ZINC-8/31/99-Lockerbie shocker!
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Z . I . N . C .
THE ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA'S
ISRAEL NEWS CONNECTION
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Tuesday, August 31, 1999 8:00 AM EDT (1200 UTC)
Editor: Michael C. Hoffman O&F: 301-681-0858
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NOTE: ZINC is long today due to the first two articles which
feature a shocking Lockerbie story, and a fascinating Naif
Hawatmeh interview.
TODAY'S NEWS:
1. Lockerbie shocker!
2. Hawatmeh's insights
3. PA corruption
4. Terrorist killings?
5. Agreements close?
6. Jordan out, PA in?
7. Budget vote
8. Morocco happy
9. Turbine travels
10. Jordan ousts Hamas
11. PA intelligence services
12. Raviv trial postponed
13. Terror tunnels
14. Maccabiah tragedy agreements?
15. Burger business
1. Lockerbie shocker!
YEDIOT AHARONOT 8/20/99: "In the darkness of the night of 20
December 1988, a black Mercedes entered the Frankfurt Airport
compound and stopped next to one of the automatic doors. A
baggage handler of Turkish origin removed a hard suitcase from
the trunk, carried it through the passenger lounges, and
disappeared together with the case in the area where airport
workers had their personal lockers. The worker knew that the
suitcase he had removed from the Mercedes was full of drugs, but
he didn't look in the least agitated. He knew that no one would
stop him and that no one would ask unnecessary questions about
the suitcase that he had taken into the area restricted to
airport personnel.
The Turkish baggage handler's extreme self-confidence was founded
on 24 months of experience, during which this routine had been
followed weekly without interruption. The suitcase with the
drugs would arrive by car at the parking lot. The employee would
take the bag into the workers area, and from there it would
continue into the hold of an American aircraft which would carry
it across the ocean.
The Turk and the other members of the smuggling ring knew that
everything they did was under the watchful eye of undercover
agents of the CIA and the BKA [Office of Criminal Investigation]
-- the West German security service. Both intelligence services
permitted the "secure drug channel" to operate undisturbed
because with the help of the head of the ring, Mundhir al-Qasr,
they obtained a lot of intelligence about what was happening
within the terrorist organizations in Lebanon. At the same time,
al-Qasr promised to act for the release of the American hostages
that were being held in various secret locations in Lebanon at
the time. The BKA and CIA have denied outright the existence of
the "secure drug channel" described above, which operated under
their supervision, as it were.
Recently, this highly expected denial has taken on far greater
significance than anticipated. A few weeks ago, 'Abd-al-Basit
'Ali al-Megrahi and al-Amin Khalifah Fhimah -- the two Libyan
intelligence officers suspected of blowing up the plane -- were
extradited to the Netherlands to stand trial in the
international court in The Hague. Against this background, the
suspicion that it was the drugs route that permitted the
explosive charge to be placed on the Pan Am plane, which took
the lives of 270 civilians, might serve the case for the defense.
The person providing substance to this worrying theory is former
Israeli Yuval Aviv, author of "Gideon's Sword", who describes
himself as a former Mosad agent. Aviv, who today runs a large
and successful private international intelligence and
investigations office, prepared for Pan Am--before the airline
went bankrupt--a 27-page intelligence report detailing the
"secure drug channel."
The indictment submitted to the Hague court against the two
Libyan officers is the result of an intensive American
investigation. This investigation was conducted by the CIA, and
for this reason the finger wasn't pointed in the direction that
Aviv mentions. It accused the Libyans. The investigation found
that the Libyan officers put the suitcase containing a
sophisticated 'Semtex' bomb onto the plane. The suitcase
exploded in the skies above Scotland after it had flown
unaccompanied from Malta to Frankfurt, passed through security
checks, was transferred to a Pan Am Boeing 727 flying from
Frankfurt to Heathrow, was again transferred to a Pan Am jumbo
jet, and only exploded after the plane had taken off on its way
to New York's Kennedy Airport.
It was not difficult for American investigators to find reasons
for a Libyan bomb to be planted on an American plane. A number
of incidents prior to the explosion could have served as a cause
for the tragic attack. The first incident took place two years
before the Lockerbie disaster. The Americans launched a lethal
attack on a chemical weapons production plant in Libya. The
second incident took place seven months before the disaster. All
the passengers aboard an Iranian 'Airbus' were killed as a
result of an unfortunate American mistake. The civilian plane
was shot down by troops aboard the American warship "Vincennes"
that was sailing in the Persian Gulf. In the wake of the
incident, all intelligence services in Europe and North America
went on high alert in anticipation of a revenge attack.
But this is not the direction to which Aviv is pointing. In a
special report that he prepared for Pan Am, Aviv claims that the
suitcase bomb was placed aboard the plane on the "secure drug
channel" that the CIA intentionally ignored. According to him,
the route's code name was "Korea." According to this version,
American intelligence elements decided to maintain a drug route
under their supervision. There were two reasons for this
decision.
The first: There were those in the CIA who maintained that when
in Rome, do as the Romans; that is to say, the best way to
obtain information in Lebanon was by making contact with and
getting close to the centers of power in the drug trade, and
from there to vital intelligence sources. Another reason was the
massive flood of drugs coming out of the Lebanese Al-Biqa' and
flowing into the United States along hundreds of routes. The
little that the CIA could do was to try and keep tabs on a chosen
drug route and in this way catch the major drug dealers in the
United States. The lucky person chosen by the CIA was a colorful
character on the Middle East scene: Mundhir al-Qasr. Al-Qasr
born in 1947 in Syria, is married to the sister of 'Ali 'Issa
Duba, who was head of Syrian intelligence at the time. At the
same time, he had an affair with Raja, daughter of Rif'at
al-Asad, and with Georgina Rizzaq, a former Miss Lebanon, who
was married to 'Ali Hasan Salamah, the terrorist liquidated by
the Mosad in the seventies.
Through his family and social ties, al-Qasr would travel freely
in Lebanon. This route made him so wealthy that he ceased his
terrorist activity and did everything to protect the goose that
lay the golden eggs that had landed in his lap. So much so,
according to Aviv, that he did everything to prevent a terrorist
act being carried out via Frankfurt Airport. Aviv claims that
for this reason, al-Qasr and his associates were the ones who
issued the warning about the impending terrorist action at the
airport two days before the Lockerbie explosion.
But it was al-Qasr, the person who wanted to protect his source
of income, who unwittingly enabled the suitcase bomb to be put
on the plane. How did this happen? According to Aviv, al-Qasr
had a courier by the name of Khalid Ja'far, the leader of a drug
ring in Lebanon's Al-Biqa', who would regularly fly the
Frankfurt-New York route with suitcases full of drugs. According
to Aviv, Ja'far fell into a trap laid for him by Ahmad Jibril.
Aviv claims that Jibril had an account to settle with the
Americans over their intensive actions against the terrorist
organizations in Lebanon, and he came to the conclusion that the
drug route was his opportunity to plant a bomb on an American
plane.
Among other things, the report Aviv gave Pan Am says that on 13
December 1988, Ja'far was invited to a secret apartment in Bonn
where he met Jibril. There was another man in the apartment with
Jibril. According to the report, this man was called the
"professor" -- a Libyan citizen who specialized in assembling
sophisticated bombs. The report claims that Jibril proposed that
Ja'far smuggle an additional consignment for him, all the income
from which would "serve the sacred cause." Ja'far agreed without
knowing that he had thus sealed his own fate and that of 269
other people.
According to Aviv, Ja'far was given a suitcase similar to the
drug suitcase that was regularly carried through the Pan Am
cargo terminal. This suitcase also held a "Toshiba"
radio-cassette containing 568 grams of "Semtex" explosives. Four
similar explosive charges (including "Toshiba" radio-cassettes)
were seized a few months earlier in a secret terrorist apartment
in Germany.
In order to prove this version of events, Aviv even points to
the existence of a recording of a conversation between an
employee at Frankfurt Airport who was involved in the drug route,
and a security service official who was his supervisor: "On the
day of the disaster, the employee noticed that the suitcase that
arrived was slightly different in shape and color. He contacted
the man from the security service, consulted with him about the
suitcase, and was instructed 'to let the suitcase pass.' At the
time, all Pan Am employees' conversations were recorded because
of a wave of unauthorized private calls. As a result, that
fateful conversation was recorded and will be played before the
judges' bench."
Aviv's involvement with the Lockerbie affair got him into hot
water. Irrespective of whether this fact points to the truth of
his conclusions or not, one cannot ignore the fact that in 1995,
a short time after the contents of the report he submitted to
Pan Am were leaked to the press, Aviv was arrested by FBI agents
under suspicion of defrauding senior 'General Electric'
officials and of receiving money for work he was supposed to
have carried out.
During the trial, it transpired that the alleged episode took
place five years earlier. 'General Electric' hired Aviv's
services to conduct security checks on the Caribbean islands
prior to a vacation by the company management. The vacation went
ahead as planned and passed without incident. 'General Electric'
neither complained about Aviv nor did it seek any investigation
against him. According to Aviv, he discovered that at least two
of the FBI agents who conducted the investigation against him
over the 'General Electric' affair were involved in the Pan Am
investigation. His lawyer told the court: "In 20 years of
practice, I have never seen such dedication by official
investigative bodies looking into a civil matter that took place
five years ago."
At the end of 1996, Aviv was acquitted of all charges. A federal
jury in the Manhattan court decided that Aviv had been set up
"in the wake of his position in the Pan Am report." The judge
said for the record: "The conduct of the FBI investigation, and
the fact that it did not arise from any external complaint leads
to the impression that the investigation arose for other
reasons, and the only plausible reason is the investigation (by
Aviv) into the Lockerbie affair."
Aviv himself told the 7 Yamim supplement that while the trial
against him was in progress, FBI agents came to many of his
clients and tried to discourage them from continuing to use his
services. "They made a big effort to hang me out to dry," he
says. "All my contracts with government elements, including
contracts with the FBI itself, were put on ice. The FBI tried to
deny these in the court. Their problem was that I had documents
attesting to the fact that they used my services from 1982 to
1989. The judge asked them sarcastically how they could claim
that I was a fraud after they had worked with me for years."
The British journalist John Ashton is working on a full-length
feature on the Lockerbie episode for a BBC subsidiary. He
pointed to Yuval Aviv as one of a chain of people who had
investigated the affair and been harmed by it. Ashton: " In June
1996, I published a report in the newspaper Mail on Sunday about
the attempts to harm various people because of their position on
the Lockerbie affair. Apart from Aviv, I pointed to a long list
of publishers, film directors, and movie-theater owners who
received threats, had their businesses broken into, and in one
case set on fire, after they had expressed a willingness to
screen a film or publish a book that supports this theory. If
everything they say is invented, it is hard to understand why
someone is trying to discourage people from expressing their
view on the matter."
John Ashton says that the most detailed evidence about drug
activity along this route was supplied by the journalist Lester
Coleman. After writing the book "Trail of the Octopus", which
deals with the blowing up of the plane above a Scottish town,
his life became hell. In the mid-eighties, Coleman, 43, was an
adviser to the Cyprus arm of the US Government's Drugs
Enforcement Administration. In the course of his work in Cyprus,
Coleman gained information that CIA personnel were involved in
giving the green light to drug smuggling from Lebanon.
Coleman was fired from the DEA, according to him, after he got
into a conflict with his supervisors who ignored his warnings
about the lack of professionalism of various agents who were
active in Lebanon, and about the fact that Lebanese agents
turned into double agents and betrayed their American
dispatchers. Administration officials claimed that Coleman's
statements were unfounded and that he was fired for
inappropriate conduct. In an interview with the British
journalist Ashton, Coleman said that despite his suspicions, he
didn't dare think of a link between the American drug route in
Cyprus and the Lockerbie disaster.
According to him, certain things happened that aroused his
suspicion: There were rumors among the volunteers searching for
wreckage from the Pan Am plane about the discovery of large
quantities of heroin. At the same time, Coleman learned that
among the plane's victims was an American of Lebanese origin
named Khalid Ja'far. Coleman claims that he knew Ja'far from his
activities in the CIA station in Cyprus, and that he was a key
figure in the drug route.
Aviv's stories about the Lockerbie affair, as well as other
evidence that supports his version, do not really impress the
Israeli intelligence community. The main dispute centered around
Aviv's security past. He describes himself as a former Mosad
agent and refuses to elaborate. ("I wish to have the opportunity
to continue coming to Israel without getting into trouble;
therefore, I do not engage in discussions about my past"), but
many former members of Israel's security apparatus describe him
as a charlatan and claim that he has no idea about intelligence
matters and flight security.
According to them, Aviv never served in the Mosad and was simply
an El Al selector who was fired after a few months' work. They
claim that most of what he writes in the report was previously
published in the world press. Two well-known Israeli
intelligence officials with an impeccable reputation told 7
Yamim that they have serious reservations about Yuval Aviv and
described him as a "professional Walter Mitty." Another person,
who is still working for the Mosad, says that as far as he knows,
Aviv did in fact carry out many operations for the Mosad, and he
should be recognized for them.
A clue to Aviv's possible connections with the security services
can be found, of all places, in the FBI documents that were
deposited with the federal court in Manhattan during the trial
against him. Two facts can clearly be ascertained from the
uncensored parts of these documents: one is that for a long time
the American security services suspected that Aviv was a Mosad
agent in the United States. The second is that for a number of
years Aviv was a paid adviser to two American investigative and
intelligence agencies.
Whatever Aviv's security history, everyone is agreed that both
the Mosad and El Al's security department believed that it was
only a matter of time before a bomb would be placed on a plane
departing from Frankfurt Airport. It transpires from a
comprehensive research paper written by three of Israel's most
senior former security services personnel (Yitzhaq Yafet, a
former senior member of the General Security Service [GSS] and
head of El Al's security department; Avino'am Avivi, who held a
senior position in the GSS; and Colonel (Reserve) Yosi Langozky)
that Pan Am's security set-up looked like an open invitation to
terrorism. Yuval Aviv agrees with them: "It was clear to any
amateur that this company's security arrangements existed only
on paper."
But the main point is that too many people learned about the
"secure drug route" at the airport. During the two weeks prior
to the bomb being placed on the American plane, at least two
warnings were given by the Mosad. British Member of Parliament
[MP] Tam Dalyell claims that one of the warnings that was
received at the beginning of December 1988 was most detailed. In
the wake of this warning, an official document of one
intelligence organization said: "A terrorist act by Palestinians
who are not members of the PLO can be expected against American
targets in Europe, including Pan Am and US military
installations." A senior Israeli intelligence official says: "I
don't know if the 'Korea' operation is a product of Aviv's
hallucinations, but the involvement of espionage organizations
in the international drug trade is not his private invention nor
a unique CIA innovation. Over the years there have been several
suggestions that American espionage elements have closed their
eyes, facilitating the drug trade at various times along the
Turkey-Lebanon-Cyprus-United States route."
2. Hawatmeh's insights
Cairo's AL MUSAWWAR 8/27/99: "This week, Cairo was the scene of
an important Palestinian event; namely the first meeting between
Palestinian President Yasir 'Arafat and the Secretary General of
the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
Nayif Hawatmah in six years. Two weeks earlier, President
'Arafat met the representative of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Abu 'Ali Mustafa, in Cairo as
well. It is worth mentioning that the DFLP and the PFLP are the
two biggest factions in the Damascus-based Palestinian
opposition. Moreover, just as this edition of al-Musawwar was
being printed, we learned that an expanded meeting of all
Palestinian factions, including Hamas would be held in Ramallah
on Thursday. We interviewed Hawatmah to discuss his meeting with
'Arafat, the common grounds for achieving a Palestinian
reconciliation and the means of closing Palestinian ranks. We
also asked him about the reasons behind the delay of his meeting
with 'Arafat and his vision about the coming election.
[al-Musawwar] What made you change your mind and accept the
resumption of the inter-Palestinian dialogue, in your capacity
as Secretary General of the DFLP?
[Hawatmah] The DFLP has always adopted a policy aiming at uniting
Palestinians and achieving independence throughout its armed
struggle. When the Palestinian movement reached a crossroads and
was fragmented, the DFLP called for bridging the gaps and
overcoming the differences to rebuild Palestinian unity.
[al-Musawwar] How could that be when you are the most adamant
Palestinian opposition faction?
[Hawatmah] We organized the reunion in 1983 when the major
fragmentation of the Fatah movement started and Palestinian
factions fought against each other. At that time, we initiated a
dialogue with Fatah to rebuild national unity on the basis of
common organizational and political grounds. We also signed the
famous Yemen coalition agreement and suffered for five long
years from pressure by Palestinian opposition powers and the
conflicting Arab axes. We finally managed to rebuild our
coalition unity in April 1987 during the Palestinian national
unity conference in Algiers.
[al-Musawwar] Do you still take part in Palestinian opposition
conferences? [Hawatmah] The Palestinian opposition organized
three conferences in December 1998, and the conferences held in
Gaza and the West Bank managed to unite us around the common
objective of fighting against occupation and Jewish settlers. We
also agreed on the need for a comprehensive national dialogue to
rebuild Palestinian unity.
[al-Musawwar] But the recent events that took place in Damascus
contradict this approach.
[Hawatmah] The third conference, which was held in Damascus for
Palestinian factions living in exile, was divided. The DFLP
insisted on adopting this approach towards unity. On the other
hand, nine other Palestinian organizations called for turning
the conference into a new Palestinian National Council for a new
PLO, and electing a new executive committee and a new president.
However, this would have meant the existence of two PLOs and the
waging of refugee camp wars, especially on Lebanese territories.
We vehemently rejected this attitude and aborted this attempted
coup. As a result, the political, malicious and bloody pressure
turned against us and our camps in North Lebanon were the target
of hostile attacks.
[al-Musawwar] Can you specify the opposition factions that
conducted hostile attacks against you?
[Hawatmah] They were the "Fatah al-Intifada", General Command,
Sa'iqah (thunderbolt), and the Palestine Liberation Group. They
also received support from their political allies; namely our
brothers in Hamas and the PFLP who formed an alliance on the
political basis of rejecting any dialogue with Yasir 'Arafat.
They said at the Damascus conference that 'Arafat had lost his
legitimacy and invited us to take part in the bilateral and
comprehensive dialogues since February 1997 to overcome the
unjust provisions of the Oslo Accords. In May 1998, they invited
us to initiate preparations for the provisions of the end of the
Oslo Accords, which culminated in the adoption of the "May 1999
Ceiling". This time, we are abandoning the step-by-step policy
to adopt a new one based on the decisions of international
legitimacy.
[al-Musawwar] We heard about this dialogue a long time ago. What
were the reasons behind its deferment?
[Hawatmah] The dialogue between the DFLP, Fatah and the
Palestinian Authority, under the leadership of 'Arafat, was
scheduled to take place during the first week of March 1999.
However, it was deferred when we found ourselves faced with a
war after aborting the coup attempt in Damascus. This war forced
us to resume our efforts to prevent the eruption of a camp war
and defend our camps. Therefore, the dialogue with brother
'Arafat was postponed from the original date of 8 February 1999
in Amman. We set more than four other dates for a meeting in
July, but they were all deferred as well.
[al-Musawwar] Were those last four dates deferred as a result of
the campaign launched against you by the opposition factions, or
were there other reasons?
[Hawatmah] The latest postponements were due to the fact that the
delegations representing Fatah/Palestinian Authority and the
DFLP could not reach common grounds during their talks in
Ramallah. Once the common grounds were reached and we agreed to
defer some issues to be discussed during the Cairo meeting, we
set the date for this week's talks, which we hope will lead to
resolving the standing issues.
[al-Musawwar] Fatah/Palestinian Authority and the DFLP have
already held several rounds of preparatory talks. What are the
most important issues and disputes that still need further
discussions?
[Hawatmah] we have reached a political framework for the new
comprehensive negotiations because we have entered a new phase
since 1995. The deadline for implementing the Oslo Accords has
expired and the Palestinian cause is going around in political
and legal circles. As a result, we should shift into the new
negotiation phase on the basis of international legitimacy; that
is to say the UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 as
well as the land-for-peace principle. This way we can achieve
harmony with the PLO's joint national program, which we have all
been working in line with since 1974. We also agreed to revive
the PLO institutions, which have not functioned since 1993. They
will be rebuilt on the basis of our concord until elections can
be held for the formation of a new Palestinian National Council,
because the current session has legally expired. We agreed on
the importance of organizing a comprehensive national dialogue
in a bid to find common grounds for a collective agreement
[al-Musawwar] What about the issues you disagreed on?
[Hawatmah] There are some issues that have not been resolved yet,
foremost among which is the formation of the joint coalition
command, which will be entrusted with managing the whole
negotiation process. No single Palestinian faction should
monopolize the determination of the fate of the Palestinian
people and rights for the next twenty years.
[al-Musawwar] What is your vision about this joint coalition
command? [Hawatmah] It should comprise representatives of all
the PLO branches and other Palestinian factions willing to
accept the resolutions of international legitimacy and work for
the achievement of a political settlement based on relevant
international resolutions.
[al-Musawwar] How did the brothers in Fatah and the Palestinian
Authority respond to the proposal of forming this coalition
command?
[Hawatmah] They agreed in principle, but we have not reached a
specific understanding about it yet. I hope we can reach a
concrete formula for this coalition command. We can see an
outstanding example for it in the Jewish State. Israel is a
regional superpower and Baraq won the majority of votes and
formed a coalition government from both the hawks and the doves
that enjoys a majority in the knesset. Although the Baraq
government includes representatives of all political trends in
Israel; from the rightwing to the center to the leftwing, he
formed a command authority responsible for managing the
negotiations on the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese tracks. He
also formed a mini-cabinet comprising the leaders of the parties
participating in the coalition to supervise and rectify the work
of the command authority within the negotiation process. We are
a small scattered people. Half the Palestinians live in the
homeland under occupation, while the other half has been living
in exile for fifty years. We need a coalition command authority
to run the negotiations more than Israel. We also need a
mini-cabinet comprising the leaders of the various factions and
other efficient personalities to run and approve the negotiation
process on the basis of the resolutions of international
legitimacy and supervise the work of the executive command
authority that manages the negotiations.
[al-Musawwar] What about your request to activate the PLO
institutions? [Hawatmah] We have already agreed to reactivate
the PLO institutions, but we have not reached an agreement on
the mechanisms of implementing this principle yet...
[al-Musawwar] How do you envisage the requirements of this phase?
[Hawatmah] There is an available opportunity at the present time
to conduct democratic elections in the occupied Palestinian
territories and the refugee camps. The leaders who conducted
elections for a legislative Palestinian council on the basis of
the Oslo Accords, should also agree with us on the necessity of
conducting elections for the formation of a new Palestinian
National Council in the occupied territories and in exile. This
new Council would provide the legislative platform for the PLO,
which in turn would elect the ad-hoc and executive committees. We
also hope that this issue could be resolved during the Cairo
meeting.
[al-Musawwar] What about the other issues that you still disagree
on? [Hawatmah] We do not want to hold a dialogue for the sake of
talks or for the sake of the media. We want a positive and
fruitful dialogue to restore the cohesion to Palestinian ranks
and regain Arab and international support for the Palestinian
cause. This can only be achieved by reaching an agreement on a
program that includes at least the minimum core issues.
[al-Musawwar] You are calling for the election of a new
Palestinian National Council, but the Palestinian Minister for
Parliamentary Affairs, Nabil 'Amr, has told al-Musawwar that it
would be difficult to achieve this goal, although he did not
rule it out, because it is not a council of factions. How do you
comment on that?
[Hawatmah] No agreement has been reached yet on a mechanism for
electing a new Palestinian National Council during the talks
held by DFLP and Fatah in Ramallah. We hope the Cairo meetings
will resolve this problem.
[al-Musawwar] How do you envisage the possibility of holding
elections for the Palestinian National Council?
[Hawatmah] The election could be organized in all the occupied
territories, the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. We can
also conduct an election at the refugee camps in Lebanon and
Syria and collect the votes in some Arab and European countries.
It may be difficult to hold an election in Jordan, for instance,
because Amman deals with the Palestinians who have lived there
since 1948 as Jordanian citizens. Therefore, we declare that the
mechanism of rebuilding the PLO institutions must be democratic
and comprise all members of the coalition in order to save time.
If possible, this process could be conducted on the basis of
proportional representation, which is the system adopted in the
Jewish State...
[al-Musawwar] How do you envisage the Syrian role in the coming
stage after Damascus' latest position on the peace-rejecting
factions?
[Hawatmah] I believe that once the Syrian-Israeli negotiations
are resumed from the point reached during the talks with the
Rabin government, as both sides have announced already, and the
current differences about exactly what point has been reached
are resolved, the political climate in the Middle East will open
new horizons for bridging the gaps between Syria and the
Palestinian Authority and among Arab countries in general.
Furthermore, the Palestinian factions affected by the Syrian
policies will take another step towards joining a national
dialogue. For instance, it is well known that the Sa'iqah
Organization is the ideological and organizational extension of
the Syrian Ba'ath Party, and the Arab Liberation Front is the
ideological and organizational extension of the Iraqi Ba'ath
Party. It is also known that the brothers in the General
Command, the PFLP, and Fatah al-Intifada, which has played a
purely security rather than political role since 1983, are
affected by the Syrian policy.
[al-Musawwar]What about the differences with the PFLP on
separating Fatah from the Palestinian Authority?
[Hawatmah] To claim that Fatah can be separated from the
Authority is just playing with words. It is a useless maneuver
because many of the leaders of Fatah are also high-ranking
officials in the Authority. This would be an arbitrary
separation that can only be explained as a sort of a sudden
political coup."
3. PA 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..."
4. Terrorist killings?
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..."
5. Agreements 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."
6. Jordan out, PA in?
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."
7. Budget6 vote
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. Barak 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."...
8. Morocco happy
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..."
9. Turbine travels
HA'ARETZ 8/31/99: "A compromise proposal to move the massive
turbine on weekdays, by preparing parking sites along the route,
has been deemed possible. According to this solution, the turbine
would be moved over three nights, resting during the day in
special parking areas prepared along the route. The Public Works
Department will announce this morning at the second meeting of
the directors' general committee convened to discuss the turbine,
that from an engineering aspect, parking areas for the turbine
can be prepared in one week. The police is expected to announce
that from the point of view of traffic, this solution is
possible, albeit less than ideal..."
10. Jordan ousts Hamas
THE JERUSALEM POST 8/31/99: "The Jordanian authorities yesterday
stormed the Amman offices of Hamas and arrested several members
in a sweeping crackdown aimed at restraining the fundamentalist
Moslem group. Security officials said several people were rounded
up in the mid-afternoon sweep, but there were no ranking members
of the group whose political leadership is now believed to be
based in Jordan. Hamas's political strategist Khalid Mashaal,
spokesman Ibrahim Ghosheh and political bureau member Mohammed
Nazzal were believed to be in Syria, according to the security
officials...A senior government official said the raids and
arrests will continue and that offices that serve as a front for
Hamas in Jordan will be closed.
A Jordanian official said
the offices were closed because Hamas had no license. He declined
to say if the action was taken under pressure from the United
States and Israel, which have often urged Jordan to move against
the group. Hassan Youssef, a leader of Hamas in Ramallah, said
there was "no justification" for the Jordanian decision. Hamas,
he said, "does not interfere in the internal affairs of Jordan.
The closures will not serve the interests of the Arab nation."
"This will have some impact on leaders and political activists in
Jordan, but the base of Hamas lies inside the homeland," Youssef
said...The crackdown comes amid close Jordanian security
cooperation with the Palestine Authority and Israel as both sides
are close to implementing peace accords signed between them.
Hamas this week spurned PA offers to join it in unity talks
today in Ramallah. The PA said that it invited Hamas and Islamic
Jihad, but Zahar said no formal invitation was ever issued to
Hamas, only to specific members and no one from Hamas planned to
attend the gathering. "The atmosphere is not one of dialogue,"
Zahar told AP, noting the recent sweep of arrests by the PA of
Hamas activists. A Jordanian source said by telephone from Amman
last night that the steps against Hamas mark "the end of their
presence in Jordan for the time being."...
11. PA intelligence services
YEDIOT AHARONOT 8/27/99 via IMRA: "Today there is already a
difference of opinion regarding the merit of advancing
Palestinian intelligence capabilities. In the GSS (Shabak) it is
said that the American training helps in the struggle against
terror. In Military Intelligence they think otherwise. The
Palestinians, Military Intelligence maintains, also use the
intelligence and knowledge against Israel.
According to a senior member of the Israeli defense
establishment, the American-Palestinian connection hurts Israel
- and in a big way. 'Every course advances them, raises their
level, helps them to become more professional. The CIA invests
in them, gives them good courses. They get fantastic equipment,
not just from the USA, also from European countries. The
problem is that they also use the equipment against us, instead
of using it to trap terrorists. So, for example, in the area of
surveillance, they have a surveillance unit that monitors
Israeli targets. And if you have advanced equipment, there is
no problem monitoring military communications networks,
intelligence networks or cellular telephones.'
There is also criticism against the Americans and their view of
the situation. 'The Americans see the Palestinians as partners
who have to be strengthen to turn into an island of stability,'
said the senior source in the defense establishment. 'According
to the American thesis, the better Palestinian intelligence is,
the more terrorists they capture and the stabler the peace.
This is a naive assumption that ignores the conflict between us
and the Palestinians. The Americans relate to this as if it
were a conflict between the Israeli-Palestinian side against
Hamas. They don't see that Arafat and Hamas are on the same
side against Israel.'
12. Raviv trial postponed
ARUTZ7 8/30/99: "The trial of GSS agent-provocateur Avishai Raviv
has been postponed once again. Originally set for July 6,
proceedings were originally delayed until Sept. 1, and today it
was learned that the case will only be heard next month, on Oct.
3. Barry Chamish, a journalist who has written extensively on
the Rabin assassination, expressed disappointment that the trial
was postponed a second time. Attributing the change in date to
the fact that "so many people planned to sit in the courtroom as
witnesses," Chamish said that this will not prevent him and
others from attending the trial "whenever it will be held."
13. Terror tunnels
ISRAEL LINE 8/27/99: "Another tunnel running between the
Palestinian and Egyptian sections of the Gazan border town of
Rafiah was discovered recently, HA'ARETZ reported. Inside the
three foot wide and 21.3 foot deep tunnel, ropes and other
devices were found, used by terror organizations to bring arms
and explosives into the autonomous areas."
14. Maccabiah tragedy agreements?
HA'ARETZ 8/31/99: "More than two years after the tragic bridge
collapse at the Maccabiah Games, the Israeli government announced
that it would compensate members of the Australian delegation
injured in the incident. The announcement was sent yesterday to
the Haifa District Court, which is deliberating a series of
claims against the insurance companies, contractors and other
sources. The claims were brought by the families of those killed
and injured in the fiasco. In July of 1997, 4 participants in the
Maccabiah Games were killed when a specially constructed foot
bridge leading to the stadium collapsed. The treasury is to
determine soon the exact amount of compensation, and informed
sources have mentioned the amount as tens of millions of shekels.
The decision was taken last week at a discussion in the office of
Finance Minister Avraham Shochat which was attended by
representatives from the foreign and justice ministries. The
Foreign Ministry suggested taking the unusual step of offering
state compensation in order to repair relations with the
Australian Jewish community, which had complained of the
disappearance of those involved in the affair and of evasion of
responsibility by Israeli officials. Ministry sources yesterday
expressed the hope that the decision would put an end to the
procrastinating in the bargaining over compensation, and would
lead to an arrangement with the insurance companies and other
non-judicial actors in the affair...."
15. Burger business
New York City's THE NEW YORK POST 8/29/99--Editorial: "Here's the
hottest trend in corporate America: food companies with their own
Middle East policy. First, those '60s relics at Ben & Jerry's Ice
Cream forced their Israeli licensee to stop using mineral water
from one of Israel's leading bottled-water firms - because the
water comes from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from
Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. Now the folks at Burger King have
ordered their Israeli franchisee to remove the company's name
from its 3-month-old restaurant in Maale Adumim, a suburb of
Jerusalem also captured by Israel in 1967, this time from
Jordanian occupation.
In both instances, the corporate capitulation followed naked
threats of a worldwide boycott initiated by Arab-American groups.
In the case of Burger King, that threat was about to be endorsed
by the Arab League, which for decades administered the illegal
Arab boycott of Israel and of companies that did business with
the Jewish state. Burger King officials insisted that they have
"no interest in taking sides in the Arab-Israeli peace process."
But by declaring that Israel has no rightful claim to Maale
Adumim, Burger King has done precisely that.
It also sends a disturbing signal to anyone with an agenda that
blatant economic threats will succeed. Burger King may still have
46 restaurants in Israel, but it also has 84 fast-food places in
five Arab countries. And its British-based parent company,
Diageo, no doubt feared that the Arab boycott would spread to
such other subsidiaries as Pillsbury, Haagen Dazs, Smirnoff vodka
and Johnnie Walker and J&B whiskeys.
Indeed, the Burger King folks made no bones about why they
knuckled under so quickly: "Burger King has made this decision
purely on a commercial basis." In other words, the pressure
groups and their friends have the numbers, so their political
demands are accommodated. In an effort to blunt criticism of its
action, Burger King says its Israeli franchisee "falsely" claimed
that the restaurant was located inside Israel. The franchise
owner denies that charge and is fighting the company's actions in
court.
Burger King may pretend that this is a breach-of-contract issue,
but there's no denying that Israel's foes are hailing this as a
significant political triumph. "Corporations should not do
business and investment on land that is occupied by force and
whose original owners have been displaced into refugee camps,"
proclaimed one of the boycott organizers. By its shameful
surrender, Burger King has emboldened those who would revive the
use of economic boycotts to try and make Israel knuckle under.
Score another one for the Israel-bashers."