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PA Minister of Religion: IMRA interviewed PA Minister Of Waq And Religious Affairs, Hassan Tahboob, in English on 23 November, 1997. The entire interview follows: IMRA: Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the Mufti of Jerusalem, said recently that the "Al Baraq Wall ", known to Jews as the Western Wall, and the plaza before it, is an Islamic Waqf and that the Wall itself is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque. What is the practical ramification of this status? Tahboob: It was already decided by an international committee that came to Palestine after the events of Baraq in 1929. And there was a case and it was decided that it was Waqf property and it is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque of course. IMRA: What is the practical ramification in terms of the use of that area by the Jews in prayer. Tahboob: They are allowed to pray towards the Wall. That was the decision. They are allowed to face the Wall two meters from it and to pray as they like. IMRA: They have to stay two meters away from the Wall. Tahboob: It is the decision in this way. IMRA: Right now they pray right up against the Wall. Tahboob: Right now everything is by force. IMRA: So the Jews should really be about six feet - two meters - away from the Wall. Tahboob: Two meters. Really. Yes. IMRA: So you think that in the future that will be the set-up. Tahboob: It's supposed to be so. IMRA: Practically speaking, what do you see happening? Will there be some kind of line drawn on the floor before the Wall or will there be a barrier next to the Wall? Tahboob: To every accident there is a solution. Dr. Aaron Lerner, Iraq Hides Arms Data on US-Made Computers WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To conceal its deadliest arms from U.N. weapons inspectors, Iraq has increasingly turned to U.S.-made computers sold in Baghdad since the end of the 1991 Gulf War in violation of international sanctions, the Los Angeles Times reported in its Sunday editions. Quoting U.S. officials and U.N. diplomats, the newspaper said that Iraqi scientists and defense officials are using Western-made computers to transfer data from bulky papers to small disks that can be easily dispersed, making the information difficult for inspectors to track. In addition, they are using computers for research and development in the four categories specifically forbidden under the U.N. resolution ending the war -- nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles. U.N. sources did not disclose the brands or quantity of U.S.-made computers, except to say they make up a significant percentage of what was in use in Iraq, the paper said. "There are not garden-variety computers that you can go down to Radio Shack and buy," the paper said, quoting a former U.S. diplomat. "This requires specialized equipment and programs only available in certain places. Most of the U.S. equipment was probably purchased through third parties to circumvent U.S. companies' more rigorous monitoring of such illegal sales, U.N. and U.S. sources said, according to the newspaper. The use of high-tech equipment underscored how Baghdad continued to keep data beyond the reach of the United Nations, the paper said, adding that President Saddam Hussein's regime was widely suspected of using the three-week gap while U.N. inspectors were out of the country to further disperse data on disks. Peace Research Inquiry The use of computers also reflected the way Iraq used its limited sources to modernize its military capability rather than address humanitarian issues, U.S. and U.N. officials said, according to the report. Peace Research Inquiry As the director of the Institute for Peace Education Ltd in Tel Aviv, I wish to report that we have conducted an extensive search to determine if there has been any expression of peace in the Arabic lanaguage by any official of the Palestine Authority since its inception in May, 1994. Institute for Peace Education Ltd has yet to discover any such expression by any official of the Palestine Authority in the Arabic language that endorses peace with the state of Israel. Our "peace research inquiry" on this matter reached all levels of the Palestine Authority, the media, academic institutions, and political organizations. This inquiry, which lasted exactly one year, was launched one year ago when Institute for Peace Education Ltd dispatched a representative to meet with Arafat and ask him if he would make any expression of peace in the Arabic language. Arafat responded that he does so all the time. We have no record of such. Meanwhile, we asked for any such evidence of expressions of peace in Arabic from the Palestine Authority's ministry of information and from Arafat's ally in Israeli politics, Mr. Uri Avneri of Gush Hashalom. They also could not provide any Palestine Authority expression of peace in the Arabic language. What the Institute for Peace Education Ltd has monitored has been a daily and consistent call throughout 1995, 1996 and 1997 on the Palestine Authority's American government-funded PBC TV and radio networks that call for continuing the military struggle against Zionism, Israel and the Jews. The head of the PBC, Mr. Radwan Abu Ayash, said in a videotaped interview on October 31, 1997 that he was not permitted by the Palestine Authority to broadcast or telecast any message of peace or reconciliation with the state of Israel.
Sara Rosenblum Israeli Government
Complicity in Rabin Assassination The assassination conspiracy of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is bubbling up with terrifying questions that can't be answered by limiting the Shamgar Commission's investigation only to the actual shooting by Yigal Amir. By all appearances both the Israeli police and its most secret intelligence service, the GSS, General Secret Service (Shabak) were both used by the Rabin/Peres government for political mischief. This is familiar to Americans as our history reminds us that often the political parties engaged in "dirty tricks", using such agencies as the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), the CIA, FBI and NIS with illegal orders to investigate or harass the opposition. Those involved in Rabin's assassination will try to protect themselves by suppressing the investigation and destroying evidence. The alleged assassin, Yigal Amir hasn't yet told his version of the Nov.4th events. But, he said after the shooting: "Why are you putting handcuffs on me? I did my job. Now you do yours." (1) Amir seemed to think he was on some special assignment. In court Dec. 3, Amir shouted to newsmen: "Why don't you investigate the death of Rabin's bodyguard? ...The one who yelled the bullets are blanks." (2) (Note! It was later reported that a GSS agent had committed suicide, or was helped to commit suicide) (3) Amir went on to tell the media he knew enough to "to bring down the whole regime" and "the whole business has been a charade." He also said that he would be forgiven "later when people know the whole story." "I didn't think they would start killing people." (4) Were these the ravings of a man out of control or trying to plead innocent. I think neither, because there seems to be much more to the story than has surfaced to date. The following are questions the Shamgar Commission ought to ask:
We Americans have seen our nation assaulted with scandal upon scandal. Political "dirty tricks", the use of our investigative branches to harrass political opponents, illegal support of regional wars ... we Americans have seen it all. Why don't we recognize the same syndrome occurring in Israel? It is with dismay we watch what was once a vigorous, thriving democracy lower itself to adopt such hostile practices as Administrative Detention. This allows the government to scoop up any Jew without charge, without a hearing, without legal counsel and with confinement to solitary. Shmuel Cytryn, an American citizen and a father of 5 young children, has been held like this since Dec. 4. And now PM Shimon Peres has adopted the law of Sedition, which has been declared unconstitutional and a threat to liberty by the U.S. Supreme Court. Indictments of legal protestors, demonizing of the Right and the religious, harassment, arrests in the middle of the night, accusations in the media vilifying the opposition freely, closure of religious sites and confiscation of religious articles... unconscionable violations of civil, human and religious rights and justice has accelerated under Shimon Peres. And the Labor/Meretz is changing the Law of Return to fit its radical philosophy. Labor MK, Dalia Itzik requested that the Attorney General have Nadia Matar, co-chairman of Women in Green, prosecuted for incitement and deported for dramatizing the fallacies, faults and failures of the Labor/Meretz government policies of appeasement and surrender. Because she has inspired the grandmothers, mothers and children to stand up for their rights to a Jewish State, she's been dubbed the Jewish Joan of Arc. No wonder the Left is trying to neutralize her. Former Soviet Refuseniks and Prisoners on Zion, including Ida Nudel, Yosef Mendelevitch, Yosef Begun, Vladimir Slepak and others have called on President Ezer Weizman to intercede and stop the government's blatant human-rights violations and witch-hunts against the right and religious opposition. It wouldn't be shocking to find that Israel's Labor/Meretz government, in order to retain power, staged what was to be a failed assassination intended to arouse sympathy for Rabin. We Americans expect a maximum effort to cover up this scandal to protect important individuals and save the government from crashing. Perhaps for once the Israeli Courts and former Chief Justice Meir Shamgar will not allow the coverup, even if it is intended to preserve the government or for the "sake of the peace Process". Perhaps, too, Congress will no longer follow the dictates of Israel's Foreign Ministry and will hold long-delayed hearings on America's Middle East (real) foreign policy. The excuses from the Administration that such hearing are "Premature", are the same excuses used to get American soldiers into harms' way in Bosnia. Once an Israeli withdrawal from all the Golan Heights is announced, with American troops to provide the security guarantees, it will be too late to hold meaningful hearings. I must close with one observation. It is a tragedy for any nation when its police, army and intelligence services are co-opted by the politicians - for the purposes of staying in power. So many good men and women have been sacrificed to serve the hunger and ambitions of politicians who no longer understand honor, ethics and truth.
As written 19th November, 1997
Avishai Raviv ... TODAY The only reason that we know about Avishai Raviv is that Yigal Amir had a relationship with this agent provacateur. Until the time of the assassination Raviv was an unknown - except to the GSS (Israel's Secret Service) and its head, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Emerging information indicates that both Amir and Raviv were merely small bit players with more important figures in the shadows. The real story is yet to surface. But, the expos, of the Shamgar Report's secret annex reveals that Yitzhak Rabin bore ministerial responsibility for the "incitement" leading to his own assassination. Since there is no longer any doubt that the GSS, with PM Rabin's knowledge, was running Raviv as an agent provacateur, presumably that are numerous other agents also assigned to penetrate and provoke the so-called extreme Right. This operation was ordered under Rabin and Peres, reflecting the views of a Leftist Labor government. The only possible reason for setting up such a macabre operation was to destroy any efforts by the Right to halt the failing agreement called Oslo. Raviv is being cast as an out-of-control agent, operating on his own, who conducted a personal campaign to show the political Right were radical, but the facts speak otherwise. If the GSS, under the direct command of Prime Minister Rabin was playing only one man (Raviv), the effort would have been marginal at best. Clearly, if the Right was to be cast in the role of spoiler, Rabin and the GSS would need many more agents provocateurs who are doubtlessly still operating under deep cover. The Shamgar Commission explicitly avoided questioning the GSS about other agents tasked to discredit the Right. Then there are the political considerations. With dropping polls showing him as a no-win liability for the coming elections, who in the Labor Party would want Rabin out? From Rabin's point of view a dramatic but unsuccessful assassination attempt on his life would increase his lagging position in the polls. This would focus all the nation with him and against the danger he faced from a supposedly out-of-control Right, bringing back the image of the hero defying danger. It was a political gamble but not too surprising, given past incidents in Israeli politics. Then there would be another view and other interests. Who would like to see a staged fake assassination attempt turn real? Who would benefit politically? Obviously, those involved at the highest levels of the GSS and the Labor Party should have been questioned. Or were they supposed to get away with murder? Assuredly, the GSS would never, on its own, agree to assassinate the Prime Minister. But, if its bosses were convinced by the Labor politicians that Rabin was moving toward a level of perceived incompetence as Oslo was failing and would thereby lose the election, they could have considered removing Rabin - "For the Good of the Nation". Remember the political Left were already engaged in a covert black operation, to insure that no politically Right candidate would become Prime Minister. Remember there was a major concurrent operation underway by President Clinton and the State Department to place Shimon Peres in office if they could not have Rabin. Would the sacrifice of one man stand in the way of a US foreign policy dedicated to Oslo and keeping Arab oil nations placated by a diminished Israel? Remember that most of the Arab nations, including especially the PLO backed by the US were relying on the Labor Party to be re-elected and complete all the concessions. For all of them It was vital to have Rabin in the PM's office and, if not him, then Shimon Peres, because both were dedicated to a total withdrawal from the territories, the Golan Heights and significant parts of Jerusalem. Assassination of a failing leader in order to keep control of the levers of power is not new nor surprising. Keeping power is not merely a goal, it is the only goal. Ultra-Leftists like Yossi Sarid who sat on the Knesset Intelligence Committee pressured Shamgar NOT to release the true and complete findings of the Shamgar Commission in real time. What then were these pacifists hiding? Why did the Shamgar Commission go along? Regretably, Shamgar didn't protest his being used for his reputation and credibility as a mask for who may have really precipitated the assassination of Rabin. To protect his reputation as an honest judge, he must either suppress his full report or lie. It seems (or it was made to seem) as if Yigal Amir was provoked by Raviv into being the instrument of what was supposed to be a fake assassination with blank bullets. Putting live rounds in his gun which he thought held only blanks was really not too difficult. More and more information is oozing out about a shooting that may actually have been elaborately staged. This now must be re-investigated by a panel who will not shield any government officials and will not ignore any of the facts for "the Good of the Nation". I wouldn't be surprised to see Yigal Amir killed in prison or Raviv disappear with no trace or body to be found. Both became a liability for those who operated at the highest levels of government and the GSS. There are thousands of unanswered questions and here are a few: Are dozens of Ravivs tasked to be agent provocateurs roaming Israel, creating havoc to smear the Right? What other staged incidents have they already caused in the operation to cast the Right as radicals? Why was only the Right targeted when the Left was also known for its own radicals? Was the GSS the only intelligence agency tasked to stain the Right or were other agencies also involved? Were there other military groups who were assigned by the Rabin/Peres Prime Ministry to conduct their own operations either within the army or against civilians? (Many recall the beatings of elderly and even children when they protested Rabin-Peres-Beilin policies.) We also recall the pre-election ads by military officers who had a Leftist orientation and who supported Labor. Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett were convicted "Sedition" because they were effective leaders in mobilizing the public to depose Rabin and Peres in order to protest Oslo. This was intended to remove the protest leaders in anticipation of a withdrawal on all fronts in what would be called the "Final Settlement". We observed the courts and its judiciary conduct itself under the Rabin/Peres government in a way that indicated political bias against the political Right. Here, too, the trail leads back to a Labor government determined to carry out Oslo no matter what. It would appear that collusion was orchestrated on a massive scale by a Labor government linked to foreign governments who paid for obedience. The US is believed to have funneled considerable amounts of money into the Labor Party to insure that it would win the elections and continue Oslo no matter what its failings. Rabin was dropping in popularity as the nation reeled from PLO killings. Oslo was growing less popular by the day and Netanyahu's star was rising steadily. The US desperately needed Labor to continue Oslo no matter what the cost. Perhaps Rabin was selected to pay that price because Israel's capitulation under the terms of Oslo was more important than the life of one man. This is just in from the Israeli newspaper Hatzofeh: Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein has decided NOT to re-open criminal files against Avishai Raviv that were closed while he was a GSS agent. Let us remember that Rubenstein himself has a background worth noting. When he was employed under Rabin and Peres, he was reportedly the man in the Washington Embassy who turned away Jonathan and Anne Pollard. As PM Netanyahu's Attorney General, he issued the indictment against Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett asking for a 10 year sentence on the spurious charge of Sedition. Clearly, the coverup of Avishai Raviv's activities and his association with various Israeli government administrations and high level party officials on both sides goes on. To protect whom?
Committee on the Middle East U.S. policies in the Middle East have for too long been determined by the power and money of special interest groups as well as by narrow nationalist economic exploitation. This has led to a grossly hypocritical situation in American foreign policy in dealing with the nations and peoples of the Middle East. While the U.S. government constantly professes a strong belief and commitment to democracy, human rights, and national self-determination, far too often the same U.S. government actually supports tyranny, repression, massive arms sales, despotism, and ongoing subjugation. The Committee On The Middle East, COME, is an independent association of concerned individuals, many of whom have personal connections to the Middle East region and many of whom are experts about the region. As an organization COME is primarily concerned with helping the peoples of the Middle East achieve true democracy and self-determination along with safeguarding the human rights and improving the economic conditions of all the peoples in the region. To these ends COME is concerned with helping Americans understand the realities and the complexities of the situation in today's Middle East and with stimulating new American policies that are fully consistent with professed American values. COME's Ten Principles for a new U.S. Middle East foreign policy
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