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Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with Access/Middle East by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Islamic Movement Leaders Passed Sensitive Information to Iran (Prime Minister's Office/IMRA)
Iraqis Fear Israeli Infiltration (IslamOnline-Qatar)
Arabs Boycott Israel at Special Olympics - Sharon Sadeh (Ha'aretz)
Jordan, Israel, Palestinians Join Forces to Save Dead Sea (AFP/TerraDaily)
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News Resources - North America and Europe:
In a background briefing Monday on the U.S.-European Union Summit set for June 25 in Washington, a senior Bush administration official said: "Hamas has declared itself to be an enemy of the peace process. It has declared itself inalterably opposed to the roadmap. A leader of Hamas said publicly, I believe, that the Hamas objective was to kill every Jew in Palestine, a statement which has the benefit of being forthright and very clear. Its meaning cannot be mistaken. Hamas is not a legitimate partner. Hamas is a terrorist organization, as are all of its works." (State Department) A Qatari man described by federal prosecutors as an al Qaeda "sleeper operative" was designated an enemy combatant by President Bush and turned over to the U.S. military. Ali S. Marri, who arrived in the U.S. the day before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was trained in computer hacking and the use of poisons. He was sent to the U.S. to help settle al Qaeda members arriving for follow-up attacks, captives reportedly have told interrogators. Marri's wife, Maha, is a Saudi citizen who was transported out of the U.S. in November by the Saudi Embassy, angering FBI agents and prosecutors who had confiscated her passport and issued her a grand jury subpoena. (Washington Post) Something is afoot in Israel's financial markets. The leading Tel Aviv stock index is up 34% so far this year. After being unable to raise money on the international capital markets for more than two years, the Israeli government recently attracted institutional investors to a commercial bond offering, raising $750 million. And investors are bidding up the shares of recently privatized El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Finance Minister and top economic policymaker since March, argues that one key reason smart money is heading to Israel is the government's radical program to liberalize its economy. (Business Week) Six British military police were killed in southern Iraq, British officials said Tuesday. In a separate ambush nearby, eight British soldiers were wounded. There has also been a spate of clashes between U.S. forces and gunmen in central Iraq in the past day. (Washington Post) News Resources - Israel, the Mideast, and Asia:
Palestinians fired a Kassam rocket at the Israeli town of Sderot Wednesday morning. It exploded near a compound housing a number of elementary schools but prior to the students' arrival. There were no injuries. Police believe the rocket was fired by Hamas terrorists from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. On Tuesday, an Israeli was wounded from shrapnel after Palestinians fired three mortars at the town of Neve Dekelim in the Gaza district. (Yediot Ahronot-Hebrew) On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, "If the Palestinians take security responsibility for an area, they will be responsible for maintaining the cease-fire and will have to act to eliminate terror." "If we identify an intention to commit a terror attack, we will demand they take immediate action to foil it. But if they don't do so, we will act on our own," he said. "Certainly, if it's a ticking bomb and there's no time to tell them, we'll act on our own." He said Israel would not be satisfied with a cease-fire that is temporary and tactical, but would demand commitments to disarm the terrorist organizations, collect their weapons, and destroy the arms. There must also be a halt to the incitement against Israel, he said. According to a military intelligence officer who briefed the committee, Hamas accepted a three-month cease-fire, both inside the "green line" and in the territories. (Ha'aretz) After an agreement is reached on transferring security control in Gaza and Bethlehem to the PA, Israel will grant the Palestinians a "grace period" of three to four weeks and won't initiate military activity, a senior diplomatic official said Tuesday. "We are interested in the results, there must be an end to terror activity, and you can't do that without disarming and dismantling the terror organizations," the official said. If the cease-fire breaks down and the terror returns, the official said, there will be no progress on the road map. The official said Israel has made it clear it will not accept a trickle of drive-by shootings to replace the suicide bombings. "This is intolerable, and we will not play by those rules," he said. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
When PA prime minister Mahmoud Abbas began his term of office, many convinced themselves that artificial regime change would bring about democracy and, eventually, peace. Today, despite Mr. Abbas' promises to act vigorously against incitement, hatred, and terrorism, the purposeful, planned, and targeted violence against Israelis continues. Democracy and peace will come when the people demand it, not when the politicians feign it. When unabashed promoters of terrorism such as Hamas' Abdel Aziz Rantisi continue to be able to use the educational system, the press, and the cultural institutions of Palestinian society without any resistance, it means that their message, and not that of Abbas, is the one that resonates. (Baltimore Sun) If there are reforms underway in the Palestinian Authority, they still haven't been felt enough to change the prevailing negative opinion of the PA and its senior officials. It's enough to compare the modest homes of Hamas leaders to the fancy villas of PA officials; the gossip about how the children of senior officials are "in schools overseas," far from any danger; the complaints about the job vacancies in the public sector, which go to cronies and not to the skilled. (Ha'aretz) Some groups, like the American Jewish Committee and the Orthodox Union, have received more attention from the Bush White House than from previous administrations. The only speech Bush has given to a Jewish audience was at the AJC's 2001 annual dinner. David Frum, a former Bush speech writer who authored the president's address, claimed many of the out-of-favor Jewish groups have done a poor job in prioritizing their agendas. At a time when most people are concerned about terrorism and Israel, the Jewish community should be focusing on the issues that matter most to them, he said. He says the Jewish community's targeting of Attorney General John Ashcroft for his views on the separation of church and state, for example, has hurt its reputation. "Your friends show respect for your values; you show respect for their values," he said. "It cannot be a presentation of a list of non-negotiable demands." (JTA) See also Bush's Jewish Liaison to Leave - Matthew E. Berger Adam Goldman, deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison, is the main conduit between the White House and the organized Jewish community. A Bush loyalist who has worked for the president since his first campaign for Texas governor, Goldman is leaving the White House this summer. (JTA) Observations: Help Abbas Succeed - Dennis Ross (Baltimore Sun)
Dennis Ross, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was special Middle East coordinator during the Clinton administrations from 1993 to 2001.
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