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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Flights Cut on Fear of Al-Qaeda Attacks - Sara Kehaulani Goo and Dana Priest
(Washington Post)
Damascus Releases 92 Political Prisoners (ArabicNews.com)
French Jewish Singer Heckled at Charity Concert (AFP/Expatica - Netherlands)
France to Curb Anti-Jewish Arab TV Broadcasts (Reuters/Ha'aretz) |
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has told investigators that he helped North Korea design and equip facilities for making weapons-grade uranium with the knowledge of senior military commanders, including Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president. Khan also told investigators that Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, the Pakistani army chief of staff from 1988 to 1991, was aware of assistance Khan was providing to Iran's nuclear program, and that two other army chiefs, in addition to Musharraf, knew and approved of his efforts on behalf of North Korea. (Washington Post) See also Pakistanis Question Official Ignorance of Atom Transfers (New York Times) Mary Robinson, an architect of the UN Durban human rights conference in 2001, has been hired as a professor by Columbia University, drawing criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel groups, which see her appointment as another example of anti-Israel bias on the Columbia faculty. The groups blame Robinson for allowing the Durban conference to become a global platform for anti-Israel venting. As the UN high commissioner for human rights, Robinson rejected many American demands to remove anti-Israel language from final conference documents. "Under Mary Robinson's leadership the Human Rights Commission was one-sided and extremist. In her tenure at the HRC, she lacked fairness in her approach to the Israeli/Palestinian issue," said the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, James Tisch. (New York Sun) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
"This vacuum, for which the Palestinians are to blame, cannot go on forever. So as part of the disengagement plan I ordered an evacuation - sorry, a relocation - of 17 settlements with their 7,500 residents, from the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory," Prime Minister Sharon told Ha'aretz Monday. "The aim is to move settlements from places where they cause us problems or places where we won't remain in a permanent arrangement. Not only settlements in Gaza, but also three problematic settlements in Samaria," he said. "We are talking of a population of 7,500 people. It's not a simple matter. We are talking of thousands of square kilometers of hothouses, factories and packing plants. There are people who are third generation there," he said. "It will be necessary to reach an agreement with the residents, to rebuild what will be demolished...it's not a quick matter, especially if it's done under fire." Sharon said various agencies are already at work on the plan, under his orders. He said the process will take one to two years. "Clearly this must be done with American agreement and support. We are not taking any steps that contravene their positions. Agreement is needed on both the evacuation and the matter of the fence. It is important that everything we do be part of the Bush vision and fits in the American concept." (Ha'aretz) See also PM Shocks Likud with Withdrawal Ideas - Gideon Alon Prime Minister Sharon told the Likud Knesset faction Monday that the settlements in Gaza must be removed "because of security problems and the demographic situation. I don't know if it will be done all at once or gradually, but it would be wrong to maintain a Jewish presence in Gaza over the years." According to MKs who were at the meeting, Sharon said, "This situation cannot last forever. We must take a series of steps that reduce the friction between Jews and Palestinians....We have to create a situation in which we provide maximum security to the citizenry even without an agreement with the Palestinians." As for the West Bank, Sharon said "at this stage, only small moves that will ease things for Israel will be undertaken." "At this stage, these are ideas, thoughts." (Ha'aretz) Areas in Israel with large Arab population concentrations, such as Umm el Fahm, may be transferred to PA control, according to a plan under consideration by Prime Minister Sharon. "I requested that the legality of this matter be checked," Sharon told Maariv. (Maariv-Hebrew) Two soldiers were seriously wounded, another moderately, and a fourth lightly in an operation in the al-Aida refugee camp north of Bethlehem directed at Hamas fugitive Mahmoud Aboroude, responsible for dispatching a Palestinian policeman in a suicide attack on a Jerusalem bus last week in which 11 people were killed. After the soldiers entered the house in which Aboroude was hiding, he opened fire after being discovered and was shot dead. (Jerusalem Post) The UN abused its power in asking the International Court of Justice at The Hague to rule on the legality of Israel's construction of a security barrier, Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker said Monday. Baker said that despite objections filed by 33 countries, it is unlikely the court will drop the case. According to AP, in 24 previous requests for advisory opinions, the court only once found the case did not meet its criteria. Although the court's decision will be nonbinding, Israel and the Palestinians see the case as an important battleground for determining the project's fate. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The "relocation" of Jewish settlements won't be limited to 17 in the Gaza Strip, but will extend to the West Bank and may total 30, possibly more. Sharon believes any Israeli prime minister who follows him may be pressured to pull back much further, to the pre-1967 borders. Sharon believes those borders are militarily indefensible. So he came to the conclusion, after three years of bloodshed and seven years of fruitless negotiation - the so-called "Mideast peace process" - to separate Israelis from Palestinians as much as possible by "relocating" some settlements and erecting a security fence along the West Bank. Sharon visualizes Israel holding on to about 50% of the West Bank - in some 100-plus settlements - as well as the strategic Jordan Valley. (New York Post) See also Sharon Spokesman: Gaza Withdrawal One of Several Options - Ken Ellingwood A Sharon spokesman cautioned that the idea of evacuating 17 Gaza settlements was merely one of several scenarios being reviewed as part of the prime minister's proposal to separate Israelis and Palestinians if the two sides fail to reach a peace agreement. "This is only an initial option - one of several being considered," said Raanan Gissin. Gissin said the number of Gaza settlements that might be removed in any unilateral separation by Israel could be much lower. (Los Angeles Times) The International Court of Justice must reject this attempt to exploit its mandate for political objectives and instead protect the legitimacy and propriety of the institution and the goals of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. The request violated the UN's own rules of procedure and separation of responsibilities. The risk, beyond considerable damage to the peace process, is that "success" will lead to other dangerous political questions being posed to the court - on Iraq, Kashmir, or Chechnya, for example. Silvan Shalom is Israel's foreign minister and deputy prime minister. (Guardian-UK) In every UN body, Arab and Muslim states have opposed any effort to give meaningful definition to the notion of terrorism, largely because of its obvious implications for the Palestinian "uprising." The UN Counter Terrorism Committee, set up by the Security Council in the wake of 9/11, has yet to identify publicly a single terrorist organization or state sponsor of terrorism. At the UN, Israelis and Jews are, by definition, oppressors, as are the nations and organizations that rally to their cause, and there is no reason to think that this underlying reality will change anytime soon. Perhaps it is time to stop holding seminars and conferences on whether the UN glass is half-full or half-empty. The contents of the glass have been poisoned. (Commentary) Observations:
21st Century Threats Facing Israel - Maj. Gen. Dan Haloutz
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