July 30, 2004

PALESTINIAN CRISIS DEFUSED. QUREI AFTER WITHDRAWING HIS RESIGNATION: THIS IS A NEW STEP TOWARDS REFORM AND IMPOSING THE RULE OF LAW. $ 25 MILLION FROM AL-AQSA AND AL-QUDS FUND TO RAFAH AND GAZA. THE ARAB LEAGUE CALLS FOR THE PROTECTION OF AL-AQSA MOSQUE. SOLANA: THE EU IS INVOLVED IN THE MIDDLE EAST, WHETHER ISRAEL LIKED IT OR NOT. VANUNU: "WE ARE ALWAYS SAYING ISRAEL IS NOT A REAL DEMOCRACY AND TODAY WE ARE SEEING IT INSIDE THE HIGH COURT." President Yaser Arafat defused the crisis in the Palestinian cabinet by adopting the reforms recommended by the Palestinian legislative Council (PLC) and empowering Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei with effective security control as stipulated in the Basic Law. Qurei announced that he had withdrawn his resignation but did not rule out a cabinet reshuffle shortly. "President Arafat demonstrated his confidence in me by rejecting my resignation. I value this confidence and accordingly I will continue in my role," Qurei told reporters at a joint press conference with Arafat, following a cabinet meeting chaired by the Palestinian leader at his besieged headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "I hope that we can now work together," the premier added. "He (Arafat) rejected my resignation and I will now comply," confirmed Qurei, who tendered his resignation ten days ago. "I am satisfied that President Arafat is serious this time, that it is not just words but that this time there will be action," the premier indicated. "This is a new step towards reform and imposing the rule of law. There will be action on the ground," he affirmed, adding that Arafat will address the Palestinian people and the whole world "on how to get through the impasse" created by the ongoing Israeli aggression. He also said that crisis was not one of "dispute on powers." "The issue is not a dispute on powers at all," he added. "There are full powers that we will assume and there are joint coordination" with the presidency, he indicated. "The issue is that everyone assumes his responsibilities, so we can go beyond this stage." Confirming that he has enough security powers, he said: "I'm not going to bargain with the president about authority over the security branches," Qurei told reporters. "We have enough powers over them as it stands." Qurei's Chief of Staff Hasan Abu Libdeh said the meeting put his cabinet in charge of the police and preventive (internal) security services for the first time. Similarly, Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath indicated that Qurei was now "empowered" to revamp security organs via his interior ministry. Arafat would retain control over the Palestinian intelligence service and the national security forces, Palestinian officials told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Arafat's media adviser Nabil Abu Rudeinah said the meeting clarified the powers of president and prime minister "according to our Basic Law The two will complement each other." Palestinian officials said that Arafat and Qurei agreed to adopt the document outlining reforms that was approved by the PLC two years ago. A committee of MPs held talks with Arafat in Ramallah at his compound where they secured his agreement to adopt the PLC reforms document. A 15-member PLC special committee headed by Abbas Zaki met with Arafat. Arafat told reporters that the meeting was "a very important" one. He agreed to investigate corruption. Arafat agreed to allow the Palestinian attorney general to pursue investigations into high-level graft to foster the rule of law, said Palestinian Minister for Negotiations Saeb Erekat. PLC special committee member Mohammed Horani, said that "He (Arafat) agreed to publish an order to investigate any corruption file which is brought to him by our committee." Arafat also promised to specify by law the roles of the security services. "President Arafat said that he would order the publication of a law specifying the roles of the security branches and the division of power between the branches," Horani added. The PLC special committee will meet with Arafat again. "We were pleased with this positive position from President Arafat and we will meet him again next week to see how this is being implemented," Horani said. MP Hanan Ashrawi, who is also a member of the committee, talked of the need for "radical treatment." "There are many issues that need to be addressed. We need new laws, commitment to reform and follow-ups to ensure that reform is being carried out," she said. The Palestinian media summarized the PLC reforms that were adopted by both Arafat and Qurei as follows: *The Basic Law will be the terms of reference for power-sharing. *The security services will be unified and their responsibilities will be assumed in compliance with the Basic Law. Security chiefs will be restricted to a four-year term. Arafat last week signed a presidential decree unifying more than ten security services in three: the National Security, the General Security and the Intelligence. Security services and their chiefs will also be denied involvement in political and media activity according to effective laws. *The PLC reforms document stipulated the creation of a National Security Committee to supervise all security services under the chairmanship of President Arafat. Arafat currently chairs the National Security Council (NSC), which assumes the same responsibilities. *The PNA will demand the attorney general to "reactivate" the investigation files of corruption. On the other hand Gunmen and activists from a besieged Gaza border town blocked off the main road leading to Israel, shooting in the air to stop vehicles and vowing not to let any Palestinian Authority officials through. The gunmen were protesting against the siege of Beit Hanoun, imposed after rocket fire killed two Israelis. At least 16 Palestinians, eight of them militants, have been killed since the siege began. "No official can go to Israel or go from Israel to Gaza," said Muhanna Shabat, a protest organizer. "Only humanitarian cases can pass." Organizers said they had stopped several hundred people and several officials travelling on the road. But the road was occasionally opened to let cars and people through for "humanitarian reasons." The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it had warned Israel of a humanitarian crisis in Beit Hanoun, where residents complain of lack of food and medicine inside the town of roughly 30,000 people. Protest organizers said they had turned away two Palestinian ministers, who denied they were stopped. One said they had taken an alternative route to avoid the protesters. An Israeli army spokesman said the army had seen "no significant change" in traffic through the main Erez crossing that links Gaza and Israel. In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers dynamited a four-storey home owned by a militant, partially damaging nearby buildings. Human rights groups and Palestinians have condemned the Israeli practice of demolishing homes as collective punishment. Israel says it is necessary to deter attacks. Minister of Negotiations Affairs, Saeb Erekat, demanded the US administration to create an action plan to help end the humanitarian situation in Rafah and Beit Hanoun. Erekat said he had asked for help in stopping Israel from expanding "settlements" on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. "I asked them to help us in order to have cessation of Israeli settlement activities," he told reporters at the State Department. "This is not conducive to the peace process." "We want to see an action plan specifying that the end game is ending Israeli occupation," he said. On another scale, the administrative committee of Al Aqsa and Al Quds funds concluded its 16th meeting in Jeddah under the chairmanship of the Saudi representative Engineer Youssef Ibn Ibrahim Al Bassam. The Committee decided to launch a programme with $ 25 million for the immediate care of the victims in Rafah and Gaza in which the Al Aqsa fund would participate with $ 5,88 and the remaining would be paid by donors regional and international bodies. The committee called on donors bodies to participate in the program in order to repair damaged buildings and houses as well as universities, schools and health centers. Two Saudi-based international Islamic organizations warned of Muslim anger in the event of an attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and said any attack on Islam's third holiest shrine could trigger trouble on a large scale. The Jeddah-based 55-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Makkah-based Muslims World League said Israel would be held responsible for any aggression against the mosque. "Any strike on Al-Aqsa Mosque will stir feelings of anger among Muslims around the world and lead to trouble on a large scale and unforeseeable serious consequences for peace and security in the world," OIC Secretary-General Abdelouahed Belkeziz said in a statement. He said the Muslim world would hold the Israeli government responsible for any aggression against the mosque, holiest to Muslims after the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. Israel's interior minister, Tzahi Hanegbi, warned earlier in the week of a terrorist attack by Jewish extremists on Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israeli police barred Jews from entering the mosque for fear of unrest. The OIC was founded in 1969 following an attempt by Jews to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque by setting fire to the shrine that caused extensive damage to the building. It aims to promote international solidarity among Muslims and political, economic, and social cooperation among its member states. In Makkah, MWL Secretary-General Abdullah Ibn Abdul Mohsen Al-Turki warned of a new aggression by Israel to destroy the mosque saying this could result in a "bloody massacre of Muslims" attending the mosque. He said the statements by the Israeli minister and other officials are an indication that extremist Jewish organizations are planning a large-scale attack on the mosque. "The risk of Jewish extremists and fanatics committing an attack against the Mosque or the faithful in this most sacred place for Islam has never been so high," the minister said. Such an attack would have the aim of sabotaging Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip by "provoking a chain reaction", the minister said. "We have a considerable amount of disquieting information according to which it is not only academic ideas but concrete projects," he added. Various parties at the national and regional levels have shown great deal of concern over the latest Israeli threats to attack the Al-Aqsa holy mosque in the occupied East Jerusalem, which is the Muslim world's third holiest shrine. The Palestinian Legislative Council's (PLC) chairmanship warned of the gravity of the extremist Jewish threats to attack the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a statement issued by the PLC pointed out. The statement held the Israeli government fully responsible for any harm the Mosque might be exposed to as well as the consequences for such a 'terrorist action'. PNA Minister of Work, Ghassan Al Khatib, told reporters that "the Palestinians look seriously at such threats," adding that President Yasser Arafat was deeply concerned at the issue. He said the PNA has urged the international community and Islamic world to take all possible steps to stop such an action. "Israel would be fully responsible if such an action is carried out," he asserted The Jerusalem Board of Muslim Clerics warned of possible extremist Jewish attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, asserting in a press release that the Israeli government was determined to continue attacking Palestinian Islamic holy sites. The Board called on the Islamic and Arab nations to stand by the Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli military and work on stopping such an Israeli aggression on the holy sites, Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, said in a statement that Jewish extremists are capable of doing the unthinkable. Also, the West Bank city of Albeireh-based Higher Islamic Association held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for any possible attacks on the holy mosque in the shadow of Jewish threats of assaulting such a holy place. Tayseer Altamimy, the association's Secretary General and the Supreme Judge and the chief of the Higher Judiciary Council said, in a statement denouncing the repetitive threats by the Jews to harm such a Muslim shrine, that what happened in the past and the flames bursting out from beneath Al Aqsa Mosque, the statements of Hanegbi besides the threats of the radical Jewish group to destroy the mosque were compelling proofs of the risks and should be taken seriously. He added that the risks the Al Aqsa Mosque has been liable to, necessitate the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States and the Jerusalem Committee to convene to examine the stance and come to a conclusion to counter such serious threats against the Al Aqsa Mosque. Concurrently, Arab-Israeli Knesset member Abdelmalek Dahamsha called on the Knesset's chairman, Ro'obin Rivilin, to address the Al-Aqsa issue during the Knesset's deliberations. The Israeli MK Ran Cohen said that if the Al-Aqsa Mosque was exposed to any harm, the state of Israel would face destruction. Cohen, a member of Meretz-Yahad Party, was quoted as saying that any attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque would lead to an Islamic world holy war against Israel and its Jewish population. At the regional levels, a conference of the Arab countries, hosting the Palestinian refugees, held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, believed that the said threats would lead to grave consequences on the Arab, Muslim and global levels. In Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, inquired from the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv about the 'dangerous statements' cited by the Israeli Internal Security Minister, Tzahi Hanegbi, over possible extremist Jewish aerial attacks on the Al-Aqsa holy mosque. Sources at the Foreign Ministry asserted that minister Aboul Gheit stressed the holiness of Islamic and Christian places in the occupied Palestinian territories. Jordan, on its part, held Israel the entire responsibility for any attack against the holy mosque. The spokesperson of the Jordanian government, Asm'a Khadder, said that the Israeli government as an occupying state assumed all security responsibilities to protect the religious sites in Jerusalem, in particular from the threat of the radical Jews. Dahamsha also submitted letters to Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, the Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, and the government's Attorney General, Minin Mazouz, in which he called on them to assume their responsibilities by taking preventive actions that might foil any possible attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In the United Arab Emirates, most of the local newspapers' editorials focused on the Jewish threats to launch an aerial attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, warning of the seriousness of such an attack, especially under the critical conditions of the Palestinian people, as the Israeli occupation has been perpetrating crimes on daily basis. The Arab League called on the United States and the United Nations to help prevent alleged schemes by extremist Jewish groups to attack the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. In the opening speech of a four-day conference in Cairo, Mohamed Sobeih, Palestinian delegate at the Arab League, said that there are 24 Israeli extremist groups are planning to attack and destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque. Sobeih accused that Israel was preparing public opinion for a strike on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, through warnings that extremist groups were plotting to target the mosque. He held Israel responsibility to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque for being an occupying power. He also called on Washington to intervene and help prevent the destruction of the mosque. On his part, Abdul Latif Mamlouk, Lebanon's representative at the Arab League, urged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to force Israel to implement the statutes of the Geneva Convention on the protection of territories under occupation. The conferees called for discussing a number of issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conference includes delegates from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian National Authority. Yehuda Etzion, one of the terrorist leaders of a plot in the early 1980s to blow up Islamic mosques, said that blowing up the Dome of the Rock, the gilded mosque at the center of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, was a "worthy" goal, but that it was not the proper way to fight the disengagement initiative, Ha'aretz reported. "Losing one's patience after so many years of distortion is something understandable," Etzion told Army Radio. "Is this a worthy act? First of all, it is worthy. On the other hand, it is unworthy as an act to thwart the disengagement." In 1982, American-Israeli Alan Goodman staged a shooting spree outside the mosques, killing two Palestinians and touching off days of rioting. Israeli security officials told Ha'aretz daily that an attempt to crash a plane packed with explosives on Al-Aqsa was one of the scenarios drawn out by the terrorists. "We have a considerable amount of disquieting information according to which it is not only academic ideas but concrete projects," the Israeli Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi said, without elaborating. His comments follow a report by Israel's secret service that there is an increasing threat of an attack on Sharon by right-wing groups who oppose his plan, nine years after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish terrorist late in 1995. "The level of threat of an attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque by Jewish extremists and fanatics, in order to ... be a catalyser for the change of the entire political process, has risen during the past few months, especially during the last few weeks, more than ever before," Hanegbi said. Hanegbi was speaking to Israel's Channel 2 television's "Meet the Press" program. The Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied east Jerusalem Al-Haram Al-Sharif, or the Holy Sanctuary, and is revered by Jews as the "Temple Mount," which they claim to be the site of two ancient biblical temples. The Jewish extremists would take advantage of the fact that the shrine served as "the most sensitive, most volatile, most sacred site for Muslims" in order to attack either the mosque itself or its Muslim worshippers, Hanegbi said. "There are troubling indications of purposeful thinking, and not detached philosophy... There is a danger that [extremists] would make use of the most explosive site, in the hope that a chain reaction would bring about the destruction of the peace process," he added. Ha'aretz quoted sources saying that possible actions included an attempt to crash a drone packed with explosives on Al-Aqsa compound, or a manned suicide attack with a light aircraft during mass Muslim worship on the compound. Other possibilities include an attempt by right-wing Jewish extremists to assassinate a prominent Al-Aqsa Muslim leader, perhaps from the Waqf Islamic trust. The aim of the Al-Aqsa attack conspiracy would be to carry out a visible provocation that would spark violent confrontation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli security sources told Ha'aretz. Sharon's visit to the compound four years ago sparked violent clashes with Muslim worshippers that set off the ongoing Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against the 37-year old Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sharon plans to push forward with his plan to re-deploy Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip, where more than 7,500 illegal Jewish settlers live in heavily-guarded enclaves among 1.3 million Palestinians, by the end of 2005. Jewish settlers are meanwhile planning to form a "human chain" stretching some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Gaza Strip to Jerusalem and called at the weekend for thousands of Israelis to take part. The demonstration is part of a campaign by settlers against Sharon's plan. A spokesman for the illegal "Gush Katif" settlement bloc in the Strip said "tens of thousands of people," would join the chain. The human chain was set to start at the foot of Jerusalem's Al-Buraq Wall (known to Jews as the Wailing Wall, and claimed to be the holiest site in Judaism). Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mohammad Sayed Tantawi condemned the threats made by an extremist Jewish group to attack Al-Aqsa Mosque. He said that such threats are inconceivable at the rational, religious or ethical levels. In statements to MENA, Al-Azhar's Grand Imam said that such words could not be uttered except by insane persons. He called on Muslims world-wide to stand united in face of such threats. On the other hand the European Union's Higher Representative for Common and Security Policy, Javier Solana, said after meeting with several Israeli officials that the EU was involved in the Middle East, whether Israel liked it or not. Solana, who was visiting Israel, was received frostily by the Israeli officials, who expressed their resentment over the recent EU vote in the UN General Assembly, as all 25 member states approved the removal of the Israeli Apartheid Wall and halting its construction. In meetings, both the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom warned Solana that following the EU's support for the UN General Assembly resolution, that the EU will be "unable to play a significant role in resolving the conflict, because it had shown itself to be not impartial." Shalom was even more aggressive towards Solana, and said that "it would be hard for me to convince the Israeli people that the EU is a (negotiating) partner we can trust!" But Solana did not seem alarmed. "We will be involved whether you want us or not," the EU foreign policy chief told Shalom. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Solana defended the EU's support for the UN resolution, which called on Israel to comply with the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The ICJ said that Israel should dismantle the Wall throughout the West Bank and compensate the Palestinians. "The United Nations and international institutions such as the International Court of Justice are in our view important components in the campaign to attain peace and security around the world," Haaretz quoted Solana as saying. A majority of 150 states supported the court's decision. We know what you think about the UN, but you can't stop us from honoring the decisions of the ICJ or the General Assembly. We will continue to support the UN in the future." However, Solana reiterated the EU's belief in Israel's right to defend itself, but said that the Europeans have expressed their rejection to the construction of the Wall from the beginning, because its route passed through occupied lands. "We respect the right of every country to construct a fence on its own territory," he said, but a route "through occupied territory" is not compatible with international law. Even through the joint press conference of the EU official and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Shalom reiterated Israel's determination to continue constructing the Apartheid Wall, in accordance with the decisions made by the Israeli Supreme Court. On the other hand Israel's High Court of Justice rejected a petition from nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu against restrictions the security services imposed on him on his release from prison in April. The court ruled there was no doubt Vanunu was willing to expose classified information regarding the Dimona reactor and is as determined as ever to do so. This backed prosecution claims that Vanunu is still a security risk and has shown he is willing go public with any more information he can find. In his defense, Vanunu said he had disclosed all material in his possession about Israel's nuclear capabilities and there was therefore no justification in restricting him beyond his prison sentence. He was freed from prison in April after an 18-year term for revealing secrets about Israel's nuclear program to the British Sunday Times. State prosecutors meanwhile said they would look into charging Vanunu with violating the terms of his release from prison - specifically, the ban on contacts with foreign news agencies. After the ruling, Vanunu said the whole world could now see how two-faced the State of Israel is. "We are always saying Israel is not a real democracy and today we are seeing it inside the High Court," Vanunu told reporters. "We will find a way to continue to survive and demand the rights to live as best we can." Vanunu has said he wants to live abroad and insists he has no more state secrets to reveal. "My country is not Israel. My country is outside of Israel. Israel didn't respect me for 18 years. For 18 years, Israel condemned me as a traitor, as a spy. I don't like Israel, I don't want to live in Israel. I want to be free and to leave Israel," Vanunu said. Vanunu's attorney, Dan Yakir, said he regretted the High Court ruling, and the limitations on his client violated basic human rights. Vanunu said he is considering further legal action. He could request the three-judge High Court panel be expanded to hear the case again, but such appeals are often rejected. He said meanwhile he would continue to live in St. George's Cathedral, a church not far from Jerusalem's Old City, explaining that he feels more comfortable among Palestinians and foreigners. Security sources meanwhile said they expect to seek an extension of the limits on Vanunu after the court affirmed their view that Vanunu still poses a security risk. One set of limits on Vanunu is due to expire in September, covering his freedom of movement inside Israel, preventing him from meeting foreigners without first getting permission, and forbidding any discussion of his work at Dimona. The security services will need the attorney general's approval for an extension to the limitations, which are imposed by virtue of the IDF's Central Command general's signature. Meanwhile Likud party rebels opposed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to abandon the Gaza Strip are stepping up a campaign to stop him building a coalition that could push through the initiative, officials have said. The plan to evacuate Jewish settlers from occupied Gaza next year has stirred tumult in Likud, which for many years would not consider ceding land to Palestinians. It has also set the stage for one of the toughest political battles of Sharon's career. Hardliners say around half of Likud's 40 parliamentarians oppose a coalition with the dovish Labour Party, which favours giving up Gaza and has begun talks with Sharon on shoring up his shaky coalition. "Sharon's basic problem has been and is that he does not enjoy full support of the party anymore and if you are the prime minister this is a problem," said Likud party insider and political analyst Yossi Olmert. Weakened by the departure of far-right allies over the Gaza plan, Sharon is seeking new partners. But if Labour is kept out, it could force him into a union with ultra-Orthodox parties less likely to back a pullout or ensure a stable coalition. "I would like to see a coalition that doesn't go along with the disengagement plan," said Uzi Landau, a cabinet minister and outspoken opponent of Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the Gaza Strip next year. Technically Sharon has enough votes in the 120-seat parliament to push ahead with the Gaza withdrawal and pass the necessary legislation even without Labour. But without Labour in his coalition, he is uncertain of winning cabinet backing in a decisive vote early next year on the plan to evacuate all 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. So far cabinet has approved the plan in principle. Likud rebels received an important boost this week when they won the support of Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, whose job might be at risk to veteran statesman and opposition leader Shimon Peres if Labour joins the coalition. Political analysts said Shalom's stand could make it much harder for Sharon to build a coalition with Labour and the secular, centrist Shinui, seen as his ideal government to push through what will be a highly charged evacuation from Gaza. "Shalom's veto ... means Sharon cannot win parliamentary approval for a government with Likud, Shinui and Labour, a government that has a big majority for disengagement," said political analyst Hanan Crystal. At the moment, the former general appears to be employing delaying tactics until parliament begins a two-month recess in early August, analysts say. That could allow Sharon to finalise negotiations with Labour and win over some Likud rebels. Polls show that most Israelis would be happy to give up Gaza, captured in the 1967 Middle East war, seeing it as too costly in money and blood. But many Likud members say that withdrawing would "reward Palestinian terror". Likud insider and analyst Yossi Olmert emphasised, though, that Sharon might still be able to outwit his Likud opponents and establish a more left-leaning coalition. "Sharon has more options than others," he said. "That gives him more room to manoeuvre and better leverage against rivals."