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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with the Fairness Project by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Saudi Nationals and Foundations Stand Out in Terrorist Financing - Matthew A. Levitt (Middle East Review of International Affairs [MERIA] Journal)
A few wealthy individuals are able to sponsor much terror. For example, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hasnawi, a Saudi national and Bin Ladin moneyman, sent the September 11 hijackers operational funds and received at least $15,000 in unspent funds before leaving the UAE for Pakistan on September 11.
White House Fears Baghdad Palace Coup - Toby Harnden (Telegraph-UK)
After years of trying to provoke a coup against Saddam Hussein, Washington is now concerned that his overthrow on the eve of American-led military action could create more problems than it solves.
Useful Reference:
Tel Aviv District Court Decision Regarding Israel's Jurisdiction in the Barghouti Case (IMRA)
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News Resources - North America and Europe:
Hundreds of American soldiers have arrived in Israel for joint maneuvers with that country's anti-missile defenses, aimed at providing protection against any Iraqi strikes if the U.S. attacks Iraq, officials said Tuesday. The U.S. soldiers, who brought Patriot anti-missile batteries with them, will remain in Israel until the end of any war on Iraq, military officials said. (AP/Fox News) See also U.S. Beefs Up Iraq War Liaison Team The U.S. Army's chief liaison officer with the IDF, Major General Charles Simpson, has arrived in Israel, part of a general decision to "raise the profile" of military cooperation between the two countries in advance of a possible war with Iraq. Israel's air defense command will hold a joint exercise with the two American Patriot batteries stationed in the Negev, with assistance from the U.S. Sixth Fleet's radar units. In addition, two ships from the Sixth Fleet are participating in an anti-submarine warfare exercise with the Israel Navy. (Ha'aretz) Yasser Arafat, the embattled Palestinian leader, has agreed in principle to give up some of his autocratic powers to a new prime minister in an attempt to win back international support. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said senior Palestinian delegates speaking "with Mr. Arafat's authority" promised to present a revised draft for a democratic constitution, including the creation of a prime minister "having specified powers," later this month. But the move was hedged with conditions, and it was unclear whether it would satisfy Israeli and American demands for a change of leadership. The Israeli government has said real reform is impossible for as long as Mr. Arafat remains the Palestinian leader. (Telegraph-UK) See also The Outcomes of the London Conference on Palestinian Reform - British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw There was clear recognition that without credible Palestinian performance on security, the reform agenda will founder. (Foreign Office-UK) Stephen Oake, 40, a special branch officer, was stabbed to death and four others were injured during a counter terrorism operation in Manchester linked to the discovery of the deadly poison ricin in London last week. Three suspects, believed to be of North African origin, were arrested. (BBC) Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon, 48, the son of a Holocaust survivor of Auschwitz, will operate an experiment that tracks dust particles from sandstorms blowing through Earth's atmosphere, including those that swirl about the Mediterranean region. Ramon, who flew in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, has logged more than 3,000 hours in various jet aircraft and another 1,000 hours in F-16 jets alone. Jewish astronauts have flown in space before - most notably Judy Resnik, who was lost in the 1986 Challenger disaster. (Space.com) After an Iraqi anti-ship missile launcher near Basra had been locking on to U.S. warship radars at the northern end of the Gulf, American aircraft attacked the launcher site with precision-guided bombs. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command said the missile-launcher, believed to be a Chinese-made Silkworm, posed a threat to shipping. (London Times) "My fear is that we wake up one day and we find either that one of these dictatorial states has used weapons of mass destruction - and Iraq has done so in the past - and we get sucked into a conflict, with all the devastation that would cause; or alternatively these weapons, which are being traded right round the world at the moment, fall into the hands of these terrorist groups, these fanatics who will stop at absolutely nothing to cause death and destruction on a mass scale," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday. (Prime Minister's Office-UK)
News Resources - Israel, the Mideast, and Asia:
The IDF Tuesday blocked all the entrances to the Gazan town of Beit Hanun in an effort to prevent launches of Kassam rockets at Israeli towns inside the Green Line. An analysis of the three rockets that fell in Sderot this week indicated that Hamas had launched them from the orchards around Beit Hanun. In Tulkarm on the West Bank, an arrested Tanzim member led soldiers to an arms cache that contained an explosive belt, four bombs, and two booby-trapped computer screens. (Ha'aretz) Mohammed Def, leader of the military wing of Hamas and responsible for its 1996 homicide bombing campaign, who lost an eye three months ago in an attack by IDF helicopters, has returned to full action. He suffered no mental impairment, as had been reported earlier, and is currently rebuilding the operational infrastructure of Hamas in the West Bank. Def is also involved in the production of Kassam rockets. Those who set policy in Hamas have placed emphasis on the development of Kassam rockets to strike targets in Israel. (Maariv)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis
(Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
As an American who was born and raised in Iraq, I know that freedom is possible. For one week in March 1991, I saw what it was like to live outside of Saddam's control. As Saddam withdrew from Kuwait, the first President Bush encouraged Iraqis to rise up. We did and, within a few days, liberated most of Iraq's 18 provinces. The secret police state collapsed, and Iraqis celebrated in the streets. But American help never came, Saddam regrouped, and his state of terror came crashing back down on us. If the Iraqi people are to have any hope of again experiencing that exhilarating feeling of freedom, the U.S. needs to make certain that Saddam can no longer terrorize his own people. (Zainab Al-Suwaij is the executive director of the American Islamic Congress.) (USA Today) While for long periods the Jews fared better in the Islamic world than in Christian countries, Jews were never treated equally under Moslem rule. In the second half of the 19th century, under the accelerated European penetration of the Moslem world, many Jews were protected by the Europeans and Moslem hatred began to develop against the Jews who had benefited more from the Western penetration. European anti-Semitism was brought to the Middle East by Christian intellectuals who taught in Church and European schools. In 1894, before the creation of the Zionist movement, the publication in Arabic of The Talmud Jew by the German anti-Semite Eugen Duhring - which popularized the concept of the 'Jewish threat' - can be considered the beginning of modern Arab anti-Semitism. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) George W. Bush and Tony Blair may have to agree to give Blix a little - a very little - more time to further demonstrate the futility of an inspection process already demonstrated over a dozen years of failure. But I don't think this will be of any more consequence than were all the now-forgotten fits and starts that preceded the first war against Hussein. (Washington Post) No to the Quartet's Road Map - Ovadia Soffer (Jerusalem Post)
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