PA need to combat corruption

Ramallah's AL AYYAM 8/25/99: "During the brief lifetime of the Palestinian Authority [PA] and the establishment of its administrative structures and institutions, three consecutive reports were published on administrative and financial reform and the need to combat corruption.

The reports were published by the Palestinian Audit Bureau, the Palestinian Legislative Council, and Rockar Sigman [as transliterated]. The publication of each report was accompanied with news, rumors, statements, seminars, workshops and case analysis indicating, all in all, that all Palestinian circles were concerned over this issue.

Every time one of these reports was published, the activities that followed focused on the need to reach tangible results that would enable the Palestinians to remedy these defects and to build a modern government bureaucracy. However, these cautious hopes were constantly frustrated. In the face of such failure, efforts would be focused on yet another report to be published and another remedy to be administered.

What is new about this matter is that recently an administrative reform committee has been formed. The committee is trying to bridge the gaps, remedy the defects, and upgrade the Palestinian institutions.However, a key question imposes itself in this context.

The question is: Does the existing state of administrative and financial affairs need a new diagnosis, or does it simply need an assessment and explanation of the reasons that have led to this state of affairs? Or, is it that, after the publication of the three reports, conditions are ripe for reform and all that is needed would be to form a committee to correct what has gone wrong?

Perhaps the aforementioned questions imply a denunciation of the administrative and financial corruption and the helplessness in dealing with these chronic and multi-faceted defects. In fact, these defects jeopardize many bright achievements that the Palestinians have accomplished. The dimensions of this tragedy and its multi-faceted manifestations have become an urgent issue which should be dealt with..."

     

Young religious couple killed by terrorists?

AP 8/31/99: "Israeli police say the killings of a young religious Israeli couple whose bodies were found in a popular nature reserve on the West Bank border may have been political.

Yehiel Shai Fuenfter, 26, and Sharon Steinmetz, 21, were killed Sunday and their bodies were found a day later in Megiddo forest in northern Israel, a few miles from their abandoned car, said northern district police commander Alik Ron.

The killings, before Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to the region, could complicate talks on an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Negotiators said earlier Monday that there had been some progress.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has warned in the past that a resumption of attacks on Israelis could bring the peace process to a halt. One of Barak's closest aides said today it was too early to draw conclusions. ``I suggest that we all wait for the outcome of the investigation, and then we will decide whether it should be linked to any other issues, in particular the peace talks,''

Cabinet minister Haim Ramon told Israeli army radio Police said there were harrowing signs of violence on the bodies of the victims, but gave no other details. Ron said he believed the motive for the killings was political, but he was ``not convinced that it was a classical terrorist attack.''

Ron told army radio that the young man was easily recognizable as a Jew because he was wearing a skullcap. That and the proximity of the murder site to the West Bank suggested the motive was Palestinian nationalism. The couple was not carrying anything of value, he said. However, Ron said he believed the killings were random and that the killers were not sent by one of the Palestinian militant groups. No one had claimed responsibility for the killings. Islamic militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have threatened renewed attacks on Israelis in the wake of efforts to revive the peace process..."

     

PA-Israel agreement close?

AP 8/31/99: "Palestinian and Israeli officials appear optimistic they will reach an agreement on reviving a U.S.-brokered peace plan by the time Secretary of State Madeleine Albright arrives this week. `I imagine within two or three days we will reach a conclusion,'' Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Monday.

The positive atmosphere, however, was threatened late Monday by the discovery of the bodies of a slain Israeli couple near the West Bank border. Police suspected the killings were politically motivated...

Palestinians agreed they were close to a resolution. ``I have to say that these people intend to implement the agreements,'' senior negotiator Saeb Erekat said after another four-hour session with his Israeli counterpart, Gilead Sher. Albright is due in the region on Thursday and expects an accord by the time she arrives, her spokesman said in Washington. Egypt also hopes to host a signing ceremony launching the implementation of the Wye agreement.

Arafat traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, today to meet with President Hosni Mubarak -- the fifth visit between the two leaders this summer...Israel and the Palestinians appeared closer than ever on the two issues that have deadlocked the sides until now: a timetable for a long-delayed Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, and the release of Palestinians jailed for anti-Israel acts. Differences over a timetable for a withdrawal from the West Bank were down to less than a month: Israelis are sticking to a Jan. 20 deadline, and the Palestinians want the pullback to be completed by Dec. 31."

     

Jordan to "give-up" Jerusalem to PA

HA'ARETZ 8/31/99: "Jordan is ready to relinquish its religious authority over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul-Raouf al-Rawabdeh has said.

"If our Palestinian brothers want to take over this responsibility, Jordan is willing to cede this responsibility to them," Rawabdeh said in an interview broadcast Sunday night by the Saudi-owned radio station Middle East Broadcasting Center. "We are part of our Arab and Muslim nation. Our interest in Jerusalem is because we are part of this nation, and we are not an alternative to our Palestinian brothers," he said.

Rawabdeh said Jordanian religious authorities were currently running the sites in cooperation with the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority said the announcement was an important diplomatic achievement. Jordan has said in the past that it would hand over the authority over the sites to Palestinians once final status talks between the Palestinians and Israel were completed. Rawabdeh made no reference to the final status talks...

A spokesman for the Jerusalem municipality said in response that "the administration of the holy sites in Jerusalem is in the authority of religious institutions, not the Palestinian Authority. In the framework of the negotiations, Israel must make sure to protect its full sovereignty over the areas of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount."

     

Budget vote should pass

HA'ARETZ 8/31/99: "The national budget plan will apparently win a majority of the ministers' votes in next Sunday's weekly cabinet session, which will be devoted to budget cuts in all government ministries. Prime Minister Ehud Barak can already count on a majority of 12 to 10 with one abstention.

Barak has cleared his schedule to meet with the leaders of the coalition parties to discuss the budget. Barak neglected to meet with faction leaders before the previous vote on the budget and critics say this was a major error on his part. The Prime Minister said yesterday that the economic recovery program will take three years to complete, because of the serious situation he inherited from the previous government.

Following a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Barak said that he had been asked to make every effort not to cut the defense budget but, "The government does not grow money on trees," he said. "The people of Israel need the government to first advance growth so that it can deal with all the areas of priority."

Barak said that he intends to make good on all the commitments he made to the public. "That way we will bring education to the top of our national priorities, create 300,000 new jobs and change our priorities. This will take three years to accomplish."...

     

Morocco happy with Israel

HA'ARTEZ 8/31/99: "Morocco has renewed political contacts with Israel, which were frozen during the Netanyahu regime. Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy met yesterday with Moroccan representative Ajit Belhasan, who brought him a message from King Muhammad VI..."

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