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Contents:
Hatred Goes to Summer Camp
#1 Article On Summer Camps In Khan Yunis - 7 July 1998
a. Boy sings: "I call for revolution in my land; we will carry it to the quiet sea; your day is near, occupier; and then we will close accounts; our account has no end in rocks and bullets." b. One of those responsible for the camp on behalf of the "Authority for the Direction of Policy and Concepts" explains that they are training the youngsters in various areas among them "firearms of course."
c. Boy calls out and class responds: #2 Children's Club Program - 19 June 1998
a. Girl sings:
b. Boy sings: #3 Film clip broadcast scores of times in last months "My Country Named Palestine"
Children playing and singing: A girl stops the song and says: "You know what happened in 1948? They took everything! They emptied the room, broke the house, burned the city, changed the names, changed the names . . . They put my heart in a box and closed the box. It is still my country. It is very beautiful. The name of my country is Palestine." At the end of the clip children present themselves by first name and home, among them, Kfar Kassem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa etc.
Source: Palestine Media Review, directed by Itamar Marcus.
Global Intelligence Update Israel radio on Monday, July 13, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly with seven cabinet ministers for the third time on Sunday, to develop a "strategic policy" for dealing with the Arab Israeli population. The secret committee, including intelligence and security officials, reportedly determined that a "tough hand" may be needed to handle an increasing fanatical and fundamentalist tendency among the Arab Israelis, who comprise roughly 18 percent of Israel's population. Israel is feeling pressure from the Palestinians, neighboring Arab states, and even the United States, and is preparing for trouble. Egypt has effectively abandoned Israel and the United States over the impasse in the peace process, and Jordan this weekend also suspended relations with Israel. Jordan's Petra-JNA news agency reported that Jordanian Senator Dhawqan al-Hindawi, head of the Jordanian delegation to the Arab-European Parliamentary Dialogue conference in Damascus, said in a speech to the conference that, "Jordan is currently freezing, without announcement, its dealings with Israel regarding issues stipulated in the peace treaty with Israel until the latter changes its current anti-peace policy and resumes the peace process on the Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese tracks." Jordan's action further paves the way for an Arab summit that has been in the works for the past few months. Syria announced on Monday that it was opposed to an Arab summit until Arab states freeze all ties to Israel and reactivate the Arab economic boycott. Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam told the London-based Arabic newspaper "Al-Quds al-Arabi" that the 1996 Arab summit in Cairo had "adopted secret binding resolutions, stipulating a freeze in the normalization with Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his expansionist policies, the construction of settlements, and the destruction of the peace process." With relations with Egypt and now with Jordan souring, Israel is running out of friends in the region. The United States is also not hiding its frustration with Israel. On Monday, Netanyahu said Israel only awaited Palestinian adoption of commitments on Israeli security before it would accept the U.S. plan for troop withdrawal from the West Bank. Furthermore, he claimed, "In the recent days, we have made a significant progress in our understanding with the United States." But responding to the Prime Minister's comments, U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin said, "The ball is not in the Palestinian court. The ball is in the court of the Israelis to try to work with the Palestinians and work with us . . ." In a meeting following Netanyahu's speech, the Prime Minister and his security cabinet once again postponed a decision on withdrawal from the West Bank. In a last ditch effort to forge an agreement, the United States has called for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, and has reportedly threatened to abandon its role as mediator if talks do not show positive results. Both sides have agreed to hold a meeting, but the Palestinians have refused to reopen negotiations on the scope of the Israeli withdrawal. The Palestinian position is that the current U.S.-backed plan to turn over 13 percent is a compromise, and if negotiations are reopened, they will begin with their stated desire for control of 40 percent of the West Bank. The London-based Arabic newspaper "Al-Zaman" reported on July 10 that ten days of secret Israeli-Palestinian talks had concluded in a European city, perhaps Oslo, and had ended in failure. The Israeli side, which supposedly included an advisor to Netanyahu and the deputy head of Mossad, reportedly turned down Palestinian compromise offers of 12 or 11 percent Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, and instead held firm to an offer of only a nine percent withdrawal. If this report is true, the prospects for talks later this week are grim. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on Monday said that the planned talks were a "waste of time." He told the UAE newspaper "Al-Ittihad" that "matters are at such a dangerous point they cannot be saved by negotiations here or there." He told the newspaper "Al-Hayat" that he did not expect a solution to the West Bank situation by the end of July, and that the "general feeling" among members of the Clinton administration was that Washington would abandon the negotiations with Israel at the end of the month, whatever the result. Finally, Radio Monte Carlo reported on Sunday that a group of 1,000 Islamic Jihad members met July 11 in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Shati. At the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah al-Shami, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, reportedly called for renewed suicide operations against Israel. As its plans for dealing with Arab Israelis reveal, Israel is scared. It is losing the support of Egypt, Jordan, and the United States, and its Arab neighbors are drawing closer together, preparing for a summit to devise a common Arab response to the stalled peace process. Parallel to plans for an Arab summit are hints of an "Arab NATO." Meanwhile, the potential for another Intefadeh is increasing, and radicals are preparing for a suicide bombing campaign. The revelation of Israeli planning for internal trouble says a number of things. First, it is a signal to Arabs that Israel will take a very hard line against a renewal of violence within Israel. But moreover, the existence of Netanyahu's secret committee reveals a rush to address the country's strategic weaknesses. As we wrote in our June 30 Red Alert (http://www.stratfor.com/services/gintel/region/stories/063098.html), Israel is undergoing a fundamental strategic review. Israelis have long prepared for medium to high intensity warfare--armor and air battles. They now appear to be shifting to a U.S.-like, two-pronged strategy of deterrence combined with unconventional, low intensity conflict. Israel's plans to purchase submarines capable of launching missiles with nuclear warheads is the deterrent side. Preparations for the Intefadeh are the other side. Israel can not stand another six months of news footage of soldiers firing plastic bullets at stone-throwing children. It can not tolerate suicide bombers destroying buses and markets. The question is, how can Israel stop it? Israel can attempt a total lock-down of the occupied territories, but can Israel also detain 18 percent of its population? It can attempt a decapitation attack, arresting or killing the leaders of the Palestinian unrest, but complete success at this strategy is nearly impossible, and new heads grow. It can attempt to infiltrate and disrupt the new Intefadeh, also a difficult and possibly futile task. Or, Israel can return to the table. However the negotiations go, Israel is in a rush to revise its strategic doctrine to meet reality. Yes, Israel is scared, but Israel's advantage is that, when it panics, it takes action to rectify the situation. Still unknown is whether Israel can complete preparations ahead of the Arabs. 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Interview with Convicted Illegal Israeli Arms Merchant IMRA Introduction Nahum Manbar, a product of the Labor movement who contributed heavily to the campaigns of many in the Labor Party - including Yitzchak Rabin, was sentenced recently for selling material to Iran for the manufacture of non-conventional weapons. His ties to the party were further illustrated when a Labor MK testified as a character witness during the sentencing hearing that Manbar deserved a break since he contributed to building a memorial to the assassinated Rabin. Before sentencing, Prime Minister Netanyahu told the press that Manbar's crime was without precedent. Defense attorney Zichroni, charged that a former member of his defense team, Pninat Yanai, had an illicit relationship with the senior judge on the case, Amnon Strashnov, and supplied information used in prosecuting Manbar. Through the alleged relationship with the judge, Yanai is alleged to have learned that the judge was in contact with Prime Minister Netanyahu during the course of the case. The entire story has been labeled the "Manbar-Strashnov Affair". All of the claims have been denied. Manbar's relations with the top flight politicians in Israel, and in particular with the heads of the Labor Party, heated the flames of the debate which took place over the Strashnov Affair. A leak came out from around Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu claiming that the previous prime ministers, Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres, declined to act against Manbar because of his contributions to the Labor Party. In the meantime this balloon was loudly exploded, when all the heads of the legal system made it clear that the investigation of Manbar's activities already began during Rabin's period, and when it became clear in a conversation recorded by Manbar's wife Francine, that Pninat Yanai knew from Netanyahu's spokesman, Shai Bazak, of the intention to defame the heads of the Labor Party even before the end of the trial. Manbar himself has no interest in relating to the political gain which was attempted to be made from his trial. But he certainly has an interest in tying his name, as much as possible, to the heads of the Israeli government. Question: Who did you meet with and why? Manbar: I met with Peres at least three times. Once in the presence of MK Daliah Itzik. I had some suspicions. I felt that there were people, who for reasons I can't detail now, painted me in the wrong colors, and I wanted for Peres to allay these concerns. Peres wasn't the only one I met. I hosted Mrs. Leah Rabin in France with my wife. Eight days before Rabin was assassinated I was invited to a gala ball organized by the Tel Aviv Museum which I contributed to. I sat at the same table as Police Inspector General Gabi Last, who was then deputy commander of the police, and with Leah Rabin, and also Yitzchak Rabin himself joined us for a quarter hour. So I ask you, is it logical that a prime minister sits at the same table with someone who he knows is being investigated by the Mossad? It could only be if the information which that same prime minister has made it clear that there was nothing against me. Question: Peres confirms that he met with you, but he claims that he doesn't recall the topics of the conversations and their nature. Manbar: Peres says that he doesn't remember me. And I say that that he remembers me very well. I met him also an additional time regarding the establishment of "tolerance square" in Paris. But I don't want just to talk about members of the Labor Party and not just Shimon Peres. Suddenly they don't remember me. Everyone is running away from me. One day they will yet return. After I am exonerated. But then I won't want them back.
Al-Ahram:
by Mohamed Sid-Ahmed Excerpts A nagging question that refuses to go away is whether Arab political forces can continue to maintain a total boycott of their Israeli counterparts at a time official Arab parties are engaged in a peace process with Israel. The question has become even more urgent since Netanyahu came to power, not least because the main argument he uses to justify not pulling out of the Occupied Territories is that the Arab states are not democratic, that they do not have solid institutions, that they have no scruples about resorting to military coups d'Žtat and that if Israel were to implement the 'land for peace' trade-off it could well end up with neither land nor peace. The indiscriminate boycott of all Israeli political forces consolidates Netanyahu's argument. An effective way of countering it would be to develop relations with forces inside Israel which accept the restoration of occupied Arab territories and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Surprisingly, however, all attempts made so far to establish contacts with the 'peace camp' in Israel have had only a limited impact. Moreover, it is a fact that Netanyahu enjoys wide popularity in Israel despite his blunders, mistakes and scandals. In his article entitled Netanyahu's Safety Belt published in this month's issue of Foreign Affairs, Ehud Sprinzak, professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, calls the Israeli prime minister's continued popularity "the great paradox of Israeli politics today" . . . . The most salient development in Israel in the recent period has been the shift in the political balance of power in favour of the Jewish religious forces at the expense of the traditional Zionist forces. Today, the newly powerful ultra-Orthodox forces are more concerned with their Jewish identity than with the Zionist solution of the Jewish problem. Sprinzak is sceptical about the possibility of any solution of the conflict under Netanyahu. He does not believe, however, that Netanyahu will always enjoy the support he now gets. He writes that "unlike the Israeli right's hard core, which is ready to fight for the land of Israel and to accept the concomitant sacrifices, most Israelis are opposed to spilling blood to keep the West Bank or maintain Gush Emunim's settlements". Still, Sprinzak believes that the alternative to Netanyahu need not be a Labour-led government, but could be a government led by "a less tainted Likud figure like Olmert, Jerusalem's ambitious mayor," who could pre-empt upcoming disasters by accepting a territorial compromise. In such a context, the soft right could become a bridge between the moderate wing of the Likud and supporters of peace on the left. This, of course, is a rather optimistic scenario, presupposing a dialogue between religious forces on either side of the confrontation line taking precedence over the traditional confrontation between pan-Arabism and Zionism. For a long time, hopes of a breakthrough towards peace were pinned on leftist forces on both sides of the barricades. Then came talk of the secular forces being the best equipped to achieve that objective. Now the task has been assigned to the conservative religious forces, who are totally out of touch with the requirements of the present so-called 'globalistic' world. Actually, it is important for the Arabs to prove themselves capable of becoming part of that world: the question is whether they can reach that objective better through communication with Israel or by remaining totally aloof from it. It will probably prove necessary to explore both courses concomitantly. How this can be achieved will need much creative thinking. Editorial, Al-Ahram Weekly, 23th - 29th July, 1998 Excerpts A foiled car bombing attempt in West Jerusalem last Sunday should be seen as a warning of the mayhem expected to erupt in the event of the total collapse of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks . . . . While the Palestinians have accepted a US proposal for Israeli withdrawal from 13 per cent of the West Bank, Binyamin Netanyahu remains adamant in his rejection of the plan. He is simply turning a deaf ear to serious warnings by American, Egyptian and other leaders about the dire consequences of a complete breakdown in negotiations. President Hosni Mubarak has voiced strong fears of an uncontrollable outbreak of violence and acts of terror, not only in the Middle East but also in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. American officials have also sounded the alarm. Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk did not mince his words, describing the situation as "very serious" and warning that "we're in the end-game." In fact, Washington appears to be in a quandary: slighted by its ally's rejection of its peace plan, but unable or unwilling to act against Netanyahu because of the strong pro-Israel lobby in the United States. Casting about for a way out, Washington proposed direct Palestinian-Israeli talks without US participation . . . . Washington is distancing itself from Israel without upsetting the Israeli lobby with outright action to pressure Netanyahu, such as a full official disclosure of the US peace plan. All indications are that Netanyahu is not budging and that the renewed Palestinian-Israeli talks will get nowhere. Netanyahu will have only himself to blame if a new Intifada, more violent than the 1987 movement, breaks out in the Occupied Territories, with fallout elsewhere.
by Mariz Tadros Early on Saturday morning, Mona's mother heard that her sister-in-law was going to have her two girls, aged 11 and 12, circumcised. "When Mona found out, she told me that she, too, wanted to be circumcised like her cousins. She was so happy when I told her that I'd take her to be circumcised along with them." Female circumcision, which is the excision of the clitoris and part or all of the labia minora, is rarely referred to as anything but as tahara, or "purification". Mona Abdel-Hafez died Saturday night in a private hospital in the northern suburb of Madinet El-Salam. Mona's mother, who lives in a shanty Ain Shams neighbourhood, recounts the incidents that took place that night. At 7:30 p.m., doctors administered anaesthetics to the first of the three girls, but when they began operating on her, her screams were so loud that they gave her another dose to relieve the pain. She consequently remained unconscious until the next morning. Doctors were in a rush to finish, so when it was Mona's turn, they gave her two injections right away, one after the other. That was when the complications began. When her uncle insisted on knowing what was wrong, he was told plainly by the doctors -- there were three of them -- that she was dead. "Then they told us to take the body home and not to give them any hassle. When we objected, they tried to convince us that she was unconscious and that we should take her out of the hospital, but my brother informed the police," said Mona's mother, in tears. She is a widow and Mona was her only child. "She was going into fifth grade next year; you should have seen her, she was such a brilliant student," she cried. The mother was surprised to learn that the operation is banned in both public and private hospitals. "This is the first time we hear this today. We are poor and uneducated women; we have never heard that it is banned. If it does harm to a woman's body, why did the doctors not tell us so?" she lashed out. The doctors charged LE80 for each circumcision. One woman, a neighbour, interrupted: "We have been circumcising our girls from the dawn of time at the hands of midwives and barbers, and this has never happened except at the hands of doctors." Many of the women agreed. To them, the idea that some women may not be "purified" seems not only unimaginable, but also absurd. "Girls have to be circumcised, otherwise their sexuality will be uncontrolled," explained one of the mourning women. "If they are not circumcised, no man will agree to marry them." "Even if a man is sure of his bride's chastity, he will be outraged when he finds out that she has not been circumcised. He probably will take her to a doctor himself to make sure she is circumcised," another woman added. "To circumcise a girl is to obliterate the faintest possibility that she will grow up to be unchaste." A man who arrived to convey condolences said that since the days of Adam and Eve, all men and women have been circumcised, "and now they tell us that the government has prohibited the practice; you must be joking." He added that he was aware that Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, issued a fatwa (religious ruling) that the practice is not obligatory under Islam. But the man said he was a devoted follower of the late Sheikh Mohamed Metwalli El-Shaarawi, who stressed several times that girls must be circumcised. Among the mourning men, the judgement was unanimous: it was the doctors' fault; they should have been more careful with the anaesthetics. Officers at Madinet El-Salam police station appear to be in agreement. The police report charged the doctors with negligence of duty while performing the operation. Nobody at the police station was aware that an order by the State Council, the highest administrative court, had banned the performance of the operation in public and private hospitals and clinics. A medical examiner's report stated that Mona died of cardiac arrest that resulted from circulatory failure. The doctors were released on a bail of LE100 each. Next morning, visitors to the private hospital where Mona died were confused when they found it totally deserted, except for one nursing attendant who said that all the doctors were away and that "there are no patients right now." The prosecution has ordered an investigation and Minister of Health Ismail Sallam has announced that the necessary legal action will be taken against the doctors. They will also be held accountable before the Doctors' Association which will conduct its own investigation. If found guilty, the doctors may face up to three years in prison. Dr Seham Abdel-Salam, from the FGM Task Force (a coalition of NGOs and individuals researching and lobbying against the practice) said that she hopes that Mona's death, though a tragedy in itself, will provide additional proof that female genital mutilation (FGM) is not safe. Since 1994, the FGM Task Force has recorded more than 17 cases of FGM-related deaths that were published in newspapers, "in addition to the many, many who have died at the hands of midwives, barbers or doctors that we never heard of." The majority of circumcision operations are performed by the local midwife or barber, but some mothers believe that if the girl is taken to the doctor, it will be safer and less painful. In Abdel-Salam's opinion, this is an illusion, because research has shown that having a doctor perform the operation is by no means safer. If the doctor administers anaesthetics to the patient, it is only to make his job easier and not to relieve the patient's pain. "After all, it is easier for him to cut an unresisting, unconscious girl than one who is crying, screaming and trying to escape. But from our research, it has been shown that once the effects of the anaesthetics wear off, the pain that these girls feel is tremendous," she said. "It is sad that the level of awareness about the harm caused by this ritual is still so low, but it is so difficult to change a tradition that has been upheld for thousands of years," she added.
by Edward Said [Heading:] US Foreign Policy Depends Purely on the Above [title]. And it will continue to do so as long as we all concur, writes Edward Said. When it comes to Israel (leaving aside Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Bosnia, Chile, Iran, Grenada, Panama, and many other places where the US bears responsibility for international terrorism) there is a sublime sense constantly projected that the US is on the side of the right, justice, morality and peace. All challenges to that view are considered terrorism, unless Israel does it. . . . The trouble is that as Arabs we never seem willing to engage the US intellectually and morally in ways that highlight the crimes committed against us. I have long said that the dismal ignorance of the US that exists in the Arab world -- an ignorance blithely disconnected to the system of US exploitation and its organised cruelties against the non-white peoples of the world -- makes us prey to the illusion that America is the only arbiter, the last superpower, the power with the greatest chance of giving us our due. At the core of our difficulty is the lamentable disunity of the Arab world, where rulers think in terms of the narrowest interest and no concern is given to the way in which Arab states are used against each other, traduced, robbed , punished and endlessly manipulated. To the official US we remain only "the Arabs", an undifferentiated mass of turban-wearing nomads much given to fanaticism and violence. . . . America cannot be confronted by brave slogans and the purchase of more new weapons from it. Like everything else in this secular world of ours the US has to be faced in detail, its policies exposed, its positions disallowed and unaccepted. What else is the unseemly begging directed at the US to continue its putrefying "peace process" now, after Netanyahu and the US have made (as they always intended to) a shambles of the whole thing, what else is this indecent appeal to revive the process but a shabby admission of impotence and acquiescence? Why don't the Arab states in their greater wisdom declare their own peace plan -- in which the whole world concurs -- and prove to the whole world that no amount of American chicanery or cruelty will deflect us from our resolve? I suppose that to wait for such determination is like waiting for Arab leaders with policy intellectuals and makers in tow, to come to the conclusion that if we need anything now it is a complete reevaluation of our policies vis-a-vis the United States, led by a critical evaluation of such arch-villains as Henry Kissinger.
Hebron Situation Report The last months of PA administration in Hebron have witnessed the continued conflict between the Jewish and Arab communities of that troubled city. This Belfast of the Middle East is rapidly moving toward armed confrontation. This is a brief update of the current situation. Human Rights During the last few months human rights violations against local Palestinians by their own Police and Security apparatus have increased. Dissident voices have essentially been silenced. There is now a feeling of fear and apathy on the part of the Arab residents of PA controlled Hebron. The violence against the Jewish community has become a manner of PA policy rather than a spontaneous outburst of emotions. These attacks are carried out with the tacit approval of the Palestinian Police and sometimes under their direct control. In the past, there have been many incidents of the activists being given a financial stipend for participating in violent demonstrations against the Jewish Community. In the Israeli controlled areas, there has been no improvement in the areas of house demolitions and administrative detention. With callous disregard for the issues at stake, the Israeli Civil Administration continues the thoughtless policies of the Israeli Government in destroying Palestinian homes. For each new home destroyed a potential terrorist cell is created. The Jewish community of Hebron has also suffered. The daily attacks launched against the Jewish community by a small minority of Palestinian activists continue to keep the situation unstable. These attacks have escalated from stone throwing to shooting at Jewish houses and cars. The fact that the PA encourages this has not been lost on the Jewish Community. The feeling that the IDF is helpless to protect them is giving credibility to the fanatic minority who advocate direct action against the Arabs. At the same time the Jews are being alienated from the mainstream Israeli community who resent their presence in Hebron as being an unnecessary provocation and military expense. The result is that the Hebron Jews are sinking into a ghetto mentality and are becoming increasingly more unstable and prone to acts of counter violence. Weapons The Jewish community has always been provided with weapons by the IDF. These weapons are generally defensive in nature, consisting of surplus IDF army arms, and licensed pistols purchased legally on the Israeli market. In addition to this, the Jewish Community has the full protection and backing of IDF regular Army and Police units that are stationed both inside and near the Jewish Communities. The PA has far exceeded the agreed upon limits which were set on their possession of semi-automatic weapons. They now possess a variety of assault rifles, sub-machine guns, machine guns, mortars, anti-tank weapons and grenades. In addition to the massive Palestinian Police build up under Lt. Col. Abu Sine, there is a sizable independent unit of President Arafat's Force 17 operating as a law onto itself. Beside this, unknown numbers of Col. Rejoub's security forces and local PLO security unites under Gabril Al Backrin, the HAMAS and PFLP militias, operate more or less openly in the Hebron area. It has been estimated that there are between 3000 and 5000 serviceable weapons in the Hebron area. It is an open secret that weapons can also be bought under the indifferent eye of the PA in from various local arms merchants. According to an independent Security Analysis, the situation is rapidly deteriorating and has reached a point where an outbreak of armed conflict between the Jewish and Arab communities is considered only a matter of time. For experienced observers, there is no longer any doubt that some trivial incident will set off the Hebron powder keg.
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