1. Missile fun

MA'ARIV 1/6/99: "The laser-guided Israeli-developed Lahat missile will be sold to Egypt, according to the December 1998 issue of the Jane's International Defense Review. Israel Aircraft Industries [IAI], the missile developer, denies the report. According to Jane's, the missile, which is launched from a tank gun's barrel, was first unveiled at the military industries exhibition that was held in Washington in October.

Jane's further writes that Mabat, an IAI plant, together with General Dynamics, is acting to promote the missile's sale to the Egyptian and US Armies' armored corps, for use in the Leopard M-60 tanks with 105-mm and 120-mm barrels.

Mabat Director General Yitzhaq Nisan said the report was "a canard which stands no chance of ever materializing."

He noted: "Our cooperation agreement with General Dynamics clearly stipulates that the systems will not be marketed to countries we do not wish to possess them. And secondly, any sale of our products, and certainly of a missile such as Lahat, to foreign countries has to be approved by the Defense Ministry."

Lahat is a laser-guided missile that is mounted inside an ordinary mortar shell and is launched from the 105 and 120-mm barrels of a tank gun. It was developed by an Israeli consortium in which the IAI's Mabat plant was the chief contractor.

IMI [Israel Military Industries] planned the missile's warhead (of a cavity charge type) and the engine, while El-Op planned the laser reader and the tracking system. Today the Americans are trying to develop a similar technology in their X-ROD project, but have failed so far.

US defense organizations heads have informed Israel, however, that they would like to see the missile assimilated by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] before they start examining it for the purpose of assimilating it in the United States."

2. Documents to PA?

AL QUDS in Jerusalem 1/4/99: "Jordan intends to hand over to the Palestinian Authority copies of all the documents and registries of West Bank land up to 1967 and will provide the Palestinian Authority with any document it may request relevant to the title deeds and types of West Bank land.

Jordanian sources have said that Jordan will supply the Palestinians with documents and registries pertaining to Palestinian state land as the situation was in 1967, provided that the Palestinians request so.

The sources asserted that Jordan will cooperate with the Palestinian Authority to the fullest extent possible on this matter. The Palestinian Authority is seeking to retrieve all the records pertaining to the West Bank land for 1967, particularly the state land whose area is estimated at well over 80 percent of the total Palestinian lands.

By this measure, the Palestinian Authority seeks to keep under control certain practices currently being carried out whereby offices of real estate commission agents are selling land without the knowledge of their original owners.

Furthermore, these offices are engaged in forgery and imposture transactions. It is noteworthy that the West Bank was part of Jordan from 1950 up until the Israeli occupation of 1967. Since 1967, the Israeli occupied West Bank continued, from the legal standpoint, to be administratively affiliated with Jordan until King Husayn made his decision of legal and administrative disengagement between Jordan and the West Bank in July 1988.

The aim of the Jordanian disengagement decision was to pave the way for the proclamation of the Palestinian state which the Palestinian National Council decided on during its meetings in Algiers in late 1988.

It should be recalled that Jordan has at its disposal a copy of the Palestinian land registration documents which were turned over to Jordan by the British Mandate authorities prior to Britain's withdrawal from Palestine to prepare the way for the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948.

[ZINC EDITOR NOTE: Jordan's occupation of Judea & Samaria, land originally slated to be part of "the Jewish state", was only recognized by 2 countries: Jordan and Pakistan.]

3. Arab compensation

London's AL SHARQ AL AWSAT 1/4/99: "Abdelouahed Radi, speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives, has said that the Arab states should receive compensations for the human resources they lost as a result of the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Arab Jews to Israel.

In statements to Al-Sharq al-Awsat while in Amman, Radi added that the Jews who emigrated from the Arab states provided human resources to Israel because they were born, brought up, and educated and became ready for production in the Arab states before they left them.

Consequently, the Arab countries have the right to demand compensations from Israel for the human resources they lost. He was referring to the fact that Tel Aviv demanded financial compensations for these Jews.

Concluding his statements to Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Radi said:

Moroccan law does not deprive anyone of Moroccan origin of his nationality or identity regardless of the place he lives in or the new nationality he acquires. Radi was referring to Moroccan Jews in Israel.

He also asserted that Morocco will not object to the return of Moroccan Jews to Morocco to settle there if they wish to do that, adding that no obstacles face any citizen who wishes to return to Morocco, whether he is a Jew, a Christian, or otherwise because the laws in Morocco are modern and tolerant.

Asked about his country's assessment of the peace process, which King Hassan II encouraged, the speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives said that there is a consensus in the whole world, in addition to the peace-loving Israelis, on the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his extremist right-wing coalition, and his government are intransigent..."

4. PA-PFLP dialogue?

Amman's AL MAJD 1/4/99: "Sources at the Palestinian Authority [PA] said that Jamil Majdalawi, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP], will leave Gaza for Damascus to convey an invitation from the PA to the PFLP leadership to participate in a national dialogue session to begin shortly in Cairo.

PA sources said that Yasir 'Arafat recently expressed readiness to meet with Dr. George Habash and Nayif Hawatimah in the Egyptian capital with the aim of embarking on a national dialogue to put the Palestinian house in order and restore national unity.

The PA sources noted that the PFLP leadership has had an argument about this issue. The sources added that Dr. Habash, Abu-'Ali Mustafa [Mustafa al-Zibri], and members of the PFLP Political Bureau in Damascus object to this dialogue. Meanwhile, some members of the Political Bureau, who reside in the self-rule areas, support the dialogue.

These sources noted that the PFLP members who oppose the dialogue believe that 'Arafat seeks, through this dialogue, to undermine the Palestinian opposition in the wake of their three successful national conferences that were held in Gaza, Ramallah, and Damascus.

The sources added that 'Arafat also seeks to exploit the suspension of the Wye Memorandum and the beginning of the Israeli election campaigns, as well as to address a message to the United States and Israel that he is still strong, influential, and capable of monopolizing the Palestinian factions and forces whenever he wants to."

5. Hezbollah accident?

London's AL SHARQ AL AWSAT 1/3/99: "Lebanon's Hizballah yesterday admitted that explosives expert Zahi Ahmad Haydar was killed when an explosive charge went off while he was trying to defuse it near the city of Ba'labakk.

The source, however, belittled what Israel considered a victory for its army when it said it had killed "a prominent explosive expert" in Hizballah, stressing that his death was merely an accident.

Quoting Hizballah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah, a source at the Party told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that "the news conference Israeli Chief of Staff Sha'ul Mofaz gave to announce that an explosive charge had gone off and martyred one of our mujahidin brothers shows how the Israeli leaders do everything to fabricate victory in order to raise the morale of their soldiers and to use as a card in their elections."

He said that "Martyr Zahi Na'im Ahmad Haydar was not targeted himself and that any other explosives experts would have faced the same fate under similar circumstances."

The Party's source explained that after the explosive charge was discovered on a dusty road northeast of the city of Ba'labakk, explosives expert Zahi Haydar Ahmad was summoned to defuse it but the charge went off and killed him. Any other expert in the same situation, the source added, would have been killed..."

6. France-Egypt plan?

Paris' AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE 1/6/99: "The Palestinian leadership said on Wednesday that it hoped to revive a Franco-Egyptian plan for an international conference to kickstart the floundering peace process with Israel.

Planning minister Nabil Shaath told AFP that, during a recent visit to Cairo, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had asked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to put the idea back on the table.

"During our last visit to Cairo we asked Mr. Mubarak to reactivate the Franco-Egyptian initiative," Shaath said.

In May 1998, Mubarak and French President Jacques Chirac proposed an international conference "committed to saving peace" in the Middle East in the face of the perceived intransigence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But, until now, the idea had seemed to have died a quiet death as the deadline of May 4 approached, the date on which the Palestinians have said they will announce an independent state. Shaath said that the official Palestinian line on the announcement of a state on May 4 "had not changed."

"We cannot let the date pass without affirming the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent state," he said. Arafat is due to launch a fresh diplomatic initiative after the Eid al-Fitr feast which marks the end of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan and which falls this year on or around January 19, according to Shaath.

"Mr. Arafat will make intensive political and diplomatic efforts during visits to Germany, Switzerland and the United States," he said..."

7. Protection needed

MA'ARIV 1/6/99: "The Military Advocate General's [MAG] office has recently published a decree ordering the Jewish settlers in the territories to install protective measures in their houses and other possessions, the MAG revealed in an interview with Ma'ariv.

Brigadier General Uri Shoham added that while the new order does apply to the settlers and that disobedience constitutes an offense, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has not enforced the order in any instance to date.

Referring to some Jewish settlers' reluctance to install protective measures, the MAG said: "This is a complex problem. Some people are against protection measures, and they may be right from their point of view.

[ZINC NOTE: Their point of view: If there is peace, why are these measures needed; if there is not peace, why are we giving up territory?]

Yet we are responsible for their security. Therefore, we can force any group, family, body, and settlement, to protect itself."

YEDIOT AHARONOT 1/4/99: "In 1998, Hizballah doubled the number of its attacks against the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] in the south Lebanon security zone. This transpires from a preliminary examination conducted by the Northern Command.

Altogether, approximately 1,200 attacks were carried out last year compared with 715 in 1997. The upward trend in the number of Hizballah attacks is continuing.

In 1994, for example, the organization carried out only 426 attacks. Despite the increase in the terrorists' activity, the number of soldiers killed has dropped: 23 soldiers and one civilian killed on his way to work in the security zone.

In 1997, on the other hand, 39 soldiers were killed, not including the 73 soldiers killed in the helicopter disaster. Most of last year's attacks were conducted by long-distance fire (mortar shells, antitank missiles, and machine-gun fire) in a total of 1,100 incidents compared with 550 in 1997.

Most of the IDF fatalities, however, were caused by roadside bombs.

In 1998, 60 roadside bombs caused the deaths of 16 soldiers and one civilian. On the other hand, no soldiers were wounded in close-range encounters with terrorists."

9. Politics and Slogans

AP 1/7/99: "Israel's two main political parties squared off Thursday as they unveiled their campaign slogans. Even Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was dragged into the Israeli campaign fray ahead of May elections after one candidate gave out Arafat's phone number and Israelis flooded his office with calls.

"Netanyahu: Too many lies for too long" - was the Labor Party's salvo at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's Likud party countered with "Barak runs away from the truth" - a Hebrew word play on the name of Labor leader Ehud Barak.

The slogan also alluded to allegations that Barak fled the scene of a deadly accident during his tenure as chief-of-staff, rather than help treat the injured.

Barak was vindicated in an investigation. Barak replied by linking Netanyahu to the leader of the extremist Palestinian Hamas founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, one of Israel's most implacable enemies.

"I heard that Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who owes his freedom to Netanyahu, does not want a change in government," Barak declared at a party gathering near Tel Aviv. Yassin, serving a life term in an Israeli prison, was freed at Netanyahu's instruction in October 1997 after a botched Israeli assassination attempt on a Hamas leader in Jordan.

Netanyahu traded Yassin for two captured Israeli agents. Implying that Netanyahu opposes peace with the Palestinians just as Yassin opposes peace with Israel, Barak said, "This government is good for Sheikh Yassin." ...

"We are concentrating our effort on the one who represents for us the only relevant political rival - Ehud Barak," said Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, the information chief for Netanyahu's campaign.

Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, the just-retired chief of staff, is trying to challenge that premise by running as a centrist candidate, charging that both Labor and Likud are offering solutions of the past.

During a tour of a Likud stronghold, the poor Hatikva neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Lipkin-Shahak - who Wednesday called Netanyahu a "danger" to Israel - met boos from a hostile crowd chanting "Bibi, Bibi," Netanyahu's nickname...

Hanegbi said Likud plans to ignore Lipkin-Shahak and other centrist candidates for now, and force Israeli voters to choose between the right and the left. He said Likud will push Barak to state his position on creation of a Palestinian state - and repeated the Likud claim that such a state in the West Bank and Gaza would be a danger to Israel.

Barak talks of "physical separation" between Israelis and Palestinians but has stopped short of supporting the Palestinians' demand for an independent state.

At a campaign rally, Danny Naveh, a Netanyahu backer who stepped down as Israeli cabinet secretary to run for the parliament, held up a sign with Yasser Arafat's office phone number.

He read the number aloud, and said Barak should call Arafat and tell him:

"If I (Barak) am elected Prime Minister, don't worry. We will resume the concessions. We will resume the withdrawals."