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Contents:
Does US Concept of PA "reform"
allow for the Murder of Dissidents? The US government has dispatched special envoy David Satterfield to work with the PA to implement "democratic reform". The US and the other funders of the nascent Palestinian Authority are counted among the leading democracies of the world. You would expect a democracy such as the US to require that a respect for human rights and civil liberties would be an integral part of the support that they provide for the developing Palestinian Arab entity. Wrong. A case in point: On August 24, 2002, The Jerusalem Post Arab Affairs correspondent reported that Arafat had ordered 200 of his critics to be rounded up. The expectation is that all 200 dissidents will be executed for their criticism of the Palestinian Authority. Arafat's spin doctors have put out the word that these detainees are "collaborators". Over the past three months, we have asked the US consul in Jerusalem if the US government will ask the PA to refrain from murdering dissidents, as part of its commitment to a process of "democratic reform. ' After all, killing critics does not seem to be appropriate to the democratic process. Yet the consistent response of the US Consul's press attache in Jerusalem is that that the subject of executing critics does not appear on the agenda of democratic reform of the PA that Mr. Satterfield is currently discussing with senior members of the Palestinian Authority. When asked why the policy of executing critics does not appear on the agenda of democratic reform, the press attache to the US Consul consistently reports that he cannot get an answer from the US State Department. Does that mean that the US middle east policy for Palestinian Arab democratic reform would allow for capital punishment for dissent? It certainly looks that way.
Were the People Murdered in
Hebron the Victims of Benyamin Ben Eliezer's Primaries?? A dozen soldiers and combatants, headed by the commander of the Hebron Brigade, Colonel Dror Weinberg, on Friday night paid the price of Fuad Ben-Eliezer's primaries. These casualties are the result of the former defense minister's decision to pull the IDF out of most of Hebron some two weeks ago, only because of primaries' calculations,and Fuad's desire to cast himself as a statesman promoting diplomatic processes. The commander of the Hebron brigade who was killed, Colonel Dror Weinberg, was among the chief opponents in the army of the withdrawal from Hebron. He was not alone. He was supported by nearly the entire military chain of command above him, including the chief of staff, the OC Central Command, the commander of the Judea Division, Brig. Gen. Amos Ben-Avraham. But the leading opponent was Weinberg. He said, as the commander in the field, that the terrorist infrastructure in Hebron had still not been eradicated completely, that the IDF was still capturing wanted men on a daily basis and that an IDF troop withdrawal would undermine its ability to gather intelligence. Hatzofe reported three weeks ago the statements made by high-ranking officers who issued warnings in internal discussions that now sound like veritable prophecies: "Terror in Hebron has not been wiped out yet. As soon as we are no longer there, we won't be able to continue with our 'terrorist harvest' and the terror organization's ability to recover will be far easier." The officers also warned that an IDF withdrawal would result in the loss of intelligence that was vital for the war on terror. "People won't agree to cooperate with us again," they warned. The IDF presented its thoughts but the defense minister had considerations of his own. "Judea First" indeed was the beginning of one of the Palestinians' most stunning successes in the last two years. This article appeared in the November 17th, 2002 issue of HaTzofe
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