Mideast News Digest
Sharon Cancels Washington Trip After Meeting With Palestinian Prime Minister
Using the "terrorist crisis" in Israel as an excuse, on May 18 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon abruptly cancelled his trip to Washington, where he was to "discuss his reservations about the road map" with President George W. Bush. The cancellation occurred after a Jerusalem terrorist incidentthe first in six monthsand hours after Sharon and aide Dov Wiessglas (his specialist on America) had met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (who is also known as Abu Mazen). Abbas was joined at his meeting by Security Minister Mahmoud Dahlan, and Ahmed Qorei (Abu Ala), the Speaker of the Palestine Legislative Council
Since Sharon has not "accepted" the road map, which was delivered to him on April 30, the meeting was, as expected, deadlocked, and statements from both sides call it a failure. Sharon reportedly demanded an end to terrorism in a long lecture, and Abu Mazen told Sharon that he must accept the road map, and fulfill the Israeli obligations under numerous treaties, if the Palestinian Authority is expected to make any progress on security. Sharon declined, saying that he first wanted to discuss Israel's reservations to the road map directly with President Bush on May 20.
But now there is no trip to Washington.
While terrorism is being used as the excuse, that is suspicioussince the first of two terrorist incidents occurred hours before the meeting with Abbas took place, and Sharon went ahead with it anyway. The new cabinet of the Palestinian government denounced the terrorism, as did the U.S. government.
EIW is investigating what is really behind the cancellation of the Sharon trip, where Israeli press and "insiders" had been boasting that Sharon will get concessions from Bush to not implement critical features of the road map. It should be noted that earlier last week, the Gala 55th Anniversary of Israel support rally for Sharon in Washington on May 19 had to be cancelled because of the combination of lack of attendance, and nervousness over provoking Bush with an arrogant show of threatened political blackmail over Jewish Lobby votes and donations. Additionally, the Christian Zionist-led meeting, "The Interfaith Zionist Leadership Summit" was a bust with only a few hundred "faithful" attending (see below).
Closure Has Been Imposed on All Palestinian Territories
At midnight May 18, in the aftermath of the Jerusalem bombing that morning, and following Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's meeting with his generals and Jabotiniskyite-dominated Cabinet, full "closure"that is, sealingof all town and territorial borders was imposed on the Palestinian territories. However, there is no announced military action. No travel will be permitted between towns in Gaza or the West Bank. Sharon says that he will have another meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Abbas.
Neo-Con + Theo-Con Conference Against Palestinian State Is a Failure
The "Interfaith Zionist Leadership Summit" in Washington, D.C. was a flop, with barely two hundred "faithful" attending most sessions, and a few hundred at the peak. This was to have been the giant "show of force" to Karl Rove and the GOP, to pressure President Bush to drop the road map.
Most speakers addressed a largely empty room in the expensive Omni Shoreham Hotel. This was a shock for the organizers, since there were 20 co-sponsors, including: JINSA, the Christian Coalition, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the Religious Roundtable, the Zionist Organization of America, Gary Bauer's Coalition for American Values, and others.
The meeting was billed as the crucial eventcheering Sharon's resistance to the road map, and promising action to smash the road map, and any idea of "rewarding murderous Palestinian terrorism with statehood." They also claimed they would "document the responsibility of Iran, Syria, Libya, and Saudi Arabia for supporting Islamic terrorism," and further the "alliance of Jewish and Christian Zionists."
The leading speaker on "terrorism" was the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Ledeen, but he missed the morning panel only to speak after an "all hands on deck" afternoon session brought in about 150-200 more people. Totally missing were any of the members of Congress who had met with Sharon's fascist ally Tourism Minister Benny Elon, who met a dozen Congressmen and Senators two weeks ago to try to stop the road map. Not even Tom DeLay (probably busy chasing down Texas State Legislators) showed up.
The tiny audience did not deter the speakers from being insane. Founder of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Jan Willem ven der Hoeven, a Dutch national with a World War II Nazi past, pounded the podium, demanded to know why AIPAC and the ADL were not here supporting the Christian Zionists, and promising that soon they will be back on Temple Mount! Settler representatives were shouting about how Jewish claims to the land of the West Bank are part of Abraham's Covenant.
When Bauer was asked in a private conversation by reporter Scott Thompson if he were a Straussian, like his former boss in the Department of Education, "Gambling'" William Bennett, Bauer said that he liked Leo Strauss very much, but just didn't have time to discuss it. The other Straussian there was Alan Keyes, another GOP former Presidential candidate. Keyes and Bauer were the "highest"-level political figures.
Bush Administration Flayed for Lies About Weapons of Mass Destruction
The May 18 Washington Post ran a two-page report on the disastrous WMD search in Iraq. Author Gellman travelled with one of the teams for a week, and interviewed others. He led with a long report on the team breaking into and searching an abandoned warehouse, only to discover vacuum cleaners. He also reported that the intelligence the teams have for their inspections is incompetent, often lacking even what the UN inspectors already had discovered, and wrote that they often have no one with Arabic language skills, resulting, for instance, in carrying out extensive tests on material which turned out to be a high school science project, clearly marked. Most WMD sites have been totally lootedsometimes there are more looters at a site than inspectors.
Pro-Consul Bremer Tells Wannabe Iraq Government There Will Be a Year's Delay
The Garner plan for an interim Iraqi government by June has been dumped, and now the news of Paul Bremer's plan for a year's wait, presented at a "tense" meeting on Friday, has the Iraqis fuming. Bremer denied the report, but Iraqis warned there would be growing hostility if the government is not formed soon. Ahmed Chulabi is particularly upset, says the Washington Post, since his "slim support dwindles by the day." Barzani was so angry that he left Baghdad to return to the North. Another participant in the Friday meeting with Bremer said: "Bush said he wanted to liberate Iraq, not occupy Iraq, and that was the basis for our supporting military action," warning that extremists would benefit by the delay.
Some opposition leaders were considering sending a delegation to the U.S. to protest, and threatening that they would set up an interim national assembly without the U.S. if necessary.
Washington Post: Planners of Riyadh Bombing In Iran
According to a May 18 Washington Post article by Dana Priest, Saif Adel, an Egyptian who is accused by "two senior Administration officials," of ordering last week's Saudi bombing, is said to be in Iran with other top al-Qaeda leaders. The U.S. has asked Iran to turn the group over, the report says, but the Iranian government has reported that it does not believe they are in the country.
The same Washington Post article says there is great concern within U.S. intelligence that the cell that carried out last week's Morocco bombing was unknown, even though Morocco has cracked down on radicals.
Jerusalem Suicide Bombing First in Six Months
Just before 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 18 in Jerusalem (the beginning of the work week), a suicide bomber dressed in the garb of an Orthodox Jew, killed seven Israelis and wounded about 30 others, on a bus. A few hours earlier, another suicide bomber, also dressed in Orthodox Jewish clothing, killed two Jewish settlers in the radical right-wing settlement in Hebron.
Despite the bombing in Hebron, Ariel Sharon held the summit meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas at his office in Jerusalem (see above), but after the Jerusalem bombing, Sharon called off his trip to Washington.
It should be noted that there has been no bombing in Jerusalem for the last six monthsand the Israelis claim that they have stopped several planned suicide missions because of the draconian security measureswhich are still in place. The previous bombing on April 30the Tel Aviv incident that involved the British nationals who had been cleared for entry into Israel by the Shin Bethad all the earmarks of a deliberate dropping of the security screen.
Both bombing incidents occurred exactly to coincide with major peace initiativesthe first was the delivery of the road map, and the second was the first Israel-Palestinian summit meeting in nearly three years.
Congressman Henry Hyde Launches GAO Probe of Iraqi Reconstruction
In hearings before the House International Relations Committee on May 15 with Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith as witness, among others, Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) said: "The Iraqi people will hold us responsible for their welfare in the coming months, as will the world, and we cannot divest ourselves of that responsibility.... I have criticized the lack of transparency of our reconstruction effort and the consequent difficulties faced by the Congress in exercising its Constitutional responsibility. I understand, for example, that the very charter of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs is still classified as national security information.
"During the major combat operations phase, Congress did not intervene too forcefully, even to gain information. Some of the decisions we made will need to be revisited. To help us get the information we need, today I will be writing the Comptroller General of the United States asking that the General Accounting Office monitor the reconstruction effort in detail, concentrating on the efforts to provide security and interim relief to the people of Iraq and on the rebuilding of its economy and political system. The committee expects the full cooperation of every element of the executive branch in the GAO's efforts....
"If the first order of business is security, the second order is the provision of basic human needs. How long will it take for the lights to go back on and for the water to flow freely again, and what are your plans to accomplish that? Can we demonstrate to Iraqis that we will not be helping the well-off first? What will happen when people's hoarded food, from their saved oil-for-food rations, begins to run out? What will be the basis of Iraq's economy for the next several years? Do you plan to entrench the Iraqi oil ministry within the Iraqi state, or will you urge either its privatization or its revenues be placed in the hands of the people rather than the hands of the government?
"On April 7, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage properly said that the United States should not put a 'thumb on the scales' of Iraqi politics. I agree. He made that statement one day after the Defense Department, apparently without coordination with State, flew one of the Iraqi exile leaders [i.e., Iraqi National Congress leader and quisling Ahmed Chalabi] and 700 American-armed fighters to An Nasiriyah. That's a pretty heavy thumb."
The point is, as Lyndon LaRouche has said, Hyde is Hyde. When it comes from him, it also has a double meaning: It's an interference to try to mollify the criticism, by reducing it to this, while the guy behind him is screaming, "I want this guy's scalp!"versus, "I want a little cooperation from you, Mr. Secretary!"
But a full-scale GAO investigation gets into an area where it's not easily controllable.
Americans Want Mideast Peace Now, Says GOP Pollster
Americans want a Middle East peace now, U.S. Republican pollster Frank Luntz told the Israel daily Ha'aretz. Luntz is also employed by Israel. Luntz told Ha'aretz that since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Israel's standing in American public opinion has become vulnerable. Anger against Arabs is dissipating as more Americans resume their normal preoccupation with domestic affairs. Said Luntz, "Americans dislike Sharon and believe that neither the Israelis, nor the Palestinians want peace. But Americans want peace now and they do not care what Israel must sacrifice to achieve it. Americans don't want to hear about democracy in Israel and want to know when the settlements will be dismantled, when the occupation will end and when Israel will recognize a Palestinian state. They want to know when terror will end and when Yasser Arafat will be ousted and when the Palestinians will stop hating Israel. Americans want to pressure both sides."
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