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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with Access/Middle East by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Palestinians to "Solve" Problem of Illegal Weapons by Recruiting Terrorists into Security Forces (Tzamtzam News-Hebrew)
Documents on Israel Found in Baghdad - Judith Miller (New York Times)
Saddam's Last Tape? - Ed O'Loughlin (Sydney Morning Herald)
Saudis Report Arms Seizure, Foiling Terror Attacks (AP/Washington Post)
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News Resources - North America and Europe:
The U.S. is pressing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to declare that Iran has violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it has signed, officials said Wednesday. Such a finding could lead to punitive action by the UN, officials said. Of greatest concern is the recent disclosure that Iran has built a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz in central Iran, with large underground structures believed by intelligence experts to contain centrifuges used in producing highly enriched uranium, a fuel for nuclear weapons. In February, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA, found a hundred-plus centrifuges in Natanz, with more waiting to be assembled. American experts are convinced that Natanz is so obviously a weapons facility that the IAEA can be persuaded to act on it. (New York Times) See also Iran Defends Nuclear Program (Reuters) The U.S. would be forced to act if it discovered that Damascus allowed Iraq to hide weapons of mass destruction in Syria during the war, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday. Rice said she was sure Iraqi weapons of mass destruction would turn up eventually, but said it was possible some had been removed from Iraq. (AP) Wielding new powers granted by a six-month-old federal court decision, the FBI has greatly intensified decade-old investigations of alleged U.S. supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement and Hizballah terrorist groups, according to government officials. The stepped-up investigations in at least two dozen U.S. cities were triggered by a November 2002 court ruling authorizing federal agents who pursue criminal prosecution of terrorism suspects to use decades worth of classified wiretaps and intelligence reports from foreign security agencies that previously had been off-limits. "It's a trove of information that's created enormous possibilities, a whole new world for us," said a senior U.S. counterterrorism official who works on criminal cases. "Before, we were playing with one hand tied behind our backs." The 50-count indictment in February of Florida college professor Sami Al-Arian on charges of conspiracy to commit murder via suicide attacks in Israel was the first based on information made available as a result of the new ruling. (Washington Post) Senior Baath Party officials are working openly in many Iraqi cities and many party members are insinuating themselves into leading positions under the American administration. Hundreds of Iraqi doctors, nurses, and health workers demonstrated Wednesday against a decision by the American authorities in Baghdad to appoint Ali al-Janabi, a senior Baath Party member, to be minister of health. Last week, U.S. officials decided to reinstate Saddam Hussein's personal physician, Muhammad al-Rawi, as president of Baghdad University. A committee of faculty members demanded new elections for deans, department heads, and administrators as a means to throw out Dr. Rawi and the other senior Baathists at the university. They also demanded that the university groundskeepers tear down a statue of Mr. Hussein. When American officials would not meet with them, they went to the headquarters of Ahmad Chalabi, an opposition leader who returned from exile to help form an interim government, whose security staff organized a raid on the university. The Hussein statue was leveled by an armored vehicle and its head cut off and returned like a trophy to the lawn of Mr. Chalabi's headquarters. (New York Times) News Resources - Israel, the Mideast, and Asia:
Prime Minister Sharon is planning to tell Secretary of State Powell that the U.S. must pressure the Palestinian Authority to take real steps against terror, just as it is pressuring Syria to cease supporting terrorism, government sources said Wednesday before Powell's arrival for a shuttle mission between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Powell, whose visit is scheduled to start Saturday night, will meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as a signal of U.S. support for the new Palestinian government. Sharon is slated to go to Washington at the end of the month for talks with President Bush, and Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, is to visit Washington ahead of the premier's trip. Israel has told Washington it is ready to take steps to ease economic and humanitarian conditions, and to withdraw from areas where the Palestinians take responsibility for security and take active steps against terror. But Israel is demanding the Palestinians first prove their intentions to fight terror. Jerusalem fears that the U.S. will accept the Palestinian formula for a hudna, a temporary cease-fire, and then demand that Israel respond with a withdrawal and gestures to the Palestinians without the Palestinian government taking any real steps to eliminate the terror infrastructure in the territories. Powell is bringing Richard Erdman, a State Department official assigned to coordinate monitors to oversee implementation of the road map. Israel has given the U.S. a document regarding those monitors: They must all be Americans; they must have a clear mission agreed upon in advance; and they must focus on the Palestinian side and their fight against terror. (Ha'aretz) Abbas announced at a Fatah central committee meeting chaired by Arafat Tuesday that he is transferring the Interior Ministry's responsibilities for security to Muhammad Dahlan. "This is not what we agreed," one official quoted Arafat as shouting at Abbas. According to a source, there is no guarantee the move will succeed, because security forces' commanders remain loyal to Arafat, and some have said in private that they refuse to serve under Dahlan. A Fatah source predicted that many Fatah members and security services officers loyal to Arafat would try to create obstacles for Dahlan and make it difficult for him to implement his decisions. Dahlan reportedly requested $30 million from the U.S. and the EU to help him implement his plan to reorganize the security forces and combat terrorism. PA officials said they expect Hamas to agree to a cease-fire ending terrorist attacks for a year or two. (Jerusalem Post) IDF troops ordered the residents of Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip to stop their Independence Day celebrations and enter shelters Tuesday night after Palestinians fired at least three mortar shells at the community, one of them landing near the celebrants. There were no injuries, although one building was damaged, Israel Radio reported. Palestinians fired a total of seven mortar shells in the Gaza Strip Tuesday night. (Ha'aretz) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
While Syrian intelligence allowed the U.S. to foil a planned al Qaeda attack on the U.S. Navy's Administrative Support Unit in Bahrain last year, "We clearly don't have the full support of the Syrian government on the al Qaeda problem," Cofer Black, the State Department's coordinator for counter-terrorism, told reporters last week. "They have allowed al Qaeda personnel to come in and virtually settle in Syria with their knowledge and their support." If Syria fails to mend its ways on terrorism, it is hard to see how the Bush administration can hold onto its hope of reforming the Muslim world. (Newsweek) Everyone involved must recognize what is possible and what is not. These shared concerns of the leaders on both sides only involve stopping the current intifada. We must focus on changes in the near-term reality, not a lasting peace that would require concessions neither side can make now. Without clear understandings between the Israelis and the Palestinians now, the road map is likely to go the way of the Mitchell Report and the Tenet plan before it. (New York Times) Observations: Moderate Muslims and the Road Map - Tashbih Sayyed (Jerusalem Post)
The writer is editor-in-chief of Pakistan Today, a California-based weekly newspaper, and president of the Council for Democracy and Tolerance.
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