[imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1401 (14 messages)

imra Fri May 26 00:31:24 2006 Volume 2 : Issue 1401

In this issue of the imra daily Digest:

Our World: Saying no to Olmert
TOUGH LOVE FROM ISRAEL'S FRIENDS
Excerpts:Violence by government.
Intractable Hizbullah 25 May 2006
US denies Israel ability to have edge
over Arabs buying same jet
Saudi To Buy 72 Eurofighters for $58 Billion
Demo For Pollard on Yom Yerushalayim
PALESTINIAN MEDIA CONDEMN 'WAR CRIMES',
AND 'BLOODY MASSACRES' BY 'TEL AVIV,'
IGNORING ISRAEL'S 'OUTSTRETCHED HAND'
Fateh, Hamas Agree to Defuse Flame of Tension and Turmoil
President Abbas would Put Prisoners'
Document into Referendum
Text: King of Jordan's Independence Day address:
relations with others never at expense of relations
with Arab or Islamic nation
[Personal opinion]Kadima MK: Jewish area
of Hebron will grow, be connected to Israel
Two Reports: Palestinian Security Chaos
and Proliferation of Small Arms
The Islamist Threat to Jordan - Nibras Kazimi
[Right of Return, comeplte withdrawal, etc.]
Full text: National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Our World: Saying no to Olmert

Our World: Saying no to Olmert
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 22, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148287842900&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

If all goes as planned, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meets today with US
President George W. Bush in the White House, several thousand protesters
from around the US and Canada will be across the Mall by the US Senate
protesting Olmert's visit. These will not be the standard Israel haters from
the Left or the Islamist crowd. They will be neither neo-Nazis nor
Communists. Rather the planned protest is being organized by Israel's
staunchest Jewish and Christian supporters.

The people getting on buses to travel to Washington to protest Olmert's
visit believe that Olmert's planned withdrawal from some 95 percent of Judea
and Samaria and partition of Jerusalem are suicidal for Israel and will have
a devastating impact on US national security. As they note in their press
release, Olmert "seeks to secure the approval of President Bush to carry out
more Jewish expulsions and giving over of land to Hamas (a Teheran-sponsored
terrorist group), actions that totally undermine America's war on terror."

Voices from inside of the Bush Administration claim that Olmert's planned
withdrawal is "a done deal." The relevant administration officials argue
there it would be futile for the US to register any objection to Olmert's
plan because Olmert and his government are wholly committed to carrying it
out.

But the "plan" is anything but a done deal. The mass expulsion of Israelis
from their homes in Judea and Samaria has not begun. The security fence
whose completion is supposed to precede the enactment of the mass expulsions
is far from complete. Indeed its route has yet to be finalized. The IDF has
made no plans of any kind for defending Israel from the indefensible 1949
armistice lines. Top level Jordanian government officials have voiced
serious concern to US lawmakers, Israeli officials and the media about the
ramifications of Olmert's plan for the survivability of the Hashemite
regime. It is simply
disingenuous to say that it is too late for the US to consider opposing
Olmert's plan.

ASIDE FROM that, over the past 58 years, the US has never considered
anything that Israel has done to be "a done deal" if it hasn't agreed that
it should be a done deal. In 1956 for instance, Israel conquered the Sinai
Peninsula. Then prime minister David Ben-Gurion got on the radio and
announced joyously that Israel would never leave the Sinai. Washington had
other ideas. Several days later, after some overtly hostile strong arming
from then president Dwight D. Eisenhower and his advisors, Ben-Gurion got on
the radio and announced that Israel would be withdrawing from the Sinai
forthwith.

In 1999, Israel finalized an agreement to sell three Phalcon spy planes to
China. The Chinese started making their payments. Then president Bill
Clinton summoned then prime minister Ehud Barak to the White House for
urgent consultations the day before a planned visit to Jerusalem from
China's leader, and Barak cancelled the deal. So there is no credibility to
the claim that the US cannot stop an Israeli government from doing what it
has its heart set on doing.

THE QUESTION is not whether the US can weigh in on the issue. The question
is whether the US should intervene. To determine the answer to this question
it is important to keep certain truths in mind. First, Olmert maintains that
the election results that propelled him to the Prime Minister's Office were
proof that he has public support for his planned withdrawal. Yet, as Hillel
Halkin pointed out this month in Commentary, the elections were anything but
a referendum regarding Olmert's plan.
The election results, which gave Olmert's Kadima faction less than a quarter
of the seats in the Knesset, were a sign that Israel's body politic is
unraveling. The electorate's fragmentation was made clear both by record low
voter turnout and by the dismemberment of the major parties like Likud and
Labor and even Kadima to the benefit of sectoral parties like Shas, Yisrael
Beitenu and the Pensioners Party. During the campaign Kadima registered its
greatest losses of support after Olmert began discussing his plan to
withdraw from Judea and Samaria.

Yet even if Olmert did not receive a mandate for his withdrawal plan from
the Israeli voters, he is the legally elected prime minister. In the eyes of
many of Israel's supporters in America, it is wrong for the US to
second-guess the wisdom of the Israeli leadership. While in theory this
position is correct, it comes apart at the seams when the ramifications of
Olmert's plans for US national security are taken into account.

Knowledgeable sources in Washington policy circles maintain that in the two
weeks preceding Olmert's visit to Washington, Israeli officials were asked
to allay American concerns regarding the security consequences of Olmert's
plan. Specifically, Israeli officials have been called upon to explain how
Judea and Samaria will be prevented from following the model set in Gaza
when Israel's retreat enabled the transformation of Gaza into a base for
international terrorists along similar lines to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Israel's military attache in Washington, Maj. Gen. Dan Harel was reportedly
sent to the White House to dispel these concerns. It should be recalled that
Harel commanded last summer's retreat from Gaza. Harel was lionized at the
time by the Israeli media for successfully implementing the mass expulsion
of Israeli civilians from Gaza while averting civil war.

Yet Harel has never been called to account for the fact that he made no
plans for Israel to defend itself from the threats that - as foreseen -
arose from Gaza and from the Sinai in the aftermath of the retreat. Because
of his failure, IDF forces in the Southern Command were left without
contingency plans for contending with the transformation of Gaza into a base
for global jihad and without adequate means to secure Ashkelon and the other
communities bordering Gaza from the daily missile, rocket and mortar attacks
to which they have been subjected since the retreat.

This is relevant because Harel reportedly told his US interlocutors that
they have no reason to worry about the consequences of Olmert's plan because
it only involves the mass expulsion of Israeli civilians from Judea and
Samaria. The IDF, he said will retain its current positions in the areas.

WHETHER OR not Harel realized it at the time, he was not being wholly
truthful to his American audience. Even if the plan today is for the IDF to
retain control of the areas in which the civilians are set to be expelled,
and to retain their present deployments, any educated observer of Israel's
political and cultural dynamics will attest that there is no way that this
can happen.

If Olmert expels tens of thousands of Israeli citizens from their homes, he
will destroy the entire domestic rationale for the IDF deployment. As was
the case in Lebanon, radical leftists within Israel will rise up and demand
a full retreat. For its part, the nationalist camp will become so alienated
by the expulsions that in the best case scenario, its members will simply
cease to identify with the state. They will not support any military
activities in the heartland of Jewish civilization that the state ethnically
cleansed of all Jewish presence.

Aside from this, whether the IDF remains or not, the Israeli destruction of
Israeli towns and villages will be broadcast throughout the world and be
celebrated - rightly - as a strategic victory of jihad. Zionism isn't about
the IDF, it is about Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. Israeli
destruction of Israeli villages in the Land of Israel is the death of
Zionism and our enemies know it even if we insist on denying this basic
truth.

AND SO we return to our starting point. Olmert will meet Bush today and
present to him a plan that will unravel Israeli society, which was already
dangerously fragmented by the withdrawal from Gaza.

He will present to him a plan that is based upon the anti-Semitic notion
that Jews should be prohibited from living in certain
places because they are Jews, and the perverse notion that a Palestinian
state founded on the principle of lebensraum and racial purity because by
definition no Jews will be allowed to live in Palestine, will be capable of
living at peace one day with the Jewish state.

Olmert will present a plan that provides a strategic victory to the forces
of global jihad in a war they wage not only against Israel but against the
US and the Western world as a whole because they will see Israel destroying
itself under the gun of their terror and enabling the establishment of yet
another base for global terrorists.

Given all this, the question of whether or not the US should object to
Olmert's plan is superseded by the question of how the US should make its
rejection of this plan known to Olmert and whether its objection should
similarly be communicated to the Israeli public.

Any ambiguity on this issue to Olmert; any retreat behind disingenuous
statements about "done deals," will be nothing less than the revocation of
the cardinal US strategies for winning this war: the advance of liberal
values and the denial of bases of operation to global terrorists.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: TOUGH LOVE FROM ISRAEL'S FRIENDS

TOUGH LOVE FROM ISRAEL'S FRIENDS
By Jeff Jacoby The Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
[for annotated version:
www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/05/24/tough_love_from_israels_friends/ ] Ehud Olmert's first visit to Washington as Israel's prime minister wasnothing if not eventful. What with meeting President Bush at the WhiteHouse, addressing a joint session of Congress, and taking part in all theother social and substantive activities that get packed into a Washingtonsummit, Olmert probably didn't have much time to hang out and watch TV. Sohe may not have seen a new television ad that takes aim directly at Israel'songoing campaign of territorial surrender. The ad pulls no punches. Israeli withdrawals from south Lebanon andGaza, it says, have played into Al Qaeda's hands and increased the terrorthreat "for Israel and for us." Olmert's proposed "convergence" program inthe West Bank -- a follow-up to last year's unilateral retreat from the GazaStrip, when 21 communities were destroyed and 9,000 Israelis wereexpelled -- will only intensify that threat. "Albert
Einstein definedinsanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting differentresults," the ad bitingly observes. "We cannot afford any more of thisinsanity." Condemnation of the Jewish state by its detractors is nothing new, butthis TV spot isn't the work of an Israel-basher. It is part of a campaignlaunched by the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think tankcommitted to pursuing international peace through American strength. Foryears, the center has staunchly supported Israel's right to defend itselfagainst its enemies. Why is such a longtime ally so publicly opposing thenew prime minister and his signature policy? The same question might be asked of Joseph Farah, the editor ofWorldNetDaily and one of Israel's most outspoken Christian defenders. In arecent column headlined "I give up on Israel," Farah said he was appalled byOlmert's determination to hand over more than 90 percent of the West Bank tothe Palestinian Authority, describing it as a "national
retreat" and"appeasement of the global jihad." Last summer's evacuation from Gaza, hewrote, was an "unmitigated disaster." Hamas, an Islamist terrororganization, now controls the territory and is turning it into aTaliban-style haven to be used as a staging ground for further attacks. Toreplicate such a debacle on an even larger scale in the West Bank is notstatesmanship, but stupidity. "I'm through making excuses for Israel," a disillusioned Farah declared."I'm through trying to understand the incomprehensible moves of aself-flagellating nation." It isn't only in TV spots and on the Internet that Israel's plans foranother destabilizing self-expulsion are being blasted. Protestersdescended on Capitol Hill yesterday, some traveling hundreds of miles tourge the Bush administration to refuse its support for another Israeliretreat. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, former CIA director JamesWoolsey pointed out that a "West Bank terrorist state" -- the foreseeableresult of the
Olmert plan -- would mortally threaten not only Israel but itsmoderate Arab neighbor, Jordan, as well. "Israeli concessions will also makethe US look weak," Woolsey warned. Washington's approval of yet anotherterritorial surrender to Hamas and its allies will signal that we are"reverting to earlier behavior patterns -- fleeing Lebanon in 1983,acquiescing in Saddam Hussein's destruction of the Kurdish and Shi'iterebels in 1991, fleeing Somalia in 1993." Those behavior patterns eventuallyled to 9/11. In a democracy, it is said, people get the leaders they deserve. Israelivoters chose Olmert in a free and fair election, knowing full well that heintended to "disengage" from the enemy by giving up more land. If that enemythreatened only the Israel, perhaps a case could be made for lettingIsraelis lie in the bed they themselves have made. But Israel's enemy -- a murderous Palestinian regime and theinternational terror network of which it is a part -- is our enemy, too. "ByAllah,"
proclaimed Sheik Ibrahim Mudayris in a sermon broadcast onPalestinian TV, "the day will come and we will rule America. . . . We shallrule the entire world." When Florida teenager Daniel Wultz was horriblywounded in a recent suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, terrorist leaders rejoicedthat an American was among the casualties. After Daniel died of his injurieslast week, Abu Nasser of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades cheered the news as "agift from Allah" and promised Americans "more Daniel Wultzes and more painand sorrow." Israel cannot afford to succumb once again to the delusion thatretreating in the face of terror will bring safety and peace of mind. Warsare not won by evacuations, as Winston Churchill told his British countrymenafter the rescue from Dunkirk in 1940. Israelis, weary after so many yearsunder siege, wish to pretend otherwise? Then it is up to their friends totell them the truth.(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Excerpts:Violence by government.
Intractable Hizbullah 25 May 2006

Excerpts:Violence by government. Intractable Hizbullah 25 May 2006

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 18-24 May '06:"Towards zero tolerance"
HEADING:"The Interior Ministry not only remains unrepentant over the harsh
tactics adopted to disperse demonstrators,,but threatens more of the same,
reports Gamal Essam El-Din "
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"tactics ... by security forces ... attracted widespread condemnation"

"refused to allow an open debate on police violence against the
demonstrators"

" 'alleging a wide gap exists between the regime and the Egyptian people' "

" 'Ther real aim (of protesters) is to destabilize the country and leave it
prey to foreign forces'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-EXCERPTS:
The heavy-handed tactics adopted by security forces as they attempted to
disperse protesters demonstrating in support of... two pro-reform judges ...
attracted widespread condemnation from civil society organisations and
opposition MPs.
Following the publication in newspapers of photographs of Central Security
forces and plainclothes officers beating journalists and confiscating
cameras, Press Syndicate Chairman Galal Aref said ...that "the syndicate was
determined to pursue all legal channels in upholding the rights of its
members."
Abir El-Askari,... told New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) that she was
"kidnapped by plainclothes police officers" who put her in a police van and
drove her to Al-Sayeda Zeinab police station "where they tore my clothes and
continued to slap and punch me". . . .University professors and lawyers
both expressed their solidarity with the pro-reform judges, criticising
Thursday's police tactics.
HRW has called on President Hosni Mubarak to condemn Thursday's police
violence and ensure that those responsible are prosecuted.
Meanwhile, on Sunday more than 90 MPs belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood,
Wafd and Karama (dignity) parties walked out of a parliamentary session
after speaker Fathi Sorour refused to allow an open debate on police
violence against the demonstrators. ...The MPs argued the committee's
discussions would be meaningless as long as Interior Minister El-Adli
refused to attend .... the confrontation is symptomatic of the enormous gap
that exists between the regime and the Egyptian people.
Sherdy's words elicited a furious response from NDP MPs who began to heap
praise on Interior Ministry officials and denounce Kifaya members as foreign
agents.
NDP spokesman Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin said .... "It is a shame that some
judges have become fond of discussing political issues on Arab satellite TV
channels like Al-Jazeera,"...
...NDP MP, said that "the security forces cannot stand by as groups like
Kifaya attempt to turn Egypt into another Iraq."
... Article 147 of the Penal Code authorises security forces to act swiftly
against any groups seeking to resist the authorities and spread chaos.
...vowed that the police would repeat last Thursday's tactics if necessary.
"The last thing on the mind of these protesters is to show solidarity with
the judges. Their real aim is to destabilise the country and leave it prey
to foreign forces," said Diaaeddin.
He accused dissent groups of launching a "retaliatory war" against the
security which "stands firm against their conspiracies'.. . .

+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 25 May '06:"What's Hizbullah's problem with
the army?"By Michael Young, opinion editor
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"A party allied with Syria ... the image Hizbullah radiates today"

" the idea Hizbullah into the army ...'came from the Americans ... aims
to terminate the resistance' "

"Hizbullah's refusal to assimilate into the army... is a refusal to
assimilate into the Lebanese state"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:
..... A party, allied with Syria, refusing to acknowledge the authority of a
national institution, ....: That's the image Hizbullah radiates today.
On (22 May)Monday, the party's deputy secretary general, Naim
Qassem...observed that the idea of assimilating Hizbullah into the army was
"originally [United Nations envoy Terje] Roed-Larsen's idea, in other words
it came from the Americans and some others in the Security Council, and in
fact it aims to terminate the resistance, not to find a solution for Lebanon
on how the army and resistance can coordinate."
...Hizbullah ...secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah:... We won't
disarm; we won't be part of the army. ... Hizbullah has the right to set up
an armed state within a state, pursue its own separate foreign policy ...and
ignore the anxieties of other communities, though this undermines virtually
every major tenet on which the sectarian compromise system is built.
... What does the party have against the Lebanese Army, the sole national
institution unequivocally entitled to defend the country? Why does Hizbullah
regard its own dissolution into the army as termination of the resistance?
Why is it that such a plan, ... should suddenly be labeled part of an
American and UN plot to harm Lebanon?
Such questions merit being posed to the party by ... President Emile Lahoud,
... Syria continues to have sympathizers in the officer corps and in
military intelligence, and when Walid Jumblatt announced some months ago
that the army had allowed Syria to send rockets into Lebanon to supply
Hizbullah, the high command's response was reportedly drafted with the head
of Hizbullah's intelligence service. . . . .Hizbullah's refusal to
assimilate into the army is... a refusal to assimilate into the Lebanese
state; or rather to do so only when convenient - ... The party has the
weapons, so no one, not even the army it refuses to submit to, wants to pick
a fight just now. But that restraint, or fear, won't last indefinitely. It
is an unfortunate reality in Lebanon that what cannot be resolved peacefully
is usually addressed militarily, where it also generally fails to be
resolved. Whichever option follows, Hizbullah will not be able to avoid the
weapons issue forever, particularly when it comes to convincing the Lebanese
that their army is really not up to par. The future of Hizbullah's arms is
next on the national dialogue's agenda in early June ... Hizbullah will have
to surrender its arsenal ... ..

Sue Lerner - Associate - IMRA

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: US denies Israel ability to have edge
over Arabs buying same jet

[IMRA: While spinmasters painted a glorious Olmert-Bush meeting ...]

Israel and U.S. in Disagreement over Warplane Project
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, JERUSALEM 22 May 2005
www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1817559&C=mideast

Israel and the United States are locked in disagreement over the warplane of
the future after Washington refused to let Israel upgrade the aircraft with
its own technology, a report said May 22.

The United States is refusing to allow Israel to install any more advanced
systems in their batch of the F-35 planes - no navigation, sighting or fire
control systems, or Israeli-developed missiles, the Maariv newspaper
reported.

The disagreement could deal a huge blow to military hardware manufacturers
Israel Aircraft Industries and Israel Military Industries, as well diminish
the qualitative advantage of the air force over its regional rivals.

Other countries involved in developing the new F-35 fighter are also said to
be annoyed by the new U.S. policy of selling the plane as a finished product
with noone allowed to install foreign components.

Last year, the Pentagon announced it was denying Israel access to some
technology and information about the development of the Joint Strike Fighter
because of concerns that the intelligence could be leaked to third
countries.

The United States also initially froze Israeli participation in work to
develop the F-35, furious over an Israeli sale of sensitive military
technology and equipment to China.

Israel, which receives $2.2 billion in U.S. military aid to buy U.S. defense
equipment, has little room to maneuver when it comes to arms deals, despite
some domestic calls to show independence from Washington.

The project to develop the F-35, expected to cost $100 million each,
involves seven countries including Israel as a junior partner. The jets are
expected to replace Israel's F-16s which have been in service for 30 years.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Saudi To Buy 72 Eurofighters for $58 Billion

Saudi To Buy 72 Eurofighters for $58 Billion
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, LONDON 22 May 2006
www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1817458&C=mideast

Britain will sign a deal with Saudi Arabia before the end of July to supply
the kingdom with 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets in a deal worth far less than
the expected price tag of 31 billion pounds (45.5 billion euros, $57.9
billion), a report said May 22.
"This is a good deal for Britain, but it is also an exceptionally good deal
for Saudi Arabia," a diplomatic source was quoted as saying by London's free
business daily City A.M.

Britain's Ministry of Defense had announced in December that the country was
to supply Saudi Arabia with Typhoon jets, but did not disclose either the
number of planes or cost of the deal.

But the figure of 31 billion pounds has been widely quoted in the media
here.

According to City A.M. senior Saudi sources said the deal for 72 Typhoons,
plus maintenance, spares, weapons and training until 2030, would be
finalized before July 25.

The Typhoon Eurofighter, which is largely manufactured by defense and
aerospace giant BAE Systems in partnership with other European countries,
will replace the Tornado warplanes supplied to the Saudis in another massive
and controversial deal two decades ago.

In December, Britain and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding
aimed at establishing a greater partnership in modernizing the Saudi armed
forces and developing close service-to-service contacts, especially through
joint training and exercises.

BAE Systems signed a series of defense contracts with Saudi Arabia covering
purchases and maintenance in the 1980s and 1990s, which are being probed by
anti-corruption investigators.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Demo For Pollard on Yom Yerushalayim

Demo for Jonathan Pollard on Yom Yerushalayim Thursday 25 May 2006 followed
by flag-dancing and march to Kotel..
J4JP

Public Jerusalem Day ceremonies in the capital will begin at 3:30 PM with a
rally on behalf of Jonathan Pollard at Independence Park, opposite the U.S.
Consulate on Agron Street. Esther Pollard, the wife of Jonathan Pollard will
be there.

At 4:45, the protestors and others will begin marching towards Zion Square
in the center of town, where, at 5:30, the Rikudgalim - Dance With the Flag
festivities - will begin. The participants will sing, dance, and march
towards the Old City and the Western Wall. Jonathan Pollard's Yom
Yerushalayim speech www.jonathanpollard.org/2006/052506.htm
will be read aloud there and at other festivities throughout the country..

Be there! Meet in Gan Ha'atzmaut opposite the American Consulate on Agron
Street in Jerusalem at 3:30 PM
-30-.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PALESTINIAN MEDIA CONDEMN 'WAR CRIMES',
AND 'BLOODY MASSACRES' BY 'TEL AVIV,'
IGNORING ISRAEL'S 'OUTSTRETCHED HAND'

PALESTINIAN MEDIA CONDEMN 'WAR CRIMES' AND 'BLOODY MASSACRES' BY 'TEL AVIV,'
IGNORING ISRAEL'S 'OUTSTRETCHED HAND'

BY MICHAEL WIDLANSKI Thursday, 25 May, 2006

Palestinian officials and Palestinian media universally condemned
Wednesday Israeli arrests of leading Palestinian terrorists as "war
crimes," while granting heroic status to the arrested terrorists and those
killed or wounded trying to protect them.

"Four citizens are martyrs in a terroristic Israeli attack on Ramallah,"
announced Palestinian state television, which is controlled by PA President
Mahmoud Abbas, to whom Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered "an
outstretched hand" in a speech yesterday in the U.S. Congress.

"It is a bloody morning," declared Voice of Palestine's top anchorman
Nizar al-Ghul, who then comforted his listeners by telling them that the
martyrs had "met the Israelis with guns and with rocks" and would inhale the
intoxicating smell of musk as they entered Paradise.

Palestinian radio and television both made a point of running long songs
and music videos Wednesday morning extolling the virtues of martyrdom.

"The massacre occurred when our citizens became aware of the activities
of the Israeli death squads trying to carry out their crimes," intoned VOP
anchorman al-Ghul.

Pictures on Palestinian television showed how a group of Israeli soldiers
got bogged down in the heart of the Arab town of Ramallah, where they were
surrounded by Palestinian crowds that fired shots and threw flaming objects
at them.

The Palestinian broadcast media and daily newspapers, which are
controlled by Dr. Abbas, largely ignored Mr. Olmert's remarks regarding
desires for peace, concentrating instead on what they called "bloody
massacres" perpetrated by "Tel Aviv"-an epithet that has become a favorite
of PA media under Abbas's regime.

Israeli forces finally captured Muhammad Shoubaki, the head of the
Islamic Jihad organization in Jenin, a center of suicide bombers in the West
Bank. His arrest came only a day after Israel's arrest of Ibrahim Hamid,
the commander of the "military wing" of Hamas in the West Bank.

The arrested Hamid had personally planned terror attacks in Israel that
left more than 40 dead in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other towns.

But the Palestinian media did not dwell on what Shoubaki or Hamid had
done-just as the Palestinian media preferred to discuss the cost of the
bravery of those who tried to prevent the arrests.

"A BLOODY ISRAELI MASSACRE FELLS FOUR MARTYRS AND TENS OF WOUNDED IN
RAMALLAH," headlined Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, a newspaper owned and run by Abbas's
Fatah organization.

Only a day earlier, the same pro-Abbas newspaper had declared "AFTER 8
YEARS OF FAILED ASSASINATIONS, THE COMMANDER OF THE QASSAM MARTYRS IS
ARRESTED."

In much the same vein, the Palestinian media today also condemned Israel
for "random" and "brutal" artillery attacks in Gaza, but they have not told
their audience about almost daily Qassam or Grad rocket attacks on Israel
from Gaza, including a rocket that hit an Israeli highschool.

Both the Abbas-controlled media and the Hamas-controlled government
seemed to share a perspective on Israel and on saving lives.

"Palestinian blood is dear to all of us Palestinians, keeping in mind that
our main focus at this time is Israeli occupation," declared Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyyeh.

"There are no enemies among the Palestinian people," Haniyyeh said,
although the violence in PA territory-between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah
organization-has also grown significantly in recent weeks.

� 2006 Michael Widlanski Associates

(Material may cited with source)
===
Dr. Michael Widlanski teaches political communication and comparative
politics at the Rothberg School of Hebrew University. His doctorate,
"Palestinian Broadcast Media In the Palestinian State-Building Process:
Patterns of Influence and Control," was based on eight years of research
involving more than 7,000 hours of monitoring Palestinian radio in Arabic as
well as television and newspaper surveys.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Fateh, Hamas Agree to Defuse Flame of Tension and Turmoil

Fateh, Hams Agree to Defuse Flame of Tension and Turmoil
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=16230

GAZA, Palestine, May 25, 2006 (IPC+ Agencies) [Official PA website]- -Key
leaders of Fateh and Hamas asserted after a meeting yesterday with the
participation of the Prime Minister Ismael Hanyeh and an Egyptian security
delegation, they agreed to end tension and spiral clashes in Gaza Strip ,
both also agreed to finalize the procedures to integrate the newly-
established paramilitaries by the interior minister into the police force.

In joint press conference with key leaders of Fateh and Hamas leaders, PM
Haneyeh said that both movements will give instructs to their members to
halt traded shootout in Gaza Strip and end all military shows.

He also underlined that he attached great importance to the new
paramilitaries formed by the interior minister Said Seyam "to complete the
managerial and legal procedures for being integrated into police. We will
take all measures that protect out unity and lull down tension," Haneyeh
said

The prime minister also stressed on the need not to shift ant competing and
differences between the two movements into "Palestinian -Palestinian raw, we
are at a crossroad in terms of the perils poses out national project in
particular Israeli unilateral plan and feverish attempts to grab lands let
alone the ongoing aggressions, assassinations and siege."

On his turn, Sameer Al Mashharawe, Fateh's prominent leader, asserted that
instructions were given to Fateh's members for self-restrain and abide by
law and bond respect to the joint agreement.

He also added "no shield will be given to any trespasser and lawbreaker
considered that he will be dealt as a suspect."

Both movement paid sincere thanks for the efforts made by the President
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian government and the Egyptian security delegation
in monitoring the latest incidents

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: President Abbas would Put Prisoners'
Document into Referendum

President would Put Prisoners' Document into Referendum
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=6381

RAMALLAH, May 25, 2006 (WAFA - PLO news agency)- President Mahmoud Abbas
said Thursday that he would put the National Reconciliation Document
proposed by pioneer Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails into a general
referendum.

In the inaugurating speech before the Palestinian National Dialogue
Conference in the Presidential HQ in Ramallah, the President said that the
referendum would be conducted in forty days, if the conferees did not reach
conclusion within ten days.

The Document called upon the Palestinian people to unite and to support the
PLO and the Palestinian National Authority.

(13:56 P) (10:56 GMT)

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Text: King of Jordan's Independence Day address:
relations with others never at expense of relations
with Arab or Islamic nation

[IMRA: "our martyrs on the walls of Jerusalem and in the yards of the Holy
Aqsa Mosque" - On July 20, 1951, King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by
a Palestinian, Mustapha Shukri Usho, at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Abdullah was murdered because it was believed that he was going to make a
separate peace with Israel.]

King Addresses Nation on Independence Day
www.petra.gov.jo/nepras/2006/May/25/10.htm

Amman, May 25 (Petra) -- His Majesty King Abdullah II said that Independence
is a continual state of giving, building and self-reliance to enhance
independence and build a future fit for the free people of Jordan, those
with resolve and strong will.

King Abdullah stressed, in a speech on the occasion of the 60th anniversary
of the Independence Day, that the future is the responsibility of all
citizens, especially youth who bear the greatest because they are more able
to affect change and to realize achievements, noting that Jordan is stronger
than all challenges and conditions.

''When we say 'Jordan First', we mean that we should complete the building
of a Jordan that is strong and invincible, able to provide support and asset
the Arab brethren, whether in Palestine or Iraq or any other Arab country.''
His Majesty said. ''It does not mean deserting our duty towards our nation
or its just causes''.

''Jordan will remain, with God's grace, the Arab Muslim country that belongs
to the Arab and Islamic nation, keen to shoulder its religious and national
duty towards all Arab and Islamic causes.'' King Abdullah said.

''Under no circumstances will we permit Jordan's relationships with any
country to be at the expense of our relations with our Arab and Islamic
nation.'' stressed King Abdullah.

His Majesty said that the homeland's affiliation with the Arab Revolt and
the affiliation of its leadership with the honorable House of Prophet
(PBUH), obligate Jordan to be the first in defending Islam, Arab and
Muslims.

King Abdullah stressed that Jordan will never, under any circumstances, fail
to support and assist the Palestinians until they attain their rights,
including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on
Palestinian soil.

''Jordan's basic pillar of strength is preserving national unity, integrity
and steadfastness among the sons of the one Jordanian family, and the
achievement of comprehensive development which enhances Jordan's strength,
and enables Jordan to support the Arab brethren and Arab causes'' King
Abdullah said.

His Majesty said ''I have always felt and understood the suffering and
concerns of every citizen...As you all see, we are working day and night,
traveling from one country to the other in order to benefit from our
relations with the world...''.

King Abdullah said that Jordan achieved a lot throughout the past seven
years, be it in the field of economic and social developments of our
democratic march, noting that there is still a long way to go.

''As for those rumors doubting the soundness of our march and the ability of
this homeland to meet the challenges of national and international
circumstances, those who do not love the homeland and do not wish it well
are the source of such talk'' King Abdullah said.

Following is the full text of His Majesty's speech

In the Name of God,
The Most Merciful, The Compassionate

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good evening to you all; I wish you and the homeland a happy and good year.

This is a blessed day, dear to the heart of every Jordanian, man and woman,
the descendants of the founding generation who sacrificed immensely for the
independence of the nation and the liberation of the Jordanian individual's
will.

On this day, it is our right and our duty to remember, with pride and
appreciation, the founding fathers, all of the pioneers, who contributed to
the building of this homeland. They did so in the face of many challenges
over the past sixty years and persevered in spite of a scarcity of resources
and material capabilities, and of the tragedies and wars to which this
region was subjected. The gallant children of this one Jordanian family, men
and women, under the leadership of the builder, the late al-Hussein, may God
bless his soul, realized great achievements through determination, resolve,
belonging, confidence in the future and in each Jordanian's capabilities to
give and achieve.

On this precious occasion, I would like to extend my congratulations and
felicitations, and to express my appreciation and feelings of pride, to
every citizen, male and female, in this country - in the Badia, villages,
camps and cities. I would like also to extend special greetings to the
gallant Jordanians, male and female, in the Armed Forces and the security
institutions, who have sworn their blood and souls to defend this homeland
and safeguard its independence and achievements.

Independence, brothers, is not just an occasion to be celebrated once a
year; rather, it is a continual state of giving, building and self-reliance
to enhance independence and build a future fit for the free people of
Jordan, those with resolve and strong will.

This future is not the responsibility of one person or group of citizens of
this homeland. It is the responsibility of all of us: the laborer and the
farmer, the civil servant and the student, the soldier and the mother who
raises her children on love and a sense of belonging to the homeland.

Youth bear the greatest responsibility, because they are more able to affect
change and to realize achievements.

In return, we have a responsibility towards youth, and they are entitled to
education and training that equips them to face any challenge and build the
future we seek; the future with which youth were entrusted.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Every one of us knows, and is proud of, the fact that this homeland was
established on the principles borne in the message of the Great Arab Revolt,
led by Sharif al-Hussein Bin Ali, to liberate and unify the nation. Hence,
Jordan will remain, with God's grace, the Arab Muslim country that belongs
to the Arab and Islamic nation, keen to shoulder its religious and national
duty towards all Arab and Islamic causes. Under no circumstances will we
permit Jordan's relationship with any country to be at the expense of our
relations with our Arab or Islamic nation. The homeland's affiliation with
the Arab Revolt and the affiliation of its leadership with the honorable
House of the Prophet (PBUH), obligate us to be first in defending Islam,
Arabs and Muslims.

When we say Jordan First, we mean that we should complete the building of a
Jordan that is strong and invincible, able to provide support and assist the
Arab brethren, whether in Palestine, or Iraq, or any other Arab country. It
does not mean deserting our duty towards our nation or its just causes, as
some short-sighted people believe. Jordan was, and will always be, a
sanctuary for all free Arabs; therefore we say, Jordan First, Jordan always,
and Jordan under all circumstances and conditions.

Jordan's basic pillar of strength is preserving national unity, integrity
and steadfastness among the sons of the one Jordanian family, and the
achievement of comprehensive development which enhances Jordan's strength,
and enables Jordan to support the Arab brethren and Arab causes, primary
among them the Palestinian cause and that of the Iraqi people.

Jordan, brothers, cannot forget the union of blood, goals and destiny with
the Palestinian brethren; it is also impossible for Jordan to forget the
blood of our martyrs on the walls of Jerusalem and in the yards of the Holy
Aqsa Mosque. We will not, on any day, under any circumstances, fail to
support and assist the Palestinians, until they attain their rights,
including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on
Palestinian soil.

Dear Brothers,

Since the day I was entrusted with my responsibilities, I have always felt
and understood the suffering and concerns of every citizen - male and
female - in this country. I know that the reasons for this suffering are
difficult economic conditions, rising prices and other problems which we
need to overcome as soon as possible. As you all see, we are working day and
night, traveling from one country to the other in order to benefit from our
relations with the world around us and employ these relations in the service
of our country. I follow up personally on all matters, so that we can
overcome these problems, and elevate the citizen's standard of living.

Praise be to God, we have achieved a lot throughout the past seven years, be
it in the field of economic and social development, or in the field of
political development and the enhancement of our democratic march. But
honestly, there is still a long way to go. We should all work together, in
the spirit of the one team that belongs to the homeland; the one team that
is sure of itself and of a bright future, God willing.

We should rely on ourselves, brothers, and if we do not help each other, and
work as one hand and one heart [towards] one goal, no body will help us, and
we will not be able to overcome our problems. Hence, brothers, we need
patience and sacrifice. Bearing the hardships ourselves is easier and more
dignified than expecting others to do so for us. We need no favors from
anyone.

As for those rumors doubting the soundness of our march and the ability of
this homeland to meet the challenges of national and international
circumstances, those who do not love the homeland and do not wish it well
are the source of such talk. Jordan is stronger than all challenges, and
stronger than all circumstances, and with your will and resolve it will
always be Jordan First, Jordan always, and Jordan the role model.

Please allow me, on this occasion, to present to my brothers and sisters in
the Armed Forces, the security institutions and the civil service, and the
retirees, a simple Independence Day gift.

Again, brothers, I send my greetings with pride and appreciation to every
citizen in this country - male and female - and wish you and dear Jordan
many happy returns of the day.

Peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you.

End...................

//Petra// Shniqat

25/05/2006 13:16:03

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: [Personal opinion]Kadima MK: Jewish area
of Hebron will grow, be connected to Israel

[IMRA: Kadima MK Otniel Schneller told IMRA this afternoon that "I told the
foreign reporters my opinion" and confirmed that he had no idea what PM
Olmert plans to do.]

Kadima MK: Jewish area of Hebron will grow, be connected to Israel

By The Associated Press and Haaretz Service 25 May 2006
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/719856.html

Israel will enlarge Jewish settlement enclaves in the West Bank city of
Hebron and include them within the country's final borders, an ally of Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday.

It was the first time a lawmaker has said Israel intends on retaining the
volatile area, located well inside the West Bank, under Olmert's plan to
unilaterally set Israel's final borders by 2008.

Kadima MK Otniel Schneller, who is helping to formulate Olmert's plan, said
that the Jewish neighborhoods of Hebron will be connected to the nearby
settlement of Kiryat Arba, and the two communities included in Israel.

"The Jewish neighborhood in Hebron will grow" and be linked to Kiryat Arba,
Schneller told The Associated Press. "Hebron and Kiryat Arba are supposed to
be part of the Israeli state."

About 500 Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in Hebron in the
midst of about 170,000 Palestinians. The settlers are among the most
ultranationalist in the West Bank.

Olmert's plan calls for withdrawing from most of the West Bank while
retaining major settlement blocs. Although Hebron is not part of these
blocs, Schneller said the city's Jewish areas will remain part of Israel.

Hebron is home to the a holy site where Jews and Muslims believe the
biblical patriarchs are buried. Schneller, who served as secretary general
of the settlers' Yesha Council from 1983 to 1986, said the holy site will be
included in the section that Israel keeps.

Israel will find "creative ways" to separate most of the Palestinians from
the Israeli-controlled section, bringing the settlement, the Cave of the
Patriarchs and Kiryat Arba together, Schneller said.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Two Reports: Palestinian Security Chaos
and Proliferation of Small Arms

PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

#1 Security Chaos and Proliferation of Small Arms
Misuse of Weapons by Armed Groups and Security Forces

Field Update
25 May 2006

A Preventive Security Officer Killed and His Guard Injured in an Explosion
in his Car in Gaza

On Wednesday evening, 24 May 2006, Nabeel 'Omar Hudhud, 37, from the
al-Remal neighborhood of Gaza City, who is chief of the Preventive Security
Service in the central Gaza Strip, was killed and his guard, Jameel Majed
al-'Arabeed, 27, was injured, when an explosion occurred in their car in the
west of Gaza City.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 18:30 on
Wednesday, 24 May 2006, an explosion occurred in a car, in which Hudhud and
al-'Arabeed were traveling on the coastal road from the central Gaza Strip
to Gaza City. The two were seriously injured. They were evacuated to Shifa
Hospital in Gaza City. Later, medical sources announced that Hudhud had
died from his injuries.

According to security sources, the Preventive Security Service has initiated
an investigation into the explosion, which killed Hudhud. Initially, there
were rumors that the explosion was part of the recent tensions between the
Fatah and Hamas movements, but soon there were indications that the
explosion was accidental and had resulted from an unidentified object inside
the car.

Following the explosion, a number of gunmen went to Shifa Hospital and
tension spread around the hospital, when a unit of the executive force
recently established by the Ministry of Interior entered the building, but
the situation was controlled and no casualties or damage was reported.
Moreover, a number of members of the Preventive Security Service closed the
road near the headquarters of the service in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in
the south of Gaza City and opened fire into the air.

PCHR is gravely concerned over the continued number of deaths and injuries
resulting from the misuse of weapons, which has become a prominent feature
of the ongoing security chaos in the region. PCHR calls upon the
Palestinian National Authority to take preventive measures to prevent such
incidents and safeguard the safety of citizens.

#2 Security Chaos and Proliferation of Small Arms
Use of Weapons in Personal and Family Disputes

Field Update
25 May 2006

A Citizen Killed and Another Wounded in Two Separate Personal Disputes

In a continuation of internal violence and the use of weapons in personal
and family disputes, a citizen was killed in Hebron and another was injured
in Rafah.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 21:00 on
Tuesday, 23 May 2006, a number of gunmen stormed into an internet caf� in
Dura village in Hebron. They violently beat a member of the al-'Awawda
family in the caf� for previous personal differences between the families.
When a number of members of the al'Awawda family intervened to defend their
relative, one of the gunmen shot dead Murad Salem Isma'il al-'Awawda, 28,
with three live bullets to the abdomen.

At approximately 23:10 on Wednesday, 24 May 2006, Mukhtar Saleh al-Babli,
19, was wounded by two live bullets to the neck and the chest, fired from a
gun held by his brother Wa'el, 27, a member of the Preventive Security
Service, during a quarrel between the two in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood,
west of Rafah, where they both live. He was evacuated to Martyr Mohammed
Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in the town. Medical sources described his
injuries as moderate.

PCHR is concerned about the continuation of internal violence, including the
use of weapons in personal and family disputes, which has become a prominent
feature of the ongoing security chaos in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authority, represented by the
Attorney-General, to investigate such attacks and to bring the perpetrators
to justice.

Public Document
**************************************
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8
2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip.
E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
-----------------------------------
If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to
request@pchrgaza.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: The Islamist Threat to Jordan - Nibras Kazimi

Jerusalem Issue Brief
Institute for Contemporary Affairs
founded jointly at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
with the Wechsler Family Foundation

Vol. 5, No. 25 - 25 May 2006

The Islamist Threat to Jordan

Nibras Kazimi

The elusiveness of a unifying Jordanian identity now provides a window of
opportunity for the jihadists, for whom Jordan is to be the "Land of
Mobilization and Fortitude" - the staging ground for the liberation of
Palestine and the destruction of Israel. Alienated Jordanian citizens of
Palestinian origin (who form the majority of the population according to
most estimates) will always be vulnerable to an agenda that politically
agitates for a return to the Palestinian homeland through armed struggle.

For an increasing number of Palestinians, Hamas has ceased to be militant
enough, and they will seek out an alternative organization through which to
channel their militancy. This trend will probably be mirrored among
Palestinians in Jordan as well, with many finding their way to al-Qaeda, or
setting up home-grown and organizationally-independent (and thus harder to
track) al-Qaeda affiliates.

There is a historical precedent for this: young Palestinian Muslim
Brothers - such as Abu Iyad, Yasser Arafat, and Abu Jihad - left the
organization to train and fight under the auspices of new groups like Fatah
in the 1960s that gave vent to their militancy.

The convergence of the "global jihad," conducted by organizations such as
al-Qaeda, with the concept of "local jihad," that was the niche of homegrown
militants such as Hamas, is something of a homecoming for the traditional
presence of Palestinians within the ranks of Islamic extremists fighting far
beyond their borders. Palestinians now have the opportunity to serve their
own cause - the convenience of being a "good" global jihadist and a "good"
Palestinian nationalist both at once.

Zarqawi has vowed to cut off the head of King Abdullah II. The Iraq phase
has taught many Palestinians and Jordanians fighting skills, who may have
returned to Jordan. Today, these experienced elements pose the most direct
threat to Jordan's security.

What is a Jordanian?

Jordan does not enjoy a compelling historical narrative about its inception,
for it was a country first conceived upon a map by a bureaucrat armed with a
pencil and ruler. A portion of Jordan's borders follow geographical
realities: the Yarmouk River in the north and the Jordan River and Wadi
Araba in the west. Otherwise, most of what demarcates Jordan from Syria,
Iraq, and Saudi Arabia is a series of straight lines across unforgiving
deserts.

The Hashemite ruling family - and the British colonialists who "designed"
Jordan before them - had hoped to turn this piece of Middle East real estate
into a sovereign country. The Hashemites harbored further ambitions for
enlargement into Syria and Palestine, retrieving the Hijaz, or seeking a
union with a pre-1958 Hashemite Iraq. Somehow, this make-believe territory
of Jordan was never enough as a stand-alone nation, but after over eight
decades since its first inception as the Arab Emirate of Transjordan, a
period that saw the annexation and then loss of the West Bank, massive
demographic changes with the arrival of successive waves of Palestinian
refugees, and endless regional crisis and internal challenges, the
Hashemites have had to make do with their lot. Understandably, within these
borders and throughout this history, a distinctive feeling of Jordanian
identity, sprouting from the notions of patriotism and citizenship, has
failed to coalesce.

Jordan as a Staging Ground for the Destruction of Israel

The elusiveness of a unifying Jordanian identity now provides a window of
opportunity for the jihadists who seek another raison d'�tre for Jordan's
borders and history: it is to be the "Land of Mobilization and Fortitude"
(Ard al-Hashdi wal-Rabat) - the staging ground for the liberation of
Palestine and the destruction of Israel.1 Therefore, the "usefulness" of
Jordan is to provide an opportunity for jihadists such as the Jordanian
terrorist, Abu Musa'ab al-Zarqawi, to transfer the fight from the various
battles being waged around the world to what they have traditionally called
"The Direction of Delayed Jihad" (Qiblet al-Jihad al-Mu'ejjel) in Palestine.
Zarqawi claimed in a recent video release, "We fight in [Iraq] but our eyes
are on Jerusalem."

But for that to happen, the Hashemites and their reasonably secure
intelligence and military apparatuses would have to be overthrown, or at
least weakened by a campaign of mayhem and chaos to the point at which they
lose control over some portion of their territory from which the jihadists
can launch attacks on Israel - a strategy followed by the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) prior to September 1970. By that measure, it
appears that the Zarqawi branch of al-Qaeda is aiming to create a ring of
chaos around Israel in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the Sinai, as well as
Jordan.

Zarqawi and the Amman Bombings

Yet, even if there is an identity void in Jordan, what indicators are there
that the extremism of Zarqawi would be welcome among Jordanians? A feature
story appeared in Al-Hayat newspaper in August 2005 that described the
"legendary status" of Zarqawi even among the Western-educated elite. He was
something of a "popular hero" among the youth, who were enamored of the fact
that one of their own had been propelled to such international prominence in
the "struggle" against the American "occupiers" in Iraq. The article
suggested that a combination of poverty, corruption, and lack of democracy
contributed to the gradual but perceptible movement of Jordanian society
toward extremism.2 The same newspaper in February 2006 highlighted the
popularity of songs and video CDs glorifying the "resistance" to foreign
occupation in both Iraq and Palestine that included footage of Hamas and
Islamic Jihad operations against Israeli targets, and titles such as "The
Battle of Fallouja." These were briskly sold in downtown Amman, despite
recurrent government raids aimed at confiscating them.3 In the time interval
between these two features, Zarqawi struck at his home country.

On November 9, 2005, Zarqawi's organization attacked three hotels in Amman,
killing and maiming scores of Jordanians. Public outcry over the Amman
attacks found expression in spontaneous demonstrations and vigils, as well
as palpable Jordanian anger voiced through the local and foreign press.
Zarqawi's tribe, the Bani Hassan, disowned him and called for his blood. It
was even suggested that the tide of extremism had turned in Jordanian
society, evidenced by such unexpected outcomes as the inability of the
Muslim Brotherhood's "hawks" to get elected to the Shura Bureau during
internal elections held in February 2006.4

Even Zarqawi was compelled to respond in a widely circulated audio recording
justifying his actions. He claimed that he was not targeting civilians, and
that the targets were actually Jordanian, Israeli, American, Iraqi, and
Palestinian Authority intelligence officers meeting at those hotels at the
time and using them as secure stations for their operations. He claimed to
know this because members of his organization had reconnoitered the hotels
for two months before attacking.5 Zarqawi tried to show his Jordanian bona
fides by listing all the civilian targets which he did not target, such as
Amman's Safeway or the Hashemite Square, as evidence that he meant no harm
to civilians. He continued by citing U.S. press reports that claimed that
Jordan's General Directorate for Intelligence (GID) had surpassed Israel's
Mossad as America's most effective counter-terrorism ally in the Middle
East, and that Jordanian cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) had grown closer in hunting down terrorists since the attacks of
September 11, 2001, on New York City and the Pentagon.

However, anecdotal evidence suggests that the internal resentments Jordanian
citizens harbor against each other and against the ruling Hashemites would
far eclipse the backlash against Zarqawi and his brand of extremism. Jordan
is riveted by tension between those of Palestinian or West Bank origins, and
those of "native" East Bank credentials. Furthermore, even though Amman
looks prosperous on the surface, Jordanians are mindful that only the
affluent neighborhoods of West Amman - the ones that visitors and tourists
get to see - are doing well, but that East Amman and the majority of the
country's urban centers are in deep stagnation.

Since ascending to the throne, King Abdullah II has tried to develop a
unifying sense of Jordanian identity to deflect those political, social, and
economic tensions, but has failed in large measure to give most Jordanians a
sense of ownership in their country's destiny. "King Hussein never veered
far away from Arabism in expressing Jordan's identity," says Salameh Nematt,
the Jordanian bureau chief of Al-Hayat in Washington, D.C., "but his son,
Abdullah, has tried to play up a Jordanian identity through the 'Jordan
First' public relations campaign, but failed to give his people a stake in
the country. There is this sense of malaise and disenfranchisement in the
country, especially among the Palestinians, who feel that political reforms
in the direction of equal rights and responsibilities is mere rhetoric, and
does not amount to facts on the ground."

Thus, alienated Jordanian citizens of Palestinian origin (who form the
majority of the population according to most estimates) will always be
vulnerable to an agenda that politically agitates for a return to the
Palestinian homeland through armed struggle, especially in light of the
failure of peace initiatives.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan

Such a drawing point is not something new to the traditional Islamist
platform in Jordan as characterized by the rhetoric of the Muslim
Brotherhood. Historically, the Brotherhood made its first radical forays
into politics after it was spurred into action by the Palestinian issue in
the late 1940s, but remained loyal to the Hashemite throne during the
Nasserist challenge of 1957 and the PLO's bid for supremacy in 1970.6 Even
though it strives to keep an East Bank face to its leadership,7 the Muslim
Brotherhood has always put Palestine at the top of its rhetorical agenda.
Recently, its newly elected general supervisor, Salim Falahat, an East Bank
Jordanian from Madaba, said: "[Our] relationship with Palestine is special.
Jordan and Palestine, historically speaking, form a single area. The blood
is mixed here and there. And the sacrifices of the East Jordanians on
Palestine's soil are no less than the sacrifice of Palestinians on Palestine's
soil....We in Jordan believe that the enemy is one....Distinguishing between
Jordan and Palestine is an arduous task and it is difficult for it to happen
and no one can reach that point. The intermingling and intertwining are too
great."8

Furthermore, the long tenure of the "hawkish" wing at the helm of the Muslim
Brotherhood contributed to a general trend towards more extreme positions,
thus mirroring some of the fanatical stances generally attributed to the
jihadists. One such posture is the adoption by the former deputy general
supervisor, Humam Said, of Seyyid Qutub's ideas on hakimiyya - the
illegitimacy of any state or form of government if not guided by the laws of
shari'a. This is particularly relevant in viewing how the hawks understand
the sovereignty of Jordan in an Islamic context, or as Said put it, "The
nation state is a disease and is not a healthy matter....The foreigner
manufactured these borders and drew them, and this imported measure must
disappear, and with this line we represent the conscience of the ummah."9

Given the looming presence of Palestinian affairs over Jordan and
specifically its Islamists, the Hamas victory in the January elections has
put further strain on the Muslim Brotherhood and its various and conflicting
loyalties. In one sense, they are expected by the bulk of their constituency
to stand by an isolated sister organization that has become an international
pariah after forming the new PA government, and in another sense, Hamas is
seen as a sell-out by an increasingly disillusioned radical wing. This
latter trend has been growing in strength since Hamas' offer of a cease-fire
in June 2003, which incensed many in its militant wing, the Izzeddin
al-Qassam Brigades, fueling speculation that al-Qaeda's alternative vision
and methods would be welcomed among these disgruntled militants.

Al-Qaeda in Gaza

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has already publicly warned of
an embryonic al-Qaeda organization that may be active in Gaza.10 New
hitherto unknown groups have recently emerged (albeit in leaflet form) with
menacing names like The Army of Jihad and the Deflection of Corruption
(Jaish al-Jihad wa Rada'a al-Fasad) and The Al-Quds Islamic Army - Al-Qaeda
Organization (Jaish al-Quds Al-Islami - Tandheem al-Qaeda), vowing fealty to
Osama bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri, and Zarqawi, but they are not known to be
operationally active.11 One such organization that has emerged, calling
itself the Jerusalem Brigades of Palestine (Kata'ib Beit al-Maqdis fi
Filesteen), claimed responsibility for firing mortars at a Jewish
neighborhood in southern Jerusalem.12

What is clear is that for an increasing number of Palestinians, Hamas has
ceased to be militant enough, and they will seek out an alternative
organization through which to channel their militancy. This trend will
probably be mirrored among Palestinians in Jordan as well, with many finding
their way to al-Qaeda, or setting up home-grown and
organizationally-independent (and thus harder to track) al-Qaeda affiliates.

There is a historical precedent for this: young Palestinian Muslim
Brothers - such as Abu Iyad, Yasser Arafat, and Abu Jihad - left the
organization to train and fight under the auspices of new groups like Fatah
in the 1960s that gave vent to their militancy.13 At the time, Fatah even
set up a camp for the Islamists north of the Jordanian town of Irbid that
was aptly called the Sheikhs' Camp, where Abdullah Azzam trained in his
early jihadist career.14 Interestingly, even Hamas has spotted the trend and
one of its leaders, Younis al-Astel, recently warned that "a new Zarqawi
would emerge in Palestine" if his party's cabinet fails to govern.15

The convergence of the "global jihad," conducted by organizations such as
al-Qaeda, with the concept of "local jihad," that was the niche of homegrown
militants such as Hamas, is something of a homecoming for the traditional
presence of Palestinians within the ranks of Islamic extremists fighting far
beyond their borders. The Lebanese writer Hazim al-Amin published two
features in Al-Hayat where he perceptively discussed the odd phenomenon
whereby Palestinians became "the radical fuel for most of the Islamic
movements in which they joined starting with Egypt through Jordan and
finally in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq" - but not predominantly in
Palestine. Al-Amin begins with the career of Salih Sarriya turning radical
in Egypt in the mid-1970s, and ends by highlighting the prominence of the
"new stars" of the post-Afghanistan jihadists such as their chief
ideologues: 'Issam al-Barqawi (Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi), 'Umar Muhammad
'Uthman Abu 'Umar (Abu Qutadah al-Filisteeni), and 'Umar Yusuf Juma'a (Abu
Anes al-Shami).16 The implication is that Palestinians have served distant
causes well, and now have the opportunity to serve their own - the
convenience of being a "good" global jihadist and a "good" Palestinian
nationalist both at once.

Zarqawi's changing strategy of moving the fight to Israel's doorstep would
thus further compel alienated Palestinians in the diaspora and militants in
Gaza and the West Bank to throw in their lot with him. His claim of
responsibility for the December 2005 attack on Kiryat Shmona that involved
firing ten Russian-made GRAD missiles from southern Lebanon (as claimed in
an Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia statement released on several jihadist websites)
came a month after the Amman attacks and were probably - in his mind at
least - the opening salvo in a new front against Israel.17

Zarqawi has vowed to cut off the head of King Abdullah II, and even though
Zarqawi is an East Banker,18 he seems not to mind that Jordan's relevance
will be subsumed as part of the anti-Israel phase of jihad. For the time
being, the Iraq phase has taught many Palestinians and Jordanians fighting
skills, who may have returned to Jordan, notwithstanding the watchful eyes
of the GID. Today, these experienced elements pose the most direct threat to
Jordan's security, and their increasing numbers, as well as geographical
proximity to Iraq, will further stress the capabilities of local law
enforcement and intelligence services to keep up with their movements.19

Yet again, Jordan seems poised to witness a battle between those loyal to
the Hashemite throne and to its own unique national character, and those who
express loyalty to the cause of liberating Palestine. However, this time
around, the liberation of Palestine would be coached within the larger goals
of jihad and the resurrection of the caliphate. With the triple promise of
martyrdom, Jerusalem, and Islamic glory, many of Jordan's alienated youth,
spurned by a political system that refuses to assimilate them as equals and
an economic monopoly wary of sharing wealth, will turn to Zarqawi. This
could be the gravest challenge yet to the Hashemites, and its success would
further rupture the tattered fabric of stability throughout the Middle East.
It is a struggle between Jordan's sovereignty and the jihadist fantasy of
turning that country into the "Land of Mobilization and Fortitude."

* * *

Notes

1. The "Land of Mobilization and Fortitude" label has long been the Islamist
designation for Jordan, notably among the "hawkish" wing of the Jordanian
Muslim Brotherhood. See the speech given by the former deputy general
supervisor, Humam Said, on September 17, 2004,
www.ikhwan-jor.org/ikhwannews/hamam.htm. The term derives from a tradition
weakly attributed to the Prophet Muhammad about the "End of Days."
2. Rana Sabbagh, "Diraseh amreekiya taduq naqoos...,"Al-Hayat, August 1,
2005.
3. Fadwa al-Dabbagh, "Inti'ash aswaq aljihadiyeen fi 'amman youqidh...,"
Al-Hayat, February 15, 2006.
4. Nabil Gheishan, "Intikhabat ikhwan alurden tudhher taraju'...," Al-Hayat,
February 19, 2006.
5. Zarqawi even claimed that Azzam Azzam, the Israeli-Druze "spy," used to
lounge around the Grand Hyatt Hotel waiting to meet his Mossad paymasters
(minute 10:15 on audio recording). However, Azzam was arrested in Cairo in
November 1996, while the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Amman (one of the three
establishments that were bombed) was not built until 1998.
6. Mishari Al-Dhayedi, "Alikhwan almuslimoon wel 'arsh alhashimi...," Asharq
Alawsat, October 9, 2005.
7. Mishari Al-Dhayedi, "Ahadeeth urdeniya fi alusooliya wel siyaseh...,"
Asharq Alawsat, October 10, 2005. Al-Dhayedi quotes Muslim Brotherhood
parliamentarian Ali Abul-Sukker giving the breakdown of the Brotherhood's
Political Bureau at the time as five East Bankers and two Palestinians. The
most recent composition of the Political Bureau (since February 2006) is
probably six East Bankers and one Palestinian, based on the brief
biographies on the movement's official website.
8. "Almuraqib al'aam lil jama'a fil urdun yenteqid...," Al-Hayat, April 20,
2006. Ali Abu al-Sukker also said, "The Palestinian issue has its special
category among Jordan's Brothers because of demography, geography, and
religion." See "Ahadeeth urduniya fil usuliya wel siyassa...," Asharq
Alawsat, October 10, 2005.
9. Ibid.
10. Ghassan Sherbil, "Abbas lil hayat mu'eshirat ila wujood alqaeda...,"
Al-Hayat, March 2, 2006.
11. Fathi Sabbah, "Ishtibakat fath wa hamas...," Al-Hayat, May 9, 2006, and
"Majmou'a gheir ma'aroofeh tumhil...," Al-Hayat, March 3, 2006.
12. Salih al-Na'ami, "Bayan mansoob bi isim jaish...," Asharq Alawsat, March
5, 2006.
13. "Alikhwan almuslimoon fil urden wa...," Asharq Alawsat, October 9, 2005.
14. Hazim Al-Amin, "Alqaeda weselet illa aldhifa algharbieh wel qita'...,"
Al-Hayat, April 4, 2006.
15. "Zarqawi filisteeni qad yadhher idha...," Al-Hayat, April 16, 2006.
16. Hazim Al-Amin, "Alqaeda weselet illa aldhifa algharbieh wel qita'...,"
Al-Hayat, April 4, 2006. It is interesting that Barqawi and Juma'a, along
with the Hamas' politburo chief Khalid Mesha'al, share the experience of
being expelled from Kuwait after the Gulf War, and having to move to Jordan.
It may be suggested that their exaggerated militancy was proportional to
their lack of an established association with Jordan.
17. Zarqawi's alleged plan for the "encirclement" of Israel with a ring of
chaos from southern Lebanon to the Sinai was first discussed by Abdel-Rahman
'Ali in an op-ed in Asharq Alawsat on March 11, 2006.
18. Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmad Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, is of the
Khalayleh subsection of the Khawaldeh clan of the Bani Hleil sub-tribe of
the Bani Hassan tribe. An interesting supposition as to his lack of East
Bank "loyalty" to the Hashemite throne and to Jordan as a country is the
assertion that "some of the Khalayleh clan have long been influenced by
Wahhabism, and many men of this section of the clan do not wear the 'uqal
and do not smoke." See Mishari al-Dhayedi in Asharq Alawsat, October 13,
2005.
19. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the three men shown on
Jordanian TV as members of the recently exposed "Hamas cell" all had links
to the jihad in Iraq: one whose brother had died in the fighting in Iraq,
another who had served alongside the deceased brother, and a third who had
traveled to Al-Qa'im to purchase weapons. See Nabil Gheishan, "'Itiqalat fi
sufoof alislamiyeen alurduniyeen...," Al-Hayat, May 12, 2006. Furthermore,
two long-time Syrian residents of Jordan who had fought in Iraq, and whose
father was a Muslim Brotherhood refugee from Syria, seem to have been the
principal plotters in the attack on a U.S. Navy frigate in the port of Aqaba
on September 9, 2005. See Nabil Gheishan, "Khaliyet da'am logistic
harebet...," Al-Hayat, March 15, 2006.

* * *

Nibras Kazimi, an Iraqi writer, is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute
in Washington, D.C.

This Jerusalem Issue Brief is available online at:
http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief005-25.htm

Dore Gold, Publisher; Yaakov Amidror, ICA Program Director; Mark Ami-El,
Managing Editor. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (Registered Amuta), 13
Tel-Hai St., Jerusalem, Israel; Tel. 972-2-5619281, Fax. 972-2-5619112,
Email: jcpa@netvision.net.il. In U.S.A.: Center for Jewish Community
Studies, 5800 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215; Tel. 410-664-5222;
Fax 410-664-1228. Website: www.jcpa.org. � Copyright. The opinions expressed
herein do not necessarily reflect those of the Board of Fellows of the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

The Institute for Contemporary Affairs (ICA) is dedicated
to providing a forum for Israeli policy discussion and debate.

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From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: [Right of Return, comeplte withdrawal, etc.]
Full text: National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners

[IMRA - 25 May 2006: WAFA, the PLO news agency, reported that "President
Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he would put the National Reconciliation
Document proposed by pioneer Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails into a
general referendum."

A review of the text of this document finds that optimistic media reports of
the significance of this development ignore very serious problems that makes
this document a "nonstarter" for peace: right of return, complete
withdrawal, "liberation of prisoners" (armed gangs can attack Israel
anywhere for this purpose?), only confiscate weapons that " harm the
resistance and distort its image and that threaten the unity of the
Palestinian society", and more.]

The full text of the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners
May 11, 2006
[As translated by JMCC]
http://www.jmcc.org/documents/prisoners.htm

In the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful,
"Abide by the decree of God and never disperse" (a verse from the Holy
Quran)

Based on the high sense of national and historical responsibility and due to
the dangers facing our people and for the sake of reinforcing and
consolidating the Palestinian internal front and protection of national
unity and the unity of our people in the homeland and in the Diaspora, and
in order to confront the Israeli scheme that aims to impose the Israeli
solution which blows up the dream of our people and the right of our people
in establishing their independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty;
this scheme that the Israeli government intends to impalement in the next
phase as establishment of the erection and completion of the apartheid wall
and the Judaization of the Jerusalem and the expansion of the Israeli
settlements and the seizure of the Jordan Valley and the annexation of vast
areas of the West Bank and blocking the path in front of our people to
exercise their right in return.

In order to maintain the accomplishments of our people achieved in long
struggle path and in loyalty to the martyrs of our great people and the
pains of their prisoners and the agony of their injured, and based on the
fact that we are still passing through a liberation phase with nationalism
and democracy as the basic features, and this imposes a political struggle
strategy that meets with these features and in order to make the Palestinian
comprehensive national dialogue succeed, and based on the Cairo Declaration
and the urgent need for unity and solidarity, we present this document (the
national conciliation document) to our great steadfast people and to
President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen and to the PLO Leadership and to the PM
Ismail Hanieh and to the Council of Ministers and to the Speaker of the PNC
and to the members of the PNC and to the Speaker and members of the PLC and
to all Palestinian forces and factions and to all nongovernmental and
popular organizations and institutions and to leadership of Palestinian
public opinion in the homeland and in the Diaspora.

Hoping to consider this document as one whole package and with the hope to
see this document get the support and approval of everybody and that it can
contribute to reach a Palestinian national conciliation document.

1- the Palestinian people in the homeland and in the Diaspora seek to
liberate their land and to achieve their right in freedom, return and
independence and to exercise their right in self determination, including
the right to establish their independent state with al-Quds al-Shareef as
its capital on all territories occupied in 1967 and to secure the right of
return for the refugees and to liberate all prisoners and detainees based on
the historical right of our people on the land of the fathers and
grandfathers and based on the UN Charter and the international law and
international legitimacy.

2- to work quickly on achieving what has been agreed upon in Cairo in March
2005 pertaining to the development and activation of the PLO and the joining
of Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements to the PLO which is the legitimate and
sole representative of the Palestinian people wherever they are located and
in a manner that meets with changes on the Palestinian arena according to
democratic principles and to consolidate the fact that the PLO is the
legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people in a manner
that reinforces the capacity of the PLO to assume its responsibilities in
leading our people in the homeland and in the Diaspora and in mobilizing the
people and in defending their national, political and humanitarian rights in
the various fora and circles and in the international and regional arenas
and based on the fact that the national interest stipulates the formation of
a new Palestinian National Council before the end of 2006 in a manner that
secures the representation of all Palestinian national and Islamic forces,
factions and parties and all concentrations of our people everywhere and the
various sectors and the figures on proportional basis in representation and
presence and struggle and political, social and popular effectiveness and to
maintain the PLO as a broad front and framework and a comprehensive national
coalition and a gathering framework for all the Palestinians in the homeland
and in the Diaspora and to be the higher political reference.

3- the right of the Palestinian people in resistance and clinging to the
option of resistance with the various means and focusing the resistance in
the occupied territories of 1967 alongside with the political action and
negotiations and diplomatic action and continuation of popular and mass
resistance against the occupation in its various forms and policies and
making sure there is broad participation by all sectors and masses in the
popular resistance.

4- To set up a Palestinian plan towards comprehensive political action and
to unify the Palestinian political rhetoric on the basis of the Palestinian
national consensus program and Arab legitimacy and the international
legitimacy resolutions that grant justice to the Palestinian people who are
represented by the PLO and the PNA as president and government, and the
national and Islamic factions and the civil society organizations and the
public figures in order to mobilize Arab, Islamic and international
political and financial and economic and humanitarian support and solidarity
to our people and to our PNA and to support the right of our people in self
determination and freedom and return and independence and to confront the
plan of Israel in imposing the Israeli solution on our people and to
confront the oppressive siege on the Palestinian people.

5- To protect and reinforce the PNA since it is the nucleus of the future
state; this PNA which was established by the struggle and sacrifices, blood
and pain of the Palestinian people and to stress on the fact the higher
national interests stipulates respecting the temporary constitution of the
PNA and the effective laws and respecting the responsibilities and
authorities of the president elected according to the will of the
Palestinian people through free, honest and democratic elections and to
respect the responsibilities and authorities of the government that was
granted the confidence vote by the PLC.

And the importance and the need for creative cooperation between the
presidency and the government and joint work and hold regular meetings
between them to settle any disputes that might arise through brotherly
dialogue based on the temporary constitution and for the sake of the higher
interests and the need to hold a comprehensive reform in the PNA
institutions, especially the judicial apparatus and the respect of the
judiciary authority at all levels and to implement its decisions and to
reinforce the rule of the law.

6- to form a national unity government on a basis that secures the
participation of all parliament blocs, especially Fatah and Hamas and the
political forces that desire to participate on the basis of this document
and the joint program to upgrade the Palestinian situation at the local,
Arab, regional and international levels and to confront the challenges
through having a strong national government that enjoys Palestinian popular
and political support from all forces and to present the best possible care
for the sectors that carried the burden of steadfastness and resistance and
the Intifada and who were the victims of the Israeli criminal aggression,
especially the families of the martyrs, prisoners and injured and the owners
of the demolished homes and properties which were destroyed by the
occupation, in addition to the care to the unemployed and the graduates.

7- Administration of the negotiations is the jurisdiction of the PLO and the
President of the PNA on the basis of clinging to the Palestinian national
goals and to achieve these goals on condition that any final agreement must
be presented to the new PNC for ratification or to hold a general referendum
wherever it is possible.

8- To liberate the prisoners and detainees is a sacred national duty that
must be assumed by all Palestinian national and Islamic forces and factions
and the PLO and the PNA as President and government and the PLC and all
resistance forces.

9- The need to double efforts to support and care for the refugees and
defend their rights and work on holding a popular conference representing
the refugees which should come up with commissions to follow up its duties
and to stress on the right of return and to cling to this right and to call
on the international community to implement Resolution 194 which stipulates
the right of the refugees to return and to be compensated.

10- to work on forming a unified resistance front under the name
"Palestinian resistance front" to lead and engage in resistance against the
occupation and to unify and coordinate action and resistance and to form a
unified political reference for the front.

11- to cling to the democratic trend and to hold regular general free and
honest and democratic elections according to the law for the president and
the PLC and the local and municipal councils and to respect the principle of
peaceful and smooth transfer of authority and to promise to protect the
Palestinian democratic experience and respect the democratic choice and its
results and respect the rule of the law and the public and basic freedoms
and freedom of the press and equality among the citizens in rights and
duties without any discrimination and to protect the achievements of women
and develop and reinforce them.

12- to reject and denounce the oppressive siege against the Palestinian
people which is being led by the US and Israel and call on the Arabs at the
popular and official levels to support the Palestinian people and the PLO
and the PNA and to call on the Arab governments to implement the political,
financial, economic, and media decisions of the Arab summits that support
the Palestinian people and their steadfastness and their national cause and
to stress that the PNA is committed to the Arab consensus and to joint Arab
action.

13- to call on the Palestinian people for unity and solidarity and unifying
the ranks and support the PLO and the PNA as president and government and to
reinforce steadfastness and resistance in face of the aggression and siege
and to reject intervention in the Palestinian internal affairs.

14- to denounce all forms of split that can lead to internal conflicts and
to condemn the use of weapons regardless of the reasons in settling internal
disputes and to ban the use of weapons among the members of the Palestinian
people and to stress on the sanctity of the Palestinian blood and to abide
by dialogue as the sole means to solve disagreements and freedom of
expression through all media, including the opposition to the authority and
its decisions on the basis of the law and the right of peaceful protest and
to organize marches and demonstrations and sit ins on condition that they be
peaceful and without any arms and not to attack the properties of citizens
and public property.

15- The national interest stipulates the need to look for the best means
towards the continuation of participation of the Palestinian people and
their political forces in Gaza Strip in their new situation in the battle
for freedom, return and independence and to liberate the West Bank and
Jerusalem in a manner that makes the steadfast Gaza Strip a real support
force to steadfastness and resistance of our people in the West Bank and
Jerusalem as the national interest stipulates reassessing the struggle
methods to seek the best methods to resist occupation.

16- the need to reform the develop the Palestinian security institution with
all its branches on a modern basis and in a manner that makes them capable
of assuming their tasks in defending the homeland and the citizens and in
confronting the aggression and the occupation and to maintain security and
public order and implement the laws and end the state of chaos and security
chaos and end the forms of public armed presence and parades and
confiscation of the chaotic weapons that harm the resistance and distort its
image and that threaten the unity of the Palestinian society and the need to
coordinate and organize the relation with the forces of resistance and
organize and protect their weapons.

17- to call on the PLC to continue to issue laws that organize the work of
the security institution and apparatuses with their various branches and
work on issuing a law that bans exercise of political and partisan action by
the members of the security services and to abide by the elected political
reference as defined by the law.

18- to work on expanding the role and presence of the international
solidarity committees and the peace loving groups that support our people in
their just struggle against the occupation, settlements, the apartheid wall
politically and locally and to work towards the implementation of the
International Court of Justice decision at The Hague pertaining to the
removal of the wall and settlements and their illegitimate presence.

Signed by:

Fatah - PLC member Marwan Barghouthi, Fatah Secretary.
Hamas - Sheikh Abdul Khaleq al-Natsheh - Higher Leading Commission
Islamic Jihad Movement - Sheikh Bassam al-Sa'di
PFLP - Abdul Rahim Mallouh - member of PLO Executive Committee and Deputy
General Secretary of the PFLP
DFLP - Mustafa Badarneh
Note: Islamic Jihad expressed reservations on the item pertaining to the
negotiations

Source: Al-Quds newspaper - May 11, 2005

------------------------------

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End of [imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1401 (14 messages)
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