Arab op-ed: "Learn a lesson"

Ramallah's AL AYAM 5/22/99--op-ed by Dr. 'Ali al-Hirbawi: "...It is noteworthy that the overall Arab conclusions regarding the Israeli elections were focused on the results, not on the content of the elections. We have followed up and watched these elections as if they were our own. What a shame!

If we look at the Israeli elections from another perspective that is much profounder, we can conclude that they were genuine elections which have introduced a change to the political life of Israeli society.

They were not sham elections intended to justify the continuation of the leader in power forever. Binyamin Netanyahu was given the title of "King of Israel." Nonetheless, he quickly fell and resigned from the leading post of his party.

The lesson we can learn from this is not to gloat over Netanyahu's defeat. The lesson is much more important than that. The lesson we should learn is that we should appreciate the significance of real elections that express changing public opinion, not the motionless public opinion that will remain inactive as long as the leader of the country is in power and can only be removed by a coup or death.

The lesson to be learned from the Israeli election also is that a dynamic public opinion can be influential in changing the political situation and this public opinion can be created. In order to create such a public opinion, we need to have legally-guaranteed mechanisms that primarily protect the freedom of expression, in deeds, not in words only.

A citizen should be entitled to express his views freely without fear that he might be pursued by the security services of the ruling regime. The media should be free and independent to judge events and officials as they really see them without being subject to censorship or fear of retribution.

This is what, in fact, enables the media to judge government leaders, who are responsible for charting the policy of the state, when they are still in office and during their lifetime, not after they are removed from office or after their death.

Under these circumstances of freedom, the election process becomes an interesting process because it is backed up by the mechanism of political change. It is this mechanism which creates political motion. Consequently, you can find in a society alliances formed and parliamentary blocs created as an extension of forces and opinions that exist within that society. A political coalition becomes a body that has a meaningful content.

Such elections can only be produced by a democratic system which can allow, as a basis for its government, the peaceful transfer of power through elections. In the Arab World, however, no real elections are held. Thus political stagnation is the basis of the political process.

At the center of this process, it is the "leader of the march" who is important, and what is required is to have his regime sustained and continued. Once he is out of the political picture, even his followers start to slander him and to talk about the excesses of the defunct regime. It is this kind of weird situation which leaves no room for a public opinion to form or become influential.

Thus you find most people trying to stay away from politics, because it is safer for them to do so. Political indifference has spread among the people although the issues at stake are crucial for the future of the country.

Don't you think that this is one of the major reasons for the continuation of Arab setbacks and defeats?"

PA and Syrian distrust

London's AL QUDS AL ARABI 5/24/99: "Palestinian-Syrian rapprochement still face many hurdles because of the lack of positive response on the part of the Syrian officials to the mediations in this context, and particularly those undertaken by Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and by Jordanian King 'Abdallah Bin-Husayn.

The Palestinians believe that the change which has occurred in the Israeli leadership with the fall of Binyamin Netanyahu and the rise of Labor leader Ehud Baraq calls for coordination between the Arab states concerned, namely Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Palestine; a coordination that is in line with this change which, one way or another, will lead to the resumption of the peace talks on all tracks.

The Syrians believe that it would be difficult to trust the Palestinians after they bypassed the Arab coordination which began at the Madrid peace conference and after they entered the settlement process on their own, and negotiated secretly in Oslo behind the backs of the all the participating delegations, including the Palestinian delegation which was led by well-known figure Dr. Haydar 'Abd-al-Shafi.

Palestinian-Syrian relations were never good over the past 20 years, and even before the signing of the Oslo agreements. The tension dates back to the Lebanon phase when the Palestinian resistance was mired in the swamp of the civil war and was involved in alliances that Syria believed were directed against it or at least against its own notion of Syrian-Lebanese relations.

Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad has not forgotten his Palestinian counterpart's alliances with Iraq, and has accused him of supporting the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood movement and some of its bombings in Damascus, while President 'Arafat has found it difficult to swallow the humiliation of his expulsion from Damascus, and later the war in the camps which he believes was carried out by the Amal movement with Syrian backing.

While these events belong to the past, what is new is a growing concern in Palestinian official circles that the new Israeli prime minister might focus on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks at the expense of the Palestinian track. Furthermore, the Palestinian negotiators are alone on the threshold of the final phase talks which require more coordination with Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

Baraq's remarks about his intention to withdraw from Lebanon within a year are noteworthy. He no doubt realizes -- and so do the Palestinians with him -- that this withdrawal cannot be achieved without signing a peace agreement with Syria which would lead to a full withdrawal from the Golan.

It is probably worth pointing out that it was Baraq who led the Israeli negotiating team in Maryland three years ago, during the negotiations with Syria, when he faced a Syrian negotiating team led by former Syrian Army Chief of Staff General Hikmat al-Shihabi who retired a year ago.

There were rumors that the two delegations had reached a semi-final agreement, and this prompted the Syrian Government to demand its implementation by Netanyahu, by reiterating the need for Netanyahu to implement the signed and non-signed agreements, in a clear reference to this agreement.

The Palestinian official concern is what has currently prompted the coordination with Syria..."

Yasser & Syria & Barak

London's AL SHARQ AL AWSAT 5/24/99: "People close to Palestinian President Yasir 'Arafat have said that he has been in a state of expectancy since Baraq was elected Israel's prime minister on 17 May, and that he is very worried about the Israeli prime minister-elect's statements about activating the Syrian track and the possibility that he might reach an agreement on the Golan heights which would pave the way for an Israeli Army withdrawal from southern Lebanon, at the expense of the Palestinian track.

Palestinian sources in Gaza which have asked to remain anonymous told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that "as a result, 'Arafat has frantically been trying to visit Syria for a summit meeting with Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad, in an attempt to remove these fears and coordinate the next steps."

Palestinian sources in Damascus told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that "there are Arab, Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian mediations aimed at holding this meeting between al-Asad and 'Arafat."

They added that "although there is a Syrian agreement in principle on this visit, no date has been set. Also, no final agreement about it has been reached as yet. However, it is not expected to take place before the new Israeli Government is formed."

Jordan's King Abdullah & Arafat

Voice of America 5/26/99: "Jordan's King Abdullah flew to Gaza wednesday for talks with Palestinian authority president Yasser Arafat on middle east peace prospects, following last week's Israeli elections...Mr. Arafat gave King Abdullah a red-carpet reception at the newly-opened Gaza international airport as he arrived for his first-ever visit to the Palestinian-controlled areas.

The talks came little more than a week after the Israeli election which saw hard-line Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unseated by labor party leader Ehud Barak. The implications of the change dominated the two rounds of meetings, at the airport and at Mr. Arafat's Gaza City headquarters. The two leaders did not speak to reporters afterward. But a joint statement said the two leaders agreed that the Palestinian track is the heart of the middle east peace process -- including the right of the palestinians to establish their own independent state.

The wording of the statement appeared to reflect concern that Mr. Barak -- after he forms a government and takes office -- might first pursue a peace deal with Syria and Lebanon in order to redeem his campaign pledge to have israeli troops out of Lebanon within a year. Asher Susser -- an Israeli expert on Jordanian affairs at Tel Aviv university -- says a "Syria-first" peacemaking scenario could limit Palestinian leverage in subsequent bargaining with Israel.

And he told V-O-A that King Abdullah is also concerned over a possible backlash of Palestinian violence in the West Bank, if there is no progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace in the coming months...[Susser;} '...the Jordanians have a nightmare scenario, which I don't think is necessarily very realistic, but it is a scenario that they fear -- that instability in the West Bank could spill over onto the East Bank (Jordan).'

The Palestinians and Jordan are supporting an Egyptian proposal for a five-way summit that would also involve Syria and Lebanon, and would coordinate their approach to Israel in the aftermath of the voting. Earlier this week in the United States, King Abdullah said he liked and trusted Mr. Barak -- a former Israeli military chief of staff -- and urged swift action to advance regional peace-making."

Lebanon awards Hezbollah

Beirut's RADIO LEBANON 5/21/99: "Deputizing for President Emile Lahhud, Republican Guards Brigade Commander Colonel Mustafa Hamdan visited Hizballah General Secretariat where he met with Hizballah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah and the heroes of the Bayt Yahun operation, in which the enemy post was stormed and an Israeli armored personnel carrier was seized.

Colonel Hamdan presented to the leader of the operation a token gift, namely, a pistol from the collection of the Republican Guards Brigade museum.

He conveyed the President's greetings and appreciation for the group's heroism and sacrifice. Colonel Hamdan said the heroic operation left great moral impact and enthusiasm to achieve victory. For his part, Nasrallah praised President Lahhud's initiative and his patriotic positions against the occupation. He stressed that Lebanon, through its resistance men, Army, and people, is now stronger and more determined to regain its rights."

PA state in May 2000?

London's AL SHARQ AL AWSAT 5/23/99: "Authoritative Palestinian sources have confirmed that the [Palestinian] state will be declared in May 2000, pointing out that this is the wish of the US Administration, which wants to give the new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Baraq a chance.

The sources, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the US Administration will give Baraq a full year to put the Israeli house in order and proceed with the peace process. The sources pointed out to Al-Sharq al-Awsat that the Palestinian leadership is viewing this matter with utmost caution; however, it has confidence in the US position, which pledged to give a strong impetus to the Palestinian-Israeli track.

The sources pointed out that the US Administration is satisfied with the departure of former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who gave it a "headache," and that it views Baraq with a different eye from the one with which it viewed Netanyahu. The sources said that Baraq, who seems to be expressing hard-line views at the moment, will display satisfactory flexibility after a while, namely after he forms a government and reads the political map on the Israeli scene..."

Arab calls to protest over Ra's al Amud

IDF RADIO 5/25/99: "Faysal al-Husayni, the PLO official in charge of the Jerusalem portfolio, knows that the High Court saved Orient House from being closed, but now he would like to reopen a new channel of communication with the new Israeli Government. Al-Husayni hopes for the resumption of the encounter track, dubbed the Jerusalem Forum, that had been agreed on at the signing of the Oslo accords in Washington.

Al-Husayni then met with former Police Minister Moshe Shahal, and later with the Likud's Mikha'el Eytan. Last night, al-Husayni asked to meet with One Israel's Yosi Beilin. At the meeting, he described the Palestinian view of the present situation in Jerusalem. For al-Husayni, construction at Har Homa and Ra's al-'Amud is out of the question.

Leaflets distributed in East Jerusalem this week on behalf of all the Palestinian factions called for escalation in protest over the Ra's al-'Amud construction. Realizing the danger, al-Husayni decided t warn Knesset Member Beilin.