Is America neutral?

MA'ARIV 3/10/99: "American diplomatic sources in Washington and Tel Aviv are trying to convince their Israeli interlocutors that the Clinton administration is neutral with regard to the Israeli elections.

That is not accurate.

It is true that the Clinton administration is not adopting transparent initiatives aimed at helping the Labor party chairman to defeat Netanyahu, as it did in 1996; however, it cannot be said that the Clinton administration is an disinterested observer.

It is enough to point out one single fact that emphasizes this:

When Peres was prime minister he was invited to the White House on the eve of elections but that is not the case with Netanyahu.

Had Clinton wished Netanyahu well, it would have been only natural to invite the Israeli prime minister, because if Yasir 'Arafat has an invitation to visit the White House at the end of March, it is only appropriate that his peace partner, Netanyahu, be invited.

This is not the only move designed to show 'Arafat in a positive light.

Suddenly, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright makes public her view that the Palestinian Authority [PA] is fulfilling its commitments under the Wye accord while Israel is not.

Is this a coincidence?

Definitely not. There have been too many instances recently to be seen as merely coincidences.

Is it a coincidence that a US Administration official publicly rebukes an Israeli diplomat in Washington for claiming that the PA released murderers of American citizens?

Political observers have given two interpretations to 'Arafat's invitation to Washington. One way of seeing this is as a signal to the Israeli public that the United States has reservations with regard to Israel's policies, and the second viewpoint is that it is an effort to cast 'Arafat in a positive light prior to the deliberations in Congress on approving additional aid to the Palestinians.

If this is indeed the intention, Clinton may be in for a hard time. It appears that Israel's standing in Washington remains strong -- despite the misunderstandings between Clinton, Sandy Berger, Madeleine Albright and Netanyahu.

This can be seen from the initiatives now being taken by the Senate and Congress.

Next week, it will transpire that 88 senators and over 200 congressmen are writing the President to demand sanctions against the PA in the event of it unilaterally declaring an independent Palestinian state.

Among other things, the draft of the letter states that "the unilateral establishment of a Palestinian state will dramatically shock the Middle East and could lead to violence and the collapse of the peace process."

In addition, Clinton is being asked to tell 'Arafat that the United States is categorically opposed to a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, and that if such a declaration is made, Washington will not recognize it.

It sometimes seems that the Clinton administration is stretching its relations with the Netanyahu government too far. Clinton is waging a clandestine battle.

Apparently, there are those in the US Administration who think that a government headed by Ehud Baraq will be more amenable and flexible with regard to territorial concessions in the permanent arrangement.

If that is the basic assumption of the decisionmakers in Washington, then they are right. Netanyahu will not be prepared to agree to the concessions that others (Peres, Beilin, and their ilk) would lend their hands to.

Under these circumstances, it is sheer naivete on the part of the US Administration to believe that inviting 'Arafat and spurning Netanyahu will influence the Israeli prime minister to change his firm positions that so infuriated Clinton at Wye Plantation."

Bibi to visit Moscow

Moscow's ITAR TASS 3/9/99: "Russia, which is a co-sponsor of the Middle East settlement, is stepping up diplomatic efforts in that direction.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will pay a visit to Moscow on March 21-22, and soon after that Palestinian leader Yasir 'Arafat will also come to Moscow, Tass learned from diplomatic sources on Tuesday.

According to the information from the same sources, the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process in the setting of the proclamation of independence of the Palestinian state, scheduled for May 4, 1999, will be one of the main topics for discussion at the forthcoming talks.

Yasir 'Arafat explained recently that the final date of the proclamation of independence would be fixed "depending on the results of the talks, due to be held in the capitals of the countries, which are involved in the peace process."

It should be added in this connection that a meeting of the Palestinian leader with U.S. President Bill Clinton is planned to be held in Washington on March 23.

The Palestinian leaders may postpone the proclamation of the independent Palestinian state till next December, "if they receive written guarantees from the United States and members of the European Union on its immediate recognition," Tass correspondent Rafael Bikbayev reports from Al-Kuwait with reference to reliable sources..."

EU letter denounces Israel's position on Jerusalem

HA'ARETZ 3/12/99: "The Likud hopes to capitalize on the European Union's letter expressing support for the internationalization of Jerusalem by citing it as proof of the dangers facing the city, and presenting the Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu as the only ones capable of defending Jewish sovereignty over all of Jerusalem.

The EU's letter on Jerusalem came in response to a Foreign Ministry demand that European diplomats stop visiting the Orient House in East Jerusalem, where the Palestinian Authority's Minister for Jerusalem, Faisal Husseini, has his offices.

The Likud credits Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon and Prime Minister Netanyahu with determined efforts to prevent ambassadors from meeting with Husseini at the Orient House and plans a new advertising campaign centered on the following slogan:

"Netanyahu - A strong peace and united Jerusalem." According to the Likud campaign, "Barak, Beilin and Meretz will give in to Arafat on the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

Foreign Ministry officials said yesterday that Sharon was demanding that Germany rescind the letter written by its envoy in Tel Aviv, using the terminology of the 1947 UN partition plan to describe Jerusalem as a "corpus separatum," or a separate body.

"Israel steadfastly rejects the contents of the letter," Sharon said. "The position put forward by the German ambassador will not in any way undermine the complete sovereignty of Israel over a united Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel."

In his response to the letter, published yesterday by Ha'aretz, Netanyahu termed Jerusalem "the heart and soul" of the Jewish people. Germany currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.

Israel is seeking to clarify whether the terminology used in the letter reflects a new European enunciation of a term not used for many years, or just a local decision by the German ambassador.

The European Union expressed surprise yesterday at the publication of its ambassador's letter, and its officials implied that they viewed this step as part of the internal political campaign leading up to Israel's general elections.

"We sent the letter without distributing it to the media, and whoever chose to make it public must now explain what all the fuss is about," a EU official angrily said yesterday.

Another official added that at such a sensitive time it was only to be expected that Israel would "choose to get annoyed over something so obvious."

Diplomatic sources in Brussels stressed yesterday that the letter had not been coordinated with special peace envoy Miguel Moratinos or with the regional commissioner, Manuel Marin.

"The response was written by a junior-level working group and it is based from beginning to end on the EU's traditional stand," an informed source said yesterday. Moratinos himself tried to restore the issue into its proper proportions.

"Basically, nothing has happened. Following a letter from the Israeli authorities, the EU ambassador to Israel reaffirmed Europe's classic stand on Jerusalem.

There is no change of policy here, no dramatic declaration, nothing that justifies all the fuss. We are well aware of the fact that in negotiations for the permanent settlement, the question of Jerusalem will have to be solved in direct negotiations between the two sides."

German officials note that support for UN Resolution 181 regarding Jerusalem, which was adopted on November 29, 1947, is not new.

The Israeli position is that Resolution 181 was nullified when several Arab armies invaded the fledgling Israel in 1948.

Europe, like the US, sees the overall basis for Middle East peace not in Resolution 181, but in UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 which call for trading land for peace.

But it is the use of the term "corpus separatum" that sparked Israeli anger yesterday.

It should be noted, however, that neither the U.S. nor Europe officially recognize Israeli sovereignty over even the western part of the city, though all present their credentials at the President's Residence in Jerusalem and conduct government business in the city, including at the Prime Minister's Office."

[HA'ARETZ 3/11/99 reported: '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.

International jurist Rotem Giladi, who specializes in the issue of the internationalization of Jerusalem says that internationalization has not been explicitly mentioned in any European community decision since the November 1947 partition decision at the UN.

It was also not mentioned in the Venice Statement of 1980, which followed Israeli legislation that declared Jerusalem the capital of the country.

While Europe has not retreated from its position on the legal status of the city, he said, it supports the U.S. position that the future of Jerusalem will be determined in negotiations.']

Soviets spy on Israel

HA'ARETZ 3/12/99: "A maintenance technician at the Israeli Air Force's Tel Nof base spied for the Soviet Union for 16 years, the state prosecutor charged yesterday in Tel Aviv District Court.

Valery Kaminsky, 54, of Rishon Letzion was indicted on three counts: conveying information with intent to undermine state security, unauthorized transfer of secrets and deliberately holding contacts with a foreign agent without a reasonable explanation.

Attorney Devora Chen, of the department of criminal-security affairs in the State Prosecutor's Office, also charged that Kaminsky had passed on to his handlers information he had gleaned from one of his sons, who served in a secret IDF unit.

Both the prosecution and the defense declared that Kaminsky's son had not known about his father's alleged espionage activities.

The prosecution charges that Kaminsky was first recruited by the KGB in 1975, while still in the Latvian capital of Riga, and that in the two years until he immigrated to Israel he was an informant for the authorities concerning developments in the Jewish community there.

He continued to operate as a spy until 1993, but Chen said she was not at liberty to say why it took six years for the case to reach the courts.

Defense counsel Sassi Gez yesterday denied the allegations against his client and stated that Kaminsky, whom he called a "Zionist activist," would prove in the trial that he had done much to promote the immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union."

US Senate vote 98 to 1 against PA state

HA'ARETZ 3/12/99: "As the May 4 deadline set by the Oslo accords for a final status agreement approaches, the Senate passed a resolution yesterday "expressing congressional opposition to the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state."

The House of Representatives will consider the same resolution next week. The resolution states that the president should "unequivocally express United States opposition" to a unilateral declaration and warns that it could lead to "a quick descent into violence and an end to the entire peace process."

Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) sponsored the Senate resolution, which was passed by a vote of 98-1.

Brownback emphasized that a unilateral declaration of statehood would violate the understandings between the parties and that such a declaration should not be rewarded with American recognition.

Congressmen Matt Salmon (R-AZ) and Eliot Engel (D-NY) are leading the campaign in the House of Representatives and have already collected more than 250 signatures.

Salmon said that, in light of great potential dangers, the United States should make its voice heard on this issue.

First Lady Hillary Clinton's comments last year in favor of a Palestinian state had encouraged Chairman Yasser Arafat to threaten this destabilizing step, Salmon said, explaining that the House resolution would make clear that an independent Palestinian state could only be established through negotiations.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) had pushed hard for the resolution and was very pleased with the results.

AIPAC officials noted that this action is well-timed, coming a week and a half before Arafat's next Washington visit.

Arafat is expected to ask President Clinton to officially promise for the first time to support a Palestinian state.

In return, Arafat would agree to delay a declaration of statehood...."

Violence over death sentence

HA'ARETZ 3/12/99: "Five civilians were wounded yesterday in renewed clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Rafah, residents in the Gaza Strip town told Ha'aretz.

They said about 60 policemen were hurt when they were struck by stones.

The Palestinian police detained six journalists for three hours when they tried to report on the protests, and confiscated their film.

The demonstrations were triggered by the death sentence handed down Tuesday by the State Security Court against a local man, Raed al Attar, 25, a former Hamas activist who was convicted of killing Rifat Joudeh, a member of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service.

Two other young men received lengthy prison terms in connection with the incident.

[THE JERUSALEM POST 3/11/99 reported that: 'The court said that the three, also wanted by Israel, are members of the Hamas military wing, Izzadin Kassam. Israel says they planned attacks in Israel and were responsible for the murder of IDF Lt. Guy Ovadia in Gaza five years ago.']

Sources in the Israeli defense establishment said they were concerned that the violence in the Gaza Strip could lead to attempts to attack IDF soldiers or local settlers. Israel Defense Forces units in Gaza have been placed on high alert.

On Wednesday, the first day of protests, Palestinian police shot and killed two 17-year-old protesters, Ala al Hams and Hamis Salameh, from the refugee neighborhood of Yabneh in Rafah.

Residents of the neighborhood yesterday held mourning and protest processions to commemorate the two

...Earlier, Palestinian police took three Reuters journalists (two cameramen and a photographer) and cameramen for ABC, German Television and a Qatari news agency into custody after they tried to film a demonstration by some 200 Palestinians against Wednesday's killings.

At least two other journalists working for foreign news agencies also had film confiscated and were held briefly, witnesses said.