imra Sun Jun 4 00:30:02 2006 Volume 2 : Issue 1408
In this issue of the imra daily Digest:
Chinese Project to provide Syria 1 million IDCL internet lines
Excerpts: OPEC internal dispute on output levels.
Persistent corruption in Jordan.1 June 2006
Abed Rabbo: Preparations for Palestinian
Referendum Completed
Hizbollah Rejects Every Bid to Disarm the Resistance
COS Halutz: Classroom of kids almost murdered
by rocket doesn't matter since no deaths?
01 June, 2006 17:44
Column One: Israel's premeditated market failure
BBC back in Beirut after 15-year hiatus
Fateh Central Committee Agrees upon
Conducting General Referendum
Head of The PFLP Infrastructure in Nablus Arrested
Syria concluded what termed a major military exercise
U.S. DELAYS IRAN STRIKE FEASIBILITY TEST
PALESTINIANS RISE IN SUNNI INSURGENCY
Hamas demands amendments on the Arab peace
initiative
Terrorists Captured In Syria Got Weapons
from Neighboring Country
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Chinese Project to provide Syria 1 million IDCL internet lines
Syrian, Chinese Project to provide 1 million IDCL internet lines
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 08:05 PM
DAMASCUS, (SANA - Syrian news agency)
www.sana.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&newlang=eng&sid=38274&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Ministry of Communications and Technology on Wednesday signed a Memo of
Understanding with a Chinese company to establish a joint company that
provides quick internet lines (IDCL) in 2007 in Syria.
The Memo plans to provide 1 million internet lines in order to cover the
Syrian market and facilitate information services to a greatest number of
citizens in low prices.
According to the Memo, the number of IDCL gates will be increased by 300.000
lines during the year 2006, this includes expanding the international
circuits necessary for the net.
Minister of Communications and Technology Amro Nazir Salem said in a
statement to SANA reporter that through this project Syria will shift from
6000 circuit meantime to 300.000 circuit during the coming 6 months, so it
will become the first Arab country in rapid communications and low costs.
The Chinese investment in this project is estimated more than $100 millions.
Mazen
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Excerpts: OPEC internal dispute on output levels.
Persistent corruption in Jordan.1 June 2006
Excerpts: OPEC internal dispute on output levels.Persistent corruption in
Jordan.1 June 2006
+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 1 June '06:"Flush OPEC expected to leave well
enough alone" , Jitendra Joshi, Agence France Presse AFP)
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"OPEC cartel appears set to maintain its oil output leves ... a bonanza
of petrodollars"
" 'As long as prices are hovering above $70 a barrel, the likelihood of
a production cut is virtually zero' '". . ." 'the countries who are above
quotas will blissfully ignore the formal levels' "
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:
WASHINGTON: The OPEC cartel ...to maintain its oil output levels ...,
reluctant to rock a high-flying market that is reaping its 11 members a
bonanza of petrodollars. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
will hold its latest talks in Caracas on Thursday - giving Venezuela's
firebrand President, Hugo Chavez, a high-profile stage to exhibit his
anti-US rhetoric. ... Venezuela, backed by Iran, its fellow US adversary
in the group, is likely to persist with proposals to price oil in euros
rather than dollars ... .. "As long as prices are hanging above $70 a
barrel, the likelihood of a production cut by OPEC is virtually zero,"
analyst Phil Flynn said. . . .OPEC's member countries - Algeria,
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates and Venezuela - hold about two-thirds of the world's
oil reserves.
They supply 40 percent of the world's oil production and half of its
exports. Sudan has now been invited to join OPEC. , the cartel is under
pressure from the world's most powerful economies to do more to bring down
record-high oil prices and so limit the potential of a marked deterioration
in global growth. . . ..Increasing demand for energy from fast-growing
China and India has also played a role in the oil market's startling rally
of recent years.
... OPEC members with the exception of Saudi Arabia are pumping out all the
crude they can. Many are flouting the cartel's official quotas so that they
do not lose out on the market boom, analysts say. "With prices so high now,
the countries who are above quotas are going to blissfully ignore the formal
levels," said James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics.
+++JORDAN TIMES 1 June '06: " 'Still corruption' " Randa Habib's corner
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"no Jordanian will dispute the fact that we are far from reaching the
goal of
uprooting this vice"
"some of those who call for a cleanup are themselves corrupt"
===============================================
FULL TEXT:
Every consecutive government has repeatedly pledged to eradicate corruption
from the country.
We believed some and cast doubts on the ability to do so of others. But on
the whole, no Jordanian will dispute the fact that we are far from reaching
the goal of uprooting this vice.
We are told by some officials that very serious efforts are being exerted,
that even a suspicion of corruption on the part of any member of government
will lead to his dismissal ... and that is comforting.
However, what is shocking, stunning and even disgusting is to find out that
some of those who call for a clean up, are themselves corrupt.
Using one's position to channel business to one's benefit, or to that of a
member of one's family, is corruption.
Contacting foreign companies and asking them to dismiss their consultants
and choose a member of one's own family instead because one has the power
and the authority to make their business flourish, is corruption.
To stand in a position of authority and turn a blind eye to cases of fraud
and abuse is still corruption.
Sue Lerner - Associate - IMRA
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Abed Rabbo: Preparations for Palestinian
Referendum Completed
Abed Rabbo: Preparations for Palestinian Referendum Completed
Egypt, Saudi Arabia Weigh in on Hamas to Accept Arab Peace Initiative
01/06/2006
Palestine Media Center - PMC [Official PA website]
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1150
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has the jurisdiction and The Palestinian
National Authority (PNA) has completed "administrative preparations' for
holding a referendum on a two-state solution of the conflict with Israel,
despite Hamas' opposition, member of the PLO Executive Committee, Yasser
Abed Rabbo, announced on Wednesday.
Abbas, as an elected president and accountable to people, has the
jurisdiction and is fully competent to consult the people on issues of
fateful and national dimensions, Abed Rabbo told reporters.
Abbas reportedly met with the head of the Central Elections Commission (CEC)
last Friday to discuss the referendum, said chief Palestinian negotiator,
Saeb Erakat.
Abed Rabbo, a former cabinet minister of culture and information, said the
referendum would be held even if Hamas continues to oppose it.
"The referendum is a duty whether we reach an agreement [with Hamas] or the
dispute continues," Abed Rabbo said, adding that the results of the
referendum would be seen as a vote of confidence or non-confidence in
Abbas's policies.
A legal team had been set up to prepare for the referendum, the chairman of
the Palestinian Peace Coalition (PPC) and co-author of the Geneva Initiative
told reporters.
According to a poll by Near East Consulting, conducted from May 19 to May
21, 2006, 81 per cent of respondents supported Mahmoud Abbas' call for a
referendum and only 19 percent opposed it.
A survey taken by Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki two months ago on the
eve of the inauguration of the Hamas government found that two-thirds of
Palestinians support mutual recognition with Israel and a two-state
solution. Some 75 percent wanted Hamas to negotiate with Israel.
A Role for Palestinian Diaspora?
There were protests that the Palestinian Diaspora should not be excluded
from a referendum that decides a national strategy. Leader of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), Ahmad
Jibril, said recently that Palestinian refugees in exile should have a say
in deciding such a strategy.
Abed Rabbo said that Abbas was not opposed to the idea of including
Palestinians living abroad in the proposed referendum. "Our only condition
is that the referendum abroad be held under the supervision of the
Palestinian CEC," he said. "The host countries also have to agree to such a
move because we don't want to infringe on their sovereignty."
Abed Rabbo represents the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the
ongoing "national dialogue" talks, which concluded a two-day session last
Friday.
The first two days of the dialogue have produced no agreement. On Tuesday,
the parties decided, upon Hamas' insistance, to move the talks from the West
Bank city of Ramallah to Gaza when Abbas returns from a three-day visit to
tunisia on Friday.
Hamas cited the Israeli occupation's restrictions on the movement of its
cabinet ministers and leaders as the reason for requesting the dialogue to
be held in Gaza.
"Holding the national dialogue in the (West) Bank or in Gaza makes no
difference to us," said Abed Rabbo.
He said Fatah was ready to join a Hamas-led government on condition that the
Islamic Resistance Movement accepted the prisoners' document. 'We are ready
to go to a national unity government to break the siege imposed on our
people, to destroy Ehud Olmert's plan for unilateral measures and to show
the world that there is a Palestinian partner that is prepared to
negotiate," the veteran peace advocate indicated.
However Abed Rabbo said that Hamas has informed the Palestinian leadership
that they are preparing a formula to deal with all the items of the national
dialogue agenda, but "we are still waiting for the proposed formula from our
brothers in Hamas."
He warned against not reaching a national accord and highlighted the
importance of the referendum in light of the grave risks facing the national
program.
"The Palestinian people face big questions that should be answered . Either
we head for an independent state or for the second Nakba (catastrophe)," he
added.
Hamas Rejects Referendum
Hamas reacted angrily to Abed Rabbo's statements, saying he was trying to
impose his policies on the Palestinians.
Abu Zuhri said that making the referendum a must meant that the dialogue was
not intended as a mean towards national understanding.
"These remarks are very dangerous," said Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri.
'They refer to the referendum as fait accompli, regardless of whether the
national dialogue fails or succeeds. This means that the dialogue is not
aimed at reaching understandings, but imposing political concessions on the
Palestinians."
The Hamas spokesman criticized Abed Rabbo personally and expressed
"astonishment" at the fact that Abbas had chosen Abed Rabbo to represent him
at the discussions with Hamas.
"He's (Abed Rabbo) threatening a government that won the majority of 60
percent of the people that the president will dismantle it if it does not
accept the prisoners' document."
He added, in a press release distributed to reporters, that the Abed Rabbo's
statements revealed that the PNA was not concerned with success of the
dialogue but rather was interested in bypassing the Hamas-led government.
Abed Rabbo however said that, "the referendum should not be seen as a
challenge, and (we could) resort to referendum even if a national accord is
concluded." Referendum could be conducted in both cases to assert the
national unity and the unified national platform, he added.
Referring to Abbas' 10-day deadline on Tuesday, Palestinian Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyeh said: "Time should not be a sword directed at the
participants. Enough time should be given to reach the expected results from
this dialogue."
Abbas and Palestinian faction leaders have agreed to 10 days of intensive
talks aimed at resolving critical differences and avoiding a national
referendum on a two-state solution.
Similarly, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar on Monday issued
the strongest rejection yet by a senior Hamas official. "Nobody will
recognize Israel, there is no need for a referendum. It's a waste of time
and money," he said during a visit to Malaysia.
The Palestinian government has been internationally isolated and suffering a
crippling economic boycott since Hamas won January 25 legislative elections.
The United States and European Union demand the Islamic group renounce
violence, commit to signed Palestinian-Israeli agreements and recognize
Israel if it wants aid restored. Hamas has refused.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia Weigh in on Hamas
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian King Abdullah and Egyptian President Mubarak,
meeting in the Red Sea Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday,
called on Hamas to accept the Arab peace initiative adopted by the Arab
League summit in Beirut in 2000.
"Egypt and Saudi Arabia call on Hamas to recognize the Beirut Arab
initiative," Egyptian presidential spokesman Soliman Awad told reporters
after the meeting between the two leaders.
Urging Palestinian unity, Awad added: "Egypt sees that the coming critical
phase requires the cessation of any escalation among the Palestinian
factions."
There is an urgent need now for all the heads of the Palestinian factions to
be aware of the higher interests of the Palestinian people and their desire
for an independent state," he said.
The Arab Initiative was based on a Saudi calling for a "land for peace"
formula. It stipulates that if Israel withdraws from all territory the
Jewish state occupied in 1967, all the Arab states will normalize their
relations with Israel.
The so-called "National Accord Document (NAD)," drafted by senior
Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, is based on the Saudi-initiated
peace plan of 2002, which received widespread international support at the
time.
Should the Palestinians accept the NAD, analysts believe there could be
strong international pressure on Israel to engage in peace talks on the
basis of the Saudi plan. In this way, they say, Abbas hopes to re-establish
the Palestinians as players and peace partners, and undercut Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert's unilateralism.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Hizbollah Rejects Every Bid to Disarm the Resistance
Hizbollah Rejects Every Bid to Disarm the Resistance
Thursday, June 01, 2006 - 10:30 AM
www.sana.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=38339&newlang=eng
DAMASCUS , (SANA - Syrian news agency)- Hizbollah Deputy Secretary General
Sheikh Naim Qassem rejected Wednesday every attempt to disarm the Lebanese
national resistance, saying that the resistance is always ready to defend
Lebanon.
"There are two different parties in Lebanon , the first one is
trying to cancel the resistance's weapon while the other one considers this
weapon a necessary to protect the country," Qassem said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Parliamentarian Mohammed Raad considered the
Lebanese resistance weapon's as a guarantee for protecting Lebanon.
In a statement, Raad called for establishing a national
defensive strategy to protect the country, noting "the Israeli enemy which
constitutes a great danger against Lebanese takes no consideration to the
international agreements or the UN resolutions".
A.Zeitoun / Idelbi
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: COS Halutz: Classroom of kids almost murdered
by rocket doesn't matter since no deaths?
COS Halutz: Classroom of kids almost murdered by rocket doesn't matter since
no deaths?
[IMRA: A week ago a classroom full of kids in Sderot were not killed when a
rocket made a direct hit on the classroom because the kid's morning prayers,
held in another room, ran a minute late.
If the terrorists had waited another 90 seconds Halutz would not have been
able to proclaim that "The main parameter is that there have not been any
Israelis killed since we left Gaza" because there would have been a score
dead.
Again: the reason "there have not been any Israelis killed since we left
Gaza" isn't because the IDF succeeded in stopping the rockets. It doesn't
reflect some logic in the retreat. It only reflects the simply fact that
morning prayers ran a minute longer than usual at a Sderot school that day.
Dan Halutz used to be in the Air Force. In the IAF a near miss is treated
with the same severity as the real thing. A pilot who recklessly almost
hits another jet can find himself facing the same investigation and
consequences as a pilot who crashes.
But now Halutz is part of the regular IDF (and in many respects a vocal
politician) and near misses are just another soon to be forgotten blip on
the newswire.]
Security and Defense: Halutz says Islamists are rising
David Horovitz and Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 1, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482085834&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
....
Q: Did our withdrawal from Gaza strengthen Hamas?
Chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz: We need to decide which parameters to
check that question against. Hamas would have won even if we had not left
Gaza. The main parameter is that there have not been any Israelis killed
since we left Gaza. This is not [necessarily] the main consideration but
this is a fact. Since we left there have only been two Bedouin kids killed
after picking up a mortar shell.
Before we left Gaza there were some 30 civilians and soldiers killed a year.
Now there are more Kassams fired than when we were in Gaza - less now than
in the beginning, but more than when we there. We do not have responsibility
over Gaza and our freedom of operation there has increased and we know how
to use more resources for a longer time against the Palestinians. We also
have wider international tolerance. One example of our freedom of operation
is artillery fire, which was not used when we were in the Gaza Strip. We
also did not allow sonic booms since this would have affected the [civilian]
Israelis and soldiers there.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: 01 June, 2006 17:44
Column One: Israel's premeditated market failure
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 31, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482085400&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
One of the foundations of the free market is rational choice theory. That
theory assumes that private individuals generally make decisions that
maximize their profits and utility and do so far better than any collective
organization or bureaucracy. Rational choice theory stands or falls on the
availability of information. Without the free flow of information, people
are unable to make rational choices.
In Israel, as the country's steady economic growth and high placement on
just about every significant global economic index shows, the economic
liberalization reforms enacted by former prime minister and finance minister
Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu have been a complete success. The Israeli
economy is the envy of a Europe that suffers from stagnation and decline.
Yet inside of Israel, the country's economic success is a well-kept secret.
Most Israelis operate under the impression that the country is on the verge
of economic ruin - that poor people are starving, that sick people are going
without proper medical care. The reason that most Israelis believe that the
country is teetering on the brink of an economic disaster is because the
Israeli media have consistently reported an economic narrative that has
absolutely no relationship with reality. So, while international investors
line up to invest in the Israeli economy, Israeli citizens look to socialist
politicians and pundits to save them from their capitalist nightmare of
success.
Just as they underplay Israel's economic success to advance their socialist
economic agenda, the Israeli media distort coverage of Israel's increasingly
dangerous strategic environment to increase public support for their
defeatist, left-wing world view. In both endeavors, the media are supported
and abetted by the legal system.
Events on the northern front and in Gaza over the past few days demonstrated
that Israelis are denied a free flow of accurate information regarding their
national security. On Monday, Ha'aretz reported darkly, "Iran has
transferred to Lebanon rockets that reach Beersheba." The report stated that
the Iranians recently provided their proxy Hizbullah with Zelzal-2 rockets
capable of hitting every major city in Israel.
Yet while this report is true, it is neither startling nor earth-shaking for
anyone who has been closely observing developments in south Lebanon over the
past few years. The recent shipment of Zelzal missiles does not constitute a
departure from well-formed Iranian, Syrian or Hizbullah policy patterns.
The first time that a shipment of Iranian Zelzal rockets to Hizbullah was
reported was in early 2003. Just as this week it took the media one day to
forget about this Zelzal shipment, in 2003, the reports received almost no
attention. At the time the Israeli media and the government were busy
convincing the Israeli public to support the road map which was then being
written by Yossi Beilin and Tony Blair.
Like the 2003 report before it, the meaning of this week's report is clear.
Iran today is perched on Israel's northern border.
Against the backdrop of Iran's nuclear weapons program and its ballistic
missiles capabilities, Iran's presence on the northern border dramatically
impacts Israel's national security posture. If before the IDF's withdrawal
from southern Lebanon in May 2000 Hizbullah and its state sponsor
constituted a challenging, bloody tactical threat to Israel, today they are
a strategic threat. In short, this week's story about the Zelzal missile
shipment reveals what a terrible mistake Israel's retreat from south Lebanon
was.
But the Israel media - which was the engine behind the Barak government's
decision to retreat from south Lebanon six years ago - have no interest in
informing the public of the magnitude of its error. So rather than provide
any context for Sunday's Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel, our
media luminaries argued among themselves about irrelevancies such as whether
the Iranian puppet Islamic Jihad or the Iranian puppet Hizbullah fired the
rockets on Sunday morning.
If the media had any interest in serving their primary function of informing
the Israeli public about its current situation, they could ask why Israel is
sitting back and allowing Hizbullah to acquire the means to attack all of
Israel's major cities. If we know that the missiles were delivered, why
didn't we blow them up at the airport or in their silos?
Since the 1950s, Israel's military doctrine has dictated that the IDF is
responsible for ensuring that our enemies do not acquire the means to cause
us strategic damage. This was the rationale that stood behind the Sinai
Campaign in 1956, the Six Day War in 1967, the strike at the Iraqi nuclear
reactor at Osirak in 1981 and countless other operations throughout the
years.
But rather than receiving context or meaningful debate, the public is fed a
diet of empty-headed drivel. Our media know-it-alls idiotically inform us
that far more IDF soldiers were killed in Lebanon when the IDF was deployed
in Lebanon than have been killed in Lebanon since the IDF withdrew from
Lebanon. No one bothers to explain that in the future many more soldiers
will likely be killed in Lebanon to neutralize the strategic threats that
have emerged in that area because soldiers who prevented the Lebanese
tactical challenge from becoming the current strategic threat were removed
from the country six years ago.
JUST AS the already forgotten report on the Zelzal missile shipment showed
how ill-advised the withdrawal from southern Lebanon was, this week two
reports revealed a no less disturbing situation in the abandoned Gaza Strip.
Tuesday, as the socialist economic gurus in the media and the government
argued in favor of slashing the IDF's budget in light of the withdrawal from
Gaza, we were informed that the IDF returned to Gaza two months ago.
Palestinian terrorists Tuesday morning videotaped Israeli forces in the
ruins of the Israeli community of Dugit attacking a Palestinian terror squad
as it prepared to launch a Kassam rocket on Ashkelon. On Wednesday the IDF
admitted that it has been deploying commandos in Gaza to prevent rocket and
missile launches for the past two months. That deployment had been kept
secret to prevent the public from learning just how ill-advised last year's
retreat was. The need to deploy ground forces in Gaza today proves
unequivocally that the only way to defend Ashkelon and the other communities
bordering Gaza from attack is by deploying IDF boots on the ground in Gaza.
Just as they distorted their coverage of the Katyusha attacks on northern
Israel on Sunday, to prevent the public from absorbing the significance of
the IDF ground operations in Gaza, the media concentrated its coverage of
the deployment of ground forces in Gaza on irrelevant side issues. All the
media turned their attention to the terror propaganda film. That film
regaled Israeli TV viewers with footage of poor terrorists dying of their
wounds just before they had the opportunity to attack Ashkelon with their
rockets.
Also on Tuesday, Channel 10 reported the unsurprising fact that the new
Hamas army that purportedly was raised to end the chaos on the streets of
Gaza, is actually devoted to fighting Israel. Channel 10 showed its viewers
a Hamas promotional video showing its terrorists graduating from basic
training.
The reporter made much of the fact that the terrorists were pictured
receiving orders from imams rather than their Iranian-sponsored Hamas
"military" commanders. It is not clear why we should care that the
terrorists giving the orders are wearing gowns rather than camouflage, but
one thing we should care about immensely was glossed over by Channel 10. The
announcer on the propaganda film declared that Hamas's allies in the east
and west are anxiously waiting for the Hamas soldiers to join them in
battle. The point of that statement is unmistakable: Hamas perceives itself
as part and parcel of the forces for global jihad and does not limit its
sites to waging war on Israel.
The fact that the same day the video was broadcast, Israel announced it had
arrested a British national who admitted to membership in Hamas demonstrates
that far from being a Palestinian nationalist group, Hamas is a member in
good standing of the global jihad army that takes its orders from Teheran.
But Channel 10 didn't think that aspect of the story held any interest for
its viewers.
PRIME MINISTER Olmert and his associates claim that in giving Kadima the
most seats in the Knesset, the Israeli public declared its support for
Olmert's plan to relinquish Judea and Samaria to Hamas. But when one
assesses the quality of the information that the public receives, the only
conclusion it is possible to reach is that Israel is suffering from market
failure in the realm of information flow and processing.
This market failure is exacerbated and maintained by constraints placed on
public debate by Israel's legal establishment. Two separate events this week
brought home this disturbing reality. First, on Monday, Attorney-General
Menachem Mazuz announced the opening of the trial of right-wing activist
Nadia Matar for the alleged crime of "insulting a public servant." Matar was
indicted after she sent a letter to Yonatan Bassi, the head of the
Disengagement Authority, where she compared him to the Judenrat in the
Holocaust. Mazuz's decision to indict Matar for her written expression
demonstrates how legal authorities have seized for themselves the power to
determine the limits of public debate in a manner unheard of in other free
societies.
In a related incident, President Moshe Katsav pardoned the heads of the now
banned Arutz 7 radio station for having committed the crime of broadcasting
without the approval of the Supreme Court. The media reacted to Katsav's
decision with hysteria and rage. Indeed, the media have reacted more calmly
to the government's decisions to release hundreds of convicted terrorists
from prison than to the president's decision to pardon Arutz 7's management
team.
The story of Arutz 7 is demonstrative of the legal system's willingness to
twist and distort law in order to make it impossible for alternative voices
to be heard by the public. In its ruling on Arutz 7 in 1998, the Supreme
Court dismissed a law passed by the Knesset that gave Arutz 7 a license to
broadcast. The Court argued strangely that by granting Arutz 7 the right to
broadcast, the Knesset had harmed regional radio stations that would have to
operate in a world in which Arutz 7 exists.
When one sees how news is distorted and truth is hidden from the Israeli
public; when one understands how the legal system in Israel constrains
permissible speech, one sees that while the Israeli economy may be chugging
along, the public consciousness of the Israeli body politic has fallen
victim to a premeditated failure of the marketplaces of information and
ideas. If the Israeli people wish to survive in an increasingly dangerous
strategic environment, ways must be found immediately for these failures to
be corrected or circumvented.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Column One: Israel's premeditated market failure
Column One: Israel's premeditated market failure
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 31, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482085400&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
One of the foundations of the free market is rational choice theory. That
theory assumes that private individuals generally make decisions that
maximize their profits and utility and do so far better than any collective
organization or bureaucracy. Rational choice theory stands or falls on the
availability of information. Without the free flow of information, people
are unable to make rational choices.
In Israel, as the country's steady economic growth and high placement on
just about every significant global economic index shows, the economic
liberalization reforms enacted by former prime minister and finance minister
Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu have been a complete success. The Israeli
economy is the envy of a Europe that suffers from stagnation and decline.
Yet inside of Israel, the country's economic success is a well-kept secret.
Most Israelis operate under the impression that the country is on the verge
of economic ruin - that poor people are starving, that sick people are going
without proper medical care. The reason that most Israelis believe that the
country is teetering on the brink of an economic disaster is because the
Israeli media have consistently reported an economic narrative that has
absolutely no relationship with reality. So, while international investors
line up to invest in the Israeli economy, Israeli citizens look to socialist
politicians and pundits to save them from their capitalist nightmare of
success.
Just as they underplay Israel's economic success to advance their socialist
economic agenda, the Israeli media distort coverage of Israel's increasingly
dangerous strategic environment to increase public support for their
defeatist, left-wing world view. In both endeavors, the media are supported
and abetted by the legal system.
Events on the northern front and in Gaza over the past few days demonstrated
that Israelis are denied a free flow of accurate information regarding their
national security. On Monday, Ha'aretz reported darkly, "Iran has
transferred to Lebanon rockets that reach Beersheba." The report stated that
the Iranians recently provided their proxy Hizbullah with Zelzal-2 rockets
capable of hitting every major city in Israel.
Yet while this report is true, it is neither startling nor earth-shaking for
anyone who has been closely observing developments in south Lebanon over the
past few years. The recent shipment of Zelzal missiles does not constitute a
departure from well-formed Iranian, Syrian or Hizbullah policy patterns.
The first time that a shipment of Iranian Zelzal rockets to Hizbullah was
reported was in early 2003. Just as this week it took the media one day to
forget about this Zelzal shipment, in 2003, the reports received almost no
attention. At the time the Israeli media and the government were busy
convincing the Israeli public to support the road map which was then being
written by Yossi Beilin and Tony Blair.
Like the 2003 report before it, the meaning of this week's report is clear.
Iran today is perched on Israel's northern border.
Against the backdrop of Iran's nuclear weapons program and its ballistic
missiles capabilities, Iran's presence on the northern border dramatically
impacts Israel's national security posture. If before the IDF's withdrawal
from southern Lebanon in May 2000 Hizbullah and its state sponsor
constituted a challenging, bloody tactical threat to Israel, today they are
a strategic threat. In short, this week's story about the Zelzal missile
shipment reveals what a terrible mistake Israel's retreat from south Lebanon
was.
But the Israel media - which was the engine behind the Barak government's
decision to retreat from south Lebanon six years ago - have no interest in
informing the public of the magnitude of its error. So rather than provide
any context for Sunday's Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel, our
media luminaries argued among themselves about irrelevancies such as whether
the Iranian puppet Islamic Jihad or the Iranian puppet Hizbullah fired the
rockets on Sunday morning.
If the media had any interest in serving their primary function of informing
the Israeli public about its current situation, they could ask why Israel is
sitting back and allowing Hizbullah to acquire the means to attack all of
Israel's major cities. If we know that the missiles were delivered, why
didn't we blow them up at the airport or in their silos?
Since the 1950s, Israel's military doctrine has dictated that the IDF is
responsible for ensuring that our enemies do not acquire the means to cause
us strategic damage. This was the rationale that stood behind the Sinai
Campaign in 1956, the Six Day War in 1967, the strike at the Iraqi nuclear
reactor at Osirak in 1981 and countless other operations throughout the
years.
But rather than receiving context or meaningful debate, the public is fed a
diet of empty-headed drivel. Our media know-it-alls idiotically inform us
that far more IDF soldiers were killed in Lebanon when the IDF was deployed
in Lebanon than have been killed in Lebanon since the IDF withdrew from
Lebanon. No one bothers to explain that in the future many more soldiers
will likely be killed in Lebanon to neutralize the strategic threats that
have emerged in that area because soldiers who prevented the Lebanese
tactical challenge from becoming the current strategic threat were removed
from the country six years ago.
JUST AS the already forgotten report on the Zelzal missile shipment showed
how ill-advised the withdrawal from southern Lebanon was, this week two
reports revealed a no less disturbing situation in the abandoned Gaza Strip.
Tuesday, as the socialist economic gurus in the media and the government
argued in favor of slashing the IDF's budget in light of the withdrawal from
Gaza, we were informed that the IDF returned to Gaza two months ago.
Palestinian terrorists Tuesday morning videotaped Israeli forces in the
ruins of the Israeli community of Dugit attacking a Palestinian terror squad
as it prepared to launch a Kassam rocket on Ashkelon. On Wednesday the IDF
admitted that it has been deploying commandos in Gaza to prevent rocket and
missile launches for the past two months. That deployment had been kept
secret to prevent the public from learning just how ill-advised last year's
retreat was. The need to deploy ground forces in Gaza today proves
unequivocally that the only way to defend Ashkelon and the other communities
bordering Gaza from attack is by deploying IDF boots on the ground in Gaza.
Just as they distorted their coverage of the Katyusha attacks on northern
Israel on Sunday, to prevent the public from absorbing the significance of
the IDF ground operations in Gaza, the media concentrated its coverage of
the deployment of ground forces in Gaza on irrelevant side issues. All the
media turned their attention to the terror propaganda film. That film
regaled Israeli TV viewers with footage of poor terrorists dying of their
wounds just before they had the opportunity to attack Ashkelon with their
rockets.
Also on Tuesday, Channel 10 reported the unsurprising fact that the new
Hamas army that purportedly was raised to end the chaos on the streets of
Gaza, is actually devoted to fighting Israel. Channel 10 showed its viewers
a Hamas promotional video showing its terrorists graduating from basic
training.
The reporter made much of the fact that the terrorists were pictured
receiving orders from imams rather than their Iranian-sponsored Hamas
"military" commanders. It is not clear why we should care that the
terrorists giving the orders are wearing gowns rather than camouflage, but
one thing we should care about immensely was glossed over by Channel 10. The
announcer on the propaganda film declared that Hamas's allies in the east
and west are anxiously waiting for the Hamas soldiers to join them in
battle. The point of that statement is unmistakable: Hamas perceives itself
as part and parcel of the forces for global jihad and does not limit its
sites to waging war on Israel.
The fact that the same day the video was broadcast, Israel announced it had
arrested a British national who admitted to membership in Hamas demonstrates
that far from being a Palestinian nationalist group, Hamas is a member in
good standing of the global jihad army that takes its orders from Teheran.
But Channel 10 didn't think that aspect of the story held any interest for
its viewers.
PRIME MINISTER Olmert and his associates claim that in giving Kadima the
most seats in the Knesset, the Israeli public declared its support for
Olmert's plan to relinquish Judea and Samaria to Hamas. But when one
assesses the quality of the information that the public receives, the only
conclusion it is possible to reach is that Israel is suffering from market
failure in the realm of information flow and processing.
This market failure is exacerbated and maintained by constraints placed on
public debate by Israel's legal establishment. Two separate events this week
brought home this disturbing reality. First, on Monday, Attorney-General
Menachem Mazuz announced the opening of the trial of right-wing activist
Nadia Matar for the alleged crime of "insulting a public servant." Matar was
indicted after she sent a letter to Yonatan Bassi, the head of the
Disengagement Authority, where she compared him to the Judenrat in the
Holocaust. Mazuz's decision to indict Matar for her written expression
demonstrates how legal authorities have seized for themselves the power to
determine the limits of public debate in a manner unheard of in other free
societies.
In a related incident, President Moshe Katsav pardoned the heads of the now
banned Arutz 7 radio station for having committed the crime of broadcasting
without the approval of the Supreme Court. The media reacted to Katsav's
decision with hysteria and rage. Indeed, the media have reacted more calmly
to the government's decisions to release hundreds of convicted terrorists
from prison than to the president's decision to pardon Arutz 7's management
team.
The story of Arutz 7 is demonstrative of the legal system's willingness to
twist and distort law in order to make it impossible for alternative voices
to be heard by the public. In its ruling on Arutz 7 in 1998, the Supreme
Court dismissed a law passed by the Knesset that gave Arutz 7 a license to
broadcast. The Court argued strangely that by granting Arutz 7 the right to
broadcast, the Knesset had harmed regional radio stations that would have to
operate in a world in which Arutz 7 exists.
When one sees how news is distorted and truth is hidden from the Israeli
public; when one understands how the legal system in Israel constrains
permissible speech, one sees that while the Israeli economy may be chugging
along, the public consciousness of the Israeli body politic has fallen
victim to a premeditated failure of the marketplaces of information and
ideas. If the Israeli people wish to survive in an increasingly dangerous
strategic environment, ways must be found immediately for these failures to
be corrected or circumvented.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: BBC back in Beirut after 15-year hiatus
BBC back in Beirut after 15-year hiatus
UK media giant seeds bureau with 2 local correspondents
By Lysandra Ohrstrom
Daily Star staff Wednesday, May 31, 2006
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=24860
BEIRUT: The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) reopened its Lebanon
Bureau this month after a 15-year break that began in the early 1990s. Two
local correspondents - Kim Ghattas for the English news service and Nada
Abdel Samad for an Arabic news service to be launched in 2007 - will cover
Lebanon and Syria from the new downtown headquarters in Riad al-Solh square,
occupying the same building as the Associated Press.
In a homecoming of sorts, one of the BBC's most seasoned Middle East
correspondents, Jim Muir, will report regional politics from Beirut after an
almost three-decade hiatus. The peripatetic, self-proclaimed "Arabist" moved
on to stints managing the BBC's regional branches in Cairo and Tehran after
"it went quiet in the 90's around the time of Taif."
"I reported all major events in Lebanon in the 70's and 80's, but I had to
leave (for Cyprus) in 1980 because I was on a Syrian hit list," Muir told
the Daily Star at Tuesday's reception at the new headquarters.
"When I first came here in 1975, I landed behind the Cinema Orient and could
see immediately that Beirut was just so full of life, and then it became a
battle field obviously. Now the country has come back to life, and the new
downtown is a symbol of this," Muir said.
The BBC has continued to report from Lebanon despite the closure of its
Beirut offices through a combination of local and visiting journalists. Its
new Lebanon desk will be bigger than the Amman office, where it has a
minimal presence, but smaller that the regional hub in Cairo, and -
depending on the security situation - its branches in Baghdad and Jerusalem.
But Simon Wilson, the editor of the BBC's Middle East Bureau, aims to expand
the networks' Middle East operations eventually.
"My ambition in the future will be to open a bureau in Damascus for the
Arabic News Service, but at the moment this is the appropriate size for
covering the two countries, and if there is a big story other regional
correspondents can come to support Nada and Kim," he said.
Wilson acknowledged that the timing of the decision to reopen the BBC's
Lebanon desk was influenced by the political developments following former
Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination and the Syrian withdrawal, though he is
careful to emphasize that "we never completely left."
"This is a big vote of confidence in Beirut and our team here," Wilson said.
"We think Lebanon is at a crossroads right now, politically, socially, and
geographically."
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Fateh Central Committee Agrees upon
Conducting General Referendum
Fateh Central Committee Agrees upon Conducting General Referendum
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=6454
TUNIS, June 1, 2006 (WAFA - PLO news agency)- Fateh Central Committee agreed
upon conducting general referendum on basis of the National Reconciliation
Document proposed by pioneer Palestinian prisoners, if National Dialogue did
not reach conclusion.
In presence of President Mamoud Abbas, the Central Committee held Wednesday
night a meeting at the residence of its Secretary Farouk Kaddomi in Tunis.
Fateh Central Committee member, Ahmad Qurei told Thursday WAFA, that the
committee thoroughly discussed the prisoners document, considering it as a
basis for the National Dialogue.
He added the Committee agreed upon reactivating the PLO, revealing that
there would be a meeting in the near future between Palestinian factions to
discuss the issue of reactivation.
(14:40 P) (11:40 GMT)
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Head of The PFLP Infrastructure in Nablus Arrested
June 2nd 2006
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Attributed to "security sources" [Distributed by the IDF Spokesperson's
Office]
Head of the PFLP infrastructure in Nablus arrested
In a joint IDF and ISA operation early this morning, June 2nd 2006, security
forces arrested senior PFLP operative Jawwad Quabaya, in the Evangelistic
hospital in Nablus, where he was treated for an injury sustained during an
exchange of fire with an IDF force last week.
In the past several months Quabaya stood at the head of the PFLP
infrastructure in Nablus, and was responsible for recruiting many suicide
bombers. Quabaya also attempted to direct various terror attacks and was
involved in the manufacturing of explosives and explosive belts for the PFLP
infrastructure in the city of Nablus.
In the past year Quabaya had been involved in several attempts to carry out
attacks, including an attempt to blow up an IDF post in the village of Jit,
west of Nablus, which was thwarted due the soldierss' alertness.
In December 2005 he attempted to dispatch a car bomb attack into Israel.
In January 2006 Quabaya recruited several youths and minors in order to
carry out suicide attacks in Israel. These attacks were thwarted with the
arrest of the potential suicide bombers.
In addition Quabaya had been involved in dispatching shooting attacks at IDF
soldiers in the city of Nablus and attempts to detonate explosive devices on
main routs in the area surrounding the city.
Following his arrest this morning, Quabaya was transferred to an Israeli
hospital for further treatment.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Syria concluded what termed a major military exercise
Syria has concluded what was termed a major military exercise
NICOSIA [MENL] -- Syria has concluded what was termed a major military
exercise.
Western diplomatic sources said the Syrian Army concluded a live fire
exercise that featured main battle tanks and artillery. The sources said the
exercise took place in late May and was one of the largest maneuvers in
years.
"It was a show of force, that's for certain," a Western source said. "What
it demonstrated was not really clear."
The exercise was attended by Syrian President Bashar Assad. On May 29, Assad
told the military command to prepare to counter any foreign invasion. He did
not elaborate.
===
NOTE: The above is not the full item.
This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily
by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please
contact Middle East Newsline at:
editor@menewsline.com for further details
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: U.S. DELAYS IRAN STRIKE FEASIBILITY TEST
U.S. DELAYS IRAN STRIKE FEASIBILITY TEST
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States, amid plans to negotiate with
Teheran, has delayed a test that could determine the feasibility of an air
strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The Defense Department has canceled a test meant to examine the use of huge
amounts of explosives to destroy underground bunkers of the type that
conceal Iran's nuclear weapons program. The U.S. Air Force test was to have
taken place on June 2 in the Nevada desert.
But two days before the exercise, termed "Divine Strake," the Pentagon said
the blast impact demonstration would not take place. No new date was set.
"The experiment, originally scheduled for June 2, 2006, will not be
conducted earlier than June 23, 2006," the Pentagon's Defense Threat
Reduction Agency said in a statement.
===
NOTE: The above is not the full item.
This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily
by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please
contact Middle East Newsline at:
editor@menewsline.com for further details.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PALESTINIANS RISE IN SUNNI INSURGENCY
PALESTINIANS RISE IN SUNNI INSURGENCY
BAGHDAD [MENL] -- The U.S. military has determined that Palestinians have
become senior operatives in the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.
Officials said an increasing number of Palestinians have joined Al
Qaida-aligned groups in Iraq. They said most of the Palestinians, estimated
at more than 100, entered Baghdad from Syria and Jordan over the last 18
months and helped plan suicide car bombings.
"They came into Iraq posing as students or those visiting family," an
official said. "We believe some of them were sent by Palestinian groups."
On May 30, Iraqi and U.S. troops captured three Palestinians identified as
leaders of insurgency cells in Baghdad. The Palestinians were said to have
recruited students from Baghdad Technical University and ordered them to
plant bombs near Iraqi police and army positions.
====
NOTE: The above is not the full item.
This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily
by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please
contact Middle East Newsline at:
editor@menewsline.com for further details.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Hamas demands amendments on the Arab peace
initiative
Hamas Demands Review on Arab Initiative
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=16340
GAZA, Palestine, June 1,2006 (IPC+ Agencies) [Official PA website]- -In
response to Egypt and Saudi Arabia call for Hamas to recognize the Arab
Initiative, the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas demanded amendments on
the Arab peace initiative embraced in Beirut 2002 to press on Israel to live
up with the Palestinian demands.
Hamas's spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, said that Hamas will not change it
position regarding the initiative as long as the Israeli government did
disagree it.
Abu Zuhri added that should Israel accept it "each incident has a say."
Beirut peace initiative offered normalization of the Arab states ties with
Israel traded for Israel Israeli withdrawal from the entire Arab territories
occupied in June 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinians state.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah yesterday held talks
in Sharm el-Sheikh red resort on efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace
talks.
Ambassador Suleiman Awad , spokesperson of the Egyptian presidency, said
following the summit " Egypt , Saudi Arabia and all Arab inclination call
Hamas to recognize the Arab Beirut initiative , we do not speak about the
demands by the International community but about the Arab initiative
sketched out by Saudi Arabia and endorsed in Beirut summit and reaffirmed by
the consequent summits.'
Mr. Awad underlined on the desperate need for all the Palestinian factions
to handle issues of the Palestinian people interests with much more
discernment and his hope to establish a Palestinian state and cope with the
pretenses of no irrelevant Palestinian partners in peace process with much
more responsibility.
About efforts have been making to amend the Beirut Summit to bring Hamas to
recognize it, the Ambassador Awad that no way to do so as the initiative won
landslide endorsement by the Arab leaders and reaffirmed their firm stick
with it in the many Arab conferences the latest was Al Khartoum Summit.
He made clear that the initiative is no need to be resurrected as it did not
pronounce dead and still set forth as agreed upon Arab choice, looking at
peace as a strategic option.. Full peace traded for full recognition and
normalization.
About Egyptain efforts to prompt the USA administration and Israel to change
their stances and allow aid deliveries to the Palestinians, Awad said " it's
the only thing preoccupy our minds
Ambassador Awad explained that the mechanism has been formed by the European
Union guarantee re-flow of aids to the Palestinian people and should be
finalized as soon as possible.
------------------------------
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Terrorists Captured In Syria Got Weapons
from Neighboring Country
Terrorists Captured Got Weapons from Neighboring Country
Friday, June 02, 2006 - 10:15 AM
www.sana.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&newlang=eng&sid=38531&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
DAMASCUS, (SANA - Syrian News Agency) - Primary investigations into the
arrested terrorists who tried to infiltrate this morning into buildings
Western Damascus were provided with weapons from a neighboring country,
interior ministry said Friday.
An official source at the ministry said "primary investigations of the
arrested terrorists showed that until last Ramadan ( the fasting month in
Islam) last October; they were following one of the Sufi ways, then they
joined a Takfiri group ( Islamic fanatic militant group)."
The source noted that "arms were supplied to the group by a neighboring
country to stage sabotage acts aimed at vital targets and national
interests."
The source underlined that the arrested terrorists would be sent to the
specialized judiciary after completing the investigation.
The source clarified that an armed clash took place at 6,15 h this morning
among members of the fighting terror units froces and a terrorist group
including ten members when they tried to infiltrate into a deserted building
near the general customs headquarters Western Damascus.
" The clash led to the killing of four armed terrorists and the martyrdom of
a member of the fighting terror forces while the other terrorists were
arrested, two of them wounded," the source said.
It added that ten US guns were confiscated from the group with their
ammunition and an other ammunition in addition to locally made explosives
together with tapes recording including religious preaches and other arms.
Sawsan
------------------------------
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End of [imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1408 (15 messages)
**********
