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Official Palestine Broadcasting Corporation Radio

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Nov 16, 7 a.m.

Narrator’s Remarks (Youssef Mahmoud):
Today is the day of the Mihraj (celebration off Muhammad’s legendary nocturnal journey from the Meccan Mosque to the Furthest Mosque, assumed by later Muslim commentaries to be Jerusalem) when the Prophet Muhammad journeyed from Mecca to Beit al-Maqdas (classical name for Jerusalem) and to the heavens…. And we will remark on this anniversary during the next hour, reflecting on Jerusalem, the capital of the indpendent Palestinian state.

His excellency President Arafat tells a meeting of the Fatah leadership and the martyrs’ families in Ramallah: The right of return is holy and the situation of the refugees is the heart of Palestinian cause and we have seen the end of what is called the Great Land of Israel/ The Palestinian National Authority in an official text stresses its complete commitment to the obligations taken under the agreements (Note: this is the first oblique attempt to get the rifles out of Arafat’s mouth) And it makes clear that peace is its choice, a strategic choice/ Israeli undertaking to release the first group of prisoners and the first part of the re-deployment before next Friday/ The US continues to threaten Iraq despite Iraq’s promise of cooperation with the special committee (of inspectors etc)

Bulletin:
Palestine joins the rest of the Arab and Islamic world in celebrating the rise of Muhammad/ The Ministry of Relgious Affairs is holding a central celebration at the Al Aqsa Mosque/ The Mufti of Jerusalem Ikrem al-Sabry calls on the Arab and Muslim peoples to liberate occupied Jerusalem and Al Aqsa from Israeli occupation/ President Arfat discussed latest developments in the peace process with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa in a phone conversation last night/ His Excellency received last night at his headquarters the representative of the World Bank/ In an official statement, the Palestinian national Authority made clear that the official position of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (that’s the right way to translate PLO, by the way– MW) and the (Palestinian) Authority is complete commitment to the Wye River Agreement and to keep the obligations under it. And this was the central plank of President Yassir Arafat’s speech in Ramallah last night as broacast by the Palestineian Broadcasting Corporation and Palestinian Television. And Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nabil Amr asserted that portions of President

Arafat’s speeches were misunderstood and mistranslated:
The Knesset is expected to discuss the redeploynment in the West Bank and to pass it by a large majority. Israel is expected to begin release of prisoners and the first part of the redeployment this week.

Return to Main Narrator:
The Israeli media are distributing an unauthorized version of President Arafat’s speech given before the Fatah’s Jerusalem branch in Ramallah. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nabil Amr declared the following on this point: ‘This portion of the speech was misunderstood and mistranslated. The official position o His Excellency President Arafat is the version that was distributed by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation and the Palestinian Television as well as the Palestinian News Service –WAFA (Wikalat al-Anba al-Ffilistiniyya)–.’ Minister Amr said “This position stresses the commitment of the PNA, the PLO and the Palestinian Arab people to the choice of peace as a strategic choice from which there is no turning back. Second, the commitment of the PNA and the PLO to the agreements made with the Israeli side, especially the Wye River Agreement, and the readiness of the PLO and the Palestinian National Authority to meet their obligations under that agreement. Third, the PNA is the only authority opn Palestinian soil, and it will not allow to anyone to interfere with its objectives and the Palestinian dream.’ And Parliamentary Minister Nabil Amr asserted that the speech was the central plank of Palestinian oficial policy. And what President Arafat declared in his historic speech on the occasion of independence (a separate speech earlier in Nablus– MW) that the Palestinian leadership had chosen peace as a strategic choice… to try to realize peace for the Palestinian people. (reiterates parts of the Independence anniversary speech where Arafat talks about building the state inch by inch, building stability and mutual understanding among the peoples of the region etc).

(These comments of Amr are reference to the “threat of the rifles” which was shown on Israeli television which apparently embarrassed the PA).

(The Radio then played a crudely edited version of the Arafat speech in Ramallah without the rifles remark).

Dr Saeb Erikat met with Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh in the presence of US mediator Dennis Ross.

Erikat interview (partial):
We discussed the situation in Abu Ghneim and demanded that they stop building and obey the Wye River Agreement… (goes on to expect prisoner release and first redeployment and airport opening this week)

8 a.m. —
Headlines (Youssef al-Qazaz):
Palestine joins the Islamic world with central celebrations of Mihraj in Al Aqsa/ Mufti calls for Arab world to liberate Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa Mosque/ Arafat and Amr Moussa have telephone discussion/ Nabil Amr says that PA has made strategic decision for peace from which there is no turning back, and that a portion of President Arafat’s speech before Fatah’s Jerusalem branch was misunderstood and mistranslated.

Details:
Palestine joins the Arab and Muslim peoples in celebrating the Mihraj–a sign that occupied Jerusalem is sacred Arab Muslim ground/Mufti Ikrema Al-Sabry calls for continuing struggle to ffree Jerusalem from Israeli occupation, and he warned the Israelis from any interference (with the celebrations)/ Minister of Religious Affairs Youssef Jumaa Salamah calls on Muslims to join Palestinians in resisting Israeli attacks in Jerusalem…/ Sheikh Suleiman al-Sharaf’s message (at Khalil al-Wazir Center in Gaza yesterday) that Palestinian people is one people under one leadership (message to Hamas)/

9 a.m. —
Palestine joins the celeb/ Central celeb in Aqsa/ Al-Sabri calls for the liberation of Jerusalwm and al-Aqsa from the Israeli occupation/ repeat of Amr’s remarks concerning Arafat’s remarks.

MidEast Peace Facilitation Act

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Title IV of Public Law 104-99 or the Middle East Peace Facilitation Act, passed by the US Congress on February 12, 1996 stipulates that:

“It is the sense of Congress… the PLO… must do far more to demonstrate an irrevocable denunciation of terrorism… and in particular it must:

  1. submit to the Palestine National Council for formal approval the necessary changes to those articles of the Palestinain National Covenant which call for Israel’s destruction
  2. make greater efforts to preempt acts of terror…
  3. —
  4. cease all anti-Israel rhetoric…
  5. confiscate all unlicensed weapons…”

Can the Arabs Ever Use Their Oil Power Weapon Again?

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

The focus of the industrial West has, for many years, been drawn to the oil-bearing nations of the Middle East because they needed oil. As a repository of developed and yet to be developed fields, reserves of precious crude in the Middle East were an irresistible magnet.

The point men were the oil companies who represented industrial and government interests. Nations contested with each other for oil leases and oil contracts as if there were no other oil deposits on the planet. But, something has happened to change that status. There were international interests who wanted Middle East oil prices driven up so they could raise local prices to a similar level in their own countries. And weapons’ manufacturers wanted prices to rise so the Arab countries could use there new wealth to buy their goods. Henry Kissinger, then Sec. of State, was particularly anxious for the Shah of Iran to be able to afford generous purchases of weapons in quantities sufficient for Iran to serve as America’s guardian and policeman over the Gulf States.

Recall the embargo of 1973, when the Arab countries refused to ship oil to the West? This required assistance from the multi-national oil companies who agreed not to deliver crude oil to America, Europe, Japan. Their trick worked and the prices per barrel skyrocketed from $2.50 per barrel to $10 and then even up to $40 on the spot market as the bidding grew wild. Overnight the Arabs became super rich and the oil companies enjoyed astronomical price increases to their markets.

The profits to the oil nations were enormous which spurred them into a buying spree never before seen in these desert countries. Weapons especially were purchased in such volume that US and European arms manufacturers made fortunes, as did banks, shipping, and industrial building contractors like Bechtel. Money flowed like water via the international exchange medium of black gold. The West had its collective lips firmly affixed to the behind of the Arab nations’ dictators. Oil was King and its users became its vassals. Nothing the Arabs demanded was withheld by the West.

But, something was quietly happening in parallel to this flood of this high-priced commodity.

Other countries around the globe envied the easy money that the Arabs were taking from the global economy. They began exploring in earnest their own oil-bearing resources which heretofore were not economical to develop. Sinking wells (many were dry) and running pipe over land to ports (yet to be built) was very expensive. However, with the price of oil at the levels to which the Arab nations had driven it, economics warranted going into debt and this they did.

Slowly, small and even some large fields came on stream. It started with small trickling fingers of oil which began to make it to market. At first the volume was too small to effect the market price. But, soon those small fields were expanded and new fields were discovered, drilled and piped. Those trickling streams grew and started to converge into a mighty river, pouring into a virtual global sea of crude. This resulted in a glut now and still growing.

The Middle Eastern oil potentates tried using their cartel called OPEC (with the assistance of the multi-nationals) to coordinate and pump less in order to keep their prices and profits up to support their now very expensive lifestyles. They had created such massive debts by buying and building infrastructure they mostly didn’t need, they could barely keep up the payments. In fact, Saudi Arabia has reportedly just borrowed $5 billion from a neighboring oil nation as it experienced a short fall in liquidity. Other breaking reports speak of these oil nations negotiating to re-schedule their debts to weapons’ manufacturers – while canceling orders not yet delivered. This has panicked the weapons’ manufacturers who based much of their profits on the income The Decline of Arab Oil Power Pg. 2 expected from prior and new sales.

On the global level, all those nations who borrowed heavily to get in on the Black Gold bonanza now had to pay principal and interest to their creditors. They could not stop or slow pumping. They even had to pump more than was wise as the price per barrel fell ever downward.

Recently, at a symposium held by the prestigious think tank, AEI. American Enterprise Institute, there was a startling revelation by Paul Michael Wihbey, an expert on Mid East oil. He said that the center of gravity of oil politics had shifted. He described the dramatic shift away from the Middle East as the primary source of oil.1

Today, the South Atlantic region supplies between 45% and 48% of oil imported to America. Combined with imports from Canada, the North Sea, South America (Venezuela and Mexico), Western East Africa (Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and the Congo) total non-Persian Gulf oil represents 81.2% of oil imported by the United States. During the Gulf War (1990-91) 27.8% of American oil came from the Persian Gulf. Today, it has dropped to 18.2% and continues to decline.2

Concurrently, more new oil is coming on stream, while the Arab oil states are looking desperately at a now vigorously competitive market. The oil companies have so far successfully manipulated market prices despite the glut so their refined products like gasoline will continue getting high prices at the pump.

Therefore, while the Middle East continues to pump for their necessary cash flow, most of the world’s oil is now coming from all those new fields which their inflated prices made economical to develop. Many contractors and end product users of Middle East oil will not be sorry to see the stick removed from the Arab hand. During the era when the Arab nations boycotted Israel, all corporations and nations had to genuflect to Arab wishes with respect to Not doing business with Israel. While not necessarily pro-Israel, these nations and their companies chaffed under the unreasonable dictates of Arab kings, dictators and even free-wheeling terrorist nations and groups who demanded and received protection money for Not attacking the oil flow.

What then does this decline in Arab oil power mean for Israel?

First, the nations and corporations will not be so eager to attack Israel on all issue while defending Arab reasons. This will not happen quickly since there are operating institutions whose policy is to continue appeasing Arab nations while concurrently undermining Israel. Three such institutions are the US State Department, the EU (European Union), and the United Nations who often collaborate in undercutting Israel whenever possible. They’ve got the habit and, even when the world’s paradigm reverses, they’re not smart enough or eager to switch gears fast enough. Such institutions are so filled with their own hubris that they will not give up their prerogatives so easily when they have an in-bred base of anti-Semitism driving their policies. This demonstrated anti-Jewish bias fit very well with the Islamic driven hostility the Arabs demonstrated against the Jews since centuries before the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

Along with the shifting centers of energy supplies, Mr. Wihbey also demonstrated how the lucrative markets have shifted from the Arab/Muslim countries to the eastern Mediterranean countries of Israel and possibly Turkey. Now, since Israel is the major high tech market growing in the region, major corporations are placing themselves in that market to buy and sell. Because her technological base is growing at such a fast pace, Israel is often called the “second Silicon Valley”. Many nations and companies have taken the opportunity to sub-contract their technological development in Israel. This growth will continue providing the Arab nations in rage and frustration over their own decline don’t start a super-war with all their Western-gotten weapons.

1 “US Strategic & Economic Interests in the Region Are Changing?” Paul Michael Wihbey, Institute for Advanced Strategic & Policy Studies at Symposium: “Rethinking the Middle East” AEI: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research October 14, 1998″

2 “Washington Insight” by Harun Kazaz, Turkish Daily News

Bombs in Machaneh Yehudah and American Assuarances

By
David Bedein
-

The car bomb that exploded in Jerusalem’s bustling Machane Yehudah marketplace on Friday morning found me in the city of Hebron, now under the rule of the Palestine Authority, only an hour south of Jerusalem, where I was standing with a Palestinian journalist colleague, covering a military parade of the Islamic Hamas movement.

We watched masked Arabs, brandishing automatic weapons, marched though on the streets of downtown Hebron, in a demonstration that was licensed by the Palestine Authority, with weapons that were licensed by the Palestine Authority since May, 1995.

The Hamas demonstrators chanted “death to the Jews”. “liberate Jerusalem”, and “We shall return our lands from 1948”, “down with Zionism”. These are the slogans that you would expect. They also burned American and Israeli flags. All under the watchful eyes of the Palestinian police.

Yet only two weeks ago, I covered the Wye plantation talks, where the Palestine Authority committed itself to disarming the weapons of Hamas and other groups opposed to the peace process.

Unless these guns paraded by Hamas were manufactured by Mattel or Hasboro, it would seem that these weapons were supposed to have confiscated by Arafat’s police.

Returning to Jerusalem, I visited the media lab of Palestine Media Watch, a professional media office that follows the official Palestinian media.

I was curious to see how the car bomb in Machaneh Yehudah was being reported on official Palestine Authority Television, especially since the US government had recently issued stinging criticism of what the American consulate in Jerusalem had described to the Palestine Report, a local Palestinian weekly, as “a network of incitement that was harming the peace process”.

While I waited to hear the Palestine Authority TV news, Official Palestinian TV featured an interview with Imjad Fallouji, the elected leader of Hamas in Gaza, the Palestinian minister of communications, and a member of Arafat’s inner cabinet. Imjad Fallouiji was not asked about Hamas military parades or about Hamas car bombs. What the Palestine Authority TV announcer did ask Fallouji was for him to explain the implications of “970”, the new area code that the Palestine Authority telephone system received this week at the International Communications conference that was recently held in Minneapolis.

When the PBC newsreel finally came on the air, the announcer mentioned the “explosions” that took place in the Machane Yehudah marketplace, mentioning that terrorists indeed had carried out the act, with no sound of regret, yet with a perfunctory condemnation of the attack, as the Palestinian Minister of Justice Freich Abu Medein simply saying that the “attack does not serve Palestinian interests”, yet without any specific criticism of any particular Palestinian group.

I recalled that during the Wye summit, an Arab threw a grenade at a bus in Beersheva, resulting in the Palestine Authority radio spokesman also saying that “the attack does not serve Palestinian interests”… yet blaming Israeli nationalists for throwing the grenade.

In today’s newscast, however, the Palestine Authority TV announcer went on to declare that the real crime was the continuing Israeli policy of adding Jewish homes in an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, Ras Al Amud, an area that lies contiguous to one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Israel, on the hill known as the Mount of Olives.

Calling the Palestine Authority office in Ramallah, I asked the PA spokesman if there was any plan to disarm the Hamas marchers whom I had watched that morning.

The PA spokesman was surprised by my question. “They weren’t firing their guns, were they?”

This reminds me of the statement made only a week ago by Arafat’s aide, Saeb Erakat, who assured Palestinians in an interview with an official newspaper of the Palestine Authority that all of the Hamas leaders who had been arrested during the widely publicized round-up of Hamas after an attack on an Israeli school bus the previous day would indeed be released, if they could prove that they had no direct involvement in the attack on the bus.

At the end of my Friday work day at the press center, I received another call.

An American Israeli citizen of Jerusalem, Joyce Boim, the mother of a teenage boy, David, who was gunned down by a young Palestinian Hamas member, Amjad Hanawi, back in May, 1996, called to inform me that the Israeli government has issued an official statement that the Palestine Authority has released Amjad Hanawi, despite the fact that Hanawi was convicted of her son’s murder in a Palestinian court back in February, after Joyce had lobbied members of Congress to demand that her son’s killer be brought to justice.

After President Clinton made a personal call to Arafat, Amjad was indeed arrested.

I have requested a response from the American consulate press spokesman for the past two months to the rumor that Amjad Hanawi was set free by the Palestine Authority. I have received only one response from the American consulate spokesman: “To the best of our knowledge. Amjad Hanawi is in prison”. To the question as to whether the American consul or a representative of the American consulate has visited the Palestine Authority jail where Amjad is supposed to be in prison, the answer that I have received is: “no”. Joyce Boim has received the same answer.

At the Wye summit, an idea was mentioned that the US would judge as to whether the Palestine Authority was keeping its commitments on matters concerning the disarming of terror groups and the incarceration of terrorists.

In this regard, the US state department officially announced that, as far as the US was concerned, the Palestine Authority had fulfilled the security promises that Arafat had made to Israel and the US at the Wye River summit.

Yet the US knows full well that the PA allows the Hamas to operate openly and flaunt its weapons in Hebron and elsewhere in the Palestine Authority under its jurisdiction. The US knows full well that the PA arrests and releases convicted killers like Amjad Hanawi. And the US knows full well that the PA condemnations of killings are half-hearted, to say the least.

In less than one month, US President Clinton will arrive in Gaza, to address a gathering of the Palestine Authority, in which he is expected to attest to Palestinian compliance with Israel’s security needs.

How people in Israel will respond to President Clinton’s “Palestine Authority security assurances” remains unclear at this time.

Arafat Health Scare Puts Peace Process in Jeopardy

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, according to a report compiled by Israeli military intelligence. He is receiving treatment for symptoms of tremor and muscular rigidity but shows no sign of becoming incapacitated, it claims.

Palestinian officials have previously dismissed suggestions that Arafat’s health is declining, saying they are the result of a disinformation campaign by Israel to destabilise the Palestinian government. However, sources familiar with the report, drawn up by Amman, Israel’s military intelligence branch, describe it as “raw intelligence” from an extensive dossier on the medical and psychological profiles of prominent figures worldwide. The report emphasizes that “in spite of the symptoms, Arafat’s mental and psychological functions show no signs of deterioration”. It says it could be years before Parkinson’s, a progressive disease of the nervous system, renders him incapable of fulfilling his duties.

According to the report, Arafat, 68, is being treated with L-dopa, a drug used in Parkinson’s patients to counter weakness and tremor caused by deficiencies of a compound called dopamine that affects impulses between nerves and muscles. It also claims that Arafat is suffering from sclerosis – abnormal hardening – of the brain tissue.

The diagnosis will come as no surprise to those who have seen him at close quarters in recent months. In September he collapsed at an Arab League meeting in Cairo. He fainted at a session of the Palestinian legislative council last month and was taken to hospital. Those who have met Arafat in recent weeks say he sometimes has difficulty in speaking. His lower lip, hands and feet tremble involuntarily and his memory is said to lapse.

The intelligence report indicates that his handwriting has changed and his face has become frozen, a typical side effect of Parkinson’s. His gait and posture are said to have stiffened and his eyes are sometimes fixed on a point in the distance. The report concludes that he is in constant pain.

Arafat, however, has been written off many times before. In 1967 he narrowly escaped capture when Israeli troops occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the six-day war. In 1982, Israel’s attacks on Lebanon forced him to flee by ferry with a ragged band of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters to Tunis.

His luckiest escape came in 1992 when his plane was forced to make a crash-landing in the Libyan desert.

Aides to Arafat claim his obvious nervous disorders are the harmless result of a blood clot that developed after the accident. They say the frustration of dealing with an Israeli government he accuses of obstructing the Middle East peace process has also taken its toll on Arafat’s nerves.

Despite such pressures, he remains “as strong as an ox”, according to close advisers. While he no longer maintains a regime of 16-hour working days, Palestinian officials still wait all night outside his room for a brief meeting.

Their denials that Arafat is seriously ill have failed to half speculation among Middle Eastern analysts about who might succeed him. Mahmoud Abbas, the secretary-general of the PLO, appears a likely candidate.

However, most observers agree that Arafat’s death would undermine the Palestinian leadership. Without his authority, they say, overcoming Islamic militants and striking a peace deal with Israel would be much more difficult. Most dangerous of all could be a resurgence of support for Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist group, which has mounted a series of suicide bomb attacks in Israel.

Some Israeli hawks welcome the prospect of instability that would follow the Palestinian leader’s death. They believe any deterioration in his condition could provide an opportunity to ditch the Oslo peace accord he signed with Yitzhak Rabin, the former Israeli premier who was assassinated two years ago by a right-wing extremist.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has made no significant concessions. Many believe the death of Arafat would signal the end of the Middle East peace process.

Palestinian Reactions to the Wye River Memorandum III

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Revising the Charter and Security Issues

Part II, Section C, Paragraph 2, of the Wye River Memorandum, requires the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Central Council to reaffirm the January 22, 1998 letter from PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat to President Clinton concerning the nullification of the Palestinian National Charter provisions that are inconsistent with the letters exchanged between the PLO and the Government of Israel on 9/10 September 1993. The Memorandum further states that there will be a meeting, addressed by President Clinton, of the PNC, as well as the members of the Central Council, the Council, and the Palestinian Heads of Ministries to reaffirm their support for the peace process and the aforementioned decisions of the Executive Committee and the Central Council.

The Wye River Memorandum also requires Israeli and Palestinian cooperation in arresting terrorists and for the Palestinians to provide the Israelis with a list of present and former Palestinian police men, so that it can be determined if the size of the Palestinian police force is within the limits prescribed by the Oslo Accords.

The following are excerpts from the Palestinian media:

The Palestinian National Charter:

In a speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council [PLC] plenum. Chief Negotiator Saib ‘Areikat, said: “…the joint session of the PLO-Executive Committee, Palestinian National Council [PNC], Central Council and the Palestinian Legislative Council is merely for the purpose of listening to President Clinton’s speech. There will be no voting. It is [said] clearly in the Wye memorandum, and we have an American letter on that. Anything else that is said on that matter is Netanyahu’s business. We have nothing to do with it. The Palestinian side will not review the issue of the Palestinian National Charter yet again.

“We have two letters from the US that will be presented at the [right] time. One of the two deals with the National Charter; while the other deals with six points that relate in part to the implementation of the agreement, to mutual ties between the two peoples and to the bilateral committees.” ‘Areikat declined to elaborate on these letters.1

In an interview with a French news agency ‘Areikat said, “We have officially received two collateral letters from the American administration. Both are signed by Secretary of State Albright, including an American guarantee on the seven points in the agreement, which pertain to unilateral actions, security, the Palestinian National Charter, and to a timetable for implementation.”

Commenting on the issue of unilateral actions, ‘Areikat stressed that the American administration had made a commitment to halt any unilateral action that violated the status quo on the ground and might affect the final status negotiations. ‘Areikat said that the two letters confirmed that the Wye Security Memorandum was the basis upon which the security commitments of both sides would be established, and that the American administration was committed to its role as supervisor of the implementation by both sides.

In addition, the letters emphasized that the PNC is the body that should ratify the letter President Arafat sent to President Clinton earlier this year. In the letter to Clinton, Arafat mentioned the National Charter clauses that were amended in mid 1996. ‘Areikat said that the two letters from the United States stressed President Clinton’s confirmation to attend a large meeting of both PNC members and members of other Palestinian organs in support of the peace process and mutual ties between the two peoples – Americans and Palestinian.2

General-Secretary of the Presidium Taib ‘Abd Al-Rahim said that it had been agreed [with the Israelis] that the Palestinian Central Council, which is an intermediary between the PLO Executive Committee and the Palestinian National Council [PNC], was the body authorized to ratify the letter Arafat had given to President Clinton in reference to Palestinian National Charter clauses that had already been amended in the last plenum of the PNC. ‘Abd Al-Rahim added that a meeting comprising PNC members, Palestinian Legislative Council [PLC] members, Cabinet Ministers and national figures would be held. “There, Clinton will address them in support of the peace process. [The meeting] will not end with a vote, but with a round of applause. This is because the meeting is meant for applauding and stating that we support the letter Arafat had sent. We will say that the PNC had already dropped from the charter all the clauses that were in violation of the [Oslo] Accords.”3

Arresting Wanted Terrorists

Addressing the PLC plenum, Saib ‘Areikat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, said that the agreement compelled the Israeli side to take the necessary steps to prevent terrorism and crimes against the Palestinian people. He disclosed that the Palestinians have sent the Israeli government a list of Israeli terrorists, toward whom it takes a ‘revolving-door’ policy, and demanded that they be arrested.

‘Areikat said, “Netanyahu must realize that reciprocity is the foundation. There will be no foundation for security collaboration, if the Israeli Premier will continue on sparing terrorists, while ignoring the fact that seventy five percent of all Israelis support the agreement…”4

Reducing Palestinian Police Force

In an interview in the daily Al-Quds, Commander of the Palestinian Police Ghazi Jebali, said that the Israeli demands to reduce the number of Palestinian Police personnel posed “no problem [for him]. This can be overcome through reorganization of personnel; so that those stationed some place could be of service somewhere else. This problem can be overcome through a policy of transfers.”5

1 Ibid
2 Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 4, 1998.
3 Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 3, 1998.
4 Al-Ayyam, November 4, 1998.
5 Al-Quds, November 4, 1998.

Al-Ahram Weekly: For the First Time, Egypt Admits Sinking the Dakar

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Giving Chase to an “Enemy” Sub
by Galal Nassar
Al-Ahram Weekly 29th October – 4th November, 1998

Heading: A high military official confirmed in the presence of President Mubarak that the Egyptian navy was responsible for the 1968 sinking of the Israeli destroyer Dakar. [IMRA: The Dakar was a submarine.]

[IMRA COMMENT: This story does not relate how the Dakar was sunk. Was it struck by Egyptian fire or did it break up when diving in an unsafe area when under Egyptian pursuit? More importantly, why did Egypt delay over 30 years before taking credit for being “responsible for the sinking”, especially since Egypt has cooperated in searching for the Dakar?]

Excerpts:

In a show of military might, 74 naval pieces teamed… to stage a naval exercise off the coast of Alexandria. The high point of the exercise, which was watched by President Hosni Mubarak as part of the celebrations marking the silver jubilee of the October 1973 War, was the chase and capture of an “enemy” submarine that was approaching the Alexandria coastline.

In the course of the exercise… Vice Admiral Mohamed El-Wleili, commander of naval training, became the first official to confirm that the Egyptian navy was responsible for the sinking of the Israeli destroyer Dakar [IMRA: the Dakar was a submarine] on 25th January 1968. Several retired officers had said so in the past, but this was the first time it was officially confirmed by an active commander. The disappearance of the Dakar, which was sailing from Britain to Israel [IMRA: on the delivery trip and probably not combat conditioned] off the coast of Alexandria has always been a mystery.

In what could be a message to certain regional powers that seek to acquire modern offensive submarines, the naval exercise featured a search operation for a submarine that sought to approach and attack the Alexandria naval base. American-made Perry and Knox-class frigates, sub-chasers and SH-2G helicopters gave chase to the submarine. The helicopters, which had not been displayed in public before, are equipped with sonar detectors and are armed with anti-submarine missiles.

On the Seventh Day
by Khaled Amayreh
Al-Ahram Weekly 29th October – 4th November, 1998

Quote from Text: “The agreement symbolizes the final downfall of the Zionist ideology which views the West Bank as part of Biblical Israel.”

Excerpts:

Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip reacted to last Friday’s Wye Plantation agreement with ambivalence and scepticism, preferring to wait and see how, and if, the agreement would be implemented on the ground.

On the one hand, Palestinians welcomed the promised redeployment of the Israeli army from 10 per cent of West Bank territory in addition to the partial and largely disingenuous redeployment from an additional three per cent, slated to become a “nature reserve”.

On the other hand, the bulk of Palestinians have been disheartened by the stringent conditions attached to the agreement, particularly with regards to security, and also by the uncertainty hanging over a third redeployment.

Supporters of the deal argued that the Palestinians succeeded for the first time ever in regaining Palestinian land from a Likud-led government that embraces the ideology of “Eretz Yisrael”.

“The agreement symbolises the final downfall of the Zionist ideology which views the West Bank as part of historical, Biblical Israel,” said Al-Tayeb Abdel-Rehim, an aide of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. [IMRA: But even non-Zionists know that the West Bank was “part of historical biblical Israel”.]

“We did not get all we wanted,” he said, but added in a self-reassuring tone that “this is an interim agreement…”.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a former Minister of Higher Education, warned against infringing on civil liberties, especially freedom of the press and expression in the name of fulfilling commitments.

Another Palestinian councillor, Hosam Khader… a long-time critic of Arafat’s administration, voiced anxiety over the role given to the American Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] in overseeing Palestinian security compliance.

“I’m afraid our entire security apparatus will become an extra-territorial department of the CIA,” said Khader. As expected, Hamas castigated the agreement, saying it amounted to total surrender. Sheikh Nayef Rajoub, Hamas spokesman in the Hebron area, described the accord as a “security pact between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” saying the “Israelis, Americans and the PA are all after Hamas.”

Netanyahu said a special cabinet session, previously scheduled for today, would not be held pending Palestinian compliance. “As far as we are concerned, and for all practical purposes, we will not be able to begin implementing our part of the agreement until the Palestinians implement their part,” he said.

Netanyahu also criticised statements attributed to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Ereikat in which he was quoted as saying the agreement stipulated a meeting of the PLO Central Council, rather than the Palestinian National Council [PNC], to strike off anti-Israel provisions from the PLO’s charter.

“We will not settle for anything less than a meeting of the PNC,” Netanyahu said.

His statement drew an angry reaction from Palestinian negotiator Hassan Asfour. “It seems that once again Netanyahu is going to succumb to political blackmail by the settlers and extremists. It shows that Netanyahu has unwillingly signed the agreement under pressure from the American president.”

The opposite interpretations of key parts of the agreement — security and the Palestinian charter — indicate that implementation is bound to face major hurdles.

Meanwhile, Palestinian police arrested a Palestinian on suspicion of killing a Jewish settler on Monday. Police sources in Hebron said the Palestinian, Jamil Khalifeh, confessed to having killed the settler.

Khalifeh was apparently angered by the agreement and acted on his own initiative. His arrest demonstrates PA resolve to combat violence and deny Israel any pretexts for not honouring its commitments. [IMRA comment: Better, it demonstrates the writers ingenuity in finding reasons for the killing of Jews.]

Prudish Reception
by Nevine Khalil
Al-Ahram Weekly 29th October – 4th November, 1998

Heading: Cairo received the Middle East breakthrough cautiously, subscribing to a wait-and-see approach and putting the emphasis on honest implementation.

Excerpts:

Egypt cautioned that the Wye Memorandum… will only prove successful if it is adhered to “honestly” by both parties, especially the Israelis. [IMRA: Not equally the Palestinians?] During separate telephone conversations with President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu after the signing ceremony, President Hosni Mubarak stressed the necessity of “commitment to the new agreement” in order for regional peace to make progress.

Egyptian officials were briefed by the Palestinian negotiators on a daily basis, according to Mubarak. “We gave them advice and helped them overcome the obstacles,”… He asserted that Egypt’s role in the peace process was to “propel, not obstruct, negotiations”.

Mubarak said that Cairo “has no objection” to the Wye Memorandum “because the Palestinians have accepted the agreement out of conviction,” adding that Egypt will “follow the implementation phase closely”.

Mubarak believed that the Israeli leadership is satisfied with the agreement, but expressed hope that Netanyahu’s government will “closely adhere to the articles of the agreement.”

Mubarak stressed that “good will” was necessary for the peace process to “regain its energy”, and said that the agreement “will assist in rebuilding the required confidence between the parties on all tracks.”

“If there is good will, then implementation will be simple,” Mubarak told a gathering of army officers in Suez… “And excuses should not be made on the pretext of security concerns.” The president said that Netanyahu had failed to live up to past peace deals. Of the six points in the 1997 Hebron Accord, Mubarak said, “only two were implemented while the remaining four were ignored.” [IMRA: The Palestinians kept none of their obligations.]

Marble at a Price
by Sherine Nasr
Al-Ahram Weekly 15th – 22nd October, 1998

Heading:… curious goings-on in a cave near Beni Suef

Quote from Text: “these accidents are not reported to the police and no legal or police action is taken”

“Sometimes the dynamite explodes before the worker has taken shelter and then we have a tragedy…”

Excerpts:

One worker was killed and another seriously injured last month while using dynamite to blast marble at the Snour cave, 60 kilometres from the town of Beni Suef in central Egypt. The death of Rabie Tohami Abdel-Tawwab may yet not be the last in the cave. “Since 1990, 15 workers have been killed and 73 others crippled as a result of the use of explosives,” said Emad Abu Zeid, a member of the local (municipal) council of Beni Suef.

Judging by Awad’s account, working conditions at the cave are primitive indeed. “A worker descends into the cave to a depth of 50 or 60 metres. He fixes the dynamite in various locations, lights the fuse and then makes a dash for it, hiding behind the farthest and largest boulder he can find,” said Awad. “Sometimes the dynamite explodes before the worker has taken shelter and then we have a tragedy on our hands.”

Moreover, rocks which may have become dislodged as a result of successive explosions sometimes fall on workers without warning, causing even more harm.

According to Karam Saber of the Land Centre for Human Rights, these accidents are not reported to the police and no legal or police action is taken. “The workers are recruited from nearby villages and each is paid LE10 a day. Certainly, they are not insured medically and when something goes wrong, they are not compensated,” Saber said.

The use of explosives is not only dangerous to workers but to nature as well. The Snour cave is classified as a nature reserve and a 1983 law penalises any action that affects such a reserve.

Translations by Dr. Joseph Lerner,
Co-Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
P.O.BOX 982 Kfar Sava
Tel: (+972-9) 760-4719
Fax: (+972-9) 741-1645
imra@netvision.net.il

Brinkmanship on a Lame Duck Plantation

By
David Bedein
-

I spent the good part of a week covering the middle east talks at the Wye Plantation, on the Eastern shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, USA, in an area that is best known for duck hunting.

Indeed, in October of each year, duck hunters and environmentalists usually face off in acrimonious confrontations.

This year, duck wars gave way to three lame ducks who came to the hunt with Israel – a US president under the threat of impeachment, an Arafat who has suffered a series of neurological sezures, and a King Hussein who is the last stages of a valiant fight against Lymphatic cancer.

The advisors to Israel Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu tell me that he has agreed to a deal with the leaders of the US, Jordan and the nascent Palestine Authority on the assumption that their leaders will not and cannot deliver or fulfill the terms of any such deal.

The rationale of the people around Netanyahu for this new version of Bibi brinkmanship has it that the Israeli Prime Minister has gone the extra mile to provide the Palestine Authority with the dignity that it sought, so that it can run a decent society for its own people.

That is because the consensus of Israeli society in the late 1990’s is to make maganimous offers of territory and economic assistance so that Palestinian Arabs will no longer represent a threat to the people or to the state of Israel.

The reciprical demands of the Israeli government seem to most logical and reasonable – that the Palestinians cancel their declaration of war against the state of Israel as embodied in the PLO charter that Arafat has advocated for more than thirty years, and that the Palestine Authority stop providing safe havens for Arabs who will murder Jews and then take asylum inside the territory under Palestinian control.

Netanyahu’s advisors simply assume that Arafat and the Palestine Authority will not fulfill these two basic requests.

They assume that Arafat and his Palestine National Council will continue to communicate a language of war in Arabic to their own people, while talking a language of peace to the western media.

They assume that the new Palestinian schools and Palestinian media will continue to inculcate the PLO covenant to a new generation of Palestinian youngsters.

They assume that killers of Jews wil continue to be acclaimed as heroes in the Palestinian community, and they assume that Hamas and other terror groups will continue to operate with a relatively free hand in the areas under the control of the Palestine Authority.

They assume that the Palestine Authority will continue to encourage the three million residents of United Nations refugee camps to assert their right to return to the homes and villages that they left in 1948, even if those villages no longer exist.

Bibi’s advisors assume that Netanyahu will be able to display the PA unwillingness and/or inability to reach an agreement with Israel.

Yet what Netanyahu’s advisors have not counted on is that the public relations apparatus of the Palestine Authority is well placed, so that…

if the Palestine Authority does not convene the Palestine National Council,
if the PA does not change the message in its schools and its media,
if the PA continues to provide safe havens for killers,
if the PA continues to advocate the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees to reclaim the rest of Palestine,
if the PA continues to allow terrorists to operate within its midst…

The PA knows that it can count on world opinion, international media and, yes, Jewish communities around the world and the Israeli government’s opposition to downplay Palestinian violations.

That is because Palestinian Arabs have positioned themselves in the world as the underdog in the middle east conflict.

Tragically, the current Israeli government has no public relations apparatus in place to cope with such a “PR onslaught” in the near future.

That means that the PR offensive for Israel in the world public opinion will rest on private initiative.

Ex-Weapons Inspector Ritter: Don’t Count on Us Monitoring of Wye

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

Ritter is a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.

Question: I understand you have some concerns regarding the implementation of the Wye accord?

Ritter: Yes, indeed. The accord is to be monitored by the CIA, but the real arbiter will be the State Department, and this is a cause for great worry. The entire effort has been politicized – this is the Clinton administration’s own Camp David, and they really cannot afford to let it fail. Therefore they cannot be counted upon to be honest brokers.

Question: In what way do you mean dishonest?

Ritter: Both because the administration wants the accord to work and because they are trying to court the moderate Arab countries, they are more than likely to give the Palestinians slack. For example, if they receive information from the CIA saying the Palestinians are not complying with the agreement, they will simply overlook it. The temptation to gloss over things will be too strong to ignore, because to hold the Palestinians strictly accountable would endanger the whole process.

Question: What has lead you to these conclusions?

Ritter: During my time with UNSCOM, it became very clear to me that Iraq was not being held accountable, and this is an unsettling precedent. The US makes decisions based on politics, not on honesty, and this leads to compromises and concessions. I had a bad experience in Iraq which taught me the US can say one thing, and do another. In addition, I have noted a cooling towards Israel on the part of the State Department, coupled with an unrealistic expectation that Arafat can deliver. It is very important for the US that Arafat not be undermined, and if this means you have to turn a blind eye to an effective crackdown on Hamas, so be it.

Question: Israel has its own ways of monitoring what is going on, and Netanyahu is not one to allow himself to be bamboozled…

Ritter: True, but the Israelis will be faced with so much pressure from the US and the international community that it will be near impossible to say “Wait, the US not being a good monitor.”

Update on Iraq: The US Suddenly Wakes Up?

By
​Center for Near East Policy Research
-

An Israeli reader reported that at the Likud Central Committee meeting on the Wye accord, some members criticized the Gov’t for relying on the US to enforce Palestinian compliance with the provisions on fighting terrorism, citing the US failure to support weapons inspections in Iraq. Itzhak Mordechai, the defense minister, responded by saying, “America led the attack against Iraq.” The reader suggested that “Mordechai is not the brightest.”

Indeed, The Jerusalem Post, Oct 20, reported that David Ivry, a senior adviser to the Israel Defense Minister, warned in an Oct 19 BIPAC [Britain Israeli Public Affairs Center] conference that “While attention and resources [of the West] are focused on economic and social issues, there has been a general decline in budgetary commitments to defense and security issues…. Democratic states are attempting to compensate for their reduced deterrence with international treaties…. ‘Such thinking ignores the failure of the treaties and focuses on what is seen as accomplishments.’… Ivry also warned that while the US ‘is not reacting like it did in the past,’ ballistic missiles are proliferating among non-democratic states, coupled with a race to acquire weapons of mass destruction, particularly chemical and biological weapons. ‘Ignoring this,’ he said, ‘could prove costly,’ adding that ‘we face especially serious consequences’ as a result of the failure of the UNSCOM inspections in Iraq.”

The Washington Times, Oct 28, in a squib entitled “Saddam’s Demise”, reported, “Longtime Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein isn’t long for this world, says one of this nation’s top spies. John Gannon, chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council, told a St. Louis audience earlier this month, ‘We expect Iraq’s Saddam to be gone by 2010.’ Mindful that earlier predictions on this score have failed to materialize, Mr. Gannon conceded that his assessment is ‘based as much on pure speculation on our past as informed analysis.'”

The Iraqi statement suspending UNSCOM monitoring, issued Sat by the RCC/Ba’th Party leadership, said, “Iraq has decided to stop all forms of cooperation with UNSCOM and its chairman and to stop all its activities inside Iraq, including monitoring, as from today.” But a few hours later, it was reported that Iraq would allow UNSCOM cameras and sensors to continue functioning. However, late that evening, Iraq’s UN ambassador, Nizar Hamdoon, said that inspectors would have no access to cameras or monitoring installations.

On Sunday, November 1, the BBC reported that Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan confirmed Iraq’s position with “three noes.” Ramadan said, “There will be no co-operation, no inspections, and no monitoring by the US-Zionist spy commission until Iraq’s demands are met.” The BBC said “the international community now effectively has no eyes or ears in Iraq.”

ABC Evening News, yesterday, characterized the Clinton administration’s response, “It’s an old script.” On Sat, UPI, Oct 31, reported that NSC Adviser Sandy Berger, Sec State Madeleine Albright, CIA Director George Tenet, and other top officials met for two hours over Iraq.

Clinton was in Virginia golfing and Berger briefed him afterwards. NSC spokesman, David Leavy, said, “We are reviewing all options with the president and all options remain on the table… This is an affront to the UN and the international community.”

Also, on Sat, Sec Def William Cohen and the JCS chairman, who were about to begin a week-long Asian tour, turned around during a refueling stop on Wake Island and returned to Wash DC. On Sun, Cohen joined the national security team in another two hour meeting. AP, Nov 1, in a story entitled “Immediate Action Vs. Iraq Unlikely,” reported that “the Clinton administration appeared ready to let the Security Council take the lead, and there seemed little chance of an immediate military response…. No additional US forces were being moved to the Persian Gulf region, and US forces had not been placed on alert, said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Cooper.”

AP also reported that on Sun, November 1,Clinton, out campaigning for Tuesday’s elections, gave an interview to American Urban Radio Network, in which he said, “I personally am very pleased that the UN Security Council, including some people I thought had been a little tolerant with [Saddam] in the past, strongly condemned what he did.”

Iraq is not much impressed. Asked by Qatar’s Al-Jazirah Space Channel, “Does Baghdad not fear that Washington will use this Iraqi stand as a pretext to make a move that will not be in the interest of Iraq?” Nizar Hamdoon replied, “I do not believe there is anything worse than our current situation and than the very negative impact of the continued economic sanctions on the Iraqi people. More than 6,000 children die each month as a result of the sanctions. And this is documented in UNICEF reports. What could be worse?” He was then asked, “It seems, however, that Washington is leaning toward escalation. The National Security Council described the Iraqi decision as very serious. What are the possibilities of the US dealing a military blow to Iraq?” Hamdoon replied, “This kind of statement is not new. We heard it in the past. Making statements is one thing and implementing them is another.

Finally, as the latest stage of the confrontation began, yesterday Iraq opened the biggest int’l trade fair it has held since the Gulf war’s end. As Reuters, Nov 1, reported, trade, industry, and economic ministers from Iran, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, and Syria attended the opening, while firms from Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia participated for the first time. AP reported that France shipped in the latest-model Peugeot sedans.

I. Taha Yassin Ramadan’s Three Noes
BBC, Nov 1, 1998

Iraq Says No, No, No; Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan: No Co-operation

Iraq has confirmed that it will not reverse its decision to stop co-operating with the UN disarmament team. Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said: “There will be no co-operation, no inspections and no monitoring [of Iraqi sites] by the US-Zionist spy commission until Iraq’s demands are met.”

He reiterated Iraq’s demands for a lifting of the embargo imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

“We will not reverse our decision but we will maintain it until the embargo is lifted,” Mr Ramadan said.

The BBC’s correspondent in Baghdad, Richard Downes says the sanctions, which have strangled the Iraqi economy, are a source of deep anger in Baghdad and it is the country’s number one priority to get rid of them. Iraq has also demanded the restructuring of the UN Special Commission for disarmament, and that its chairman, Richard Butler is sacked.

Baghdad has long been accusing Mr Butler of working on behalf of the United States to prolong the embargo.

The sanctions cannot be lifted until the Special Commission (Unscom) certifies that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq insists it has done so, but the commission says Baghdad continues to hide information on weapons, especially those with biological and chemical agents.

The Security Council has unanimously condemned the decision and demanded that it be reversed “immediately and unconditionally”.

But on Sunday the Unscom team stayed in its compound. Our correspondent says that the international community now effectively has no eyes or ears in Iraq. Only a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in charge of the nuclear folder in Iraq’s disarmament, has been allowed to carry on working.

But it is only being allowed to monitor previously inspected sites. The Iraqis have been refusing to allow either Unscom or the IAEA to carry out spot inspections in the country since early August.

Correspondents say the latest move is an escalation in the continuing dispute over inspections with Iraq believing there is no stomach in the international community for a major confrontation.

II. Nizar Hamdoon, the US Won’t Do Anything
Doha Qatar al-Jazirah Space Channel, Television in Arabic
0635 GMT 1 Nov 98

[Telephone interview with Nizar Hamdun, Iraq’s permanent representative at the United Nations, in New York “conducted a short while ago” by ‘Abd-al-Samad Nasir in the studio; recorded] [FBIS Translated Text] [Nasir] What are the motives behind Iraq’s decision to end cooperation with UN inspectors at this time in particular?

[Hamdun] Iraq’s decision was not taken in a hasty way. It took us several weeks since the idea of comprehensive revision emerged. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq ‘Aziz led a large delegation to New York to hold lengthy talks with the Security Council and the UN secretary general. After realizing that all these attempts failed to give Iraq guarantees that these revisions would be fair and just, Iraq took its recent decision not to deal with the UN Special Commission.

[Nasir] What does Iraq hope to achieve through this decision?

[Hamdun] We hope that the entire world will understand the causes behind this Iraqi decision. The decision was taken after long bitter years of unfair treatment by UNSCOM and the United States with its anti-Iraq policy behind it.

[Nasir] Does Baghdad not fear that Washington will use this Iraqi stand as a pretext to make a move that will not be in the interest of Iraq?

[Hamdun] I do not believe there is anything worse than our current situation and than the very negative impact of the continued economic sanctions on the Iraqi people. More than 6,000 children die each month as a result of the sanctions. And this is documented in UNICEF reports. What could be worse?

[Nasir] It seems, however, that Washington is leaning toward escalation. The National Security Council described the Iraqi decision as very serious. What are the possibilities of dealing a US military blow to Iraq?

[Hamdun] This kind of statement is not new. We heard it in the past. Making statements is one thing and implementing them is another thing. I do not believe that the use of military force against Iraq will benefit the United States. Also, the situation in the region will not allow the United States to go that far.

[Nasir] How do you assess the stands of China, Russia, and France, which supported the Security Council stand? Do you believe that Baghdad has lost some of its allies?

[Hamdun] I do not believe so. These countries are fully aware of the Iraqi concerns. They might have been forced, under certain balances, to agree with the United States on issuing the Security Council resolution. These international parties understand well the situation and the Iraqi stand vis-a-vis UNSCOM.

[Nasir] How do you view the future relationship between Baghdad and the United Nations?

[Hamdun] The relationship between Iraq and the United Nations is one thing and the relationship between Iraq and UNSCOM is something else. I do not believe that the relationship between Iraq and the UNSCOM will be as good as it was over the past seven and a half years. Iraq has reached a point where it cannot continue with the same dealings, which does not give Iraq any hope to lift the sanctions. If there will be no lifting of sanctions why should Iraq bear all these problems and concerns with UNSCOM?

[Nasir] What is Iraq’s other alternative then?

[Hamdun] I believe that the economic sanctions themselves will start to erode in terms of their impact. It seems that the United States is not willing to move toward taking any steps that would lead to a partial or complete lifting of the sanctions. This is what the US delegation announced at the Security Council yesterday and this, perhaps, was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

[Description of source: Independent Television station financed by the Qatari Government]

III. Iraq Hosts Largest Trade Fair Since Gulf War
AP, 1st November, 1998

Baghdad, Iraq (AP) — France shipped in the latest-model Peugeot sedans.

The Palestinians brought handmade inlaid boxes from Bethlehem. Iranians came with refrigerators and pharmaceuticals.

They’re among 30 countries taking part in the Baghdad International Fair that opened Sunday, billed as the largest in Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The turnout “shows the increasing desire of companies to establish relations with Iraq,” the fair’s director, Fawzi Hussein al-Dahur, told the official Iraqi News Agency.

The 10-day fair opened a day after Iraq took a new stand against U.N. weapons inspections, announcing it was halting the work of weapons monitors until the Security Council moves toward lifting 8-year-old trade sanctions against the country.

As the finishing touches were being put on the pavilions Saturday, participants acknowledged they saw only limited trade opportunities while the U.N. sanctions remain in place.

“Iraq is a good potential market for us,” said Servet Akkaynak, standing amid asphalt cutters and electrical generators from Turkey. “We had a long history of trade, and we’re high on re-establishing ourselves.”

One visitor receiving close attention was Iranian Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari, one of the highest-ranking Iranian officials to come to Iraq since the two countries fought a brutal, eight-year war in the 1980s.

After meeting Saturday with Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, Shariatmadari announced that the two countries would set up joint committees to discuss trade and commercial ventures, INA said. Egypt — with 58 companies constituting one of the largest delegations — showed everything from tractors and reapers to children’s clothes, fruit juice and corn oil.

“This is a good opportunity for Egyptian companies to make contacts for the future,” said Antoun Labib, director of the Egyptian international exhibitions office.

Still, many vendors won’t find buyers until the sanctions are lifted.

The sanctions, imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, ban most business dealings, except under the special, U.N.-approved oil-for-food program.

Saturday’s refusal to allow monitors from the United Nations to work — which strengthened an August ban on spot inspections — was meant to push for ending the sanctions. But the Security Council termed the action a “flagrant violation” of U.N. resolutions and urged Baghdad to reverse its decision.

At the Peugeot booth, Iraqi dealer Sadir Bazagan said the shiny burgundy, blue and olive green Peugeot 406s on display would be shipped out of Iraq after the show in compliance with the U.N. sanctions. He noted that Iraqi streets are crowded with Peugeots, but that most date to the early and mid-1980s.

“There was a big market here before the Gulf War,” he said. “We are all waiting anxiously for the future.”

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