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Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with the Fairness Project by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Saddam's Syrian Smuggling Route
Scenes from Operation Defensive Shield:
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News Resources - USA and Europe:
Sharon: "In order to achieve peace you have to have a full cessation of terror activity and incitement, and we must have a partner for negotiations; at the present time, we don't see a partner." Bush: Conditions are not yet ripe for a ministerial Middle East summit "because nobody has confidence in the emerging Palestinian government." (Washington Post/AP) U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during a visit to U.S. soldiers in Bahrain that Iraq had already prepared chemical weapons for attack and was developing nuclear and biological arms. (New York Times) The government plans to build a fence along that part of the Green Line where most of the deadly suicide bombers have crossed into Israel, at a cost of $1.6 million for each mile of 75 miles of fencing. The entire barrier network -- which includes a ditch, several roadways, concertina wire and surveillance cameras, as well as a 10-ft.-tall electric fence -- will be 130 ft. wide. (Time) Arafat is strong enough that he is unlikely to be replaced by new leadership even if Israel banished him, says a senior Israeli security official. "Even if he's in exile, his influence from there would be strong enough to prevent any grass from growing up," the official said, describing other potential leaders as "scared to death" of standing up to Arafat. (New York Times) Most Palestinians are fed up with Yasser Arafat, and have been clamoring for democracy for years. But Israel�s invasion stunned them into seeing just how weak, ineffective, and fragile their government is. The Palestinian Authority, with its competing militias, corrupt bosses, and nonexistent services, was tested in crisis--and it crashed. (Newsweek) The latest IDF sweep of Ramallah has yielded two would-be Palestinian suicide bombers, the head of Islamic Jihad in Ramallah, and 30 Palestinians affiliated with Hamas, Tanzim, and Islamic Jihad, plus two cars rigged with tens of kilograms of explosives ready to be used in a terrorist attack against Israel. (Jerusalem Post) Three high school students were seriously wounded by a terrorist bomb on Tuesday morning as they returned to their bus after harvesting crops south of Hebron. (Yediot Ahronot) On Monday the IDF arrested a wanted terrorist pretending to be a patient in a Palestinian ambulance at the Gush Katif junction. Soldiers at the checkpoint became suspicious when they didn't see any medical personnel in the vehicle. (Israel Radio) Iran has decided to increase its financial aid to organizations that oppose peace efforts in the Middle East. Iran has allocated a special budget for the support of some Palestinian groups who lost their sources of funding when the Soviet Union and the communist bloc collapsed, and when Libya stopped providing material support to the Palestinian organizations. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London)/MEMRI)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis
(Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Speaking at Bar-Ilan University, Pulitzer Prize-winning American columnist Charles Krauthammer called the 1993 Oslo Accords "the most catastrophic and self-inflicted wound by any state in modern history," which was based on "an extreme expression of post-Zionistic messianism." "September 11 taught us that there are ideological enemies who care nothing about economics and will use all military means to attain their goals." (Jerusalem Post) Separation has led to a situation in which one can hear on Gaza and West Bank street corners many who say that it's impossible to go on this way and that it would be better to go back to the days of the occupation. Currently, a West Bank laborer's wages are $5-6 (NIS 25-30) a day, while women working in sewing shops or agriculture earn $3-4 (NIS 15-20) a day. (Ha'aretz) The demand to democratize the Palestinian Authority amuses Yasser Arafat. The Western world wants a different, smaller, and democratic government? No problem, one press conference will solve the problem. As long as Arafat remains the chairman of the PA, there is no chance of a substantial change. (The author, a former IDF major-general, was involved in numerous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.) (Jerusalem Post) Is it not crystal clear to Europe (that has poured over $1.5 billion into Yasser Arafat's coffers over the last 15 years) that his merciless Palestine Liberation Army Arab tyranny is using its money to make war on little democratic Israel? (Washington Times) In a sermon from the holy mosque in Medina, broadcast live on Saudi government television, Imam Abd-al-Bari al-Thubayti concluded: "O God, the Jews have transgressed all limits in their tyranny. O God, shake the ground under their feet, pour torture on them, and destroy all of them." (IMRA) Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah supposedly issued the fatwa, or religious ruling, that encouraged Shiite terrorists to detonate truck bombs outside the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in 1983 -- killing hundreds of Americans. Would he advise his followers to stop the killing if Israel agreed, say, to the Saudi peace proposal and recognized a Palestinian state? The answer: no peace; only truce. (Washington Post) What Should Israel be Telling the Media? - Bret Stephens (Jerusalem Post)
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