Israeli & Global News
Murray Kahl
ISRAELI & GLOBAL NEWS
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Volume 48.7 Publisher: Murray Kahl August 27, 1996
Table of Contents
Peace Process Does NOT help Israel Economically
Meeting Between P.M. Netanyahu and Arafat not Certain
Clinton Denies All
US Citizen Released from Jail
Japan Enters Mid East Fray
Arafat Backs Down
Hamas Militant Jailed
Imam Sider,
New Missile Threatens
Iran to Launch Satellite in Three Years
Pakistan Denies New Missile Factory
Yousef Accuses the Philippine and Pakistani Governments
Plans for a Rally for Islamic Fundamentalists Revealed
Iraqi Hijackers Surrender
Editorial Comment
Peace Process Does NOT help Israel Economically
In a speech Sunday, P.M. Netanyahu said that the peace efforts
are "a little less central than is believed," regarding Israel's
prosperity.
The previous Labor government touted the "peace process" as
responsible for a 40% economic growth in the past five years.
In a major economic policy speech to a conference of Israeli
business and industry leaders P.M. Netanyahu said, "The attempt to
justify peace with the economic issue ... does not always correspond
to reality," and said the growth was mainly driven by past economic
reforms and a consumption and investment boom brought on by massive
immigration from the former Soviet Union.
Despite growth, an increasing inflation remains at between 10
percent and 12 percent annually and the growing trade deficit is
projected to reach a record $11 billion this year. Also, recent
second-quarter figures suggest a significant economic slowdown.
P.M. Netanyahu promised, in a repeat of his speech to the
American congress, to cut government spending by $1.5 billion in 1997,
bring inflation to Western levels within several years, and sell off
dozens of state companies.
P.M. Netanyahu said The Jewish state now boasts a per capita
income of $16,000 annually, and he predicted it would become "one of
the world's leading economies in several years."
Meeting Between P.M. Netanyahu and Arafat not Certain
While most of the media reported a meeting between P.M. Netanyahu
and Arafat is certain, Michael Stoltz, Netanyahu spokesman, said the
two leaders would probably meet, but the question of when or where has
not yet been determined.
P.M. Netanyahu has stood by his position that only if security
matters required him meeting with Arafat, he would.
Israeli President Ezer Weizman made matters a bit more tense when
he announced that he would meet with Arafat, but since Weizman's
position is for the most part ceremonial, that means very little.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said the way for a Netanyahu-Arafat
meeting was helped by the Palestinian Authority's decision to close
three offices in contested east Jerusalem on Sunday.
P.M. Netanyahu has been insisting that Arafat meet with his
commitments prior to any meeting and said this past Sunday "I want the
meeting to be purposeful, and when the time comes when I think there
will be a purposeful meeting."
Meanwhile, Haaretz said Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai was
slated to meet with Arafat within 10 days to discuss security issues,
including an Israeli plan to pull its troops from most of the West
Bank city of Hebron, as agreed in the self-rule accords. And Finance
Minister Dan Meridor was to meet with his Palestinian counterpart,
Maher al-Masri, on Tuesday, to discuss Palestinian economic woes.
Clinton Denies All
After Ha'aretz released the details of Former Secretary of State
Baker shuttling between Damascus and Jerusalem in order to broker a
peace treaty between Syria and Israel (WITH CLINTON'S APPROVAL), the
White House unleashed a campaign to deny knowing anything of the trip.
The waffling on information and the "secret source" used by the
AP to verify the that the trip took place, he says without Clinton's
knowledge, is placing a strain on Clinton's credibility.
Following is an example of the obfuscation used by White House
Press Secretary Mike McCurry Briefing
White House Daily Briefing, August 22, 1996
Q: Will you confirm or respond to a report asserting (that) the
retiring Israeli Ambassador to Washington ... (and) Jim Baker took
part in a secret round of shuttle diplomacy to try to restart peace
talks with Syria?
MCCURRY: Currently?
Q: This is something he would have done last year.
MCCURRY: I am not aware of anything of that nature, but I should
check on that. And I'd also suggest you check at the State
Department.
US Citizen Released from Jail
Judge Eitan Shaanan released Tarabieh after the suspect agreed
to spend the next two days in a nearby hotel room and to be
available for police questioning.
Bashar Tarabieh, a 27-year-old part-time employee of the New
York-based Rights Human Watch, was arrested last week on suspicion
of setting fire to a police station and a municipal building in the
Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Tarabieh, a Druse Arab, was born in the Golan Heights and is
married to a U.S. citizen.
While Rights Human Watch claimed he was mistreated, he could not
show any evidence of mistreatment to the media.
Japan Enters Mid East Fray
Japan offered to act as a mediator in peace talks between Israel
and Syria as Israel's President Ezer Weizman and visiting Japanese
Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda said during a press conference.
Ikeda revealed that Japan pledged $11.6 million to aid the
Palestinians in holding municipal elections in Gaza set for December
and to fund a water project in the West Bank town of Jenin.
In meetings with other Arab states, Ikeda said that Japan would
like to serve as a mediator in any peace talks.
Arafat Backs Down
After the PA ordered a Columbia Professor's book banned as they
were critical of Arafat, the PA relented and will allow the sale.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, Education and Culture Minister, said there had
been no government order to ban books by Edward Said, an American
of Palestinian origin.
Hamas Militant Jailed
Imam Sider, a Hamas militant, was sentenced by an Israeli
military court to life plus 20 years in prison on Sunday for planning
a suicide bombing and other attacks against Israelis.
Sider was no only charged with planning to kidnap Israeli
soldiers as part of his activities in the Izzedine al-Qassam, Hamas'
military wing but he also was charged with planning a December 1994
suicide bombing on a Jerusalem city bus.
New Missile Threatens Middle East Stability
The London Times reports of the existence of intelligence reports
concerning The Islamic Republic of Pakistan receiving aid from China
to construct their own version of China's M-11 missile that has a 200
mile range.
The Times also notes that a confidential US National Intelligence
Estimate reportedly notes that Pakistan may have developed nuclear
warheads to be placed on its M-11 missiles.
The U.S. government in a recent release (August 14, 1996) titled
"Sponsor of Islamic extremist activities said, "-- A network of
al-Qaida recruitment centers and guesthouses in Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
and Pakistan has enlisted and sheltered thousands of Arab recruits.
This network remains active. -- Working in conjunction with extremist
groups like the Egyptian al-Gama'at al-Islamiyyah, also know as the
Islamic Group, al-Qaida organized and funded camps in Afghanistan and
Pakistan that provided new recruits paramilitary training in
preparation for the fighting in Afghanistan."
The US has been monitoring Pakistan's nuclear potential for years
and in a August 24, 1994 release, the Task Force on Terrorism and
Unconventional Warfare, a House Republican Research Committee said,
"On 23 August 1994, during a visit to Kashmir, Nawaz Sharief, the
former Prime Minister of Pakistan, declared that Pakistan was a
nuclear power. "I confirm that Pakistan possesses the atomic bomb," he
said.
Releases of past intelligence reports indicate that Pakistan is
actively engaged in supplying radical Muslims in the Middle East.
Iran to Launch Satellite in Three Years
Mehdi Safari, Iran's ambassador in Moscow, is quoted by an
Iranian newspaper Tuesday that Russia has agreed to help Iran build
and launch its first space satellite in the next three years.
There is no available information for the satellite's task but
many suspect it is Iran's entrance into satellite surveillance.
Russia, ignoring U.S. objections, began work on a 1,000-megawatt
nuclear power station near the port city of Bushehr in Iran.
Both the US and Israel have said that the Iranians intend to use
the plant for nuclear weapons.
Pakistan Denies New Missile Factory
Pakistani spokesman Foreign Ministry Shahid Rafi, disputed a
Washington Post story on Sunday that said Pakistan was secretly
building a missile factory near Islamabad using blueprints and
equipment supplied by China.
He claimed that the stories were malicious and designed to
deflect attention from India's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile
program.
Yousef Accuses the Phillipine and Pakistani Governments
Ramzi Yousef acting as his own attorney, Yousef and two other men
are accused of plotting to blow up U.S.airliners in Asia last year,
claimed in court Tuesday that the Philippine and Pakistani governments
jointly fabricated bomb-plot charges against him in an effort to
please American officials.
Yousef faces a separate trial later this year on charges he
masterminded of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Four men have
already been convicted and sentenced to life in prison in that
bombing, which killed six people and injured more than 1,000.
Plans for a Rally for Islamic Fundamentalists Revealed
Omar Bakri Mohammad, an exiled Syrian living in London revealed
plans for his group, Al-Muhajiroun,to hold a rally urging a holy war
against the enemies of Islam.
Over 7,000 Muslim terrorists world wide are anticipated; however,
the Eyptian Government has complained to the British government about
holding the conference in London.
Those invited include members of: Hamas from Israel, Islamic
Jihad from Egypt, HizbALLAH from Lebanon, and a taped statement from
Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian imprisoned in the United States
after conviction of involvement in a plot to blow up New York City
landmarks.
Flyers advertising the rally say that a focus of the rally will
be, "the campaign of hatred by the terrorist West."
This is a repeat of the rally held in Wemberly Stadium a few
years ago with Islamic radicals attending from around the world.
Jewish groups then and now are expected to lead protests.
Iraqi Hijackers Surrender
A seventeen hour saga ended when armed Iraqi hijackers
surrendered to police Tuesday after freeing all passengers and crew
aboard a Sudanese airliner.
The Iraqis surrendered to police and asked for political asylum.
Editorial Comment
Indyk Redefines Resolution 242
In a speech at Tel Aviv University, July 17, 1996, U.S.
Ambassador Martin Indyk said:
That is where the issue that I gather you have been grappling
with this morning comes in: the issue of land. Because land is
an issue of dispute in the conflict and the other side -- the
Arab side -- does have minimum requirements when it comes to
seeking a return of land that was occupied as a result of
conflict. Now that is enshrined in a resolution -- resolution
242 -- which also enshrines other principles such as direct
negotiations, and the requirement that Israel's withdrawal should
be to secure and recognized boundaries.
... We cannot run away from the fact that there is a minimum
requirement on the Arab side for territory, just as Israel has
minimum requirements that relate to security and peace and the
quality of peace."
Mr. Indyk does not recognize that definitions are required prior
to any withdrawal and cries for a quid pro quo involving a land
surrender for Israel without a commensurate delineation of secure and
recognized boundaries are premature and only a formula for additional
exacerbation of a sensitive issue.
The necessary definition is what exactly are the borders required
for a secure Israel.
Mr. Arthur Goldberg, a participant in the formulation of
resolution 242, said,
To seek withdrawal without secure and recognized boundaries..
Would be just as fruitless as to seek secure and boundaries
without withdrawal.
Historically, there has never been secure and recognized
boundaries in the area. Neither the armistice lines of 1949 nor
the cease fire lines of 1967 have answered that description...
such boundaries have yet to be agreed upon. An agreement on that
point is an absolute essential to a just and lasting peace just
as withdrawal is...
Mr. Indyk also said,
... questions about whether the United States is now going to
pressure the government of Israel to change its policies;
questions or expectations that we are somehow going to revert to
the "gevalt syndrome" that used to characterize the relationship
between the United States and Israel. The "gevalt syndrome"
described a situation in which, at any particular moment, one or
the other side -- mostly the Israeli side -- believed that the
sky was about to fall; or had already fallen -- only people had
just begun to notice. So are we going to return to the days when
the "gevalt syndrome" applied to relations between the U.S. and
Israel?
This characterization of a "gevalt syndrome" is insulting to the
people of Israel and Jews everywhere as the word is Yiddish and means
help. Yiddish is not the language of Israel, and Mr. Indyk should
recognize that morbid foolishness is unacceptable and act accordingly.
He mocks Israelis as he draws a comparison to "Henny Penny, the
sky is falling ..." Israel's dilemma is existential and not to be
trivialized or mocked by America's ambassador to Israel.
Indyk's inability to comprehend the difficulties in the area are
summed up when he compares the situation to the difficulties that may
occur between husband and wife and says,
How many of you here are married, and have not had an argument
with your wife or husband? But where there is a relationship of
trust and commitment in a marriage, you find ways of reconciling
these differences through engagement, through talking, sometimes
through shouting. That is the essence of a good relationship --
whether it's a marriage or a relationship between allies. And so
when differences arise, we deal with those differences, we do not
try to hide those differences. But we deal with those
differences in friendship, because there is a basic commitment
there that exists, that is bedrock, and that will not change.
Indyk is not the man for the job and should be recalled before
ny additional damage. He clearly is hopelessly under qualified and is
not the man of vision required by this position.