far away as the Persian Gulf, send frogmen to plant mines and destroy ships. The three submarines carry sub-Harpoon sea-to-sea missiles. Foreign experts say they can be replaced by small cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads...."
http://www.worldtribune.com/index-three-text.html 7/29/99 Steve Rodan MENL "...The salute came during the arrival ceremony of the first of three Dolphin-class submarines from Germany in an acquisition that the military agrees will change Israel's modest navy. The submarines, defense officials and military commander said, will change the navy into an offensive force at least that as potent as the air force. The three submarines will be able to patrol thousands of kilometers from Israel's shores and avoid most detection systems. Defense sources said the possibilities are many. The submarines can be used for intelligence-gathering, particularly in such distant targets as Iran and Iraq. ...."
New York Post 8/1/99 Uri Dan "...THE first of Israel's new state-of-the-art submarines arrived in Haifa's port, overshadowed by Mount Carmel last Tuesday, marking a new era in the Mideast balance of power. The sub, named the Dolphin, has been described in foreign reports - never confirmed by Jerusalem - as being capable of firing long-range cruise missiles with nuclear warheads. The strategic idea, according to those reports, is that the Dolphin, and two sister ships due in coming months, will give Israel a "second strike" capability - of being able to strike back if the Jewish state is attacked first with nuclear weapons by an Arab enemy such as Iraq, Iran or Libya. ...."
London Telegraph 8/1/99 Tom Gross "...CHRISTIAN plans to celebrate the Millennium in Jesus's home town of Nazareth are being threatened by Muslim extremists determined to build a huge mosque on the plot of holy land earmarked to welcome pilgrims. The row comes in the wake of recent outbreaks of Muslim-Christian violence at the Church of the Annunciation on the site where, according to tradition, the Archangel Gabriel told Mary she was pregnant with Jesus. Local people fear that the Millennium celebrations and the proposed papal pilgrimage next year could lead to even bloodier clashes. One teenage girl said: "Even in the street, I am afraid. I hide my cross around my neck."..... Tension in the town has been rising since the fundamentalist Islamic Movement gained a one-seat majority on the local council in last November's municipal elections. It campaigned on the slogan "Theft, theft, theft" - a reference to the supposed neglect of Muslim neighbourhoods in favour of Christian ones..... This is the work of Islamic fundamentalists trying to stir up trouble for their personal and political gain. Until a few months ago, no one suggested that this land was holy to Muslims. It looks like the Iranian revolution has finally arrived in Nazareth."..."
Washington Post 8/2/99 Lee Hockstader "...Israel has set a target date of Oct. 1 to resume turning over areas of the West Bank to Palestinian control but still wants the Palestinians to agree to a delay in the final stage of the negotiated troop withdrawals, Prime Minister Ehud Barak said today. Characteristically cautious, Barak did not fix an exact timetable for the next Israeli pullback...."
Associated Press 8/1/99 Jack Katzenell "...Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday the Palestinians have not been flexible in peace negotiations, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat summoned his top negotiators to Cairo for urgent consultations. A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a meeting to discuss implementation of the U.S.-brokered Wye accord Sunday between Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and his Israeli counterpart, Gilead Sher, ended in ``real crisis.'' According to the source, Erekat left late Sunday to consult on the brewing breakdown with Arafat in Cairo. A statement from Barak's office hinted that the peace process might be encountering its first crisis since he took office...."
Washington Post 8/6/99 Lee Hockstader "...It took the Israeli army 30 hours to scale, storm and capture the wind-whipped Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. And if Michal Raikin has her way, it will be another 30 years, or 300, or 3,000, before Israel gives the Golan back. When statesmen and diplomats speak of trading land for peace between Israel and its most powerful Arab neighbor, they mean the land where Raikin lives....Many came to the Golan 20 or 30 years ago, encouraged by the government and convinced they were fulfilling Zionism's most basic credo, to settle the land.... So they were stunned in the early 1990s when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, once their leading patron, began discussing giving the Golan back to Syria in return for peace. Now, Rabin's political heir, newly installed Prime Minister Ehud Barak, is edging toward resuming the public talks with Syria that were broken off in 1996, and suggesting he intends to strike a deal to give up much of the Golan within a year....."
Conservative News Service 8/5/99 Patrick Goodenough "...The Israeli government has slammed Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat for calling for continuing jihad (Islamic holy war) for Jerusalem, in remarks one Israeli specialist said Thursday were more symbolic than generally understood, and did not bode well for peace. Marking his 70th birthday in Ram'Allah Wednesday, Arafat told well-wishers that "some day soon, our children will be able to fly the Palestinian flag from the mosques and churches of Jerusalem. "Allah willing, we will continue with our struggle, our jihad ... and once again enter the city of Jerusalem as the Muslims did for the first time." .....In particular, Israeli noted the reference to "mosques and churches," and to the Palestinians entering Jerusalem "as the Muslims did for the first time." Arafat was, he said, making a play for Christian support for his claim to Jerusalem..... Israeli noted that, when the PA chairman makes remarks such as those of yesterday, the response from Palestinians is usually "delirious" because, he said, "they understand exactly the symbol" Arafat is invoking. Israeli concluded that Arafat's statement was "not encouraging for hopes for accelerating the peace process. "He says [the negotiating process] doesn't matter. He will get it [Jerusalem] by hook or by crook, and I guess he means by crook if necessary." ..."
TheDailyWire.com via Reuters 8/8/99 "...A top Palestinian negotiator said Sunday that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had decided to postpone a mid-August peacemaking visit to the Middle East until early September. ``We have been informed that Albright will delay her visit until the beginning of September maybe to coincide with the start of Israeli withdrawals (from the West Bank). We can only accept her delay,'' Nabil Shaath told reporters in Gaza...."
New York Post 8/9/99 "...The fact that Arafat, who regularly solemnly intones his alleged commitment to "the peace of the brave," is once again threatening holy war shows that he's woken up to the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu's removal from office does not mean that the PLO can now write its own political ticket. Arafat's return to the rhetoric of violence underscores why so many Israelis remain skeptical about the "peace process."... Arafat, however, apparently believed that the removal of the Likud government in last spring's elections meant a return to the unilateral concessions offered by previous Labor leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. But Barak, as Arafat is now discovering, is not intimidated by threats of unrestrained violence, either. "This is a different Arafat," said Barak's foreign minister, David Levy. "We are not going to accept a situation in which someone threatens Israel. This is not peace." ..."
8/11/99 Barry Chamish "... Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak interrupted budget negotiations yesterday to get updates on the shootings in the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center, which he called, "regretable and worrying." ..."
AP 8/11/99 FoxNews "...Israeli attack helicopters struck suspected guerrilla hideouts in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanese security officials said. No casualties were immediately reported. The raid by the two gunships was the latest in a series of Israeli airstrikes against guerilla targets over the past few days. The area, about three miles north of the Israeli border and about nine miles south of the port town of Tyre, is believed to be used by Lebanese guerrillas to launch attacks on Israeli troops and their allied militiamen in an Israeli-occupied zone...."
AP 8/10/99 "...Akram Alkam spent the last week of his life reading the biography of a notorious Hamas bombmaker, who masterminded suicide attacks that killed scores of Israelis. On Tuesday morning, the 22-year-old Palestinian furniture salesman decided to follow in his hero's footsteps. Alkam told his mother by mobile phone that he was in his car on his way to carry out a suicide attack in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. He then rammed his car into hitchhiking Israeli soldiers at a busy junction, injuring 11 soldiers before being shot to death by Israeli police. ``Damn the day he laid hands on that book!'' said Alkam's mother, Fadwa, at the family's simple West Bank home that was filled with wailing mourners hours after the attack. That drew a quick rebuke from her mother-in-law, Naimeh: ``Don't say that,'' she said sternly. ``Your son died a martyr.'' .... Asked whether attacks like this one could damage the peace process, she replied bitterly: ``What did he ruin? Everything is frozen, everything is negative, everything is dead.'' ..."
Agence France Presse 8/10/99 "...Israeli helicopters Tuesday fired six missiles at a village close to the Israeli-occupied zone of southern Lebanon Tuesday, hitting a house, police said here. They struck the village of Majdel Zoun, south of the port of Tyre, two kilometers (one mile) north of the edge of the zone at about 7:00 p.m. (1600 GMT). The police did not immediately have any reports of casualties. Earlier, Israeli artillery shelled another village on the edge of the occupied strip, damaging one house and cutting power supplies to five villages, police said...."
Washington Post 8/13/99 "...Their honeymoon was shorter than Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra's. The bloom is off, and so are the gloves. Yasser Arafat charges "an attempt to avoid the accurate and honest implementation of" the Wye River peace accords. Ehud Barak, Arafat's intended, accuses him of "inflexibility" and trying to "put up obstacles" to peace. Arafat, unable to go home to mother, calls his friend Bill at the White House to complain.... In May, Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, the administration's bete noire, fell to Labor's Ehud Barak, a man so favored by Clinton that he lent him the cream of his own campaign team. It is only August, and we have already hit the first stone wall on the path to peace: Barak is reluctant to carry out the Wye River agreements, forced on Netanyahu by Clinton himself...."
Washington Post 8/13/99 "...Why is Barak balking? The story goes back to the so-called Oslo II agreement of 1995. It was Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's last major act before his assassination and by far his worst. Oslo I (the famous 1993 handshake on the White House lawn) had given Arafat a small foothold in the area (Gaza and Jericho) and put off the big decisions on final peace and final borders. Oslo II, however, astonishingly promised the Palestinians three "further redeployments" -- unilateral Israeli withdrawals from West Bank territory -- that Arafat understood would give him just about all of the West Bank before final negotiations on final borders. To Barak, fresh from leaving his post as army chief of staff and then in Rabin's cabinet, Oslo II looked so lopsided and crazy that he refused to vote for it. He could not understand why Israel was giving away its only bargaining chip -- the West Bank -- before the bargaining...."
Washington Post 8/13/99 "...If Clinton thinks he is having a hard time navigating Barak through Wye, it is but a hint of things to come. When the final talks on Jerusalem and permanent borders begin, Clinton may find himself looking back wistfully at the Netanyahu days. At least then he had someone to kick around...."
Jerusalem Post 8/18/99 Danna Harman "…US President Bill Clinton wrote Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat yesterday that the US is ready to do anything necessary to get the peace process back on track, a senior Palestinian official said. Prime Minister Ehud Barak also received a letter from Clinton this week, although its contents were not disclosed. Reports that Clinton wrote to Barak pressuring him to speed up the negotiations and get moving on the implementation of the Wye agreement were hotly denied by Barak's office. Senior officials then asked that the State Department officially deny such reports, which it did. The Palestinian official said the letter received by Arafat was a sign that, even if the US is not officially pressuring Israel, it is deeply involved in the process and keen to see Wye back on track….."
Stratfor.com 8/17/99 "….1925 GMT, 990817 Israel/Russia – Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said Israel will exchange intelligence information with Russia in order to help Moscow fight Islamic militants in the Caucasus mountains. Levy met with Russian ambassador Mikhail Bogdanov August 17 to discuss joint cooperation against Islamic fundamentalists. Levy said Israel and Russia are waging a common ideological battle and that they should "stand together as a stopgap against the threat." …."
TheDailyWire.com via Reuters 8/17/99 "…Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Monday that Israel was still blocking the full implementation of the Wye River land-for-security agreement. .. He said the Palestinians insisted on implementing the agreement, which calls for Israel to withdraw from a further 13 percent of the West Bank in three stages, in return for specific Palestinian security measures. Arafat said the start of the third phase of the Israeli pullback ``could coincide with final-status negotiations,'' but did not elaborate. Barak has been trying to persuade Arafat to wrap the final stage of the U.S.-brokered Wye agreement into talks on a final peace settlement but Arafat has been resisting this….."