1. An Israel Government Policy Decision

On October 18, 2001, following the murder of Israel Cabinet Minister Rehavam Z’evi, for which the PFLP took credit, the Israeli government cabinet met in emergency session

On that occasion, the Israeli cabinet unanimously decided that it would break all negotiations with Arafat and the PLO until such time as Arafat arrests the PFLP leadership, which is an integral part of the PLO.

The Israeli demand that Arafat arrest the killers of an Israeli citizen is in keeping with one of the major tenets of the Oslo accords which require the PLO to apprehend the killers of any Israeli citizen who escapes to the areas under their control.

The Israeli government has not enforced this killer arrest provision in the Oslo accords with enough consistency.

However, in the matter of the murder of an Israeli cabinet minister, the Israeli government finally made the matter of the PLO asylum for murderers as a matter of policy

After Arafat did not respond to the request of the Israeli government to arrest the PFLP leadership, the Israeli government decided in a further unanimous vote to not allow Arafat to leave Ramallah until Arafat would indeed carry through with its demand to arrest the PFLP.

PFLP offices are located 200 meters from Arafat’s own office in Ramallah.

To this date, Arafat has not arrested the PFLP leaders, all of whom maintain a high profile in Ramallah.

On December 22, 2001, Arafat dispatched PA Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abed Al-Rahman to address the 34th anniversary celebration of the PFLP which was held in Ramallah, a ceremony which was prominently covered in the official media of the PA – radio, tv and newspapers.

2. Reinforcing an Israeli Government Policy Decision

On December 23, 2001, Arafat requested permission to visit Bethlehem for Christmas – a request that was denied by the Israeli security cabinet. The vote was eight to six. The Israeli cabinet secretary explained the decision to confine Arafat to Ramallah was because Arafat had not fulfilled its demand to arrest the PFLP killers.

Dissenting cabinet minister, Israel Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Shimon Peres, claiming that this step would cause Israel harm in world opinion. Peres enlisted support for his position from Israel Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, and Israel President Moshe Katzav and Israel security expert Uzi Arad, who is closely identified with former Israel Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, all of whom gave interviews on the Voice of Israel radio newsreels on December 24th

Throughout December 24th, a rumor was reported on the Voice of Israel Radio that the US embassy had demanded that Israel allow Arafat to Bethlehem.

Since the US embassy was closed on December 24th, there was no way to confirm if that was indeed the case.

3. Countering an Israeli Government Policy Decision Within the Government

Meanwhile, Peres ordered the director of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Avi Gil not to defend the decision of the Israeli government to disallow Arafat’s participation in the ceremonies in Bethlehem.

And Gil ordered the Israeli diplomatic missions abroad to not defend the Israeli government decision in this regard. The Israel Prime Minister’s office and the cabinet secretary requested that the Israel Foreign Ministry do their job to defend a cabinet decision of the government of Israel. The Israel Foreign Ministry respectfully refused to do so.

So there you have it. You might call it the Christmas coup in Israel – the day that it became official that two governments of Israel indeed exist.

4. Which Israeli Government Policy Will Be Perceived by the World as the Policy of the Israeli Government?

The answer lies in the budget for press relations.

As a result of the coalition agreement, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the authority of Shimon Peres, oversees a budget of 24, 000,000 IS at its disposal, while the Israel Government Press Office, under the authority of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, oversees a budget of less than 500,000 IS

It would therefore be reasonable to assume that the Israeli “government” under the control of Shimon Peres will promote its policies to the media with greater zeal and efficiency.

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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